Real-time data distribution system for patient monitoring devices, cardiac defibrillators and associated information delivery systems

• US 10,257,287 B2
• Filed: 08/27/2014
• Issued: 04/09/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Physio-Control Incorporated (Stryker Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Physio-Control Incorporated (Stryker Corporation)
• Inventors: Protas, Cheryl, Wootten, James, Padmanabha, Seshadri Kumar, Peterson, Ken, Merry, Randy, Stewart, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu, Viet D
• Assistant Examiner(s): Edwards, James A
• Application Number:
  US14/470,880
• Publication Number:
  US 20150067021A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,686 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/173 using an interconnection network, e.g. matrix, shuffle, pyramid, star, snowflake
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4604 LAN interconnection over a backbone network, e.g. Internet, Frame Relay
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/40 Support for services or applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A data distribution system in comprises software application nodes that utilize a publish-subscribe communication mechanism for distribution of data in real-time or near real-time within a personal area network (PAN), local area network (LAN), or wide-area network (WAN) configuration. The distributed system communication software application nodes reside in medical devices, such as monitoring devices and cardiac defibrillators, and associated patient information delivery systems and patient data management systems comprising medical software installed on servers and end-user computing devices, including mobile devices.

Claims

1. A data distribution system, comprising:

a first personal area network (PAN) node, a second PAN node, and a PAN data blackboard coupled to the first and second PAN nodes via a PAN, wherein the PAN data blackboard comprises a first shared memory structure having a first data storage space, wherein the first PAN node comprises a first medical device configured for monitoring a first patient and writing patient medical data concerning the first patient to the first data storage space in real-time, and wherein the second PAN node comprises a second medical device configured for reading the patient medical data from the first data storage space and displaying the patient medical data in real-time;

a first local area network (LAN) node and a LAN data blackboard coupled to the first LAN node, wherein the LAN data blackboard is coupled to the PAN data blackboard via a LAN, wherein the LAN data blackboard comprises a second shared memory structure having a second data storage space, wherein the LAN data blackboard comprises a LAN data management node configured to determine that the first LAN node is entitled to access the patient medical data and to selectively synchronize data with the PAN data blackboard such that the patient medical data is stored in the second data storage space for retrieval in real-time by the first LAN node, and wherein the first LAN node comprises a third medical device configured for reading the patient medical data from the second data storage space and displaying the patient medical data in real-time; and

wherein the system is configured in accordance with a publish-subscribe messaging model in which nodes that are senders of messages (publishers) do not program the messages to be sent directly to specific receivers (subscribers) but instead categorize published messages into classes without knowledge of which subscribers, if any, there may be, and send the messages to an associated blackboard, and

wherein each of the nodes is configured as a publisher or subscriber of data, or both a publisher and subscriber of data.

2. The data distribution system recited in claim 1, wherein the first PAN node is configured as publisher node, and wherein the second PAN node is configured as a subscriber node.

3. The data distribution system recited in claim 2, further comprising

a first wide area network (WAN) node and a WAN data blackboard coupled to the first WAN node, wherein the WAN data blackboard is coupled to the PAN data blackboard via a WAN, wherein the WAN data blackboard comprises a third shared memory structure having a third data storage space, wherein the WAN data blackboard comprises a WAN data management node configured to determine that the first WAN node is entitled to access the patient medical data and to selectively synchronize data with the PAN data blackboard such that the patient medical data is stored in the third data storage space, and wherein the first WAN node comprises a fourth medical device configured for reading the patient medical data from the third data storage space and displaying the patient medical data in real-time.

4. The data distribution system recited in claim 3, wherein the first data storage space is shared among the first PAN node and the second PAN node, wherein the second data storage space is shared among the first LAN node and a second LAN node coupled to the LAN data blackboard, and wherein the third data storage space is shared among the first WAN node and a second WAN node coupled to the WAN data blackboard.

5. The data distribution system recited in claim 4, wherein the first WAN node is configured as a subscriber node, and wherein the second WAN node is configured as a publisher node.

6. The data distribution system recited in claim 1, wherein the first PAN node comprises a first software application node residing in the first medical device, and the second PAN node comprises a second software application node residing in the second medical device.

7. The data distribution system recited in claim 6, wherein the first LAN node comprises a third software application node residing in the third medical device, and the second LAN node comprises a fourth software application node residing in a fourth medical device.

8. The data distribution system recited in claim 7, wherein the first WAN node comprises a fifth software application node residing in a fifth medical device, and wherein the second WAN node comprises a sixth software application node residing in a sixth medical device.

9. The data distribution system recited in claim 8, wherein at least one of the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, or sixth medical devices is a cardiac defibrillator or cardiac monitoring device.

10. The data distribution system recited in claim 1, wherein the patient medical data comprises an electrocardiogram sensor reading.

11. The data distribution system recited in claim 1, wherein the patient medical data comprises an audio stream or a video stream.

12. A medical data monitoring and distribution method, comprising:

in a personal area network (PAN) comprising a first PAN node within a first medical device, a second PAN node within a second medical device, and a PAN data blackboard;

employing the first PAN node and first medical device to monitor a first patient and to write medical data concerning the first patient to a first data storage space of the PAN data blackboard in real-time, and

employing the second PAN node and second medical device to read the patient medical data from the first data storage space and display the patient medical data in real-time; and

in a local area network (LAN) comprising a first LAN node and a LAN data blackboard coupled to the PAN data blackboard via the LAN;

determining, by a LAN data management node of the LAN data blackboard that the first LAN node is entitled to access the patient medical data,

selectively synchronizing, by the LAN data management node, data with the PAN data blackboard such that the patient medical data is stored in a second data storage of the LAN data blackboard for retrieval in real-time by the first LAN node,

reading, by the first LAN node, the patient medical data from the second data storage space, and

displaying, by the first LAN node, the patient medical data in real-time,

wherein the PAN and the LAN are configured in accordance with a publish-subscribe messaging model in which nodes that are senders of messages (publishers) do not program the messages to be sent directly to specific receivers (subscribers) but instead categorize published messages into classes without knowledge of which subscribers, if any, there may be, and send the messages to an associated blackboard, and

wherein each of said nodes is configured as a publisher or subscriber of data, or both a publisher and subscriber of data.

13. The medical data monitoring and distribution method recited in claim 12, further comprising:

coupling a wide area network (WAN) data blackboard to the LAN; and

selectively synchronizing, using a WAN data management node of the WAN data blackboard, data with the PAN data blackboard such that the patient medical data is stored in a third data storage space of the WAN data blackboard.

14. The medical data monitoring and distribution method recited in claim 13, further comprising coupling a first WAN node and a second WAN node to the WAN data blackboard.

15. The medical data monitoring and distribution method recited in claim 14, further comprising:

writing data to the WAN data blackboard using the first WAN node; and

reading data from the WAN data blackboard using the second WAN node.

16. The medical data monitoring and distribution method recited in claim 15, wherein the first PAN node comprises a first software application node residing in the first medical device, and the second PAN node comprises a second software application node residing in the second medical device.

17. The medical data monitoring and distribution method recited in claim 16, wherein the first LAN node comprises a third software application node residing in a third medical device.

18. The medical data monitoring and distribution method recited in claim 17, wherein at least one of the first, second, or third medical devices is a cardiac defibrillator or cardiac monitoring device.

19. The medical data monitoring and distribution method recited in claim 12, wherein the patient medical data comprises an electrocardiogram sensor reading.

20. The medical data monitoring and distribution method recited in claim 12, wherein the patient medical data comprises an audio stream or a video stream.