MEDICAL APPARATUS

• US 20120108911A1
• Filed: 03/26/2010
• Published: 05/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Danmedical, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Danmedical, Ltd.
• Inventors: Williams, David Morris, Drysdale, Ian George Moir
• Granted Patent: US 10,146,912 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/300
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/20 for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16Z 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass

Abstract

The present invention relates to medical apparatus for monitoring one or more physiological conditions of a patient and a method for monitoring one or more physiological conditions of a patient. Apparatus for measuring medical data is described, comprising: at least one medical data gathering module, at least one microprocessor, and further wherein the apparatus further comprises a medical data handling module separate from the at least one microprocessor for buffering medical data transfer between the medical data gathering module and the microprocessor and optionally further wherein the medical data handling module can gather and store data in predetermined groups of data and the microprocessor can retrieve data from the medical data handling module in one or more multiples of predetermined groups of data. A method for measuring medical data is described, comprising: providing at least one medical data gathering module; providing at least one microprocessor; providing a data handling module separate from the at least one microprocessor; buffering medical data transfer between the medical data gathering module and the microprocessor optionally by gathering and storing data in predetermined groups of data and retrieving data from the medical data handling module in one or more multiples of predetermined groups of data.

Claims

1. Apparatus for measuring medical data comprising:

at least one medical data gathering module,

at least one microprocessor,

in which the apparatus further comprises a medical data handling module separate from the at least one microprocessor for buffering the transfer of medical data between the medical data gathering module and the at least one microprocessor.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 further in which the medical data handling module is arranged to gather and store data in at least one predetermined group of data and the at least one microprocessor is arranged to retrieve data from the medical data handling module in one or more multiples of the at least one predetermined group of data.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2 in which the predetermined group of data is N bits of data and/or T1 seconds worth of data.

4. Apparatus according to any preceding claim further in which the medical data handling module is arranged to gather N bits of data every T1 seconds from the least one medical data gathering module and store the sampled bits of data in the predetermined group of data.

5. Apparatus according to any preceding claim in which 1/T1 is the rate that the medical data handling module samples data from the at least one medical data gathering module.

6. Apparatus according to any preceding claim in which one or more multiples of the predetermined groups of data comprises one or more multiples of T1 seconds worth of data, and/or one or more multiples of N bits of data.

7. Apparatus according to any preceding claim in which N equals 24 to 54, 24, 48, 54, 56 or any multiple thereof.

8. Apparatus according to any preceding claim in which gathered medical data is stored and retrieved by the at least one microprocessor intermittently from the at least one medical data handling module.

9. Apparatus according to any preceding claim in which the microprocessor is a personal computer microprocessor or a laptop microprocessor and/or the microprocessor comprises Microsoft Windows®

or Apple Mac®

or Linux operating systems and/or the apparatus comprises a computer comprising the at least one microprocessor.

10. Apparatus according to any preceding claim in which the at least one medical data gathering module, the at least one microprocessor and the medical data handling module are located within a unitary housing or within a unitary personal computer housing or within a unitary laptop computer housing.

11. Apparatus according to any preceding claim in which either 1) the at least one medical data gathering module, at least one microprocessor and the medical data handling module are co-located within a first housing, or 2) the at least one medical data gathering module and data handling module are co-located in a first housing and the least one microprocessor is located within a second housing and communication means are provided to enable the medical data handling module and at least one microprocessor to communicate via wire and/or wirelessly, or 3) the at least one medical data gathering module is located within a first housing and the at least one medical data handling module and at least one microprocessor are co-located within a second housing and communication means are provided to enable at least one medical data gathering module and at least one medical data handling module to communicate via wire and/or wirelessly.

12. Apparatus according to claim 11 comprising wireless communication components for communicating via infrared, WIFI, Bluetooth, 3G and/or satellite.

13. Apparatus according to claim 10, 11 or 12 in which the housing, or first housing where first and second housings are provided, comprises at least one medical data gathering socket for connecting at least one medical data gathering module(s) to at least one medical data gathering connecting cable.

14. Apparatus according to any preceding claim in which 1) a first housing for the at least one medical data gathering module is provided and a second housing for the microprocessor is provided and the first and second housing are adapted so that the first housing can sit beneath the second housing or vice versa;

and/or

     2) an outer periphery and/or size and/or shape of the first housing substantially matches an outer periphery and/or size and/or shape of the second housing or vice versa; and

, in either case, the medical data handling module is located within the first housing or the second housing.

15. Apparatus according to any preceding claim further comprising a cable identifying circuit for identifying the at least one medical data gathering cable connected thereto and/or, when the at least one medical data gathering module comprises an electrocardiogram data gathering module, for identifying whether a three lead or 10 lead electrocardiogram connecting cable is connected and/or whether no ECG cable is connected.

17. Apparatus according to any preceding claim in which the medical data handling module comprises at least one first in first out (FIFO) memory buffer.

18. Apparatus according to any preceding claim in which the medical data handling module comprises either, 1) a programmable read only memory, or 2) an electronically programmable read-only memory (EPROM), or 3) an electronically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), for delivering instructions to the medical data handling module.

