MODULAR TELEHEALTH CART WITH THERMAL IMAGING AND TOUCH SCREEN USER INTERFACE
A telemedicine system including a cart that allows for two-way audio/video conferencing between patients or local care providers and remote care providers or family members. The cart employs a modular design that allows its capabilities to be expanded to meet the needs of particular telemedicine applications. In addition, the cart provides thermal imaging and a user interface that allows local care provers to access various capabilities of the device while the device is not in session with a remote party.
1 . A telemedicine system comprising:
a cart that supports a controller coupled to a camera system, a touchscreen display, a microphone, a speaker, and a network, the controller is configured to display a user interface on the touchscreen display in response to a user input received via the touchscreen display, the user interface including at least a first selectable option that causes video captured by the camera system to be displayed on the touchscreen display when the system is not in session and a second option to transmit a request for consultation via the network,
wherein the controller is configured to establish a communication session with a remote device coupled to the controller via the network, the remote device including a camera, a display, a microphone, and a speaker and, during the communication session, the controller causes the touchscreen display to display video captured by the camera of the remote device.
2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the camera system includes a thermal camera.
3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the camera system includes a first optical camera with a first field of view.
4 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the camera system includes a second optical camera with a second field of view.
5 . The system of claim 4 , wherein the cart further comprises an articulating boom that supports a third optical camera coupled to the controller, the third optical camera having a third field of view.
6 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the third optical camera is a pan-tilt-zoom camera.
7 . The system of claim 6 , wherein the controller changes at least one of the pan, tilt, and zoom of the third optical camera in response to a user input provided via the touchscreen display.
8 . The system of claim 6 , wherein the controller changes at least one of the pan, tilt, and zoom of the third optical camera in response to a user input received from the remote station.
9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the camera system and the touchscreen display can be panned and tilted relative to the cart.
10 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the camera system and the touchscreen display are mechanically coupled such that they face in substantially the same direction and move together.
11 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the cart includes actuators configured to pan and tilt the camera system and the touchscreen display in response to commands received from the remote station.
12 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the actuators are configured to be manually repositioned by a person in the vicinity of the cart.
13 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the user interface displays a plurality of selectable consultation types that can be selected to request a consultation.
14 . The system of claim 13 , wherein selecting a first consultation type cause a consultation request to be transmitted to a first care provider and selecting a second consultation type causes a consultation request to be transmitted to a second care provider.
15 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the user interface includes a selectable option that causes the controller to display a medical form that can be completed via the touchscreen interface.
16 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller causes the user interface to display a prompt for a telephone number and subsequently transmits the consultation request to a telephone number provided by the user via the touchscreen interface in response to the prompt.
17 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the consultation request is transmitted via a Short Message Service protocol and includes a uniform resource locator.
18 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the recipient of the consultation request can select the uniform resource locator to activate an application that establishes the communication session with the controller.
19 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the user interface includes a selectable option for a language translation service.
20 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the cart includes a removable peripheral bay that includes a plurality of communication ports coupled to the controller.