Telemedicine system

Abstract

System for medical interaction with a patient, comprising one or more computing devices configured to: electronically receive medical data via a communication link; determine a beginning of a breathing interval using at least a portion of the medical data; determine an end of the breathing interval using the at least a portion of the medical data; determine a time interval between the beginning of the breathing interval and the end of the breathing interval; and assign a level of importance out of a plurality of levels of importance to the time interval, wherein high levels of importance are assigned to short measured time intervals and successively lower levels of importance are assigned to successively longer measured time intervals.

1 - 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A method comprising:
 electronically receiving, at one or more computing devices, medical data via a communication link;   determining, at the one or more computing devices, a beginning of a breathing interval using at least a portion of the medical data;   determining, at the one or more computing devices, an end of the breathing interval using at least a portion of the medical data;   determining, at the one or more computing devices, a time interval between the beginning of the breathing interval and the end of the breathing interval; and   assigning, at the one or more computing devices, a level of importance out of a plurality of levels of importance to the time interval, wherein the one or more computing devices assign high levels of importance to short measured time intervals and successively lower levels of importance to successively longer measured time intervals.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the communication link is a wireless communication link. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein assigning the level of importance out of the plurality of levels of importance to the time interval comprises:
 determining at least one time-interval threshold; and   determining the level of importance based on the at least one time-interval threshold.   
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein assigning the level of importance comprises comparing the time interval with one or more predefined thresholds. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 21  further comprising:
 determining, at the one or more computing devices, a recommendation based on the level of importance; and 
 electronically sending at least the recommendation over the communication link. 
 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 21  further comprising:
 determining, at the one or more computing devices, a recommendation based on the level of importance; and 
 causing display of at least the recommendation. 
 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 25  further comprising:
 determining, at the one or more computing devices, a medical history of a patient; and wherein determining the recommendation based on the level of importance comprises:
 determining the recommendation based on the level of importance and the medical history of the patient. 
 
 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 21  further comprising:
 determining an alert threshold; and 
 responsive to the level of importance equaling or exceeding the alert threshold, electronically communicating an alert. 
 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 28 , wherein communicating the alert comprises:
 communicating the alert via a first electronic communication technology in response to determining the level of importance equals a first level of importance, wherein the first level of importance equals or exceeds the alert threshold; and   communicating the alert via a second electronic communication technology in response to determining the level of importance equals a second level of importance, wherein the second level of importance exceeds the first level of importance.   
     
     
         30 . A system comprising:
 one or more computing devices configured to:
 electronically receive medical data via a communication link; 
 determine a beginning of a breathing interval using at least a portion of the medical data; 
 determine an end of the breathing interval using at least a portion of the medical data; 
 determine a time interval between the beginning of the breathing interval and the end of the breathing interval; and 
 assign a level of importance out of a plurality of levels of importance to the time interval, wherein high levels of importance are assigned to short measured time intervals and successively lower levels of importance are assigned to successively longer measured time intervals. 
   
     
     
         31 . The system of  claim 30 , wherein the communication link is a wireless communication link. 
     
     
         32 . The system of  claim 30 , wherein the one or more computing devices are configured to assign the level of importance by comparing the time interval with one or more predefined thresholds. 
     
     
         33 . The system of  claim 30 , wherein the one or more computing devices comprise a software downloading capability. 
     
     
         34 . The system of  claim 30 , wherein the one or more computing devices are further configured to determine a recommendation based on the level of importance. 
     
     
         35 . The system of  claim 34 , wherein the one or more computing devices are further configured to electronically send at least the recommendation over the communication link. 
     
     
         36 . The system of  claim 34 , wherein the one or more computing devices are further configured to cause display of at least the recommendation. 
     
     
         37 . The system of  claim 34 , wherein the one or more computing devices are further configured to:
 determine one or more rules associating the plurality of levels of importance and a range of output recommendations; and   select the recommendation from the range of output recommendations applying the one or more rules to the level of importance.   
     
     
         38 . The system of  claim 34 , wherein the one or more computing devices are further configured to determine a medical history of a patient; and
 wherein the one or more computing devices are configured to determine the recommendation by:   determining the recommendation based on the level of importance and the medical history of the patient.   
     
     
         39 . The system of  claim 38 , wherein the one or more computing devices are configured to determine the recommendation based on the level of importance and the medical history of the patient by:
 determining one or more thresholds;   determining a set of deltas;   applying the set of deltas to the one or more thresholds; and   determining the recommendation based on the applied one or more thresholds.   
     
     
         40 . The apparatus of  claim 39 , wherein the one or more computing devices are configured to determine the set of deltas by:
 determining a condition based on the medical history; and   determining the set of deltas based on the condition.   
     
     
         41 . The apparatus of  claim 30 , wherein the one or more computing devices are further configured to:
 determine a first recommendation based on the level of importance;   electronically receive a measurement via the communication link;   determine a second recommendation by combining the first recommendation with the measurement; and   electronically send the second recommendation over the communication link.   
     
     
         42 . An apparatus comprising:
 means for electronically receiving medical data via a communication link;   means for determining a beginning of a breathing interval using at least a portion of the medical data;   means for determining an end of the breathing interval using at least a portion of the medical data;   means for determining a time interval between the beginning of the breathing interval and the end of the breathing interval; and   means for assigning a level of importance out of a plurality of levels of importance to the time interval, wherein the means for assigning the level of importance assigns high levels of importance to short measured time intervals and successively lower levels of importance to successively longer measured time intervals.   
     
     
         43 . The apparatus of  claim 42 , wherein the communication link is a wireless communication link. 
     
     
         44 . The apparatus of  claim 42 , wherein assigning the level of importance to the time interval comprises:
 determining at least one time-interval threshold; and   determining the level of importance based on the at least one time-interval threshold.   
     
     
         45 . The apparatus of  claim 44  further comprising means for determining a recommendation based on the level of importance. 
     
     
         46 . The apparatus of  claim 45  further comprising means for electronically outputting the recommendation. 
     
     
         47 . The apparatus of  claim 45  further comprising:
 means for determining a medical history of a patient; and wherein determining the recommendation based on the level of importance comprises:
 determining the recommendation based on the level of importance and the medical history of the patient. 
 
 
     
     
         48 . The apparatus of  claim 47 , wherein determining the recommendation based on the level of importance and the medical history comprises:
 determining one or more thresholds;   determining a set of deltas, comprising:
 determining a condition based on the medical history; 
 determining the set of deltas based on the condition; 
 applying the set of deltas to the one or more thresholds; and 
 determining the recommendation based on the applied thresholds. 
   
     
     
         49 . The apparatus of  claim 42  further comprising:
 means for determining an alert threshold; and 
 means for communicating an alert, in response to determining the level of importance equals or exceeds the alert threshold.