Medical and personal data retrieval system
A system for confidentially retrieving data from a person, such as by authorized personnel. One embodiment provides a data carrier item such as jewelry, having encrypted data imparted upon the item in manner that is only intelligible after being unencrypted. Such data can be encrypted and/or invisibly disposed such that the data is not identifiable by the public, but can be quickly and accurately retrieved by authorized personnel.
1. A system for providing health-related information about a person, comprising:
a data carrier comprising an existing article of the person and which is coupled about or carried by said person, wherein the existing article has an alerting indication configured for visible coupling about said person;
a two-dimensional barcode indicative of the health-related information, the barcode being detachably or permanently affixable to the data carrier, wherein the alerting indication is further configured so as to be recognizable to another person as indicating the presence of said barcode; and,
a microprocessor which is programmed to wirelessly receive information of the barcode optically scanned via a wireless device.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the data carrier and the alerting indication is at least affixed to an article of outwardly worn apparel.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the existing article further has an encrypted data affixed to the existing article.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein said alerting indication comprises an icon or symbol indicative of the presence of the barcode.
5. The system of claim 1 , the wireless device comprises a cell phone programmed to detect and recognize said barcode.
6. The system of claim 1 wherein the microprocessor is located at a remote database server provided.
7. The system of claim 1 wherein the barcode is invisible to an observer.
8. A method of providing health-related information about a person, comprising:
providing a two-dimensional barcode indicative of the health-related information about the person, the barcode being detachably or permanently affixable to an existing article which is coupled about or carried by the person, wherein the existing article has an alerting indication configured for visible coupling about the person so as to be recognizable to another person as indicating the presence of said barcode;
optically scanning the barcode with a wireless device configured to detect and recognize said barcode;
processing scanned information from the barcode at a location remote from the wireless device; and
displaying the health-related information corresponding to the scanned information upon the wireless device.
9. The method of claim 8 wherein providing the alerting indication comprises providing an icon or symbol indicative of the presence of the barcode.
10. The method of claim 8 wherein providing the barcode further comprises providing the barcode which is invisible to an observer.
11. The method of claim 8 wherein optically scanning comprises optically scanning the barcode with a cell phone configured for optical detection.
12. The method of claim 11 wherein processing scanned information comprises wirelessly transmitting the scanned information via the cell phone.
13. The method of claim 11 wherein displaying the health-related information comprises displaying the health-related information upon the cell phone.