What is it?

The Personal Health Monitor software is capable of monitoring the health of cardiac patients using a smart phone and various wireless sensors.

The smart phone analyses, in real-time, data wirelessly received from sensors, such as your electrocardiogram (ECG).

The smart phone can send this electrocardiogram, in real time, to heart specialists. If a person experiences chest pain and is unable to call an ambulance, the smart phone also sends automated voice and text messages to their cardiologist and other emergency numbers programmed into it.

The Personal Health Monitor software can be personalised, allowing rehabilitation programs to monitor the progress of a patient. These programs can then be used for advice (e.g. exercise more), or to reassure the patient that their vital signs are normal.

How it works

The following figure shows an overview of the system.

The patient has one or more sensors (e.g. ECG and Accelerometer) attached to their body. External devices are also used, such as a Blood Pressure Monitor and Weight Scale, to periodically collect additional health data.

We use ‘off-the-shelf’ technology, enabling us to incorporate the best sensors available as they appear on the market. The sensors are Bluetooth enabled or integrated with the smart phone (e.g. GPS).

The smart phone processes the sensor data and monitors the patient’s wellbeing. In case of an emergency, it automatically calls an ambulance to the location of the patient. It can also warn caregivers or family members via SMS or phone when the patient is in difficulty.

The data collected by the smart phone can be transmitted to the health care data server via the Internet. A patient can upload the data whenever the smart phone is connected to the Internet via a USB cable to a computer or by being directly connected through a wireless network. This efficiently uploads data that is not time critical. However, in case of an emergency, updates are immediately transferred to the data server using the best connection available (e.g. NextG, 3G).

The specialist can access the data server via a secure Internet connection to remotely monitor a patient, and, if necessary, update the threshold levels for the sensors. Relevant sensor data is stored in the patient’s health record and can be used for further analysis.

Key features

Local Processing: The Personal Health Monitor software runs on your mobile phone. It analyses and stores vital sign data on the phone, providing instant personal feedback to the user. It reacts instantly to dangerous irregular heart beats. External help can be summoned immediately, as the first 5-10 minutes after an attack is crucial.

Location detection: In case of an emergency your location is determined using GPS or WiFi scanning.

Instruct bystanders: In case of a cardiac arrest the application loudly plays a message with instructions for bystanders so they can assist. This improves the chances of survival after such an event.

Automatic dialling: The application will automatically ring and SMS pre-assigned numbers if an emergency occurs.

Flexibility: Use of standard hardware (mobile phone) and sensors using Bluetooth for their wireless communication.

Personalisation: The patient can choose his/her phone and telecom provider, select the sensors s/he needs, select the caregivers s/he wants to warn, and the threshold levels are set to his/her condition.