KR20200121471A - Transportation system for patient in hospital - Google Patents

Abstract

Embodiments relate to an integrated transfer system comprising: a transfer cart configured to autonomously drive in order to transfer a patient; and a transfer cart control server which monitors the transfer cart and supports efficient driving of the transfer cart. The present invention can minimize transfer delay and standardize transfer services.

Description

Patient transport system in hospital {TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM FOR PATIENT IN HOSPITAL}

The present invention relates to a technology for transferring a patient within a hospital, and in more detail, a transfer cart configured for autonomous driving to transfer a patient within the hospital, and monitoring the transfer cart, and supporting the efficient driving of the transfer cart. It is related to the integrated transfer system including the transfer cart control server.

When transferring a patient within a current hospital, for example, when transferring a patient from a hospital room to a destination such as an examination room or an operating room, a manpower called a transfer agent is allocated for transfer. The assigned transfer agent arrives at the patient's location and confirms the patient, then leads the transfer cart on which the patient is boarded to the destination and hand it over to the destination.

However, in hospitals, there is a problem that the transfer of a patient itself becomes impossible or delayed due to problems such as a shortage of transfer personnel, limitation of personnel allocation and management, and this problem can have serious consequences, especially in case of emergency transfer. In addition, from the patient's point of view, satisfaction with hospital services may be degraded, such as having to wait for a transfer agent for a considerable amount of time while on board the transfer cart.

On the other hand, in hospitals, especially in higher-level hospitals such as university hospitals, waiting time for elevator boarding and the time it takes for the elevator to reach the destination floor are considerably required due to many patients, guardians, and hospital visitors. Such congestion further delays patient transfer, and can lead to fatal consequences, especially in urgent situations where a person is struggling with confusion. Each hospital has a separate elevator for patient transfer, but in a situation where the number of elevators itself is limited and the number of patients transferred is increasing, the operation of the elevator for transferring patients alone is not satisfactory, and the need for improvement is great.

Patent Publication No. KR 10-2014-0133484 (2014.11.19.) US Patent Registration Publication US9,684,836 (2017.06.20.)

According to an aspect of the present invention, it is possible to provide a transfer system including a transfer cart for transferring a patient, and a transfer cart control server for monitoring the transfer cart and controlling facilities on a moving path.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a mobile unit monitoring unit for monitoring at least one of a location of a medical staff terminal in a hospital, a location of a patient terminal, a location of a transfer cart, and a state of a patient; A path environment monitoring unit that monitors an environment of a path in which the transport cart in the hospital can travel; And it provides a transport cart control server including a driving support unit for receiving the movement path of the transport cart and controlling the facilities in the hospital related to the movement path.

In addition, according to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a transport cart for transporting a patient by autonomous driving, comprising: a body supporting at least a part of the patient's body; A driving unit for moving the transfer cart; An interface unit receiving at least one of the patient information and destination of the patient; A communication unit for receiving the location of the transfer cart from a transfer cart control server; A patient monitoring unit for monitoring the patient's condition; And a travel control unit configured to determine a movement path for driving the transport cart and control driving in response to the detected object.

The transfer cart according to an aspect of the present invention is configured to enable autonomous driving, and if the transfer cart is used, a patient can be transferred without a transfer agent. As a result, it is possible to minimize the transfer delay and standardize the transfer service, so that the patient's satisfaction with the transfer service can be objectively evaluated and improved.

In addition, the state of the patient is continuously checked before the patient is boarded in the transport cart and/or during transport after the patient is boarded in the transport cart, and in response to the patient's condition, the medical staff is called in the event of an emergency. By changing the route, it can be transferred to the required clinic in the shortest time.

In addition, it is possible to minimize the time required for patient transfer by controlling the movement of the transfer cart in connection with facilities in the hospital, especially elevators. This method is particularly useful when an emergency situation occurs during transfer or a patient in need of emergency transfer.

The effects of the present invention are not limited to the effects mentioned above, and other effects that are not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the description of the claims.

In order to more clearly describe the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention or prior art, the drawings necessary in the description of the embodiments are briefly introduced below. It is to be understood that the drawings below are for the purpose of describing the embodiments of the present specification and not for the purpose of limitation. In addition, some elements to which various modifications such as exaggeration and omission are applied may be shown in the drawings below for clarity of description.
1 is a conceptual diagram of a transfer system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a conceptual configuration diagram of a transport cart according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a block diagram of a transport cart control server according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a diagram for explaining a facility control operation according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a diagram for explaining a facility control operation according to another embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a diagram illustrating a result of the facility control operation of FIG. 5.

The terminology used herein is for referring only to specific embodiments and is not intended to limit the present invention. Singular forms as used herein also include plural forms unless the phrases clearly indicate the opposite. The meaning of “comprising” as used in the specification specifies a specific characteristic, region, integer, step, action, element and/or component, and the presence of another characteristic, region, integer, step, action, element and/or component, or It does not exclude additions.

Although not defined differently, all terms including technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention belongs. Terms defined in a commonly used dictionary are additionally interpreted as having a meaning consistent with the related technical literature and the presently disclosed content, and are not interpreted in an ideal or very formal meaning unless defined.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

1 is a conceptual diagram of a transfer system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the transfer system 1 includes a transfer cart 10 and a transfer cart control server 20. Further, in some embodiments, the transfer system 1 may further include a medical staff terminal 30. In addition, the transfer system 1 may further include a patient terminal 40.

The transfer system 1 according to the embodiments may have an aspect that is entirely hardware, entirely software, or partially hardware and partially software. For example, the transfer cart 10 or the transfer cart control server 20 may collectively refer to hardware equipped with data processing capability and operating software for driving the same. In the present specification, terms such as "unit", "module", "device", or "system" are intended to refer to a combination of hardware and software driven by the hardware. For example, the hardware may be a computing device capable of processing data including a central processing unit (CPU), a graphical processing unit (GPU), or another processor. In addition, software may refer to an executing process, an object, an executable file, a thread of execution, a program, and the like.

