Medical network system and method for transfer of information

• US 6,424,996 B1
• Filed: 11/25/1998
• Issued: 07/23/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Nexsys Electronics
• Original Assignee: Nexsys Electronics, Inc.
• Inventors: Foard, Lawrence IV, Killcommons, Peter M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dinh, Dung C.
• Application Number:
  US09/199,611
• Time in Patent Office: 1,336 Days
• Field of Search: 707/100, 707/104, 705/2, 709/217, 709/218, 709/219, 709/206, 709/207, 345/326, 345/330, 345/331, 382/100, 382/128
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/10 File systems; File servers
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records

Abstract

The assembly and communication of multimedia information from a variety of modalities to remote users with improved control is provided for by the combined use of a browser enhancement module, such as a plug-in or ActiveX control, and a server. The server includes a data interface for acquiring the multimedia data and a storage unit for receiving and storing the data. An assembly unit in the server gathers selected data to form an e-mail package in response to instructions from a remote user unit. The server further includes a processing unit to encode and compress the data prior to packaging and an e-mail server to send the package to the remote user unit or another designated user unit. Transfer instructions for the server may be provided by the remote user unit through a browser and the browser enhancement module. The browser enhancement module is therefore configured to request a file from the server, to decompress and decode received files and to transfer such files along with a user interface to a display associated with the remote user unit. The browser enhancement module is further adapted to send instructions to the server to assemble and to e-mail selected data from a file to another user unit.

Claims

1. A medical information transfer server comprising:

A) a data interface for acquiring medical data in a multimedia format;

B) a storage unit coupled to receive and store the multimedia medical data from the data interface;

C) at least a portion of a user interface to allow for viewing the multimedia medical data;

D) an assembly unit coupled to the user interface and the storage unit or to the data interface, the assembly unit to gather selected portions of the multimedia medical data to form an e-mail package in response to an instruction received from a remote first user unit;

E) a processing unit coupled to the assembly unit or to the data interface and to encode and/or compress the multimedia medical data; and

F) an e-mail server to send by e-mail the user interface and the e-mail package to a remote second user unit.

2. The medical information transfer server of claim 1, wherein the multimedia medical data comprises image, overlay, 3-D volume, waveform, curve, video, and/or sound data, or any combination thereof.

3. The medical information transfer server of claim 1, wherein the selected portions of the multimedia medical data are gathered from the storage unit.

4. The medical information transfer server of claim 1, wherein the selected portions of the multimedia medical data include new data received from the data interface.

5. The medical information transfer server of claim 1, wherein the selected portions of the multimedia medical data include new data received from the remote first user unit.

6. The medical information transfer server of claim 1, wherein the user interface comprises a Web page.

7. The medical information transfer server of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is further to encrypt the multimedia medical data.

8. The medical information transfer server of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is to compress the multimedia medical data using a progressive compression scheme prior to sending the e-mail package.

9. The medical information transfer server of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is to compress the multimedia medical data using at least one of a wavelet, a motion wavelet, an MPEG or a motion JPEG compression scheme.

10. The medical information transfer server of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is to compress the multimedia medical data by:

(i) compressing the medical data to a default ratio;

(ii) measuring the size of the compressed multimedia medical data;

(iii) comparing the size of the compressed multimedia medical data to a required size; and

(iv) repeating (i) through (iii) using the compressed medical data until the compressed multimedia medical data achieves the required size or smaller prior to sending the e-mail package.

11. The medical information transfer system of claim 1, wherein the multimedia medical data includes clinical data and parameter data.

12. The medical information transfer system of claim 11, wherein the data storage unit includes a clinical data storage subunit for storage of the clinical data and a parameter data storage subunit for storage of the parameter data.

13. The medical information transfer system of claim 1, wherein the server further comprises a 3-D volumetric rendering element and 3-D surface rendering element to convert 2-D images into 3-D images.

14. The medical information transfer system of claim 1, wherein the server further comprises a window and/or level element(s) for establishing window and/or level default values.

15. The medical information transfer system of claim 1, wherein the server further comprises an automatic e-mail control to direct the e-mail server to automatically send new medical data to the remote first user unit at prescribed intervals.

16. A medical information transfer unit comprising:

A) a display for viewing a medical file on a user interface having at least one manipulation element for view control of the medical file, and

B) a browser for communicating with a server having stored therein a plurality of medical files containing multimedia medical data, the browser including a browser enhancement module to;

(i) request the medical file from the server;

(ii) decompress and/or decode the medical file after receipt from the server;

(iii) transfer the medical file to the display; and

(iv) send instructions to the server to assemble and to e-mail selected multimedia medical data from the medical file and at least a portion of a user interface stored on the server to a remote user unit separate from the information transfer unit.

17. The medical information transfer unit of claim 16, wherein the browser enhancement module comprises a plug-in or ActiveX control.

