Data processing network and method for operating such

• US 20050270990A1
• Filed: 06/02/2005
• Published: 12/08/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Healthcare GMBH (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens AG
• Inventors: Ukis, Vladyslav
• Granted Patent: US 9,015,298 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/254
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

To reduce the administration complexity required for a data processing (DP) network, provided particularly for use in the medical or clinical sector, a method is proposed which specifies a DP network which is advantageous in this respect and also an associated method of operation. The DP network includes a configuration server and also at least one further data processing appliance, on which an application, configured using prescribed configuration data, is installed. In this case, the configuration data are stored on the configuration server and are made available to the at least one DP appliance for the purpose of configuring the application (A).

Claims

1. A data processing (DP) network, comprising:

a configuration server, configuration data being stored on the configuration server; and

at least one further data processing appliance, at least one application configured using the configuration data being installed on the DP appliance, the configuration data including a number of data types and at least one data instance associated with a data type, wherein each data type defines a number of data elements, wherein the at least one data instance has allocated a value to each data element of the associated data type, and wherein at least one data type includes an associated dependency on a further data type, with mutually corresponding data elements of the two data types always being allocated the same value by mutually corresponding data instances of the two data types.

2. The DP network as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one data type is associated with an application.

3. The DP network as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one data type is associated with a DP appliance.

4. The DP network as claimed in claim 1, wherein the configuration data stored on the configuration server include at least one of universal data, application-specific data, appliance-specific data and user-specific data.

11. The DP network as claimed in claim 2, wherein at least one data type is associated with a DP appliance.

12. The DP network as claimed in claim 2, wherein the configuration data stored on the configuration server include at least one of universal data, application-specific data, appliance-specific data and user-specific data.

13. The DP network as claimed in claim 3, wherein the configuration data stored on the configuration server include at least one of universal data, application-specific data, appliance-specific data and user-specific data.

5. A method for operating a data processing (DP) network having at least one DP appliance on which at least one application configured using configuration data is installed, the configuration data being made available to each DP appliance for the purpose of configuring each application, the method comprising:

storing the configuration data in the configuration server in the form of a number of data types and at least one data instance associated with a data type, the at least one data type defining a number of data elements, the at least one data instance allocating a value to each data element of the associated data type, and at least one data type being identified as being dependent on a further data type, with mutually corresponding data instances of the two data types always being aligned in respect of mutually corresponding data elements.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein a change of configuration data is indicated at least to each affected DP appliance by the configuration server.

7. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein a data type defines the data elements required for configuring a particular application.

8. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein a data type defines the data elements which are required for configuring the application for a prescribed DP appliance.

9. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein a copy of the configuration data made available to a DP appliance by the configuration server is buffer-stored in a local cache memory in the DP appliance.

10. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the configuration server is used to store and provide user-specific data.

14. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein a data type defines the data elements required for configuring a particular application.

15. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein a data type defines the data elements which are required for configuring the application for a prescribed DP appliance.

16. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein a data type defines the data elements which are required for configuring the application for a prescribed DP appliance.

17. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein a copy of the configuration data made available to a DP appliance by the configuration server is buffer-stored in a local cache memory in the DP appliance.

18. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the configuration server is used to store and provide user-specific data.

19. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein a copy of the configuration data made available to a DP appliance by the configuration server is buffer-stored in a local cache memory in the DP appliance.

20. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the configuration server is used to store and provide user-specific data.