Reducing infusion pump network congestion by staggering updates

• US 10,861,592 B2
• Filed: 07/15/2019
• Issued: 12/08/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 07/17/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ICU Medical Incorporated
• Original Assignee: ICU Medical Incorporated
• Inventors: Xavier, Ben, Krabbe, Dennis, Enger, Larry, Deosthale, Chaitanya, Isensee, Anthony
• Primary Examiner(s): Hein, Devin C
• Application Number:
  US16/512,193
• Publication Number:
  US 20200027542A1
• Time in Patent Office: 512 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2005/14208 with a programmable infusion control system, characterised by the infusion program
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2205/18 with alarm
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2205/3561 local, e.g. within room or hospital
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2205/3584 using modem, internet or bluetooth
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2205/3592 using telemetric means, e.g. radio or optical transmission
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2205/52 with memories providing a history of measured variating parameters of apparatus or patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/142 Pressure infusion, e.g. using pumps
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/172 electrical or electronic A61M5/16804, A61M5/16831 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3058 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring environmental properties or parameters of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring of power, currents, temperature, humidity, position, vibrations thermal management in cooling arrangements of a computing system G06F1/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/17 delivered via infusion or injection
• 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 40/40 for the management of medical equipment or devices, e.g. scheduling maintenance or upgrades
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation

Abstract

A system can include a plurality of infusion pumps and a connectivity adapter in a clinical environment. The connectivity adapter can receive update data, such as a drug library update or an operational software update, and can store the update data within the clinical environment. The connectivity adapter can send the update data to a predetermined number of infusion pumps that have requested the update. At least two subsets of the infusion pumps can receive different blocks of the update data at about the same time. Further, the same or different update data can be provided to the infusion pumps at about the same time.

Claims

1. A system configured to provide update data to a plurality of infusion pumps, the system comprising:

a subset of infusion pumps of a plurality of infusion pumps, each infusion pump located within one or more clinical environments and configured to deliver medication according to operational software and one or more drug libraries to one or more patients;

a server, located outside of the one or more clinical environments, configured to receive user input comprising a location of update data, the update data including one or more of updates to infusion pump operational software and updates to the one or more drug libraries; and

a connectivity adapter comprising a first interface for communicating with the subset of infusion pumps over a first network that is within at least one of the one or more the clinical environments, the first interface configured to communicate messages over a first channel of the first network and communicate data over a second channel of the first network, and a second interface for communicating with the server over a second network that is outside of the one or more clinical environments and that is separate from the first network, the second interface configured to communicate messages over a first channel of the second network and communicate data over a second channel of the second network, the connectivity adapter further comprising computer hardware and memory having an outbound message queue and configured to store at least the update data, the memory further storing instructions that, when executed by the computer hardware, configure the connectivity adapter to;

receive messages from the subset of infusion pumps over the first channel of the first network, the messages including clinical information;

send transformed messages over the first channel of the second network to the server, the transformed messages based at least in part on the received messages that include the clinical information from the subset of infusion pumps;

receive the update data from the server over the second channel of the second network that provides communication outside of the one or more clinical environments, wherein the second channel of the second network is separate from the first channel of the second network to prevent the receiving of the update data from interfering with the transformed messages that include the clinical information from the subset of infusion pumps;

store the update data within the memory of the connectivity adapter as blocks of update data;

receive a request for the update data over the first channel of the first network from one or more infusion pumps of the subset of infusion pumps;

determine a status of the first interface based on latency and size of the outbound message queue; and

stream, based at least in part on the status, the stored blocks of update data to a group of requesting infusion pumps over the second channel of the first network, wherein the second channel of the first network is separate from the first channel of the first network to prevent the streaming of the stored blocks of update data to the group of requesting infusion pumps from interfering with the received messages that include the clinical information from the subset of infusion pumps, wherein the group of requesting infusion pumps comprises a predetermined number of infusion pumps that is less than all of the plurality of infusion pumps, wherein the instructions further configure the connectivity adapter to stream the stored blocks of update data to the group of requesting infusion pumps by streaming a first block of update data to a first subset of the group of requesting infusion pumps and approximately concurrently streaming a second block of update data different from the first block of update data to a second subset of the group of requesting infusion pumps.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the stored blocks of data are stored in cache memory.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the update data is at least one of an operational software update and a drug library update.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the connectivity adapter is further configured to, in response to receiving the request for the update data, open a local URL stream.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the connectivity adapter is further configured to notify the one or more infusion pumps that the update data is available.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the connectivity adapter is further configured to determine the one or more infusion pumps based at least in part on filter information.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the filter information includes at least one of an indication of a specific infusion pump, an indication of a specific version of an infusion pump, or an indication of a specific facility.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein said streaming the stored blocks of update data to the portion of requesting infusion pumps comprises staggering the streaming of blocks of update data to the portion of requesting infusion pumps.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein staggering the streaming of blocks of update data to the portion of requesting infusion pumps comprises streaming blocks of update data in parallel to staggered groups of the portion of requesting infusion pumps.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the one or more infusion pumps are further configured to re-request the update data until the update data is sent, a frequency of re-requests occurring according to an exponential backoff process.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein the one or more infusion pumps are configured to determine whether the memory associated with the respective infusion pump of the one or more infusion pumps includes the update data prior to requesting the update data.

