ADMINISTRATION OF DIFFERENTLY-VERSIONED CONFIGURATION FILES OF A MEDICAL FACILITY

• US 20080033753A1
• Filed: 07/09/2007
• Published: 02/07/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Healthcare GMBH (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens AG
• Inventors: Thesen, Stefan, Canda, Valer
• Granted Patent: US 8,473,908 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/40 for the management of medical equipment or devices, e.g. scheduling maintenance or upgrades

Abstract

In a method, system and computer program product for administration of different versions of a configuration file for configuration of medical apparatuses in a clinical system, the configuration file can also be locally changed at the apparatus itself and be made centrally available. Together with one configuration file, a set of versions regarding the configuration file is automatically administered while maintaining consistency of the data.

Claims

1. A method for administering configuration files in a medical facility, each configuration file comprising configurations of medical-technical entities selected from the group consisting of processes implementable at said medical facility and apparatuses that operate at said medical facility, each configuration file being able to be configured in multiple versions, said method comprising the steps of:

for each version of each configuration file, associating a set of system parameters therewith;

administering said configuration files automatically and centrally;

during any local or central changing of a configuration file from one version to another, always maintaining consistency of data contained in that configuration file; and

making each changed configuration file centrally available.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 comprising requiring a configuration file to be checked out, with authorization, from a central administration facility, and permitting a configuration file to be changed only after the configuration file is successfully checked out.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1 comprising automatically transmitting a notification signal to a notification entity upon execution of a change to a configuration file.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1 comprising establishing storage of all versions of a configuration file as a set of stored versions, and generating a release version from said set of stored versions that can be released to all or selected ones of said medical-technical entities after validation by a configurable entity.

5. A method as claimed in claim 1 comprising centrally storing every changed configuration file.

6. A method as claimed in claim 1 comprising electronically creating an inheritance mechanism for the respective versions of a configuration file that automatically produces inheritances from one of said versions to another of said versions of said configuration file.

7. A method as claimed in claim 1 comprising allowing a configuration file to be edited in parallel by different entities while ensuring said data consistency.

8. A method as claimed in claim 1 comprising making a merge operator available that enables merging of at least two different versions of a configuration file.

9. A method as claimed in claim 1 comprising displaying a visual representation of all or selected versions of a configuration file.

10. A method as claimed in claim 1 comprising centrally administering said configuration files by, for each configuration file, centrally administering functions selected from the group consisting of checking in a configuration file, checking out a configuration file, branching among said configuration files, adding comments to a configuration file, validating a configuration file, releasing a configuration file, visualizing a configuration file, archiving a configuration file, and privatizing a version of a configuration file.

11. A method as claimed in claim 1 comprising employing configurable criteria to automatically select a version of a configuration file that conforms to a current run time environment, from among all available versions of that configuration file.

12. A system for administering configuration files in a medical facility, each configuration file comprising configurations of medical-technical entities selected from the group consisting of processes implementable at said medical facility and apparatuses that operate at said medical facility, each configuration file being able to be configured in multiple versions, said system comprising:

at least one central server for automatic administration of at least one configuration file in all of said versions;

a plurality of clients respectively forming said medical-technical entities, in communication with said at least one central server; and

at least one modification module that allows locally changing said configuration file administered by said central server while retaining consistency of data therein, said modification module, after locally changing the respective configuration file, making the changed configuration file available with the change as a further version of that configuration file to at least some clients in said plurality of client.

13. A system as claimed in claim 12 wherein said central server comprises a memory in which the versions of said configuration file are stored.

14. A system as claimed in claim 13 wherein said modification module is operable in parallel by different ones of said clients, to allow said different ones of said clients to simultaneously change said configuration file.

15. A computer-readable medium encoded with a data structure for administering configuration files in a medical facility, each configuration file comprising configurations of medical-technical entities selected from the group consisting of processes implementable at said medical facility and apparatuses that operate at said medical facility, each configuration file being able to be configured in multiple versions, said data structure causing a centralized, computerized entity to:

for each version of each configuration file, associate a set of system parameters therewith;

administer said configuration files automatically and centrally;

during any local or central changing of a configuration file from one version to another, always maintain consistency of data contained in that configuration file; and

make each changed configuration file centrally available.