Automatic Determination of Location for Ethernet Devices

• US 20110187526A1
• Filed: 02/01/2010
• Published: 08/04/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Welch Allyn Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Welch Allyn Incorporated
• Inventors: Weiner, Herbert S., Moons, Brian T., Petersen, Eric G.
• Granted Patent: US 8,610,562 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/539.13
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 1/08 using electric transmission ; transformation of alarm signals to electrical signals from a different medium, e.g. transmission of an electric alarm signal upon detection of an audible alarm signal
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies

Abstract

A method for automatically locating an Ethernet patient monitor in one or more buildings includes querying, by a computing device of a central monitoring system, a switch using a Media Access Control address of the patient monitor, and receiving a port number to which the patient monitor is connected from the switch. The method also includes consulting a configuration file to determine a location of the patient monitor, and displaying a representation of the location of the patient monitor on a user interface representing at least a portion of the one or more buildings.

Claims

1. A method for automatically locating an Ethernet patient monitor in one or more buildings, the method comprising:

querying, by a computing device of a central monitoring system, a switch using a Media Access Control address of the patient monitor;

receiving a port number to which the patient monitor is connected from the switch;

consulting a configuration file to determine a location of the patient monitor; and

displaying a representation of the location of the patient monitor on a user interface representing at least a portion of the one or more buildings.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a rendezvous request from the patient monitoring device; and

consulting the configuration file to determine whether or not the switch is handled by the central monitoring system.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising establishing communication with the patient monitor.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising consulting the configuration file to determine whether or not the port is handled by the central monitoring system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein consulting the configuration file further comprises using coordinates in the configuration file to represent the location of the patient monitor on the user interface.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein querying the switch further comprises sending a Simple Network Management Protocol Management Information Base query using the Media Access Control address of the patient monitor.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising consulting the configuration file to identify coordinates for a route from the central monitoring system to the location of the patient monitor.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising altering a state of the representation of the location of the patient monitor on the user interface based on the status of the patient monitor.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising periodically querying the switch to identify any ports of the switch having a new patient monitor with a new Media Access Control address associated therewith.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising identifying the new patient monitor based upon the new Media Access Control address returned by the switch.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

consulting the configuration file to determine a second location of the new patient monitor; and

displaying a second representation of the second location of the new patient monitor on the user interface.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising periodically querying the switch to identify when the patient monitor is disconnected from a port associated with the port number of the switch.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising updating the representation of the patient monitor on the user interface to indicate disconnection of the patient monitor.

14. A method for automatically locating an Ethernet patient monitor in one or more buildings, the method comprising:

receiving, by a computing device of a central monitoring system, a rendezvous request from a patient monitoring device;

consulting a configuration file to determine whether or not a switch is handled by the central monitoring system;

querying the switch by sending a Simple Network Management Protocol Management Information Base query using a Media Access Control address of the patient monitor received in the rendezvous request;

receiving a port number to which the patient monitor is connected from the switch;

consulting the configuration file to determine whether or not the port is handled by the central monitoring system;

establishing communication with the patient monitor;

consulting a configuration file to determine a location of the patient monitor using coordinates in the configuration file;

displaying a representation of the location of the patient monitor on a user interface representing at least a portion of the one or more buildings; and

altering a state of the representation of the location of the patient monitor on the user interface based on the status of the patient monitor.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising consulting the configuration file to identify coordinates for a route from the central monitoring system to the location of the patient monitor.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising periodically querying the switch to identify any ports of the switch having a new patient monitor with a new Media Access Control address associated therewith.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising identifying the new patient monitor based upon the new Media Access Control address returned by the switch.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

consulting the configuration file to determine a second location of the new patient monitor; and

displaying a second representation of the second location of the new patient monitor on the user interface.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

periodically querying the switch to identify when the patient monitor is disconnected from a port associated with the port number of the switch; and

updating the representation of the patient monitor on the user interface to indicate disconnection of the patient monitor.

20. A patient monitoring system, comprising:

a patient monitor configured to measure one or more physiological characteristics of a patient, the patient monitor being connected to an Ethernet jack;

a switch including at least one port, the Ethernet jack being connected to the port; and

a central monitoring system including;

a processor; and

a memory encoding instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

query the switch using a Media Access Control address of the patient monitor;

receive a port number to which the patient monitor is connected from the switch;

consult a configuration file to determine a location of the patient monitor; and

display a representation of the location of the patient monitor on a user interface representing at least a portion of one or more buildings.