A Big Data Framework for u-Healthcare Systems Utilizing Vital Signs

Healthcare systems are evolving from simple medical devices to ubiquitous healthcare systems working at anytime and anywhere. In particular, acquisition and transmission of vital signs from wearable devices with biosensors will be soon realized in our daily lives. Interestingly, when vital signs such as Electrocardiogram (ECG), respiration and the motion data are collected and accumulated, they become a kind of big data, which will be eventually a crucial clue for monitoring health in everyday life and preventing from diseases. This paper proposes a big data framework for u-healthcare systems that provide healthcare services based upon the analysis of the big data of vital signs. The framework includes methods for provision of real-time services as well as for transmission and analysis of the data. It employs an open standard platform to secure interoperability among the data and different devices. The proposed framework was implemented and tested in terms of the motion data from accelerometers.