JP6406823B2 - Telemeter receiving apparatus and telemeter receiving method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a telemeter receiving apparatus and a telemeter receiving method for receiving a signal from a medical telemeter transmitter.

  Medical telemeter systems must be able to monitor radiological information signals such as electrocardiograms remotely using radio waves, so they must be used as a tool to help improve medical services and reduce the burden on healthcare professionals. Being present.

  A medical telemeter system generally includes a sensor, a telemeter transmitter, and a telemeter receiver (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Here, there are sensors and transmitters that are integrated and those that are separate. In this specification, a sensor and a transmitter integrated with each other and a sensor and a transmitter separated from each other will be referred to as a telemeter transmitter.

  In recent years, portable telemeter transmitters have become widespread. The portable telemeter transmitter is small and light enough to be worn on the patient's body, and is convenient because it can acquire biological information even when the patient leaves the bed. The telemeter transmitter acquires biological information such as an electrocardiogram waveform, a respiratory waveform, a pulse waveform, blood pressure, body temperature, and oxygen saturation, and transmits this biological information wirelessly.

  The telemeter receiver demodulates the biological information wirelessly transmitted from the telemeter transmitter and displays the demodulated biological information on the display unit. There are two types of telemeter receivers: a stationary type and a portable type. A stationary telemeter receiver is composed of, for example, an antenna system disposed in the back of a ceiling in a hospital and a central monitor placed in a nurse station, and receives a biological information signal transmitted from the telemeter transmitter as an antenna. It is received by the system and demodulated by the central monitor and displayed.

  On the other hand, in a portable telemeter receiver, the receiving unit and the display unit are integrated in a portable size. If a portable telemeter receiver is used, the patient's biological information can be viewed anytime and anywhere, which is very convenient. For example, if a portable telemeter receiver is used, rehabilitation can be performed safely while confirming the patient's biological information near the patient who is rehabilitating with a telemeter transmitter. Flexible rehabilitation such as changing the load can be implemented. In addition, if a portable telemeter receiver is used, a test can be performed safely while checking the biological information of the subject in the vicinity of the subject wearing the telemeter transmitter and performing the test. It becomes possible.

  Here, a dedicated channel (transmission frequency) is allocated in advance to each telemeter transmitter. The telemeter transmitter wirelessly transmits the biological information detected from the patient using the assigned channel. The telemeter receiver obtains biological information by demodulating the channel signal transmitted from the telemeter transmitter.

JP 2003-010138 A

  By the way, in order to demodulate the signal of the channel transmitted from the telemeter transmitter by the telemeter receiver, it is necessary to set the reception channel of the telemeter receiver to match the transmission channel of the telemeter transmitter. The reception channel is set manually by an administrator. Specifically, the administrator sets the channel of the telemeter receiver so as to match the channel while viewing the channel of the telemeter transmitter displayed on the label display or the liquid crystal screen on the telemeter transmitter. At this time, the administrator sets a channel using operation keys (for example, numeric keys) provided on the telemeter receiver.

  To set this channel, it is generally necessary to input a 4-digit number. If there is an input error and the channel setting is incorrect, the biometric information transmitted by the intended telemeter transmitter cannot be received by the telemeter receiver. As a result, the intended patient's biometric information cannot be monitored, or the patient is not intended. Misunderstandings such as monitoring of biological information occur. For this reason, an administrator who handles a telemeter system in a hospital has to perform operations such as channel setting without mistake on a large number of telemeter receivers, which is troublesome. In particular, since a large hospital has 100 or more telemeter transmitters, it is very complicated to set the reception channel of the telemeter receiver so as to correspond to each telemeter transmitter.

  Further, if the telemeter receiver automatically detects the channel of the telemeter transmitter by performing channel scanning, it is considered that the manual setting by the administrator is saved and channel setting is facilitated. However, particularly in an environment where there are a plurality of telemeter transmitters, a channel of a telemeter transmitter different from the target telemeter transmitter may be erroneously detected. When such erroneous detection occurs, the above-described mistakes such as monitoring unintended patient biological information occur. In particular, a patient whose biological information is monitored using a telemeter system is often a severe patient, and such a mistake may lead to a serious medical accident. Therefore, it is desired to perform more reliable channel setting.

  The present invention has been made in consideration of the above points, and provides a telemeter receiving apparatus and a telemeter receiving method capable of easily and surely setting a channel and preventing a medical accident due to a mistake in a patient to be monitored. provide.

