Abstract: A portable signal transfer unit for relaying a signal representative of physiological data of a mammalian subject from a remote physiological sensor to a remote receiver unit. The portable transfer unit includes an input device which operably receives the signal, a memory for buffering the signal, and an output device which wirelessly transmits the signal to the remote unit. The signal transfer unit also includes a signal processor for relaying the signal from the signal input to the output device, wherein the signal processor has two or more receivers each receiver adapted to handle a specified signal carrier frequency. An indicator is also provided which indicates to the subject whether the signal transfer unit is within range of the remote unit to enable effective transmission of the signal from the signal transfer unit to the remote unit.

Abstract: A system and method for monitoring vital signs and capturing data from a patient remotely using radiotelemetry techniques. The system is characterized by a cordless, disposable sensor band with sensors form measuring full waveform ECG, full waveform respiration, skin temperature, and motion, and transmission circuitry for the detection and transmission of vital signs data of the patient. A small signal transfer unit that can either be worn by the patient, e.g., on his or her belt, or positioned nearby receives data from the sensor band, which it then forwards by e.g., radio transmission to a base station that can be located up to 60 meters away. The base station receives data transmissions from the signal transfer unit and is designed to connect to conventional phone lines for transferring the collected data to a remote monitoring station. The base station may also capture additional clinical data, such as blood pressure data, and to perform data checks.

Abstract: A communications system includes a primary station having transmitting and receiving sections, a formatting stage for formatting messages to be transmitted by the transmitting section, and one or more secondary stations. The or each secondary station has a receiving section for receiving messages from the primary station and a transmitting section for transmitting signals as pseudo-random code sequence signals, and the primary station is adapted to receive and to simultaneously decode and detect the or each of the pseudo-random code sequence signals. The simultaneously decoding and detection operations involves implementation of a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) in a manner that a code sequence for despreading the pseudo-random code sequence is applied within the FFT. A resulting spectrum is checked for a peak which indicates that one of the pseudo-random code sequences has been successfully decoded and detected.

Abstract: A message transmission system includes at least one primary station arranged for making transmissions on a down-link and a plurality of secondary stations arranged for making transmissions on an up-link, each of the secondary stations having its own address which is transmitted as part of the down-link message. Each of the secondary stations is configured for generating responses to messages as pseudo-random data sequences, the pseudo-random data sequence being generated by a secondary station at any one time being dependent on at least the address assigned to the secondary station and/or information contained in the message.