KR20210006201A - Docking Station Apparatus for Connecting Healthcare Devices to AMI Network - Google Patents

Abstract

According to the present invention, a docking station device for linking a healthcare device and an AMI communication network uses the healthcare device for collecting health information of the elderly and provides the health information measured by the healthcare device to the elderly themselves, their guardians, the 119 safety report center, emergency medical institutions, etc. through the advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) communication network. Therefore, it is possible to increase the utilization of the AMI communication network for exchanging power information by constantly monitoring the health condition or life pattern of a wearer of the healthcare device and enabling rapid response in case of an emergency.

Description

Docking Station Apparatus for Connecting Healthcare Devices to AMI Network}

The present invention relates to a docking station device for linking a healthcare device and an AMI communication network, and more particularly, a social safety network for the elderly using a healthcare device through a docking station, which is an effective means for linking a wearable mobile healthcare device and an AMI communication network. The present invention relates to a healthcare device that can contribute to the construction and increase its utilization by applying a nationwide AMI communication network to the construction of a social safety network for the elderly, and a docking station device for linking an AMI communication network.

It is a long time since Korea has entered the era of "low birthrate and aging," a symbol of advanced countries, and soon, more than 20% of the total population is expected to enter a "super-aged society" over the age of 65.

The accelerated nuclear familyization along with the super-aging is rapidly increasing the number of senior citizens living alone whose interpersonal relationships are cut off. The number of elderly people living alone, which accounts for about 19% of the total elderly population, is expected to increase from 1.4 million in 2018 to 1.99 million in 2025 and to 2.5 million in 2030, causing various “care blind spots” such as an increase in elderly loneliness. There is concern.

In particular, the elderly living alone are economically vulnerable, accounting for half of the poor, and are relatively marginalized in terms of social welfare compared to the elderly married couples and elderly people living with children.

In addition, while the balance between work and life is emerging as a social issue, public interest in health is also increasing, and the use of wearable mobile healthcare devices that can easily check personal health information is exploding.

A wearable mobile healthcare device (hereinafter referred to as a healthcare device) is a health information collecting device that can be worn in the form of a wristband or necklace, and to check the collected health information, healthcare is usually performed through short-range wireless communication such as Wi-Fi. After linking the device and the mobile device, an app installed on the mobile device or a web application program is used.

However, such a method has become a factor that prevents an elderly person from using a mobile device from using a healthcare device.

In addition, in terms of establishing a social safety net for the elderly, there is a need to share the health information in real time with guardians, emergency medical institutions, and 119 safety reporting centers, and a free or very inexpensive communication infrastructure is also required.

Republic of Korea Patent Application Publication No. 10-2012-0055273

The present invention was conceived to solve the above-described problem, using a healthcare device to collect health information of the elderly, and using an AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) communication network for health information measured by the healthcare device. The AMI communication network for exchanging power information is provided to the elderly, guardians, 119 safety report centers, emergency medical institutions, etc., to monitor the health status and life pattern of the wearer of the healthcare device at all times and to quickly respond to emergency situations. It is to provide a docking station device for linking the AMI communication network with a healthcare device that can be used to build a social safety net for the elderly.

The docking station device for linking the healthcare device and the AMI communication network of the present invention to achieve the above object periodically measures the biosignal of the wearer of the healthcare device, and determines the wearer's health information based on the measured value and docks. Collects and stores various healthcare information including health care device transmitted to the station and biosignal information, health information, emergency situation information, and health care device status information generated by the healthcare device by communicating with the healthcare device, It consists of a docking station that transmits stored healthcare information to the AMI communication network construction data concentration unit.

The healthcare device may periodically transmit corresponding healthcare information to the docking station according to a transmission period received from the docking station.

Since the healthcare device has a unique ID, it is possible to identify each other, and may be provided in one or more depending on the wearer, and one or more healthcare devices may be linked to one or a plurality of docking stations.

