System, Method, and Apparatus for Communicating Data

• US 20140195639A1
• Filed: 12/20/2013
• Published: 07/10/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Deka Products Limited Partnership
• Original Assignee: Deka Products Limited Partnership
• Inventors: Kamen, Dean, Kerwin, John M., Ballantyne, Todd A., Morgan, Frederick, Demers, Jason A., Biasi, John J.
• Granted Patent: US 10,044,791 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/10 relating to drugs or medications, e.g. for ensuring correct administration to patients
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/17 delivered via infusion or injection
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 70/40 relating to drugs, e.g. their side effects or intended usage
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/06 Management of faults, events, alarms or notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/105 Multiple levels of security
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46

Abstract

A system includes first and second hubs. The first hub is configured to communicate data with a medical device through a Local Area Network and package the data into at least one application-layer packet. The second hub is configured to receive the at least one application-layer packet from the first hub operatively through at least one cellular network.

Claims

1. A method of communication, the method comprising:

communicating data from a medical device to a first hub via a Local Area Network;

packaging the data from the medical device into at least one packet, wherein a packet of the at least one packet includes a header;

communicating the at least one packet over a network through at least one communications channel of the first hub; and

communicating an alarm from the first hub to a medical device when an alarm condition occurs within the first hub.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the act of communicating the data from the medical device to the first hub via the Local Area Network is receiving the data by the first hub via the Local Area Network from the medical device.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein a first communications channel of the at least one communications channel is over a first cellular network, and a second communications channel of the at least one communications channel is over a second cellular network.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising associating the first hub with an identification value.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising associating the first hub with a patient.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising associating the first hub with a medical device.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising associating the first hub with a treatment.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising encrypting the data.

9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising:

receiving the at least one packet over the network through at least one communications channel by a second hub; and

decrypting the data within the second hub.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising determining a time parameter.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the time parameter includes one of a date and a time.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein a satellite system signal is used to determine the time parameter.

13. The method according to claim 10, further comprising adding the time parameter to the header of the packet.

14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising determining whether the time parameter within the header of the packet meets a first predetermined criterion.

15. The method according to claim 1, further comprising adding a sequence number to the header of the packet.

16. The method according to claim 15, further comprising reassembly the data using the sequence number of the header of the packet.

17. The method according to claim 1, further comprising determining an error-detection code corresponding to at least a portion of the packet.

18. The method according to claim 17, further comprising adding the error-detection code to the header of the packet.

19. The method according to claim 18, determining whether the at least a portion of the packet is error free by examining the error-detection code within the header of the packet.

20. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether at least one of the packet and the data satisfies a second predetermined criterion; and

communicating an acknowledgment character corresponding to at least one of the packet and the data to the first hub if the second predetermined criterion is satisfied.

21. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the at least one packet over the network through the at least one communications channel by a second hub; and

routing the data from the second hub to at least one enterprise server.

22. The method according to claim 1, wherein the act of packaging the data from the medical device into at least one packet includes packaging the data into the packet and into another packet, wherein the packet includes the header and the another packet includes another header.

23. The method according to claim 22, further comprising:

adding a first sequence number to the header of the packet; and

adding a second sequence number to the another header of the another packet.

24. The method according to claim 23, wherein the act of communicating the at least one packet over a network through one of at least one communications channel of the first hub, comprises:

communicating the packet over a first communications channel of the at least one communications channel of the first hub; and

communicating the another packet over a second communications channel of the at least one communications channel of the first hub.

25. The method according to claim 24, further comprising:

receiving the packet and the another packet; and

reassembling the data in accordance with first sequence number of the packet and the second sequence numbers of the another packet.

26. The method according to claim 1, further comprising encrypting, by the medical device, the data prior to communicating the data from the medical device to the first hub via the Local Area Network.

27. The method according to claim 26, further comprising:

receiving the at least one packet over the network through at least one communications channel by a second hub;

routing the data from the second hub to an enterprise server; and

decrypting, by the enterprise server, the data for processing by the enterprise server.

28. (canceled)

29. A hub, comprising:

a local area network interface component configured to communicate data with a medical device;

a first system-on-module configured to interface with a first communications channel;

a second system-on-module configured to interface with a second communications channel; and

a processor configured to package the data from the medical device into at least one packet, wherein a packet of the at least one packet includes a header, the processor further configured to operatively communicate with one of the first and second system-on-modules to communicate the at least one packet over one of the first and second communications channel.

30. The hub according to claim 29, wherein a first communications channel is a first cellular network, and the second communications channel is a second cellular network.

31. The hub according to claim 29, wherein the processor is further configured to associate the hub with one of an identification value, a patient, a medical device, and a treatment.

41. The hub according to claim 29, further comprising a failsafe bus configured to signal a medical device coupled thereto when a fault condition of the hub has occurred.

42. The hub according to claim 29, further comprising an alarm bus configured to signal a medical device coupled thereto when an alarm condition of the hub has occurred.

43. The hub according to claim 29, further comprising a plain-old-telephone-service component, wherein the processor is configured to route the packet through the plain-old-telephone-service when the first and second communications channels are unavailable.

32-40. -40. (canceled)

44-61. -61. (canceled)