12. A method to provide update data to a plurality of infusion pumps configured to deliver medication according to operational software and one or more drug libraries to one or more patients, each infusion pump of the plurality of infusion pumps located within one or more clinical environments, the method comprising:

receiving, at a server, user input comprising a location of update data, the update data including one or more of updates to infusion pump operational software and updates to one or more drug libraries, the server located outside of one or more clinical environments;

receiving messages at a first interface of a connectivity adapter from a subset of the plurality of infusion pumps over a first channel of a first network, the messages including clinical information, the first network being within at least one of the one or more clinical environments, the first interface configured to communicate messages over the first channel of the first network and communicate data over a second channel of the first network, the connectivity message queue and configured to store at least the update data;

sending transformed messages to the server via a second interface of the connectivity adapter over a first channel of a second network, the second interface for communicating with the server over the second network that is outside of the one or more clinical environments and separate from the first network, the transformed messages based at least in part on the received messages that include the clinical information from the subset of infusion pumps, the second interface configured to communicate messages over the first channel of the second network and communicate data over a second channel of the second network;

receiving, with the connectivity adapter, the update data over the second channel of the second network that provides communication outside of the one or more clinical environments, wherein the second channel of the second network is separate from the first channel of the second network to prevent the receiving of the update data from interfering with the transformed messages that include the clinical information from the subset of infusion pumps;

storing, with the connectivity adapter, the update data within memory of the connectivity adapter as blocks of update data;

receiving, at the connectivity adapter, a request for the update data over the first channel of the first network from one or more infusion pumps of the subset of infusion pumps, the first network being within the one or more clinical environments;

determine a status of the first interface based on latency and size of the outbound message queue; and

staggering, with the connectivity adapter, based at least in part on the status, a streaming of the stored blocks of update data to a group of requesting infusion pumps over a second channel of the first network, wherein the second channel of the first network is separate from the first channel of the first network to prevent the streaming of the stored blocks of update data to the group of requesting infusion pumps from interfering with the received messages that include the clinical information from the subset of infusion pumps, wherein the group of requesting infusion pumps comprises a predetermined number of infusion pumps that is less than all of the subset of infusion pumps.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the stored blocks of data are stored in cache memory.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the update data is at least one of an operational software update and a drug library update.

15. An apparatus to provide update data to a plurality of infusion pumps configured to deliver medication according to operational software and one or more drug libraries to one or more patients, each infusion pump of the plurality of infusion pumps located within one or more clinical environments, the apparatus comprising:

a first interface configured to communicate with the plurality of infusion pumps over a first network that is within at least one of the one or more clinical environments, the first interface configured to communicate messages over a first channel of the first network and communicate data over a second channel of the first network;

a second interface configured to communicate to a server over a second network that is outside of the one or more clinical environments and separate from the first network, the second interface configured to communicate messages over a first channel of the second network and communicate data over a second channel of the second network;

a processor comprising one or more hardware computers; and

a memory having an outbound message queue storing instructions that;

when executed by the processor, configure the apparatus to;

receive messages at the first interface from a subset of the plurality of infusion pumps over the first channel of the first network, the messages including clinical information;

send transformed messages to the server via the second interface over the first channel of the second network, the transformed messages based at least in part on the received messages that include the clinical information from the subset of infusion pumps;

receive the update data from the server over a second channel of the second network that provides communication outside of the one or more clinical environments, the server configured to receive user input comprising a location of the update data, the update data including one or more of updates to infusion pump operational software and updates to one or more drug libraries, wherein the second channel of the second network is separate from the first channel of the second network to prevent the receiving of the update data from interfering with the transformed messages that include the clinical information from the subset of infusion pumps;

store the update data within the memory as blocks of update data;

receive a request for update data over the first channel of the first network from one or more infusion pumps of the subset of infusion pumps;

determine a status of the first interface based on latency and size of the outbound message queue; and

stagger, based at least in part on the status, a streaming of the cached blocks of the update data to a group of requesting infusion pumps over the second channel of the first network, wherein the second channel of the first network is separate from the first channel of the first network to prevent the streaming of the stored blocks of update data to the group of requesting infusion pumps from interfering with the received messages that include the clinical information from the subset of infusion pumps, wherein the group of requesting infusion pumps comprises a predetermined number of infusion pumps that is less than all of the subset of infusion pumps.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the apparatus is further configured to, in response to receiving the request for the update data, open a local URL stream.

17. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the apparatus is further configured to notify the one or more infusion pumps that the update data is available.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the apparatus is further configured to determine the one or more infusion pumps based at least in part on filter information.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the filter information includes at least one of an indication of a specific infusion pump, an indication of a specific version of an infusion pump, or an indication of a specific facility.