One aspect of the telemeter receiver of the present invention is:
A telemeter receiving device for receiving a signal from a medical telemeter transmitter,
A receiving unit that performs channel scanning on a received signal and demodulates the received signal;
A channel detection unit that determines a signal strength of a signal received and demodulated by the reception unit as a threshold, and detects a channel that has obtained a signal strength equal to or higher than the threshold as a candidate channel;
A display unit for displaying the candidate channels detected by the channel detection unit;
An operation unit configured to set the candidate channel as a monitoring channel according to a user operation;
Comprising
The reception unit and the channel detection unit sequentially perform demodulation and threshold determination for each channel, and when a channel equal to or higher than the threshold is detected as the candidate channel, the subsequent channel scan is temporarily stopped. ,
Display the channel above the threshold when the scan is stopped on the display unit,
When the displayed channel is set as the monitoring channel by operating the operation unit, only the monitoring channel set by the receiving unit is received and demodulated in the monitoring mode .

One aspect of the telemeter receiving method of the present invention is:
A telemeter receiving method for receiving a signal from a medical telemeter transmitter,
A reception demodulation step of receiving and demodulating the received signal by channel scanning;
A threshold determination step for determining a threshold of the signal strength of the received and demodulated signal;
A display step of displaying a channel from which a signal strength equal to or greater than a threshold is obtained as a candidate channel;
A channel setting step for setting the candidate channel as a monitoring channel in response to a user operation;
Including
In the reception demodulation step and the threshold determination step, demodulation and threshold determination are sequentially performed for each channel. When a channel equal to or higher than the threshold is detected as the candidate channel, scanning of the subsequent channels is temporarily stopped. And
Display channels above the threshold when the scan was stopped,
When the displayed channel is set as the monitoring channel in the channel setting step, only the monitoring channel is received and demodulated in the monitoring mode .

  According to the present invention, channel setting can be performed easily and reliably, and a medical accident due to a patient's mistake can be prevented.

Schematic which shows the structure of the medical telemeter system which concerns on embodiment The perspective view which shows the external appearance structure of a telemeter receiver The figure which shows the example of the display screen displayed on the display part Block diagram showing the configuration of the telemeter receiver Flow chart showing channel setting procedure of telemeter receiver Diagram for explaining channel setting according to this embodiment Diagram showing band and frequency allocation of medical telemeter system Flow chart showing channel setting procedure of telemeter receiver Diagram for explaining channel setting according to this embodiment

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a medical telemeter system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The medical telemeter system 10 includes a telemeter transmitter 20 and a telemeter receiver 100.

  The telemeter transmitter 20 is used by being attached to a patient. Of course, the subject to which the telemeter transmitter 20 is attached may be a subject other than the patient who is to be examined. The telemeter transmitter 20 has a function of sensing biological information such as a patient's electrocardiogram waveform, respiratory waveform, pulse waveform, blood pressure, body temperature, and oxygen saturation, and a function of wirelessly transmitting the biological information.

  The telemeter receiver 100 is large enough to fit in the palm of a hand, and can be carried and used by medical personnel. The telemeter receiver 100 acquires biological information by demodulating the radio signal transmitted from the telemeter transmitter 20, and displays this on the display unit.

  FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an external configuration of the telemeter receiver 100. The telemeter receiver 100 includes a display unit 101, a power key 102, a scan key 103, a screen switching key 104, a volume adjustment key 105, and a recording start key 106. When the scan key 103 is pressed by the user, the telemeter receiver 100 performs a channel scan to detect a channel used by the telemeter transmitter 20. When the screen switching key 104 is pressed, the telemeter receiver 100 switches the screen displayed on the display unit 101. For example, each time the screen switching key 104 is pressed, the screen is switched between a screen displaying both waveforms and numerical values and a screen displaying only numerical values. When the recording start key 106 is pressed, biometric information is recorded on, for example, an inserted SD card.

FIG. 3 is an example of a display screen displayed on the display unit 101. The display unit 101 displays a heart rate (HR), a respiration rate (RR), an oxygen saturation (SpO ₂ ), a non-invasive blood pressure (NIBP), an electrocardiogram waveform (ECG1), and a pulse wave waveform PR. In addition, the channel number 107 of the telemeter receiver 100 is displayed on the display unit 101. In the example of FIG. 3, the channel number 107 is “6008”.

