US20070135866A1 - Medical device wireless adapter - Google Patents

Medical device wireless adapter Download PDF

Info

Publication number
US20070135866A1
US20070135866A1 US11/610,952 US61095206A US2007135866A1 US 20070135866 A1 US20070135866 A1 US 20070135866A1 US 61095206 A US61095206 A US 61095206A US 2007135866 A1 US2007135866 A1 US 2007135866A1
Authority
US
United States
Prior art keywords
adapter
network
host
mdwa
host device
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Abandoned
Application number
US11/610,952
Inventor
Steven Baker
Eric Petersen
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Welch Allyn Inc
Original Assignee
Welch Allyn Inc
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Welch Allyn Inc filed Critical Welch Allyn Inc
Priority to CA002632648A priority Critical patent/CA2632648A1/en
Priority to AU2006325783A priority patent/AU2006325783B2/en
Priority to PCT/US2006/062109 priority patent/WO2007070855A2/en
Priority to US11/610,952 priority patent/US20070135866A1/en
Priority to EP06840266A priority patent/EP1968691A4/en
Assigned to WELCH ALLYN INC. reassignment WELCH ALLYN INC. ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: BAKER, STEVEN D., PETERSEN, ERIC G.
Publication of US20070135866A1 publication Critical patent/US20070135866A1/en
Assigned to JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT reassignment JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT SECURITY INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: ALLEN MEDICAL SYSTEMS, INC., ASPEN SURGICAL PRODUCTS, INC., HILL-ROM SERVICES, INC., WELCH ALLYN, INC.
Priority to US14/954,023 priority patent/US10893037B2/en
Assigned to Voalte, Inc., MORTARA INSTRUMENT SERVICES, INC., WELCH ALLYN, INC., MORTARA INSTRUMENT, INC., ALLEN MEDICAL SYSTEMS, INC., HILL-ROM COMPANY, INC., HILL-ROM, INC., HILL-ROM SERVICES, INC., ANODYNE MEDICAL DEVICE, INC. reassignment Voalte, Inc. RELEASE BY SECURED PARTY (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A.
Abandoned legal-status Critical Current

Links

Images

Classifications

    • GPHYSICS
    • G16INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR SPECIFIC APPLICATION FIELDS
    • G16HHEALTHCARE INFORMATICS, i.e. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE HANDLING OR PROCESSING OF MEDICAL OR HEALTHCARE DATA
    • G16H40/00ICT specially adapted for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities; ICT specially adapted for the management or operation of medical equipment or devices
    • G16H40/60ICT specially adapted for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities; ICT specially adapted for the management or operation of medical equipment or devices for the operation of medical equipment or devices
    • G16H40/67ICT specially adapted for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities; ICT specially adapted for the management or operation of medical equipment or devices for the operation of medical equipment or devices for remote operation
    • AHUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61BDIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B5/00Measuring for diagnostic purposes; Identification of persons
    • A61B5/0002Remote monitoring of patients using telemetry, e.g. transmission of vital signals via a communication network
    • AHUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61BDIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B5/00Measuring for diagnostic purposes; Identification of persons
    • A61B5/02Detecting, measuring or recording pulse, heart rate, blood pressure or blood flow; Combined pulse/heart-rate/blood pressure determination; Evaluating a cardiovascular condition not otherwise provided for, e.g. using combinations of techniques provided for in this group with electrocardiography or electroauscultation; Heart catheters for measuring blood pressure
    • A61B5/0205Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition
    • A61B5/02055Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular condition and temperature
    • AHUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61BDIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B5/00Measuring for diagnostic purposes; Identification of persons
    • A61B5/103Detecting, measuring or recording devices for testing the shape, pattern, colour, size or movement of the body or parts thereof, for diagnostic purposes
    • A61B5/11Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb
    • A61B5/1113Local tracking of patients, e.g. in a hospital or private home
    • GPHYSICS
    • G16INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR SPECIFIC APPLICATION FIELDS
    • G16HHEALTHCARE INFORMATICS, i.e. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE HANDLING OR PROCESSING OF MEDICAL OR HEALTHCARE DATA
    • G16H40/00ICT specially adapted for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities; ICT specially adapted for the management or operation of medical equipment or devices
    • G16H40/40ICT specially adapted for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities; ICT specially adapted for the management or operation of medical equipment or devices for the management of medical equipment or devices, e.g. scheduling maintenance or upgrades
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H04ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04LTRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L63/00Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security
    • H04L63/08Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security for authentication of entities
    • H04L63/0823Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security for authentication of entities using certificates
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H04ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04LTRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L63/00Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security
    • H04L63/08Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security for authentication of entities
    • H04L63/083Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security for authentication of entities using passwords
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H04ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04LTRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L67/00Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
    • H04L67/50Network services
    • H04L67/56Provisioning of proxy services
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H04ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04LTRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L69/00Network arrangements, protocols or services independent of the application payload and not provided for in the other groups of this subclass
    • H04L69/16Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
    • AHUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61BDIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B2560/00Constructional details of operational features of apparatus; Accessories for medical measuring apparatus
    • A61B2560/02Operational features
    • A61B2560/0204Operational features of power management
    • A61B2560/0209Operational features of power management adapted for power saving
    • AHUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61BDIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B2560/00Constructional details of operational features of apparatus; Accessories for medical measuring apparatus
    • A61B2560/04Constructional details of apparatus
    • A61B2560/0443Modular apparatus
    • A61B2560/045Modular apparatus with a separable interface unit, e.g. for communication
    • AHUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61BDIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B5/00Measuring for diagnostic purposes; Identification of persons
    • A61B5/0002Remote monitoring of patients using telemetry, e.g. transmission of vital signals via a communication network
    • A61B5/0015Remote monitoring of patients using telemetry, e.g. transmission of vital signals via a communication network characterised by features of the telemetry system
    • AHUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61BDIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B5/00Measuring for diagnostic purposes; Identification of persons
    • A61B5/0002Remote monitoring of patients using telemetry, e.g. transmission of vital signals via a communication network
    • A61B5/0015Remote monitoring of patients using telemetry, e.g. transmission of vital signals via a communication network characterised by features of the telemetry system
    • A61B5/0022Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
    • AHUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61BDIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B5/00Measuring for diagnostic purposes; Identification of persons
    • A61B5/0002Remote monitoring of patients using telemetry, e.g. transmission of vital signals via a communication network
    • A61B5/0015Remote monitoring of patients using telemetry, e.g. transmission of vital signals via a communication network characterised by features of the telemetry system
    • A61B5/0024Remote monitoring of patients using telemetry, e.g. transmission of vital signals via a communication network characterised by features of the telemetry system for multiple sensor units attached to the patient, e.g. using a body or personal area network
    • AHUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61BDIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B5/00Measuring for diagnostic purposes; Identification of persons
    • A61B5/02Detecting, measuring or recording pulse, heart rate, blood pressure or blood flow; Combined pulse/heart-rate/blood pressure determination; Evaluating a cardiovascular condition not otherwise provided for, e.g. using combinations of techniques provided for in this group with electrocardiography or electroauscultation; Heart catheters for measuring blood pressure
    • A61B5/021Measuring pressure in heart or blood vessels
    • AHUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61BDIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B5/00Measuring for diagnostic purposes; Identification of persons
    • A61B5/02Detecting, measuring or recording pulse, heart rate, blood pressure or blood flow; Combined pulse/heart-rate/blood pressure determination; Evaluating a cardiovascular condition not otherwise provided for, e.g. using combinations of techniques provided for in this group with electrocardiography or electroauscultation; Heart catheters for measuring blood pressure
    • A61B5/024Detecting, measuring or recording pulse rate or heart rate
    • AHUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61BDIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B5/00Measuring for diagnostic purposes; Identification of persons
    • A61B5/145Measuring characteristics of blood in vivo, e.g. gas concentration, pH value; Measuring characteristics of body fluids or tissues, e.g. interstitial fluid, cerebral tissue
    • AHUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61BDIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B5/00Measuring for diagnostic purposes; Identification of persons
    • A61B5/24Detecting, measuring or recording bioelectric or biomagnetic signals of the body or parts thereof
    • A61B5/316Modalities, i.e. specific diagnostic methods
    • A61B5/318Heart-related electrical modalities, e.g. electrocardiography [ECG]
    • AHUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61BDIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B5/00Measuring for diagnostic purposes; Identification of persons
    • A61B5/24Detecting, measuring or recording bioelectric or biomagnetic signals of the body or parts thereof
    • A61B5/316Modalities, i.e. specific diagnostic methods
    • A61B5/369Electroencephalography [EEG]
    • AHUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61BDIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B5/00Measuring for diagnostic purposes; Identification of persons
    • A61B5/74Details of notification to user or communication with user or patient ; user input means
    • A61B5/746Alarms related to a physiological condition, e.g. details of setting alarm thresholds or avoiding false alarms
    • GPHYSICS
    • G16INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR SPECIFIC APPLICATION FIELDS
    • G16HHEALTHCARE INFORMATICS, i.e. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE HANDLING OR PROCESSING OF MEDICAL OR HEALTHCARE DATA
    • G16H10/00ICT specially adapted for the handling or processing of patient-related medical or healthcare data
    • G16H10/60ICT specially adapted for the handling or processing of patient-related medical or healthcare data for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
    • G16H10/65ICT specially adapted for the handling or processing of patient-related medical or healthcare data for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records stored on portable record carriers, e.g. on smartcards, RFID tags or CD
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H04ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04LTRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L69/00Network arrangements, protocols or services independent of the application payload and not provided for in the other groups of this subclass
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H04ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04LTRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L9/00Cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communications; Network security protocols
    • H04L9/40Network security protocols
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H04ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04WWIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W4/00Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
    • H04W4/18Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H04ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04WWIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W88/00Devices specially adapted for wireless communication networks, e.g. terminals, base stations or access point devices
    • H04W88/02Terminal devices
    • H04W88/04Terminal devices adapted for relaying to or from another terminal or user
    • YGENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02DCLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES [ICT], I.E. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AIMING AT THE REDUCTION OF THEIR OWN ENERGY USE
    • Y02D30/00Reducing energy consumption in communication networks
    • Y02D30/70Reducing energy consumption in communication networks in wireless communication networks
    • YGENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y10TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
    • Y10STECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y10S128/00Surgery
    • Y10S128/92Computer assisted medical diagnostics
    • YGENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y10TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
    • Y10STECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y10S439/00Electrical connectors
    • Y10S439/909Medical use or attached to human body

Definitions

  • This invention relates generally to a medical device wireless adapter, and more particularly, to a module that adapts an existing legacy or newly designed medical device to a healthcare provider's wireless infrastructure.
  • a broad range of existing and newly developed medical devices have a need for wireless connectivity.
  • Such medical devices range from complex medical instrumentation incorporating embedded computers, including patient diagnostic equipment and patient monitors, to so-called “dumb” instruments that are network-unaware, such as a simple electronic thermometer with a serial output port that might do little more than make one type of measurement and output digital data representing the measurement.
