Telefónica develops advanced telehealth

Telefónica has developed a home monitoring system that can collect five different vital signs, detects falls and transmit data to a caretaker centre to be assessed by doctors.

The Caalyx solution, which is part of a €3m ambient assisted living project, received funding of €1.85m under the 6th Research Framework Programme of the EU.

Manuel Escriche from Telefónica Investigación y Desarrollo in Spain said: “The prototype we developed consists of a home monitoring system, a mobile roaming monitoring system and a caretaker center.

“The mobile system is able to collect five different vital signs as well as detecting falls and transmits the data to a caretaker center that can be accessed by doctors, caretakers or family members according to the individual circumstances.”

The system uses GPS to locate the user so that if a medical emergency occurs, help can be directed to wherever the right place at the right time.

According to the company, Telefónica has made privacy a key priority and ensured that all patient information is encrypted.

Escriche added: “The information from the GPS system cannot be accessed by anyone under normal everyday circumstances. The data are only released if there is a medical emergency.”

The solution was developed with partners from Italy, Germany, Ireland, the UK and Portugal.

It includes a way to use the television as a communication interface for video-conferences with relatives, nurses and doctors and an adapted version of Nintendo’s Wii controller to operate the home system, which was developed by UK-based company Synkronix.

It also uses a smart mobile phone, developed in Portugal by INESC Porto which allows doctors to customise health thresholds for alerts.

In addition to monitoring the usual vital signs such as blood pressure and ECG, the University of Limerick in Ireland has developed and integrated a new technology to monitor falls and mobility.

Telefónica is now developing the solution to integrate all the relevant technology into a t-shirt like textile which the user can wear to be monitored before is made into a fully marketable product.

Link

Telefónica Investigación y Desarrollo