C. Integration Into the Mobile Telemonitoring System
The developed prototype for the concurrent acquisition of
blood pressure and ECG with NFC triggered Bluetooth connection
has been integrated into an existing telemonitoring system
(see Fig. 3). The following already existing NFC components
have been used.
1) ID Card:: A contactless Smartcard type Mifare Classic
was utilized as security token to identify the patient and authenticate
access to the telemonitoring system. Touching this ID card
with the mobile phone resulted in an automatic launch of the
installed J2ME application.
2) Body Weight Scales: The body weight scales type UC-
321 PL (A&D, Tokyo, Japan) has been fitted with NFC
capabilities.
3) Smart Icon Table: An A4 sized table has been printed
with several 50 × 50mm sized icons. Behind each icon, an
RFID tag was stuck that electronically stored the meaning of
the respective icon. These icons were intended to be touched
with the mobile phone to answer questions about well-being
and medication intake (shown on the display).
To include ECG recording using the developed prototype device,
the J2ME application running on the mobile phone had to
be adapted. When touching the ID card, the preinstalled application
launches automatically and logs in at the remote telemonitoring
system using the credentials lodged on this ID card. All
data acquired from now will be uploaded to the patient record
associated with this ID card. The user interface guided the patient
through the data acquisition workflow, using a visual and
acoustic interface—telling the patient, which step she/he had to
take next. During ECG recording, the signal was streamed to
the mobile phone and displayed in real time.
To upload the acquired data, the J2ME application running on
the mobile phone was linked to a remote telemonitoring system
using secured https communication based on 3G/UMTS mobile
Internet services. Data were stored in the database of the remote
telemonitoring system from where they could be accessed by
physicians using a Web browser. After secure login, the user
interface allowed us to viewmeasurement lists, charts, and ECG
recordings using an interactive viewer.