  • WiFi Wireless-Fidelity
  • Wired Equivalent Privacy Wired Equivalent Privacy
  • WEP Wired Equivalent Privacy
  • HIPAA Health Information Portability and Accountability Act of 1996
  • ISM 802.11 radio band market has transitioned from an “early adopter” phase in circa 2000 to a stage where WiFi networks are commonly available. While adoption of these network standards has been widely viewed as successful and deployments are wide spread (including healthcare institutions), initial mechanisms provided by these standards for managing a secure network have been proven to be vulnerable.
  • the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and other organizations have responded with a number of significant improvements. Their efforts have produced a new set of standards for wireless authentication and encryption, which have benefited from extensive review and involvement by the cryptography community.
  • Legacy devices refer to medical, industrial, or scientific devices that do not have means for wirelessly connecting to a network and/or devices that do not support adequate authentication/encryption levels.
  • WPA and WPA2 take advantage of Public Key Cryptography, and provide a robust solution to the security problem.
  • commercial products that implement these standards rely on the host processor in a PDA, laptop or desktop computer to implement the computationally intensive Public Key portions of these standards.
  • chip manufacturers typically develop drivers and supplicants for common operating systems and microprocessors, these are generally not available for embedded platforms. Porting this sizable set of functionality to a broad range of processors and real-time operating systems (RTOS) for a diverse set of medical devices presents a significant development and computational burden that impacts each of the products that need wireless connectivity.
  • RTOS real-time operating systems
  • a medical WiFi adapter that can accomplish authentication, key negotiation, certificate management and strong encryption without the involvement of a host computer or host medical device processor and without needing an external software library, such as a dynamic linked library (DLL), resident outside of the medical WiFi adapter related to the authentication, key negotiation, or certificate management functions.
  • DLL dynamic linked library
  • Bi-directional authentication of a device using Certificates can protect both the device and the infrastructure from adversaries. What is needed is a robust bidirectional authentication system for use by medical devices on a WiFi healthcare network infrastructure. Since some healthcare infrastructures support only unidirectional authentication (verifying to the network that the device is allowed, but the device can't determine whether it is connected to an imposter network or the real network), what is also needed is a bi-directional authentication capable WiFi medical device wireless adapter that can also support unidirectional authentication. Configuring medical devices on a medical network, particularly if authentication is used, can be a daunting and time consuming process as every device must be manually configured.
  • WiFi medical device wireless adapter that can manage available certificates and automatically present a series of certificates to an authentication server in an order in which they are most likely to be accepted. Even if many clients use strong authentication and encrytion, when some client devices do not, unauthorized devices may access the network, leaving it vulnerable unless the network is careful designed.
  • Another problem in adding a network-unaware medical device to a medical network involves defining the instrument and its control and measurement parameters and presenting them in a meaningful way to the medical network. What is needed is a medical WiFi adapter that can assign a unique identifier to each network-unaware medical device or instrument added to a medical network to give context to the wireless communications with each network-unaware device.
  • WiFi devices including cards, boards, and modules
  • Typical WiFi devices involve a great deal of traffic while a user is interacting with a computer, surrounded by long periods of no activity.
  • users may disable the wireless interface.
  • laptop and PDA users can work within a process where the battery is charged every few hours.
  • Medical devices operate with a completely different set of use models. For example, in one common medical device mode, the medical device needs to send relatively small packets of data to the network continuously, hour after hour, day after day without tying the patient to a power cord umbilical.
  • WiFi products that have been developed for the laptop and general purpose computer market lack the power options needed for the typical modes of operation used by wireless medical devices and do not support the complexities of state of the art medical-grade wireless devices and networks. What is needed is a WiFi medical device wireless adapter that can support power options needed for the typical modes of operation of medical devices.
  • RF radio frequency
  • WiFi devices are designed for mobile products and therefore subject to the much less stringent Maximum Permissible Exposure (MPE) limits.
  • MPE Maximum Permissible Exposure
  • commercial 802.11 devices set their output RF power and duty cycle (ratio of transmit time to non-transmit time) based on communications performance parameters and requirements, generally ignoring SAR (and MPE) limits.
  • a medical WiFi adapter might be used in conjunction with a medical device situated very close to a patient. If a WiFi device were to be situated very close to a human body for extended periods of time, it is possible that the RF power and/or the duty cycle of the WiFi device would need to be reduced to meet the FCC SAR requirements in such a way as to not impact the operation of the medical device. Therefore what is needed is a medical WiFi adapter that can avoid exceeding the FCC SAR limit, while not adversely impacting the operation of the medical device, even when situated or worn very close to a patient's body.
  • WiFi devices include one antenna permanently affixed to the device, usually in the form of an antenna extension on a plug in WiFi computer card.
  • At least one specialty WiFi device offers an antenna “pig tail”, a short length of shielded RF cable with a connector to receive a cable from a WiFi antenna.
  • a medical WiFi adapter with two or more diversity antenna connections where the antennas can be located apart from each other and the antennas can be operated one at a time to aid in signal acquisition and asset location by RF beacon tracking.
  • IR infrared
  • RF radio frequency
  • WiFi devices Yet another problem with commercially available WiFi devices is reliability.
  • the communication lines of these devices include signal, data, and control lines) lack filtering to protect them from radio frequency interference (RFI) or electromagnetic interference (EMI).
  • RFID radio frequency interference
  • EMI electromagnetic interference
  • a static discharge or other interfering signal can cause most WiFi devices to do an uncommanded reset. Therefore there is a need for a medical WiFi adapter that is RFI/EMI hardened.
  • a related problem with commercial WiFi devices is that these devices can hang or freeze in operation.
  • the only way to clear this fault is to reboot the WiFi device, which usually means rebooting the host processor (usually a laptop or other general purpose computer) as well. It is not practical to reboot most patient care and monitoring devices while they are in patient service. In fact, a medical device reboot could be dangerous or life threatening to the patient in the case of some critical care medical devices. Therefore there is also a need for a medical WiFi adapter that does not freeze, or in the unlikely event of a hang, that can reboot independently of and without rebooting any medical devices for which it is providing wireless connectivity, as well as restore its previous working configuration or alert the host device that a re-configuration is required.
  • a typical WiFi device takes on factory defaults and needs to be re-configured for a given wireless network. While the host can re-configure the card upon reset, it is faster if the card has all the information required to configure itself upon reset. Therefore there is also a need for a medical WiFi adapter that can save its most current operating configuration parameters, reboot as needed, and quickly and automatically re-associate with its intended network.
  • WiFi devices can be firmware updated by use of the host computer as by downloading a firmware update from a WiFi device manufacturer and then updating the firm-ware by executing a small program resident on the host computer over the host computer bus, such as a PCI bus.
  • the problem is that in a typical medical environment the host processor might only be minimally involved in WiFi operation and not able to conveniently accept (as by download) and then update its attached (or otherwise installed) medical WiFi adapter.
  • some medical WiFi adapters might not have an available host processor to assist in performing software updates.
  • Medical devices typically lack a interface for configuration and further lack a means of remotely configuring the medical device.
  • a medical WiFi adapter that can independently receive firmware updates over a WiFi connection without endangering a patient critical care function. Further, there is a need for a medical WiFi adapter that can receive a firmware update for and update the firmware in a host medical device over WiFi without endangering a patient critical care function. What is needed is a medical WiFi adapter that can also provide network applications such as a TFTP, SNMP, or HTTP.
  • a medical WiFi adapter that can take on additional networking roles to facilitate medical WiFi applications in the medical business environment, including bridging between different network types or acting as gateway for a PAN to connect to an IP network, where any additional network functions can be time multiplexed or otherwise time shared if there are any on going or intermittent WiFi client operations, and in a way so as not to jeopardize any critical patient WiFi communications.
  • WiFi devices are not well suited to handling input and output (I/O) to or from any port or bus other than the port or bus to which the WiFi device is attached.
  • I/O input and output
  • a small number of specialty WiFi devices have offered additional inputs, such as from a serial communications connection.
  • What is needed is a medical WiFi adapter that can accept (I/O) from a plurality of I/O connections in addition to any host bus to which the WiFi medical adapter might be connected, including one or more serial connections, USB connections, 802.3 Ethernet connections and/or a connection to a parallel interface such as card bus, compact flash, or PCMCIA bus.
  • What is further needed is a system to support efficient 802.11 communication for different classes of information between the plurality of medical devices and the network. Also needed is a system to prioritize the data so as not to delay time critical diagnostic or monitoring data in presence of non-critical data.
  • a plurality of medical devices is connected to a medical measurements with an individual patient.
  • the collated measurements can be reported or continuously displayed for a nurse or doctor to view them.
  • the nurse or doctor can form a diagnosis or recognize a critical patient situation that might need short term attention or an emergency response.
  • What is needed is a medical WiFi adapter that can also run one or more diagnostic algorithms accepting input from a plurality of medical devices to take some action such as sounding an alarm to assist a medical professional to quickly identify a patient in medical distress.
  • Lawson teaches a wireless patient data acquisition system. Particularly, Lawson teaches an acquisition device that includes inputs to receive data from sensors connected to a patient, a wireless and/or wired transmitter that transmits the data received by the inputs, and a housing. Lawson's device can be further configured to transmit data from a data acquisitions device to a local monitor point-to-point.
  • Lawson does not teach a medical adapter than can be controlled by a host acquisition device, nor does Lawson teach a medical adaptor that converts a non-wireless medical device to a wireless medical device, nor does Lawson teach a medical adapter in a small form such as a PCMCIA, PCI, Compact Flash or 802.11 a/b/g network interface card. Lawson is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
  • U.S. Pat. No. 6,950,859 issued to Bartek et. al. on Sep. 27, 2005 teaches a method for emulating a physical connection using a wireless connection.
  • Bartek further teaches an adapter with an RF interface, a processor, and a USB interface.
  • Bartek does not teach an adapter capable of transmitting data wirelessly to a network, such as a healthcare provider's wireless infrastructure.
  • U.S. Pat. No. 6,850,788 issued to Al-Ali on Feb. 1, 2005 teaches a sensor and monitor interface device, allowing a monitor to wirelessly receive data from a sensor.
  • Al-Ali does not teach an adapter that is capable of transmitting the data to a health care provider's wireless infrastructure.
  • Bartek and Al-Ali are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
  • U.S. Pat. No. 3,810,102 issued to Parks, III et. al. on May 7, 1974 teaches a method and system for transmitting biomedical data to a remote station for subsequent processing.
  • the system samples and digitizes analog electrical biomedical signals over a communication link.
  • Parks II does not teach a medical adapter that includes a bi-directional wireless radio transceiver. Bi-directional transmission allow for a feedback to inform the transmitter if a re-transmission is required, resulting in a more reliable communication link. It also allows the network to control the instrument and/or the wireless communication link via the wireless communication link.
  • Parks III is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
  • a medical device wireless adapter that is usable with embedded medical applications and that is also low power, a robust wireless solution with failure recovery, HIPAA compliant, and support for device location is desired.
  • the invention comprises, in one form thereof, a medical device wireless adapter (“MDWA”) that adapts an existing legacy or newly designed medical data acquisition (“host”) device to a healthcare provider's wireless infrastructure.