Components 10, 30, and 40 in the transfer system 1 communicate with the transfer cart control server 20 through a network. Here, the communication method through the network may include various communication methods that can be networked between the object and the object, and may be wired communication, wireless communication, 3G, 4G, wired Internet, or wireless Internet. It may be a core network integrated with a mobile communication network or a mobile Internet, or the TCP/IP protocol and various services that exist in the upper layer, namely HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol), Telnet, FTP (File Transfer Protocol), DNS (Domain Name System). ), SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), etc. may be an open computer network, but is not limited thereto. For example, networks include Local Area Network (LAN), Metropolitan Area Network (MAN), Global System for Mobile Network (GSM), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE), High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), and W-CDMA ( Wideband Code Division Multiple Access), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access), Bluetooth, Zigbee, Wi-Fi, VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), LTE Advanced, IEEE802.16m, WirelessMAN-Advanced, HSPA+, 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE), Mobile WiMAX (IEEE 802.16e), UMB (formerly EV-DO Rev. C), Flash-OFDM, iBurst and MBWA (IEEE 802.20 ) systems, HIPERMAN, Beam-Division Multiple Access (BDMA), Wi-MAX (World Interoperability for Microwave Access), and may refer to a communication network by one or more communication methods selected from the group consisting of ultrasonic communication. It is not limited.

The medical staff terminal 30 and the patient terminal 40 are implemented in the form of a smartphone, and the transfer system 1 through an application installed to access the transfer system 1 from these terminals 30 and 40 ) Within the other components (eg, transfer cart control server 20) can communicate with.

However, the types of the terminals 30 and 40 are not limited to smartphones, and other mobile communication terminals, personal computers, notebook computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), tablets, and IPTVs It may be implemented in the form of an arbitrary computing device such as a set-top box for (Internet Protocol Television) or the like.

In the present specification, medical staff refers to all personnel who protect, care, and/or support patients in the hospital, and include, for example, doctors and nurses, medical technicians and/or transfer personnel in the hospital. That is, the medical staff terminal 30 includes a terminal provided by the aforementioned personnel.

In the present specification, the patient terminal 40 is not limited to a terminal provided by a patient, and includes a terminal possessed by a person (eg, a guardian, a caregiver, etc.) who shares an action radius with the patient.

The transfer system 1 can transfer a patient without a transfer agent through a transfer cart 10 configured to enable autonomous driving.

2 is a conceptual configuration diagram of a transport cart according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, the transfer cart 10 includes a body 101 supporting a patient, a driving unit 105 for moving the transfer cart 10, an interface unit 111 for interacting with a user, and a transfer cart control. It includes a communication unit 115 for interacting with the server and a control unit 130 for performing autonomous driving operation and patient monitoring operation. In addition, in some embodiments, the transfer cart 10 has a storage unit 117 that stores data used for the operation of the transfer cart 10 in advance, and/or power to the components in the transfer cart 10 while driving. It may further include a battery 119 for supplying.

The body 101 includes a seat portion in which a part of the lower part of the patient's body is located, and a back part in which a part of the upper part of the patient's body is located, and the seat part and the back part are rotatably coupled.

Specifically, the body 101 is configured to be deformable into a plurality of shapes. For example, the body 101 may include a hinge member enabling two-dimensional rotation and/or a link member including a joint member enabling three-dimensional rotation. The body 101 includes a fixing member to maintain a state after deformation.

In one embodiment, the deformation of the body 101 may be performed by a user. In addition, in another embodiment, the deformation of the body 101 may be performed by the control unit 130. The deformation by the control unit 130 will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings below.

The driving unit 105 is a component used to move the transport cart 10, and in one embodiment, the driving unit 105 may have a shape of a wheel. However, it is not limited thereto, and may have various forms capable of moving the transport cart 10, such as a track roller form.

The interface unit 111 interacts with a user of the transfer cart 10, including a patient or medical staff, to perform a transfer operation (ie, driving) of the transfer cart 10.

The interface unit 111 includes an input unit for receiving information and/or an output unit for outputting information. The interface unit 111 may be implemented with various types of hardware. In one embodiment, the interface unit 111 may be implemented as a touch panel capable of performing input and output from a single component.

Transfer cart 10 is a variety of information related to the patient to use the transfer cart 10 through the interface unit 111 and / or response of the patient related to transfer (that is, whether the patient agrees on the transfer purpose or transfer destination) Response, etc.) can be obtained.

In one embodiment, the interface unit 111 acquires patient identification information, and the patient identification information may be obtained by receiving a barcode, a QR code, or the like. The patient identification information includes, for example, one or more of a patient ID, a name, an address, and combinations thereof.

For example, the transfer cart 10 may be configured to board the patient after receiving the patient's barcode.

The transfer cart 10 may obtain information on a destination from a user (eg, a patient) of the transfer cart 10 through the interface unit 111.

In one embodiment, the interface unit 111 may be configured to provide an interface screen through which a user (eg, a patient) of the transfer cart 10 can input a destination after receiving patient identification information.

In addition, the transfer cart 10 may output various information related to the transfer cart 10, including movement-related information and patient-related information, through the interface unit 111. Here, the movement related information includes a current location, a destination, and a movement route. Patient-related information includes patient identification information, disease information, guardian information, and state information measured from the patient's body. The communication unit 115 transmits and receives data to and from the transfer cart control server 20. The transfer cart 10 transmits real-time information of the transfer cart 10, such as the patient's status, the driving status of the transfer cart 10, and the like, through the communication unit 115, and the current location and movement path of the transfer cart 10 It is possible to receive information for driving, such as the path status of the image.

The driving state includes a destination and a moving route. In some embodiments, the movement-related information includes real-time driving state information, such as a current movement speed, or a moving average speed during a substantially movement (e.g., moving average speed after the initial acceleration has ended after the patient boarded). It may contain more.

