X-Message-Number: 6989
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 1996 11:29:18 -0700
From: Hara Ra <>
Subject: Lifeline Bracelet Project Tech Note #1
Life Line Bracelet Project, Technical Note #1
September 25, 1996
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Contact me at:
Intro:
======
Here is a more detailed description of Life Line Bracelet
Project. Two more documents are in progress:
TECH02 - Initial minimum system description
TECH03 - Intended basic system description
Your comments are invited; please send them via email.
Fees:
=====
No decisions have been made regarding the cost of this service
once it is available. As a general principle, those who provide
donations will be given credit in the amount of their donation.
As long as this project remains within the cryonics community,
fees will be based on actual costs. My time is donated to this
project at no charge.
An Immediate Solution:
======================
Go to Radio Shack and purchase the "Personal Emergency Phone
Dialer", RS part number 61-2659. Set this unit up to call your
cryonics provider's 24 hour hot line and state your name and
phone number in the recorded message. Alternatively, sign up for
the optional hot line service and instruct your account to inform
your cryonics provider. The unit costs $99 by itself and $149
when bundled with the hot line service.
This is the unit I will be using for the initial version of the
LLB system, so purchasing one of these will reduce your costs
when the LLB is available.
Admittedly this will not detect cessation of life, but in many
cases there will be sufficient warning to let you press the
button on the pendant.
This device is also integrated with the power line home
controller system (They used to be made by BSR) devices offered
by Radio Shack.
If any of you do this, please let me know.
Implants:
=========
Implantable devices are not an immediate option. They are
attractive technologically but carry two major burdens, the FDA
and the medical devices industry. The FDA likes drugs and hates
electronic devices. The medical devices industry likes to make
money. The cryonics market is tiny, so much so that as usual,
we'll have to do it ourselves.
Though implants are technically feasible now, I don't expect they
will be available for at least a decade....
Integration with Communication Services
=======================================
Integrated devices come with a profound requirement that they are
cheap to manufacture. This requires a vast market, and very
minimal implementations. From a marketing point of view, a
notification of loss of vital functions will mostly just tell the
ambulance drivers to turn off their sirens and call the
mortician. There are medical situations where a few minutes make
a lot of difference, so this is not entirely without hope.
One area which may prove amenable is to become involved in
creating standards for medical and security notification services
integrated with personal electronics. If anyone has connections
in this field I want to know about it.
As mentioned in the Update01, this process will take several
years. The most difficult part is persuading a manufacturer that
providing these functions makes sense in terms of the larger
market.
General Components:
===================
This section describes the components in general. More technical
details will be provided in another forthcoming document.
We have these parts:
Sensor
Button Box
Base Station
Responder
Sensor:
-------
The Sensor is attached to the body or has some direct physical
relation to it. Some examples are:
Stethoscope
Oxygen monitor
Breathing strap
Motion detector
Bed motion detector
Most of these are cumbersome or limited to a single locale. A
motion detector looks minaturiazable to bracelet size. The others
are uncomfortable to wear or have high power requirements. I am
open to other sensor technology suggestions.
A lightweight Sensor means it has a very limited energy capacity,
at the maximum about that of two nickel sized lithium cells. Its
small size limits the amount of electronics which can be used, to
around 20 components. (Note: Yes, thousands of cells can be put
into a small ASIC, but to make the first ASIC costs a minimum of
$15,000, though the second one costs $0.59. ASICs belong to the
realm of integration with communication services. Anyone out
there an ASIC engineer?? Call me NOW!!! 408 429-8637)
A motion detector combined with a very low power FM transmitter
looks feasible for a Sensor unit.
Other types of Sensors:
-----------------------
Terminal Patients
-----------------
One of the banes of cryonics is the 24 hour monitoring of a
terminal patient with all the uncertainties of same. A monitoring
system which could be brought to the hospital and placed on the
mattress could perform these functions:
Alert the nursing station of imminent termination
Telephone the patient transport team
If the hospital is agreeable to performing the initial steps of
providing CPR support and injection of the first medications,
this gives the patient transport team from 5-30 minutes to get to
the patient's bed and continue the transport procedures. This
also facilitates notification of the nurse or doctor who is
responsible for pronunciation of death.
The ability to have a 10 minute response time greatly eases the
burden of the transport team's camping at the hospital, and
probably reduces personnel needed, saving costs and exhaustion
all around.
Bracelet Haters
---------------
Not all cryonicists tolerate bracelets. (I personally have never
worn any kind of jewelry, and it took me a few days to adapt to
the bracelet. I know I could never adapt to something I have to
put on and off on a daily basis, such as a stethoscope.) As the
majority of unexpected deaths happen during sleep, a bed monitor
is worth developing and would be reasonably effective.