  • MDWA medical device wireless adapter
  • the invention includes a medical device wireless adapter comprising a radio section; one or more means for exchanging data between said adapter and said host device; one or more means for exchanging data between said adapter and a network; a CPU block including integrated support for hosting one or more applications; and one or more memory means; wherein said adapter is configured with one or more host interface modes.
  • FIG. 1A is a block diagram of a medical device wireless adapter according to the present invention.
  • FIG. 1B is a block diagram of a medical device wireless adapter with a single CPU running both the application code and the MAC/BB code;
  • FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of an exemplary medical network infrastructure
  • FIG. 3 is a power mode state transition diagram for an exemplary MDWA
  • FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of an exemplary MDWA in greater detail
  • FIG. 5 shows an exemplary communication line filter.
  • FIG. 1A there is shown a block diagram of a medical device wireless adapter (“MDWA”) of the present invention.
  • the MDWA 100 can connect to and exchange data over a PCMCIA bus 102 .
  • PCMCIA bus 102 This is a particularly convenient way to add wireless connectivity to legacy medical devices having available PCMCIA slots to accept a MDWA 100 in this embodiment, in the form of a PCMCIA card.
  • CPU block 101 (including internal and/or external memory) performs all application computational functions of MDWA 100 .
  • MDWA 100 can receive and send data to devices over one or more serial ports 103 , Ethernet ports 104 , USB ports 105 , over the PCMCIA bus, or over other interface known to those skilled in the art, including PCI, CardBus, SPI, IEEE 1394 and I 2 C.
  • Manufacturing interface 106 can be used to program the Application CPU and associated memory 101 with the MDWA firmware at time of manufacture or in the field via an interface cable (not shown).
  • JTAG block 109 represents self test routines that enhance the manufacturing yield of MDWA 100 by thoroughly exercising many of its functions during power up or by other request for self test, including boundary scan. These test routines can follow guidelines or standards set forth by the Joint Test Action Group (JTAG).
  • the radio section 110 (typically including a MAC-baseband processor 123 and a Radio Frequency (RF) transceiver 124 ) can comprise a commercially available WiFi RF chip set.
  • FIG. 1B shows an MDWA with the logical function of the application CPU with memory and the MAC/BB processor embodied in a single chip 125 .
  • radio section 110 can be further connected to CPU block 101 by the interface bus 112 , such as Compact Flash, PCI, SPI, or other bus known to those skilled in the art. Cable 121 and connector 120 can be used to connect an antenna 111 A to RF section 110 .
  • a second antenna, 111 B may be connected, whereupon the MAC/BB processor implements an algorithm to select the best antenna to use via diversity switch 122 .
  • Power management block 108 controls and sets the various power modes of MDWA 100 .
  • An optional connection to a secondary communication system (auxiliary device) 107 can add backup communication and supplementary location tracking functionality.
  • MDWA 100 can be a module, board, or plug in device. MDWA 100 can be used to adapt an existing legacy or newly designed medical device (collectively, “Host Devices”) to a healthcare provider's 802.11 a/b/g wireless infrastructure. As used herein, “Host Device” refers to any medical device configured to acquire patient data. Alternately, the MDWA 100 can be used to adapt a medical device to a healthcare provider's 802.3 hardwired Ethernet infrastructure. MDWA 100 can provide a number of capabilities, described below, that are not available from any of the commercially available 802.11 a/b/g network interface cards.
  • MDWA 100 can also be suitable for use with Body Area Networks, Personal Area Networks, Wide Area Networks, Metropolitan Area Networks, Cellular networks and other networks known to those skilled in the art.
  • a Serial-to-Bluetooth adapter such as the SMK VRB2211 could be attached to the serial interface 103 , allowing MDWA 100 to communicate with a host device over a short-range wireless link as is taught in U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 10/806,770, 11/031,736, 11/455,368, and 11/455,329, entitled “Personal Status Physiological Monitor System and Architecture,” to Welch, et al., the entire contents of each herein incorporated by reference.
  • Each MDWA 100 can have a unique MAC address for the Wireless interface, and a unique MAC address for the hardwired Ethernet interface. These addresses can be programmable via manufacturing interface 106 .
  • MDWA 100 can also have a Product Serial Number. The serial number can be configured on manufacturing interface 106 and readable via any MDWA 100 interface including interfaces 102 , 103 , 104 , 105 , or 106 .
  • MDWA 100 can be calibrated digitally and the calibration constants can be read & verified. Note that all functions of the manufacturing interface can be available over any interface, but in the preferred embodiment, manufacturer-specific functions are typically restricted.
  • Serial port 103 can support RX and TX signals using, for example, bipolar RS-232 signaling levels or TTL-level signals and power can be supplied over the same interface, allowing serial devices to provide power to the radio card analogous to the method used in PCMCIA interfaces.
  • a Power/Serial port 103 can also support handshaking signals such as RTS, CTS, DTR, and DSR signals using either TTL or bipolar RS-232 signaling levels.
  • the RTS/CTS signals can be included for devices that require hardware flow control.
  • the DTR/DSR signals can be included in consideration for a device that asserts a signal to indicate it is ready to communicate and/or support an “On Network” indication, e.g. an LED, on the Host Device without a need for software support by the Host Device.
  • any Power/Serial port input signal can also be used to “wake” MDWA 100 from a low power mode.
  • the MDWA 100 operates in complex WiFi implementations, especially including IEEE 802.1x and 802.11i, which support authentication, session key negotiation, certificate management, and encryption down into the MDWA.
  • MDWA 100 can also implement 802.11e quality of service and is upgradeable without support from the host device to support other standards such as improved roaming support (802.11r and 802.11k) as these standards are ratified.
  • MDWA 100 can perform these functions, freeing the Host Device both in terms of compute resources as well as software complexity. Note that use of a commercial off the shelf wireless card would push much of this implementation into the device driver, or DLL, and as a result onto the host processor. While such a sharing of computational resources can be acceptable where the host is a Windows laptop with a 1-2 GHz processor and no real-time constraints, it is not a desirable solution for a host medical instrument, such as a Vital Signs Monitor.
  • the MDWA can be used to interface with a Host Device.
  • the first method comprises a Host API Mode, in which the Host Device integrates a small set of code known as the Host Applications Programming Interface (API), or Host API Proxy, which allows the Host Device to manage and control the MDWA through an applications interface.
  • the second method utilizes an Adapter Mode, in which the Host Device does not integrate any code, and operates in the manner it was originally designed, e.g. simply transmits raw data on a serial port. In this mode, the MDWA can detect that a device is ready to establish communications with a serial device, e.g. term server, and adapt that protocol to allow the device to establish communications.
  • a serial device e.g. term server
  • the MDWA does this by monitoring the data and/or control lines of the appropriate interface, and then acts on behalf of the device to present said device to the network.
  • the rendezvous protocol is described in greater detail in co-pending and commonly owed U.S. Pat. No. 6,616,606, “Patient Monitoring System,” the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Data traffic and/or control line status can also be used in this mode to detect that a connection should be timed out, and the process restarted.
  • the MDWA provides a single, common Host Application Program Interface (API) regardless of which interface is used by a given Host Device (Serial Port, PCMCIA, USB, or other alternatives).
  • API Host Application Program Interface
  • This common API encourages reuse of software components across multiple product lines, further reducing the effort to integrate the MDWA with subsequent devices.
  • the Host API Proxy can be a small set of code that to be multiplexed with other network data traffic, and sent to or received from the MDWA over the appropriate interface. Unlike modems and some prior art devices, which share a single channel for network data and control information, this proxy can communicate over a set of distinct logical channels that coexist concurrently with the control channel used to manage the MDWA.
  • the code can also encapsulate the process of creating packets to be multiplexed over the appropriate interface (RS-232, PCMCIA, Ethernet, USB, or other interface), destined for either the command interpreter or a specific socket endpoint.
  • the MDWA provides deterministic behavior with respect to command traffic and data traffic that is multiplexed onto the serial port or other interface. Note that some serial interface devices, such as modems, transition a single serial connection between command mode and data mode when a connection or attachment is made with the other end of the network. While an escape sequence or control signal marks these transitions, in many cases it is impossible for the host device to tell whether the serial port was in command mode or data mode at the instant the last command or data packet was sent.
  • the MDWA software is adapted to address this problem through the use of a multiplexing layer, which can identify and route to several logical destinations, independent of the state of the other destinations.
  • a multiplexing layer enables multiple network endpoints to be active at the same time, regardless of the type of interface.
  • Some medical device protocols require that two distinct ports be open at the same time, e.g., one for the rendezvous packets, and one for instrument data packets.
  • the Host Device needs to be able to send and receive data for at least two different ports, plus commands for the MDWA over a common channel.
  • This channel can be any available host interface, e.g., USB, Ethernet, Serial, PCMCIA, CardBus, Mini-PCI, and others generally known to those skilled in the art.
  • the MDWA is adapted to send/receive data to/from multiple endpoints over a common channel, allowing fully capable wireless adapter functionality over less capable interfaces such as RS-232.
  • the Host APT Proxy provides a proxy for network communications using an object oriented C++ API styled after BSD Sockets. Examples of this can be found in the Java and C# socket APIs.
  • Adapter Mode provides the wireless adapter the ability to adapt so-called “dumb” host devices, such as a legacy Infusion Pump or other network-unaware devices. These adapted devices can then communicate with at least one central monitoring station, at least one server, or other controlling system product, and enable management and tracking of those devices by the IT network staff
  • the Host Device does not integrate the Host API Proxy. Rather, the MDWA actively presents the Host Device to the network.
  • the MDWA is further adapted to execute rendezvous or discovery medical protocols on behalf of the attached Host Device.
  • the protocol can comprise a UDP packet of a pre-defined format that is broadcast to the network on a well known port
  • This broadcast packet can include a unique device identifier that is a requirement for networked system products, even where the legacy device does not provide this capability.
  • the unique identifier may be configured into the MDWA, either during provisioning or during customer configuration on site through a web or command line interface.
  • the MDWA passes bidirectional data between the device and the networked system. This enables even a network-unaware device with only an RS-232 serial port or USB port and no network stack or other supplemental software to become a “Full Network Citizen,” with minimal or no modification to the existing device.
  • the MDWA also automatically enables a network connection by completing the steps of association, obtaining an IP address, and authenticating. Furthermore, an application on the MDWA may provide the bridging of the communications data between the native device and the TCP/IP network interfaces.
  • the MDWA communicates with the Network Host with either a real-time rendezvous or a store and forward mechanism, such as e-mail or pager notification.
  • a real-time rendezvous a pre-defined packet is transmitted as either a broadcast or directed packet to a server in order to establish a link between the host device and the server.
  • the MDWA buffers the information until it can be handed off to the destination, such as an e-mail or paging service. Initiation of either of these communication methods can occur upon assertion of a control line, or upon receipt of a packet the host normally sends to communicate with another RS-232 device.
  • the MDWA Power Modes including Hibernate, can be automatically controlled by the application running on the MDWA, based on traffic analysis. MDWA Power Modes are discussed in more detail herein.
  • the manufacturing interface 106 supports manufacturing configuration of the call method. This defines the initial control signal behavior, or the initial bytes that would be transmitted/received by the MDWA to begin communications with the Host Device.
  • FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of an exemplary medical network infrastructure 200 .
  • the MDWA is configurable to address several different classes of Host Devices.
  • the most “mission critical” of these devices are those that must communicate adverse patient conditions, such as patient alarms from continuous vital signs monitors 205 , and equipment alerts from infusion pumps 204 .
  • Monitors 205 are typically attached to a single patient 209 for hours or even days, and report alarms in addition to capturing various physiological variable data including, but not limited to, pulse rate, and body temperature, as well as ECG, pulse oximetry, and additionally periodic measurements of blood pressure as needed.
  • Vital signs monitors typically include sensors or other electrodes for acquiring patient data.
  • the MDWA is also configurable to address body worn sensors. An example of this type of host device is more specifically described in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No.
  • Spot Check Monitors 201 are devices that can typically travel with a Nurse or Clinician 203 , and are used to acquire and upload individual readings while the clinician is present with a patient 209 .
  • Wireless connections in these devices allows the patient data to be transacted directly to the Clinical Information System (CIS) or Hospital Information System (HIS), via an interface such as HL7, which interface is implemented on the MDWA.
  • CIS Clinical Information System
  • HIS Hospital Information System
  • Infusion Pumps 204 are devices that can use a wireless network to download Drug Libraries and Medication Rules, avoiding the need for a bio-technician to track down and interact with each and every pump in the hospital. Downloading Drug Libraries and Medication Rules is aided by the MDWA that buffers the Libraries and Rules analogous to how it buffers new firmware for the host device, as is taught later in the specification.
  • prescriptions can be transferred over the wireless infrastructure to an infusion pump so that a clinician need only confirm the order or the clinician input can be transferred over the wireless infrastructure to the pharmacy and verified against the original prescription order. While wireless infusion pumps exist, they do not implement strong authentication/encryption and a bevy of legacy infusion pumps are in use in hospitals today.
  • Personal Digital Assistants 202 are handheld devices that can be used by a clinician to record and/or receive clinical information, including physiological alarms, and interact with other systems in the hospital.
  • Mobile diagnostic workstations or Computer on Wheels (COWs) 208 are PCs that can be used for clinical activities such as vital signs charting, CIS access, HIS access, and/or the ordering and accessing of Clinical Lab results such as by a hospital intranet 212 .
  • PCs Computer on Wheels
  • One specific application is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/131,015, “Mobile Medical Workstation,” filed May 17, 2005, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
  • Network Access to the hospital intranet 212 can be provided by a connection to a medical 802.11 wireless infrastructure 210 by MDWA 100 and by other hospital devices.
  • Guest network access is a capability that allows patients and visitors 206 to use laptops 207 with wireless capability, such as a commercial general purpose 802.11 adapter 214 , to access the Internet 211 while they are in the hospital.
  • FIG. 4 shows a more detailed block diagram of exemplary MDWA hardware according to the invention that has been found useful to test the various functions of a MDWA as described herein.
  • the CPU and some memory function of 101 in FIG. 1 were provided by an AT91RM9200 4001 manufactured by the Atmel Corporation.
  • the AT91RM9200 includes a 200 MIPS ARM920T processor with 16K-byte instruction and 16K-byte data cache memories, 16K bytes of SRAM, 128K bytes of ROM, External Bus Interface featuring SDRAM, Burst Flash and Static Memory Controllers, USB Device and Host Interfaces, Ethernet 10/100 BaseT MAC, Power Management Controller, Real Time Clock, System Timer, Synchronous Serial Controller 6-channel Timer-Counter, 4-channel USART, Two-Wire Interface, Serial Peripheral Interface, Multimedia Card Interface and Parallel I/O Controller.
  • the AT91 supports slow clock and idle modes that are used to support low-power operations discussed below. Additional memory as represented by block 101 of FIG. 1 was present as FLASH memory 4002 and SRAM memory 4003 .
  • a radio section 110 comprised of a Conexant MAC/Baseband processor and transceiver (Voyager chipset) coupled to AT 9 1RM9200 4001 via a CompactFlash Interface Bus 112 .
  • the power to radio 110 is controlled by FET 4006 , to support low-power modes discussed below.
  • the PCMCIA interface 102 of FIG. 1 was provided by PCMCIA connector 4007 and PCMCIA circuit interface by a Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transceiver (UART) 4008 .
  • the USB port interface 105 of FIG. 1 was provided by USB connector 4022 .
  • any connector that would connect to the host including USB connector 4022 and Ethernet Debug connection 4004 can also be coupled to hibernate circuit 4016 , preferably coupled via Filtering/Protection circuits 4020 .
  • a decision to couple an interface to the hibernate circuit depends on the power used by that interface. In the present embodiment, only serial and PCMCIA physical host device interfaces are supported, therefore Ethernet and USB are disabled to save power.
  • the serial port interface 103 of FIG. 1 was provided by serial/power connector 4009 and RS-232 level shifter 4010 , allowing either TTL or RS-232 level signaling.
  • Timing and clocks for the AT91RM9200 4001 were supplied by 18 MHz crystal 4011 (CPU clock) and a 32 kHz RTC (real time clock) Crystal 4012 .
  • Hibernate circuit 4016 provided part of the power mode control system.
  • Filtering/Protection Circuits block 4020 comprises a filter to remove RFI/EMI signals that could cause an uncommanded reset of application CPU 4001 .
  • any communications (signal) line can also be advantageously filtered, including reset, data, and other signal lines.
  • Watch dog circuit 4021 provides an external monitoring circuit to detect and restart the module in the event of a software application failure or operating system fault.
  • An auxiliary device such as a location hardware block such as is manufactured by Radianse, Inc. of Lawrence, Mass. 4017 is supported to supplement MDWA functionality.
  • optical communications block 4019 can aid in locating an asset using the MDWA to tell for example, what side of a wall the asset is on (while RF energy from Radio 110 and RF block 4018 can penetrate a wall, the light from optical communications block 4019 cannot penetrate an opaque wall).
  • Further RF block 4018 can provide backup data communications to the MDWA 802.11 network connection.
  • other public domain and proprietary hospital communication networks and channels can be added to an MDWA in addition to, or in place of the location/communication 4017 function, or the MDWA can operate with no supplementary location/communication system.
  • filtering of data, signal, and control lines can be achieved using a low-pass filter, such as implemented by the RC section (R 501 , C 502 ) of the circuit 500 .
  • a low-pass filter such as implemented by the RC section (R 501 , C 502 ) of the circuit 500 .
  • diodes 503 to supply and grounds may be used.
  • the capacitance of diodes 503 can serve to provide enough low-pass filtering to provide protection against signal glitches from external sources.
  • the MDWA of the present invention typically supports IEEE standards including 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g PHYs, but can be extended through firmware update to support 802.11n.
  • a TCP/IP stack can comprise a minimum of four layers, including frill support for UDP, TCP, ARP, DHCP, and ICMP.
  • applications are included to provide support for TFTP and web-based services.
  • This MDWA can further provide support for a rendezvous protocol, e.g., a predefined UDP broadcast packet.
  • client support can be provided for DNS, NTP, SNMP, and other network protocols known to those skilled in the art.
  • Radio Section 110 includes a CPU and all aspects of Radio CPU can run on the Application CPU 4001 and vice-versa.
  • a single CPU in on the radio card implements MAC/Baseband and applications functions.
  • An Asset Tracking and Real Time Location Service (RTLS) using MDWA 100 can be done in at least two alternative technologies. The first is based on a hybrid IR/RF capability that can be provided by a secondary communication system attached as exemplary auxiliary device 4017 and the second is based on 802.11 Access Points receiving and examining the signal strength and/or latency of 802.11 packets. Note that some asset tracking solutions support a minimal communication channel.
  • An exemplary back-up communications system could be set up using an AeroScout, Radianse, or PanGO module combined with an 802.11 infrastructure.
  • An 802.11 client can be tracked by the infrastructure to which it connects, as illustrated by thin AP solutions from Aruba Wireless Networks and Cisco Networks, however, when that client goes off the air, tracking ability is typically lost.
  • Dedicated 802.11-based tracking tags such as those offered by AeroScout or PanGO last for years, but work only on 802.11b/g infrastructures and do not support full 802.11 client communication.
  • the MDWA can also provide uninterrupted tracking operation, where the Asset Tracking function is provided even for periods when the Host Device power has been turned off, or the main battery has been removed.
  • the MDWA provides an auxiliary power input where a backup power source 4023 provides sufficient energy for the MDWA to beacon as if it were only an asset tracking tag. That is, the MDWA can be placed in a low-power state where it is programmed to provide asset tracking functions. Upon exit from this state, full 802.11 radio functions are restored.
  • Tracking can continue based either only on 802.11 data traffic, or 802.11 data traffic and transmissions specifically tailored for tracking, such as transmitting on every channel periodically to ensure that all nearby APs contribute to the position determination.
  • the MDWA or a simple asset tracking tag
  • Asset tracking can be used to track assets, patients, and personnel. Asset tracking makes it possible to find equipment and decreases the time it takes to find wheelchairs, infusion pumps and other equipment. This enables the hospital to better manage their medical equipment assets. An alarm can sound if equipment is removed from its approved area.
  • Patient tracking allows a patient to be found quickly in the event that the patient has an event and also allows the hospital to manage patient flow to decrease wait time.
  • Personnel tracking allows the hospital to send the nearest clinician when a patient is in trouble and allows the hospital to manage workflows so that clinicians arrive when needed, e.g., alert a surgeon so that the surgeon does not arrive before the surgical suite is ready, or before the patient has been prepped.
  • Any active 802.11 radio can be located by infrastructures such as those available from Cisco Systems and Aruba Networks.
  • asset tags can be located through its periodic beacon, though these devices cannot maintain a network connection.
  • an 802.11 radio is inactive, locating it becomes impossible unless it takes on the character of an asset tag, transmitting an occasional location beacon.
  • This location beacon could be implemented by occasionally awakening and establishing a network connection or it could include full emulation of an asset tag, including beaconing that allows location detection without a full network connection (saving power compared with establishing a network connection). Modifying the number of beacons per unit time can be modified to trade off battery life for how often the location is updated, a feature that exists in asset tags, but not in radio cards.
  • the MDWA when the MDWA changes to asset tag mode, it can modify the transmission power to trade off location accuracy with battery life (generally, the more APs that hear the device, the smaller the location error).
  • the MDWA may move into asset tag mode when either primary power is removed from the MDWA or the MDWA is placed into one of the low-power modes.
  • the MDWA may use a different Operating System when operating in beacon mode.
  • the MDWA When the MDWA has data to transact, it automatically leaves low-power mode and the asset tag mode and enters full 802.11 radio mode to support data transmission.
  • Patient mobility is a well-known contributing factor to faster recovery times and wireless monitoring of patients has existed for many years, augmenting hard-wired (typically with more parameters) bed-side monitors, to provide for patient ambulation.
  • hard-wired patients need assistance, it is simple to determine their location.
  • Some bedside monitors can run in wireless mode as the patient is transported and some portable monitors support multiple parameters, allowing their use on more acute patients. What is missing is the risk mitigation for the use case of when the ambulatory patient needs assistance and needs to be found—that is, adding location to the patient context.
