Apple Granted Patent for Wireless Disposable Wristband

Apple has been granted patent by the US Patent and Trademark Office on communication between a devices like the iPad or iPhone and a wireless disposable wristband and the technology could be used for disposable wristband which can store as well as transmit all health related information to the doctor’s smartphone.

Earlier reports state that the Apple Patent covers up technology for an autonomous battery free microwave frequency communication device which could be embedded on physical object like the wristband, card or flyer and in the patent it is described how the smartphone can wirelessly transmit the data collected to a disposable hospital wristband.

The incorporated microwave frequency device also contains sensors or stored information like medical records or procedures which have been carried out during hospitalization. The smartphone would be capable of both reading as well as writing information to and from the wristband.

One Card in the Wallet

The Apple patent suggests that the wristband should have sensors which can measure some health functions like the body temperature and the pulse. Apple had announced its health app, at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June, a type of dashboard for all health as well as fitness data. It was believed that Apple iWatch could also be accompanied with sensors which would be capable of evaluating health and fitness information providing software developers with the opportunity of collecting and using the said information in their apps.

The patent did not focus solely on health related functions for an embedded microwave frequency device but described how the given information can be conveyed from a mobile device to disposable loyalty cards or credit or ad flyers. It further states that the technology also has the possibility of `one card in the wallet’, for various purposes such as payment, promotions and identification.

Communication wristbands – Patient Identification 

Coloured wristbands can be worn for various purposes to show support for a certain cause or an organization and comes in various colours which may have some messages embossed on them. In the case of hospitals, coloured wristbands are used to convey information or to alert the staff to a certain requirements of the patient. When the patients wear their own coloured wristbands, it may cause confusion for the staff who may misinterpret its significance.

A communication gateway wristband serves as a source of patient identification as well as an interface between wireless wide area network- WWAN like a hospital network and a personal area networks– PAN of miniaturized electronic medical sensors on a patient. The gateway wristband comprises of a PAN transceiver which acts as a wireless data link with wireless medical sensors.

The WWAN transceiver establishes a wireless data link with its infrastructure, a memory that can store the identification of a patient as well as a processor that can receive data through the PAN transceiver and convey the information received to an external network through the WWAN transceiver. The processor on the other hand manages communication with the PAN as well as the WWAN transceiver, stores the received sensor date in memory, and translates the data from the PAN protocol to the WWAN protocol to enable the sensor data to be relayed to the hospital infrastructure.