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the telemeter receiver 100. FIG. 4 shows only the configuration mainly related to reception. The telemeter receiver 100 receives and demodulates signals by the receiving unit 110. The reception unit 110 amplifies the signal received by the antenna 111 by the amplification unit 112 and outputs the amplified signal to the mixer 113. The mixer 113 frequency-converts (down-converts) the received signal using the channel frequency signal generated by the frequency generation unit 114 and outputs it. The signal output from the mixer 113 is input to the demodulator 116 via a band pass filter (BPF) 115. The signal demodulated by the demodulation unit 116 is output to the display unit 101 and the channel detection unit 120.

  The channel detection unit 120 receives the demodulated signal output from the reception unit 110 and the channel number of the channel frequency currently generated from the frequency generation unit 114. The channel detection unit 120 compares the signal strength of the demodulated signal with a predetermined threshold value, and displays the channel number used for the current reception demodulation on the display unit 101 when the signal strength exceeds the threshold value. This channel number is displayed large on the display unit 101 so that the user can easily see it.

  When the user presses the scan key 103, the frequency generation unit 114 sequentially increases the channel frequency to be generated. Thus, a channel scan is performed from a low frequency channel to a high frequency channel.

  When the screen switch key 104 is pressed by the user, the screen of the display unit 101 is switched from a channel setting screen to a monitor screen (that is, a screen displaying biometric information as shown in FIG. 3). The channel frequency generated by the frequency generator 114 is fixed to the current channel frequency. That is, the current channel frequency is set as the monitoring channel.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a channel setting procedure of telemeter receiver 100 according to the present embodiment.

  When the telemeter receiver 100 starts processing in step S10, it waits for the scan key 103 to be pressed in step S11, and proceeds to step S12 when the scan key 103 is pressed. In step S12, the frequency generation unit 114 switches the reception channel (that is, the channel frequency to be generated), and in step S13, reception is performed at the channel frequency.

  In step S14, the channel detection unit 120 determines whether or not the signal strength of the demodulated signal is equal to or greater than the threshold value. If the signal strength is equal to or greater than the threshold value, the current channel number is stored in step S15, and the display unit 101 is determined in step S16. Display the current channel number.

  When the screen switching key 104 is pressed in the subsequent step S17, the process proceeds to step S18 where the current channel is set as the monitoring channel, and the channel setting procedure is terminated in the subsequent step S22. On the other hand, if the screen switching key 104 is not pressed in step S17 and the scan key 103 is pressed in step S20, the process proceeds to step S19.

  If it is determined in step S19 that the current channel is the final channel, the process proceeds to step S21, and a message (setting error message) indicating that a channel exceeding the threshold value has not been detected is displayed on the display unit 101. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S19 that the current channel is not the final channel, the process proceeds to step S12, and the frequency generation unit 114 switches the reception channel (frequency channel) to the reception channel having the next highest frequency. Here, the final channel means the final channel when all channels are scanned in the frequency order. For example, if the frequencies increase in the order of channels 1, 2, 3, 4,..., 10 and scanning starts from channel 3, the final channel is channel 2.

  As described above, the telemeter receiver 100 displays the channel number on the display unit 101 when the signal strength is equal to or greater than the threshold value, and the user can display the displayed channel number on the display unit or label of the telemeter transmitter 20. It is confirmed whether or not it matches the displayed channel number, and if it matches, the screen switching key 104 is pressed. At this time, the monitoring channel of the telemeter receiver 100 is set to the channel number. On the other hand, when the channel number displayed on the display unit 101 does not match the channel number displayed on the telemeter transmitter 20, the user presses the scan key 103. At this time, channel scanning is performed by sequentially increasing the channel frequency generated by the frequency generation unit 114, and when the signal strength exceeds the threshold value, the channel number at that time is displayed again, and the user confirms again. The operation is performed.

  An image of channel setting according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  The telemeter receiver 100 sequentially performs channel scanning from a channel with a low channel frequency to a channel with a high channel frequency. Then, if the signal intensity exceeds the threshold value for the first time in the channel Ch3 starting from the channel Ch1, the channel number of the channel Ch3 is displayed on the display unit 101. When the channel number of the channel Ch3 is confirmed by the user to be the correct channel number and the screen switching key 104 is pressed, the channel number of the channel Ch3 is set as the monitoring channel, and the channel scan is ended there.

  On the other hand, when the channel number of the channel Ch3 is confirmed by the user to be incorrect and the scan key 103 is pressed, the channel scan is performed again from the channel Ch4 following the channel Ch3. In the example of FIG. 6, channel Ch5 is detected and displayed as the next candidate channel. The user confirms the channel number of the channel Ch5 in the same manner.

