Apple invention turns Apple Watch into urgent care alert system
A patent application published Thursday suggests Apple is working to turn Apple Watch into a full-fledged medical device, one that can monitor a user's vital signs and automatically send out an alert should they need urgent care.
Source: USPTO
As published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Apple's application for "Care event detection and alerts" provides for a hardware system capable of monitoring its surrounding environment for so-called "care events," described as any event that necessitates assistance from medical personnel, police, fire rescue or other emergency technicians. For example, the device could be programmed to monitor a user's heart for an arrhythmia and, upon detection, send out an alert to family or emergency responders.
While not specifically mentioned in the document, Apple Watch is uniquely qualified to fulfill the proposed system's goals. Apple's wearable not only incorporates advanced sensors and processing hardware capable of monitoring for care events, but also packs in a communications suite that can be used to transmit emergency notifications via iPhone.
In operation, the wearable and its host device work together to detect a care event. For example, if an iPhone's accelerometer detects a sudden change in acceleration, while Apple Watch no longer detects a heart rate, the system might determine that a user has had a heart attack and is incapacitated. Other examples include car accidents, muggings and other events that can be quantified by onboard accelerometer, heart rate, microphone, GPS and other sensors.
Once a care event is detected, the system sends out alerts to a predefined list of recipients, dubbed the "care list" or "care circle." Established by the user, or as a phone preset, the care list contains contact information for family members, doctors and general emergency services.
Apple points out that the system needs fine tuning to avoid false alarms. To hedge against system errors, the invention includes a method of triage that escalates notifications based on severity before sending them out to recipients on the care list, itself split into a distinct hierarchy. For example, a user's spouse or family might populate the first level on the care list and will therefore get the initial alert. In some cases emergency services contacts sit at the highest level and are only notified if the situation escalates or all lower level list recipients fail to respond.
Some embodiments call for customized alerts that contain a user's relevant medical records (gathered from the Health app or an offsite database), location and other important information. In some cases users -- if lucid -- can manually dictate what information is disseminated through onscreen cues.
Apple has yet to position Apple Watch as a bonafide medical device, most likely due to that industry's tight regulations. Indeed, rumors last year claimed the company scrapped plans to integrate advanced health monitoring features into Watch due in part to regulatory hurdles.
While today's patent application is evidence that Apple is continuing work on medical applications for the Apple Watch platform, it remains unclear when such technology will make its way into a shipping product.
Apple's care detection and alert patent application was first filed for in September 2015 and credits Martha E. Hankey and James Foster as its inventors.
Source: USPTO
As published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Apple's application for "Care event detection and alerts" provides for a hardware system capable of monitoring its surrounding environment for so-called "care events," described as any event that necessitates assistance from medical personnel, police, fire rescue or other emergency technicians. For example, the device could be programmed to monitor a user's heart for an arrhythmia and, upon detection, send out an alert to family or emergency responders.
While not specifically mentioned in the document, Apple Watch is uniquely qualified to fulfill the proposed system's goals. Apple's wearable not only incorporates advanced sensors and processing hardware capable of monitoring for care events, but also packs in a communications suite that can be used to transmit emergency notifications via iPhone.
In operation, the wearable and its host device work together to detect a care event. For example, if an iPhone's accelerometer detects a sudden change in acceleration, while Apple Watch no longer detects a heart rate, the system might determine that a user has had a heart attack and is incapacitated. Other examples include car accidents, muggings and other events that can be quantified by onboard accelerometer, heart rate, microphone, GPS and other sensors.
Once a care event is detected, the system sends out alerts to a predefined list of recipients, dubbed the "care list" or "care circle." Established by the user, or as a phone preset, the care list contains contact information for family members, doctors and general emergency services.