  • Patient context is defined as the set of linked data that identify a patient or pertain to a patient. Items such as name, patient ID, current state of physiological parameters, alarm limits, the Monitor ID and location together provide the patient context.
  • the monitor can detect when it loses physical connection with the patient because physiological inputs disappear. As long as the monitoring is continuous, one can be sure that the patient is the same. While another networked device can perform this function, when the network connection is temporarily lost, only the patient's own monitor can ensure that the monitoring has continued uninterrupted.
  • the patient context When the patient context includes location, the patient can be located in the event he needs to be found, which could be due to various reasons including a fall, loss of communication, patient pressing the nurse-call button, or physiological alarm.
  • Patient context can be built using a location tag that is separate from the patient monitor, but then the link of asset tag to patient must be made manually.
  • Implementing the location feature requires that a binding between the location tag and the remaining components of the patient context is made. As mentioned above, this binding can be done automatically and accurately when the location tag is permanently affixed to or part of the patient monitor.
  • the location solution is typically comprised of a location engine, location sensors (APs in the case of 802.11-based location), and the location or asset tags.
  • Location sensors are mapped onto the coordinate system of the location engine and the location of asset tags is mapped to this same coordinate system.
  • the location engine populates a database, consisting of at least X,Y coordinates and the identifier for the asset tag. Often, additional information including time and height and meta information such as the asset type is included in the database.
  • the monitoring server queries the database (either by shared access or an API to the location engine) for the location of the bound asset tag.
  • the coordinates are translated, as necessary to map from the location server's coordinate system to the monitoring server's coordinate system.
  • the monitoring server can then provide audio, text, and or graphical indications that the patient is in need of assistance and where the patient is located. These indicators could occur on a PC, a PDA, cellular phone, hallway message panel, or other signaling device.
  • a map of the hospital could indicate a flashing red heart at the location of the patient
  • the patient waveform window can indicate “Arrhythmia, Room 214”
  • an audio circuit could annunciate, “Arrhythmia, Room 214”.
  • annunciators can be activated when a clinician needs to find a patient, as when it is time for a lab.
  • Graphic annunciators can be active at all times, or only activated upon an event occurring.
  • Support for multiple power modes can address the differing needs of medical devices in the healthcare environment. This includes use models for Continuous Vital Signs monitoring, Spot Check monitoring, and other clinical devices in need of network connectivity, such as Infusion Pumps. These power modes can provide a seamless transition on and off the network in support of lower power operation or stand alone operation, and are fully integrated with the Asset Tracking and Location Service capabilities provided by the MDWA.
  • the preferred embodiment of the MDWA supports a selection of at least five distinct Power Consumption Modes when power is applied to the card.
  • a sixth state of Primary Power Off (no power applied to the main power connector) provides a limited functionality of the Location Service through the backup power source 4023 .
  • the MDWA power modes are shown in the power mode state transition diagram of FIG. 3 .
  • the MDWA transitions to Idle mode once initialization is complete. Unlike traditional cards, this allows the device to be placed in a low power state, remain there as long as needed, and be ready to transmit a radio packet in a fraction of a second after the command is given to transition to an active mode.
  • Existing radio cards drop association when changing power modes, resulting in a loss of network connection.
  • the MDWA is capable of transitioning between the first two modes, Continuously Aware and Power Save Polling (PSP), by API control without loss of association with an Access Point. Further, the PSP sub-mode can be changed by APT control without loss of association.
  • PSP Power Save Polling
  • the MDWA is able to transition between the two active transmission modes (Continuously Aware and Power Save Polling) and Idle mode by API control.
  • the MDWA is also able to transition from any of these first three modes to Standby or Hibernate mode by API control, and it can further transition from Standby or Hibernate mode to Idle mode by toggling one of the control or data lines on the active host interface (e.g., PCMCIA, or Serial Port, or USB interface).
  • This transition based on external input allows the MDWA to stay in Hibernate or Standby mode for extended periods with out activating the CPU, thereby saving energy.
  • the transceiver in the Continuously Aware Mode, is either continuously on, or wakes up at least once per beacon interval in addition to waking to transmit data as soon as it is received from the host.
  • This mode is typically used for short periods of time when the Network Host or Host Device have large amounts of data to transfer and/or many commands to process.
  • the Location capabilities can be fully operational in this mode, with either high or low resolution. Lower resolution saves power by either transmitting at an increased interval, lower power level or using only one of the physical interfaces, e.g. RF and not IR.
  • the Power Save Polling Mode of a preferred embodiment allows the Host to control a requested PSP mode (PSP-n) over the Host Interface.
  • PSP-10 mode the MDWA awakens every ten intervals, approximately once per second.
  • the transceiver could awaken to transmit data received from the host immediately upon receipt of the data, but to save power preferentially synchronizes the data transmission with an already scheduled beacon awakening.
  • This function is either built directly into the MAC layer, which buffers data until a beacon occurs, or the host waits until it is notified that the radio is awakened and then immediately pushes the data to be transmitted to the radio.
  • the Location capabilities can be fully operational in this mode, with either high or low resolution.
  • the MDWA's CPU can be ready with the radio is turned off.
  • the Host Device is able to issue commands, change configuration parameters, and receive status over the Host Interface.
  • the Location capabilities can be fully operational in this mode, with either high or low resolution.
  • the capability of booting to Idle mode enables the boot process of the MDWA to take place in parallel with the boot process of the Host Device. Once started, the Host Device can place the card in any of the alternative modes. Alternately, the MDWA can boot to any power mode.
  • a Standby mode is intended to support applications with a use model indicating intermittent network connection.
  • wireless connectivity can be turned off until it is time to upload a dataset, and this mode supports a faster time to establish a network connection as compared to the Hibernate mode.
  • the CPU will be “asleep” and the radio will be turned off.
  • the CPU will “wake up” upon the reception of Host API Proxy data on one of the host interfaces.
  • the last known AP and channel are retained, precluding in many events the need to search for an appropriate AP.
  • the Location capabilities are fully operational in this mode, with either high or low resolution.
  • the Hibernate mode supports applications where the radio has been disabled for a relatively long time, but still can benefit from a fast network connection time. This mode uses almost no power and allows the host to effectively turn off the radio, while providing a faster network association time than is possible when leaving Power Off Mode.
  • the CPU and the radio are turned off and the last known AP and channel are retained.
  • the Location capabilities may be fully operational in this mode, with either high or low resolution. Because of the extremely small power consumption in the Hibernate mode, instruments make use of the Hibernate mode in multiple situations, including when the user-accessible soft power switch is “turned off” and when the instrument needs to operate in a reduced functionality mode due to depletion of the battery.
  • a low-power hibernate circuit 4016 re-powers the Application CPU 4001 to exit hibernate mode.
  • the MDWA includes an internal latch in order to keep track of whether the Power-On Self Test (POST) has completed successfully. Once the POST has completed (i.e., due to a power-on reset), it is skipped on subsequent transitions out of Hibernate mode.
  • POST Power-On Self Test
  • a backup power input 4023 can provide power for a Real Time Location Module when no power is applied to the main power input (Power Off Mode).
  • the loss of power from the main supply causes the Location Module to transition to a lower power mode.
  • the MDWA can also store persistent data across power off/on cycles and rebooting such as its authentication state, which radio band is in use, e.g., 802.11a or 802.11g, ESSID, power mode, IP address, MAC address, calibration factors, and current AP, regardless of the selected power mode. Storing these data allows the MDWA to reboot and initialize faster than depending on an external source to provide the data. It also provides a method to often avoid the time lost to scan channels to find an available AP.
  • All network protocols required for communication, authentication, and network management can be encapsulated by the MDWA.
  • a full TCP/IP Stack is also provided by the MDWA, and is exposed to the Host Device through a Host API Proxy for Host APT Mode, and through a bridge application for the Adapter Mode.
  • a proxied TCP/IP stack on the WMDA avoids the need for a TCP/IP stack on the Host Device, in order to communicate with wireless or wired Ethernet, further reducing the complexity and resource requirements imposed upon the Host Device.
  • the MDWA can include Port Based Authentication (802.1x), Wireless Encryption (802.11i/ABS and WPA/TKIP), Quality of Service (802.11e), DHCP, NTP, SNMP, and other network protocols familiar to those skilled in the art.
  • Port Based Authentication 802.1x
  • Wireless Encryption 802.11i/ABS and WPA/TKIP
  • Quality of Service 802.11e
  • DHCP Dynamic Hossion Control Protocol
  • NTP Non-Fi Protecte
  • SNMP Network Control Protocol
  • Other network protocols familiar to those skilled in the art.
  • the MDWA can be upgradeable to support new networking standards and protocols as they are developed. Note that these delegations are useful for any embedded host, not simply a medical device.
  • One embodiment of the present invention includes bi-directional authentication of the Host Device and the healthcare infrastructure using Certificates, which protects both the device and the infrastructure from adversaries. Certificate Management and Processing can be completely encapsulated by the MDWA. In one embodiment, there can be provided a minimum of two certificates: “OEM” and “Customer”. The 802.1x authentication protocol supports this functionality for both wireless and hardwired Ethernet, allowing a single authentication mechanism to be used with either of these external interfaces.
  • An OEM certificate can provide “Out of Box” device operation with system products that have the matching server-side certificate, such as an Acuity Central Monitoring Station available from Welch Allyn, Inc., connection server, or other device based on a trust relationship established with the medical device manufacturer.
  • the Customer certificate enables those customers that wish to manage their own certificate hierarchy to do so, without disturbing the OEM certificate that can still be used to enable service support and software updates.
  • the MDWA has a selection algorithm that call present the most likely certificate to be accepted based on past history or a configuration setting. If the most likely certificate is rejected, the algorithm can then present a second-most likely certificate, and so on. In many clinical contexts internet access is not available, thus with the device the full certificate chain for the server is installed, supporting bi-directional authentication, independent of external resources.
  • a MDWA can provide a full interface to manage certificates and passwords.
  • Certificates are the foundation of secure authentication for 802.11 a/b/g Medical Devices and Infrastructures. Certificates provide a means of bidirectional authentication that is vastly more secure than commonly used “secrets” such as usernames and passwords, while at the same tine avoiding the need for a clinician to enter any information at the medical device.
  • a digital certificate binds the identity of a person or device (the Distinguished Name) with a Public Key. This enables bidirectional authentication, which protects both the infrastructure from rogue devices, as well as the devices from rogue infrastructures.
  • Each digital certificate has a corresponding Private Key that is held by the device that the certificate represents, and is used as part of the process to prove the identity of that device.
  • Digital certificates can be freely distributed, but the corresponding Private Key must be stored in a secure manner by the device, or the security is compromised.
  • a digital certificate is signed by a Certificate Authority (CA).
  • CA Certificate Authority
  • Each Certificate Authority also has a digital certificate which is signed by another CA. This process repeats until a “root” CA is reached.
  • a root CA is a CA that signs its own certificate.
  • Every certificate except for the root CA certificate) has a chain of CA certificates associated with it.
