U.S. patent application number 10/679113 was filed with the patent office on 2004-04-08 for medical information system.
Invention is credited to Iwano, Kenji, Miyazaki, Jinsei.
Application Number | 20040068422 10/679113 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 18611937 |
Filed Date | 2004-04-08 |
United States Patent
Application |
20040068422 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Miyazaki, Jinsei ; et
al. |
April 8, 2004 |
Medical information system
Abstract
A medical information system has a patient terminal device, a
server, and an administrator terminal device, characterized in
that: the patient terminal device, the server, and the
administrator terminal device are connected together on a network;
the patient terminal device includes sensors having functions for
measuring information used as indices of the condition of a
patient's health; part for transferring measured data obtained by
the sensors to an interior of the patient terminal device; part for
transferring the measured data from the sensors to the server via
the network; and part for accepting control information from the
server, and has a function of taking action based on the control
information; the server includes part for transmitting the control
information to the patient terminal device; and part for storing
and sorting out the measured data transferred from the patient
terminal device; and the administrator terminal includes part for
viewing the measured data stored and sorted out in the server.
Inventors: |
Miyazaki, Jinsei; (Osaka,
JP) ; Iwano, Kenji; (Nara, JP) |
Correspondence
Address: |
ALLAN RATNER
SUITE 301
ONE WESTLAKES, BERWYN
P.O. BOX 980
VALLEY FORGE
PA
19482-0980
US
|
Family ID: |
18611937 |
Appl. No.: |
10/679113 |
Filed: |
October 3, 2003 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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10679113 |
Oct 3, 2003 |
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09653814 |
Sep 1, 2000 |
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6656115 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
705/2 ;
709/203 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G16H 40/40 20180101;
G06Q 10/10 20130101; G16H 10/60 20180101; G16H 40/63 20180101; G16H
40/67 20180101; Y10S 128/904 20130101; G16H 30/20 20180101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/002 ;
709/203 |
International
Class: |
G06F 017/60; G06F
015/16 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Mar 31, 2000 |
JP |
2000-097,301 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A medical information system, comprising a patient terminal
device, a server, and an administrator terminal device,
characterized in that: said patient terminal device, said server,
and said administrator terminal device are connected together on a
network; said patient terminal device includes sensors having
functions for measuring information used as indices of the
condition of a patient's health; means for transferring measured
data obtained by said sensors to an interior of said patient
terminal device; means for transferring said measured data from
said sensors to said server via the network; and means for
accepting control information from said server, and has a function
of taking action based on said control information; said server
includes means for transmitting the control information to said
patient terminal device; and means for storing and sorting out said
measured data transferred from said patient terminal device; and
said administrator terminal includes means for viewing said
measured data stored and sorted out in said server.
2. The medical information system according to claim 1,
characterized in that said server has a function for managing
information unique to a user using said patient terminal device and
can supply individual data or individual control information to
said patient terminal device based on the information unique to
said user.
3. The medical information system according to claim 1,
characterized in that said sensors comprises at least one of a
clinical thermometer, a hemadynamometer, a pulsimeter, a blood
sugar level meter, a saturated blood oxygen densitometer, scales, a
fat meter, a stethoscope, an electrocardiograph, a still image
pickup device, an animation image pickup device, and a
spirometer.
4. The medical information system according to claim 1,
characterized in that said server possesses predetermined schedule
information for individual patients and transmits a request to said
patient terminal device in accordance with the schedule
information, said patient terminal device takes act-on depending on
the request.
5. The medical information system according to claim 4,
characterized in that said server compares said schedule
information with measured data transferred from said patient
terminal device in terms of time to change said schedule.
6. The medical information system according to claim 5,
characterized in that if the measured data is transmitted from the
patient terminal ahead of a scheduled time and the difference in
time is within an allowable range, said server changes the schedule
to avoid said request corresponding to the measured data.
7. The medical information system according to claim 4,
characterized in that if the measured data is transmitted from said
sensors before said request has been transmitted and the difference
in time between a measuring time and said subsequently transmitted
corresponding request is within an allowable range, said patient
terminal device does not take action depending on the request.
8. The medical information system according to claim 1,
characterized in that said patient terminal device possesses
schedule information on the patient transmitted from said server,
to take action in accordance with the schedule information.
