System and method for non-intrusive health monitoring in the home
A hand-held device, such as a remote control, is provided for operation of a consumer appliance and is equipped with one or more biometric sensors to capture and report on the health condition of a user of the hand-held device. The data captured by such a hand-held device may be evaluated locally in the hand-held device itself or may be conveyed to a target consumer appliance either for local evaluation by that consumer appliance or for onward transmission to a central off-site monitoring service.
1. A health monitoring device, comprising:
a processing device;
a memory device storing instructions executable by the processing device;
a wireless receiver coupled to the processing device;
a wireless transmitter coupled to the processing device; and
at least one biometric sensor coupled to the processing device;
wherein the instructions, when executed by the processing device, cause the health monitoring device to:
receive a first biometric data capture routine activation signal;
receive a second biometric data capture routine activation signal
determine a time interval between receiving the first biometric data capture routine activation signal and the second biometric data capture routine activation signal;
transition the at least one biometric sensor from a disabled state to an enabled state when the time interval exceeds a threshold time interval provided to the health monitoring device by a further device in communication with the health monitoring device via the wireless receiver; and
cause a signal having data indicative of a biometric measurement taken by the at least one biometric sensor whilst the at least one biometric sensor is enabled to be transmitted to the further device via the wireless transmitter.
2. The health monitoring device as recited in claim 1 , further comprising an output device coupled to the processing device wherein the processing device causes the output device to present information to a user related to the biometric measurement taken by the at least one biometric sensor whilst the at least one biometric sensor is enabled.
3. The health monitoring device as recited in claim 1 , wherein the health monitoring device comprises a housing having a first housing element and a second housing element between which a finger of a user is to be inserted as the user holds the health monitoring device and wherein constituent parts of the at least one biometric sensor are located on each of the first housing element and the second housing element.
4. The health monitoring device as recited in claim 3 , wherein one of the first housing element and the second housing element comprises a cantilevered element associated with the housing.
5. The health monitoring device as recited in claim 4 , wherein the cantilevered element is located on a bottom side of the housing and wherein a top side of the housing opposite the bottom side of the housing carries a user interface which is coupled to the processing device.
6. The health monitoring device as recited in claim 1 , wherein the wireless receiver comprises a radio frequency receiver.
7. The health monitoring device as recited in claim 1 , wherein the wireless receiver comprises an infrared receiver.
8. The health monitoring device as recited in claim 1 , wherein the wireless transmitter comprises a radio frequency transmitter.
9. The health monitoring device as recited in claim 1 , wherein the wireless transmitter comprises an infrared transmitter.
10. The health monitoring device as recited in claim 1 , further comprising a panic button activatable to cause the processing device to issue an emergency alert communication via the wireless transmitter to the further device.
11. The health monitoring device as recited in claim 1 , wherein the health monitoring device is a remote control and the further device is a home entertainment device controllable via use of the remote control.
12. The health monitoring device as recited in claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processing device, cause the at least one biometric sensor to be transitioned from the enabled state back to the disabled state prior to an expiration of a predetermined enablement time interval in response to the processing device determining that the signal having data indicative of the biometric measurement taken by the at least one biometric sensor whilst the at least one biometric sensor is enabled was transmitted to the further device via the wireless transmitter.
13. The health monitoring device as recited in claim 1 , wherein the second biometric data capture routine activation signal is received via the wireless receiver from the further device.
14. The health monitoring device as recited in claim 1 , wherein the second biometric data capture routing activation signal is received via an activation of an input element associated with the health monitoring device.