  As described above, in this embodiment, when it is confirmed that the candidate channel detected by the channel detection unit 120 is not the target channel, scanning from the first channel (that is, the channel having the lowest frequency) is not performed again. Instead, scanning is started from a channel following a channel that is not a candidate. That is, when the channel scan is started again, channels other than the channels scanned until the candidate channel is detected are scanned. As a result, once scanned channels are not scanned redundantly, the number of channels to be scanned can be reduced until the target channel is finally set, and it is necessary to set the target channel. You can save time.

  In this embodiment, instead of scanning all the channels, when a candidate channel that exceeds the threshold value is found first, the scanning is temporarily stopped and the confirmation work by the user is performed.

  In the examples so far, the case has been described in which the telemeter receiver 100 performs only channel scanning. However, first, channel scanning may be performed after performing band scanning.

  Here, according to “Operational Rules for Low-Power Medical Telemeter” determined by the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA), bands and channels as shown in FIG. 7 are allocated. As shown in FIG. 7A, six bands 1 to 6 are assigned to a range of 420 to 450 MHz. As shown in FIG. 7B, 40, 80, or 120 channels are assigned to each of the bands 1 to 6. Incidentally, the interval of each channel is 12.5 kHz.

  FIG. 8 showing the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a channel setting procedure for performing channel scanning after performing band scanning.

  When the telemeter receiver 100 starts processing in step S30, it waits for the scan key 103 to be pressed in step S31, and proceeds to step S32 when the scan key 103 is pressed. In step S32, the reception band is switched by switching the frequency generated by the frequency generation unit 114 and the pass band of the band pass filter (BPF) 115. In the subsequent step S33, reception in that band is performed. Specifically, first, the band 1 shown in FIG. 7 is received, and then the band 2, the band 3,...

  In step S34, the channel detection unit 120 determines whether or not the signal strength of the demodulated signal is equal to or greater than a threshold value. If the signal strength is equal to or greater than the threshold value, the current band is stored in step S35, and the current band is determined in step S36. Remember the lowest frequency channel.

  The processing procedure of subsequent steps S12 to S21 is as described with reference to FIG.

  The image of the channel setting procedure in FIG. 8 will be described with reference to FIG.

  The telemeter receiver 100 repeats the loop of steps S32-S33-S34-S37-S32 until a band having a signal intensity equal to or higher than the threshold is detected, so that the low frequency band (band) is sequentially changed to the high frequency band. Scan by band. Then, if the signal intensity exceeds the threshold value for the first time in band 4 starting from band 1, the channel intensity is then scanned for 80 channels (FIG. 7B) included in band 4 in step S12 and subsequent steps. Scan channels with a threshold greater than or equal to. Here, when there is no channel whose signal intensity is equal to or higher than the threshold among the channels included in the band 4, the band scan is performed again from the band 5 having the next highest frequency after the band 4. This process is performed in the procedure of steps S19-S37-S32.

  As described above, in the channel setting procedure of FIG. 8, first, a band (band) scan is performed to detect a band whose signal intensity is equal to or higher than a threshold value, and then a channel scan is performed within that band. Compared with the case where all channels are sequentially scanned, the probability that the number of scans (that is, the frequency switching by the frequency generation unit 114 and the switching of the filter characteristics of the bandpass filter 115) is significantly reduced increases. In particular, when the frequency and filter characteristics are switched, a certain amount of time is required until the output signal is stabilized. Therefore, the target channel can be found in a short time by reducing the number of scans.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the received signal is channel-scanned, the channel whose signal strength is equal to or higher than the threshold is displayed as a candidate channel, and the candidate channel is set as a monitoring channel according to a user operation. As a result, it is possible to realize the telemeter receiver 100 that can easily and surely set the channel and can prevent a medical accident due to the mistake of the patient to be monitored.

  That is, by providing the function of automatically scanning the channel and the function of accepting the confirmation work by the user, it is possible to achieve both easy channel setting and certainty of channel setting.

  Here, if the channel having the highest signal strength of the received signal is automatically set as the target channel, the channel may be set erroneously. For example, there is a case where there is a telemeter transmitter other than the setting purpose across the wall with respect to the telemeter receiver. If the distance to the telemeter transmitter other than the setting purpose that exists across this wall is closer than the distance to the telemeter transmitter for the setting purpose, the channel set for the telemeter receiver exists across the wall. Will be set to the channel of the telemeter transmitter. However, since the user (administrator) is unaware of the telemeter transmitter that exists across the wall, the user (administrator) cannot recognize that the telemeter receiver has been set incorrectly. In such a case, a mistake such as monitoring unintended patient biometric information may occur, which may lead to a serious medical accident.

