SYSTEMS, METHODS, AND APPARATUS FOR MEDICAL DEVICE INTERFACE CONNECTIVITY

• US 20100318699A1
• Filed: 06/15/2009
• Published: 12/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Parnanen, Juha, Raatikainen, Marko, Lindroos, Jyrki, Gao-Saari, Lan, Vanhanen, Ilkka
• Granted Patent: US 8,225,015 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 710/72
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/102 where the programme performs an interfacing function, e.g. device driver G06F13/105 takes precedence; scheduling within device drivers G06F9/52; contention policies within device drivers G06F9/4881
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/385 for adaptation of a particular data processing system to different peripheral devices
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/40 for the management of medical equipment or devices, e.g. scheduling maintenance or upgrades

Abstract

Certain examples provide systems, apparatus, and methods for adaptive, dynamic medical device connectivity. In an example, a medical device interface system includes a device interface connecting a medical device to a client system and enabling exchange of data between the medical device and the client system, the device interface includes a plug and play detector detecting a connection of the medical device to the device interface and a serial agent gathering information from the medical device via a connection between the medical device and the device interface and selecting an appropriate device driver to operate and interact with the medical device connected to the device interface regardless of a presence or absence of an existing plug and play capability of the medical device.

Claims

1. A medical device interface system comprising:

a device interface connecting a medical device to a client system and enabling exchange of data between the medical device and the client system, the device interface comprising;

a plug and play detector detecting a connection of the medical device to the device interface; and

a serial agent gathering information from the medical device via a connection between the medical device and the device interface and selecting an appropriate device driver to operate and interact with the medical device connected to the device interface regardless of a presence or absence of an existing plug and play capability of the medical device.

2. The interface system of claim 1, further comprising a client system including a message and data exchange service to communicate with the medical device via the device interface.

3. The interface system of claim 2, further comprising a medical device having a unique identifier facilitating identification and communication with the client system via the device interface.

4. The interface system of claim 1, wherein the serial agent of the device interface further comprises:

a core, said core comprising;

a common service layer;

a network server;

an interface eXtensible Markup Language (iXML) engine; and

a driver engine;

one or more device driver threads; and

one or more adapters.

5. The interface system of claim 4, wherein the XML engine comprises a session manager and an XML generator and wherein the driver engine comprises a driver manager, a driver storage, and a connection detector.

6. The interface system of claim 5, wherein the connector detector comprises a universal serial bus (USB) detector.

7. The interface system of claim 1, where the serial agent generates a universal serial bus (USB) device object formed based on information from a system registry of the client system and contents of a programmable memory.

8. The interface system of claim 1, where the device interface transforms a USB connecting device into a plug and play connectivity device communicating with the client system via the serial agent.

9. The interface system of claim 1, wherein the device interface converts between a universal serial bus (USB) data communication protocol and an RS-232 data communication protocol.

11. The method of claim 1O, further comprising retrieving a medical device identifier stored at the medical device and creating a unique identifier for the medical device to facilitate communication between the medical device and the clinical information system via the device interface.

10. A machine-implemented method for interfacing between a medical device and a clinical information system, said method comprising:

detecting, using a device interface having a serial agent, a presence of a medical device on a network including a clinical information system;

gathering information from the medical device connected to the device interface;

creating an object representing the medical device, the object including identification and device driver information regarding the medical device;

searching a device driver repository at the device interface for an object and one or more associated device drivers to represent the medical device;

registering the medical device with the system using the object; and

interacting with the medical device using the one or more associated device drivers to communicate between the medical device and the clinical information system.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the serial agent of the device interface further comprises:

a core, said core comprising;

a common service layer;

a network server;

an interface extensible Markup Language (iXML) engine; and

a driver engine;

one or more device driver threads; and

one or more adapters.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the XML engine comprises a session manager and an XML generator and wherein the driver engine comprises a driver manager, a driver storage, and a connection detector.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the connector detector comprises a universal serial bus (USB) detector.

15. The method of claim 10, where the serial agent generates a universal serial bus (USB) device object formed based on information from a system registry of the clinical information system and contents of a programmable memory.

16. The method of claim 10, where the device interface transforms a USB connecting device into a plug and play connectivity device communicating with the clinical information system via the serial agent.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the device interface converts between a universal serial bus (USB) data communication protocol and an RS-232 data communication protocol.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the device interface exchanges messages with the clinical information system via interface eXtensible Markup Language (iXML).

19. An article of manufacture comprising:

a computer readable storage medium; and

executable program instructions embodied in the computer readable storage medium that when executed by a programmable system cause the system to perform functions that implement a gaming system arranged to implement a probabilistic game, the functions comprising;

a device interface routine connecting a medical device to a client system and enabling exchange of data between the medical device and the client system, the device interface routine comprising;

a plug and play detector detecting a connection of the medical device to the device interface; and

a serial agent gathering information from the medical device via a connection between the medical device and the device interface and selecting an appropriate device driver to operate and interact with the medical device connected to the device interface regardless of a presence or absence of an existing plug and play capability of the medical device.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 19, wherein the serial agent of the device interface routine further comprises:

a core, said core comprising;

a common service layer;

a network server;

an interface extensible Markup Language (iXML) engine; and

a driver engine;

one or more device driver threads; and

one or more adapters.