Methods and apparatus for medical device cursor control and touchpad-based navigation

• US 10,078,438 B2
• Filed: 02/26/2014
• Issued: 09/18/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fresenius Care Holdings, Inc., Fresenius Medical Care Holdings Incorporated (Fresenius Medical Care AG)
• Original Assignee: Fresenius Care Holdings, Inc.
• Inventors: Wang, Fei, Crnkovich, Martin
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Hau H
• Application Number:
  US14/190,962
• Publication Number:
  US 20140298171A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,665 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• 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

The invention provides, in some aspects, medical apparatus with software-based cursor control and graphical user interface hotspot selection. This can be used, by way of non-limiting example, as part of a graphical user interface by which doctors, nurses, patient care technicians, other health care providers, and/or patients can enter data into enter data and/or to control the apparatus and/or associated medical equipment.

Claims

1. Medical apparatus with a user interface comprising:

a processor that executes an application that generates a user interface for display on a monitor, the user interface including text and/or graphics comprising buttons, widgets or other items selectable and/or manipulable by a user (collectively, “

hotspots”

),

a video memory that is in communications coupling with the application and that stores information (“

screen-representative information”

) representing the user interface generated by the application,

a touchpad subsystem that is in communications coupling with the application and with a touchpad and that generates a notification in response to a gesture thereon, where the touchpad is separate from the monitor and that gesture is a swipe, and where the notification includes a magnitude and a direction of the swipe on the touchpad,

the application responding to the notification by activating a next said hotspot and displaying on the user interface an effect of such activation on the user interface,

wherein the application activates said next hotspot as a function of the magnitude and the direction of the swipe on the touchpad with respect to a location of a currently activated hotspot.

2. Medical apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the touchpad subsystem generates the notification in response to a swipe that comprises any of a linear and curvilinear swipe.

3. Medical apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the touchpad subsystem generates further notifications in response to a tap on the touchpad.

4. Medical apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the application generates the user interface to highlight an activated hotspot.

5. Medical apparatus with a user interface comprising:

a processor that executes an application that generates a user interface for display on a monitor, the user interface including text and/or graphics comprising buttons, widgets or other items selectable and/or manipulable by a user (collectively, “

hotspots”

),

a video memory that is in communications coupling with the application and that stores information (“

screen-representative information”

) representing the user interface generated by the application,

a cursor subsystem that is coupled to the video memory and that modifies at least a portion of the screen-representative information therein with information (“

cursor-representative information”

) representing a cursor,

graphics logic that is coupled to the video memory and to the monitor and that drives the screen-representative information and the cursor-representative information in the video memory to the monitor for display thereby of graphics and/or text generated by the application overlaid with a graphic of the cursor,

a touchpad subsystem that is in communications coupling with the application and with a touchpad and that generates a notification in response to a gesture thereon, where the touchpad is separate from the monitor and that gesture is a swipe, and where the notification includes a magnitude and a direction of the swipe on the touchpad,

the application responding to the notification by activating a next said hotspot and displaying on the user interface an effect of such activation on the user interface,

wherein the application activates said next hotspot as a function of the magnitude and the direction of the swipe on the touchpad with respect to a current position of the cursor.

6. Medical apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the cursor subsystem is responsive to user action on the touchpad for determining a position of the cursor.

7. Medical apparatus according to claim 5, comprising a main image subsystem that is in communications coupling with the application and with the video memory and that writes to the video memory the screen-representative information representing graphics and/or text generated by the application.

8. Medical apparatus according to claim 7, wherein, in connection with writing the screen-representative information to the video memory, the main image subsystem overwrites the cursor-representative information previously written by the cursor subsystem to the video memory.

9. Medical apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the cursor subsystem responds to a change in the cursor-representative information previously written by it to the video memory by re-writing the cursor-representative information to the video memory.