General-purpose medical instrumentation
First Claim
1. General-purpose medical instrumentation, comprising:
- a programmed control unit;
a plurality of plug-in digital modules in communication with the control unit, the digital modules at least including an analog-to-digital converter module and a module associated with network interoperability;
a plurality of plug-in analog circuits in communication with the control unit;
a plurality of medical sensors, each sensor being interfaced to one of the plug-in analog circuits; and
wherein the control unit is programmed to facilitate general-purpose data routing and encapsulation from each sensor to one or more points of data analysis through the module associated with network interoperability.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A general-purpose, low-cost system provides comprehensive physiological data collection, with extensive data object oriented programmability and configurability for a variety of medical as well as other analog data collection applications. In a preferred embodiment, programmable input signal acquisition and processing circuits are used so that virtually any analog and/or medical signal can be digitized from a common point of contact to a plurality of sensors. A general-purpose data routing and encapsulation architecture supports input tagging and standardized routing through modern packet switch networks, including the Internet; from one of multiple points of origin or patients, to one or multiple points of data analysis for physician review. The preferred architecture further supports multiple-site data buffering for redundancy and reliability, and real-time data collection, routing, and viewing (or slower than real-time processes when communications infrastructure is slower than the data collection rate). Routing and viewing stations allow for the insertion of automated analysis routines to aid in data encoding, analysis, viewing, and diagnosis.
74 Citations
5 Claims
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1. General-purpose medical instrumentation, comprising:
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a programmed control unit;
a plurality of plug-in digital modules in communication with the control unit, the digital modules at least including an analog-to-digital converter module and a module associated with network interoperability;
a plurality of plug-in analog circuits in communication with the control unit;
a plurality of medical sensors, each sensor being interfaced to one of the plug-in analog circuits; and
wherein the control unit is programmed to facilitate general-purpose data routing and encapsulation from each sensor to one or more points of data analysis through the module associated with network interoperability. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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Specification