TIROL: The extensible interconnectivity layer for mHealth applications

Abstract

The prevalence of various chronic conditions is on the rise. Periodic screenings and a persistent therapy are necessary in order to aid the patients. Increasing medical costs and overburdened physicians are the consequences. A telemedical self-management of the illness is considered as the answer to this problem. For this purpose mHealth applications, i.e., the synergy of common smartphones and medical metering devices, are vitally needed. However, poor device interoperability due to heterogeneous connectivity methods hamper the usage of such applications. For this very reason, we introduce the concept for an exTensible InteRcOnnectivity Layer (TIROL) to deal with the interconnectivity issues of mHealth applications. Furthermore, we present a prototypical implementation for TIROL to demonstrate the benefits of our approach.