Medical diagnostic field service method and apparatus

• US 6,377,162 B1
• Filed: 11/25/1998
• Issued: 04/23/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company, PTC Inc.
• Original Assignee: GE Medical Systems Global Technology Company LLC (GE Healthcare Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Tzortzos, George, Delestienne, Duane Allan, Sharma, Sanjeev, Mehring, David Thomas, Koritzinsky, Ianne Mae Howards
• Primary Examiner(s): Lateef, Marvin M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): SHAW, SHAWNA JEANNINE
• Application Number:
  US09/199,636
• Time in Patent Office: 1,245 Days
• Field of Search: 600/407, 600/410, 600/437, 128/920, 128/903, 128/904, 364/224.5, 364/224.6, 364/275.7, 364/920.7, 364/922, 364/922--92, 378/4, 700/108, 340/286.07
• US Class Current: 340/286.07
• 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 field service unit is disclosed for providing interactive field service of medical diagnostic systems. The field service unit includes a service platform installed on a portable system, such as a portable computer. The field service unit is adapted to formulate service requests, transmit and receive service data, and render field service to a variety of medical diagnostic system modalities. The field service unit includes communications modules for linking the field service unit to a remote service facility and to subscribing medical diagnostic systems. Service requests may originate in the field service unit, or in the remote service facility, or in the medical diagnostic system, with the field service unit being informed of the state of service requests via a network link.

Claims

1. A remote field service system for communicating field service data to and from medical diagnostic systems and a remote service facility, the system comprising:

a medical diagnostic system for generating medical diagnostic images;

a remote service facility linked to the medical diagnostic system via a network connection for transmitting and receiving service data with the medical diagnostic system; and

a field service unit linked to the remote service facility via a network connection for transmitting and receiving at least a portion of the service data;

wherein the field service unit and at least one of the medical diagnostic system and the remote service facility include a user interface for viewing data representative of an operational state of the medical diagnostic system stored at the medical diagnostic system.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the field service unit includes a user interface configured to formulate a service request and transmit the service request to the remote service facility.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the field service unit is linked to the medical diagnostic system through the remote service facility.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the medical diagnostic system is configured to generate service requests and to transmit the service requests to the remote service facility.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the remote service facility is configured to generate electronic messages in response to service requests from the medical diagnostic system and to transmit the electronic messages to the field service unit.

6. The system of claim 1, comprising a plurality of medical diagnostic systems linked to the remote service facility via network connections, and wherein the field service unit is configured to receive service data indicative of an operative state of the plurality of medical diagnostic systems via the remote service facility.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the plurality of medical diagnostic systems includes medical diagnostic systems of at least two different modalities.

8. A remote field service unit for servicing a medical diagnostic system, the field service unit comprising:

a service platform for storing service data for the medical diagnostic system, wherein the service data includes service history information from the medical diagnostic system or from a remote service facility;

an interactive service interface coupled to the service platform for transmitting and receiving the service data and displaying indicia representative of the service data, the service interface including a plurality of user viewable pages for displaying the indicia; and

communications circuitry coupled to the service platform for transmitting the service data via a network link and for receiving via the network link.

9. The remote field service unit of claim 8, wherein at least one of the user viewable pages is adapted to a specific imaging modality of the medical diagnostic system.

10. The remote field service unit of claim 9, wherein the interactive service interface includes a plurality of user viewable pages adapted to at least two different imaging modalities of at least two medical diagnostic systems.

11. The remote field service unit of claim 8, wherein the service platform includes an access module for storing and transmitting access control data for permitting access of the field service unit to the remote service facility.

12. The remote service unit of claim 8, wherein the service platform, the service interface and the communications circuitry are provided on a portable computer.

13. A method for providing remote service to a medical diagnostic system, the method comprising the steps of:

accessing operational data from the medical diagnostic system via a remote field service unit;

transmitting the operational data to the remote field service unit via a network link;

processing the operational data to generate a report of operational data for the medical diagnostic system; and

viewing at least a portion of the report at a remote service facility or the remote field service unit.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the remote field service unit is configured to service a plurality of medical diagnostic system modalities, and the service request is unique to a desired medical diagnostic system modality.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of processing the service data includes steps of linking the remote service facility to the medical diagnostic system and transmitting data from the medical diagnostic system to the remote service facility.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of processing the service data includes the step of linking the remote field service unit to the medical diagnostic system.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the remote field service unit is linked to the medical diagnostic system via the remote service facility.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein an acknowledgment message is transmitted by the service facility to the remote field service unit in response to the requests for the operational data from the field service unit.

19. A method for providing remote service to medical diagnostic systems, the method comprising the steps of:

generating service data at a medical diagnostic system or at a field service unit;

transmitting the service data to a remote service facility via a network link;

processing the service data by the remote service facility; and

storing the service data in a service file in the remote service facility.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the field service unit is remote from the medical diagnostic system.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the service data includes data uniquely identifying the medical diagnostic system.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the remote service facility is configured to receive service data from medical diagnostic systems of at least two different modalities, and wherein the service data uniquely identify the modality of the medical diagnostic system generating the service data.

23. The method of claim 19, comprising the further step of linking the field service unit to the medical diagnostic system.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the field service unit is linked to the medical diagnostic system via the remote service facility.

25. The method of claim 23, comprising the further steps of transmitting service data from the medical diagnostic system to the field service unit and evaluating the service data at the field service unit.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein the service data includes data representative of configuration or operational log parameters of the medical diagnostic system.