Enhanced interface for a medical device and a terminal

[0001] The present invention relates generally to systems for communicating medical information and more particularly, to systems and methods for communicating configuration data and patient data between medical devices and a terminal.

[0002] In the past, most medical devices operated as stand-alone devices that would either record physiological information from the patient or be operated to supply some therapy or treatment to the patient. FIG. 1 shows a medical system 100 that is limited to monitoring a patient's vital signs and recording physiological information from the patient. The system 100 uses an electrocardiogram acquisition module 102 to acquire electrocardiogram data of a patient 101 and forward such data to a PalmPilot 104. The PalmPilot 104 can be controlled to start or stop the recording of the electrocardiogram data. Other information, such as name and age of a patient, can also be recorded along with the electrocardiogram data associated with the patient 101. While recording, the PalmPilot 104 displays the electrocardiogram data as waveforms in real time. The user can change the gain or the zoom to see more details of the waveforms. For proper communications between the electrocardiogram acquisition module 102 and the PalmPilot 104, the PalmPilot 104 must be compatible with the software version installed on the electrocardiogram acquisition module 102.

[0003] Other medical devices have advanced to the point where they not only can monitor a patient but they can also apply a therapy to the patient to treat various ailments. These medical devices can be tailored to a particular patient by modifying the parameters relating to a particular medical protocol used to treat the patient. For example, if a patient is in defibrillation, the medical protocol may require a sequence of shocks to be applied to the patient. The energy level of each shock can be modified. Or, the sequencing of a medical protocol can be modified so that the device automatically executes each step in the medical protocol without further human intervention.

[0004] To vary or program the parameters of the medical device, the parameters can be retrieved from the medical device. To do that, a terminal is needed to communicate with the medical device because most medical devices do not have a user interface. However, the communication between the terminal and the medical device may be impossible unless the terminal is compatible with the version of software installed on the medical device. The problem is that as different generations of devices and terminals are distributed into the marketplace, it can be exceedingly difficult to obtain a compatible terminal to communicate with the device having a particular version of software. The medical system 100 illustrates such a problem in that if the electrocardiogram acquisition module 102 were to be distributed with a version of software not known to the PalmPilot 104, the PalmPilot 104 may not be able to obtain any physiological information or be able to control the electrocardiogram acquisition module 102.

[0005] Furthermore, the current trend among designers of medical equipment is to integrate such equipment into an overall system whereby the equipment can be programmed by an operator in a manner that is specific to a particular patient's needs as well as to have the equipment operate in conjunction with other pieces of the system. In order to facilitate such a system integration, it is necessary to provide a common protocol that can be used to either read data from or write data to a particular medical device. Because many devices have different versions of operating software, it is desirable that communications to these devices operate in a predictable manner regardless of the version of operating software on each device.

[0006] Another prior art solution is shown in FIG. 2 where a medical system 200 includes a treatment device 202 that is engineered with all the rules, parameters, and user interface features necessary for the treatment device 202 to communicate with a number of terminals 204-208. In other words, the treatment device 202 contains all of the intelligence necessary to treat a patient as well as the ability to present a user interface to configure the treatment device 202. When one of the terminals 204-208 has successfully connected to the treatment device 202, the treatment device 202 presents a user interface, which is displayed on one of the terminals 204-208, so that a user may control the treatment device 202 or read data from it. To ensure compatibility with multiple generations of terminals 204-208, however, the medical device 202 must be constantly updated and marketed at a price that is prohibitively expensive for many customers.

[0007] To facilitate communication between one or more medical devices and a terminal, the present invention is a communication protocol executed between a medical device and a software agent. The medical device includes a directory of objects that can be accessed by the software agent. Each object includes executing code that can write data to or retrieve data from the medical device irrespective of the version of software installed on the medical device. Each object has a well-known or predefined name so that any software agent may access the well-known name of the object and invoke the executing code of the object.

[0008] In one embodiment of the invention, the medical device, such as a defibrillator, can export patient data or configuration data (operating parameters) to the software agent and can have its operating parameters programmed by the software agent.

[0009] In one embodiment of the invention, the software agent operates on a computing device, such as a personal digital assistant, which communicates with the medical device through a wired or wireless communication link.

