Patent Publication Number: US-2010131280-A1

Title: Voice recognition system for medical devices

Description:
BACKGROUND  
     The present invention relates to a control system for medical devices and, more particularly, to a voice recognition system for controlling medical devices, such as maternal and infant care devices. 
     There are, of course, many differing medical devices that are used in the care of patients, including, but not limited to, monitors that continually monitor a patient under care. Such monitors are often used with birthing mothers and/or neonatal infants, commonly referred to as maternal and infant care devices. In addition, there are, of course, also many times when it is necessary to communicate with the medical device, such as to input a command, change a setting, silence an alarm, and/or the like. 
     One of the difficulties encountered when using such medical devices, however, is that they are often located in rooms with lots of activity, e.g., a labor and delivery room or nursery, such that the need to change a control setting or provide a command input manually, e.g., by turning a knob or other input at the site of the device, can distract the caregiver from the primary responsibility of caring for the patient. 
     In addition, it is often desirable to maintain clean and/or sterile conditions around the patient, and the potential risks of caregivers spreading germs by physically touching the controls of medical devices are well-known. One cross-contamination solution is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,733,437 to Mackin et al., wherein an alarm silence switch of an infant care apparatus, for example, is activated by a proximity switch when a caregiver waves a hand in close proximity to a particular sensor. With such a system, the caregiver does not need to physically touch the medical device. However, while eliminating some of the problems of cross-contamination, such systems still force the caregivers to move to a position close to the medical device in order to activate the proximity switch, and it thereby removes and/or distracts the caregiver away from the patient. 
     Another system, using voice recognition, is also disclosed in U.S. Pat. App. No. 2008/0082339 to Li et al., which provides a device that receives voice commands to control certain operations of an oximeter. While that device communicates by a wireless protocol with the oximeter, the wireless device only sends a signal to the oximeter in order to lock or unlock the oximeter from a voice command mode, and it does not send command signals to control any actual operation of the oximeter. In addition, it incorporates the voice command into the oximeter itself, and it therefore remains inconvenient for the caregiver currently attending to a patient to operate effortlessly. Moreover, voice activation at the oximeter is subject to interference by numerous other sounds within the room. 
     Accordingly, while voice recognition is useful and allows a caregiver to direct attention toward a patient rather than a medical device, there is an inherent difficulty in using such systems in most locations, such as, e.g., a nursery, where loud and high pitched cries of infants can cause interference with attempted oral communication between the caregiver and medical device. 
     Accordingly, it would be advantageous to have a system capable of sending commands to a medical device by means of a caregiver&#39;s voice, without requiring the caregiver to physically move towards the device and/or touch the device, yet which commands can be separated from other interference and/or sounds within a given room, ideally without distracting the caregiver from the primary responsibility of caring for the patient. 
     SUMMARY  
     The present system is particularly well-suited for use with maternal and infant care devices. However, it can also be used with numerous other medical devices used to support and/or monitor a patient or the patient&#39;s environment. Nevertheless, some of the inventive arrangements will be particularly described as used in a labor and delivery room and/or neonatal intensive care units (NICU), wherein infant cry, for example, is often commonplace and unavoidable. Oftentimes, infant cry comprises a high pitch, loud sound, and it makes voice recognition at a medical device, such as a monitor for example, difficult. As such, the present system provides a remote controller that is separated from a particular medical device that is being controlled, such that the remote control device can be held in the hand of the caregiver. 
     The system allows for hands-free operation to provide certain commands to the medical device, such that the caregiver can concentrate on the primary responsibility of caring for the patient, such as an infant. There is, therefore, no need to interrupt or otherwise discontinue caring for the patient in order to access a knob or button or the like on the medical device. 
     The caregiver&#39;s voice commands are received by the remote control device, and those signals are then processed by the remote control device and transmitted to the patient device. By such an arrangement, the voice commands are free from other interference within the room, such as the cries of an infant in a nursery, and the command signals are reliably transmitted and received by the patient device for controlling same. 
     In addition, by utilizing a remote control device that can be held by a caregiver, commands can be spoken into the remote control device in a low and/or muted voice, including a whisper, so as to not disturb the patients being attended to in the room, and which is particularly advantageous, for example, when infants or other patients are sleeping. 
