Systems and methods for wireless processing and medical device monitoring using mobile computing devices

Abstract

A method according to the present invention includes receiving data wirelessly from a medical device by a mobile computing device, and formatting a message including the received data for transmission to a medical data server. This method can be practiced automatically to allow a medical device for a patient or other subject to be monitored without requiring the patient to manually enter information. This method also allows for multiple different medical devices to be monitored, even where such devices each communicate on different frequencies and/or using different communication protocols.

1 . A method comprising:
 receiving data wirelessly from a medical device by a mobile computing device; and   formatting a message for transmission to a medical data server by the mobile computing device, wherein the message includes the received data.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the mobile computing device includes a software program configured to:
 receive the data; and   process the data into a format compatible with the medical data server.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the medical device transmits the data in a frequency range selected from the group consisting of the medical implant communications service (MICS) frequency band, the frequency range of 402 MHz to 405 MHz, the Wireless Medical Telemetry Service (WMTS) frequency band, the frequency range of 608 MHz to 614 MHz, the frequency range of 1395 MHz to 1400 MHz, the frequency range of 1427 MHz to 1432 MHz, the frequency range 32 KHz to 175 KHz, and combinations thereof. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the medical device is selected from the group consisting of:
 a blood glucose meter;   a pacemaker;   a blood pressure monitor;   an insulin pump;   a pulse oximeter;   a holter monitor;   an electrocardiograph;   an electroencephalograph;   a blood alcohol monitor;   an alcohol breathalyzer;   an alcohol ignition interlock;   a respiration monitor;   an accelerometer;   a skin galvanometer;   a thermometer;   a patient geolocation device;   a scale;   an intravenous flow regulator;   a patient height measuring device;   a biochip assay device;   a monitor for biological agents;   a hazardous chemical agent monitor;   an ionizing radiation sensor;   a sphygmomanometer;   a loop recorder;   a spirometer;   an event monitor;   a prothrombin time (PT) meter;   an international normalized ratio (INR) meter;   a tremor sensor;   a defibrillator; and   combinations thereof.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further including receiving data wirelessly from a plurality of medical devices by the mobile computing device. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , further including displaying a list of devices whose data has been received. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising selecting, through a user interface, a subset of the displayed list of devices wherein the respective received data for the subset is transmitted to the medical data server. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 5 , further including formatting the data received from the plurality of medical devices into a message for transmission. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the data is received from plurality of medical devices on a plurality of frequencies. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the data is received from each of the plurality of medical devices on a respective on of the plurality of frequencies. 
     
     
         11 . A method comprising:
 receiving data wirelessly from a medical device by a mobile computing device;   formatting a message for transmission to a medical data server by the mobile computing device, wherein the message includes the received data; and   encrypting at least one of:
 the received data; 
 a portion of the received data; and 
 a digest of the received data. 
   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the medical device transmits the data in a frequency range selected from the group consisting of the medical implant communications service (MICS) frequency band, the frequency range of 402 MHz to 405 MHz, the Wireless Medical Telemetry Service (WMTS) frequency band, the frequency range of 608 MHz to 614 MHz, the frequency range of 1395 MHz to 1400 MHz, the frequency range of 1427 MHz to 1432 MHz, the frequency range 32 KHz to 175 KHz, and combinations thereof. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the encrypting utilizes an encryption key, the encryption key selected from the group consisting of:
 a private encryption key associated with the patient;   a private encryption key of a health care provider associated with the patient;   a public encryption key associated with an intended recipient; and   combinations thereof.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising generating the digest by presenting at least a portion of the received data to a hashing algorithm. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising decrypting the received data by the mobile computing device. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising authenticating the mobile computing device. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein authenticating the mobile computing device is performed using an authorization code. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein authenticating the mobile computing device is performed using a password received from the mobile computing device. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising validating the data received from the medical device, wherein validating the data received from the medical device further comprises analyzing at least one of:
 a medical device serial number;   a medical device identifier;   a patient identifier;   one or more parity bits;   a cyclic redundancy checking code; and   an error correction code.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 11 , further including receiving data wirelessly from a plurality of medical devices by the mobile computing device. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20 , further including displaying a list of devices whose data has been received. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising selecting, through a user interface, a subset of the displayed list of devices wherein the respective received data for the subset is transmitted to the medical data server. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 20 , further including formatting the data received from the plurality of medical devices into a message for transmission. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein the data is received from plurality of medical devices on a plurality of frequencies. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the data is received from each of the plurality of medical devices on a respective on of the plurality of frequencies.