Smart phone interfaces to wireless health sensors

This paper discusses user and system interfaces for mobile health-monitoring systems. Current approaches often use entirely web based solutions, however with mobile phones being extremely widespread and becoming ever more powerful, there is a strong case to be made for their use as interfaces to wearable health sensors. Phones provide a socially appropriate means of displaying timely information to the user and enable the sensors to transmit measurements directly to health care providers. In this paper we demonstrate the advantages of their use in this manner; outline the current consumer smart phone landscape from this perspective and introduce an information architecture for sensor message management on mobile devices. The architecture focuses on ease of access to constantly updating sensor readings and allows many data sources to feed many data consumers simultaneously. While designed for use with a fall and mobility sensor, it may be equally well adapted for use with any other health or vital signs sensor.