The docking station includes: a power supply unit including a switching mode power supply (SMPS) receiving AC power and generating DC power, and a charging unit configured to charge a battery by connecting a healthcare device; A communication unit equipped with a wireless modem for communication with a healthcare device and a PLC (Power Line Communication) modem for communication with a data concentration device; A healthcare device protocol processing unit for processing healthcare information transmitted/received through a wireless modem of the communication unit, a docking station protocol processing unit for processing information between data concentrators transmitted and received through a PLC modem of the communication unit, and healthcare information. A main control unit configured with a docking station database storing docking station information may be included and configured.

When there is a change in the settings of the healthcare device, the docking station may transmit a request for changing the settings to the healthcare device after receiving all of the healthcare information.

The docking station transmits the information to the data concentration device as soon as it receives emergency information from the healthcare device, and transmits the information to the data concentration device when there is a request for healthcare information from the data concentration device. It can have the transmission function of polling method at the same time.

The docking station includes a display device composed of an RTC (Real Time Clock) for time synchronization of the docking station, an LCD or LED indicating the operation status of the docking station, and an input device and a docking station for direct user control of the docking station. The installed indoor temperature, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, may be configured to further include an additional device configured to include an environmental sensor for measuring fine dust.

As described above, according to the docking station device for linking the healthcare device and the AMI communication network of the present invention, a healthcare device is used to collect health information of the elderly, and the health information measured by the healthcare device is AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure, intelligent power metering infrastructure) Provides to the elderly, guardians, 119 safety report centers, emergency medical institutions, etc. through a communication network to monitor the health condition and lifestyle of the wearer of the healthcare device at all times and to quickly respond in case of an emergency. It is to provide a healthcare device that allows the AMI communication network for power information exchange to be used for the construction of a social safety network for the elderly, and a docking station device for linking the AMI communication network.

1 is a diagram showing a healthcare system according to an embodiment of the present invention,
2 is a view showing a docking station device for linking a healthcare device and an AMI communication network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings in order to describe in detail so that those skilled in the art can easily implement the present invention.

With the explosive increase in interest in health in recent years, healthcare has established itself as a new industry area that is newly illuminated not only by individuals but also by companies and countries.

The ICT-based healthcare market is largely in the fields of telemedicine, mobile health, and EHR (Electronic Health Records), and continues to grow on the basis of rapid improvement in mobile and wireless technologies.

Accordingly, the government announced policies to revitalize the smart healthcare industry, leap to the 7th major bio-health powerhouse, support venture/small/mid-sized companies in the smart healthcare field, activate medical information exchange through telemedicine, and ICT convergence-based medical service. It is promoting the vitalization of the ICT-based medical industry through creation.

ICT, mobile, and sensor technologies are applied to mobile healthcare devices that measure health information such as ECG, heart rate, breathing pattern, sleep pattern, and stress index regardless of time and place.

In particular, mobile healthcare is creating a new trend by combining with wearable technology, and various devices are currently on the market.

To check the health information collected by the healthcare device (wearable mobile healthcare device), after linking the healthcare device and the mobile device through short-range wireless communication such as Wi-Fi, an app installed on the mobile device or a web application Use the program.

However, such a method has become a factor that prevents an elderly person from using a mobile device from using a healthcare device.

In addition, in terms of establishing a social safety net for the elderly, there is a need to share the health information in real time with guardians, emergency medical institutions, and 119 safety report centers, and a free or very inexpensive communication infrastructure is also required for this.

Recently, as the above-described communication infrastructure, attempts to use an AMI network have been actively conducted.

AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) is a communication infrastructure for power information metering. It collects various power information from smart meters installed in each home and provides a Data Concentration Unit (Data Concentration Unit) attached to the side pole near the customer. DCU) is equipped with a communication network that can be transmitted to the remote AMI operating system.

Accordingly, the present invention proposes a docking station for linkage between a healthcare device and an AMI communication network.

