KR20140114422A - Wireless relay module for monitoring network status - Google Patents

Abstract

A wireless relay module is provided for networked communication between a set of medical devices and a remote monitoring device. The interface circuit coupled to each of the medical devices communicates with the wireless relay module via a wireless relay network. The relay module communicates with the remote monitoring device via an internet accessible wireless communication network. The controller determines the state of the network. If the condition indicates that an Internet-accessible wireless communication network is available, the transmitter transmits the medical device data over the network. If the Internet-accessible wireless communication network is not accessible, another transmitter transmits data to another wireless relay module. The controller also obtains the state information of the two networks and prepares the information to transmit this information to one of the medical devices or to display it on the display of the wireless relay module.

Description

[0001] WIRELESS RELAY MODULE FOR MONITORING NETWORK STATUS [0002]

This application is a continuation-in-part of co-pending U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 13 / 241,620, filed September 23, 2011, entitled " Wireless Relay Module for Remote Monitoring System, " This application is a continuation-in-part of co-pending U.S. Patent Application No. 13 / 006,769, entitled " Wireless Relay Module for Remote Monitoring System, " filed 14th of each of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference, The entirety is incorporated by reference for all purposes. This application is also related to U.S. Patent Application No. 13 / 006,784, entitled " Medical Device Wireless Network Architecture, " filed January 14, 2011, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference, In its entirety for all purposes.

The present invention relates to a wireless relay module for communication between a series of medical devices and a remote monitoring device and more particularly to a wireless relay module for receiving communications from a medical device via one or more wireless relay networks and transmitting communications to the medical device, To a wireless relay module that transmits communications received from a remote monitoring device via an internet accessible wireless communication network and monitors the status of the network.

Interaction time between the caregiver and the patient is important in the ICU and home care health service centers, including hospitals, clinics, and homes for the elderly. Also, caregiver response times for critical health conditions and events can be important. The central monitoring system has been developed to improve the management of caregiver time and patient interaction. In such a system, the physiological data of each patient is transmitted to a centralized location. In this centralized location, one or a few technicians monitor all of this patient information to determine the patient's condition. The information indicating the patient alert condition allows the technician and / or system to communicate with the local caregiver to provide immediate patient care, for example, by voice announcement to the entire facility and / or via a pager and / or cellular telephone do.

Implementing such a central monitoring system using a wireless network can present many difficulties. In order to effectively monitor patient status using information provided by various medical devices that can be dynamically allocated to multiple rooms and multiple layers of the facility, it is necessary to use a " WiFi "network such as, for example, It is desirable to establish communication between the medical device and the centralized location by the communication network. However, because such networks typically already support a number of different functions at defined locations within the facility (e.g., the physician has access to electronic medical records (EMRs), facility management systems and other functions), providing centralized monitoring It is often not desirable to have sufficient local area network access. In addition, when the patient is away from the critical care management health care center (e.g., at home), access to a conventional local communication network facility such as a WiFi network may not be available to support the critical care management surveillance application, do.

As an alternative to a conventional WiFi or IEEE 802.11 based local area network, a ZIGBEE network based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard for wireless personal communication networks may be used, for example an oxygen saturation meter, a blood pressure monitor, a heart rate meter, It collects information from multiple medical devices in accordance with the IEEE 11073 device standard for field diagnostic medical device communications, including blood glucose meters. For example, see ZIGBEE Wireless Sensor Applications for Health, Wellness and Fitness, the ZIGBEE Alliance (March 2009), which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. A ZigBee network can be used, for example, in a " self-healing "mesh configuration with a dynamically configurable benefit and a low power requirement (e.g., enabling a ZigBee transceiver to be integrated with a medical device using battery power) Provides an operational advantage. However, the transmission range between individual ZigBee transceivers is typically limited to a few hundred feet. Thus, such a network is not available at a centralized monitoring site located off-site. In addition, in accordance with the applicable data privacy provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), the communication of information between the monitored medical device and the central monitoring site must be performed securely.

The present invention relates to a wireless relay module that provides networked communication between a series of medical devices and a remote monitoring device. According to one embodiment of the invention, the patient facility is provided with one or more medical devices (e.g., including, but not limited to, a respirator, intestinal nutrition device, pulse oximeter, sphygmomanometer, pulsator, scale and blood glucose meter). The interface circuit is coupled to each of the medical devices and is configured to communicate with one of the plurality of wireless relay modules via one of the plurality of wireless relay networks. The wireless relay module also has the advantage of being configured to communicate with a remote monitoring device via one or more internet accessible wireless communication networks and may be configured to communicate with a remote monitoring device (e.g., a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) or a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) Or wireless wide-area networks (WWANs), such as cellular telephony data networks (e.g., cellular telephones, cellular telephones, or related wireless data channels, or WiMAX network based). Also, for example, in accordance with HIPAA regulations, communication over each of the wireless networks is preferably performed securely using, for example, encryption of data and / or instructions.

Each of the wireless relay modules comprises a receiver capable of wirelessly receiving medical device data from at least one medical device via a wireless relay network, wirelessly transmitting the medical device data wirelessly to the other of the wireless relay modules via a wireless relay network A first transmitter capable of transmitting data, a second transmitter capable of wirelessly transmitting data over an internet accessible wireless communication network, and a controller coupled to the first and second transmitters. &Quot; Medical device data ", as commonly used herein, includes medical device identification, medical device software, medical device settings, or status information (e.g., (S), patient prescriptions, and / or patient medical and / or physiological data, including patient information, patient information, and / or alert information and / or alert priorities), patient identification information, PIN Data or medical device, as well as wireless relay network information such as location and status information.

The controller is configured to facilitate communication and management of information transfer. For example, the first status module may determine the access status of the Internet-accessible wireless communication network, and the controller may select one of the first or second transmitters based on the status and the routing criteria. The second status module can determine the status of the communication via the wireless relay module. For example, if the status indicates that the Internet-accessible wireless communication network is accessible to the wireless relay module, the controller selects a second transmitter to transmit the medical device data over the Internet-accessible wireless communication network, depending on the status .

If the status indicates that the Internet-accessible wireless communication network is not accessible to the wireless relay module, the controller selects the first transmitter to transmit the medical device data to another wireless relay module. The other or second wireless relay module may then access the internet accessible wireless communication network. In this way, another attempt to transmit the medical device data over one of the Internet accessible wireless communication networks until successful transmission is achieved over the internet accessible wireless communication network is made by the other wireless relay module (and potentially wireless A potential additional wireless relay module of the relay module). It will be appreciated that, in accordance with the aspects described in this disclosure, the module can communicate with different medical devices over different wireless relay networks using additional receivers and transmitters.

