Multi-user remote health monitoring system with biometrics support
The invention presents a networked system for identifying an individual, communicating information to the individual, and remotely monitoring the individual. The system includes a remotely programmable apparatus that occasionally connects to a server via a communication network such as the Internet. The remotely programmable apparatus interacts with the individual in accordance with a script program received from the server Among other capabilities, the script program may instruct the remotely programmable apparatus to identify the individual, to communicate information to the individual, to communicate queries to the individual, to receive responses to the queries, and to transmit information identifying the individual and the responses from the remotely programmable apparatus to the server. Information identifying the individual may be obtained via a biometrics sensor, a data card, a remote monitoring device, or the interception of data from a separate information system. The information identifying the individual may be used by either or both the server system and remotely programmable apparatus for security, customization and other purposes. As the present invention has multi-user capabilities, it can be used in a public place, such as a pharmacy or health care clinic. The multi-user capabilities also allow collection and tracking of user data for the healthcare industry.
1. An apparatus, comprising:
a housing that is sufficiently compact to be hand-held and carried by a patient;
a measurement apparatus within said housing configured to (i) measure one or more health condition parameters of the patient and (ii) generate health data representative of the health condition parameters;
a recording device within said housing configured to store (i) the health data and (ii) identification data unique to each of one or more respective authorized users;
a port within said housing connected to the recording device and configured to download the health data and the identification data from the recording device to an external computer;
a display within said housing connected to the measurement apparatus and configured to display the health data such as to be viewable by the patient; and
a processor within said housing configured to (A) determine if the patient is one of the authorized users based on the identification data and (B) if the patient is authorized (i) receive a program through the port from the external computer, said program comprising an identification number, one or more queries and one or more sets of response choices corresponding to said queries, wherein said identification number of said program is different from said identification data of said one or more authorized users, (ii) execute the program to present said one or more queries and the one or more sets of response choices to the patient via the display, (iii) gather one or more responses from the patient to the queries and (iv) transmit the responses and the identification number of the program that gathered the responses to the external computer through the port.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the recording device records a medicine administration amount.
3. The apparatus of claim 1 , the housing having dimensions less than 20 centimeters.
4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a health condition of the patient includes a diabetes condition, said health condition parameters include a blood glucose parameter, said health data includes a blood glucose level, and said measurement apparatus includes a blood glucose meter.
5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the recording device records an insulin infusion amount.
6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the port is further configured to download the insulin infusion amount from the recording device to the external computer at a prescribed time according to a transmit command in the program.
7. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the port is further configured to download the blood glucose level from the recording device to the external computer before the external computer transmits the program to the apparatus.
8. The apparatus of claim 4 , further comprising a patient interface of the blood glucose meter, the patient interface allowing the blood glucose meter to perform a blood glucose measurement upon patient interaction with the patient interface.
9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the housing has a plurality of outer dimensions each less than 20 centimeters.
10. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a user interface including (i) a plurality of switches operable for interactively controlling said processor and for manipulating said health data displayed on said display and (ii) a circuit coupled to said plurality of switches for generating signals in response to operation of said switches, wherein said one or more responses gathered from said patient comprise one or more of said response choices presented on the display and selected by said patient via said plurality of switches.
11. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said processor is configured to determine if the patient is one of the authorized users based upon said identification data comprising biometric information.
12. The apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein said biometric information comprises at least one of retina metrics, iris metrics, voice print metrics, body measurement metrics, handwriting metrics, body odor metrics, heart beat signature metrics, and biometrics discernable from body fluids of the patient such as blood, urine or breath.
13. An apparatus, comprising:
a housing that is sufficiently compact to be hand-held and carried by a patient;
a measurement apparatus within said housing configured to (i) measure one or more health condition parameters of the patient and (ii) generate health data representative of the health condition parameters;
a recording device within said housing configured to store (i) a medicine administration amount of the patient and (ii) identification data unique to one or more respective authorized users;
a port within said housing connected to the recording device and configured to download the health data and the identification data from the recording device to an external computer;
a display within said housing (i) connected to the measurement apparatus and (ii) configured to display the health data such as to be viewable by the patient; and
a processor within said housing configured to (A) determine if the patient is one of the authorized users based on the identification data and (B) if the patient is authorized (i) receive a program through the port from the external computer, said program comprising an identification number, one or more queries and one or more sets of response choices corresponding to said queries, wherein said identification number of said program is different from said identification data of said one or more authorized users, (ii) execute the program to present the one or more queries and the one or more sets of response choices corresponding to the queries to the patient via the display, (iii) gather one or more responses from the patient to the queries and (iv) transmit the responses and the identification number of the program that gathered the responses to the external computer through the port.
14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the housing has a plurality of outer dimensions each less than 20 centimeters.
15. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein a health condition of the patient includes a diabetes condition, said health condition parameters include a blood glucose parameter, said health data includes a blood glucose level, said medicine administration amount includes an insulin infusion amount, and said measurement apparatus includes a blood glucose meter.
16. The apparatus of claim 15 , further comprising a patient interface of the blood glucose meter, the patient interface allowing the blood glucose meter to perform a blood glucose measurement upon patient interaction with the patient interface.
17. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the port is further configured to download the health data from the recording device to the external computer at a prescribed time according to a transmit command in the program received from the external computer.
18. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the housing has a plurality of outer dimensions each less than 20 centimeters.
19. An apparatus, comprising:
a housing that is sufficiently compact to be hand-held and carried by a patient;
a measurement apparatus within said housing configured to (i) measure one or more health condition parameters of the patient and (ii) generate health data representative of the health condition parameters;
a recording device within said housing configured to store (i) the health data, (ii) a medicine administration amount and (iii) identification data unique to each of one or more respective authorized users;
a port within said housing (i) connected to the recording device and (ii) configured to download the health data and the identification data from the recording device to an external computer;
a display within said housing (i) connected to the measurement apparatus and (ii) configured to display the health data such as to be viewable by the patient; and
a processor within said housing configured to (A) determine if the patient is one of the authorized users based on the identification data and (B) if the patient is authorized (i) receive a program through the port from the external computer, said program comprising an identification number, one or more queries and one or more sets of response choices corresponding to said queries, wherein said identification number of said program is different from said identification data of said one or more authorized users, (ii) execute the program to present one or more queries and the one or more sets of response choices to the patient via the display, (iii) gather one or more responses from the patient to the queries and (iv) transmit the responses and the identification number of the program that gathered the responses to the external computer through the port.
20. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein a health condition of the patient include a diabetes condition, said health condition parameters include a blood glucose parameter, said health condition parameter value includes a blood glucose level, said medicine administration amount includes an insulin infusion amount, and said measurement apparatus includes a blood glucose meter.
21. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the port is further configured to download the health data from the recording device to the external computer at a prescribed time according to a transmit command in the program received from the external computer.