Wireless Relay Network Architecture for Medical Device Monitoring
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing network architectures for medical device monitoring face challenges in providing reliable and secure communication between medical devices and centralized monitoring locations, especially when patients are remotely located from critical care health service centers, due to limited transmission ranges of ZIGBEE networks and the unavailability of traditional local area networks.
Innovation Solution
A network architecture that employs wireless relay modules to communicate between medical devices and remote monitoring devices via a ZIGBEE mesh network, which can switch to an internet-accessible wireless wide-area network (WWAN) for secure data transmission, ensuring connectivity even when WWAN access is initially unavailable, using a controller to manage data transmission between relay modules.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If ZIGBEE networks are used for wireless communication between medical devices and monitoring systems, then low power consumption and dynamic configurability are achieved, but transmission range is limited to several hundred feet
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces wireless relay modules as intermediary devices that receive data from ZIGBEE medical devices and forward it via cellular networks. This mediator approach extends the effective transmission range beyond ZIGBEE's inherent limitations while maintaining low power consumption at the medical device level.
Solution Approach 2:
The communication system is segmented into two distinct parts: a low-power ZIGBEE network for local medical device-to-relay communication, and a cellular network for long-distance relay-to-monitoring system communication. This segmentation allows each segment to optimize for its specific requirement.
2Length of moving object
If traditional local area networks (WiFi) are used for centralized monitoring, then sufficient network access and transmission range are achieved, but network security concerns and reliance on existing infrastructure arise
Solution Approach 1:
The relay modules act as security intermediaries that terminate the wireless connection at the facility boundary. Data is then transmitted via cellular networks to remote monitoring systems, eliminating the need for medical devices to directly access potentially insecure local area networks while maintaining secure communication channels.
3Reliability
If cellular transceivers are integrated into each medical device for long-range communication, then transmission range and reliability are improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the cellular communication functionality into separate relay modules rather than integrating it into each medical device. This consolidation reduces complexity and cost at the medical device level while maintaining reliable long-range communication capabilities through the relay infrastructure.
4Reliability
If relay modules use both ZIGBEE and cellular transceivers for dual-network communication, then connectivity reliability is improved, but module complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The relay modules implement dynamic network selection and switching capabilities, automatically choosing between ZIGBEE and cellular networks based on availability and conditions. This dynamic approach improves reliability without requiring complex manual configuration or fixed dual-network architectures.
Data Source
AI summary
An architecture for networked communications between a series of medical devices and a remote monitoring device. An interface circuit coupled to each medical device communicates with one of a plurality of relay modules via a wireless relay network. The relay modules communicate with the remote monitoring device over an internet-accessible wireless communication network. Each relay module includes a receiver coupled to the wireless relay network, a first transmitter coupled to the wireless relay network, a second transmitter coupled to the internet-accessible wireless communications network; and a controller. The controller determines a status of the internet-accessible wireless communications network. When the status indicates that the internet-accessible wireless communications network is accessible to the wireless relay module, the second transmitter is selected for transmitting medical device data. When the internet-accessible wireless communications network is not accessible, the first transmitter is selected for transmitting the data to another wireless relay module.