Low cost telemedicine using cable TV Network & TV Set

Mohamed Junaid 1, Ravi Chandran 2, Natarajan A. 1, Ravindran G. 3, Maheswaran S. 1, Nithya Priya 3
1 Kongu Engineering College, 2 Velalar College Of Engg & Tech, 3 Annamalai University, Erode, India

Nowadays, the need for specific health support at home is very much required for the benefit of patients and also for the doctors to to follow up after treatment for their patients. There are number of web based communication systems are developed for this application. The access and understanding of web service is very difficult for the society,particularly in rural regions. These systems also ensure high investment cost, technical skills and computers in both ends . The deployment of broadband communication networks is making feasible the provision of home care services with a proper quality of service .

TV and cable TV networks are the mass media, which attract and understand by each and everybody in the society. The proposed method uses an innovative telehomecare technique which runs by using multimedia platform over integrated services consisting of a set top box,and a standard TV set with remote control for patient interaction. Since our government has planned to implement Conditional access TV (CATV) system throughout the country using set top box, this method ensures an innovative,low cost and modern health care system which will be attracted and utilised by the entire society.

This platform allows on-line ECG, BLOOD PRESSURE, TEMPERATURE and HEART SOUND monitoring. Even an expert opinion and interaction between the doctors and exchange of medical images from various speciality hospitals can also be achieved. Usability, and affordability were considered as the important factors in the design and development of its hardware and software components. The home station [HS] or 1st station is composed of two detachable units: the video conference data processing unit and vital signs recording module[VSRM]. The first module is a PC based set top box. The medical center set up is composed of a call center,the patient record database management and peripherals such as printer and scanner. The solution to the better health care delivery to the rural society can be achieved by the above method by installing this scheme in the rural hospitals.