9. The medical information system according to claim 8,
characterized in that said patient terminal device compares said
schedule information with the measured data transferred from said
sensors in terms of time to change said schedule.
10. The medical information system according to claim 9,
characterized in that if the measured data is transmitted to the
patient terminal device ahead of a scheduled time and the
difference in time is within an allowable range, said patient
terminal device changes the schedule to avoid said action
corresponding to the measured data.
11. The medical information system according to claim 4,
characterized in that in the case when said patient terminal device
does not receive measured data from the sensors within a
predetermined time after taking action, it takes action for warning
that the patient has forgotten to make measurements.
12. The medical information system according to claim 8,
characterized in that in the case when said patient terminal device
does not receive measured data from the sensors within a
predetermined time after taking action, it takes action for warning
that the patient has forgotten to make measurements.
13. The medical information system according to claim 1,
characterized in that said server possesses threshold values for
data that depend on the condition of each patient's health and has
a function for transmitting a signal to said administrator terminal
device via a network in the case when the measured data transferred
from said patient terminal device deviate from said threshold
values.
14. The medical information system according to claim 1,
characterized in that said patient terminal device possesses
threshold values for data that depend on the condition of each
patient's health and has a function for transmitting a signal to
said administrator terminal device via a network in the case when
the measured data transferred from said patient terminal device
deviate from said threshold values.
15. The medical information system according to claim 1,
characterized in that said server stores at least part of software
driving said patient terminal device or/and said administrator
terminal device and has a function operating when said software is
updated, to automatically update said software in said patient
terminal device or/and said administrator terminal device.
16. A medium carrying programs and/or data for allowing a computer
to execute all or some of functions of all or some of means or
devices of the present invention according to any of claims 1 to
15, characterized in that the medium can be processed by the
computer.
17. An information assembly, characterized by comprising programs
and/or data for allowing a computer to execute all or some of
functions of all or some of means or devices of the present
invention according to any of claims 1 to 15.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to a remote medical technology
for transmitting data between a practitioner and a remote patient
by using a network.
[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0004] Despite an increased lifetime expectancy resulting from
improved medical technologies, what is called aging of society,
that is, an increase in the ratio of the number of aged people to
the population, becomes a global problem. In the aging society, the
incidence of chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart diseases, and
rheumatism increases necessarily. It is a great burden or pain on
patients with chronic diseases to go to hospital for a long period
of time, while practitioners must spend too long a time in treating
such patients to undertake more critical treatments.
[0005] In these circumstances, remote medical systems using
computer communications have been proposed. In a typical example, a
patient terminal comprises a computer having sensors such as a
clinical thermometer and a hemadynamometer connected thereto to
communicate a remote computer possessed by a practitioner. Thus,
the patient can make basic measurements at home without going to
hospital and is required to visit the practitioner only if the
patient must truly be treated, thereby reducing the burdens on both
patient and practitioner.
[0006] However, the number of chronic-disease patients to be
treated by one practitioner has been increasing rapidly, so that
the above described on-to-one communications do not necessarily
improve any substantial medical efficiency in that the practitioner
must spend an amount of time treating each patient.
[0007] In view of these conventional situation, it is an object of
the present invention to provide a medical information system that
can improve the medical efficiency without making any burden for
the practitioner.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] The 1.sup.st invention of the present invention
(corresponding to claim 1) is a medical information system,
comprising a patient terminal device, a server, and an
administrator terminal device, characterized in that:
[0009] said patient terminal device, said server, and said
administrator terminal device are connected together on a
network;
[0010] said patient terminal device includes sensors having
functions for measuring information used as indices of the
condition of a patient's health; means for transferring measured
data obtained by said sensors to an interior of said patient
terminal device; means for transferring said measured data from
said sensors to said server via the network; and means for
accepting control information from said servers and has a function
of taking action based on said control information;
[0011] said server includes means for transmitting the control
information to said patient terminal device; and means for storing
and sorting out said measured data transferred from said patient
terminal device; and
[0012] said administrator terminal includes means for viewing said
measured data stored and sorted out in said server.