[0010] The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will become more readily appreciated as the same become better understood by reference to the following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

[0011] FIG. 1 is a pictorial diagram illustrating the acquisition of the electrocardiogram data from a patient and the transmission of such data to a PalmPilot according to the prior art.

[0012] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating communications between a defibrillator and a number of terminals according to the prior art.

[0013] FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating communication relationships among a number of medical devices, a number of software agents, a number of output devices, and a number of data management systems according to one embodiment of the invention.

[0014] FIG. 4 is a pictorial diagram illustrating a communication relationship between a medical device and a personal digital assistant according to one embodiment of the invention.

[0015] FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating internal control/data flow as well as an interface between a medical device and a software agent according to one embodiment of the invention.

[0016] FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating two packages of communication software that are selectable by a session manager according to one embodiment of the invention.

[0017] FIG. 7 illustrates in greater detail the interface between a medical device and a software agent according to one embodiment of the invention.

[0018] FIG. 8 is a process diagram illustrating a software flow to establish communication between a software agent and a medical device according to one embodiment of the invention.

[0019] FIG. 9 is a process diagram illustrating a software flow to ready a software agent for communication according to one embodiment of the invention.

[0020] FIG. 10 is a process diagram illustrating a software flow to ready a medical device for communication according to one embodiment of the invention.

[0021] FIG. 3 illustrates one embodiment of a communication system 300 that includes a medical device 302 communicatively coupled to a software agent 304. The medical device 302 is any therapeutic and/or monitoring device, such as a defibrillator, pacer, IV drip pump, etc., that is capable of delivering a therapy to treat a patient or reading patient data such as ECG, blood pressure, etc. The software agent 304 is a software program that can reside in any computer device, such as a personal computer, a personal digital assistant, or other computing device that can execute software instruction to run the software agent 304. The software agent 304 contains instructions to implement a user interface that allows a user to retrieve medical information from the medical device 302 or to configure the medical device 302.

[0022] The medical device 302 contains one portion of an interface (described in detail below), and the software agent 304 contains the other portion of the interface. These portions of the interface allow the software agent 304 to communicate to the medical device 302 in a predictable manner regardless of the version of software that is installed on the medical device 302. In this way, communication compatibility between a software agent from one generation and a medical device from another generation is possible. In the example shown in FIG. 3, a software agent 304 communicates with a medical device 302 as well as a medical device 306. With the present invention, communication can take place with both devices even if the medical device 302 is from a different generation than the medical device 306.

[0023] One advantage of the ability to communicate with both the medical device 302 and the medical device 306 is best illustrated by an example. Suppose a patient had been successfully treated by the medical device 302 so that the medical device 302 contains medical information regarding the successful treatment that was applied to the patient. At a later point in time, the patient is in need of the same treatment again, but the medical device 302 is at a location that is geographically remote from the patient. The software agent 304 may locate the medical device 302, retrieve the medical information regarding the patient from the medical device 302, such as via a wireless communication link, and configure the medical device 306 so that the medical device 306 may apply the treatment that was successfully applied to the patient by the medical device 302. In this way, medical personnel may reuse a treatment from the medical history of a patient by retrieving medical information from any medical devices that may have treated the patient.

[0024] The software agent 304 can also interact with other devices and systems. One example is an output device 308, which includes any devices that can output medical information understandable to a human user, transmit the medical information, or process the medical information. Such output devices 308 can include but are not limited to a printer, a waveform display, a video recorder, a debugging machine, a data card, a cellular phone, a therapeutic device trainer, a modem, an electrocardiogram monitor, a personal computer, an alarm system, a voice storage system, and a personal digital assistant. Another example of a device that can communicate to the software agent 304 is a data management system 310. The data management system 310 is capable of storing, allowing access to, and analyzing the medical information that is obtained by the software agent 304. A further example is a battery that can communicate with the software agent 304 regarding its present capacity so as to alert a user to recharge the battery. An additional example is a service test system or a manufacturing test system that can be controlled by the software agent 304 to calibrate or to obtain a service history of a medical device. As yet another example is another medical device that the software agent 304 may send data for storage.

