Message integrity for secure communication of wireless medical devices

Abstract

A system for securely synchronizing medical devices and providing message integrity with timeliness and uniqueness (10) includes a plurality of medical wireless devices (121, 122, . . . , 12n). The medical devices (121, 122, . . . , 12n) communicate wirelessly with one another. Each message (M) includes a data portion and a timestamp. Each medical device (121, 122, . . . , 12n) includes a sensor (14) which is attached to a patient to monitor a common vital sign. The medical devices (121, 122, . . . , 12n) are synchronized when the sensor (16) of each medical device detects a peak of the vital sign function. At this moment, internal clocks of each medical device (121, 122, . . . 12n) are zeroed and each internal timer starts counting time. Thus, the medical devices are loosely synchronized at approximately the same time. Each generated message (M) is timestamped with a sent time (TSEND) generated by a time count. The generated time stamp (TSEND) of the message (M) is validated against a receive time (TRECEIVE) of the receiving medical device internal clock count. If the message (M) arrives out of the prespecified acceptance window, the message (M) is rejected by the receiving medical device

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to medical technology. The present invention finds particular application in connection with medical wireless devices, and the invention is described with particular reference to this aspect. However, it should be understood that the present invention will also apply to other similar medical devices. Background technique [0002] Wireless medical devices are increasingly used in continuous care monitoring to form a body area network around a single patient. When the sensor nodes are attached to the patient's body, a body area sensor network is formed instantly. In BANs, medical devices communicate peer-to-peer using ZigBee, Bluetooth, or other existing short-range wireless technologies. Each medical device provides a set of medical services and may require access to a set of medical services provided by other devices. [0003] It is very important to ensure that the information transmitted by wireless medical devices a...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Also, because these devices are battery operated and the time base is cleared whenever the medical device battery dies, the time base cannot be preset throughout the life of these devices

Additionally, their individual internal clocks will drift over time

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