[0013] The 2.sup.nd invention of the present invention
(corresponding to claim 2) is the medical information system
according to the 1.sup.st invention, characterized in that said
server has a function for managing information unique to a user
using said patient terminal device and can supply individual data
or individual control information to said patient terminal device
based on the information unique to said user.
[0014] The 3.sup.rd invention of the present invention
(corresponding to claim 3) is the medical information system
according to the 1.sup.st invention, characterized in that said
sensors comprises at least one of a clinical thermometer, a
hemadynamometer, a pulsimeter, a blood sugar level meter, a
saturated blood oxygen densitometer, scales, a fat meter, a
stethoscope, an electrocardiograph, a still image pickup device, an
animation image pickup device, and a spirometer.
[0015] The 4.sup.th invention of the present invention
(corresponding to claim 4) is the medical information system
according to the 1.sup.st invention, characterized in that said
server possesses predetermined schedule information for individual
patients and transmits a request to said patient terminal device in
accordance with the schedule information, said patient terminal
device takes action depending on the request.
[0016] The 5.sup.th invention of the present invention
(corresponding to claim 5) is the medical information system
according to the 4.sup.th invention, characterized in that said
server compares said schedule information with measured data
transferred from said patient terminal device in terms of time to
change said schedule.
[0017] The 6.sup.th invention of the present invention
(corresponding to claim 6) is the medical information system
according to the 5.sup.th invention, characterized in that if the
measured data is transmitted from the patient terminal ahead of a
scheduled time and the difference in time is within an allowable
range, said server changes the schedule to avoid said request
corresponding to the measured data.
[0018] The 7.sup.th invention of the present invention
(corresponding to claim 7) is the medical information system
according to the 7.sup.th invention, characterized in that if the
measured data is transmitted from said sensors before said request
has been transmitted and the difference in time between a measuring
time and said subsequently transmitted corresponding request is
within an allowable range, said patient terminal device does not
take action depending on the request.
[0019] The 8.sup.th invention of the present
invention(corresponding to claim 8) is the medical information
system according to the 1.sup.st invention, characterized in that
said patient terminal device possesses schedule information on the
patient transmitted from said server, to take action in accordance
with the schedule information.
[0020] The 9.sup.th invention of the present invention
(corresponding to claim 9) is the medical information system
according to the 8.sup.th invention, characterized in that said
patient terminal device compares said schedule information with the
measured data transferred from said sensors in terms of time to
change said schedule.
[0021] The 10.sup.th invention of the present invention
(corresponding to claim 10) is the medical information system
according to the 9.sup.th invention, characterized in that if the
measured data is transmitted to the patient terminal device ahead
of a scheduled time and the difference in time is within an
allowable range, said patient terminal device changes the schedule
to avoid said action corresponding to the measured data.
[0022] The 11.sup.th invention of the present invention
(corresponding to claim 11 and 12) is the medical information
system according to the 4.sup.th or 8.sup.th invention ,
characterized in that in the case when said patient terminal device
does not receive measured data from the sensors within a
predetermined time after taking action, it takes action for warning
that the patient has forgotten to make measurements.
[0023] The 12.sup.th invention of the present invention
(corresponding to claim 13) is the medical information system
according to the 1.sup.st invention, characterized in that said
server possesses threshold values for data that depend on the
condition of each patient's health and has a function for
transmitting a signal to said administrator terminal device via a
network in the case when the measured data transferred from said
patient terminal device deviate from said threshold values.
[0024] The 13.sup.th invention of the present invention
(corresponding to claim 14) is the medical information system
according to the 1.sup.st invention, characterized in that said
patient terminal device possesses threshold values for data that
depend on the condition of each patient's health and has a function
for transmitting a signal to said administrator terminal device via
a network in the case when the measured data transferred from said
patient terminal device deviate from said threshold values.