On the other hand, the interface unit 111 is further configured to be able to input an additional command during the transfer while the patient is on board the transfer cart (10). For example, the interface unit 111 may be further configured to recognize a voice, or may be installed in a range in which the input receiving unit can receive a touch input from a patient in the transfer cart 10.

In addition, the interface unit 111 may further include a sound device (eg, audio, speaker, etc.) that outputs voice information.

In this case, the interface unit 111 may provide guide information including a transfer purpose, a destination, precautions when moving, and an action method when an emergency occurs in the process of moving to the patient before starting the transfer.

For example, when the moving path changes due to real-time reflection and/or change of the path environment in the hospital, the interface unit 111 may notify the change of the movement path through voice. Alternatively, when stopping for waiting for an elevator, it may be notified through voice that it is a stop for waiting for an elevator.

Accordingly, the transfer cart 10 can minimize anxiety or discomfort of the patient when only the patient is boarded in an autonomous driving transfer cart without a transfer agent. In addition, since the transfer cart 10 provides a voice-based service as described above, it is possible to provide a user-friendly transfer service even to patients with temporary or permanent disabilities in sight.

The control unit 130 is a component that controls the overall operation of the transfer cart 10, and communicates data from/to components inside the transfer cart 10 and/or components outside the transfer cart 10, and , At least one processor.

In an embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the control unit 130 may include a deformation control unit 131, a driving control unit 133, and a patient monitoring unit 135.

Meanwhile, each of the units 131-135 constituting the control unit 130 according to the embodiments is not intended to refer to a separate component that is physically separated. That is, in FIG. 2, the deformation control unit 131, the driving control unit 133, and the patient monitoring unit 135 show separate blocks separated from each other, but some or all of the respective units 131-135 May be integrated as one identical component (eg, a module). That is, for clarity of description, each unit 131-135 is functionally classified according to an operation performed by the computing device in which they are implemented, and does not necessarily mean separate elements separated from each other.

The deformation control unit 131 transforms the shape of the current transfer cart 10 into any one of a plurality of pre-stored shapes. The plurality of forms include various forms capable of transporting a patient, including a bed type in which the patient can lie down, a wheelchair type in which the patient can sit, and/or a standing type in which the patient can stand.

In one embodiment, the shape of the transfer cart 10 may be modified based on the characteristics of the destination. The characteristics of the destination represent the characteristics of medical treatment performed at the destination.

In hospitals, patients usually come and go between living wards, examination rooms, and operating rooms. In hospitals, various hospital rooms are installed according to the characteristics of the hospital room including the severity and type of a patient's disease, and various examination rooms and operating rooms are installed according to the characteristics of medical treatments such as examination and surgery. As medical technology and standards are advanced, these hospital spaces are becoming more subdivided and diversified.

There may be a suitable form of transport depending on the characteristics of the medical practice performed in the examination room and/or the operating room. The transfer cart 10 may be transformed into a shape suitable for the characteristics of the destination to which the transferred patient will arrive (that is, characteristics of medical treatment performed at the destination). For example, the transfer cart 10 for transferring a patient for which an MRI scan is scheduled may be transformed into a bed shape before transferring the patient. On the other hand, the transfer cart 10 for transferring the patient for which the eye examination is scheduled may be transformed into a wheelchair type before transferring the patient.

In some embodiments, the transfer cart 10 may perform a deformation operation using a previously stored deformation table. The transformation table represents a table in which a destination and a shape suitable for the destination are previously associated.

In some embodiments, when a destination that is not included in the transformation table is input, the transfer cart 10 may request form information suitable for the destination from the transfer cart control server 20.

Furthermore, when a response indicating that there is no type information is received from the transfer cart control server 20, transfer may be rejected.

In this way, the transfer cart 10 can be transformed into a plurality of forms, so that the provider of the transfer service can determine the number of transfer carts 10 to be owned without depending on the number and characteristics of the examination room and/or the operating room. For this reason, it is very advantageous in terms of storage of the transfer cart 10.

The driving control unit 133 determines a movement path for driving, and causes the transfer cart 10 to move according to the movement path.

The driving control unit 133 determines an optimal movement route based on the location of the transfer cart 10, an input destination, and a pre-stored hospital map. The driving control unit 133 may determine a movement path using, for example, a graph search algorithm (eg, Dikstra's algorhithm, A* algorithm), but is not limited thereto, and various movement path determination algorithms It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that can also be used.

In general, the optimal movement path represents the movement path with the shortest distance. For example, when both the destination and the starting point are located on the same floor, the optimal movement path may be determined as the movement path having the shortest distance.

However, in the case of a patient transport cart in a hospital, the optimal path does not necessarily mean the shortest distance, and ultimately, the minimum transport time may be a standard.

In one embodiment, the driving control unit 133 and/or the control server 20 to be described later, specifically, the driving support unit 235 of the control server 20 may determine a moving route further based on the facility. Such facilities include elevators and/or automatic doors.

The transfer cart 10 generally has a problem that it is very difficult to run through stairs. Therefore, when the destination is a floor other than the currently located floor, the movement path should be determined in consideration of facilities for inter-floor movement.

For example, the movement route calculates a plurality of candidate routes between the origin and the destination, and filters candidate routes including facilities (e.g., elevators, etc.) that facilitate the movement between floors of the transfer cart 10 in the plurality of candidate routes. And, a path having a shortest distance and/or a shortest time in the filtered candidate path may be determined as an optimal movement path.

In one embodiment, the driving control unit 133 includes a departure point (P1) of a patient to be transferred, a destination in the hospital to be transferred (P2), a route between the departure point and the boarding elevator (L1), and a route between the alighting elevator and the destination (L2). ), the average speed of the transport cart (V), and the estimated elevator waiting time (EWT: Elevaor Waiting Time), the route L1 and L2 should be determined so that the total time for transfer (T) is minimized. I can. That is, L1 and L2 can be determined so that T becomes the minimum at T=f (P1, P2, L1, L2, V, EWT). For reference, in the general formula T=f(P1, P2, V, L, DT) to be described later, this equation divides L (transfer path) by L1, L2, and DT (Delay Time: delay due to a delay element on the transport route) Time) as EWT. The above general formula is described in more detail below.

