Method for distribution of configuration settings for medical devices

• US 20070250832A1
• Filed: 04/20/2006
• Published: 10/25/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/20/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Healthcare GMBH (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens AG
• Inventors: Rahn, Norbert, Schmidt, Markus, Bengi, Ali-Nejat, Schreiner, Horst, Zahlmann, Gudrun
• Granted Patent: US 8,041,783 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/178
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/20 for electronic clinical trials or questionnaires
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/10 relating to drugs or medications, e.g. for ensuring correct administration to patients
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/40 for the management of medical equipment or devices, e.g. scheduling maintenance or upgrades
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation

Abstract

A method is provided for configuring medical devices such as medical devices used in a clinical trial. Based on the needs of the clinical trial, a definition of a configuration of the medical devices to be used in the clinical trial is generated and the configuration data is transformed into a profile. The profile is distributed to sites at which the clinical trial will be conducted and the profile is applied to the medical devices at the sites to configure the medical devices. The medical devices are thereby capable of producing data that is comparable as between the sites used in the clinical trial.

Claims

1. A method for configuring medical devices, comprising the steps of:

generating a profile of configuration data for the medical devices;

distributing said profile of configuration data to user sites having the medical devices; and

applying said configuration profile to the medical devices at said user sites.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said step of generating said configuration profile includes:

defining a configuration of the medical devices for a predetermined task; and

transforming said configuration into said configuration profile.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said step of distributing said configuration profile is performed via the Internet.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said step of distributing said configuration profile is performed along communication channels of a clinical trial.

5. A method for generating data in a clinical trial, comprising the steps of:

defining a configuration of medical devices suitable to needs of the clinical trial;

transforming said configuration into a configuration profile;

distributing said configuration profile to sites of the clinical trial;

configuring medical devices at the sites with the configuration profile; and

conducting the clinical trial using the medical devices configured according to said configuration profile.

6. A method for distributing configuration data for medical devices, comprising the steps of:

defining a configuration of the medical devices;

transforming said configuration into a configuration profile;

distributing said configuration profile to sites having said medical devices; and

applying said configuration profile to said medical devices at said sites to configure the medical devices to produce medical data capable of being compared between the medical devices.