Systems and methods for determining a location of a medical device

• US 8,334,768 B2
• Filed: 12/22/2009
• Issued: 12/18/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Shenzhen Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics Co., Ltd. (Excelsior Union Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Mindray DS USA Incorporated (Excelsior Union Ltd.)
• Inventors: Eaton, Scott, Fidacaro, James, Balji, Jack
• Primary Examiner(s): Trieu, Van T.
• Application Number:
  US12/645,327
• Publication Number:
  US 20110148624A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,092 Days
• Field of Search: 340/573.1, 340/573.11, 340/573.12, 340/539.13, 340/572.1, 340/572.8, 340/10.1, 235/375, 235/385, 700/2, 700/216, 705/3, 604/890.1, 455/41.2, 455/41.3
• US Class Current: 340/539.13
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/65 stored on portable record carriers, e.g. on smartcards, RFID tags or CD
• 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: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Medical devices to be located on a network include a unique identifier, which may be transmitted to a server over the network. The network may have a plurality of network connection points. The server may include a location subsystem configured to store a location of each of the plurality of network connection points. The server may also include a device tracking subsystem configured to store a last known device location based on the unique device identifier. The last known location of the medical device may be updated when the medical device is connected to the network based on the location of the one of the plurality of network connection points used to transmit the unique device identifier.

Claims

1. A system for locating a medical device comprising:

a device identification subsystem configured to receive a unique identifier associated with a medical device via one of a plurality of network connection points on a network;

a plurality of docking stations, each of the plurality of docking stations associated with one of the plurality of network connection points, wherein the medical device is configured to be selectively coupled with and selectively decoupled from the plurality of docking stations;

a device tracking subsystem configured to associate the unique identifier with the medical device and to track a last known location of the medical device; and

a location subsystem configured to store a location of each of the plurality of network connection points;

wherein the device tracking subsystem identifies the medical device based on the unique device identifier and updates the last known location of the medical device based on the location stored in the location subsystem of the one of the plurality of network connection points used to transmit the unique device identifier and wherein the location subsystem is configured to associate the location of the medical device with the location of the docking station in which the medical device is docked.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a notification subsystem configured to generate a notification when a specified condition is satisfied.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a calibration subsystem configured to associate the medical device with calibration information and to evaluate a condition using the calibration information to determine that the medical device requires calibration.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the device tracking subsystem is further configured to store at least one attribute of the medical device, the at least one attribute selected from the group consisting of calibration information, owner information, expiration information, diagnostic information, and date last used.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a device querying subsystem configured to query the medical device via the network and to determine that the medical device satisfies a specified criteria.

6. A system for locating a device on a network, the system comprising:

a network having a plurality of network connection points;

a medical device comprising;

a unique device identifier; and

a network interface to transmit the unique device identifier via one of the plurality of network connection points;

a server comprising;

a server network adapter configured to connect to the network;

a location subsystem configured to store a location of each of the plurality of network connection points;

a device tracking subsystem configured to store a last known device location based on the unique device identifier; and

a calibration subsystem configured to associate the medical device with calibration information and to evaluate a condition using the calibration information to determine that the medical device requires calibration;

wherein the device tracking subsystem identifies the medical device based on the unique device identifier and updates the last known device location based on the location of the one of the plurality of network connection points used to transmit the unique device identifier.

7. The system of claim 6, further comprising:

a sensor module comprising a unique sensor module identifier;

wherein the medical device comprises a patient monitor, the patient monitor comprising a sensor module interface configured to connect to the sensor module and to transmit the unique sensor module identifier via the sensor module interface; and

wherein the device tracking subsystem is further configured to store a last known sensor module location and to update the last known sensor module location based on the location of the one of the plurality of network connection points used to transmit the unique sensor module identifier.

8. The system of claim 7, further comprising:

a sensor comprising a unique sensor identifier, the sensor configured to connect to the sensor module and configured to transmit the unique sensor identifier the sensor module; and

wherein the device tracking subsystem is further configured to store a last known sensor location and to update the last known sensor location based on the location of the one of the plurality of network connection points used to transmit the unique sensor identifier.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the medical device comprises a sensor module.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the device tracking subsystem is further configured to store at least one attribute of the medical device, the at least one attribute selected from the group consisting of calibration information, owner information, expiration information, diagnostic information, and date last used.