[0025] The 14.sup.th invention of the present invention
(corresponding to claim 15) is the medical information system
according to the 1.sup.st invention, characterized in that said
server stores at least part of software driving said patient
terminal device or/and said administrator terminal device and has a
function operating when said software is updated, to automatically
update said software in said patient terminal device or/and said
administrator terminal device.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0026] FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing the configuration of a
network for a medical information system according to one
embodiment of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS
[0027] 1 Client
[0028] 2 Server
[0029] 3 Host
[0030] 4 WAN
[0031] 10 CPU
[0032] 21 Main DB
[0033] 22 Schedule DB
[0034] 23 Threshold DB
[0035] 24 Patient information DB
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0036] An embodiment of the present invention will be described
below. A medical information system according to the present
invention comprises a patient terminal device (hereafter referred
to as a "client"), a server (hereafter referred to as a "server"),
and an administrator terminal device (hereafter referred to as a
"host"), which are connected together on a network.
[0037] The client has sensors having functions for measuring
information used as indices of the condition of a patient's health,
means for transferring measured data obtained by the sensors to an
interior of the client, means for transferring the measured data
from the sensors to the server via the network, and means for
accepting control information from the server. The client also has
a function for taking action based on the control information.
[0038] The server has means for storing and sorting out the
measured data transferred from the client, while the host has a
function for viewing the measured data stored and sorted out in the
server.
[0039] In the medical information system according to the present
invention, the server is not a simple site to which data are stored
but constitutes a system acting as a center in taking action. The
server can request the client to take action such as turning-on or
-off of a sleep state of the client terminal, a data transfer
command, and a measurement indication.
[0040] To realize these operations, all information may be placed
only in the server, which transmits control signals from the
server. Alternatively, the control information is stored in the
client so that the client can solely carry out the above described
control. The control information, however, is also stored in the
server, and management of the information such as listing or
changed is executed on the server.
[0041] For data from the sensors, threshold values are stored on
the server for each patient so that when data are transferred to
the server, the server can compare the current data with the
threshold values to find errors in order to determine action must
be taken. The server take actions such as warning against the host
or the client.
[0042] Alternatively, the threshold information for each patient
which is managed on the server is transferred to the client
beforehand so that the client can compare this information with the
data to take action such as a warning to the client, the server, or
the host.
[0043] (Embodiment 1)
[0044] Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be explained in
detail below with reference to FIG. 1. This figure is a schematic
view showing the configuration of a network for a medical
information system according to one embodiment of the present
invention. A client 1 has an 1) interface 11 for transferring data
from sensors such as a clinical thermometer, a hemadynamometer, a
sphygmograph, a blood glucose meter, a saturated blood oxygen
densitometer, an electrocardiograph, and a spirometer to a CPU 10,
an 2) analog sound signal input interface 12 having a stethoscope
connected thereto, an 3) interface 13 having an electronic camera
for still images connected thereto, and an 4) interface 13 having a
video camera for animations (desirably a digital video camera)
connected thereto.
[0045] According to this embodiment, however, data from the scales
and the spirometer, which are displayed on these sensors, are
manually read and input on the computer in order to reduce costs
and because these sensors do not necessarily require automatic
inputs.
[0046] Additionally, a power module 14 can turn on or off a power
supply to the client 1 in response to a signal from the server 2.
Motherboard in recently commercially available computers generally
have a function called Wake On Call that operates if no operation
has been performed for a fixed period of time after power-on, to
enter a mode where the CPU 10 is driven at a low speed to power
down a hard disc, a display, and other peripheral devices in order
to reduce power consumption, that is, to enter a sleep state and
then to clear this state to return to regular operations on
receiving a signal from a modem or a LAN.
[0047] According to the present invention, the Wake On Call is
treated as a kind of operation for turning on or off the power
supply. In fact, the Wake On Call can reduce the costs of the main
body more sharply than the use of the power module 14 for complete
turn-on and -off operations. It can also reduce the time required
for recovery. Thus, this embodiment uses the Wake On Call
function.
[0048] The server 2 also has a 1) main database 21 that stores all
data from the patient, a 2) schedule database 22 that stores
schedules for temporal actions, a 3) threshold database 23 that
stores threshold values for the data, and a 4) patient information
database 24 that stores patient's personal information, which are
all managed by so-called database software.
[0049] Next, the databases (hereafter simply referred to as "DBs"),
on which operations are based, will be described. First, the
schedule DB22 is shown in (Table 1).