As shown in FIG. 1, a docking station device for linking a healthcare device and an AMI communication network according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a healthcare device 110, a docking station 130, and a data concentration device 150; Data Concentration Unit), a healthcare server 170, and a monitoring device 190 are included, and the health status or lifestyle of the elderly who is the target of the healthcare device 110, and the environment of the elderly dwelling This is to improve the quality of medical services for the elderly who are in the blind spot of care by constantly monitoring and promptly identifying and responding to emergencies.

The healthcare device 110 is a wearable mobile healthcare device worn on the wrist to measure health information of the elderly, and periodically measures the body signal of the wearer and measures the body signal. Based on the value, health information including blood pressure, body temperature, heart rate, and Saturation of Percutaneous Oxygen (SpO ₂ ) is determined.

The bio-signals measured by the healthcare device 110 and the determined health information are transmitted to the docking station 130 through Wi-Fi or LoRa wireless communication, and the communication protocol used is, for example, medical/healthcare. The device communication standard ISO/IEEE 11073 can be used or a non-standard proprietary protocol can be used.

The healthcare device 110 periodically transmits the corresponding bio-signal and health information according to the transmission period received from the docking station 130 when the transmission period is reached.

These transmission cycles can be manually set as needed.For example, if body temperature information is transmitted once per 30 seconds and heart rate is once per minute, body temperature information at 30 second intervals and heart rate information at 1 minute intervals can be transmitted. If the wearer of the healthcare device 110 is in a high-risk group, the period of transmission of the corresponding biometric signal or health information is shortened, and in the case of a low-risk group, vice versa, the quality of healthcare service and the battery of the healthcare device 110 are maintained. Time can be optimized.

That is, the healthcare device 110 collects health information of an elderly person who is a wearer at a predetermined period and transmits it to the docking station 130, and the docking station 130 stores the health information transmitted from the healthcare device 110. Then, when there is a request from the data concentrator 150, the corresponding information is transmitted to the data concentrator 150.

In addition, the healthcare device 110 may be provided in one or more according to the type of the wearer's housing including the docking station 130, and one or more healthcare devices each have a unique ID, so that mutual identification is possible. As possible, it is linked to one or more docking stations 130.

Subsequently, the data concentrator 150 stores health information transmitted from the docking station 130 and transmits the corresponding information to the healthcare server 170 upon request from the healthcare server 170.

Subsequently, the healthcare server 170 stores health information transmitted from the data concentrator 150 and monitors the information when there is a request for information through the monitoring device 190 installed with the healthcare application program. It is transmitted to the device 190 to be displayed through a healthcare application program.

On the other hand, if the cycle for collecting health information of the elderly who is the wearer in the healthcare device 110 is T1, and the cycle for requesting health information from the healthcare server 170 is T2, the collection cycle is a period of T2≥T1. Can have, and this period can be arbitrarily changed as necessary.

This is in consideration of the battery performance of the healthcare device 110, and the communication unit of the healthcare device 110 is normally maintained in the Sleep mode, and then switches to the Active mode only when health information transmission is required, and again when the health information transmission is terminated. By switching to the Sleep mode, battery consumption can be reduced.

Since the docking station 130 receives and stores health information transmitted from the healthcare device 110, there is no separate collection period.

In addition, if an emergency situation is determined from the health information determination result and exceeds the emergency criteria set in advance, for example, SpO ₂ 95% or less, systolic blood pressure 140mmHg or more, diastolic blood pressure 60mmHg or less, etc. , The healthcare device 110 itself generates an alarm and transmits a Push alarm message to immediately transmit the information to a preset monitoring device 190 provided by a guardian, 119 safety report center, and emergency medical institution.

That is, the healthcare device 110 analyzes the health information and immediately generates a push-type message when an emergency situation of the elderly to be worn occurs and transmits it to the docking station 130, and at this time, an alarm that can inform the surroundings of the emergency situation. It can cause sound, etc.

Subsequently, the push-type emergency message is displayed in the form of a Push notification on the monitoring device 190 through the docking station 130, the data concentration device 150, and the healthcare server 170.

Additionally, the healthcare device 110 performs time synchronization on all information generated by the healthcare device 110 by embedding a Real Time Clock (RTC) function for continuous health information monitoring of the elderly to be worn.