In an example, a value calculated based on the moving speed of the transfer cart 10 received from the transfer cart 10 may be used as the average speed (V) of the transfer cart. In another example, a preset value (eg, a value representing a normal moving speed of the transport cart 10 in a hospital) may be used as the average speed (V) of the transport cart.

The determination of the routes L1 and L2 includes determining which elevator to depart from among a plurality of elevator cars of a plurality of elevator stations in the hospital. Therefore, for this determination, the driving control unit 133 may receive elevator operation information from a system (elevator operation control system) that controls the operation of an elevator that is a facility in the hospital.

In addition, since the transport cart 10 is driven by an autonomous driving method without a transport agent, the passage of a manual door must be minimized.

To this end, in one embodiment, the driving control unit 113 calculates a plurality of candidate routes between the origin and the destination as the movement route, filters a candidate route including only automatic doors from the plurality of candidate routes, and performs a shortest distance in the filtered candidate route. And/or a path having the shortest time may be determined as an optimal movement path.

For example, the driving control unit 133 determines whether a door is located on the candidate path, and retrieves a door opening/closing type indicating whether the door located on the movement path is an automatic door or a manual door. The door opening/closing type is retrieved from the door information previously stored in the transfer cart 10 and/or the transfer cart control server 20. The door information is included in the facility information in the hospital, and includes, for example, door identification information, location information, and type information indicating whether it is automatic or manual.

Subsequently, a candidate path including only the automatic door is extracted, and an optimal movement path is determined from the extracted candidate path.

The movement path determination operation of the transfer cart 10 (eg, the travel control unit 113) is not limited to being performed only by the transfer cart 10. In another embodiment, the movement path determination operation may be performed by the control server 20 to be described later, specifically the driving support unit 235 of the control server 20. That is, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the movement path determination operation may be performed by the transfer cart 10 and/or the transfer cart control server 20. In addition, when the movement path determination operation is performed only in the transfer cart control server 20, the transfer cart 10 receives the movement path determined by the transfer cart control server 20, and starts driving based on this. .

In one embodiment, the driving control unit 133 may transmit the determined movement path to the movement cart control server 20, and evaluate whether the determined movement path is suitable for real-time transportation.

When the transfer cart control server 20 evaluates to be suitable, the transfer cart 10 maintains the path. On the other hand, when the transfer cart control server 20 is not evaluated as suitable, the transfer cart control server 20 provides a new movement path to the transfer cart 10. When the driving control unit 133 first receives a new movement path determined based on the situation on the determined movement path from the transfer cart control server 20, it may cause the transfer cart 10 to travel along the new movement path. .

In one embodiment, the criterion for evaluating whether the movement path of the transfer cart control server 20 is suitable may be based on whether the time required to arrive from the departure point of the transfer target patient to the destination is minimized. This may be performed by the driving support unit 235 (to be described later) of the transport cart control server 20.

For example, the patient's origin in the hospital (i.e., the transfer cart origin) (P1), the destination in the hospital to be transferred (i.e., the transfer cart destination or destination) (P2), the average speed of the transfer cart (V), and the transfer route (L), it is possible to determine the route transfer route (L) so that the total time for transfer (T: Total Time for Transfer) determined according to the delay time (DT: delay time) due to the delay factor on the transfer route is minimized. . That is, when P1 and P2 are given at T=f (P1, P2, V, L, DT), L can be determined so that T becomes the minimum.

Here, the delay time (DT) due to the delay factor on the transport route is the delay time (DT1) for passing facilities (elevator, automatic door, etc.) on the transport route, and the person (patient/guardian/medical staff/visitors, etc.) on the transport route. It can be determined by the sum of the delay times DT2 caused by congestion [DT=DT1+DT2].

In addition, the delay time (D1) due to human congestion and the delay time (D2) for passing facilities are averaged or averaged through a number of driving tests in which autonomously driving transport carts are driven in various routes during office hours. A statistically calculated value can be applied.

In relation to this, it is necessary to reduce the elevator waiting time itself when transferring a patient to a transfer cart because of the fact that the waiting time for the elevator is very long, especially among the transit time of the transportation cart to the hospital facilities. Although a patient-only elevator may be mainly used, since the patient-only elevator may also have a significant waiting time, it is necessary to give elevator priority when an emergency situation occurs, as described later.

In addition, the driving control unit 133 transmits the start call of the transfer cart to the transfer cart control server 20 linked to the elevator operation control system, and the transfer cart control server 20 preferably boards the transfer cart at the departure point. The elevator can be dispatched so that the elevator can arrive and wait at the boarding level of the transfer cart during the time to the elevator. The departure call of the transfer cart may transmit a departure call after the transfer patient boards the transfer cart, or in order to further reduce the elevator waiting time, the transfer patient may transmit a departure call before boarding the transfer cart. In one embodiment, the new movement path is determined based on the path conditions on the previous movement path. This will be described in more detail through the operation of the transport cart control server 20 below.

The driving control unit 133 may detect an object located on a movement path and control the driving of the transport cart 10 based on the detection result (eg, determining a movement direction). To this end, the transport cart 10 may include a detector (hereinafter, “a detector for driving”) for recognizing an object and/or a surrounding environment on a traveling path.

The driving detector is a variety of devices capable of detecting objects on a moving path and surrounding environments, for example, an ultrasonic sensor, a radar sensor, a LiDAR sensor, a camera, an image sensor, an infrared sensor, and a combination thereof. Contains one or more.

In an embodiment, the driving control unit 133 communicates with a plurality of beacons previously installed around a path (eg, a floor or a wall) and may drive based on a corresponding communication result.