[0025] Besides being capable of interacting with other devices and systems, the software agent 304 can interact with other software agents, such as a software agent 312. The software agent 304 may share with the software agent 312 the medical information obtained from either the medical device 302 or the medical device 306. The software agent 312 may share this medical information with other devices and systems, such as a medical device 314, an output device 316, or a data management system 318.

[0026] Each software agent connects a medical device to a diverse group of devices and systems and thereby enhances the functionality of the medical device. Because each software agent can communicate with other software agents, a large network may be formed. The communication medium by which each software agent communicates can be any communication network, such as a wired local area network or a wireless local area network.

[0027] In FIG. 4, a system 400 for communicating medical information includes a defibrillator 402, as an example of a medical device, and a personal digital assistant 404, as an example of a terminal or a computing device that can execute the software agent for communicating with the medical device. The defibrillator 402 contains a piece of communication software, and the software agent, which may reside in the personal digital assistant 404 or in another defibrillator (not shown), contains the other piece of the communication software that allows both to communicate through a communication medium 406. The communication medium 406 can be chosen from wired communication protocols or wireless communication protocols.

[0028] The defibrillator 402 also includes hardware (not shown) to apply a therapy to a patient according to a set of therapeutic rules. A number of data storage devices (described in further detail below) may be housed in the defibrillator 402 for storing medical information, such as patient data and configuration data. A common interface (also described below) exists in the defibrillator 402 for exporting either the patient data or the configuration data to a device that is external to the defibrillator 402.

[0029] The personal digital assistant 404 also includes a number of data storage devices (described below) for storing medical information, such as patient and configuration data obtained from the defibrillator 402, and for storing a set of presentation tools. These presentation tools can be used to invoke a user interface to allow a user to interact with the defibrillator 402. The software agent in the personal digital assistant 404 also provides an interface for importing medical information stored in the defibrillator 402. Via the interface, the software agent allows the user to configure the defibrillator 402 irrespective of the version of software installed on the defibrillator 402.

[0030] FIG. 5 shows these pieces of communications software, as well as other pieces of software in the defibrillator 402, and the software agent, which resides in the personal digital assistant 404. The software 501 running on the defibrillator 402 includes a device interface 502, which exposes certain medical information that can be exported from the defibrillator 402. The term expose means making the medical information available in a way that can be accessed by any generation of the software agent. One way to achieve this is to provide a set of application programming interfaces, which provide invocation mechanisms that any software agent may rely on to execute and access the medical information. Another way to achieve this is to provide a number of objects having well-known names (or predefined names) whereby any software agent may use the well-known name of an object to execute the object to retrieve medical information, write medical information, or both.

[0031] Examples of medical information include patient data, which is stored in a datastore 506, and configuration data, which is stored in a datastore 508. Both the patient data and configuration data may be modified to affect a therapy that may be applied to a patient by a set of therapeutic rules 510. A device session manager 504 executes the piece of communications software associated with the defibrillator 402 and coordinates the device interface 502, patient data in the datastore 506, and configuration data in the datastore 508.

[0032] The software agent running on the personal digital assistant 404 includes an agent session manager 514 for executing the communications software associated with the software agent and coordinating various pieces of software of the software agent. An agent interface 512 allows the software agent to import medical information, which is external to the software agent, such as patient data and configuration data. After the medical information is imported into the software agent, the medical information may be stored in a datastore 518 (if patient data) or in a datastore 520 (if configuration data). One or more presentation tools 522 may be invoked by a set of agent rules 516 when the medical information is imported so that a user interface may be displayed to show the medical information to a user. The user may operate the user interface to query for more information from the defibrillator 402 or to configure the defibrillator 402. The term configure includes modifying the configuration and/or patient data, causing any functions of the medical device to be performed, or emulating a front panel that can control the medical device.

[0033] The software agent can retrieve medical information in the datastore 506 and the datastore 508 or configure the defibrillator 402 via the device interface 502 and the agent interface 512 irrespective of the version of the software or the medical device or irrespective of the therapeutic rules 510 or the version of the therapeutic rules 510. In this way, any terminal or computing device that executes the software agent, such as the personal digital assistant 404, can communicate with any medical device, such as the defibrillator 402.

[0034] A session manager 602 as shown in FIG. 6 represents either the device session manager 504 or the agent session manager 514. The session manager 602 operates in a general manner to get data from a certain location or to put data at a certain location.