1 Patient Patient A Patient B . . . Power-on 7:00 8:00 Power-off
20:30 22:00 Temperature 8:00, 13:00 8:10 Blood pressure 8:00, 13:00
14:00 Pulse rate Oxygen concentration 14:00, 19:00 Blood sugar
level 8:00, 13:00, 20:00 ECG 15:00 Weight 14:00 Fat 14:00
Stethoscope 13:00 Image 16:00 Data transfer OEM OSD
[0050] One file contains schedules for all patients. More
specifically, the horizontal axis indicates patient names or client
identification numbers, while the vertical axis indicates all
action items. Each section shows a point of time at which the
action is taken for the patient, but the number of data in each
section is not necessarily one but may vary depending the section.
For example, a patient A must have his or her temperature measured
at 8:00 and 13:00, so that the two points of time are described in
the corresponding section by inserting a comma therebetween.
[0051] Next, the main DB 21 (the patient A's data of Dec. 1, 2000)
is shown in (Table 2).
2TABLE 2 Time data were obtained 200012010802 200012011302
200012011602 200012012002 Temperature 36.6 36.5 Blood pressure
(maximum) 185 190 Blood pressure (minimum) 125 128 Pulse rate 68.5
71.5 Oxygen concentration Blood sugar level 205.2 125.8 115.0 ECG
Weight Fat Stethoscope S12010802AB Image C12010802AB
[0052] One file is provided for each patient or each date. The
horizontal axis indicates the points of time when the data were
obtained, while the vertical axis indicates each data item. The
data are essentially described in a text format but the stethoscope
data is an audio file and is so large that only the file name is
described. The ECG data and the image are also so large that only
their file names are described. The first character of the
description identifies the type of data; that is, S indicates a
stethoscope, C indicates images, and E indicates ECG (is not
contained in the data sections in this embodiment). The subsequent
number indicates a date and a point of time, and the two final
characters are the patient's ID.
[0053] Naturally-enough, the main DB 21 has a large file
configuration. Accordingly, an optimal configuration method may
vary depending on the system configuration or database software
used In short, it is important to efficiently store the patient
names or client ID numbers, the times when the data were obtained,
the data types, and the data contents.
[0054] Next, the threshold DB23 is shown in (Table 3).
3 TABLE 3 Patient A Patient B Patient C Patient X Temperature 37.0
38.0 38.0 38.0 Blood pressure X 150 150 150 (maximum) Blood
pressure X 60 60 60 (minimum) Pulse rate (maximum) 150 120 120 120
Pulse rate (minimum) X X X X Oxygen concentration 90 85 90 90 Blood
sugar level 200 120 120 120 Weight D1000 U70.0 L48.5 D1000 Fat 40
35 35 35
[0055] A threshold value of each measured item is described for
each patient. For example, the patient A is abnormal if his or her
temperature exceeds 37.0.degree., but a patient B is normal until
his or her temperature exceeds 38.0.degree.. In the table, Xs are
shown in several sections, meaning that, for example, the blood
pressure abnormal value is not monitored for the patient A.
[0056] These descriptions are provided because too many abnormal
values may complicate corresponding actions to cause more critical
abnormal values to be missed. For similar reasons, since, a general
abnormal value of, for example, the blood sugar level is well
known, this value may be applied to all the patients. A diabetes
patient, however, constantly shows an abnormal value, so that a
rapid change in this patient may be missed. To prevent this,
threshold values for each patient are still important. Three types
of descriptions are found in the weight section. The patient B is
shown with U70.0, which means that the patient B is abnormal when
his or her weight exceeds 70.0 kg. Likewise, a patient C is shown
with L48.5, which means that 48.5 kg or lower is an abnormal value.
Additionally, D1000, described for the patient A, means that the
patient is abnormal when the difference between the current and
preceding measured values is 1,000 g.
[0057] A specific operation of the medical information system
configured as described above will be described taking the patient
A by way of example.
[0058] Although the client 1 is basically powered all day long, it
is not used at night and thus automatically sleeps during this
period of time.
[0059] First, at 7 o'clock, the schedule DB 22 on the server 2
detects a power-on state. The server 2 uses the patient information
DB24 to extract a telephone number of the client device 1 used by
the patient A, and makes a call to this number. When the call is
transmitted to the client 1 possessed by the patient A, the client
1 uses the Wake On Call function to leave the sleep state to start
a normal operation.