Note: A bed monitor system forces a minor design change in the
Button Box, just a jack for the BM input.
Button Box:
-----------
The Button Box listens to the Sensor's signal and identifies one
of these states:
Ignore everything until later
Sensor signal is missing
Sensor indicates good vital signs
Sensor indicates death (or coma)
Sensor indicates call for help
(This list is probably incomplete, kindly think of additions...)
The Button Box contains a microprocessor which listens to the
Sensor states and can take a variety of actions. Some of these
are:
Check for timeouts
Check Button Box battery status
Warn that sensor signal is missing
Check sensor periodically
Initiate Silent Alarm with call for help via Sensor
or Panic Button (Panic Button is on Button Box)
Initiate Vital Alert Sequence
Initiate Test Sequence
The Silent Alarm and Vital Alert will eventually result in a
signal to the Base Unit. This signal will be a short ASCII string
which the Base Unit will use for its actions. Button Boxes are
unique to individual clients and the ASCII string will serve to
identify the client and which sequence is being initiated. The
data is transmitted via low power radio to the Base Station.
It is expected that each client will have individual
requirements. A suitable non volatile memory in the Button Box
along with an RS232 interface can handle the customization
requirements. Similarly, such memory can permit field upgrades of
the software as required. (Note: This is best handled by an
exchange program rather than field upgrades.)
Due to the very low power of the Sensor's signal, the Button Box
must always be nearby, with a range of not more than 25 feet. In
most cases the Button Box will be worn like a beeper or put on a
surface nearby (sleeping or shower...).
A Button Box may be disabled for a limited time, say 1, 3, 12 and
24 hours. The only way to turn it off is to remove the battery.
Base Station:
-------------
The Base Station has a radio receiver, a button or two, a
microprocessor (more capable than the Button Box) and a modem.
Upon notification by the Button Box, it dials a phone number and
transmits data to the host computer at the other end. I expect
that there will be at least two computer hosts available, and
several direct beeper numbers for on call respondents as well. It
looks like the Base Station software can be finalized reasonably
quickly, for its functions are simpler than those of the Button
Box.
A universalized Base Station should be capable of responding to
ANY Button Box. A client may have several Base Stations, one in
the home, one in the office, etc.
GPSS:
-----
Stationary Base Stations would transmit their location to the
host computer (or an ID number for look-up of same). Mobile Base
Stations could be integrated with the Global Positioning
Satellite System (GPSS) and transmit their coordinates to the
host computer.
For reasons of privacy, (and cost and size) I do not feel that it
is a good idea to integrate GPSS and the Button Box. There is
little reason for position data except for the Vital Alert and
Panic situations. Base Stations used for terminal patients have
no use for GPSS, nor other stationary applications.
Mobility in General:
--------------------
Truly mobile Base Stations need cellular modems and a cellular
phone as well. In practice this is not useful, for loss of vital
signs while actively traveling is likely to be noticed by others.
However, when present at some remote location, it is likely that
a touch tone keypad will be useful to enter a telephone number
for the respondent to use. For design convenience, all Base
Stations will have this feature.
Responder:
----------
This has two components:
Intake Device
Responding Person
Since the Base Station is capable of emitting touch tone signals,
the simplest Intake Device consists of a beeper service. If the
Intake Device is a computer host, the host will also call a
beeper service when notified by the Button Box.
Note that a host simplifies a number of routine situations such
as testing, making sure a client is up to date, battery changing,
change of status, etc. Responding Persons could call the host to
handle coordination such as rotation, breaks, etc.
The Responding Person(s) wear beepers. If a host is used, several
such persons can be on call on a rotating basis. The RP MUST have
immediate access to a telephone, and here is where a cellular
phone is appropriate.
Due to the complexity and variety of responses required, combined
with the high cost of false alarms, the RP will always attempt to
contact a client when notified by the beeper or host. If the
client does not respond, then the various notifications begin.
Note that the RP could call the host, and upon entry of a
password, initiate a customized sequence for the particular
client. There are various ways to make this difficult to hack,
and the final authorization would require a voice call by the RP
to the cryonics provider.
Systemic Comment:
=================
Earlier discussions of this project have stated that my
orientation is too specific too early. I'd prefer a flawed system
to no system at this point. However, I would also like to get
input at the systems level, which is not my forte. In particular,
the procedures for the host computer and the Responding Person
need to be carefully designed. Any volunteers??
O---------------------------------O
| Hara Ra <> |
| Box 8334 Santa Cruz, CA 95061 |
O---------------------------------O
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