Heart disease is known as one of the main causes of human fatalities across the planet. Roughly 2.8 million individuals die every year because of obesity, for it can prompt fatal metabolic consequences on blood pressure and cholesterol, which at last builds the risk of coronary disease, ischemic stroke, diabetes mellitus, and various types of cancer.
The Centers for Disease Control unleashes that coronary illness is the leading cause of death in the United States. It also reveals that the widely recognized kind of heart disease is coronary artery disease (CAD), which can prompt a cardiovascular failure/ heart attack.
The World Health Organization assessed that coronary disease might increment to 23.3% across the globe by 2030. This staggering percentage discloses that humans are vulnerable to such a disease, like never before.
Thus, it is necessary to manage health adequately, including monitoring heart health to keep it a check.
However, thankfully there are approaches to reduce the risk of heath diseases, including giving up a sedentary lifestyle and embracing a healthy way of life. There is also a range of diagnostic tools and patented medical devices present to monitor the status of heart health.
One such incredible tool is the heart monitoring system.
The Emergence of Heart Monitoring System
Researchers began checking pulses in 1912, utilizing water pails as stabilizers in the primary lab model. The first electronic heart-monitoring apparatus, the electrocardiograph, was initially the size of a room.
Inventor and doctor Earl W. Holter was a pioneer in the area of ambulatory electrocardiography. He invented the first ambulatory ECG monitor for use by patients with heart disease in 1956. This device was named after him, The Holter Monitor, and he is known for inventing the first ambulatory electrocardiography system.
The Holter Monitor- Heart Monitoring System
The Holter monitor is an electronic device that records a patient’s heart rhythm for 24 hours or more. The monitor is attached to the patient’s chest and the heart rhythm is recorded by a battery-operated electronic device.
Holter monitors are more accurate than heart rate monitors, which can be affected by factors such as physical activity, medication, stress and anxiety. They are also useful for patients who have a history of heart disease.
Holter was the major inventor of early ambulatory monitoring devices.
He published a study in 1949 describing his invention, and it was licensed to Medrad Inc., a medical device manufacturing company, for commercialization. The Holter device has subsequently become an accepted standard of care in cardiology worldwide. Inventors looking to improve upon this basic design should be aware that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has already granted patents on such innovations—and will likely continue to do so if new features are added.
Your invention should fall under the type of inventions for which patent rights are granted and must have an adequately described section on ‘claims’.
Also, the invention must have the mandatory and essential patenting requirements that are common for all patents.
Modern Developments
Fortunately, today we have personal heart monitoring systems. It might not do everything the electrocardiograph in your primary care physician’s office does, yet it does pleasantly fill the requirements for any individual who needs to keep an eye on their heart health precisely. The modern-day heart monitoring system is the size of a wristwatch.
Heart monitoring systems are widely common in the modern realm of healthcare. These systems have been praised as one milestone innovation facilitating the diagnostic procedure of heart health status.
It employs the heart signals produced during each cardiac cycle, converting them into another form of a signal, to analyze heart functionality. The mechanism for the functioning of the heart monitoring system, was first invented by Bao Tran, Founder of the PatentPC.
The invention included one or more wireless nodes; and a wearable appliance in communication with one or more wireless nodes. The appliance was used to monitor the vital signs.
Registered Patent Attorney with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Bao Tran is the founding patent attorney of PatentPC, with over two decades of expertise in the field of over and intellectual property law.
Filed in 2012, the concept of a ‘health monitoring system’ is patented innovation under the name of Bao Tran (US8323189B2). Without a doubt, this innovation incorporates wearable appliances comprising of EKG detector, electromagnetic detector, ECG detector, an optical detector, ultrasonic detector, NIBP, SpO2, respiration, temperature, end-tidal CO2 monitoring, and anesthetic gas analysis serves as the ultimate tool for health management.
In fact, the idea has led to the success of digital healthcare and Telemedicine, empowering healthcare providers to manage the care provision of patients with chronic illnesses, better.
The Rise of Telemedicine
During the last decade, fast headways in health care service and low-cost wireless communication have significantly helped with adapting to the issue of fewer medical facilities. The integration of mobile communication with wearable sensors has encouraged the shift of healthcare provision from clinic-centric to patient-centric and is named “Telemedicine.”