In addition, each of the plurality of wireless relay modules may include an additional receiver for receiving communications from an internet accessible wireless communication network.

Also, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present invention, information indicative of the status of network communication of at least one of a wireless relay network and an internet accessible wireless communication network is communicated to one of the medical device and / or the internet accessible wireless communication network Device. ≪ / RTI > The wireless relay module may include a display having a status indicator of network communication. The display may further comprise an indicator of the accessibility status of the communication via the internet accessible wireless communication network and / or an indicator of the status of the wireless relay network.

The present invention will be readily understood by reference to the following drawings from the detailed description of the invention.
1 shows a block diagram of an exemplary medical device network architecture including a wireless relay module in accordance with the present invention.
2 shows a block diagram illustrating an exemplary wireless network component of the architecture according to FIG.
3A shows a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary wireless relay module according to the present invention.
Figs. 3b to 3d show schematic views respectively showing the top, front and side views of an embodiment of the wireless relay module of Fig. 3a.
3E shows an exemplary control panel for a wireless relay module according to the present invention.
Figures 4A-4D show a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method of operation of a wireless relay module in accordance with the present invention.
5 is a flow chart illustrating another exemplary method of operation of the wireless relay module according to the present invention.
Figure 6 shows a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary wireless relay module that is an alternative to the module shown in Figure 3a in accordance with the present invention.
Figure 7 shows a flow diagram illustrating another exemplary operating method of the wireless relay module according to the present invention.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to exemplary embodiments for carrying out the present invention. Examples of these exemplary embodiments are shown in the accompanying drawings. The present invention is described with reference to these embodiments, but it is not intended to limit the invention to the described embodiments. Rather, the invention includes alternatives, modifications and equivalents that may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

In the following description, specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. The present invention may be practiced without some or all of these specific details. In other instances, well-known aspects are not described so as not to make the invention unnecessarily difficult to understand.

To illustrate the present invention, an exemplary embodiment will be described with reference to Figs.

In this specification and the appended claims, the singular forms of the terms may include a plurality of references, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood to one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs.

A diagram of an exemplary architecture 100 for a system for monitoring a medical device in accordance with the present invention is shown in FIG. The one or more medical devices 10 are provided to the patient facility 20 to monitor and / or manage medical conditions for one or more patients. Patient facility 20 may include a critical care health service center (e.g., a hospital, a clinic, a paid senior citizen's home) serving multiple patients, a home facility serving one or more patients, or an outpatient or outpatient (E. G., A backpack) that can be worn by a wearer.

For example, in a facility-oriented wireless network such as a Low-Rate Wireless Personal Area Networks (LR-WPAN), a ZigBee network or another low-power personal area network such as a low-power Bluetooth network currently under development or under consideration, The interface circuit 15 comprising at least one of a transmitter and / or a receiver in the form of a transceiver that is associated with each of the medical devices 10. For example, Houda Labiod, Wi - Fi , Bluetooth , Zigbee and See WiMax , Springer 2010, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The interface circuit 15 may be included within or outside the medical device 10 in accordance with the present invention. Also, one or more relay modules (30, 30a) are provided in the patient facility (20).

Each of the relay modules 30,30a includes at least one transceiver configured to communicate with the other relay module 30,30a in the wireless relay network 16. [ The relay module 30a may further include at least a second transceiver communicating with the access point 40 via a WWAN. As described in more detail with reference to FIG. 3A, each of the modules 30a includes a respective receiver and transmitter for receiving signals from and transmitting signals to and from the interface circuitry 15 in one or more of the facility- And a first transceiver 31 having a first transmission / Each of the relay modules 30a shown in FIG. 3A includes a second receiver 30a having a receiver and a transmitter that wirelessly receive signals from and transmit signals to the access point 40 via a wireless wide-area network (WWAN) And a transceiver 32.

Suitable WWANs that can be used in the present invention are, for example, based on Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) or Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) cellular networks, or based on International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) (Long Term Evolution), 4G, and WiMAX cellular wireless standards. See, for example, Vijay Garg, Wireless Communications & Networking , Morgan Kaufmann 2007, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Additional suitable exemplary WWANs include metropolitan area networks (MANs), campus area networks (CANs), local area networks (LANs), home area networks (HANs), personal area networks (PANs), and body area networks do. Relay module 30a may include additional transceivers that communicate with additional facility-oriented wireless networks or additional WWANs, as described in more detail with reference to FIG.

In accordance with the HIPAA regulation, communication over each of the facility-oriented wireless network and the WWAN is preferably carried out securely, for example, using encryption based on any SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) protocol and TLS (Transport Layer Security) protocol .

As shown in Figure 1, an appropriate access point 40 available for use with the present invention may be an inbound web that is integrally formed with a transceiver (not shown) that communicates with the relay module 30a over a particular WWAN or that has access to the transceiver And may include a server 41. The medical device data received by the inbound web server 41 over the WWAN is passed to a secure data store server 42 which can receive the received data in association with, for example, . &Quot; Medical device data ", as commonly used herein, includes medical device identification, medical device software, medical device settings, or status information (e.g., (S), patient prescriptions, and / or patient medical and / or physiological data, including patient information, patient information, and / or alert information and / or alert priorities), patient identification information, PIN Data or medical device, as well as wireless relay network information such as location and status information.

1, the outbound web server 43 may retrieve data submitted by one or more of the remote monitoring devices 61, 62, and 63 via the broadband network 50 (e.g., via the Internet) Request and retrieve the associated medical device data retrieved from the secure data storage server 42 and format the retrieved data or a portion thereof to provide one or more remote monitoring devices 61, For display. Any architecture for the access point 40 that enables reception, storage and retrieval of medical device data on the device display of one or more remote monitoring devices 61, 62 and 63 is suitable for use in connection with the present invention Able to know. A variation of the exemplary architecture may require the use of a web server formed integrally with the data storage server.

