From UF and IBM, a Blueprint for "Smart" Health Care
From: University of Florida News - 07/24/2007
By: Aaron Hoover

New technology from the University of Florida and IBM creates what is being
called the first roadmap for the widespread deployment of "smart" medical
devices that, for example, monitor a person's blood pressure, temperature,
respiration rate, and any other important medical information. Electronically
monitoring patients could eliminate the need for many visits to the doctor,
which can be difficult for the elderly or sick, and could help doctors
determine which patient should receive treatment first. "We call it
quality-of-life engineering," says University of Florida professor of
computer science and lead researcher on the project Sumi Helal. The project
provides the technological foundation for a company to manufacture and sell
smart, networked, and user-friendly devices. "UF and IBM both see the need
and the opportunity to integrate the physical world of sensors and other
devices directly into enterprise systems," says IBM's Richard Bakalar. "Doing
so in an open environment will remove market inhibitors that impede
innovation in critical industries like health care and open a broader device
market that's fueled by uninterrupted networking." Helal previously created
several devices that can provide care givers with information on a patient's
activity and over health indicators, including a microwave that can monitor
the salt content of food and a device that records how many steps a person
takes, but these devices needed to be installed by a team of engineers. To
create a device that is ready to use out of the box, Helal created middleware
based on open standards that "self integrates" to provide a standard
connection for any health care device to use. "When you bring it in to the
house and plug it in, it automatically provides its service and finds a path
to the outside world," Helal says. 

Read the entire article at:
http://news.ufl.edu/2007/07/24/stepstone/

Links:

Sumi Helal
http://www.cise.ufl.edu/%7Ehelal/

Mobile & Pervasive Computing Research
http://www.harris.cise.ufl.edu/

Assistive Environments - Pervasive Computing for the Elderly and the Disabled
http://www.icta.ufl.edu/projects_B.htm#4

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Smart Medical Devices
From: NASA TechBriefs Insider - 07/26/2007

The qualities that we expect in our cell phones and PDAs - anytime connection
and low-cost, widely available devices - soon may become common in
health-care devices at home and in doctors' offices. The University of
Florida (UF) and IBM have developed a new technology that creates a roadmap
for widespread commercial development of "smart" medical devices. 

These devices could take a person's blood pressure, temperature, or
respiration rate the minute a person steps into his or her house, then
transmit it immediately and automatically to doctors or family, eliminating
the need for some doctors' visits. The technology differs from telemedicine
in that it provides the technological roadmap that makes it easy for
companies to make and sell the devices.  

With $60,000 in research funding from IBM, the UF team designed middleware
that can give this and any similar health-aid devices independence and
connectivity. The software is based on open standards. The hardware component
is an inexpensive sensor platform half the size of a business card that
enables information to be available on a computer network. 

The technology may be useful in other medical settings such as emergency
rooms. Rather than a standard waiting list, patients could be equipped with
networked wireless monitors of their vital signs, allowing doctors to
determine who in a waiting room needs the most immediate care. 