The docking station 130 is installed for linkage between the healthcare device 110 and the AMI communication network, and periodically communicates with the healthcare device 110 to generate biosignal information generated by the healthcare device 110, Collects and stores various information including health information, emergency information, and health care device status information.

As shown in FIG. 2, the docking station 130 includes a communication unit 131, a power supply unit 133, an additional device unit 135, and a main control unit 137.

The communication unit 131 is a wireless modem composed of a Wi-Fi or LoRa modem for wireless communication with the healthcare device 110, and a PLC (Power) for establishing an AMI communication network for performing communication with the data concentration device 150 in a PLC method. Line communication, power line communication) modem is installed and configured.

The power supply unit 133 may charge the battery by connecting a conventional SMPS (Switching Mode Power Supply) that generates DC power required for the operation of each unit of the docking station 130 from a commercial AC power source, and the healthcare device 110. It consists of a live part.

The additional device unit 135 monitors the real time clock (RTC) for time synchronization and the operation status of the docking station 130 (healthcare device connection, data concentration device connection, environmental sensor measurement value, healthcare device charging status, etc.). A display device composed of an LCD or LED to display, power ON/OFF, reset of the docking station 130, and a (user) input device for switching a screen displayed on the display device.

Focusing on the fact that the docking station 130 is installed indoors, a temperature sensor, an environmental sensor for measuring carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, etc., a fine dust sensor, an illumination sensor or an ultrasonic sensor for motion monitoring may be further included.

The docking station 130 has a structure in which the measured value of the corresponding sensor is read and stored in the docking station database according to a predetermined period, and when the data concentration device 150 requests sensor information, the measured value of the corresponding sensor is transmitted (health Same process as requesting care information).

Hereinafter, information stored in the docking station 130, that is, biosignal information and health information of an elderly person to be worn, environmental monitoring information of an elderly person's residence, health care device 110 status information, and docking station 130 status information, docking station The sensor information measured at 130 is referred to as healthcare information.

The main control unit 137 is based on an embedded system H/W including a conventional microprocessor or microcontroller, and flash memory, and processes healthcare information transmitted/received through the wireless modem of the communication unit 131. A docking station protocol processing unit for processing information between the healthcare device protocol processing unit for and the data concentration device 150 transmitted/received through the PLC modem of the communication unit 131, and a docking station storing healthcare information and docking station information. A database and a docking station control process that controls the entire operation of the docking station 130 are included.

The operation of the docking station 130 is as follows.

First, right after power is turned on to the docking station 130, the data concentrator 150 is requested to register a PLC modem.

The detailed PLC modem registration procedure follows the normal registration procedure of a PLC modem for establishing an AMI communication network, and when the registration procedure is successfully performed, the docking station 130 participates in the PLC network with the data concentrator 150 as a vertex. .

Subsequently, a wireless modem is activated so that one or a plurality of healthcare devices 110 can access the docking station 130 through a wireless modem to make a reception standby state, and a registration request of the healthcare device 110 through a wireless modem When a signal is received, the corresponding healthcare device 110 is registered with the docking station 130 and a process of setting a transmission period of healthcare information is performed.

The transmission period may vary depending on the type of healthcare information.

When the wireless modem of the docking station 130 is in a standby state and receives data from the healthcare device 110, it transmits the data to the healthcare device protocol processing unit.

Subsequently, the healthcare device protocol processing unit collects the received data and creates a packet in a protocol processing unit, and then determines the validity thereof, and a conventional CRC or the like can be used as a validity determination method.

A series of processes of storing the corresponding healthcare information in the docking station database are repeated by identifying the unique ID assigned to each healthcare device 110, determining the generation time, type, and value of the received healthcare information.

For reference, the protocol used to transmit healthcare information may use ISO/IEEE 11073, the international standard communication standard for medical/healthcare devices, or a separate protocol configured as shown in [Table 1].