2 shows a block diagram further illustrating exemplary components of an architecture of the present invention that are located within a patient facility 20 or associated with a patient facility. 2, multiple interface circuits 15 and relay modules 30, 30a are placed in a single wireless relay network 16 within a patient facility 20, but this is for illustrative purposes only. It will be appreciated that other interface circuitry 15 and relay modules 30 and 30a may communicate at the patient facility 20 via another wireless relay network similar to the network 16. [ In Fig. 2, the interface circuit 15 and the relay modules 30, 30a are configured to communicate with each other with an associated wireless link. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 2, the network 16 is a self-configurable mesh network and may also be a self-healing mesh network, such as a Zigbee-compatible mesh network based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard. However, the wireless relay network 16 or additional wireless relay networks in the patient premises may be implemented in various other wireless local area networks (WLANs), including, for example, WiFi WLANs based on the IEEE 802.11 standard and Bluetooth WPANs based on the IEEE 802.15.1 standard It can be configured according to WPAN format.

In the wireless relay network 16 shown, each of the interface circuits 15 includes, for example, a communication interface, such as a wireless communication interface to the associated medical device 10. As described above, each of the relay modules 30, 30a includes at least one transceiver configured to communicate with other relay modules 30, 30a in the wireless relay network 16. [ The relay module 30a further includes at least a second transceiver that communicates over the WWAN by the access point 40. [

The use of a ZigBee mesh network as network 16 is advantageous because of the self configurability of one or more interface circuits 15 and / or relay modules 30, 30a when added to the network, Provides the advantage of self-healing when the relay module 30, 30a is removed from the network or is disabled. Sub-grouping of the interface circuit 15 and the relay modules 30, 30a may be provided in a given geographic space (e.g., in an individual layer or in a multi-layered home or in a single layer area within a care facility).

Figure 3a provides a block diagram illustrating exemplary components of a relay module 30a. The relay module 30a of Figure 3a includes a first transceiver 31 that communicates wirelessly with the other relay modules 30 and 30a and the interface circuit 15 in the WLAN or WPAN network 16 of Figure 2 via an antenna 31a ). The relay module 30a further includes a second transceiver 32 for wirelessly communicating with the access point 40 via the WWAN via an antenna 32a. Each of the transceivers 31 and 32 communicates with a data processing circuit 33 and the data processing circuit operates under the control of a controller such as processor 34 for example to receive data received by the transceivers 31 and 32 And is configured to store the received data in a memory, such as buffer element 35a. The data processing circuit 33 also retrieves the data from the buffer element 35a in accordance with the instruction of the processor 34 and provides the retrieved data to the transceiver 31 or the transceiver 32 selected for transmission . Processor 34 is configured to communicate with respective status modules 31b and 32b of the transceivers 31 and 32 to determine the communication status of each of the transceivers 31 and 32. For example, In addition, one or more of the data processing circuitry 33 and / or the controller 34 may encrypt data to be transmitted by the transceivers 31, 32, for example, according to the HIPAA requirements, It may be desirable to include a commercially available encryption circuit to decrypt the received data.

The processor 34 preferably also communicates with an operating program of the processor 34 and / or a memory 35b that stores data retrieved and / or retrieved by the processor 34. [ The processor 34 also communicates with the input and output circuitry 36 and the input and output circuitry is operable to control the start or current state of the relay module 30a, including, for example, the communication or connection status with the WLAN or WPAN network 16 and the WWAN. To the one or more display elements of the relay module 30a. The input / output circuit 36 may also be configured to respond to and / or provide a signal indicative of A / C power loss provided by one or more input devices provided proximate to the one or more display elements.

The relay module 30a is provided as a small physical enclosure with an integrated power plug and power circuit so that the relay module 30a can be plugged in and supported directly into a conventional outlet providing commercial AC . The relay module 30a preferably includes a subsystem battery back-up circuit (not shown) to provide uninterrupted power in the event of an external power outage for a short period of time. In addition, the battery backup may have an advantage in using the relay module 30a in an external mode, which allows, for example, the patient to move within the facility 20 or potentially away from the facility. In this configuration of the facility 20, for example, any of the medical device 10, the interface circuit 15 and the relay module 30a may be a mobile platform such as any patient wearable backpack, As shown in FIG.

It is possible for the relay module 30 to have a configuration substantially similar to the relay module 30a except for the transceiver communicating over the WWAN by the access point 40. [

3 (b) to 3 (d) show a top view, a front view and a side view, respectively, of an exemplary module component 37 of the relay module 30a. The constituent part 37 includes a housing 37a, and the housing is essentially composed of a rectangular box or a prism and is shown in Figs. 3 (b) to 3 (d). However, it has sufficient internal volume to accommodate the associated circuit and has sufficient area 37c on the front panel 37b of the housing 37a to place the control panel 38 (shown further in Figure 3e) A receptacle support 37e to supportably plug the module component 37 into a conventional power outlet or socket and any of a variety of three dimensional It can be seen that the housing can be configured differently. In addition, the power plug 37f may be provided in a modular, replaceable and removable configuration that allows the power plug 37f to be configured according to various national or international standards.

Figure 3E illustrates an exemplary control panel 38 of a modular component 37 that may constitute part of one or more display devices. The exemplary control panel 38 can be used to power the module component 37 and / or power up the module component 37 after the module component is plugged into a power source, for example, And a power switch 38a for releasing the power switch 38a. Also, for example, the control panel 38 may be configured to provide an audible alarm (e. G., A normal alarm) connected to an alarm circuit (not shown) configured to alert when external AC power to the module component 37 is turned off And an alarm switch 38b that allows the user to mute and / or unmute the buzzer, bell or audible sound source and associated loudspeaker, not shown. The control panel 38 also includes one or more power indicators 38c that preferably may be provided as one or more light emitting diode (LED) indicator segments that are activated when external power is provided to the module component 37. Optionally, the indicator 38c may be activated intermittently or periodically (e.g., by backup battery power) to signal loss of AC power if the AC power is lost.

In addition, the exemplary control panel 38 of Figure 3e includes a battery indicator 38d that indicates the status of the subsystem battery backup circuitry. For example, as shown in Figure 3E, the battery indicator 38d may preferably include an indicator segment 38h that may be selectively activated to indicate the capacity of the backup battery. It is also preferred that the indicator segment 38h can be provided as an LED segment or as one or more multicolor LEDs having a color indicative of capacity. The segment 38h may be activated to indicate that the backup battery is fully charged and the predetermined number of segments 38h are gradually deactivated as the battery power is turned off For example, proceeding downward from the uppermost segment of segment 38h). If the remaining battery power is not sufficient to operate the module configuration 37, each of the segments 38h may be deactivated. Alternatively, the indicator segment 38h may be provided as one or more multicolor (e.g., red, green, and blue) LED segments. In operation, it is possible to illuminate all LED segments 38h in green to indicate a complete backup battery charge, and then sequentially deactivate as the battery charge level is reduced to the first low power threshold. Then, if the battery power is no longer sufficient to power the module component 37, the LED segments 38h continue to be sequentially reddish as the power is further reduced to red all the LED segments Can be illuminated.

