Medical device connectivity interface system and method

• US 10,095,649 B2
• Filed: 06/29/2016
• Issued: 10/09/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/01/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Covidien LP (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: Covidien LP (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: Joshua, Dev Devanayagom, Letcher, Daniel Robbin, Macan, Aaron Damian
• Primary Examiner(s): MCNALLY, KERRI L
• Application Number:
  US15/197,300
• Publication Number:
  US 20170004106A1
• Time in Patent Office: 832 Days
• Field of Search: 3405731
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2289 by configuration test
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3051 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the configuration of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring the presence of processing resources, peripherals, I/O links, software programs verification or detection of system hardware configuration G06F11/2247
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4234 being a memory bus
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16Z 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion

Abstract

A system includes a medical monitor having a sensor input responsive to a sensor signal representative of a physiological parameter; a processor that may calculate the physiological parameter from the sensor signal; an output port in communication with the processor to output medical data comprising the calculated physiological parameter in a first communication protocol; a removable interface having an input port receptive of the medical data in the first communication protocol; a memory storing code that may translate the medical data into a second communication protocol; and a first output port that may transmit the medical data in the second communication protocol to an external system that recognizes the second communication protocol and not the first communication protocol.

Claims

1. A method, comprising;

using a removable interface to;

receive a first input via a first communication mechanism, wherein the first input is representative of a first medical device measurement generated from a first medical device system programmed in a first communication protocol;

translate the first communication protocol to a second communication protocol to generate a translated medical device measurement;

generate an output representative of the translated medical device measurement;

transmit the output via a second communication mechanism to an external system programmed in the second communication protocol;

receive a second input associated with a second medical device measurement from a second medical device system programmed in the second communication protocol; and

synchronize the first and second inputs to generate a data set representative of a patient'"'"'s condition.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising using a connectivity interface of the removable interface to convert from the first communication mechanism to the second communication mechanism associated with the output, wherein the first and second communication mechanisms are different.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first and second communication mechanisms comprise Serial, WiFi, Bluetooth, Ethernet, or a combination thereof.

5. The method of claim 1, comprising using the removable interface to determine a physiological parameter of a patient based on the data set.

6. The method of claim 5, comprising using the removable interface to trigger an alarm when the physiological parameter is outside a threshold value.

7. The method of claim 5, comprising displaying the physiological parameter on a display of the removable interface.

8. The method of claim 1, comprising using the removable interface to transmit the data set to the external system in the second communication protocol.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the output comprises a physiological parameter.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the removable interface is not capable of calculating any physiological parameter.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the external system comprises a multi-parameter monitor, a third party medical device, an electronic data management system, a cell phone, laptop, tablet, server, cloud, data space, and combinations thereof.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the removable interface is a Federal Drug Administration (FDA) Class I device.

13. The method of claim 1, comprising using a second removable interface to determine the second input.

14. The method of claim 13, comprising using the second removable interface to translate the second communication protocol to the first communication protocol to generate a second translated medical device measurement, and wherein the second input comprises the second translated medical device measurement.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the output comprises an alarm triggered by the first medical device system, the second medical device system, or both, when the respective medical device measurement is outside a threshold.

4. A distributed medical monitor, comprising:

a first removable interface comprising;

a first input port configured to receive a signal from a medical monitor communicatively coupled to a medical sensor;

a processor configured to calculate a physiological parameter based on the signal; and

a first output port configured to transmit data in a first communication protocol;

a second removable interface comprising;

a second input port configured to receive the data from the first removable interface in the first communication protocol;

a memory storing code configured to translate the data into a second communication protocol; and

a second output port configured to transmit the data in the second communication protocol to an external system separate from the medical monitor or medical sensor, wherein the external system is configured to recognize the second communication protocol and not the first communication protocol and wherein the second removable interface is not configured to calculate the physiological parameter.

16. The distributed medical monitor of claim 4, wherein the second removable interface is a Federal Drug Administration (FDA) Class I device.

17. The distributed medical monitor of claim 4, wherein the first removable interface is a Federal Drug Administration (FDA) Class II or Class III device.

18. The distributed medical monitor of claim 4, wherein the first input port comprises a first communication mechanism and the second input port comprises a second communication mechanism.

19. The distributed medical monitor of claim 18, wherein the first and second communication mechanisms comprise Serial, WiFi, Bluetooth, Ethernet, or a combination thereof.

20. The distributed medical monitor of claim 4, wherein the first output port is configured as a USB port.

21. The distributed medical monitor of claim 4, wherein the first output port is configured for wireless communication.

22. The distributed medical monitor of claim 4, comprising the medical sensor, wherein the medical sensor is a pulse oximetry sensor, a blood pressure sensor, a temperature sensor, a pressure sensor, a carbon dioxide sensor, or a combination thereof.