Global IT solutions company MindTree, a leading provider of Bluetooth® Intellectual Property (IP) solutions, has launched a Bluetooth health device solution on the Android platform. The solution was successfully demonstrated on the Google G1 Android Phone at the Continua Health Alliance Summit in Boston in October and is designed to provide seamless interoperability among personal healthcare devices, thereby empowering individuals to connect with their healthcare administrators real-time.
With the rising cost of healthcare and an aging population, together with busy lifestyles that leave some people little time for fitness and weight management, there are increasing requirements for levels of supervision and medical intervention. A system where patients are seamlessly connected to their healthcare providers does however require improved interoperability among health devices. MindTree’s solution on the Android platform not only enables connectivity but also demonstrates the interoperability between such devices.
“We are encouraged by the launch of MindTree’s implementation of the Continua Version One Bluetooth device interface,” said Continua Health Alliance President and Chairman of the board of directors, Rick Cnossen. “The MindTree technology will foster and accelerate the development of Continua standards-based mobile solutions available to consumers.”
“This further strengthens our leadership position in the Bluetooth technology space,” said MindTree President and CEO – R&D Services, Vinod Deshmukh. “As Bluetooth continues to penetrate into newer markets such as healthcare, we will have newer requirements to address. We are conscious of this changing trend, and will continue to proactively invest in building the next generation of Bluetooth-based solutions that will effectively address the market requirements of tomorrow.”
The Continua device solution consists of MindTree’s qualified Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR stack including eL2CAP, Multi-Channel Adaptation Protocol (MCAP) and Health Device Profile (HDP), integrated with IEEE – 11073 layers ported onto the Android platform on a Google G1 developer phone. In the demonstration, the health device solution on Google G1 Android Phone interoperated with a Continua-Certified pulse oximeter from Nonin Medical. The oxygen saturation levels and heart beat readings gathered by the pulse oximeter are transferred wirelessly over Bluetooth to the G1 mobile phone which then displays these readings. The readings can be stored for future reference or as a further application can be uploaded onto the Internet to an Electronic Health Record (EHR).
MindTree’s Bluetooth stack and profiles are qualified for 2.1+EDR and have been proven in multiple products for interoperability and robustness by world-leading companies like NEC Corporation, GN Netcom and Logitech. The products include headsets, handsets and automotive infotainment platforms. MindTree was also the first independent stack provider to qualify the Bluetooth health device profile. MindTree’s Bluetooth stack is written in ANSI C with well designed abstraction layer which enables easy portability across various platforms.