3E, the control panel 38 includes a portion of the WLAN or WPAN network 16 used to provide communication between the relay module 30a and its associated interface circuitry 15 and the medical device 10 And a relay module network indicator 38e indicating the status of the relay module. This relay module network status indicator 38e preferably indicates the relative "status" of the relevant part of the network by illuminating the backlight with one or more multicolor LEDs (e.g., Possible level ") network, representing a network that has one or more problems using "yellow " but still operates, and does not operate using" red " Optionally, a portion of the WLAN or WPAN network 16 that provides communication between the relay module 30a and its associated interface circuitry 15 and the medical device 10 may have relatively bad communication between these devices, If not available to support communication, the indicator element 38e may be activated intermittently or periodically. Also, an audible alarm (e.g., a conventional buzzer, bell or audible sound source and associated loudspeaker, not shown) may be initiated under such conditions.

Indicator elements 38f may also be provided in an array to indicate the individual communication status with the medical device 10 or other relay module 30,30a. For example, the indicator element may be a multicolored LED (e.g., a green LED) that can illuminate, for example, a green segment for a normal communication path, a yellow segment for a working but operational communication path, 38g) may be provided. Alternatively, individual red, yellow and green LEDs may be used in place of multicolor LEDs.

The WWAN indicator 38j may be a WWAN indicator (e.g., "green" to indicate a normal network, "yellow" to indicate a network that still has one or more problems but still operable, and "red" And may be provided to indicate an access state to the network. As shown in FIG. 3E, it is preferable that the indicator 38j is capable of illuminating the backlight with one or more multicolor LEDs. Optionally, indicator element 38j may be intermittently or intermittently, for example, if the signal strength of the WWAN network available to module component 37 is too low to support communication or is not available to support such communication It can be activated periodically. An audible alarm may also be initiated under such conditions.

Finally, the control panel may include a WLAN / WPAN indicator 38i that represents the overall state of the entire WLAN / WPAN (or at least a portion that is available to provide different paths of the relay module 30a to the WWAN network). The WLAN / WPAN indicator 38i displays the network status (using the "red" representing the "green" representing the normal network, "yellow" representing one or more problematic but still operational networks, It may be desirable to indicate the overall state of the WLAN / WPAN. As shown in FIG. 3E, it is preferable that the indicator 38i is capable of illuminating the backlight with one or more multicolor LEDs. Optionally, the indicator element 38i may be activated intermittently or periodically if the signal strength of the WLAN network available to the module component 37 is too low or not sufficient to support communication. An audible alarm may also be initiated under such conditions.

As described above, the alarm switch 38b is one of the audible alarm indicators of the module component 37, such as the indicators 38a to 38j, which preferably are capable of being electrically connected to the input / output circuit 36 shown in Fig. (E.g., similar to a conventional clock alarm "snooze function") to be able to mute and / or unmute the user for a specified period of time.

Further, by implementing the ITU-T (International Telecommunication Standardization Sector) H.323 codec using, for example, hardware or software, the wireless relay module 30a can voice and / or communicate between a caregiver and a remote technician located near the wireless relay module It is possible to enable video communication. In such an embodiment, the wireless relay module control panel 38 may be configured to communicate with the healthcare technician in voice communication mode, for example, to allow voice communication between the caregiver and the healthcare technician in the event of a fault condition reported by one of the medical devices 10. [ (Not shown) coupled to the codec to enable the microphone 37 and portion 37 to operate. Alternatively, or in addition, the control panel 38 may include one or more of a camera element (not shown) and / or a display element (not shown) connected to the codec and operating in a visual communication mode. For example, the camera element may be used to transmit an image from one or more of the medical device 10 displays to one of the remote monitoring devices 61, 62, and 63 of FIG.

4A illustrates an exemplary architecture of the relay module 30, 30a components of FIGS. 2 and 3A and an architecture according to FIG. 1, in connection with transmitting medical device data obtained from the medical device 10 to the access point 40. FIG. Fig. 4 shows a flowchart 400 showing an operation method. First, at step 402 of method 400, medical device data from one of the interface circuit 15 and / or other relay module 30, 30a via the wireless relay network 16 is transmitted to the relay module 30a 1 relay module. In step 404, the processor 34 of the relay module 30a determines whether the WWAN is accessible by its relay module 30a.

The determination of step 404 may be performed in various ways. For example, the processor 34 may query the status module 32b of the transceiver 32 upon receipt of the medical device data or thereafter to determine a status parameter indicative of the access of the transceiver 32 to the WWAN (E.g., the access of the transceiver 37 to the WWAN may be determined by detecting by the transceiver 32 whether the access signal of the WWAN has sufficient signal strength to maintain data communication at the desired quality level). Alternatively, the processor 34 may interrogate the status module 32b at different times, for example, at system start-up or periodically (e.g., every hour) The status indicator to be searched next may be retained, for example, in the buffer 35a or other storage element. As a further alternative, the relay module 30, 30a may be assigned a predetermined role within the network 16. [ For example, the relay module 30a in the network 16 can be assigned a data routing assignment by controlling the controller or by controlling the relay module or modules. By definition, the WWAN state for the relay module 30 that does not have the WWAN access capability will have a certain state of "WWAN inaccessible ".

If the status module 32b indicates that the WWAN is accessible by the transceiver 32 as provided in step 404, then the processor 34 proceeds to step 406 to send the data to the data processing circuit 33 of the relay module 30a To retrieve the medical device data from the buffer 35a (if necessary), and to transmit the medical device data to the transceiver 32 and transmit to the access point 40 via the WWAN.

Alternatively, at step 404, the status module 32b may indicate that the WWAN is not accessible by the transceiver 32. [ For example, if the relay module 30a is located in the basement of a building in a region substantially shielded with respect to the WWAN signal, the WWAN may not be accessible to that one relay module 30a. In this case, in step 408, the processor 34 determines whether the second relay module 30a is accessible via the WLAN or WPAN. This determination can also be made by instructing the transceiver 31 to send a handshake signal transmission to the second relay module 30a and listen for the response, or to retrieve a stored status indicator for the second relay module 30a And the like.