Apple points out that the system needs fine tuning to avoid false alarms. To hedge against system errors, the invention includes a method of triage that escalates notifications based on severity before sending them out to recipients on the care list, itself split into a distinct hierarchy. For example, a user's spouse or family might populate the first level on the care list and will therefore get the initial alert. In some cases emergency services contacts sit at the highest level and are only notified if the situation escalates or all lower level list recipients fail to respond.
Some embodiments call for customized alerts that contain a user's relevant medical records (gathered from the Health app or an offsite database), location and other important information. In some cases users -- if lucid -- can manually dictate what information is disseminated through onscreen cues.
Apple has yet to position Apple Watch as a bonafide medical device, most likely due to that industry's tight regulations. Indeed, rumors last year claimed the company scrapped plans to integrate advanced health monitoring features into Watch due in part to regulatory hurdles.
While today's patent application is evidence that Apple is continuing work on medical applications for the Apple Watch platform, it remains unclear when such technology will make its way into a shipping product.
Apple's care detection and alert patent application was first filed for in September 2015 and credits Martha E. Hankey and James Foster as its inventors.
Comments
>:x
EDIT: Coincidentally, this is my *911*'th post.
When this comes out, I will buy an Apple Watch, put it on and never take it off again.
And, of course, Apole would likely roll out support for only those scenarios where their research and testing gave them a high level of confidence in the ability of te assumption to be accurate. So you'll get certain types of monitoring and not others, at least initially. Also, as I've suggested here before the Watch was even introduced, there might one day be medical monitoring-specific bands, such as bands with glocuse monitoring technology built in. These would cost more, might be offered by medical device manufacturers rather than Apple, and covered by insurance. They might tie into Apple's own software that provides the monitoring and alert system, so the software side is all one system and not separate systems from multiple vendors.
that is hyperbole.
The largest portion of the population has absolutley no need to be monitored for health events.
To even suggest that it will be "unsafe/insane to be unmonitored" is a ludicrous statement.
I live in a tri-level house with a set of six stairs between two levels and a set of eight stairs between the other two, with a short hallway between the two sets of stairs. Even though I go up and down those stairs dozens of times a day my iPhone only reports one flight of stairs a day on average. I assume the half-flights with a short horizontal distance between them confuse it.
If every sensor in the system has similar inaccuracies it can result in a mess of mis-reporting.
My iPhone 6 very accurately counts the flights of stairs I climb each day. My office is on the second floor and I always take the stairs. Average about 15 climbs per day. There's either something wrong with your phone or you're using an older phone that doesn't have the latest sensors.
Mind you, if there is no alternative then the charge limitation, is better than nothing.
- SS + leather strap looks great during the day
- the sport band makes it super useful during my workouts, where the StrongLifts app sends me notifications when it's time to resume each of my sets
- messages and notifications are a no brainier and time saver
- Apple Pay
- controlling the lighting scenes in my house is a daily thing
...all great, and none having to do with being a medical device.
do these hypothetical elderly also have trouble charging their hypothetical smartphones daily? why is the watch a hypothetical problem for them but their phones aren't?
my devices charge right next to my bed in a neat cradle. it's no different than taking off a watch or earrings before bed. things elderly have been doing for centuries.
My my mom forgets to charge her phones all the time, both iPhone and wireless landline handsets, and in her case, Bluetooth earpiece. Heck I forget to charge my phone sometimes. Stuff happens. To think an elederly person can manage such things with a higher degree of reliability than the average adult is unrealistic.
I agree, this isn't such a problem if the system has an excellent recharge notification method, with redundant backups, like if the watch dies, the alerts continue through iCloud to the phone, iPad, Mac, etc. -- maybe even a special charging base that gives off an audible alarm, with visual enhancements as well. It should also have an audible notification to remind the person to put the watch back on.
Even better is is to have two Watches, and simply swap them out at bedtime, since any time without the watch is time where the user is at risk. A nightly trip to the bathroom, could end tragically while the watch sits charging on the nightstand 10 feet away. I would prefer a combination of all of the above to ensure that watch never comes off.