[0035] At least two types of communication protocols are supported: the wired communication protocols 608 or wireless communication protocols 610. Each set of communication protocols includes a translator layer 604 that hides the implementation of a selected set of communication protocols so as to provide data that is understandable to the session manager 602 without regard to the selected set of communication protocols. Below the translator layer 604 are the communication protocols that make up the two sets of protocols.

[0036] A number of communication protocols can be selected. For example, the wireless communication protocols include the Object Exchange (OBEX) protocol, Infrared Data Association (IrDA) protocols, and Bluetooth protocols. The wired communication protocols include File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), Internet Protocol (IP), Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) protocol, RS-232-C protocol, HyperLAN, and IEEE 802.x protocols. The OBEX protocol or the FTP protocol accesses data that is organized in a directory so that a layer that contains these protocols is also known as a directory layer 606.

[0037] As shown in FIG. 7, medical information on the defibrillator 402, which is accessible by the software agent residing on the personal digital assistant 404, is exposed by the device session manager 504 as a number of objects in a directory 704. Objects 706-714 are organized as an inbox, an outbox, device data, patient data, and a root directory. An object can contain other objects, such as object 708, and in such a case, the object being contained is considered a subdirectory. There can be one or more subdirectories in the directory 704.

[0038] Each object in the directory can be a constructor object, an activator object, or both. A constructor object can be controlled to query the defibrillator for medical information whereas an activator object can be controlled to configure the defibrillator 402. Those objects that are to be exposed have predefined names (or well-known names in the idioms of software engineering) so that the software agent may use these well-known names to invoke the objects in the directory 704 via the device interface 502. These well-known names may be composed of any combination of letters, numbers, or symbols so long as each combination is unique to invoke an object in the directory 704.

[0039] When an object is exported from the directory 704 via the device interface 502, the object is imported into the software agent via the agent interface 512 as an element 716, which is structured in a language that contains the data of the object and that describes the data of the object. In other words, the exported object appears as an arrangement of data that is understood by the software agent, thereby allowing ease of data processing. The language to structure the data may use a number of textual tags to describe the data of the object. An example language includes Extensible Markup Language (XML), and in such a case, the element 716 is an XML element.

[0040] Upon receiving the element 716, the agent session manager 514 interacts with the set of agent rules 516 to invoke a presentation tool from a set of presentation tools 522. For example, the element 716 may invoke a presentation tool 702 so that a user interface may display the data of the element 716 on the personal digital assistant 404. A number of presentation tools may be used, such as stringed functions, pick values, pick lists, check lists, radio buttons, and pull down menus. Each presentation tool analyzes the element 716 for displaying by parsing out the attributes of the element 716, such as label, field, and parameter name. For example, the element 716 may represent a shock waveform that has four valid levels of energy; a presentation tool may represent the element 716 as four radio buttons with each radio button displaying a valid level of energy.

[0041] The communication between the defibrillator 402 and the software agent that resides on the personal digital assistant 404 can be further clarified by referring to a process 800 shown in FIG. 8. The communication begins when either the software agent starts the communications process as shown in a block 802 or the defibrillator 402 starts the communications process as shown in block 804. FIG. 9 illustrates in greater detail the process by which the software agent starts its communications software, and FIG. 10 illustrates in greater detail the process by which the defibrillator 402 starts its communications software.

[0042] Regardless of whether the software agent or the defibrillator initiates the communication, the process 800 proceeds to a decision block 808 where a determination is made as to whether the software agent wants to retrieve data from the defibrillator 402. If so, processing proceeds to a block 810 where a desired constructor object from the directory in the defibrillator 402 is invoked by the software agent to query and retrieve the desired medical information in the defibrillator 402. Next, at block 812, the software agent invokes a presentation tool to display the returned medical information in the form of an element, such as the element 716. When the processing at block 812 is finished, the process 800 enters node A and loops back to the decision block 808 again.

[0043] If the software agent does not want to retrieve the medical information from the defibrillator 402, the decision block 808 branches to a decision block 814, which determines whether the software agent wants to configure the defibrillator 402. If the answer to the decision block 814 is NO, the process 800 enters the node A and loops back to the decision block 808. If the answer at decision block 814 is YES, processing proceeds to block 816, where the software agent invokes a presentation tool to allow a user to change data. Next, at a block 818, the software agent invokes a desired activator object from a number of activator objects in the defibrillator 402 to change medical information in the defibrillator 402, and thereby configure the defibrillator 402. After the completion of processing in the block 818, processing proceeds to enter the node A, which leads back to the decision block 808 again.