The shift has been evident amid the pandemic, where telemedicine ensured that the lives of patients with chronic illnesses were not put at stake, in wake of the pandemic-strained healthcare system.
In the bigger viewpoint, telemedicine can be of two sorts:
- live communication type, where the presence of the specialist and patient is essential with the extra requirement of high transfer speed and great data speed, and
- store and forward type, which requires obtaining medical parameters like vital signs, pictures, recordings, and transmission of patient’s information to a concerned specialist in the clinic.
As per existing clinical reviews, telemedicine has been adopted to manage the care of patients with heart diseases, diabetes, hypotension, hypertension, hyperthermia, and hypothermia.
The most encouraging application is progressively observing chronic illnesses like cardiopulmonary illness, asthma, and heart failure in patients situated far from the clinical offices through a remote monitoring framework.
Bao Tran’s invention has been phenomenal in this regard, for it comprised a heart disease recognizer to detect stroke symptoms or heart attack symptoms. The invention also had a hospital or operating room patient monitoring equipment coupled to the wireless node, to ensure the smooth transfer of patient information.
how to patent heart monitoring systems
To patent a heart monitoring system, the following steps should be taken:
- Conduct a prior art search: Before filing a patent application, it is important to conduct a search of existing patents and published patent applications to determine if the heart monitoring system is novel and non-obvious. This can be done by searching the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) database or by using commercial patent search tools.
- Draft the patent application: Once you have determined that your heart monitoring system is novel and non-obvious, you will need to draft a patent application. This will typically include a detailed description of the invention, including its technical features and how it works, as well as any drawings or diagrams that may be necessary to understand the invention.
- File the patent application: After the patent application is drafted, it must be filed with the USPTO. This will involve paying a filing fee and submitting the application, including any drawings or diagrams, to the USPTO.
- Prosecution: After the patent application is filed, it will be examined by a patent examiner to determine if it meets the requirements for a patent. The patent attorney will communicate with the patent office to argue the patentability of the invention and respond to any objections or rejections made by the patent office.
- Allowance and grant: If the patent office determines that the heart monitoring system is novel and non-obvious and all requirements are met, the patent application will be allowed, and a patent will be granted.
It’s worth noting that the process of obtaining a patent can take several years and can be complex and time-consuming. Therefore, it is recommended to hire an experienced patent attorney with domain knowledge expertise in the field of heart monitoring systems to handle the process.
example of Recent patents for heart monitoring systems
There are many patents for heart monitoring systems that have been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Some examples include:
- US Patent No. 10,564,095: This patent, titled “Systems and methods for monitoring and analyzing heart rate variability” describes a system that uses heart rate variability (HRV) analysis to monitor and analyze cardiac health.
- US Patent No. 9,957,836: This patent, titled “Systems and methods for monitoring and analyzing heart rate variability” describes a system that uses HRV analysis to monitor and analyze cardiac health.
- US Patent No. 9,846,878: This patent, titled “Systems and methods for monitoring and analyzing heart rate variability” describes a system that uses HRV analysis to monitor and analyze cardiac health.
- US Patent No. 9,846,878: This patent, titled “System and method for non-invasive cardiac monitoring” describes a system that uses non-invasive techniques to monitor cardiac activity.
- US Patent No. 9,837,062: This patent, titled “System and method for non-invasive cardiac monitoring” describes a system that uses non-invasive techniques to monitor cardiac activity.
These are just a few examples of patents for heart monitoring systems, and there are many more patents that have been granted for similar technologies. It’s worth noting that these patents are just examples and the claims and their scope may be different from what is described in the title. You should always consult with a patent attorney to understand the scope and the validity of any patent.
The Bottom Line
With a heart disease recognizer to detect stroke symptoms or heart attack symptoms, a database to store patient information, and a database to store medicine taking habits, eating and drinking habits, sleeping habits, or exercise habits, the ‘heart monitoring system’ serves as the beacon of hope for patients with cardiovascular disease.
This invention also provides a chance for humans to get in control of their health, in order to diminish the risk of predicted, ever-increasing risk of heart diseases.