In one embodiment, the driving control unit 133 determines whether or not the detected object obstructs movement, thereby recognizing whether it corresponds to a movement obstacle. For example, the driving control unit 133 determines whether the detected object corresponds to an object that eliminates movement interference within a predetermined time. When it is determined as an object that eliminates movement obstruction within a predetermined time, the travel control unit 133 maintains the movement path. On the other hand, if it is determined that the object does not resolve the movement obstruction within a predetermined time, the driving is stopped, and the movement path from the stopping point to the destination is re-determined. In this way, the driving control unit 133 may correct the movement path according to the detected object.

In addition, in one embodiment, the transfer cart 10 may receive a dispatch command from the transfer cart control server 20 before receiving the destination through the interface unit 111. The dispatch command includes the location of the requestor who has requested the dispatch of the transfer cart 10.

The transfer cart 10 moves along a movement path having the location of the requestor as a destination in response to the dispatch command. The movement path is determined by the transfer cart 10 or the transfer cart control server 20.

In addition, in an embodiment, when an abnormal situation occurs, the driving control unit 133 may stop the transfer, change the transfer path, or make an emergency contact to the control server 20 and/or the medical staff. The'abnormal situation' is an emergency situation during patient transfer as described later, or a case where a response or input from the patient that the patient does not agree with the transfer purpose or destination before or during transfer is received through the interface unit 111, or This may be a case of receiving a patient's response or input for correcting an error in the input of the transfer purpose or destination through the interface unit 111. To this end, the interface unit 111 may be further configured to receive such a response or input from a patient during driving.

For example, when further receiving the aforementioned response or input from the patient through the interface unit 111, the driving control unit 133 first stops the current driving, and re-determines the transport path based on the received response or input. can do. Since the recrystallization method is similar to the initial determination method of the transport path, a detailed description will be omitted.

The patient monitoring unit 135 receives a biosignal of a patient boarding the transfer cart 10, and determines status information indicating the patient's condition based on the biosignal, and performs an operation related to monitoring the patient's condition. I can.

The bio-signals are various signals representing the patient's physical condition, and include, for example, blood pressure, pulse, respiratory rate, body temperature, electromyography, electrocardiography, electroencephalogram, etc., but are not limited thereto.

To this end, the transfer cart 10 includes various biometric sensors such as an EEG sensor, an electrocardiogram sensor, an EMG sensor, a blood pressure monitoring sensor, a breathing sensor, and a body temperature sensor.

In addition, the patient monitoring unit 135 may monitor a CPR-related situation by determining whether CPR is required based on the biological signal.

In an embodiment, the patient monitoring unit 135 may determine whether the patient's condition is urgent based on the monitoring result. In this case, the patient's status information indicates urgency. The operation of determining whether it is urgent may be performed by various methods. For example, it may be determined by comparing a preset reference value and a monitoring result related to an emergency condition. Alternatively, it may be determined based on a condition determination criterion that is generally considered urgent in a hospital such as Code Blue.

In another example, it may be performed by applying a determination algorithm for determining an emergency state. For example, it may be determined by calculating a probability that the patient's state is an emergency situation, or by applying the patient's bio-signals to a judgment model learned through machine learning by using the bio-signals of a sample as training data.

When it is determined that the patient's condition is urgent, the patient monitoring unit 135 may notify other components of the system 1 of the result.

In one embodiment, the patient monitoring unit 135 transmits the status information indicating the emergency to the transfer cart control server 20 when the patient's condition is urgent, and controls the facility to more quickly transfer the emergency patient or Or, it can be made to call nearby medical staff terminals to care for emergency patients.

In addition, the patient monitoring unit 135 may output an alarm indicating an emergency to nearby people when the patient's condition is urgent. To this end, the transfer cart 10 may include an alarm device (not shown) configured to output an alarm including one or more of voice, text, light, and combinations thereof. Also, based on the alarm, the transport control system (a control unit to be described later) may operate an alarm system such as a hospital-level alarm system, such as Code Blue.

This transfer cart 10 is monitored by the transfer cart control server 20. The transfer cart control server 20 may efficiently support the traveling of the transfer cart 10 by controlling facilities on a moving path.

3 is a block diagram of a transport cart control server according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, the transfer cart control server 20 includes a communication unit 215, a storage unit 217, and a control unit 230. The control unit 230 includes a mobile unit monitoring unit 231 and a driving support unit 235. In some embodiments, the transport cart control server 20 may further include a path environment monitoring unit 233.

The communication unit 215 is configured to transmit and receive data by communicating with other components 10, 30, and 40 in the system 1. Data transmitted and received by the transfer cart control server 20 will be described in detail with reference to the operation of the control unit 230 below.

The mobile unit monitoring unit 231 monitors mobile units in the hospital. The mobile unit includes a transfer cart 10, a medical staff terminal 30, and a patient terminal 40.

The mobile unit monitoring unit 231 monitors the position of the transfer cart 10. The position of the transport cart 10 is calculated using various indoor positioning techniques. The indoor positioning technology includes Wi-Fi-based positioning technology (e.g., Cell of Origin, Fingerpritning, Multilateration, etc.), sensor-based positioning technology, beacon-based positioning technology, and opportunistic signals. (opportunistic signal) positioning technology is included, but is not limited thereto.

In addition, the locations of other mobile units (eg, medical staff terminal 30 and patient terminal 40) in the hospital are calculated. Since the operation of calculating the position of the other moving units 30 and 40 is similar to the operation of calculating the position of the transfer cart 10, a detailed description will be omitted.

In some embodiments, the patient terminal 40 whose location is calculated for monitoring is a terminal 40 of a patient associated with the transfer cart 10 in real time, for example, a patient requesting the transfer cart 10 or a transfer cart It represents the terminal of the patient who boarded (10).

Using the monitoring result of the mobile unit monitoring unit 231, the transfer cart control server 20 may calculate the distribution status of the transfer cart 10 and the concentration of medical staff.