18. The medical information transfer unit of claim 16, wherein the browser enhancement module is further to decrypt the medical file after receipt from the server.

19. The medical information transfer unit of claim 16, wherein the medical file includes clinical data, parameter data, series data, annotation data, observation data, 3-D volume data, and/or combinations thereof.

20. The medical information transfer unit of claim 16, wherein the browser enhancement module is further to instruct the server to assemble the selected data with new data to form an package and to e-mail the package to the remote user unit.

21. The medical information transfer unit of claim 20, wherein the transfer unit further comprises a modality interface for acquiring the new data.

22. A medical information transfer system, comprising:

A) a server storing multimedia medical data, the server comprising;

i) a data interface for acquiring the multimedia medical data;

ii) a storage unit coupled to receive and store the multimedia medical data from the data interface into medical files;

iii) at least a portion of a user interface for viewing the multimedia medical data;

iv) an assembly unit coupled to the user interface and the storage unit or to data interface, the assembly unit to gather selected portions of the multimedia medical data to form an e-mail package in response to instructions received from a first user unit;

v) a processing unit coupled to the assembly unit or to the data interface and to encode and/or compress the multimedia medical data; and

vi) an e-mail server to send by e-mail the at least portion of the user interface and the e-mail package to a second user unit.

B) the first user unit comprising;

i) a display for viewing at least a first one of the medical files using a user interface having at least one manipulation element for view control of the first medical file, and

ii) a browser for communicating with the server, the browser including a browser enhancement module to;

a) request the first medical file from the server;

b) decompress and/or decode the first medical file;

c) transfer the first medical file to the display; and

d) send instructions to the server to assemble and to e-mail the selected portions of the multimedia medical data from the first medical file and the at least portion of the user interface to the second user unit.

23. The medical information transfer system of claim 22, wherein the browser enhancement module is further to decrypt the first medical file.

24. The medical information transfer system of claim 22, further comprising a medical modality for generating the multimedia medical data.

25. The medical information transfer system of claim 24, wherein the medical modality comprises radiology equipment.

26. The medical information transfer system of claim 22, further comprising at least two different types of medical modalities for generating the multimedia medical data.

27. The medical information transfer system of claim 24, wherein the medical modality is communicatively coupled to the data interface for transmitting the multimedia medical data to the server.

28. The medical information transfer system of claim 27, wherein the medical modality is communicatively coupled to the data interface through a dicomizer to convert raw multimedia medical data provided by the medical modality into multimedia medical data of a form compliant with the DICOM Standards.

29. The medical information transfer system of claim 24, wherein the medical modality is communicatively coupled to the first user unit, and wherein the browser enhancement module is further to encode data received from the medical modality.

30. The medical information transfer system of claim 22, wherein the browser enhancement module is further to encrypt the multimedia medical data.

31. The information transfer system of claim 29, wherein the browser enhancement module is further configured to direct more than one operation of the medical modality.

32. The medical information transfer system of claim 29, wherein the browser enhancement module is further to encrypt the data received from the medical modality.

33. The medical information transfer system of claim 22, wherein the processing unit is to compress the multimedia medical data using at least one of a wavelet, a motion wavelet, an MPEG or a motion JPEG compression scheme.

34. The medical information transfer system of claim 22, wherein the processing unit is to compress the multimedia medical data by:

I) compressing the multimedia medical data to a default ratio;

II) measuring the size of the compressed multimedia medical data;

III) comparing the size of the compressed multimedia medical data to a required size; and

IV) repeating (I) through (III) using the compressed multimedia medical data until the compressed multimedia medical data achieves the required size or smaller prior to sending the e-mail package.

35. The medical information transfer system of claim 22, wherein the server further comprises an automatic e-mail control to direct the e-mail server to automatically send new multimedia medical data to the first user unit at prescribed intervals.

36. The medical information transfer system of claim 35, wherein the server further comprises a mailing list of users designated to automatically receive the new multimedia medical data.

37. A computer readable medium having stored therein a plurality of sequences of instructions, which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor through a browser to:

A) request from a server a medical file for viewing with a user interface having at least one manipulation element for view control of the medical file, the server having stored therein medical files containing multimedia medical data;

B) decompress and/or decode the medical file;

C) transfer the medical file to a display; and

D) e-mail instructions to the server to assemble and send by e-mail selected multimedia medical data from the medical file and at least a portion of the user interface from the server to a remote user unit separate from the processor.

38. The computer readable medium of claim 37, wherein the multimedia medical data is in the form of image, overlay, 3-D volume, waveform, curve, video or sound data, or any combination thereof.

39. The computer readable medium of claim 37, further including additional steps, which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to decrypt the medical file.

40. The computer readable medium of claim 37, wherein the decompressing is performed using a wavelet, a motion wavelet or a motion JPEG decompressing scheme.

