Ultrasonographic device

• US 8,731,955 B2
• Filed: 05/16/2006
• Issued: 05/20/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Konica Minolta Inc.
• Original Assignee: Konica Minolta Inc.
• Inventors: Asayama, Keijiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Holcomb, Mark
• Application Number:
  US11/913,577
• Publication Number:
  US 20090094057A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,926 Days
• Field of Search: 705 2- 4, 713193-194, 726 26- 27
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/00 Diagnosis using ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves imaging of objects using sonar G01S15/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/56 Details of data transmission or power supply
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/565 involving data transmission via a network
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/20 for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS

Abstract

A technology that prevents leak of patient data, which is personal information, stored in a storage medium without requiring labor is disclosed. According to the technology, when a command for bulk-deleting pieces of data stored in memories 4 to 7 is entered using an operating unit 1 (Step 1), the pieces of data stored in the memories are bulk-deleted (Step S2). When a hospital name, a language to be used, a time zone, preset data, or user-customized data registered in advance is changed, a device is judged to have been resold. The pieces of data stored in the memories are bulk-deleted (Step 2).

Claims

1. A method of bulk-deleting patient data stored by an ultrasonographic device, the method comprising:

storing patient data for a plurality of different patients in a storage medium comprising a plurality of individual memory units, said patient data comprising actual data related to the plurality of different patients and index data of the actual data;

using the ultrasonographic device, receiving a user-specified setting that comprises a registered time zone of the ultrasonic device by a first entity;

wherein the ultrasonographic device is configured to;

(i) initiate bulk deletion of the patient data in response to receiving a manually-entered command expressly instructing the processing unit to bulk delete the patient data, and

(ii) initiate bulk deletion of the patient data for each of the plurality of patients stored in the storage medium in response to receiving an instruction to change the user-specified setting that comprises a registered time zone of the ultrasonic device entered through manual manipulation of at least one of a keyed data-entry device and a computer pointing device, indicating a change of the ownership of the ultrasonographic device to a second entity that is different than the first entity,

further wherein said bulk deletion of the patient data comprises deletion of both the actual data relating to the plurality of different patients and the index data of the actual data.