The path environment monitoring unit 233 monitors the environment of the path established in the hospital. The monitoring operation of the path environment may be performed by generating monitoring result information based on a path monitoring device such as a CCTV pre-installed in a hospital and/or a message received from the medical staff terminal 30. The monitoring result information includes the density of a person in an area covered by the route monitoring device.

The monitoring result of the mobile unit monitoring unit 231 and/or the path environment monitoring unit 233 is provided to the driving support unit 235 and used to efficiently support the driving of the transport cart 10.

The driving support unit 235 may perform various operations to support efficient driving of the transport cart 10.

In one embodiment, the driving support unit 235 determines whether the movement path received from the transfer cart 10 is suitable as an optimal movement path. The determination operation is performed based on the path environment monitoring result.

For example, the transfer cart control server 20 determines a new moving route as the optimal moving route by applying the route environment monitoring result including the real-time route situation on the moving route to the moving route determined by the transfer cart 10. You can send it. The real-time route status includes an image obtained through CCTV, a message obtained through the medical staff terminal 30, and a result calculated based on these.

For example, when the density of a person is excessive at a specific point on the received movement path, a new movement path including another point of low density of the person may be determined, and the new movement path may be transmitted to the transfer cart 10. . Here, the distribution of people is a monitoring result calculated based on an image acquired through CCTV.

In one embodiment, when receiving a request for dispatch of the transfer cart 10 from the medical staff terminal 30 or the patient terminal 40, the driving support unit 235 transfers the dispatch request to the terminal 30 or 40 A dispatch transfer cart 10 to respond to the dispatch request is determined based on the distance of the cart 10. The driving support unit 235 may transmit a dispatch command for moving the dispatch cart 10 to a request point of the terminal requested by the dispatch cart 10 to the dispatch cart 10. In one embodiment, the command includes the location of the requested terminal.

In one embodiment, the driving support unit 235 may determine the dispatch transfer cart 10 further based on the characteristics of the destination included in the dispatch request received from the terminal 30 or 40.

As described above, the shape of the transfer cart 10 capable of entering the destination is preset. If the transfer cart 10 at the location closest to the requestor can be transformed into a form that is not accessible to the requested destination, it is impossible to enter the destination and therefore cannot be transferred.

Therefore, the driving support unit 235 filters the candidate transfer cart 10 located within a predetermined range at the request point, and sends the dispatch transfer cart 10 based on the distance between the candidate transfer cart 10 and the request point and destination characteristics. Decide.

In addition, the driving support unit 235 controls facilities installed in the hospital to support the driving of the transport cart 10. The facilities include facilities (eg, elevators, etc.) related to the movement of the transport cart 10, facilities (eg, a warmer, a cooler, a humidifier, a dryer, etc.) for maintaining the internal environment (eg, temperature, humidity, power, etc.) Generators, fire prevention equipment, etc.).

In one embodiment, the transfer cart control server 20 may support the running of the transfer cart 10 by reducing the elevator waiting time of the transfer cart 10.

For example, when the transfer cart control server 20 receives the departure call of the transfer cart 10, the driving support unit 235 transmits the departure call to the elevator boarding point of the corresponding floor. You can control the elevator to wait until it arrives. The control operation of the elevator standby may be performed based on the elevator position in the hospital, the elevator movement speed, the position and movement speed of the transfer cart 10 that transmitted the start call. In addition, the driving support unit 235 may support driving of the transport cart 10 in which the emergency patient is boarded by controlling the driving of the elevator based on the patient's state information.

4 is a diagram for explaining a facility control operation according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, a process of operating an elevator is illustrated with the passage of time. Here, ① to ④ indicate the time when each situation occurred, and the time (①) is the time that occurred the earliest.

The driving support unit 235 may set a stop floor of the elevator based on the patient's state information. In one embodiment, when the state of the patient on board the transfer cart 10 is urgent, by giving priority to arrival to the floor on which the transfer cart 10 is located, the elevator transfers the emergency patient's transfer cart 10 ) Can be transferred quickly.

For example, as shown in FIG. 4, when a public person (M) who does not board the transfer cart 10 presses the elevator button at time (①), the elevator is located where the public person (M) is located. Stops on the floor.

However, when a situation in which the transport cart 10 on which the emergency patient E is boarded needs to use an elevator occurs at time (②), the driving support unit 235 is the floor where the transport cart 10 of the emergency patient E is located. Give priority to arrival. Due to this, the elevator does not stop on the floor where the public (M) is located, but immediately arrives at the floor where the transport cart 10 of the emergency patient E is located, and the transport cart 10 of the emergency patient E quickly You can move to the transfer destination.

In addition, in an embodiment, when a plurality of elevators are dispatched, priority assignment according to the occurrence of an emergency patient transfer situation may be applied. That is, in a hospital, there may be several elevator stations on the same floor, and there may be several elevator cars at each station (eg, units 1 to 8 in the case of 8 units).

When an emergency patient transfer situation occurs, the driving support unit 235 selects a station and an elevator unit that will take the minimum transfer time from the patient's departure point, and prioritizes the elevator unit (the transfer cart of the emergency patient E without stopping on another floor) 10) is given the highest priority to arrive immediately to the floor where it is located].

Here, the station and the elevator unit that will take the minimum transfer time are the distance from the patient's departure point, and which elevator unit can wait for the boarding of the emergency transfer cart the fastest [Is the elevator unit without a passenger or the minimum number of passengers? It can be determined depending on whether it is an elevator unit, or whether the transport cart is the unit closest to the floor to be boarded. As a result, the emergency transport cart can get on the elevator immediately upon arrival at the station without waiting time.

5 is a diagram for explaining a facility control operation according to another embodiment of the present invention. Here, the times and situations of ①'to ④'correspond to the times and situations represented by ① to ④ of FIG. 4.

The driving support unit 235 may control the operation of the elevator further based on the position of the transfer cart 10.

In one embodiment, the driving support unit 235 receives status information of the patient E indicating an emergency, and the transfer cart 10 of the emergency patient E is within a predetermined distance R ₁ to the elevator of the corresponding floor. When approaching, the priority of arrival is given to the floor where the transport cart 10 of the emergency patient E is located.