If the second relay module 30a is accessible, the processor 34 instructs the data processing circuit 33 of the one relay module 30a to retrieve the medical device data from the buffer 35a, And transmits the device data to the transceiver 31 to transmit it to the second relay module 30a via the WLAN or WPAN in step 410. [ Alternatively, if the second relay module 30a is not accessible at step 408, it may be desirable to be able to retrieve an additional relay module 30a that is accessible by repeating this portion of the process 400. [ Alternatively, or if no other relay module 30a is available, the processor 34 of that one relay module 30a is preferably capable of issuing an alarm notification at step 412. [ Exemplary alert notifications may include, for example, (i) at least one of local time and voice alarms directed by the processor 34 via the input / output circuit 36 of its one relay module 30a, (ii) And / or (iii) an inbound web server 41 from the wireless relay module 30a to the other accessible WPAN, WLAN, or WWAN by the processor 34 over one or more of the wireless relay modules 31, (Not shown) after the handshake signal of the relay module 30a has been scheduled (but not received) in the access point 40 of FIG. 1 .

The relay module 30a controls the communication between the relay module 30a and its associated interface 15 and the medical device 10 as described above with reference to the control panel 38 of the relay module configuration 37 of Figure 3e, It is desirable to provide a relay module network indicator 38e that indicates the status of a portion of the WLAN or WPAN network 16 of Figs. FIG. 4B shows a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method of operation 420 for generating the state information required by the network indicator 38e of FIG. 3E.

In step 421 and 422 of Figure 4b, the processor 34 of Figure 3a communicates with the relay module 30a via the WLAN / WPAN network 16, for example, for each of the medical devices 15 accessible to the relay module 30a, Or history from the memory 35b. Performance measurements may include, for example, measured signal strength, noise, bit rate, error rate, packet discard rate, occupancy, availability, and the like, typically measured for a WLAN / WPAN network. For example, Pinto, WMM - Wireless Mesh Monitoring , Technical Report, INESC-ID, 2009, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes. The measured performance may further take into account specific environmental information. For example, due to the relatively elevated ambient operating temperature of the relay module 30a and the like, damage to data from the medical device caused by such elevated ambient temperature can occur.

In step 423, if the performance history is not sufficiently current / lost or lost (e.g., as indicated by the timestamp data), then in step 424 processor 34 uses normal means within transceiver 31 (E.g., via the status module 31b) to obtain a current performance measurement by sending a request to the interface circuit 15 of the associated medical device 10 and receiving current performance data, It is desirable to store current performance measurements as part of the history. The currency may be a function of system performance, regulation and / or performance for individual performance measures at specified time intervals (e.g., intervals greater than 5 seconds, intervals longer than 1 minute, Or other requirements, and the prescribed time interval may preferably be stored in the memory 35b for retrieval and reference by the processor 34. [0035]

In steps 423 and 425, after determining that the current performance data has been obtained for each of the accessible medical devices in the relay module 30a, then in step 426 processor 34 determines the current module status as a function of current performance data and performance history . For example, if the current performance data indicates that each of the medical devices 10 is currently accessible to the relay module 30a and that the module performance history is within a predetermined time (e.g., over a period of time) The processor 34 may determine that the wireless relay network 16 is "normal" (e.g., if the throughput and / or occupancy is within a predetermined limit By illuminating the green LED segment of indicator 38e).

Although current performance data indicates that each of the medical devices 10 is currently accessible to the relay module 30a, it is contemplated that one or more of the devices 10 may have a recent performance history < RTI ID = 0.0 > Processor 34 may determine the "partially accessible" state (e.g., by illuminating the amber LED segment of indicator 38e at step 427). If at least one of the medical devices 10 is not currently accessible to the relay module 30a, the processor 34 may determine the "inaccessible" state (e.g., at step 427, Segment < / RTI > At step 428, the processor 34 may determine that an alarm condition has been generated, for example, taking into account the "partially accessible" or " To illuminate the red LED segments in a blinking manner and / or by providing one or more audible alarms as described above). As an alternative to displaying the display state information at step 427, the processor 34 may cause the transceiver 31 to transmit status information to the one or more medical devices 10, or to cause the transceiver 32 to communicate with the WWAN And send status information to the device.

With further reference to Figs. 1 and 3E, Fig. 4C shows a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary operational method 440 for generating status information displayed by the WWAN indicator 38j of Fig. 3E. At step 441, 442 of Figure 4c, processor 34 of Figure 3a retrieves the WWAN performance history from memory 35b, for example, with respect to the status of WWAN network 44. [ The performance measurements may include, for example, the measured signal strength, noise, bit rate, error rate, call set time, call drop time, etc., as normally measured for the WWAN / cellular network via the status module 32b of FIG. Rate, share and network availability, and so on. For example, MIST : Cellular Data Network Measurement for Mobile Applications , Broadband Communications , Networks and Systems Fourth International Conference, IEEE, 2007 , Mike P. Wittie et al. (The entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes). At step 443, if the performance history is not sufficiently current (e.g., as indicated by the timestamp data), the processor 34 uses the normal means within the transceiver 32 at step 444 to determine the access point It is desirable to send a request to the access point 40, obtain the current performance measurement by receiving data from the access point, and store the current performance measurement as part of the performance history in the memory 35b. Alternatively, when the access point 40 and / or other device in communication with the WWAN 44 has collected performance measurement data for the WWAN, the transceiver 32 may request the access point 40 and / So that performance data can be retrieved.

After determining at 443 that the WWAN performance data is current, the processor 34 determines at 445 the current WWAN state as a function of the current performance data and performance history. For example, the current performance data indicates that WWAN 44 is currently accessible to relay module 30a, and the module performance history indicates that WWAN 44 is inactive for a predetermined time (e. G., Several hours) The processor 34 may determine that the WWAN 44 is "normal " (e.g., at step 446, the WWAN indicator 38j Lt; / RTI > LED segments).

If the current performance data indicates that the WWAN 44 is currently accessible to the relay module 30a, but if at least one of the throughput and / or occupancy has a history beyond a predetermined limit, then the processor 34 " (E.g., by illuminating the yellow LED segment of the WWAN indicator 38j at step 446).