[0044] As discussed above, for proper communication, the software agent may start its communications software as shown in FIG. 9. A process 900 begins by having the software agent set up its communication software at block 902. This may include selecting a desired set of communication protocols and setting up other communication parameters. Because the process of setting up a piece of communication software is considered to be well known, it need not be further discussed.

[0045] Once the software agent has successfully set up its communications software, the software agent attempts to read the directory of objects on the defibrillator 402 at a block 904 so as to verify that the software agent is communicatively coupled to the defibrillator 402. After attempting to read the directory, processing proceeds to a decision block 906 to determine whether the directory is available. If the software agent cannot read the directory, the software agent loops back to block 904 to attempt another try at reading the directory. Once the directory can be read by the software agent, processing returns to the block 804 in FIG. 8.

[0046] FIG. 10 shows a process 1000 that illustrates one method for starting the communications software of the defibrillator 402. Block 1002 is the beginning of the process 1000 where the defibrillator 402 sets up its communications software. The process of setting up includes selecting either wired or wireless communication protocols as well as setting up other communication parameters. The details of selecting and initiating a communications protocol are well known to those of ordinary skill in the art and therefore are not discussed in further detail.

[0047] After the communications software is set up, the defibrillator 402 exposes the directory of objects at block 1004. Each exposed object has a well-known name that the software agent can use to invoke the functionality of the exposed object. An exposed constructor object can be used to query the defibrillator 402 for medical information, and the exposed activator object can be used to change one or more parameters and thereby alter the operation of the defibrillator 402. If an exposed object is a constructor object as well as an activator object, then this exposed object can be used to query and configure the defibrillator 402.

[0048] Next, the process 1000 waits until the software agent communicates with the defibrillator 402 as represented by a decision block 1006. If the software agent has not communicated with the defibrillator, the answer to the decision block 1006 is NO, and the process 1000 loops back to the decision block 1006 again to wait until the software agent has communicated with the defibrillator. Once the answer to decision block 1006 is YES, the processing proceeds to a decision block 1008 where it is determined whether the software agent is invoking a constructor object. If the answer to the decision block 1008 is YES, the defibrillator 402 gets the desired medical information from the datastore. For example, if the desired medical information is patient data, the defibrillator 402 gets the patient data from the datastore 506. After the desired medical information is obtained, the defibrillator 402 exports the medical information to the software agent as an element, such as element 716, at a block 1018. Processing then proceeds from the block 1018 to enter a node B and loops back to the decision block 1006 again.

[0049] If the answer to the decision 1008 is NO, the process 1000 determines whether the software agent is invoking an activator object at a block 1012. If the software agent is indeed invoking an activator object, the program execution proceeds to a block 1014 where the defibrillator 402 sets a desired parameter in the datastore to a certain value. Afterwards, the process 1000 proceeds to enter the node B from the block 1014 and loops back to the decision block 1006 again.

[0050] The process 1000 enters a block 1016 if the answer to the decision block 1012 is NO. In this case, the defibrillator 402 has detected an error because it cannot understand the communication from the software agent. The defibrillator 402 will then export the error to the software agent as an element so that the software agent can further analyze the error.

[0051] The foregoing discussion uses the defibrillator 402 as an example of a medical device, but such a use is not meant to be limiting because the medical device can be any device that is capable of applying a therapy to a patient (a therapeutic device) or monitoring a patient parameter such as ECG, heart rate, blood pressure, etc. (a monitoring device). Also, the personal digital assistant 404 is used as an example of a computing device that may execute the software agent, but any computing device that can execute the software agent is within the scope of the present invention. Finally, although the process steps described above and shown in FIGS. 8-10 are shown in a particular sequence, it would be apparent to those skilled in the art that such steps could be performed in a different order and still achieve the functionality described.

[0052] While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, it will be appreciated that various changes can be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention. It is therefore intended that the scope of the invention be determined from the following claims and equivalents thereto.