ADVANCED WARNING INDICATOR FOR EMERGENCY MEDICAL DEVICES

• US 20180001097A1
• Filed: 12/24/2015
• Published: 01/04/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Inventors: DELISLE, NORMAN MAURICE, HUNT, DAVID K
• Granted Patent: US 10,201,714 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0276 Determining malfunction
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/3904 External heart defibrillators [EHD]
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/3925 Monitoring; Protecting
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/3993 User interfaces for automatic external defibrillators
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/2836 Fault-finding or characterising G01R31/2822 - G01R31/2831 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/40 relating to mechanical, radiation or invasive therapies, e.g. surgery, laser therapy, dialysis or acupuncture
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/40 for the management of medical equipment or devices, e.g. scheduling maintenance or upgrades
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16Z 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass

Abstract

An emergency medical device (20) (e.g., an external defibrillator/monitor) employing an emergency medical subsystem (21) for executing an emergency medical procedure (e.g., a monitoring subsystem (21) and a therapy subsystem (21)), and an emergency medical controller (23) for controlling an activation of the emergency medical subsystem (21). The subsystem (21) includes one or more operational components (22). In operation, the controller (23) conditionally actuates a device readiness indicator (24) (e.g., auditory or visual) indicative of an operational readiness of the operational component(s) (22), and conditionally actuates a failure warning indicator (25) (e.g., auditory or visual) indicative of a pending failure of the operational readiness of the operational component(s) (22). The failure warning indicator (25) may be actuated based on a predictive failure analysis of a premature degradation of the operational component(s) (22), a repeated occurrence of error conditions of the operational component(s) (22) (particularly recoverable error conditions), and a shortened reliable life of the operational component(s) (22).

Claims

1. An emergency medical device, comprising:

an emergency medical subsystem including at least one operational component operable to execute an emergency medical procedure; and

an emergency medical controller operable to control an activation of the emergency medical subsystem,

wherein the emergency medical controller is structurally configured to conditionally actuate a device readiness indicator indicative of an operational readiness of the at least one operational component to execute the emergency medical procedure, and

wherein the emergency medical controller is structurally configured to conditionally actuate a failure warning indicator indicative of a pending failure of the operational readiness of the at least one operational component to execute the emergency medical procedure as indicated b the device readiness indicator.

2. The emergency medical device of claim 1,

wherein the emergency medical controller is structurally configured to conduct an operational readiness test of the at least one operational component;

wherein the emergency medical controller actuates the device readiness indicator responsive to a pass result of the operational readiness test; and

wherein the emergency medical controller actuates the failure warning indicator responsive to the pass result of the operational readiness test indicating a premature degradation of the at least one operational component.

3. The emergency medical device of claim 1,

wherein the emergency medical controller is structurally configured to log repeated occurrences of an error condition of the at least one operational component;

and

wherein the emergency medical controller actuates the failure warning indicator responsive to a warning frequency of the repeated occurrences of the error condition of the at least one component.

4. The emergency medical device of claim 3,

wherein the error condition is recoverable by the emergency medical controller.

5. The emergency medical device of claim 3,

wherein the error condition is non-recoverable by the emergency medical controller.

6. The emergency medical device of claim 1,

wherein the emergency medical controller is structurally configured to monitor a usage pattern of the at least one operational component;

and

wherein the emergency medical controller actuates the failure warning indicator responsive to the usage pattern indicating a shortened reliable life of the at least one operational component.

19. The emergency medical device of claim 1, wherein the device readiness indicator and the failure warning indicator are integrated indicators.

20. The emergency medical device of claim 1, wherein the device readiness indicator and the failure warning indicator are segregated indicators.

21. The emergency medical device of claim 1, wherein the emergency medical controller includes:

a predictive failure analyzer structurally configured to actuate the failure warning indicator based on at least one of a predictive failure analysis of a premature degradation of the at least one operational component, a repeated occurrence of error conditions of the at least one operational component and a shortened reliable life of the at least one operational component.

7. An emergency medical device, comprising:

an emergency medical subsystem including at least one operational component structurally configured to execute an emergency medical procedure; and

an emergency medical controller structurally configured to control an activation of the emergency medical subsystem,

wherein the emergency medical controller is structurally configured to conditionally actuate a failure warning indicator indicative of a pending failure of the operational readiness of the at least one operational component to execute the emergency medical procedure.

8. The emergency medical device of claim 7,

wherein the emergency medical controller is structurally configured to conduct an operational readiness test of the at least one operational component;

and

wherein the emergency medical controller actuates the failure warning indicator responsive to a pass result of the operational readiness test indicating a premature degradation of the at least one operational component.

9. The emergency medical device of claim 7,

wherein the emergency medical controller is structurally configured to log repeated occurrences of an error condition of the at least one operational component;

and

wherein the emergency medical controller actuates the failure warning indicator responsive to a warning frequency of the repeated occurrences of the error condition of the at least one component.

10. The emergency medical device of claim 9,

wherein the error condition is recoverable by the emergency medical controller.

11. The emergency medical device of claim 9,

wherein the error condition is non-recoverable by the emergency medical controller.

12. The emergency medical device of claim 7,

wherein the emergency medical controller is structurally configured to monitor a usage pattern of the at least one operational component;

and

wherein the emergency medical controller actuates the failure warning indicator responsive to the usage pattern indicating a shortened reliable life of the at least one operational component.

13. A method of operating an emergency medical device including at least one operational component, the method comprising:

the emergency medical controller conditionally generating device readiness indicator indicative of an operational readiness of the at least one operational component to execute an emergency medical procedure; and

the emergency medical controller conditionally generating a failure warning indicator indicative of a pending failure of the operational readiness of the at least one operational component as indicated by the device readiness indicator.

14. The method of claim 13,

wherein the emergency medical device conducts an operational readiness test of the at least one operational component;

wherein the emergency medical device actuates the device readiness indicator responsive to a pass result of the operational readiness test; and

wherein the emergency medical device actuates the failure warning indicator responsive to the pass result of the operational readiness test indicating a premature degradation of the at least one operational component.

15. The method of claim 13,

wherein the emergency medical device logs repeated occurrences of an error condition of the at least one operational component;

and

wherein the emergency medical device actuates the failure warning indicator responsive to a warning frequency of the repeated occurrences of the error condition of the at least one component.

16. The method of claim 15,

wherein the error condition is recoverable by the emergency medical controller.

17. The method of claim 15,

wherein the error condition is non-recoverable by the emergency medical controller.

18. The method of claim 13,

wherein, responsive to a generation of the device readiness indicator, the emergency medical device monitors a usage pattern of the at least one operational component;

and

wherein the emergency medical device actuates the failure warning indicator responsive to the usage pattern indicating a shortened reliable life of the at least one operational component.