Since the transfer cart 10 of the present invention does not require a transfer agent, it is difficult for the emergency patient E to press the elevator button by itself. In addition, by giving priority to arrival when it is close to the elevator boarding point, it is possible to minimize the transfer of the elevator to the urgent transfer cart 10.

As shown in FIG. 5, when the emergency patient transfer cart 10 approaches within a predetermined distance R ₁ , arrival priority is given to the floor where the emergency patient transfer cart 10 is located.

Further, the result of giving the priority of arrival to the transport cart 10 of the emergency patient may be displayed externally. For example, when the transport cart 10 of the emergency patient E approaches within a predetermined distance R ₁ , as shown in FIG. 6, the emergency patient E is placed on the button outside the elevator on the first floor. ) In the direction of the destination floor of the transport cart 10 (for example, in the direction of the upper floor of the first floor in FIG. 5), an indication that the elevator will proceed may appear.

In addition, the driving support unit 235 gives the next arrival priority to the floor where the destination of the emergency patient's transport cart 10 is located. For this reason, when the transfer cart 10 boards the elevator, the transfer cart 10 can quickly move to the next floor to be moved through the elevator (eg, the floor where the destination is located) without stopping.

The driving support unit 235 may obtain whether or not the emergency patient boards the transport cart 10 through CCTV installed in the elevator or the door closed.

In addition, the driving support unit 235 determines a space in the hospital suitable for solving the emergency situation of the emergency patient E as a destination based on the status information of the emergency patient, and recalls an emergency movement command for moving to the appropriate destination. It can also be transmitted to the transfer cart 10 of the emergency patient (E).

In this way, the driving support unit 235 may preferentially board the transport cart 10 for transporting the emergency patient in the elevator, and further, may move quickly to the destination without stopping.

When there are a plurality of floors for which arrival priority is set, the driving support unit 235 includes a moving distance between floors for each of the plurality of transport carts 10, the floor where the destinations of the plurality of transport carts 10 are located, and the elevator movement direction. , The elevator can be controlled in consideration of the patient's emergency condition. In this case, an elevator boarded by an emergency patient may stop on an intermediate floor to the destination floor to board another emergency patient.

Additionally, the driving support unit 235 sends a notification to the medical staff terminal 30 located within a predetermined range in the emergency patient's transfer cart 10 when the state of the patient on board the transfer cart 10 is urgent. Here, the notification includes information indicating the current state of the patient, such as the location of the emergency patient, the name of the disease, and/or a biosignal.

In one embodiment, the driving support unit 235 may control opening and closing of some or all of the doors installed in the hospital. For example, the driving support unit 235 may control a part or all of a door positioned on a movement path of the transfer cart 10. To this end, some or all of the doors installed in the hospital are electrically connected to the transfer cart control server 20 by wire/wireless.

For example, the driving support unit 235, when approaching within a predetermined distance (R ₂ ) from the door that the transfer cart 10 will soon face (that is, from the door that is going to pass first at the current position), it reaches the door. The door can be opened before doing so.

The predetermined distance R ₂ is determined based on the moving speed of the transport cart 10, the door opening/closing type, the opening/closing setting (eg, setting the door opening speed).

The door includes an automatic door configured to open and close the door according to an electrical signal. In some embodiments, the door includes a door configured to open and close the door based on a plurality of electrical signals. For example, the infrared detection method-based automatic door configured to open the door in response to whether or not infrared is detected, in addition to the electric signal by the infrared detection, the door may be configured to open in response to a control signal from the transport cart control server 20. I can.

Of course, the door may receive a signal from the transfer cart itself and, if the transfer cart approaches within a predetermined distance R ₂ , the door may be opened before reaching the door.

In this way, if the transfer system 1 including the transfer cart 10 and the transfer cart control server 20 is used, a patient can be transferred without a transfer agent.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the transfer cart 10 and/or the transfer cart control server 20 may include other components not described herein. For example, it may further include a data input device, an output device such as a display and/or printing, a network, a network interface and protocol, and the like.

The operation by the components (eg, 10 or 20) of the transfer system 1 according to the embodiments described above may be at least partially implemented as a computer program and recorded on a computer-readable recording medium. For example, it is implemented with a program product configured in a computer-readable medium containing program code, which may be executed by a processor for performing any or all steps, operations, or processes described.

The computer may be a computing device such as a desktop computer, laptop computer, notebook, smart phone, or the like, or may be any device that may be integrated. A computer is a device with one or more alternative special purpose processors, memory, storage, and networking components (either wireless or wired). The computer may run, for example, an operating system compatible with Microsoft's Windows, Apple OS X or iOS, a Linux distribution, or an operating system such as Google's Android OS.

The computer-readable recording medium includes all types of record identification devices storing data that can be read by a computer. Examples of computer-readable recording media include ROM, RAM, CD-ROM, magnetic tape, floppy disk, optical data storage identification device, and the like. In addition, the computer-readable recording medium may be distributed over a computer system connected through a network, and computer-readable codes may be stored and executed in a distributed manner. In addition, functional programs, codes, and code segments for implementing this embodiment may be easily understood by those skilled in the art to which this embodiment belongs.

The present invention described above has been described with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings, but these are merely exemplary, and those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that various modifications and variations of the embodiments are possible therefrom. However, such modifications should be considered to be within the technical protection scope of the present invention. Therefore, the true technical scope of the present invention should be determined by the technical spirit of the appended claims.