If the WWAN 44 is not currently accessible to the relay module 30a, the processor 34 may determine the "inaccessible" state (e.g., at step 446, the red LED segment of the WWAN indicator 38j is illuminated . In step 447, which may be performed before or concurrently with step 446, the processor 34 may determine that an alarm condition has been generated, for example, taking into account the "partially accessible" 34) to display alerts (e.g., by illuminating the yellow or red LED segments in a flashing manner and / or by providing one or more audible alerts, as described above). As an alternative to or in addition to displaying display status information at step 446, the processor 34 may cause the transceiver 31 to transmit status information to the one or more medical devices 10, It is possible to transmit status information to a device communicating with the WWAN.

Referring again to FIG. 3E, FIG. 4D shows the state information required by the WLAN / WPAN indicator 38i of FIG. 3E to provide the entire WLAN / WPAN (or relay module 30a) with a different path to the WWAN network (E.g., at least a portion of at least a portion of the available operating system). In steps 461, 462, and 464 of Figure 4d, the processor 34 of Figure 3a communicates with each other relay module ("neighbor module") that is accessible to the relay module 30a via the WLAN / The current module performance history is retrieved from the memory 35b.

As noted above, the performance measure may be based on a measured signal strength, noise, bit rate (e. G., As measured typically for a WLAN / WPAN network) , Error rate, occupancy, availability, path utilization, and the like. Further, at step 463, the processor operates the transceiver 31 to request that each neighboring module provide a WWAN state (e.g., created in accordance with the method described with reference to Figure 4C).

At step 465, if the performance history is not sufficiently current / lost (e.g., as indicated by the timestamp data) with respect to the neighboring module, processor 34 determines at step 466 whether the normal To receive data from the neighboring module and receive data from the neighboring module to obtain current performance measurements and store the current performance measurements in memory 35b as part of the performance history. In addition, the current performance measure may be obtained, for example, with respect to other neighboring devices having known or identifiable capabilities (e.g., network "beacons").

In step 467, after determining that the current performance data is obtained for each of the neighboring modules accessible to the relay module 30a, the processor 34 determines in step 468 the current neighbor module performance data (including the neighboring module WWAN state) And the current module state as a function of neighbor module performance history. For example, if the current performance data indicates that each of the neighboring modules 30a is currently accessible to the relay module 30a and has an "accessible" WWAN state, and the module performance history indicates that the neighboring module 30a Processor 34 may determine that it is in a "fully accessible" state when the throughput and / or occupancy is within a predetermined limit (e.g., / WPAN < / RTI > indicator 38i).

If the current performance data indicates that each of the neighboring modules 30a is currently accessible to the relay module 30a but the recent performance history of the one or more neighboring modules 20a indicates that the WWAN state is not accessible, (E. G., By illuminating the yellow LED segment of the WLAN / WPAN indicator 38i at step 469). ≪ / RTI > If at least two neighboring modules 30a are not currently accessible to the relay module 30a, the processor 34 may determine the "inaccessible" state (e.g., the WLAN / WPAN indicator 38i Lt; / RTI > LED segments). At step 470, the processor 34 may determine that an alarm condition has been generated, for example, taking into account the "partially accessible" or " To illuminate the red LED segments in a blinking manner and / or by providing one or more audible alarms as described above). As an alternative to displaying the display status information at step 469, the processor 34 may cause the transceiver 31 to transmit status information to the one or more medical devices 10, or to cause the transceiver 32 to communicate with the WWAN And send status information to the device.

5 illustrates a flow diagram 500 illustrating another exemplary method 500 of operation for an architecture according to FIG. 1 in connection with the transmission of a message received from an access point 40 by one of the medical devices 10 . This allows the access point 40 to communicate, for example, with the medical device to download new firmware or software, respond to an error message initiated by the medical device (e.g., Or remove it from the service, or perform device diagnostics) to operate the medical device (e. G., Adjust the flow rate of the infusion pump).

At step 502 of method 500, the message is received at the first one of the relay modules 30a from the access point 40 via the WWAN. At step 504, the one relay module 30a determines whether the message is to arrive at one of the interface circuits 15 and / or other relay modules 30,30a located in the facility 20. [ This can be done, for example, by keeping the list of active devices 15 and modules 30,30a in buffer 35a, or in a manner accessible to that one relay module 30a, May be achieved by encoding the identifier of the module 30 or 30a and storing the identity of the facility 20 that is stored in the buffer 35a or that one relay module 30a can identify.

If the one relay module 30a determines at step 506 that the device 15 or the module 30,30a is not located at the facility, the one relay module 30 proceeds to discard the message at step 508 And / or otherwise alert the access point 40 with an undeliverable message. If the interface device 15 is located in the facility 20, that one relay module 30a can be configured such that in step 510 the device 15 or the relay module 30,30a is stored in the buffer 35a Or by listening to a response by sending a handshake transmission directed to the interface device 15a, 15b by commanding the transceiver 31 to refer to a list accessible to that one relay module 30a) To access the one relay module 30a.

If the one relay module 30a determines at step 512 that the device 15 or the relay module 30,30a is accessible, then at step 514, the one relay module is transceived by the transceiver 31 to that device 15 or the relay module 30, 30a via the network 16. [ In this case the message may be broadcast back to all the devices 15 and modules 30,30a communicating with that one relay module 30a and each device 15 or module 30,30a ) May decide to process or ignore the message (e.g., by matching the associated device ID or other identifier in the message). Alternatively, if the one relay module 30a determines in step 512 that the device or relay module is not accessible, then the one relay module determines in step 516 that the second relay module 30,30a (E.g., by sending a handshake transmission directed to the transceiver 31 to the second relay module and listening for a response) over the WLAN or WPAN. If the second relay module 30, 30a is available, the one relay module 30a forwards the message to the transceiver 31 for transmission to the second relay module 30, 30a via WLAN or WPAN do. If the second relay module 30,30a is not accessible, then it is desirable to be able to repeat this portion of the process 500 to retrieve the accessible third relay module 30,30a. Alternatively, or in the case where no other relay module 30, 30a is available, the one relay module 30a is used in a manner similar to that described above with reference to the method 400 of FIG. It is preferable to be able to issue an alarm notification.

As illustrated in the example of Figure 2, each relay module 30, 30a may communicate with multiple medical devices 10 for a predetermined period of time. It may be most important to communicate with some medical devices 10 in relation to patient safety. For example, consider communication with a medical device 10, including a thermometer, an infusion pump, a patient electrode, and a respirator, respectively. In this example, communication with the ventilator is most time related to the three of the three medical devices, while communication with the thermometer will be associated with the least time among the three medical devices.

