Method and system for checking the diagnostic quality of a medical system

• US 8,977,016 B2
• Filed: 11/10/2009
• Issued: 03/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Jones, Cheryl Ruth, Patz, Tabb Alan, Chandrashekarappa, Arun Kumar, Sharma, Navin Kumar, H. D., Chetan
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Michelle L
• Application Number:
  US12/615,976
• Publication Number:
  US 20110110565A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,946 Days
• Field of Search: 715/736, 382/128
• US Class Current: 382/128
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/40 for the management of medical equipment or devices, e.g. scheduling maintenance or upgrades
• CPC Class Codes: G16Z 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass

Abstract

A system and a method are provided that may be used to determine the suitability of a client for use in medical diagnosis. Multimedia content may be presented on the client and used to elicit responses from a user indicative of the suitability of the client for use in medical diagnosis. The elicited responses may be used to determine the suitability of the client for medical diagnosis.

Claims

1. A method for investigating diagnostic properties of a system:

using a processor on the system to perform the steps of;

presenting, on a display screen, a test image indicative of diagnostic image quality;

collecting, on a device communicatively coupled to the display screen, user input based on the presented image;

analyzing the collected user input based on a specification to establish a performance baseline for the system;

if the performance baseline does not meet a minimum performance baseline for displaying medical images, displaying a failure indication that the system or a hardware component of the system is unsuitable for displaying diagnostic medical images;

if the performance baseline does meet the minimum performance baseline, displaying a success indication that the system or a hardware component of the system is suitable for displaying diagnostic medical images.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the test image indicative of diagnostic image quality comprises a grayscale image.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the grayscale image comprises an image capable of displaying grayscale differences, fine grayscale detail, varying grayscale, aspect ratio, resolution, continuity, monitor issues, or a combination thereof.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the test image indicative of diagnostic image quality comprises a color image.

5. The method of claim 1, comprising presenting at least one of a video or a waveform indicative of diagnostic video quality or of diagnostic waveform quality, and collecting user input based on the presented video or waveform.

6. The method of claim 1, comprising presenting an audio signal indicative of diagnostic audio quality, and collecting user input based on the presented audio signal.

7. The method of claim 1, comprising configuring the system to automatically check at least one of the hardware component or a software component in order to determine the suitability of the system for use in medical diagnosis.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the diagnostic suitability of the hardware component based on the collected user input comprises at least one of communicatively connecting to a medical server to download software or installing software from a computer readable medium, and utilizing the software to collect the user input and to analyze the user input.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the system, when functioning properly, is determined to be suitable or unsuitable for displaying diagnostic medical images.

9. A method comprising:

using a processor on a client to perform the steps of;

communicatively connecting to a medical server;

downloading a test image from the medical server; and

utilizing the test image to determine the suitability of a hardware component of the client for use in medical diagnosis based on a performance baseline for viewing diagnostic medical images derived for a hardware component of interest, wherein utilizing the test image to determine the suitability of the hardware component of the client for use in medical diagnosis comprises;

executing a set of computer instructions to present the test image indicative of diagnostic image quality on a screen display;

collecting, on a device communicatively coupled to the client, user input based on the presented test image;

using the collected input to determine the performance baseline for the hardware component;

displaying a failure indication that the hardware component of the system is unsuitable for displaying diagnostic medical images if the performance baseline does not meet a minimum performance baseline for displaying medical images; and

displaying a success indication that the hardware component of the system is suitable for displaying diagnostic medical images if the performance baseline meets the minimum performance baseline for displaying diagnostic medical images.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the utilizing the test image to determine the suitability of the hardware component of the client for use in medical diagnosis comprises executing a set of instructions to automatically check the hardware component or software components of the client.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the downloaded test image comprises a grayscale image.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the grayscale image comprises an image capable of displaying grayscale differences, fine grayscale detail, varying grayscale, aspect ratio, resolution, continuity, monitor issues, or a combination thereof.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the utilizing the test image to determine the suitability of the hardware component of the client for use in medical diagnosis comprises executing a set of computer instructions to present a video indicative of diagnostic video quality, to collect user input based on the presented video, and to use the collected input to determine the diagnostic suitability of the client.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein utilizing the test image to determine the suitability of the hardware component of the client for use in medical diagnosis comprises executing a set of computer instructions to present at least one of an audio signal indicative of diagnostic audio quality or a waveform indicative of diagnostic waveform quality, collect user input based on the presented audio signal or waveform, and use the collected input to determine the diagnostic suitability of the client.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium, encoding one or more routines which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform acts comprising:

presenting a test image on a screen display of a client communicatively coupled to a medical server;

collecting, on a device communicatively coupled to the screen display, user responses indicative of the quality of the test image presented on the client;

analyzing the collected user responses based on a specification to establish a performance baseline for the client; and

if the performance baseline does not meet a minimum performance baseline for displaying medical images, displaying a failure indication that the client or a hardware component of the system is unsuitable for displaying diagnostic medical images;

if the performance baseline does meet the minimum performance baseline, displaying a success indication that the client or a hardware component of the system is suitable for displaying diagnostic medical images.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the test image comprises a grayscale image capable of displaying grayscale differences, fine grayscale detail, varying grayscale, aspect ratio, resolution, continuity, monitor issues, or a combination thereof.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, comprising one or more routines which, when executed, cause additional acts to be performed comprising:

automatically executing a component check of at least one of the hardware component or a software component, wherein the component check results are used to determine the diagnostic capabilities of the client.

18. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 15, comprising one or more routines which, when executed, cause additional acts to be performed comprising:

downloading at least one of a video indicative of diagnostic video quality, an audio signal indicative of diagnostic video quality, or waveform indicative of diagnostic waveform quality from the medical server;

presenting the video, the audio signal, or the waveform to a user;

collecting responses from the user indicative of the video quality, the audio signal quality, or the waveform quality; and

determining the diagnostic capabilities of the hardware component or a software component of the client based on the responses from the user.