Wireless Synchronization for Vital Sign Sensors Using Beacon Messages
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vital sign sensors face challenges in achieving accurate synchronization, especially for rapidly changing vital signs like ECG, which is crucial for continuous and reliable medical monitoring, particularly when multiple sensors are used, as timing errors can lead to inaccurate data analysis.
Innovation Solution
A method and system for wireless synchronization between a master node and groups of vital sign sensors, utilizing beacon messages to control sampling events across sensors, adjusting counter values if necessary, and enabling synchronized sampling without physical cables, allowing for precise synchronization and data accuracy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If wireless synchronization is used between master node and sensors, then synchronization accuracy is improved, but system complexity increases due to beacon message management and counter adjustment mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces beacon messages as an intermediary mechanism to carry synchronization information from the master node to sensor nodes. These messages contain counter values that mediate the synchronization process, allowing sensors to align their sampling events with the master node without direct complex control wiring.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback through counter adjustment mechanisms. Sensors compare their local counters with received beacon message counters and adjust their sampling timing accordingly. This closed-loop feedback ensures synchronization accuracy is maintained despite variations in wireless transmission timing.
2Reliability
If sampling events are controlled by beacon messages, then simultaneous sampling across sensors is achieved, but timing errors may occur due to wireless transmission delays
Solution Approach 1:
The master node sends beacon messages in advance of the actual sampling event. These messages contain pre-calculated counter values that account for expected transmission delays. Sensors receive and process these messages ahead of time, allowing them to prepare their sampling events with proper timing compensation already built in.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts timing parameters by modifying counter values in beacon messages. When transmission delays vary, the master node changes the counter parameters in subsequent beacons to compensate, allowing the sampling timing to adapt to changing wireless conditions while maintaining synchronization.
3Measurement precision
If counter adjustment is implemented to correct synchronization errors, then measurement accuracy is improved, but additional processing time is required
Solution Approach 1:
Each sensor node autonomously performs counter adjustment based on comparisons with received beacon messages. The sensors self-correct their timing without requiring centralized control or complex inter-sensor communication. This distributed self-service approach minimizes processing overhead while maintaining accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The system adjusts counters only when necessary based on threshold comparisons. Rather than continuously modifying timing parameters, the system performs partial adjustments only when synchronization errors exceed acceptable limits, reducing unnecessary processing while maintaining measurement accuracy within tolerances.
Data Source
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AI summary
Method of performing a wireless synchronization between a master node and at least one group of a vital sign sensors in a sampling measurement arrangement, each group of vital sign sensors comprising at least one sensor unit, the method comprising sending out, by said master node, a beacon message; for each sensor: receiving, by a receiver, said beacon message, controlling, based on said beacon message, by a control unit, a sampling event in said sensor.