     As such, with the inventive arrangements, processing the voice of the caregiver occurs in the remote control device, which includes a voice wave receiver, such as a microphone, that receives the caregiver&#39;s commands. Such a system can include a speech analyzer that analyzes the speech and recognizes the voice as one that is authorized to give commands to the patient device. If, therefore, for example, an unauthorized user (or other ambient noise and/or the like) attempts to enter voice commands into the remote control device, those voice commands are not recognized and are not accepted into the system as having the authority to command the medical device. 
     Preferably, the remote control device also includes a command assignment function that receives the voice commands after the commands have been recognized as coming from an authorized caregiver and recognizes a particular command that the caregiver desires to enter into the patient device, such as an oral command of “alarm silence.” Such a command can then be converted into digital signals and sent wirelessly to an appropriate patient device. 
     In one exemplary embodiment, for example, a preferred wireless protocol is the ZigBee protocol, which can be particularly advantageous with the inventive arrangements due to its low power requirements. With other popular protocols, on the other hand, such as Bluetooth, many devices currently use that technology for wireless transmission, and thus, the signals can be subject to interference from other devices. Accordingly, the ZigBee protocol is preferred, although other wireless protocol systems, such as WMTS (Wireless Medical Telemetry System), can also be used with the same advantages as the ZigBee protocol. 
     The wirelessly transmitted signals represent voice commands and are preferably received by a receiving module at the medical device, which may or may not be physically incorporated thereinto. When not incorporated into the patient device, the receiving module can be a stand alone device that can be placed in communication with the patient device and/or retrofitted into other existing medical patient devices. 
     As a further option, the remote control device may contain a recording medium as well so that the caregiver can record, for example, the first sounds of a newborn infant or a commentary on the status of the infant or patient for later downloading and/or subsequent review/playback. 
     These and other features and advantages of the inventive arrangements will become readily apparent from the following detailed description, particularly when taken in conjunction with the drawings herewithin. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
         FIG. 1  is a schematic view of a system comprising the inventive arrangements; 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic view of the remote control device of the inventive arrangements of  FIG. 1 ; and 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic view of the receiving module of the medical device of the inventive arrangements of  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTIVE ARRANGEMENTS  
     Referring now to  FIG. 1 , there is shown a schematic view of the system of the inventive arrangements, showing a caregiver  10  caring for a patient (not shown). In the exemplary embodiment, the patient may be a birthing mother, located, for example, in a labor and delivery room, or an infant located in a nursery or NICU unit. As explained, the inventive arrangements are particularly well-suited for use in maternal and/or infant care environments and will be hereafter described as such. However, it will also be seen that the inventive arrangements can also be used in other environments where caregivers and/or the like attend to patients and/or the like. 
     In any event, in the exemplary environment, the caregiver  10  operates a remote control device  12  that, as will be later explained, is configured to transmit digital signals by a wireless protocol via an antenna  14  to a patient device  16  having a receiving module  18  communicating therewith via an antenna  20  to receive such digital signals. The receiving module  18  receives and interprets the digital signals to carry out some function at the patient device  16  in accordance with the inventive arrangements. 
     The patient device  16  can be any of a variety of monitors that provide continuous or periodic monitoring of a patient, for example, a birthing mother or a newborn infant, and it conventionally includes a receiving input device  22 , such as a knob or keyboard, to input alarm settings, parameters, and/or other information into the patient device  16 . The patient device  16  also conventionally includes a display  24 , where certain parameters or sensed functions can be displayed for the caregiver  10 . The receiving module  18  can be physically incorporated into the patient device  16 , or in communication therewith and in general close proximity therewith, such as a receiving module  18  that can be separated from the patient device  16  and/or retrofitted thereto. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 2 , taken along with  FIG. 1 , there is shown a schematic view of the remote control device  12  used in carrying out the inventive arrangements. More specifically, the remote control device  12  includes a voice wave receiver  26 , such as, e.g., a microphone, which receives voice waves  28  from the caregiver  10  in initiating the present system. In the exemplary embodiment, these voice waves  28  carry a command to the patient device  16  to be executed thereby. Typical commands by a caregiver  10  may include, for example, silencing an alarm or altering a setting of the patient device  16 , and such functionality would otherwise be carried out by a physical action at the patient device  16 , likely through the input device  22  and/or display  24  thereof, thereby removing and/or distracting the caregiver  10  from the primary responsibility of caring for the patient. 
