Image analysis – Applications – Biomedical applications
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-23
2004-06-29
Boudreau, Leo (Department: 2621)
Image analysis
Applications
Biomedical applications
C382S232000, C379S106020, C600S301000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06757413
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to medical image transfer and control between a patient and a healthcare professional and, more particularly, to a high-resolution video snapshot capability that is integrated with a medical image transfer and control system that utilizes standard telephone lines and that accommodates a plurality of patient-used digital camera types while still providing the patient a substantially low-cost system.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Telemedicine home care providers equip patients with a monitoring unit that is placed in the patients home and connected to the home care nurse or other health care provider via the patient's existing telephone line. The monitoring unit typically allows voice, video, and data interaction between the patient and the nurse according to an H.324 standard. H.324 is defined as an International Telecommunications Union standard that provides point-to-point data, video, and audioconferencing over analog telephone lines (POTS) at a data transmission rate of 48 Kbps, however, in practice data transmission can occur at rates up to 2048 megabits per second. The monitoring unit provides for the ability transfer various medical data such as heart sounds, blood pressure, blood glucose, pulse oximetry, spirometry, and other data. The name sometimes applied to this complex set of activities is telehomecare.
In certain areas of the medical monitoring of a patient it is important or, in some cases crucial, that a telehomecare patient be able to transfer to the monitoring medical professional a high-resolution video snapshot. This is especially important in wound care management where the color and appearance of a wound must be discernable for an accurate diagnosis to be made and/or medical follow-up to occur.
Generally, all of the current telehomecare systems that provide patient users with a high resolution video snapshot capability require that the patient utilize a personal computer (PC) that has been equipped with a compatible video capture card to interface with various types of cameras. These systems are complex and, because they are PC-based, quite expensive due to the advanced electronic hardware that is used within the PC platform. These PC-based telehomecare systems, while technically advanced, often provide a telehomecare user with features that are too complicated to use or are simply unnecessary.
Those telehomecare systems that are not PC-based simply do not provide the user with a high-resolution video snapshot capability. Rather, the user is provided only with video snapshots that are low resolution and poor in color. The low resolution and poor color are due largely to the limitations of bandwidth in real time data transfer over telephone lines, i.e., the H.324 standard.
As such, there is a need for a medical image transfer system that provides the patient user with an in-home device that is capable of handling a number of medical devices, including various types of digital cameras, capable of providing high-resolution video snapshot capability over standard telephone lines while still providing a low-cost system to the user.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The needs described above are in large measure met by the low-cost medical image transfer and control system of the present invention. The medical image transfer and control system achieves its low cost by utilizing a non-PC based system and achieves its high-resolution snapshot capability by giving up real time video data transfer in favor of delayed video transfer.
The medical image transfer and control system of the present invention preferably utilizes a medical image snap-shot formatting device. This device generally includes a digital signal processor and a signal formatting component that is operably connected to the digital signal processor. The signal formatting component, e.g., controller or decoder, is designed to receive medical image snap-shot data from a camera and, if necessary, format the data to a digital format. The signal formatting component then forwards the digital data to the digital signal processor which operates to compress the data to a format suitable for transfer over a plain old telephone system (POTS).
The medical image snap-shot formatting device is designed so that it may be implemented within a new or existing patient system of a telemedicine system. The patient system preferably includes one or more cameras, for taking medical images, which are interfaced to the medical image snap shot formatting device. Within the patient system, the digital signal processor of the formatting device is operably connected to a second digital signal processor that generally performs the non-video functions for the patient system. The compressed medical image data produced by the digital signal processor of the formatting device is preferably passed through the second digital signal processor and out over the POTS to a medical professional system for viewing.
The formatting device may additionally include a second signal formatting component that format the medical image snap-shot data to a format suitable for use by a video monitor, which preferably forms part of the patient system. The patient system may additionally include various non-camera, medical peripherals such as a blood pressure meter, pulse meter, glucose monitor, a stethoscope, etc. The digital signal processor of the formatting device utilizes a compression algorithm which defines a compression loss percentage. Both the algorithm and the loss percentage may be adjusted remotely, over the POTS, through use of the medical professional system.
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American TeleCare, Inc.
Boudreau Leo
Miller Ryan J.
Patterson Thuente Skaar & Christensen P.A.
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