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 --- 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.