Alarm routing optimization strategies in targeted alarm system

Abstract

A targeted alarm system is described that includes a network probe for sending test data to terminal devices connected to a network and deriving reliability data of the terminal devices and the network. When a targeted alarm message needs to be sent, the system identifies a targeted terminal device based on the reliability data for sending the targeted alarm message. Related methods, apparatus, and non-transitory computer readable media are also disclosed.

1 - 41 . (canceled) 
     
     
         42 . A targeted medical alarm system for sending data to terminal devices, the system comprising:
 one or more network adapters configured to communicate with a plurality of terminal devices over one or more networks, each of the terminal devices being associated with a respective caregiver;   one or more processors configured to:
 periodically transmit data to each of the terminal devices, receive acknowledgment data from each of the terminal devices indicating when the data was received by the respective terminal device, and store the received acknowledgment data indicating when the data was received by the respective terminal device in one or more storage mediums; 
 track real-time locations the terminal devices, and store the real-time locations of the terminal devices in the one or more storage mediums; 
 determine a predicted alarm message latency based on at least one of (i) the real-time locations of the terminal devices and (ii) historical acknowledgment data for at least one of the terminal devices, the historical acknowledgment data being measured when the at least one of the terminal devices was previously in the real-time location of the at least one of the terminal devices; 
 identify a targeted terminal device to which a targeted message is to be sent based at least in part on the predicted alarm message latency; and 
 send the targeted message to the targeted terminal device. 
   
     
     
         43 . The system according to  claim 42 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to track a scheduled location of the respective caregiver to enable the one or more processors to be able to predict locations of caregiver based on a time and day. 
     
     
         44 . The system according to  claim 43 , wherein the one or more processors predict locations of the respective caregiver when real-time tracking is not available based at least in part on the scheduled locations the caregiver. 
     
     
         45 . The system according to  claim 42 , wherein the data comprises one or more data packets sent to the terminal devices via the one or more networks. 
     
     
         46 . The system according to  claim 42 , wherein the one or more processors identify the targeted terminal device using a reliability map of the network that is comprised of data sets representing reliability of at least one of sub-networks, links, and components of the network. 
     
     
         47 . The system according to  claim 42 , wherein the one or more processors identify the targeted terminal device using current workload data for the respective caregiver associated with the at least one of the terminal devices. 
     
     
         48 . The system according to  claim 42 , wherein the one or more processors identify the targeted terminal device using proximity data for the respective caregiver associated with the at least one of the terminal devices. 
     
     
         49 . The system according to  claim 42 , wherein the one or more processors identify the targeted terminal device using energy level data of the respective caregiver associated with the at least one of the terminal devices. 
     
     
         50 . The system according to  claim 42 , wherein the one or more processors identify the targeted terminal device using a physical distribution of the respective caregiver associated with the at least one of the terminal devices. 
     
     
         51 . The system according to  claim 42 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to automatically measure network conditions of the one or more networks by determining, for the at least one of the terminal devices, one or more latency-related values associated with each of the data and the acknowledgment data, the latency-related values including a message latency. 
     
     
         52 . The system according to  claim 51 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to weigh and combine each of the latency-related values to generate an overall reliability and latency for the at least one of the terminal devices. 
     
     
         53 . The system according to  claim 51 , wherein the one or more latency-related values include one or more of: round-trip message latency, and a message routing path, and a physical location. 
     
     
         54 . The system according to  claim 42 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
 receive a response message from a responsive terminal device; and   generate one or more statistics of the responsive terminal device based on the response message.   
     
     
         55 . The system according to  claim 42 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
 identify a secondary terminal device based at least in part on the predicted alarm message latency; and   send the targeted message to the secondary terminal device.   
     
     
         56 . The system according to  claim 42 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to generate a report of the predicted alarm message latency. 
     
     
         57 . The system according to  claim 42 , wherein the targeted terminal device is determined based at least in part on a location distribution of the terminal devices. 
     
     
         58 . The system according to  claim 42 , wherein each of the terminal devices automatically generates the acknowledgment data upon receipt of the data. 
     
     
         59 . A method for a targeted medical alarm system including one or more network adapters configured to communicate with a plurality of terminal devices over one or more networks, each of the terminal devices being associated with a respective caregiver, the method comprising:
 periodically transmitting data to each of the terminal devices, receiving acknowledgment data from each of the terminal devices indicating when the data was received by the respective terminal device, and storing the received acknowledgment data indicating when the data was received by the respective terminal device in one or more storage mediums;   tracking real-time locations the terminal devices, and storing the real-time locations of the terminal devices in the one or more storage mediums;   determining a predicted alarm message latency based on at least one of (i) the real-time locations of the terminal devices and (ii) historical acknowledgment data for at least one of the terminal devices, the historical acknowledgment data being measured when the at least one of the terminal devices was previously in the real-time location of the at least one of the terminal devices;   identifying a targeted terminal device to which a targeted message is to be sent based at least in part on the predicted alarm message latency; and   sending the targeted message to the targeted terminal device.