According to the IEEE 802.14.15 standard, if the wireless relay network 16 is a ZigBee mesh network, there is little risk of communication from more than one medical device competing for simultaneous access to the wireless relay network 16. [ The network 16 operates in accordance with a protocol in which the transmitting device identifies the energy on the wireless bus component of the network 16. [ If the bus is in use, the transmitting device waits for a predetermined period of time (e.g., 10 to 20 milliseconds) before making another acknowledgment, and indicates that the energy level indicates that no other transmissions are in progress on the wireless bus Only the data is continuously transmitted. Nevertheless, if the data packets transmitted by the medical device 10 reach the relay modules 30, 30a almost simultaneously, it may be necessary to manage the delivery order of the relay modules 30, 30a.

For example, consider a medical device data packet from a ventilator that represents the isolation of the ventilator from a comatose patient (which may lead to death). In this case, the ventilator must be assigned a priority for transmission to one or more remote monitoring devices (61, 62, and 63) and a response to the medical device data packet sent by the ventilator is sent to the remote monitoring device (61, 62 and 63, the transmission of the medical device data from the thermometer and the pump is stopped. For example, a ventilator is assigned a priority of 1, an infusion pump is assigned a priority of 2, and a thermometer is assigned a priority of 3. The assigned priority is preferably indicated, for example, in each data packet transmitted by the medical device as "priority nibble" and transmitted to the medical device.

Referring to FIG. 3A, the processor 34 reads the priority nibble from each received data packet and sends the data packet to the data processing circuitry (not shown) to place the data packet at the logical location within the buffer element 35a based on the priority assignment 33, respectively. For example, an important data packet for the respirator (e.g., a data packet containing an indication of a life-threatening condition) is placed for a first search and transmission by the relay module 30, 30a, Packets are placed in order according to their priority.

Also, if an urgent command expected from the ventilator based on an urgent data packet (e.g., a data packet including an alert) needs to be transmitted by one of the remote monitoring devices 61, 62 and 63, The relay module 30,30a may also suspend the reception of any new medical device information from the other medical device until the urgent command is relayed and the associated alarm condition is terminated or released.

The novel wireless relay module disclosed herein for providing networked communication between a series of medical devices and remote monitoring devices offers a number of significant advantages over other monitoring systems. By using a wireless relay network, such as a ZigBee network based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard, for wireless communication between the medical device 10 and the relay module 30,30a according to an embodiment of the present invention, At a minimum, the interface circuit 15 can be easily and cost-effectively applied to the medical device 10 and / or integrated with the medical device.

By introducing a relay module 30a that is part of a wireless relay network and can directly access a surveillance device located remotely via WWAN, access to and reliance on existing potentially unreliable LAN facilities at the facility can be avoided have. The relay feature is integrally formed in the relay modules 30 and 30a that relay the communication from the first relay module 30a to the second relay module 30 and 30a so that the WWAN access to the first relay module 30a Even if damaged, the present invention improves reliability and enables the use of conventional low-cost cellular transceivers within the relay module 30a to access the WWAN.

Fig. 6 shows a block diagram illustrating exemplary components of another configuration of the relay module 30a for the configuration of the relay module 30a shown in Fig. 3a. The same reference numerals in Figures 3a and 6 refer to the same components as, for example, the transceivers 31 and 32, the data processing circuit 33, the buffer 35a, the memory 35b and the processor 34 . In Fig. 6, as in Fig. 3a, the relay module 30a is connected to the interface circuit 15 (shown in Figs. 1 and 2) and the WLAN network 16 (shown in Fig. 2) And a transceiver 31 communicating wirelessly with the other relay modules 30 and 30a. 6, the relay module 30a further includes a transceiver 32 that wirelessly communicates with the access point 40 via a specific WWAN (shown in FIG. 2) via an antenna 32a, as in FIG. 3a. .

The components added to the relay module 30a in Fig. 6, which are not present in Fig. 3a, include interface circuits and other relay modules capable of communicating over a WLAN or WPAN network different from the network used by the transceiver 31, Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > 31c < / RTI > Relay module 30a of Figure 6 corresponds to an additional transceiver 32 similar to transceiver 32 that wirelessly communicates with access point via antenna 38d over a WWAN that is different from the WWAN used by transceiver 32. [ (32c).

Each of the transceivers 31,32,31c and 32c communicates with the data processing circuit 33 and the data processing circuit operates under the control of the processor 34 to receive the data received by the transceivers 31,32, Accepts the data, and operates to store the received data in the buffer element 35a. The data processing circuit 33 is also configured to retrieve data from the buffer element 35a under control of the processor 34 and to provide the retrieved data to a selected one of the transceivers 31,32,31c and 32c for transmission . The processor 34 communicates with the respective status modules 31b, 32b, 31e and 32e of each transceiver 31, 32, 31c and 32c to communicate with the transceivers 31, 32, 31c and 32c State. The data processing circuit 33 and the processor 34 may be implemented as separate integrated circuits or chipsets or their functions may be implemented on a single integrated circuit or chipset.

The processor 34 also communicates with the input / output circuitry 36 and the input / output circuitry provides signals to one or more of the display elements of the relay module 30a to communicate, for example, with a WLAN or WPAN network and with a WWAN network, It is preferable to indicate the starting or current state of the relay module 30a including the connection state. Alternatively, the input / output circuit 36 may be configured to provide a signal to indicate a loss of A / C power and / or to respond to a signal provided by one or more input devices provided proximate to the one or more display elements.

The control panel available in module 30a of Figure 6 is shown in Figure 3e with a plurality of indicators 38e representing the status of different WLAN or WPAN networks and / or a plurality of indicators 38j representing the status of different WWANs. May be substantially similar to the control panel 38 shown.

The relay module 30a configuration of FIG. 6 includes, for example, the use of a plurality of WWAN or WLAN or WPAN networks and the relay module 30a of FIG. 3a employing an operating method corresponding to that shown in FIGS. ) Configuration in a substantially similar manner. However, in performing the method of operation for the configuration of the relay module 30a of FIG. 6, the steps shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 may be used with additional transceiver selection of additional transceivers 37 and 38. For example, FIG. 7 illustrates an operational method 600 for the relay module 30a configuration of FIG. 6, similar to the method 400 of FIG. 4a for the relay module 30a configuration of FIG. 3a. Method 400 and 600 include substantially the same steps, except that method 600 replaces step 404 and step 406 of method 400 with steps 604 and 606. These replaced steps 604 and 606 are similar to the corresponding steps 404 and 406 which are extended to use the additional transceivers 37 and 38 of FIG.

