Method and system for merging extensible data into a database using globally unique identifiers

• US 8,112,390 B2
• Filed: 12/07/2007
• Issued: 02/07/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Roche Diabetes Care Inc. (Roche Holding AG)
• Original Assignee: Roche Diagnostics Operations Incorporated (Roche Holding AG)
• Inventors: Gejdos, Igor, Beck, Timothy L., Young, Morris J., Mott, David Patrick
• Primary Examiner(s): MORRISON, JAY A
• Application Number:
  US11/999,947
• Publication Number:
  US 20090150377A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,523 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1
• US Class Current: 707/610
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/221 Column-oriented storage; Management thereof

Abstract

A method of merging data from one database into another database uses metadata identifiers to indicate the type of data. One of the databases can be stored on a medical device, and the other of the databases can be stored on a computer. When transferring data from the first database to the second database, the metadata identifiers are used to identify and merge common data types.

Claims

1. A method of transferring a first set of data from a first database to a second database comprising the steps of:

comparing a first identifier assigned to a first set of data stored in a first database to a plurality of second identifiers associated with a second database, the first identifier being assigned to the first set of data when the first set of data is generated and being independent of content of the first set of data, each of the plurality of second identifiers being assigned to a portion of the second database configured to receive sets of data having identical identifiers assigned thereto; and

transferring the first set of data in the first database to the portion of the second database having a second identifier that is identical to the first identifier assigned to the first set of data, the first database being stored on a device, wherein the first set of data is transferred to a portion of the second database which does not have a second identifier assigned thereto when the first identifier differs from the plurality of second identifiers, the first identifier comprising the second identifier assigned to the portion of the second database to which the first set of data is assigned.

2. The method as set forth in claim 1 further comprising the step of configuring a portion of the first database to store the first set of data.

3. The method as set forth in claim 1 further comprising the step of configuring a portion of the second database to store a set of data of the same type as the first set of data in the first database.

4. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the second database is stored on a computer.

5. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the first database is stored on a first computer and the second database is stored on a second computer.

16. The method as set forth in claim 1 further comprising the step of providing an indication that the first identifier assigned to the first set of data does not match any of the plurality of second identifiers associated with the second database.

17. The method of claim 1, further including the steps of:

generating the first set of data, the step of generating performed by a medical device adapted to generate the first set of data from a patient sample and store the first set of data in the first database; and

assigning the first identifier to the first set of data, the first identifier generated and assigned to the first set of data by an application of the medical device.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the content of the first set of data is blood glucose measurement data and the first identifier assigned thereto is assigned to all sets of data having content comprising blood glucose measurement data generated by the medical device.

19. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the first identifier assigned to the first set of data is associated with a medical device adapted to generate subsets of data from a patient sample.

20. The method as set forth in claim 4, wherein the each of the plurality of second identifiers associated with the second database are assigned to the portions of the second database by an application of a healthcare management software executable by the computer and adapted to communicate with a medical device configured to generate the first set of data.

6. A method for combining at least one subset of a first set of data comprising a first database with a set of data comprising a second database, the method comprising the steps of:

assigning a first identifier to each subset of the first set of data comprising the first database, the first identifier being independent of content of the first set of data;

assigning a second identifier to at least one subset of the set of data comprising the second database, the second identifier being independent of content of the set of data comprising the second database, the second database being stored on a computer;

comparing the first identifier assigned to a subset of the first set of data of the first database with the second identifier assigned to the subset of the second database; and

combining the subset of the first set of data of the first database with the subset of the second database if the first identifier is identical to the second identifier, wherein when the first identifier differs from the second identifier, the subset of the first set of data is combined with a subset of the second database which does not have a second identifier, the first identifier comprising the second identifier assigned to the subset of the second database to which the subset of the first set of data is assigned.

7. The method as set forth in claim 6 wherein the first database is stored on a medical device.

8. The method as set forth in claim 6 further comprising the step of associating the first identifier assigned to the first subset of data of the first database with the second identifier assigned to the subset of data of the second database.

9. The method as set forth in claim 6 further comprising the step of naming each subset of data.

10. The method as set forth in claim 6 further comprising the step of adding an additional subset of data to the second database.

11. The method as set forth in claim 10 further comprising the step of generating a first identifier relating to the additional subset of data, the first identifier being generated and assigned to the additional subset of data when the additional subset of data is generated.

12. The method as set forth in claim 11 further comprising the step of comparing the first identifier assigned to the additional subset of data to the second identifiers assigned to the subsets of the second database.

13. The method as set forth in claim 12 further comprising the step of adding the additional subset of data to the second database if the first identifier assigned to the additional subset of data is not identical to any of the second identifiers assigned to the subsets of the second database.

14. The method as set forth in claim 12 further comprising the step of combining the additional subset of data with a subset of data of the second database identified by a second identifier identical to the first identifier associated with the additional subset of data.

15. The method as set forth in claim 6 wherein each first identifier of the first database is compared with each second identifier assigned to the subsets of the second database.

21. The method as set forth in claim 6, wherein the second step of assigning further comprises assigning one of a plurality of second identifiers to each of a plurality of subsets of the second database.

22. The method as set forth in claim 21, wherein the step of comparing comprises comparing the first identifier assigned to a subset of the first set of data of the first database to the plurality of second identifiers assigned to each of the plurality of subsets of the second database.

23. The method as set forth in claim 6, wherein the first identifier assigned to each subset of the first set of data is associated with an individual.

24. The method as set forth in claim 6, wherein the first identifier assigned to each subset of the first set of data is associated with a medical device adapted to generate subsets of data from a patient sample.

25. The method as set forth in claim 24, wherein the second step of assigning a second identifier to the subsets of the set of data comprising the second database is performed by an application of a healthcare management software executable by a computer and adapted to communicate with the medical device configured to generate the first set of data with the first identifier assigned thereto.

26. The method as set forth in claim 6, wherein the subset of the first set of data is blood glucose measurement data and the first identifier assigned thereto is specific for blood glucose measurement data.

27. A method of combining a first set of data in a first database with a subset of a second database, the method comprising the steps of:

generating a first set of data, the step of generating performed by a medical device capable of generating the first set of data from a patient sample;

inputting the first set of data into a first database, the first database being in a memory of the medical device;

assigning a first identifier to the first set of data, the step of assigning performed by an application of the medical device when the first set of data is generated, the first identifier being independent of content of the first set of data;

assigning a second identifier to each of an at least one subset of a second database, the step of assigning performed by software stored in a memory of a computing device and having a plurality of machine readable instructions executable by a processor of the computing device and capable of communicating with the medical device, the second database being in the memory of the computing device, the second identifier assigned to each of the at least one subset being different from the second identifiers assigned to the other subsets of the second database and being independent of the content of the first set of data;

comparing the first identifier to the second identifiers assigned to each of the at least one subset of the second database, the step of comparing performed by the plurality of machine readable instructions of the software; and

combining the first set of data with the subset of the second database having a second identifier assigned thereto that is identical to the first identifier assigned to the first set of data, wherein the first set of data is combined with a subset of the second database which does not have a second identifier assigned thereto when the first identifier differs from the second identifiers of the second database, the first identifier remaining assigned to the first set of data when combined with the subset of the second database and comprising the second identifier assigned to the subset of the second database to which the first set of data is assigned, the step of assigning performed by the plurality of machine readable instructions of the software.

28. The method according to claim 27, wherein the first identifier is derived from an identification code of the medical device.

29. The method according to claim 27, wherein the first set of data is blood glucose measurement data.