Safe identification and association of wireless sensors

Abstract

A wireless sensor network for wirelessly monitoring a medical subject includes a plurality of sensor nodes (22, 24, 26, 122, 124, 126). Each sensor node includes a wireless transceiver (46) for sending and receiving wireless messages, a sensor (40, 42, 130, 132, 140, 142) monitoring a characteristic of the medical subject, and a processor (50). The processor is programmed to at least perform an authentication method including: (i) acquiring sensor data via the sensor for a predetermined time (76) responsive to receiving a wireless trigger message; (ii) storing an association code (60, 150, 152, 160, 162) computed from the acquired sensor data; and (iii) authenticating a subsequently received wireless message containing an association code tag by comparing the association code tag with the stored association code. The processor further attaches the stored association code as the association code tag in messages sent to other sensors.

Description

technical field [0001] The following relates to the field of medical monitoring. Medical monitoring has particular application to, and will be described with particular reference to, wireless autonomous sensor networks. More generally, medical monitoring applies to wireless medical sensors and wireless monitoring of medical patients. Background technique [0002] Patients entering a hospital typically arrive at the hospital's emergency room where they are connected to various vital sign monitoring sensors such as electrocardiogram (ECG) sensors, blood pressure sensors, blood oxygen saturation (SaO 2 ) sensors and so on. These vital signs are monitored by emergency room staff and are used to diagnose the condition and determine whether the patient should be admitted and, if so, which medical unit to direct the patient to (e.g. intensive care unit, cardiac care unit, respiratory care unit, admission, etc.). [0003] The patient is then transferred from the emergency room t...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

This method has the disadvantage that human intervention is usually required in order to assign a network identification number

Furthermore, this approach can be prone to errors, for example, if the same network ID is assigned to two networks in close proximity, or if medical personnel inadvertently forget to reassign the sensor when it is placed on a new patient

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