     Preferably, the remote control device  12  also includes an enable function  30  that allows the caregiver  10  to enable and disable the remote control device  12 , that is to say, the caregiver  10  may, by operating the enable function  30 , either activate or inactivate the function of the remote control device  12 . As such, and as will be seen, when the enable function  30  is not activated, the remote control device  12  will not accept and process commands from the caregiver  10 , such that the caregiver  10  only enables the remote control device  12  when the caregiver  10  desires to give a command thereto. 
     Preferably, the remote control device  12  also includes a software module  32  that contains software that can carry out these inventive arrangements. For example, a speech analyzer  34  may be programmed to recognize a particular caregiver&#39;s  10  voice, so that the remote control device  12  knows that a command is being given by an authorized caregiver  10  and not someone that otherwise lacks authority to operate the system. As such, if a particular voice is not recognized by the speech analyzer  34 , then the remote control device  12  does not accept or respond to the command. 
     If, on the other hand, the speech analyzer  34  recognizes the particular caregiver&#39;s  10  voice, then the particular command issued by the caregiver  10  is analyzed by a command assignment  36 , whereby the command is recognized as requesting a specified action of the patient device  16 . The command can also be pre-recorded on the patient device  16  so that the software module  32  can recognize a particular command and execute same by providing an appropriate instruction to the patient device  16 . Preferably, the recognized command is then also formatted by a protocol format  38 , whereby the software module  32  converts the command into a digital signal by some wireless protocol. In the exemplary embodiment, for example, a preferred wireless protocol is the ZigBee protocol, which is particularly advantageous for the present application since it is a low cost, low power standard, which advantageously allows, for example, longer life with smaller and/or fewer batteries and utilizes a mesh network to enable sufficient reliability and ranges. Other wireless protocols and/or technology can also be used, such as Bluetooth and/or WMTS (Wireless Medical Telemetry System). 
     Preferably, the actual software utilized in the software module  32  can be conventional, commercially available software, and the software for the speech analyzer  34  and command assignment  36  can be written by one of ordinary skill in the art of software creation without difficulty and/or as a routine matter. 
     Preferably, the command, now in a wireless format, is transmitted by a wireless transmitter  40  via the antenna  14  of the remote control device  12 . Preferably, the transmission of digital signals in accordance with the wireless protocol is not affected by sound interference, such as by the crying of infants and/or the like. 
     Other features may also be present on the remote control device  12 , such as, for example, an optional display  42  that enables the caregiver  10  to read certain functions, such as the status of the remote control device  12 , and/or a USB (Universal Serial Bus) input port  44  that can allow the caregiver  10  to interface with other devices, such as a mouse, keyboard, PDA, and/or the like, so that the caregiver  10  can manually input instructions into the remote control device  12  as an option to using voice commands. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 3 , taken along with  FIGS. 1 and 2 , there is shown a schematic view of the receiving module  18  of the patient device  16 , such as a patient monitor, that is conventionally present in a room where a patient is located and which monitors a condition of the patient, such as a birthing mother and/or newborn infant. As can be seen, the receiving module  18  preferably includes a wireless receiver  46  to receive the digital signals, as detected by an antenna  20  of the receiving module  18 , and those signals are provided to another software module  48 . In this instance, the software module  48  preferably includes a protocol decoder  50 , whereby the received digital signals can be decoded from the wireless protocol and into decoded signals having the command from the caregiver  10  incorporated thereinto. 
     Preferably, those signals are analyzed by a command handler  52 , which determines and extracts a particular command recognized thereby. Preferably, the command, now recognized, proceeds through a GUI (Graphical User Interface)  54  that interfaces between the command and a main application  56  of the patient device  16 , whereby the command can be carried out by the patient device  16  as originally commanded by the voice of the caregiver  10 . 
     As previously stated, the receiving module  18  can be physically incorporated into the patient device  16 , or it may also comprise a separate device that can be connected thereto, so as to communicate with the patient device  16 . Preferably, the receiving module  18  includes all of the components needed to receive digital signals, decode the protocol, execute commands, and interface with the main application  56  of the patient device  16 . As such, in one exemplary embodiment, the receiving module  18  can be a stand alone device that is connected so as to communicate with the patient device  16  and can be retrofitted to existing patient devices currently used in patient care facilities. 
     Those skilled in the art will recognize that numerous adaptations and modifications can be made to the inventive arrangements for communicating commands to the patient device  16 , yet still will fall within the spirit and scope hereof, particularly as defined in the following claims. Accordingly, the inventive arrangements are limited only by the following claims and/or their equivalents.