19. Apparatus according to any preceding claim in which at least one further medical data gathering module and an internal communication bus is provided for delivering data directly to the at least one microprocessor via the internal communication bus

20. Apparatus according to any preceding claim in which the at least one medical data gathering module, and/or at least one further medical data gathering module when provided, comprises one or more of an electrocardiogram data gathering module, a BP data gathering module, spirometry data gathering module, invasive or non-invasive blood pressure monitoring data gathering module;

spirometry (lung function) data gathering module;

pulse oximetry data gathering module;

temperature data gathering module;

both invasive and non-invasive blood pressure data gathering module;

audiometry testing data gathering module;

audio heart and/or lung sounds data gathering module;

retinal testing data gathering module;

ultrasound data gathering module;

dermatology screening (image capture) data gathering module;

imaging, tissue and/or wound care data gathering module;

video endoscopy data gathering module;

video for remote consultations data gathering module;

video conference data gathering module;

audio data gathering module;

scaliometer (height) data gathering module;

foetal heart Doppler ultrasound and/or audio acquisition and/or analysis data gathering module and weighing scales data gathering module.

21. Apparatus according to any preceding claim in which an electrocardiogram (ECG) data gathering module and/or a blood pressure (BP) data gathering module are provided.

22. Apparatus according to any preceding claim in which the medical data handling module comprises at least two, or at least three, analogue to digital converters for digitising data from the at least medical data gathering module.

23. Apparatus according to any preceding claim comprising an internal serial bus or an internal universal serial bus (USB) and in which the medical data handling module is connected to at least one microprocessor of a personal computer or laptop computer using the internal serial bus or an internal universal serial bus (USB).

24. Apparatus according to any preceding claim comprising a revision controlled motherboard for hosting the at least one microprocessor.

25. Apparatus according to any preceding claim in which a medical grade power supply is provided, optionally within a housing where one is provided, optionally, to power the at least one medical data gathering module, the at least one microprocessor and the data handling module.

26. Apparatus according to any preceding claim comprising a medical data gathering cable lead off circuit for identifying when a medical data gathering cable has become disconnected from a patient, and/or the apparatus further comprises a medical data gathering cable.

27. Apparatus according to any preceding claim in which the microprocessor comprises a medical data request retrieval module to request data retrieval from the medical data handling module.

28. Apparatus according to any preceding claim in which the at least one medical data gathering module gathers data quasi-continuously, and/or at a regular intervals and/or the at least one microprocessor retrieves data intermittently and/or or the at least one microprocessor retrieves data intermittently either at regular or irregular intervals.

29. Apparatus according to any preceding claim in which the medical data handling module samples data from the at least one medical data gathering module across N channels once every T1 seconds.

30. Apparatus according to any preceding claim in which T1 is in the range 0.25 ms (millisecond) to 5 ms, or 0.5 ms to 2.5 ms, or T1 is 0.5 ms, 1 ms, 2 ms or 5 ms.

31. Apparatus according to any preceding claim in which the least one microprocessor attempts to retrieve data in multiples of N from the data handling module once every T2 seconds, and/or the at least one microprocessor may comprise medical data request retrieval module to retrieve data in multiples of N from the data handling module once every T2 seconds.

32. Apparatus according to the preceding claim in which when the at least one microprocessor misses retrieving data either 1) the at least one microprocessor attempts to retrieve data in multiples of N from the data handling module at another time and/or at the end of the next T2 second interval, and/or 2) the at least one microprocessor comprises medical data retrieval module to retrieve data in multiples of N from the data handling module at another time and/or at the end of the next T2 second interval.

33. Apparatus according to any preceding claim in which a medical data gathering rate of sampling once every T1 seconds is the same as a medical data retrieval request rate of once every T2 seconds i.e. T1 equals T2.

34. Apparatus according to any preceding claim in which a medical data retrieval transfer rate is Q×

N bits per T2 seconds where Q is the number of sampling rounds of data to be retrieved and/or the medical data retrieval rate is up to the data transfer rate of an internal communications bus of the medical apparatus.

35. Apparatus according to the preceding claim in which data in excess of a multiple of N and/or in excess of T1 seconds worth of data is left in the medical data handling module until the next retrieval round.

36. Apparatus according to any preceding claim in which analysis and calculation means is provided for use by the microprocessor to conduct analysis and calculation on the medical data at a resolution of T1 seconds, the resolution of the medical data gathering rate.

37. Apparatus according to any preceding claim in which drawing and display means, and optionally a display, are provided for use by the microprocessor to draw every Mth data value to a display.

39. A method according to claim 35 comprising

gathering and storing data in predetermined groups of data in the medical data handling module and,

retrieving data from the medical data handling module in one or more multiples of the predetermined groups of data.

40. A method according to claim 35 or 36 comprising

sampling N data bits every T1 seconds,

storing N data bits in memory every T1 seconds,

reading N, or a multiple of N, data bits every T2 seconds,

emptying the memory of multiples of N data,

leaving any fragments of multiples of data until following data collection round.

41. A method according to claim 37, in which T1 equals T2, and/or data retrieval transfer rate is Q×

N bits per T2 seconds where Q the number of sampling rounds of data to be gathered.

16. Apparatus according to a preceding claim in which the medical data handling module comprises either 1) a further microprocessor or 2) a further microprocessor and memory or 3) system programmable on a chip or 4) a field programmable gate array (FPGA).

38. A method for measuring medical data, comprising:

providing at least one medical data gathering module;

providing at least one microprocessor;

providing a medical data handling module separate from the at least one microprocessor;

buffering medical data transfer between the medical data gathering module and the microprocessor the medical data handling module.

42. An apparatus, or a method, of monitoring one or more physiological conditions of a patient substantially as described herein with reference to and/or as illustrated in the accompanying figures.