PROCESS AND DEVICE FOR THE AUTOMATIC IDENTIFICATION OF BREATHING TUBES

• US 20060278221A1
• Filed: 05/04/2006
• Published: 12/14/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dragerwerk AG & Company KGaA (FPS Vermögensverwaltung GmbH)
• Original Assignee: Drager Medical AG & Co KG (Dragerwerk AG)
• Inventors: SCHERMEIER, Olaf, WILKENING, Michael, SCHOENBECK, Axinja, LOKOTSCH, Heiko
• Granted Patent: US 8,496,001 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 128/204.180
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 16/0816 Joints or connectors
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 16/0875 Connecting tubes
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2205/14 Detection of the presence or absence of a tube, a connector or a container in an apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2205/6018 providing set-up signals for the apparatus configuration

Abstract

A process and a device/system are provided for the automatic identification of the type of a breathing tube. A memory element (5) is connected to the breathing tube (4). The memory element carries stored data identifying the breathing tube (4). The data are read by a reading unit (6), which is part of a respirator (1). The data may be read when the breathing tube (4) is brought into the vicinity ofthe respirator (1) or connected thereto.

Claims

1. A process for the automatic identification of a type of a breathing tube, the process comprising:

providing a respirator with a reading unit;

providing a memory element connected to a breathing tube, the memory element having data identifying the breathing tube stored thereon; and

reading data from the memory element with the reading unit which is part of the respirator, when the breathing tube is brought into the vicinity of the respirator.

2. A process for the automatic identification of the type of a breathing tube in accordance with claim 1, wherein the memory element is read when the breathing tube is operatively connected to the respirator.

3. A process in accordance with claim 1, further comprising:

identifying when the breathing tube is not suitable for an intended mode of respiration or identifying a mode of respiration that does not fit the breathing tube set at the respirator; and

triggering an alarm upon identifying when the breathing tube is not suitable for an intended mode of respiration or upon identifying a mode of respiration that does not fit the breathing tube set at the respirator.

4. A process in accordance with claim 1, further comprising:

performing a check to determine whether the breathing tube is correctly connected to the respirator; and

triggering an alarm if the breathing tube is not connected correctly to the respirator.

5. A process in accordance with claim 1, wherein the reading unit includes a writing and reading unit and further comprising:

writing additional data to the memory unit to store additional data in the memory element connected to the breathing tube while the breathing tube is connected to the respirator.

6. A process in accordance with claim 5, wherein respiration parameters are stored as additional data.

7. A process in accordance with claim 5, wherein at least one or more of patient data, accounting data, therapy data, diagnostic data and data that log the use of the breathing tube are stored as additional data.

8. A process in accordance with claim 5, wherein stored respiration parameters are read from the memory unit and these respiration parameters are taken over by the respirator upon connection of the breathing tube to the respirator.

9. A process in accordance with claim 5, further comprising:

providing a central hospital logistics unit or a patient management system wherein stored data are read from the memory element and these data are processed and passed on to the central system of the hospital logistics unit or to the patient management system.

10. A process in accordance with claim 8, further comprising:

providing an additional respiration device; and

reading stored respiration parameters from the memory unit and taking these respiration parameters over by the additional respirator upon connection of the breathing tube to the additional respirator.

11. A respirator system for the automatic recognition of the type of a breathing tube, the system comprising:

a respirator;

a breathing tube which can be connected to said respirator;

a memory element having stored thereon data identifying said breathing tube, said memory element being rigidly connected to said breathing tube; and

a memory element reading unit for reading of data from the memory element when the breathing tube is located in the vicinity of the respirator.

12. A system in accordance with claim 11, wherein said memory element reading unit is integrated in a pneumatic interface at the respirator and is designed such that reading takes place when said breathing tube compatible with that interface is connected.

13. A system in accordance with claim 11, wherein the breathing tube memory element has data storage means, which can be read and written on in case of a connected said respirator.

14. A system in accordance with claim 11, further comprising control means performing an automatic adaptation of the mode of respiration to the type of the breathing tube after the type of the breathing tube has been recognized.

15. A system in accordance with claim 11, further comprising alarm means for triggering an alarm when said breathing tube that is not suitable for an intended mode of respiration is identified or a mode of respiration that does not fit the identified breathing tube is set on the respirator.

16. A system in accordance with claim 11, further comprising connection means for determining whether the breathing tube is connected correctly to the respirator and which triggers an alarm when the breathing tube is not connected correctly to the respirator.

17. A system in accordance with claim 11, further comprising data transmission means associated with a data storage means of said memory element, said data transmission means associated with said data storage means comprising a radio frequency identification (RFID) system.

18. A system in accordance with claim 17, wherein said data transmission means and associated said data storage means of said memory element is an RFID tag rigidly connected to the breathing tube.

19. A system in accordance with claim 13, wherein said data storage means is for storing respiration parameters.

20. A system in accordance with claim 13, wherein said data storage means is for storing patient data, accounting data, therapy data and/or diagnostic data.

21. A system in accordance with claim 11, wherein:

said respirator has a pneumatic interface between said respirator and said breathing tube;

said memory element reading unit and said memory element are associated with contactless transmission means for a contactless transmission of data between said respirator and said breathing tube, said contactless transmission means being integrated in the pneumatic interface between the respirator and the breathing tube.

22. A system in accordance with claim 11, said memory element reading unit and said memory element are associated with means for coding and decoding data transmitted between said memory element reading unit and said memory element and/or stored data.

23. A system in accordance with claim 11, further comprising means whereby information stored on said memory element prohibits the further use of the breathing tube.

24. A system in accordance with claim 11, further comprising:

an additional respirator with an additional respirator memory element reading unit for reading stored respiration parameters from the memory unit and taking these respiration parameters over for operation of the additional respirator upon connection of the breathing tube to the additional respirator.