Device and a method for the automatic control and administration of medical apparatus and installations

• US 6,581,117 B1
• Filed: 02/02/2000
• Issued: 06/17/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 02/02/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Richard Wolf GmbH (Richard & Annemarie Wolf- Stiftung)
• Original Assignee: Richard Wolf GmbH (Richard & Annemarie Wolf- Stiftung)
• Inventors: Burger, Martin, Klein, Wolfgang, Belikan, Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Ray, Gopal C.
• Application Number:
  US09/496,300
• Time in Patent Office: 1,231 Days
• Field of Search: 710/100, 710/300, 710/305, 710/110, 710/104, 710/105, 600/109, 600/118, 600/110, 600/132, 600/103, 600/117, 600/101, 600/46, 348/65, 396/374, 700/90, 714/43, 714/4, 714/56, 714/48, 714/15, 714/5, 709/222, 709/227, 709/208, 709/251, 709/252, 606/1, 606/13, 606/14, 604/890.1, 713/100
• US Class Current: 710/110
• 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

Abstract

The automatic control and administration of program-controlled endoscopic apparatuses allocated to an operation within an operating theater belonging to a clinic region and connected amongst one another by way of a CAN-bus using the standardized layer-seven CANopen protocol for communication among one another and a master computer, is modified so that with the same CAN-bus, a double ring structure, a ring-star structure and a ring-ring structure may be logically formed, permitting peer-to-peer communication of the apparatuses, with which the apparatuses have equality of access to each other and the master computer. The apparatuses, connected to one another via the CAN-bus, of all operating theaters of a clinic communicate with and are centrally controlled by the master computer. All apparatuses are capable of informing the master computer of the occurring process data or parameters. System operation is possible at the master computer as well as at the apparatuses themselves.

Claims

1. A method for automatically controlling and administering one or more program-controlled endoscopic apparatuses, within one or more operating theaters belonging to a clinic region, the method comprising:

(a) connecting the apparatuses among one another and to a higher order master computer using a CAN-bus having a CANopen structure, the CAN-bus enabling equal access communication between each of the apparatuses and the master computer;

(b) providing software interfaces in the apparatuses and the master computer connected to the CAN-bus, the interfaces defining CANopen control, administration, communication and error protocols for each of the apparatuses and the master computer;

(c) generating macros describing a system configuration, the macros adhering to the protocols defined in step (b);

(d) setting process parameters for at least one of the apparatuses by transmitting at least one of the macros to at least one of the apparatuses;

(e) reporting the process parameters and error conditions of at least one of the apparatuses to the master computer;

(f) recording data content of the at least one the macros transmitted in step (d) and of the process parameters reported to the master computer in step (e); and

(g) repeating steps (c)-(f) for each setting change of at least one of the apparatuses.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the process parameters for multiple apparatuses are set in a single operation step.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein step (e) includes transmitting process data and process parameters regarding service and maintenance of the apparatuses connected to the CAN-bus to the master computer.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein during steps (d)-(f), the master computer assigns time markers to the communication on the CAN-bus and records the communication with the time markers in a documentation file.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein a user selects data filters for determining which communication is recorded in the documentation file, the data filters selected from a group including complete bus communication, individual operating theater data, individual apparatus data, system or apparatus operations, selected process parameters or process data and error treatment.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(h) transmitting process data regarding an error to the master computer, wherein using a decision matrix the master computer determines if the error is alleviated immediately or whether a supporting measure by the user is necessary, and

(i) displaying a decision result on a display unit of the master computer or one of the apparatuses prior to alleviating the error.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein upon replacement of a defective apparatus, the master computer configures a replacement apparatus identical to the defective apparatus according to the setting of the defective apparatus at the time of breakdown.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(i) monitoring the master computer with a replacement computer, wherein the replacement computer co-protocols the communication on the CAN-bus and maintains functionality of the CAN-bus upon breakdown or error of the master computer.

9. A device for carrying out the method of claim 1, wherein each of the apparatuses and the master computer comprise a CAN-bus interface, and the communication protocol of the CANopen structure allows configuration of multiple communication structures.

10. The device according to claim 9, wherein using the opened CANopen structure communication object identifications of the apparatuses establish a logical double ring bus structure.

11. The device according to claim 9, wherein using the opened CANopen structure communication object identifications of the apparatuses establish a logical ring-star bus structure.

12. The device according to claim 9, wherein using the opened CANopen structure communication object identifications of the apparatuses establish a logical ring-ring bus structure.

13. The device according to claim 9, wherein using the CANopen structure nodes of individual rings are logically connected to form a common ring.