Zoe Medical claims that the PPM2 is one of the first patient monitors to run Windows CE.
(Click here for larger image of the Well@Home)Well@Home Patient MonitorAccording to Zoe Medical, the Well@Home Monitor (pictured above) is a home-based, non-invasive patient monitor that gathers vital signs data, including blood pressure, heart rate, EKG, respiration rate, blood oxygen saturation, and temperature. Using an integrated modem and the patient's existing telephone line, the monitor transmits the collected data to a health care provider as part of a home health care monitoring system from Patient Care Technologies.
All of these measurements are made with "strap on" sensors that require no drawing of blood, according to the company. The system is intended to help monitor post-surgery patients at home. The device is said to have a simple, intuitive graphic interface so that elderly and infirmed patients should have no problem attaching electrodes and sensors. Additionally, the data communication is secure and meets FIPS security requirements for HIPPA data, the company says.
Nightingale Personal Patient Monitor 2 (PPM2)
The PPM2 is a hospital-based patient monitor that gathers the same set of vital signs data as the Well@Home monitor. However, the PPM2's user interface is tailored to critical needs of the hospital environment, in which the clinical staff needs to be alerted immediately in the event that the patient's vital signs data indicate a life-threatening condition. The device is networked directly with a nurse's central monitoring station as part of Zoe Medical's Nightingale Monitoring System.
The ADS "Bitsy-X" board
The embedded computer used in both Zoe Medical patient monitoring devices consists of the Bitsy-X single-board computer from Applied Data Systems (ADS), running Microsoft's Windows CE embedded operating system.
The Bitsy-X SBC is based on an Intel PXA255 processor running at 400 MHz. Key features of the 3 x 5 inch board SBC include USB host functionality; PCMCIA and CompactFlash expansion; up to 64MB SDRAM; 64MB synchronous and 32MB asynchronous Flash memory; 128KB boot EPROM; a graphics controller with an XGA (1024x768 pixel) color LCD interface; keypad and touchscreen interfaces; and analog and digital I/O. Additionally, the board can be expanded various "personality boards" to add peripheral interfaces such as USB host/device, CompactFlash Type II, and several types of serial interfaces.
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The PPM2 is a hospital-based patient monitor that gathers the same set of vital signs data as the Well@Home monitor. However, the PPM2's user interface is tailored to critical needs of the hospital environment, in which the clinical staff needs to be alerted immediately in the event that the patient's vital signs data indicate a life-threatening condition. The device is networked directly with a nurse's central monitoring station as part of Zoe Medical's Nightingale Monitoring System.
The embedded computer used in both Zoe Medical patient monitoring devices consists of the Bitsy-X single-board computer from Applied Data Systems (ADS), running Microsoft's Windows CE embedded operating system.