[0060] At 8 o'clock, the server 2 detects that the patient A must
measure his or her temperature, blood pressure, and blood sugar
level. The server 2 uses the patient information DB24 to extract
-he telephone number of the client device 1 used by the patient A,
makes a call to this number to establish a network connection, and
then displays a message on a screen of the client, prompting the
patient to make measurements.
[0061] The message displayed is, for example, "Measurement Time.
Measure Temperature, Blood Pressure, and Blood Sugar Level".
[0062] In addition, the patient is prompted to measure the
temperature, blood pressure, and blood sugar level and allow a
stethoscope measurement to be measured at 13:00, to photograph an
image at 16:00, and to measure the blood sugar level in a similar
manner at 20:00.
[0063] The pulse rate section of the scheduling DB22 in this
embodiment is empty, but since typical hemadynamometers and oxygen
densitometers also measure the pulse rate, the pulse rate is
automatically measured when the blood pressure or the oxygen
concentration is measured even if a point of time is not
specified.
[0064] Similarly, after power-on is detected at 8 o'clock, the
patient B is prompted to measure the temperature at 8:10, measure
the blood pressure, oxygen concentration, weight, and fat at 14:00,
measure the ECG at 15:00, and measure the oxygen concentration at
19:00.
[0065] The data measured as described above are, first of all,
recorded in a storage device (in this case, a hard disc) in the
main body of the clients. Subsequently, the data are transferred
using timings corresponding to settings on the server 2. These
timings are described in the data transfer section of the
scheduling DB22. As shown in Table 1, possible contents of the
descriptions include a transfer each time measurements are made
(OEM: On Every Measurement), a transfer at the end of the day (OSD:
On Shut Down), or a time specification (in this case, for example,
fifteen twenty-five is 15:25).
[0066] Since the patient A is shown with the OEM description, data
are transferred whenever the measurements are made. This method is
characterized in that the practitioner can determine the patient's
condition with the smallest temporal delay but is unsuitable for a
system with a larger number of clients integrated therewith because
the line is disadvantageously occupied for a long period of
time.
[0067] On the other hand, the patient B is shown with the OSD
description. In this case, when the server delivers a power-off
signal to the client at 22:00, the client transfers all the data
for the day and then enters an off state (in this case, the client
sleeps). The advantages and disadvantages of this method are
opposite to those of the OEM; since all the data are delivered with
a single connection, latency required to establish the network is
shortened to save the period of time that the network is occupied.
On the contrary, the practitioner reads data delayed by 12 hours at
maximum.
[0068] A compromise between these methods is to set transfer times
for each patient, but this method requires cumbersome settings and
management and is thus not employed for this embodiment.
[0069] Once the data have been transferred as described above, they
are registered in the main database 21. For example, the patient
A's data of Dec. 1, 2000 indicate that the temperature, blood
pressure, pulse rate, blood sugar level, and stethoscope data were
recorded at 8:02 (the top row shows an acceptance date and time in
the order of year, month, day, and time. That is to say, in this
case, 200012010802 is shown.)
[0070] The scheduled measuring time is 8:00, while the actual
measuring time is 8:02; that is, there is a difference of two
minutes between these times. More specifically, when each data is
obtained, a header section there includes information on the
measuring time. Thus, even if the data transfer is set for the OSD,
the accurate measuring time is recorded.
[0071] Here, the server 2 compares the data measuring time with the
descriptions in the scheduling DB to determine whether or not the
scheduled measurements have been made. When a fixed period of time
(in this embodiment, 30 minutes) has passed after the scheduled
time, the server 2 transmits another type of alarm signal to the
client 1, and the client 1 displays a more precise alarm message
with an unpleasant beep sound instead of a simple prompt
message.
[0072] On the contrary, patients who have much experience in
measurements understand that their measurement time is about 8:00,
and may make measurements at 7:55. If the patient make measurements
a head of the schedule, results of the measurements are considered
to be formal, for example, if the difference in time is equal to or
shorter than 10 minutes, that is, an allowable value. That is, the
patient is not warned of the scheduled measurements at 8:00 and the
subsequent warnings are avoided. That is, the server 2 changes the
schedule. On the contrary, if the measurements are made more than
10 minutes ahead of the schedule, for example, at 7:30 in the above
example, these measurement data are ignored and the patient is
warned of the scheduled measurements at 8:00. That is, the schedule
is not changed.