In addition, the data concentrator 150 periodically requests information to be transmitted to the docking station 130, and the information requested to the docking station 130 includes the collected healthcare information and the docking station 130's own information (docking Station ID, PLC network information, wireless network information, operation information of each part of the docking station, etc.).

Subsequently, when the docking station 130 receives data from the data concentrator 150 through PLC communication, it transmits the data to the docking station protocol processing unit.

The docking station protocol processing unit collects the received data and creates a communication packet structure between PLC modems for AMI (see Table 2), and then extracts the MSG field.

A series of processes of identifying the unique ID given to each docking station in the MSG field, determining the time and type of docking station information generation, reading the information from the docking station database, and transmitting it to the data concentration device are repeated.

For reference, the communication packet structure between PLC modems for AMI in Table 2 is DA (Destination Address: Destination PLC MAC address), SA (Source Address: Source PLC MAC address), E-Type (PLC channel information, and automatic according to PLC communication status. Variable), SIGN(0x0005), SN(Sequence Number; PLC sequence number, automatically variable according to communication status), RSVD(Reserved), LEN(Length; byte unit length of MSG field), CMD(Command; 0x10 ), STA (Status; 0x30), MSG (Message; used to transmit docking station information in an n byte length message).

As an example of the implementation of the MSG field, it may be shown in Table 3.

Basically, in the docking station database, as shown in Table 4, time-synchronized healthcare information collected from each healthcare device (healthcare device ID/healthcare information generation time/healthcare information type (blood pressure, body temperature, oxygen saturation, posture) , Etc.)/Healthcare information actual value/Data type and unit of Value) are stored.

In addition, the docking station database may store its own information such as docking station ID, PLC network information, wireless network information, and operation information of each part of the docking station.

Subsequently, when the data concentrator 150 requests to change various settings of the docking station 130 or the healthcare device 110 through a PLC modem, the docking station 130 immediately changes the corresponding setting value.

Changes to the settings of the healthcare device 110 are carried out after receiving the healthcare information (the healthcare device normally operates in the Sleep mode to reduce battery consumption, so the docking station is at the point when the wireless modem becomes active. A command to change the setting value is transmitted to the healthcare device), and the setting value corresponds to a transmission period of the healthcare device 110, a reference time of the docking station 130 or the healthcare device 110, and the like.

In addition, the healthcare device 110 may transmit the emergency information to the docking station 130 in the form of a Push message when an emergency situation occurs as a result of determining the health information, and the docking station 130 collects data immediately after transmitting the Push message. Forwarding to the device 150 (unlike a preset data transmission period, emergency information generated due to event characteristics).

The Data Concentration Unit 150 is installed in the adjacent side pole (electric pole where the distribution transformer is installed) or in the ground transformer (distribution transformer installed on the side of the road in the form of an iron box) where the docking station 130 is located. As a result, it communicates with the in-house docking station 130 to periodically collect healthcare information and then transmits it to the healthcare server 170 at a remote location.

In more detail, the data concentrator 150 performs communication with the docking station 130 through a PLC modem in a high-speed PLC method, and between the data concentrator 150 and the healthcare server 170, an HFC modem or LTE Through modem, AMI Backbone Network composed of HFC (Hybrid Fiber Coaxial), LTE, etc. is used.

That is, information collected and stored from the docking station 130 is transmitted to the healthcare server 170 through the AMI communication network.

The healthcare server 170 collects and stores health information of the elderly and interlocks with a healthcare application program, and communicates with the data concentration device 150 to collect and store healthcare information, and based on this, the healthcare device ( 110) Health analysis information of the elderly who is the wearer (normal/boundary/risk group classification by health information, gender/similar age group comparative analysis data, etc.) is generated.

In addition, by transferring the emergency information transmitted from the healthcare device 110 to the monitoring device 190 installed with the healthcare application program in a Push method, the wearer of the healthcare device 110 in the guardian, 119 safety report center, emergency medical institution, etc. Emergency situations can be recognized immediately.