7, after the medical device data is received via the WLAN or PLAN network by the transceiver 31 or 37 of FIG. 6 in step 402, the relay module 30a determines whether any WWAN is in transceiver 32 or 38 ). ≪ / RTI > If the WWAN is not accessible, the method 600 proceeds to step 408 to perform substantially the same operations as described with respect to steps 408, 410, and 412 in FIG. 4A. If it is determined in step 604 of FIG. 7 that the WWAN is accessible, the method 600 proceeds to step 606. FIG. At step 606, the method 600 sends the medical data to the appropriate access point over the WWAN available via the transceiver 32 or 38.

In addition, there is more than one accessible WWAN to the extent of step 604 of Figure 7, and at step 606, the controller 33 of Figure 6 is connected to any one of the WWANs accessible by either transceiver 32 or 38 It should be determined whether medical data should be transmitted. Such a determination may be made by a number of different criteria or rules based on, for example, signal strength, cost, time of day, day of week, or network administrator or other user preferences.

It is possible to limit the configuration of the cellular transceiver only to the relay module 30a in the facility, instead of the modules 30 and 30a. Also, by providing the relay module 30a in a small enclosure, the relay module 30a is easily connected to a reliable commercial power source and is easily removed if it is necessary to reconfigure the wireless relay network according to the facility change. Portability for outsourced use provided by battery backup is an additional advantage.

While the invention has been described in connection with the disclosed embodiments, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. For example, the present invention may be based on any of a number of current and future WPANs, WLANs and WWANs beyond what is explicitly described herein. It is also possible to use only the relay module 30a in the WLAN or WPAN network 16 of FIGS. 1 and 2 with a transceiver that communicates with other relay modules as well as via the WWAN.

In addition, each of the interface circuits available in the present invention can include the components of module 30 and perform the functions of the modules to provide better versatility in accordance with the present invention. Further, various configurations of the components of the relay module 30a are usable in the present invention beyond the components shown in Fig. For example, the input / output buffer may be used with each switch under the control of the processor to transfer medical device data to the transceiver 31, 32, 37 or 38 as needed. Further, the scope of the present invention includes all other predictable equivalents of elements and structures described herein with reference to the figures. Accordingly, the invention is limited only by the claims and the equivalents thereof.

Claims (20)

A wireless relay module comprising:
A first receiver capable of wirelessly receiving medical device data from at least one medical device via a wireless relay network;
A first transmitter capable of wirelessly transmitting the medical device data via the wireless relay network;
A second transmitter capable of wirelessly transmitting the medical device data over an internet accessible wireless communication network; And
A controller coupled to the first and second transmitters and operable to control the wireless relay module to select one of the first or second transmitters to transmit the medical device data received by the first receiver,
Lt; / RTI >
Wherein the first transmitter is further capable of transmitting to the at least one medical device information indicative of the status of network communication of at least one of the wireless relay network and the internet accessible wireless communication network. The wireless relay module of claim 1, further comprising a display having a first indicator that indicates the status of network communication. 3. The wireless relay module of claim 2, further comprising a second receiver capable of receiving data via the internet accessible wireless communication network. 3. The system of claim 2, further comprising a status module coupled to the second transmitter and the controller, the status module being capable of determining a status of accessibility of communication over the internet accessible wireless communication network, To the controller. 5. The wireless relay module of claim 4, wherein the display further comprises a second indicator that indicates a status of accessibility of the communication over the internet accessible wireless communication network. 3. The wireless relay module of claim 2, wherein the display further comprises a second indicator that indicates a status of the wireless relay network. 2. The wireless relay module of claim 1, wherein the wireless relay network is at least one of a ZigBee network or a relay-enabled Bluetooth network. The wireless relay module of claim 1, wherein the internet accessible wireless communication network is a mobile communication network. A wireless relay module comprising:
A first receiver capable of wirelessly receiving medical device data from at least one medical device via a wireless relay network;
A first transmitter capable of wirelessly transmitting the medical device data to a second wireless relay module via the wireless relay network;
A second transmitter capable of wirelessly transmitting the medical device data over an internet accessible wireless communication network;
A controller coupled to the first and second transmitters and capable of controlling the wireless relay module to select one of the first or second transmitters to transmit the medical device data received by the first receiver; And
A display coupled to the controller and capable of displaying information indicative of the status of network communication of at least one of the wireless relay network and the internet accessible wireless communication network,
And a wireless relay module. 10. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising: a second transmitter, coupled to the second transmitter and controller, for determining a status of potential communication over the internet accessible wireless communication network, and for selecting the first or second transmitter And a first status module capable of providing a status of potential communication to the controller. 11. The wireless relay module of claim 10, wherein the display is also capable of providing a status indication of a determined status of potential communication over the internet accessible wireless communication network. 11. The wireless relay module of claim 10, further comprising a second status module coupled to the first transmitter, the second status module being capable of determining a status of communication over the wireless relay network. 13. The wireless relay module of claim 12, wherein the display is also capable of providing status indication of potential communication through the wireless relay network. 14. The wireless relay module of claim 13, wherein the wireless relay network is at least one of a ZigBee network and a relay-enabled Bluetooth network. 10. The wireless relay module of claim 9, wherein the Internet-accessible wireless communication network is a mobile communication network. 10. The wireless device of claim 9, wherein the first transmitter further comprises a wireless relay module capable of transmitting to the at least one medical device information indicative of the status of network communications of at least one of the wireless relay network and the Internet- . A method of operating a relay module in a medical device wireless network,
Receiving medical device data from at least one medical device via a wireless relay network;
Determining a state of an internet accessible wireless communication network in communication with a first transmitter of the relay module;
Transmitting the medical device data from the at least one medical device via the communication network by the first transmitter if the determined condition meets a certain criterion;
Transmit the medical device data from the at least one medical device to the second relay module via the wireless relay network by a second transmitter in communication with the wireless relay network if the determined condition does not meet the specified criteria step; And
Determining information indicative of a status of network communication of at least one of the wireless relay network and the internet accessible wireless communication network
≪ / RTI > 18. The method of claim 17, further comprising displaying determined information indicative of the status of the network communication. 18. The method of claim 17, further comprising transmitting determined information indicative of the status of the network communication to the at least one medical device. 18. The method of claim 17, further comprising transmitting determined information indicative of the status of the network communication via the first transmitter to a device in communication with the internet accessible wireless communication network.

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