11. The system of claim 6, wherein the server further comprises a notification subsystem configured to generate a notification when a specified condition is satisfied.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the notification subsystem is further configured to generate a notification that the medical device requires calibration.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the medical device further comprises a diagnostic unit configured to perform a self-diagnostic test and to communicate a result of the self-diagnostic test to the server;

and

wherein the server further comprises;

a diagnostic subsystem configured to evaluate the result of the self-diagnostic test; and

wherein the notification subsystem is further configured to generate a notification based on the result of the self-diagnostic test.

14. The system of claim 6, wherein the unique device identifier comprises a media access control (MAC) address associated with the network interface.

15. The system of claim 6, further comprising:

a radio frequency identification (RFID) transceiver configured to connect to one of the plurality of network connection points; and

wherein the medical device further comprises an RFID tag configured to transmit the unique device identifier upon interrogation by the RFID transceiver.

16. The system of claim 6, further comprising a plurality of docking stations, each of the plurality of docking stations associated with a respective network connection point;

and

wherein the medical device comprises a portable patient monitor configured to be selectively coupled with and selectively decoupled from the plurality of docking stations; and

wherein the location subsystem is configured to associate the location of the portable patient monitor with the location of the docking station in which the patient monitor is docked.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein each of the plurality of docking stations comprises:

a power interface to provide power to the patient monitor while coupled thereto; and

a network interface to provide communication between the patient monitor and the network server.

18. The system of claim 6, wherein the server further comprises a query subsystem configured to query the medical device via the network and to determine that the medical device satisfies a specified criteria.

19. The system of claim 6, wherein the medical device further comprises:

a memory configured to store a set of parameters associated with the medical device and to configure the medical device according to the set of parameters.

20. A method for locating a medical device comprising:

receiving a unique identifier associated with a sensor module at a server via one of a plurality of network connection points on a network;

determining at the server a location of the network connection point of the sensor module using a location subsystem configured to store a location of each of the plurality of network connection points;

updating at the server a last known location of the sensor module based on the location of the one of the plurality of network connection points used to transmit the unique identifier;

transmitting a unique sensor identifier of a sensor to the server via the sensor module, the sensor connected to the sensor module; and

updating a last known sensor location based on the location of the one of the plurality of network connection points used to transmit the unique sensor identifier.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising graphically displaying the last known location of one or more of the sensor module and the sensor.

22. The method of claim 20, further comprising storing at least one attribute of the sensor module selected from the group consisting of calibration information, owner information, expiration, diagnostic information, and date last used.

23. The method of claim 20, further comprising generating a notification when a specified condition is satisfied.

24. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

storing calibration information;

associating the calibration information with the sensor module;

evaluating a condition using the calibration information to determine that the sensor module requires calibration; and

generating a notification that the sensor module requires calibration.

25. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

performing a self-diagnostic test at the sensor module;

communicating a result of the self-diagnostic test to the sever;

evaluating the result of the self-diagnostic test; and

generating a notification based on the result of the self-diagnostic test.

26. The method of claim 20, wherein the unique device identifier comprises a media access control (MAC) address associated with the network interface.

27. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

connecting a radio frequency identification (RFID) transceiver to one of the plurality of network connection points; and

applying an RFID tag to the sensor module, the RFID tag configured to transmit the unique device identifier upon interrogation by the RFID transceiver; and

interrogating the RFID tag using the RFID transceiver.

28. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

receiving a query comprising a specified criteria;

querying the sensor module;

determining that the sensor module satisfies the specified criteria.

29. A computer-readable medium comprising program instructions executable on a computer to cause the computer to perform a method for locating a device on a network, the computer-readable medium comprising:

program instructions for receiving a unique identifier associated with a medical device via one of a plurality of network connection points on a network; and

determining a location of the network connection point of the medical device using a location subsystem configured to store a location of each of the plurality of network connection points; and

updating a last known location of the medical device in a device tracking subsystem based on the location of the one of the plurality of network connection points used to transmit the unique identifier; and

graphically displaying the last known location of the medical device.