[0073] Alternatively, the server 2 may not carry out such a process
but the client 1 may compare the request transmitted from the
server 2 based on the schedule with the results of measurements
from the sensors to determine whether the difference in time is
smaller than the allowable value. If the difference is smaller than
the allowable value, the data are considered to be formal. If the
difference is larger than the allowable value, the data are
neglected.
[0074] The server 2-can compare the data transferred as described
above with the descriptions in the threshold DB24. For example, the
patient A obtained a blood sugar level of 205 at 8:02 on Dec. 1,
2000, which value exceeds a threshold of 200 specified for this
patient. On detecting this, the sensor 2 can take various
actions.
[0075] In this case, when such data from the server 2 are viewed on
the host 3, the characters are displayed with red. Thus, until the
practitioner uses the host 3 to view the data, abnormal values are
not found.
[0076] Accordingly, to communicate information in more real time,
an electronic mail may be automatically transmitted, for example,
to an information terminal carried by the practitioner, the mail
stating that, for example, "patient A measured a blood sugar level
of 205 at 8:02 on Dec. 1, 2000, compared to a threshold value of
200".
[0077] (Embodiment 2)
[0078] In the above described Embodiment 1, all the information is
placed only in the server 2. In this case, management is simplified
but a network connection must be established each time action must
be taken. Consequently, there is a redundant time loss of about one
minute between a call between computers and the establishment of
the network, and frequent actions may degrade performance. This
will not be a problem if constantly connected WANs 4 are
generalized in the future, but the degraded performance currently
poses a problem because modem connections with analog telephone
lines are generally used.
[0079] To prevent the degraded performance, this embodiment
transmits all actions, for example, power-on and off and measuring
times for each sensor from the server 2 to the client 1 beforehand
as schedule information and stores this information in the client
1. The contents of an action plan are the same as those in (Table
1).
[0080] The client 1 can detect times while sleeping. At set points
of time, the client 1 starts up automatically to enter a normal
state, while displaying a message such as a greeting. First, the
client 1 is automatically connected to the server 2 to check
whether or not the schedule has been changed. More specifically,
when the client 1 is connected to the server 2, it searches the
server 2 for its own schedule to check the date when the schedule
was prepared. If a schedule is present which has been created later
than the one possessed by the client 1, the client 1 automatically
loads it to update the schedule to the latest.
[0081] The client 1 subsequently performs operations such as
warnings of scheduled measurements, data transfers, and power-off
based on the descriptions in the schedule.
[0082] In this case, as described in Embodiment 1, the client 1
also compares the schedule possessed thereby with the results of
measurements from the sensors. When the measurements were made
ahead of the schedule and if the difference in time is smaller than
the allowable value, the results are considered to be formal and
the patient is not warned of the measuring time. If the difference
in time is larger than the-allowable value, the results are
neglected because they are out of the scheduled range.
[0083] The present invention is media carrying programs and/or data
for allowing a computer to execute all or some of the functions of
all or some of the above described means or devices according to
the present invention, the programs and/or data being readable by
the computer and being read to execute the functions in cooperation
with the computer.
[0084] The data include data themselves as well as data structures,
data formats, and data types.
[0085] The media include recording media such as ROMs, transmission
media such as the Internet, and transmission media such as optical,
electric, and acoustic waves.
[0086] The carrying media include, for example, recording media
having the program/data recorded thereon, transmission media for
transmitting the program/data, and the like.
[0087] The expression "the media can be processed by the computer"
means that the recording media such as ROMs can be read by the
computer or the transmission media can be handled by the computer
as a result of a transmission.
[0088] The information assembly includes, for example, software
such as programs and/or data.
[0089] As described above, the configuration of the present
invention may be implemented using software or hardware.
[0090] As described above, the present invention enables the entire
medical information system connecting a patient's home and a remote
practitioner together via a network to systematically function as
an entire system to provide society with efficient medical
treatments as have not been realized by the prior art.
* * * * *