The monitoring device 190 is equipped with a health care application program and is possessed by the wearer or guardian of the health care device 110, or is provided in a 119 safety report center, emergency medical institution, etc., and the health care application program is By accessing the care server 170, healthcare information and health analysis information are provided to the user in the form of a web or an app.

Here, in order for the user to receive health care information and health analysis information, it is premised that the wearer of the health care band 110 or the wearer's legal representative agrees to provide and use personal information in advance.

In addition, the healthcare application program provides monitoring and setting functions for each device constituting the healthcare system, that is, whether the healthcare device 110 is worn and the state of charge, the docking station 130, and the data concentration device 150. to provide.

According to the docking station device for linking the healthcare device and the AMI communication network of the present invention as described above, a healthcare device is used to directly collect health information of the elderly, and the health information measured by the healthcare device is AMI ( Advanced Metering Infrastructure, intelligent power metering infrastructure) Provides to the elderly, guardians, 119 safety report centers, emergency medical institutions, etc. through a communication network to monitor the health status and life pattern of the health care device wearer at all times and to quickly respond to emergencies. By doing so, it is effective to utilize the nationwide AMI communication network for the exchange of power information to establish a social safety net for the elderly with a public interest.

In the above description, preferred embodiments of the present invention have been presented and described, but the present invention is not necessarily limited thereto, and those of ordinary skill in the technical field to which the present invention pertains within the scope not departing from the technical spirit of the present invention. It will be readily appreciated that many substitutions, modifications and changes can be made.

110: healthcare device 130: docking station
131: communication unit 133: power supply unit
135: additional device unit 137: main fisherman unit
150: data concentrator 170: healthcare server
190: monitoring device

Claims (7)

It is installed to link the AMI communication network with a healthcare device that periodically measures the wearer's bio-signal and determines the wearer's health information based on the measured value and transmits it to the docking station. A docking station that collects and stores various healthcare information including generated biosignal information, health information, emergency information, and health care device status information, and periodically transmits the stored healthcare information to the data concentration device.
A docking station device for linking a healthcare device and an AMI communication network, comprising: The docking station device according to claim 1, wherein the healthcare device periodically transmits corresponding healthcare information to the docking station according to a transmission period received from the docking station. The method according to claim 1, wherein the healthcare device has a unique ID and can be mutually identified, and may be provided in one or more depending on the wearer, and one or more healthcare devices are linked to one or a plurality of docking stations. A docking station device for linking a healthcare device and an AMI communication network, characterized in that. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the docking station comprises: a power supply unit comprising: a switching mode power supply (SMPS) receiving AC power and generating DC power, and a charging unit configured to charge a battery by connecting a healthcare device; A communication unit equipped with a wireless modem for communication with a healthcare device and a PLC modem for communication with a data concentration device; A healthcare device protocol processing unit for processing healthcare information transmitted/received through a wireless modem of the communication unit, a docking station protocol processing unit for processing information between data concentrators transmitted and received through a PLC modem of the communication unit, and healthcare information. A docking station device for linking a healthcare device and an AMI communication network, comprising a main control unit configured with a docking station database storing docking station information. The method of claim 1, wherein the docking station transmits a request for changing the settings to the healthcare device after receiving all the healthcare information when there is a configuration change of the healthcare device. Docking station device. The method according to claim 1, wherein the docking station receives the emergency information from the healthcare device and immediately transmits the corresponding information to the data concentration device, and transmits the corresponding information when a healthcare information request is received from the data concentration device. A docking station device for linking a healthcare device and an AMI communication network, characterized in that it simultaneously has a transmission function of a polling method transmitted to the data concentration device. The docking station according to claim 1, wherein the docking station comprises a display device comprising an RTC (Real Time Clock) for time synchronization of the docking station, an LCD or LED indicating the operation state of the docking station, and a user for directly controlling the docking station. Docking for linking an AMI communication network with a healthcare device, characterized in that it can further include an additional device unit configured with an environmental sensor that measures the temperature, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and fine dust in the room in which the input device and the docking station are installed Station device.

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