  • This chain of trust provided by the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), is what allows a web browser to trace the authenticity of a web site all the way back to a well known authority such as VeriSign without any intervention by the user.
  • PKI Public Key Infrastructure
  • DNS Domain Name Service
  • the IEEE standard 802.11i commonly referred to as WPA and WPA2 provides a framework for authenticating wireless devices using certificates and other mechanisms such as shared secret keys.
  • This framework includes the concept of a Radius Server, which supports a variety of authentication methods) and keeps a database of the keys and certificates that are recognized by the administrators of a given site.
  • a wireless device attempting to access the network encapsulates an authentication request to the Radius Server in a protocol called Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP).
  • EAP Extensible Authentication Protocol
  • EAP types Authentication mechanisms supported by Devices and the Radius Server are known by their “EAP types”.
  • EAP types Of particular interest to a Medical Grade Wireless Infrastructure are the three EAP types that support bidirectional authentication for both the infrastructure and client (device) sides using certificates. These are: EAP-TLS, EAP-PEAP, and EAP-TTLS.
  • the MDWA also supports legacy authentication mechanisms such as Pre-Shared Key (PSK) and WEP with long and short keys.
  • PSK Pre-Shared Key
  • WEP WEP with long and short keys.
  • Medical Devices that contain the MDWA use certificates to authenticate the device to the Wireless Infrastructure.
  • the MDWA stores and uses two distinct certificates for authenticating the device, the “OEM” Certificate, and the “Customer” Certificate.
  • the OEM Certificate is installed by the manufacturer of the completed host Device and one-time installation of the matching server side certificate on the end-user's Radius server is required.
  • Some sites may wish to manage their own certificate hierarchy. These customers can accomplish this by installing a Customer Certificate on the Host Device that contains the MDWA, rather than using the OEM Certificate provided by the manufacturer.
  • a third certificate installed on the device by the manufacture is used by the Web Server.
  • This Web Server is used for configuring and managing updates to the Wireless Card.
  • the Web Server Certificate and its corresponding private key are kept on the MDWA. These are used to authenticate the MDWA to a Web Browser that is accessing the administration interface on the MDWA. This certificate and associated private key are also used as seed information to set up the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) connection between the MDWA and the Web Browser.
  • SSL Secure Socket Layer
  • the MDWA Since the MDWA might not have access to any Certificate Authority on the Internet during authentication, it must store the entire certificate chain used to verify the Wireless Infrastructure's certificate.
  • the MDWA supports two distinct certificate chains for authenticating the infrastructure, the “OEM” Chain, and the “Customer” Chain. There will normally be multiple certificates in each of these certificate chains.
  • the 802.11 Authentication Server Certificate and its corresponding private key are kept on the 802.1x authentication server. This certificate is used to authenticate the Wireless Infrastructure to the MDWA.
  • the Certificate Authority (CA) certificate chain is used to sign and validate the various certificates.
  • the OEM certificate chain is written to the flash memory on the MDWA during the provisioning process.
  • the MDWA checks if this area has new data. If so, the area in flash memory is copied or converted to a format that can be used directly by the supplicant. All the certificates in the certificate chain are concatenated into a single PEM format file with the root certificate at the beginning of the file.
  • a device certificate and private key is written to an area in the flash memory.
  • this OEM device certificate and private key are converted into a form (PKCS #12) that can be used directly by the supplicant.
  • the encryption key for the PKCS #12 envelope is also written to flash and converted to a form that is useable by the supplicant.
  • the MDWA software uses this key to decrypt the PKCS #12 envelope and extract the private key.
  • the device certificate contains the MAC address in the Canonical Name (CN) section of the certificate.
  • the device certificate and corresponding private key are generated outside the MDWA during the provisioning process.
  • the device certificate is signed by a self signed or traceable Certificate Authority.
  • the device certificate and private key are packaged into an encrypted PKCS #12 envelope.
  • the OEM device certificate and key are installed on the MDWA at provisioning time. If the customer wishes to install their own device certificate and key, the PKCS #12 envelope and the password to decrypt it will be uploaded to the MDWA through the web administration interface.
  • Bandwidth allocation and prioritization such as that provided by the 802.11e QoS standard can support and enable a pre-allocation of a committed bandwidth in support of the real-time vital signs data (and other high priority data), so that other applications that share the infrastructure can do so without adversely impacting applications such as vital signs monitoring and alarm reporting.
  • a method for ensuring that the bandwidth is available includes testing the network against the intended use, including all planned network loads. This can be accomplished at installation time using tools such as IxChariot, available from Ixia.
  • the FCC limits the amount of Joule heating by a transmitter on portable device (portable devices are defined as those used within 20 cm of the body) averaged over any 6-minute time interval.
  • EIRP Effective isotropic radiated power
  • source based averaging can be used. Assuming the transmission protocol limits the duty cycle to 10 percent, then a factor of 0.10 is applied to the SAR level, allowing the radio to have a high EIRP when the transmission occurs, resulting in an improved transmission range.
  • the radio must provide a measure of the transmission duty cycle. Coupled with a knowledge of the antenna gain and transmit power, this allows the MDWA or Host Device (when the information is sent across the Host API) to implement a protocol that enforces a limit on the SAR. This limit provides support for either meeting the FCC SAR low-power exemption, or simply staying below the SAR limits.
  • MDWA failure reports include failures due to latch up, including failure of microprocessor internal watch dog timers. Typical off the shelf radios may latch up and stop transmitting, with no way to alert the host device, resulting in loss of ability to transmit patient alarms. Should a software application or operating system fault occur, the MDWA incorporates an independent watch dog circuit, external to the microprocessor, which provides a means to restart the module, whereupon the MDWA alerts the host device of the reboot via the Host API, and returns the MDWA to a known state.
  • One embodiment of the MDWA contains a Power-On Self Test (POST) and a Built-In Self Test (BIST).
  • POST Power-On Self Test
  • BIST Built-In Self Test
  • the POST occurs when the module is first powered up to ensure that the major functions operate correctly, but is bypassed during subsequent transitions out of hibernate mode (where the CPU was powered down), decreasing the power-up time.
  • the BIST can provide a much more extensive set of tests and diagnostics, and may be used both during manufacturing as well as at the customer site to verify correct operation of the module and diagnose any hardware failure. Typical radio cards either report nothing upon start up or a numerical error code that call not be interpreted by the host.
  • the BIST and POST provide diagnostics that are not typically available to the host device.
  • a MDWA can support updates of the wireless adapter software from the wireless network interface with little or no involvement by the Host Device.
  • the MDWA can automatically download and install the new firmware.
  • devices with a user interface and appropriate service screen may trigger the final SW load into the MDWA through that user interface.
  • the MDWA can be designed to load SW from the Network Server on power up or boot or upon other event (such as notification across the Host API) where the MDWA can be sure no patient is being monitored.
  • Enterprise solutions can be used to have an external server push new firmware to the MDWA.
  • the MDWA provides the ability for the Network Server to program the card software.
  • the device overwrites its own firmware in real-time, which poses problems if there is an error in the code load.
  • two copies of the firmware can be stored on the device and the power up interrupt can point to either copy.
  • the boot core can re-boot from the earlier firmware version.
  • the third solution is a compromise between the first two methods, where the new firmware overwrites most, but not all of the original firmware.
  • the boot core responsible for a few basic operations, including writing new firmware, is left unchanged. In the event the firmware load is corrupt, the boot core is still available to re-load firmware.
  • the second solution requires and the third solution can use a separate bank of memory from that location where code is run. This allows new firmware to be downloaded and the code integrity confirmed before the new firmware is executed. Integrity checks include CRC and revision checks.
  • the ability to update the MDWA software through the radio interface can allow a network product to update all of the MDWAs on the network, independent of the instrument type or protocol.
  • updates of the wireless card software are made over the wireless network interface with little or no involvement by the host device.
  • the MDWA software can be supplied by HTTP, FTP, TFTP, SNMP, and other services known to those skilled in the art.
  • the independence of software revisions to instrument type or protocol reduces the complexity of the host device software that needs to be integrated into each instrument and validated.
  • the preferred embodiment advantageously uses bi-directional authentication to ensure that no one can “hijack” the device and install
  • MDWA firmware updates can be accomplished in a device independent manner in one embodiment, in the preferred embodiment, device firmware updates will benefit from some support from the Host Device and associated communications protocol. This protocol allows a confirmation that no critical applications, e.g. continuous vital signs monitors in process, will be interrupted by a MDWA firmware update.
  • firmware updates of the MDWA can be done by either: (a) disassembly of the monitor, (b) loading the MDWA firmware into the monitor, which subsequently re-programs the MDWA or (c) an over-the-air update.
  • Option (a) requires excessive work for each firmware update and option (b) requires custom firmware be written on both the MDWA and Host Device sides. Both require physical access to the Host Device.
  • the preferred embodiment performs firmware updates for the MDWA over a WLAN communications interface.
  • the MDWA can provide the capability to store and export version information for Host Device hardware and software components to the network system. This version information can in turn be used by the system software to determine what software modules or releases are appropriate for the MDWA, the Host Device, and each of the sub-components that make up the Host Device.
  • the MDWA provides a software update to a Host Device by loading new Host Device software, including firmware updates as part of the Host API, from the wireless network.
  • This allows the Host Device to use the MDWA as a staging area for loading firmware updates. That is, the memory that supports firmware upgrades for the MDWA can also be used as a staging area for over-the-air firmware upgrades.
  • the invention includes a Host API that allows the Host Device to use MDWA's memory via any host interface.
  • the MDWA provides a mechanism via the Host API Proxy and/or inspection of data using Adapter Mode that restricts firmware upgrade activity to only occur when there is no patient activity.
  • Diversity is typically used on reception where the received power of different antenna elements is analyzed, and the element with the highest power is used for RF input.
  • the different antenna elements can easily have a 30 dB performance difference, depending on the constructive/destructive interference at that point in space. This highest power element is assumed to be the best element for transmissions that occur at a time very close to the reception.
  • the MDWA supports one or more antennas, any of which may be disabled for Host Devices that cannot accommodate a second antenna.
  • antennas can be oriented to provide polarization and spatial diversity for both the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands.
  • a cabled, modular antenna allows for easy disposition of the antenna within an embedded device. In comparison, an antenna that is fixed with respect to the MDWA may be too large in one dimension for inclusion in the host device.
  • a cabled antenna also can allow for an antenna-radio pair with a modular device approval to fit inside multiple embedded devices, where a fixed antenna would not, simplifying regulatory and compliance efforts for the host device development.
  • the location beacons are transmitted without any RF reception, it is not obvious which element should be used. In this case, one embodiment of the MDWA system splits power between the two elements, possibly producing a circularly polarized signal. If location beacons are very short and transmitting two beacons, one out each antenna then as in a preferred embodiment, then the beacon is transmitted via antenna 1 and then via antenna 2 .
  • RTLS Real Time Location Services
  • the MDWA supports such interfaces and can use such systems as an auxiliary telemetry channel.
  • this channel can either be used at all times, enabled as a function of the host's state, or enabled as a function of the 802.11 link state.
  • the data payload can be any state information for the Host Device, including, but not limited to, patient alarm status, a reduced set of physiological data, performance metrics, battery status, host on/off, 802.11 link status, etc.
