Intranet-based medical data distribution system

• US 6,871,211 B2
• Filed: 03/27/2001
• Issued: 03/22/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: GE Medical Systems Information Technologies Incorporated (General Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: GE Medical Systems Information Technologies Incorporated (General Electric Company)
• Inventors: Clark, David R., Labounty, Scott, Johnnie, Darryn A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jean, Frantz B.
• Application Number:
  US09/818,072
• Publication Number:
  US 20010044823A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,456 Days
• Field of Search: 340/870.01, 340/870.11, 340/10.1, 340/10.6, 340/573.1, 600/300, 600/481, 600/508, 600/509, 600/301, 128/903, 128/904, 128/905, 607/30, 607/32, 607/59, 607/60, 607/27, 607/52, 707/10, 709/219, 709/230, 604/19, 604/48, 604/503
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0006 ECG or EEG signals
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0205 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/021 Measuring pressure in heart or blood vessels A61B5/0205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/318 Heart-related electrical modalities, e.g. electrocardiography [ECG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/339 Displays specially adapted therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/363 Detecting tachycardia or bradycardia
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/14 Backbone network devices

Abstract

A network based medical telemetry system that uses, to the greatest extent possible, standard hardware and software components. The system allows clinicians using computers anywhere in a large hospital to view physiologic data from patients of the hospital. Each patient is fitted with a set of sensors that measure physiologic properties of the patient (e.g., EKG sensors). The sensors are connected to a transmitter that relays the physiologic data to a central server. The central server comprises a WEB server that supplies basic patient data such as the patient'"'"'s name and medical history. The central server also comprises a waveform server which supplies the physiologic data, in real-time or near real-time. Workstation, used by a clinician receives the basic patient data from the Web server and the physiologic data from the waveform server, and produces a combined display. The combined display is continuously updated, showing, for example, the patient'"'"'s EKG.

Claims

1. A patient monitoring system for providing patient data to one or more workstations connected to a computer network, said system comprising:

one or more sensors attached to said patient, said sensors configured to measure physiologic data from said patient;

a patient monitoring device attached to said one or more sensors, said patient monitoring device configured to gather said physiologic data and use a communication system to communicate said physiologic data to a central data monitoring device;

one or more data servers connected to said computer network, said data servers configured to supply data to said workstations using a first protocol; and

one or more waveform servers connected to said central data monitoring device, said waveform servers receiving said physiologic information from said central data monitoring device, said waveform servers connected to said computer network, said waveform servers configured to supply said physiologic data to said workstations using a second protocol.

2. The patient monitoring system of claim 1, wherein said communication system comprises a wireless link between said patient monitoring device and said central data monitoring device.

3. The patient monitoring system of claim 1, wherein said first protocol is a low level network protocol.

4. The patient monitoring system of claim 3, wherein said first protocol is TCP/IP.

5. The patient monitoring system of claim 3, wherein said second protocol is a high level protocol.

6. The patient monitoring system of claim 5, wherein said second protocol uses said first protocol.

7. The patient monitoring system of claim 6, wherein said first protocol is TCP/IP and said second protocol is HTTP.

8. The patient monitoring system of claim 1, wherein said second protocol is a high level protocol.

9. The patient monitoring system of claim 8, wherein said high level protocol is an application level protocol.

10. The patient monitoring system of claim 1, further comprising a first software program stored within a memory in said workstations, said software configured to communicate with said data server using said first protocol.

11. The patient monitoring system of claim 10, wherein said first software program is configured to run a second software program substantially contemporaneously with said first software program.

12. The patient monitoring system of claim 11, wherein said second software program is configured to communicate with at least one of said waveform servers using said first protocol.

13. The patient monitoring system of claim 11, wherein said second software program is configured to obtain said physiologic data from at least one of said waveform servers by communicating with said at least one of said waveform servers using said first protocol.

14. The patient monitoring system of claim 13, wherein said second software program is configured to obtain said physiologic data from said at least one of said waveform servers in data packets with varying latency periods, and wherein said second software program is configured to display said physiologic data on a display device such that it appears to a person observing said display device that physiologic data is being received as a stream of data with uniform latency periods.