Virtual display

• US 20070188495A1
• Filed: 01/03/2007
• Published: 08/16/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/03/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Masimo Corporation
• Original Assignee: Masimo Corporation
• Inventors: Kiani, Massi
• Granted Patent: US 7,990,382 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/440
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/20 Drawing from basic elements, e.g. lines or circles

Abstract

Display objects are defined that are capable of visually indicating physiological measurements and physiological monitor status. A virtual display utilizing these display objects is characterized by selecting those display objects corresponding to one or more particular physiological parameters, organizing the selected display objects within a virtual display area corresponding to at least a portion of a physical display, and associating data objects corresponding to the one or more physiological parameters with the selected display objects.

Claims

1. A display method comprising the steps of:

defining a plurality of display objects capable of visually indicating at least one of physiological measurements and physiological monitor status;

selecting a subset of said display objects corresponding to a physiological parameter;

organizing said selected display objects within a virtual display area corresponding to at least a portion of a physical display; and

associating a plurality of data objects corresponding to said physiological parameter with said selected display objects.

2. The display method according to claim 1 comprising the further steps of:

measuring said physiological parameter;

associating said measurements with said data objects so as to generate a virtual display; and

communicating said virtual display to said physical display.

3. The display method according to claim 2 wherein said defining step comprises the substeps of:

defining physiological measurement display objects comprising at least one of magnitude versus time graphs, bar graphs, magnitude versus frequency graphs, numerical readouts, alphanumeric labels, trend indicators and visual alarm indicators; and

defining monitor status display objects comprising at least one of power on/off indicators, low battery indicators, malfunction indicators.

4. The display method according to claim 1 wherein said organizing step comprises the substeps of:

spatially associating a first portion of said selected display objects with a second portion of said selected display objects within said virtual display area; and

determining the relative size of said display objects within said virtual display area.

5. A physiological parameter measurement system comprising:

a parameter processor adapted to input a sensor signal and output a physiological parameter responsive to said sensor signal;

a host processor in communication with said parameter processor;

a virtual display residing in said host processor; and

a characterization for said virtual display residing in said parameter processor,

wherein said characterization is communicated to said host processor so as to enable said host processor to display said physiological parameter.

6. The physiological parameter measurement system according to claim 5 wherein said virtual display comprises a plurality of display objects and a virtual display area.

7. The physiological parameter measurement system according to claim 6 wherein said characterization comprises a display schema for selecting said display objects and organizing said selected display objects within said virtual display area.

8. The physiological parameter measurement system according to claim 7 wherein said characterization further comprises a mapping schema for associating data objects corresponding to said physiological parameter with said selected display objects.

9. The physiological parameter measurement system according to claim 8 wherein said display objects comprise numerical readouts, alphanumeric labels, graphs, arrows, visual alarms and status indicators.

10. The physiological parameter measurement system according to claim 9 wherein said data objects identify data types comprising numerical values, alphanumeric values, waveforms, magnitudes, trends and alarms.

11. A virtual display comprising:

a virtual display area corresponding to at least a portion of a physical display;

a plurality of display objects allocated to said display area;

a display layout specifying at least the size and location of said display objects within said virtual display area; and

a data setup associating a plurality of data objects with said display objects,

wherein said display objects are selected to visually indicate measurements of a particular physiological parameter on said physical display, and

wherein said data objects identify said measurements and information corresponding to said measurements.