  The possibility of this erroneous setting is increased in an environment where a plurality of people accompanied by a telemeter transmitter move, such as a room for rehabilitation. In other words, in such an environment, only one telemeter transmitter for setting purposes does not always exist near the telemeter receiver, and a telemeter transmitter other than the setting purpose is set without the user (administrator) knowing. The target telemeter transmitter may have been moved closer or at the same distance, and in such a case, an erroneous setting occurs.

  In the present embodiment, such a misconfiguration and a serious accident can be prevented by having a configuration for accepting a user's confirmation work.

  In this embodiment, since visual confirmation is required, the distance between the telemeter receiver 100 and the telemeter transmitter 20 is inevitably very short when a channel is set. Thereby, the probability that the signal from the telemeter transmitter 20 to be set protrudes and becomes larger than the signals from other telemeter transmitters increases. As a result, the threshold value can be set to a relatively large value. Thereby, as a result of the threshold determination, the possibility that only the channel of the setting-target telemeter transmitter 20 is detected increases. In this way, since there are fewer candidate channels of the same degree, the possibility that the target channel can be detected by one scan increases.

  In addition, according to the configuration of the present embodiment, candidate channels are detected by threshold determination, and if the candidate channel is confirmed to be the target channel, the subsequent channels are not scanned, so all channels The channel can be detected in a shorter time compared to the case where the channel having the maximum signal intensity is detected from the scan.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where the screen switching key 104 is used as an operation unit that sets a candidate channel as a monitoring channel according to a user operation has been described. However, the operation unit of the present invention is not limited to this, For example, a dedicated key for setting a monitoring channel may be provided as an operation unit.

  The above-described embodiments are merely examples of implementation in carrying out the present invention, and the technical scope of the present invention should not be construed as being limited thereto. That is, the present invention can be implemented in various forms without departing from the gist or the main features thereof.

  The present invention can be applied to a telemeter receiver that receives a signal from a medical telemeter transmitter.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Medical telemeter system 20 Telemeter transmitter 100 Telemeter receiver 101 Display part 102 Power key 103 Scan key 104 Screen switching key 105 Volume adjustment key 106 Recording start key 107 Channel number 110 Reception part 111 Antenna 112 Amplification part 113 Mixer 114 Frequency generation part 115 Band pass filter (BPF)
116 demodulator 120 channel detector

Claims (3)

A telemeter receiving device for receiving a signal from a medical telemeter transmitter,
A receiving unit that performs channel scanning on a received signal and demodulates the received signal;
A channel detection unit that determines a signal strength of a signal received and demodulated by the reception unit as a threshold, and detects a channel that has obtained a signal strength equal to or higher than the threshold as a candidate channel;
A display unit for displaying the candidate channels detected by the channel detection unit;
An operation unit configured to set the candidate channel as a monitoring channel according to a user operation;
Comprising
The reception unit and the channel detection unit sequentially perform demodulation and threshold determination for each channel, and when a channel equal to or higher than the threshold is detected as the candidate channel, the subsequent channel scan is temporarily stopped. ,
Display the channel above the threshold when the scan is stopped on the display unit,
When the displayed channel is set as the monitoring channel by operating the operation unit, in the monitoring mode, only the monitoring channel set by the receiving unit is received and demodulated.
Telemeter receiver. The reception unit and the channel detection unit, when starting a channel scan again, scan channels other than the channel scanned until the candidate channel is detected,
The telemeter receiver according to claim 1. A telemeter receiving method for receiving a signal from a medical telemeter transmitter,
A reception demodulation step of receiving and demodulating the received signal by channel scanning;
A threshold determination step for determining a threshold of the signal strength of the received and demodulated signal;
A display step of displaying a channel from which a signal strength equal to or greater than a threshold is obtained as a candidate channel;
A channel setting step for setting the candidate channel as a monitoring channel in response to a user operation;
Including
In the reception demodulation step and the threshold determination step, demodulation and threshold determination are sequentially performed for each channel. When a channel equal to or higher than the threshold is detected as the candidate channel, scanning of the subsequent channels is temporarily stopped. And
Display channels above the threshold when the scan was stopped,
When the displayed channel is set as the monitoring channel in the channel setting step, only the monitoring channel is received and demodulated in the monitoring mode.
Telemeter reception method.

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