  • the MDWA provides a mesh network capability by acting as a client on one network or channel, an Access Point (AP) on another network or channel, and routing packets between those networks.
  • the MDWA can be an AP on a first network, such as a low power personal area network (PAN), and a station (STA) on a second network, such as an 802.11a/b/g network.
  • PAN personal area network
  • STA station
  • the MDWA can route packets between these two networks.
  • These networks could use the same or completely different protocols, including but not limited to 802.11a/b/g, a Personal Area Network including any of the IEEE standards, e.g.
  • the MDWA uses one or more of these various types of networks to aggregate vital signs data from one or more sensors directly attached to or worn by the patient, or from one or more applications running on the Wireless adaptor, or a combination thereof.
  • the MDWA can further process that data (or aggregated data) in order to suppress false alarms.
  • the device can then forward the processed and filtered information to another device, e.g. server, PDA, laptop, cellular phone, connected to the wireless infrastructure.
  • the MDWA implements the analogous functionality of taking data to/from devices on a first network and appropriately formatting the data from/to a second network.
  • the MDWA provides two modes of operation. In either mode, the device can be customized to meet the needs of the Host Device and the final application. Parameters can be configured as follows:
  • the MDWA first provides a method to set modes for default operation, including selection of which host interface to use (USB, Serial, PCMCIA, Ethernet, Card Bus or other interface known to those skilled in the art) and defining the protocol variables, e.g. bit rate, flow control on/off.
  • the host interface to use can be determined automatically, or set once.
  • auto rate detection algorithms are implemented in addition to setting a default operation mode.
  • the MDWA further provides a method to set TCP/IP and 802.11 parameters, e.g. configuring for DHCP or Static IP address assignment, and Service Set IDentifiers (SSID).
  • TCP/IP and 802.11 parameters e.g. configuring for DHCP or Static IP address assignment, and Service Set IDentifiers (SSID).
  • SSID Service Set IDentifiers
  • the MDWA further provides a method to install network applications, such as a web server/client, TFTP server/client, FTP Server/Client, SNMP client, NTP client, 802.1x supplicant, and other network applications familiar to those skilled in the art. These applications provide services for the radio card which the host inherits without having to implement each of these services on the host itself. For Host Devices with memory, CPU, and other constraints, this provides substantial savings.
  • network applications such as a web server/client, TFTP server/client, FTP Server/Client, SNMP client, NTP client, 802.1x supplicant, and other network applications familiar to those skilled in the art.
  • a TFTP client is directed to download new firmware for the MDWA and/or the host from a server.
  • a TFTP server is then used to upload the firmware from the MDWA to the host.
  • the same can be accomplished with a web server/client, through FTP, SNMP, and other applications.
  • an NTP client provides a way for the host to always have an accurate date and time. This is important for time-stamping data and/or debugging, where accurate time stamps allow temporal correlation of data from the client with data from the network.
  • the MDWA further provides a method to install supplemental applications that increase the functionality of the MDWA to that similar to a conventional medical device.
  • supplemental applications include, but are not limited to, the ability to process, partially process, or aggregate data including, ECG data (including arrhythmia detection); EEG data; S P O 2 data; CO 2 data; cardiac output data; and temperature data.
  • ECG data including arrhythmia detection
  • EEG data including arrhythmia detection
  • S P O 2 data CO 2 data
  • cardiac output data cardiac output data
  • temperature data temperature data.
  • partial processing of data can be used to off-load from the Host Device algorithms for which the Host Device does not have sufficient CPU bandwidth.
  • the aggregation of data feature can be used when multiple sensors on various networks are attached to the same patient, for example, when a stand-alone S P O 2 monitor and a stand-alone ECG monitor are used.
  • knowledge of both data sets allows a more robust interpretation of the patient's condition.
  • Arrhythmia analysis can be augmented by knowledge of the oxygen saturation levels and the trends thereof. For example, a drop in oxygen saturation levels while the heart continues beating normally could indicate a pulmonary problem such as apnea or airway obstruction.
  • the MDWA further provides a method to configure security parameters.
  • security parameters include, but are not limited to, installing certificates, setting passwords, and other security configuration settings known to those skilled in the art.
  • Other parameters relate to installing a serial number, and MAC address, applying firmware upgrades, defining the operating parameters for location beacons, and in the case of adapter mode, configuring a discovery protocol.
  • a MDWA can provide status information including radio performance metrics such as RSSI, retry rates, channel information, Signal-to-noise ratio and version information to a host computer. Such information can be sent over a network via SNMP or other methods known to those skilled in the art.
  • a further embodiment of the MDWA includes functionality to support remote trouble shooting and problem resolution through both interactive and automated diagnostics, such as reporting the results of self tests, of hardware/software compatibility status as well as the results of upgrades and configuration changes.
  • the MDWA can provide support for a function to partially or completely restore a factory default configuration.
  • Roaming is defined herein as a circumstance where a device or installation including a MDWA logically changes association status from one AP to another, typically due to physically moving from one location to another, but also due to noise levels, AP loading, and other factors that may make a second AP provide a better communication channel.
  • the MDWA can support a roaming velocity of at least 5 miles per hour, even with encryption and authentication enabled. (Authentication adds an additional step to the roaming process.) This MDWA can further periodically scan for available Access Points in order to maintain a list of neighboring APs, which allows the MDWA to quickly jump to a new AP in the event the current AP becomes unavailable.
  • the MDWA can use other solutions, such as CCX V2 or greater (Cisco compatibility extensions) or 802.11r in order to populate the AP list.
  • a reduced scan interval can be applied after a timeout in order to reduce power consumption.
  • the reduced power feature can be configured to run automatically or to be set through a Host Interface API.
  • MDWA includes web servers, enabling MDWA use as: (a) a universal device configurator; (b) virtual display; (c) a broadcasting device for data display on a large screen monitor in the procedure or patient room; (d) a universal device upgrade utility; and (e) as an application server.
  • a MDWA can include a web server for use as a universal device configurator.
  • medical devices can be configured or re-configured remotely or locally over the internet. Such remote configuration can simplify the proliferation of device configurator applications and the configuration processes.
  • a web server is installed on the WMDA to provide a virtual display of the host device that can be viewed via a web browser.
  • the MDWA application can format and broadcast device data for display on a large screen monitor, such as a Monetron sold by Welch Allyn, Inc.
  • a Monetron is a large screen that is used to collect patient monitor data and display it locally (in the same manner that a central monitoring station might see the data) to enable consulting physicians to see the data.
  • This MDWA embodiment is also enabled to collect and combine data from other sources (devices, EMR) and broadcast for display on a large screen monitor (such as Monetron).
  • a web server is installed on the MDWA to enable the MDWA's use as universal device upgrade utility.
  • the small web server allows a customer and/or service technician to connect to a secure server via a browser and to download and install updated firmware.
  • the web server on the MDWA allows for a customer to license new parameter analysis software that extends the capabilities of the device, and thus the MDWA functions as an application server.
  • the new software can run on the MDWA instead of the device processor.
  • the MDWA application displays the new hybrid data in a browser on a device having a suitable display, or the MDWA can send the displays by wireless connection to a remote monitor, including a large screen monitor.

Abstract

The invention relates generally to a medical device wireless adapter, and more particularly, to a module that adapts an existing legacy or newly designed medical device to a healthcare provider's wireless infrastructure.

Description

    CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
  • This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/750,202, filed Dec. 14, 2005.
  • FIELD OF THE INVENTION
  • This invention relates generally to a medical device wireless adapter, and more particularly, to a module that adapts an existing legacy or newly designed medical device to a healthcare provider's wireless infrastructure.
  • BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
  • A broad range of existing and newly developed medical devices have a need for wireless connectivity. Such medical devices range from complex medical instrumentation incorporating embedded computers, including patient diagnostic equipment and patient monitors, to so-called “dumb” instruments that are network-unaware, such as a simple electronic thermometer with a serial output port that might do little more than make one type of measurement and output digital data representing the measurement.
  • The WiFi (Wireless-Fidelity) Alliance is an industry consortium that follows the IEEE 802.11 series of standards and works to improve interoperability between different suppliers. WiFi branded devices have become very popular and these devices are widely available. Connection or access points are also numerous, especially in more populated areas. Because of the proliferation of 802.11 computing devices, where physical proximity is not a barrier to network access, security is a concern. Encryption is one aspect of secure wireless operation. Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP), the first type of 802.11 encryption, was defeated relatively quickly. WEP serves as an example of the potential vulnerability of wireless networks. TKIP and 802.11i (branded as WiFi Protected Access (WPA) and WPA2, respectively) have replaced WEP and are the standard encryption solutions in use today.
  • Medical 802.11 users must further comply with security requirements of the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). HIPAA mandates that healthcare providers take reasonable measures to maintain an environment and infrastructure where patient medical information is only disclosed to those people and entities that have a valid need to access this information. Accordingly, healthcare providers expect medical device manufacturers to provide medical instrumentation that operates within a healthcare infrastructure in a secure manner, without an unreasonable configuration and maintenance overhead.
  • As the HIPAA guidelines are being implemented, the Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) 802.11 radio band market has transitioned from an “early adopter” phase in circa 2000 to a stage where WiFi networks are commonly available. While adoption of these network standards has been widely viewed as successful and deployments are wide spread (including healthcare institutions), initial mechanisms provided by these standards for managing a secure network have been proven to be vulnerable. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and other organizations have responded with a number of significant improvements. Their efforts have produced a new set of standards for wireless authentication and encryption, which have benefited from extensive review and involvement by the cryptography community. This work has resulted in a two stage release, with TKIP (WPA) first addressing improved authentication and key exchange in legacy wireless hardware, and 802.11i (WPA2) providing full strength AES encryption, strong authentication, and highly robust key exchange protocols that provide even stronger security for new hardware designs. Legacy devices, as used herein, refer to medical, industrial, or scientific devices that do not have means for wirelessly connecting to a network and/or devices that do not support adequate authentication/encryption levels.
  • WPA and WPA2 take advantage of Public Key Cryptography, and provide a robust solution to the security problem. However, commercial products that implement these standards rely on the host processor in a PDA, laptop or desktop computer to implement the computationally intensive Public Key portions of these standards. When these products are applied to the types of Medical Devices introduced above, this places an enormous computational burden on a real-time processor that is generally not well suited to the task. While chip manufacturers typically develop drivers and supplicants for common operating systems and microprocessors, these are generally not available for embedded platforms. Porting this sizable set of functionality to a broad range of processors and real-time operating systems (RTOS) for a diverse set of medical devices presents a significant development and computational burden that impacts each of the products that need wireless connectivity. While modern object oriented design practices do help alleviate the development burden, porting code is still a manual process. Many of these legacy medical devices simply do not have the CPU or memory resources necessary to accommodate Public Key Cryptography. In the case of a network-unaware medical instrument, there are likely no available computational resources within the medical device to assist in any aspect of wireless connectivity. What is needed is a medical WiFi adapter that can accomplish authentication, key negotiation, certificate management and strong encryption without the involvement of a host computer or host medical device processor and without needing an external software library, such as a dynamic linked library (DLL), resident outside of the medical WiFi adapter related to the authentication, key negotiation, or certificate management functions.
