Event-Based Communication in a Clinical Diagnostic Analyzer

• US 20100005344A1
• Filed: 06/29/2009
• Published: 01/07/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/01/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics Incorporated (The Carlyle Group LP (Corporate Private Equity))
• Original Assignee: Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics Incorporated (The Carlyle Group LP (Corporate Private Equity))
• Inventors: Gyles, Trevor, Baker, Keith Arnold, Hemmenway, Richard Peter, Doody, Christopher Thomas
• Granted Patent: US 8,959,200 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/45
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems

Abstract

A networked clinical diagnostic analyzer is disclosed with support for monitoring by a remote back office. The disclosed analyzer includes a module to detect in real-time events of interest while allowing the back office to modify the definitions of the events. The module may be networked using virtual private networking into the back office network, which is usually different from the network at the site of the clinical diagnostic analyzer'"'"'s deployment. The real-time alerts allow both a quick response to actual or expected error conditions and the downloading of logged data that is likely of most interest and relevance.

Claims

1. A module for communicating real-time customizable alerts at a clinical diagnostic analyzer to an external monitor, the module comprising:

a customized event detection sub-module, wherein customized events include a first event;

a connection sub-module providing a link to the external monitor, wherein the external monitor, linked to the clinical diagnostic analyzer via a secure connection, receives an alert in response to the detection of the first event;

a sub-module for dynamically updating customized events to be detected to include a second event; and

a data-logging facility for logging information to be sent to or retrieved by the external monitor.

2. The module of claim 1, wherein instructions to define the second event are communicated via instructions coded in a markup language to perform at least one of (a) dynamically modify a customized event, (b) add a new event, and (c) add a customized event.

3. The module of claim 2, the markup language is eXtensible Markup Language.

4. The module of claim 3, wherein at least one logical operation is encoded in the order of tags in the eXtensible Markup Language.

5. The module of claim 3, wherein the second event is a customized event defined by a logical combination of two or more basic events.

6. The module of claim 2, wherein the module has at least two network addresses, one address in a first network different from a second address in a second network;

wherein clinical diagnostic analyzer is networked into the second network and the external monitor is in the second network.

7. The module of claim 6, wherein the module is connected to the external monitor via a virtual private networking link.

8. The module of claim 7, wherein sub-module with access to message traffic does not have access to patient identifying data on the clinical diagnostic analyzer.

9. The module of claim 7, wherein the module is addressable as part of a subnet of the first network by the external monitor, wherein the subnet is protected by a firewall from another subnet in the first network.

10. A module for communicating real-time alerts generated at a clinical diagnostic analyzer to an external monitor, the module comprising:

a circuit for detecting a customized event at the clinical diagnostic analyzer;

a circuit for communicating an alert to the external monitor;

a circuit for dynamically updating customized events event; and

a circuit for logging information to be sent or retrieved by the external monitor.

11. The module of claim 10, wherein the circuit for dynamically updating customized events receives specifications of a second event from the circuit for communicating an alert to the external monitor as instructions coded in eXtensible Markup Language, wherein the circuit for communicating an alert also receives instructions updating customized events.

12. The module of claim 11, wherein at least one logical operation specified in the instructions is encoded in the order of tags in the eXtensible Markup Language.

13. The module of claim 10, wherein the module has at least one address in a first network, and an address in a second network, the first network being different from the second network.

14. The module of claim 13, wherein the circuit for dynamically updating customized events causes the circuit for detecting customized events to detect an updated customized event.

15. The module of claim 12, wherein the circuit for communicating the alert to the external monitor uses a tunnel defining a link between the module and the external monitor.

16. The module of claim 12, wherein the circuit for logging information external monitor updates a log file in response to detection of a customized event.

17. A method performed at a module for communicating real-time alerts generated at a clinical diagnostic analyzer to an external monitor, the method comprising facilitating the steps of:

detecting a customized event at the clinical diagnostic analyzer;

communicating in real-time, in response to detection of the customized event, an alert to the external monitor, wherein the external monitor is linked to the clinical diagnostic analyzer via a secure network connection;

updating customized events to include a second event in response to an instruction received from the external monitor; and

logging information to be sent to or retrieved by the external monitor.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the clinical diagnostic analyzer has at least one address in a first network and another address in a second network.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein logging information includes writing to a log file conditions relating to the detected customized event.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the instructions describing the second event are coded in eXtensible Markup Language such that at least one logical operation specified by the instructions is encoded in the order of tags in the eXtensible Markup Language.

21. The method of claim 20 further comprising the step of describing the customized event using nested tags identifying the customized event, the thresholds used to define the composite event and a set of criteria describing logical operations performed using detected parameters.