1: transfer system
10: transfer cart
20: Transfer cart control server
30: medical staff terminal
40: patient terminal

Claims (24)

In the transfer cart control server,
A mobile unit monitoring unit that monitors at least one of a location of a medical staff terminal in a hospital, a location of a patient terminal, a location of a transfer cart, and a condition of a patient;
A path environment monitoring unit that monitors an environment of a path in which the transport cart in the hospital can travel; And
Transfer cart control server comprising a driving support unit for controlling the facilities in the hospital related to the movement path of the transfer cart.
The method of claim 1, wherein the driving support unit,
When receiving a request to dispatch a transfer cart from a medical staff terminal or a patient terminal, it is further configured to determine a dispatch transfer cart based on the distance between the terminal and the transfer cart, and transmit a dispatch command to the dispatch transfer cart. Transfer cart control server.
The method of claim 2, wherein the driving support unit,
A transfer cart control server, characterized in that, determining a candidate transfer cart for at least one of a destination and a request purpose included in the transfer cart dispatch request, and determining a dispatch transfer cart based on a distance between the terminal and the candidate transfer cart.
The method of claim 1, wherein the driving support unit,
Transport cart control server, characterized in that configured to control the operation of the elevator.
The method of claim 4, wherein the driving support unit,
When receiving status information indicating that the patient onboard is an emergency patient from the transfer cart, the transfer cart control server is further configured to give priority to arrival to the first floor where the transfer cart of the emergency patient is located.
The method of claim 5, wherein the driving support unit,
It is further configured to determine whether the transport cart of the emergency patient has entered within a predetermined distance from the elevator on the first floor, and to give priority to arrival to the first floor after entering. server.
The method of claim 5, wherein the driving support unit,
The transfer cart control server, characterized in that further configured to set an arrival priority on the second floor where the destination of the transfer cart is located when the urgent transfer cart boards the elevator that has arrived on the first floor.
The method of claim 1, wherein the driving support unit,
When receiving status information indicating that the patient on board is an emergency patient from the transfer cart, the transfer cart control server is further configured to send a notification from the transfer cart of the emergency patient to a medical staff terminal within a predetermined range.
The method of claim 1, wherein the driving support unit,
Based on the monitoring result of the movement path and the path condition of the transfer cart, it is determined whether the movement path of the transfer cart is appropriate,
When it is determined that it is inappropriate, it is further configured to determine a new movement path of the transfer cart and provide the new movement path to the transfer cart,
The suitability determination is a transfer cart control server, characterized in that to determine whether the time required for the transfer cart to arrive from the departure point to the destination is minimized.
The method of claim 9, wherein the driving support unit,
In T=f(P1, P2, V, L, DT), when P1 and P2 are given, L is determined so that T becomes the minimum, where:
T is the total transfer time, P1 is the transfer cart origin, P2 is the transfer cart destination, V is the average speed of the transfer cart, L is the transfer route, DT is the lag time due to the retarding factor on the transfer route,
DT is the sum of the delay time for passing facilities on the transfer route (DT1) and the delay time due to congestion caused by people on the transfer route (DT2). Or a transport cart control server, characterized in that the statistically calculated value.
The method of claim 4, wherein the driving support unit,
Transfer cart control server, characterized in that further configured to control the opening and closing of the door installed in the hospital, electrically connected.
The method of claim 11, wherein the driving support unit,
The transfer cart control server, characterized in that further configured to open the door when the transfer cart moving along the movement path approaches a door within a predetermined distance from a door that is to pass first from a current position.
The method of claim 1, wherein the driving support unit,
When status information indicating that the patient on board is an emergency patient is received from the transfer cart, the destination of the transfer cart of the emergency patient is determined based on the status information of the emergency patient, and an emergency movement command for moving to the destination is issued. Transfer cart control server, characterized in that further configured to transmit to the transfer cart.
In a transport cart that transports patients by autonomous driving,
A body supporting at least a portion of the patient's body;
A driving unit for moving the transfer cart;
An interface unit receiving at least one of the patient's patient information, a destination, and a response from a patient related to transfer;
A communication unit for receiving the location of the transfer cart from a transfer cart control server;
A patient monitoring unit for monitoring the patient's condition; And
A transfer cart comprising a traveling control unit configured to control traveling in response to an object detected in a process of traveling on a moving path determined for traveling of the transfer cart.
The method of claim 14, wherein the body,
A transfer cart, characterized in that further configured to change the shape of the transfer cart based on the characteristics of the medical treatment performed at the destination.
The method of claim 15, wherein the body,
A transfer cart, characterized in that it can be transformed into a shape of a preset body, wherein the preset body includes at least one of a stand type, a wheelchair type, and a bed type.
The method of claim 14, wherein the driving control unit,
It is configured to determine the movement route based at least on the facilities in the hospital,
The transport cart, characterized in that the facility includes an elevator.
The method of claim 17, wherein the driving control unit,
Filtering a candidate route including an elevator from a plurality of candidate routes to the destination,
The transport cart, characterized in that further configured to determine the path having the shortest distance from the filtered candidate path as the movement path.
The method of claim 18,
The facility further includes a door located in the hospital,
The driving control unit is a transfer cart, characterized in that further configured to determine the movement path further based on the door opening and closing type.
The method of claim 19, wherein the driving control unit,
And further filtering candidate routes including only automatic doors from the plurality of candidate routes to the destination.
The method of claim 14, wherein the patient monitoring unit,
The transfer cart, characterized in that further configured to determine status information representing the patient's condition based on the patient's bio-signal.
The method of claim 21, wherein the patient monitoring unit,
When the state of the patient is urgent, the transfer cart, characterized in that further configured to transmit the status information indicating the emergency to the transfer cart control server.
The method of claim 14, wherein the driving control unit,
When the deformable type of the transfer cart is not included in the type that can enter the destination, the transfer cart is further configured to reject transfer of the patient.
The method of claim 14, wherein the driving control unit,
In the event of an abnormal situation, it is further configured to stop the transfer, change the transfer path, or transmit it to the transfer cart control server or medical staff,
The abnormal situation is when an emergency situation occurs during patient transfer;
When a patient response related to transfer is received through the interface unit before or during transfer indicating that the patient does not agree with the transfer purpose or destination; And
A transfer cart comprising at least one of a case where a transfer-related patient response for correcting an error in an input of a transfer purpose or a destination is received through the interface unit.

Images