41. Computer readable instructions, which when executed cause a processor to:

A) request from a server a medical file viewable using a user interface having at least one manipulation element for view control of the medical file, the server having stored therein medical files containing multimedia medical data;

B) decompress and/or decode the medical file;

C) transfer the medical file to a display; and

D) e-mail instructions to the server to assemble and e-mail selected multimedia medical data from the medical file and at least a partial user interface from the server to a remote user unit separate from the processor.

42. The computer readable instructions of claim 41, wherein the multimedia medical data is in the form of image, overlay, 3-D volume, waveform, curve, video or sound data, or any combination thereof.

43. A series of computer readable instructions embodied as data signals in a carrier wave, which when executed cause a processor through a browser to:

A) request from a server a medical file viewable using a user interface having at least one manipulation element for view control of the medical file, the server having stored therein medical files containing multimedia medical data;

B) decompress and/or decode the medical file;

C) transfer the medical file to a display; and

D) e-mail instructions to the server to assemble and e-mail selected multimedia medical data from the medical file and at least a partial user interface from the server to a remote user unit separate from the processor.

44. The series of computer readable instructions of claim 43, wherein the multimedia medical data is in the form of image, overlay, 3-D volume, waveform, curve, video or sound data, or any combination thereof.

45. A method, comprising:

A) receiving new medical data through a browser enhancement module;

B) encoding and/or compressing the new medical data using the browser enhancement module;

C) sending the new medical data to a server; and

D) instructing the server to e-mail a medical file having the new medical data and selected stored multimedia medical data and at least a partial user interface to a second user unit.

46. The method of claim 45, wherein the new medical data is received from a medical modality to be controlled using the browser enhancement module.

47. The method of claim 45, further comprising encrypting the new medical data after compressing the new medical data.

48. The method of claim 45, wherein the new medical data is compressed using one of a wavelet, a motion wavelet or a motion JPEG compression scheme.

49. The method of claim 45, wherein the new medical data is compressed using a progressive compression scheme wherein:

A) the new medical data is compressed to provide compressed medical data;

B) the size of the compressed medical data is compared to a required size; and

C) steps A and B are repeated using the compressed medical data until the size of the compressed medical data is the required size or smaller.

50. A series of computer readable instructions embodied as data signals in a carrier wave, which when executed cause a processor through a browser to perform the steps of:

A) receiving new multimedia medical data from a medical modality;

B) encoding the new multimedia medical data;

C) compressing the new multimedia medical data;

D) requesting from a server, a user interface having at least one manipulation element for viewing control of the new multimedia medical data; and

E) transferring the new multimedia medical data onto the user interface and sending the new multimedia medical data and user interface to the server.

51. The series of computer readable instructions of claim 50, further including instructions to cause the processor to direct the operation of the medical modality.

52. The series of computer readable instructions of claim 50, further including instructions to cause the processor to select stored medical data from the server and to direct the server to assemble the new multimedia medical data with the selected stored data and electronic mail a medical file including both the new multimedia medical data and the selected stored medical data to a remote user unit.

53. The series of computer readable instructions of claim 50, wherein the new multimedia medical data is in the form of image, overlay, 3-D volume, waveform, curve, video or sound data, or any combination thereof.

54. The series of computer readable instructions of claim 50, further including instructions which cause the processor to encrypt the new multimedia medical data after compressing the new multimedia medical data.

55. The series of computer readable instructions of claim 54, wherein the new multimedia medical data is compressed using one of a wavelet, a motion wavelet or a motion JPEG compression scheme.

56. The series of computer readable instructions of claim 50, wherein compressing the new multimedia medical data includes the steps of:

A) compressing the new multimedia medical data to a default ratio to achieve compressed data;

B) measuring the size of the compressed data;

C) comparing the size of the compressed data to a required size;

D) further compressing the compressed data if the size is greater than the required size;

E) repeating steps B to D until the size of the compressed data is the required size or smaller.

57. The series of computer readable instructions of claim 50, wherein the at least one manipulation element on the user interface is a 3-D control and the server further has a 3-D volumetric rendering element and 3-D surface rendering element for converting 2-D images into 3-D images.

58. A server, comprising:

A) a data interface for acquiring clinical multimedia medical data and parameter medical data;

B) a clinical data s torage unit coupled to the data interface and to receive the clinical multimedia medical data;

C) a parameter data storage unit coupled to the data interface and to receive the parameter medical data;

D) at least a portion of a user interface for viewing the clinical multimedia medical data;

E) an assembly unit coupled to the user interface and the storage unit or to the data interface, the assembly unit to gather selected portions of the clinical multimedia medical data and the parameter medical data to form an e-mail package in response to instructions from a first user unit;

F) a processing unit coupled to the assembly unit or to the data interface and to encode and/or compress the clinical multimedia medical data and the parameter medical data; and

G) an e-mail server to send by e-mail the at least portion of user interface and the e-mail package to a second user unit.