Patent ID: 8199000

Claim:
A wireless patient monitoring system comprising: a plurality of sensor nodes configured to acquire patient data from a patient; and a gateway device in bi-directional wireless communication with the plurality of sensor nodes for a plurality of defined communication frames, the gateway device configured to transmit a beacon signal to each of the plurality of sensor nodes at each of a plurality of frequencies; and wherein each of the plurality of sensor nodes are further configured to: receive the beacon signal from the gateway device; and transmit the acquired patient data to the gateway device at each of the plurality of frequencies; wherein the plurality of frequencies comprises a first frequency and a second frequency and the plurality of sensor nodes are further configured to tune to the first frequency to receive the beacon signal and tune to the second frequency if the beacon signal transmitted at the first frequency is not received within a pre-determined time limit; and wherein the gateway device is further configured to tune to the first frequency to receive the patient data and, if the patient data is not received within a pre-determined time limit, tune to the second frequency.