  • Bi-directional authentication of a device using Certificates can protect both the device and the infrastructure from adversaries. What is needed is a robust bidirectional authentication system for use by medical devices on a WiFi healthcare network infrastructure. Since some healthcare infrastructures support only unidirectional authentication (verifying to the network that the device is allowed, but the device can't determine whether it is connected to an imposter network or the real network), what is also needed is a bi-directional authentication capable WiFi medical device wireless adapter that can also support unidirectional authentication. Configuring medical devices on a medical network, particularly if authentication is used, can be a daunting and time consuming process as every device must be manually configured. Therefore, what is also needed is a WiFi medical device wireless adapter that can manage available certificates and automatically present a series of certificates to an authentication server in an order in which they are most likely to be accepted. Even if many clients use strong authentication and encrytion, when some client devices do not, unauthorized devices may access the network, leaving it vulnerable unless the network is careful designed.
  • Another problem in adding a network-unaware medical device to a medical network involves defining the instrument and its control and measurement parameters and presenting them in a meaningful way to the medical network. What is needed is a medical WiFi adapter that can assign a unique identifier to each network-unaware medical device or instrument added to a medical network to give context to the wireless communications with each network-unaware device.
  • Another problem in adding wireless connectivity to a medical device is power consumption. Typical WiFi devices (including cards, boards, and modules), such as those available for laptops, involve a great deal of traffic while a user is interacting with a computer, surrounded by long periods of no activity. To conserve energy, users may disable the wireless interface. Even without this, laptop and PDA users can work within a process where the battery is charged every few hours. Medical devices operate with a completely different set of use models. For example, in one common medical device mode, the medical device needs to send relatively small packets of data to the network continuously, hour after hour, day after day without tying the patient to a power cord umbilical. WiFi products that have been developed for the laptop and general purpose computer market lack the power options needed for the typical modes of operation used by wireless medical devices and do not support the complexities of state of the art medical-grade wireless devices and networks. What is needed is a WiFi medical device wireless adapter that can support power options needed for the typical modes of operation of medical devices.
  • Another problem with commercial WiFi products is personal radio frequency (RF) safety. While there is no credible or definitive evidence to date regarding any cancer or similar human pathology caused by RF exposure, it is well known and accepted that radiated RF energy of sufficient power and duration can heat human tissue. In response to the intense interest of recent years generated by studies involving cell phones and human exposure to RF, the FCC has set standards for maximum exposure to REF. The FCC defines the quantity used to measure how much RF energy is actually absorbed in a body as the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR), expressed in units of watts per kilogram (W/kg) or milliwatts per gram (mW/g) for portable devices (used within 20 cm of the body). Commercial WiFi devices are designed for mobile products and therefore subject to the much less stringent Maximum Permissible Exposure (MPE) limits. Thus commercial 802.11 devices set their output RF power and duty cycle (ratio of transmit time to non-transmit time) based on communications performance parameters and requirements, generally ignoring SAR (and MPE) limits. A medical WiFi adapter might be used in conjunction with a medical device situated very close to a patient. If a WiFi device were to be situated very close to a human body for extended periods of time, it is possible that the RF power and/or the duty cycle of the WiFi device would need to be reduced to meet the FCC SAR requirements in such a way as to not impact the operation of the medical device. Therefore what is needed is a medical WiFi adapter that can avoid exceeding the FCC SAR limit, while not adversely impacting the operation of the medical device, even when situated or worn very close to a patient's body.
  • There currently exist methods to track the physical location of an actively communicating commercial WiFi device. However, these methods require ongoing communications operations of the commercial WiFi device and if the commercial WiFi device is set to a power save mode where the transceiver is inactive, tracking ceases. There also exist WiFi location tags, also know as asset tags or location beacons that can operate at low power or go to standby and periodically send out a short WiFi communication solely for the purposes of radio tracking. What is needed is a medical WiFi adapter having a plurality of operating modes that can operate both during active WiFi data communications and when the medical WiFi adapter is in a power saving state. What is further needed is a medical WiFi adapter that can continue to provide a tracking function even when the power is removed from any host medical device or computer to which it is attached.
  • Most commercially available WiFi devices include one antenna permanently affixed to the device, usually in the form of an antenna extension on a plug in WiFi computer card. At least one specialty WiFi device offers an antenna “pig tail”, a short length of shielded RF cable with a connector to receive a cable from a WiFi antenna. However, what is needed is a medical WiFi adapter with two or more diversity antenna connections where the antennas can be located apart from each other and the antennas can be operated one at a time to aid in signal acquisition and asset location by RF beacon tracking.
  • There also exist medical device and monitor communication systems using infrared (IR), optical, and RF connectivity independent of WiFi. One feature provided by an IR communication system is the ability to positively locate a network resource to a particular room or to determine what side of a wall it is on by use of line of sight optical network communication. What is needed is a medical WiFi adapter that can connect to another medical network to improve location and tracking accuracy over that location accuracy available in WiFi only networks. What is also needed is a medical WiFi adapter that can connect to another medical network to provide a backup route for the transmission of critical care data.
  • Yet another problem with commercially available WiFi devices is reliability. Generally the communication lines of these devices (including signal, data, and control lines) lack filtering to protect them from radio frequency interference (RFI) or electromagnetic interference (EMI). A static discharge or other interfering signal can cause most WiFi devices to do an uncommanded reset. Therefore there is a need for a medical WiFi adapter that is RFI/EMI hardened.
  • A related problem with commercial WiFi devices is that these devices can hang or freeze in operation. The only way to clear this fault is to reboot the WiFi device, which usually means rebooting the host processor (usually a laptop or other general purpose computer) as well. It is not practical to reboot most patient care and monitoring devices while they are in patient service. In fact, a medical device reboot could be dangerous or life threatening to the patient in the case of some critical care medical devices. Therefore there is also a need for a medical WiFi adapter that does not freeze, or in the unlikely event of a hang, that can reboot independently of and without rebooting any medical devices for which it is providing wireless connectivity, as well as restore its previous working configuration or alert the host device that a re-configuration is required.
  • Yet another problem for a commercial WiFi device is to reestablish its network association after a reset. Once reset, a typical WiFi device takes on factory defaults and needs to be re-configured for a given wireless network. While the host can re-configure the card upon reset, it is faster if the card has all the information required to configure itself upon reset. Therefore there is also a need for a medical WiFi adapter that can save its most current operating configuration parameters, reboot as needed, and quickly and automatically re-associate with its intended network.
  • Yet another problem for commercial WiFi devices involves updating the configuration and firmware within the device. Some commercial WiFi devices can be firmware updated by use of the host computer as by downloading a firmware update from a WiFi device manufacturer and then updating the firm-ware by executing a small program resident on the host computer over the host computer bus, such as a PCI bus. The problem is that in a typical medical environment the host processor might only be minimally involved in WiFi operation and not able to conveniently accept (as by download) and then update its attached (or otherwise installed) medical WiFi adapter. Moreover, some medical WiFi adapters might not have an available host processor to assist in performing software updates. Medical devices typically lack a interface for configuration and further lack a means of remotely configuring the medical device. Therefore there is also a need for a medical WiFi adapter that can independently receive firmware updates over a WiFi connection without endangering a patient critical care function. Further, there is a need for a medical WiFi adapter that can receive a firmware update for and update the firmware in a host medical device over WiFi without endangering a patient critical care function. What is needed is a medical WiFi adapter that can also provide network applications such as a TFTP, SNMP, or HTTP.
  • Another problem in medical device applications is that a very large number of medical monitors, instruments, and network-unaware devices can be spread out over a large building or complex of buildings and over many floors of the buildings. Therefore what is needed is a medical WiFi adapter that can take on additional networking roles to facilitate medical WiFi applications in the medical business environment, including bridging between different network types or acting as gateway for a PAN to connect to an IP network, where any additional network functions can be time multiplexed or otherwise time shared if there are any on going or intermittent WiFi client operations, and in a way so as not to jeopardize any critical patient WiFi communications.
  • Another problem is that commercially available WiFi devices are not well suited to handling input and output (I/O) to or from any port or bus other than the port or bus to which the WiFi device is attached. A small number of specialty WiFi devices have offered additional inputs, such as from a serial communications connection. What is needed is a medical WiFi adapter that can accept (I/O) from a plurality of I/O connections in addition to any host bus to which the WiFi medical adapter might be connected, including one or more serial connections, USB connections, 802.3 Ethernet connections and/or a connection to a parallel interface such as card bus, compact flash, or PCMCIA bus.
  • What is further needed is a system to support efficient 802.11 communication for different classes of information between the plurality of medical devices and the network. Also needed is a system to prioritize the data so as not to delay time critical diagnostic or monitoring data in presence of non-critical data.
  • Where a plurality of medical devices is connected to a medical measurements with an individual patient. The collated measurements can be reported or continuously displayed for a nurse or doctor to view them. The nurse or doctor can form a diagnosis or recognize a critical patient situation that might need short term attention or an emergency response. What is needed is a medical WiFi adapter that can also run one or more diagnostic algorithms accepting input from a plurality of medical devices to take some action such as sounding an alarm to assist a medical professional to quickly identify a patient in medical distress.
  • There exist a number of United States patents directed to medical device adapters and modules, including U.S. Pat. No. 7,129,836 issued to Lawson et. al. on Oct. 31, 2006. Lawson teaches a wireless patient data acquisition system. Particularly, Lawson teaches an acquisition device that includes inputs to receive data from sensors connected to a patient, a wireless and/or wired transmitter that transmits the data received by the inputs, and a housing. Lawson's device can be further configured to transmit data from a data acquisitions device to a local monitor point-to-point. Lawson does not teach a medical adapter than can be controlled by a host acquisition device, nor does Lawson teach a medical adaptor that converts a non-wireless medical device to a wireless medical device, nor does Lawson teach a medical adapter in a small form such as a PCMCIA, PCI, Compact Flash or 802.11 a/b/g network interface card. Lawson is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
  • U.S. Pat. No. 6,950,859 issued to Bartek et. al. on Sep. 27, 2005 teaches a method for emulating a physical connection using a wireless connection. Bartek further teaches an adapter with an RF interface, a processor, and a USB interface. Bartek does not teach an adapter capable of transmitting data wirelessly to a network, such as a healthcare provider's wireless infrastructure. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,850,788 issued to Al-Ali on Feb. 1, 2005 teaches a sensor and monitor interface device, allowing a monitor to wirelessly receive data from a sensor. Like Bartek, however, Al-Ali does not teach an adapter that is capable of transmitting the data to a health care provider's wireless infrastructure. Bartek and Al-Ali are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
  • U.S. Pat. No. 3,810,102 issued to Parks, III et. al. on May 7, 1974 teaches a method and system for transmitting biomedical data to a remote station for subsequent processing. The system samples and digitizes analog electrical biomedical signals over a communication link. Parks II, however, does not teach a medical adapter that includes a bi-directional wireless radio transceiver. Bi-directional transmission allow for a feedback to inform the transmitter if a re-transmission is required, resulting in a more reliable communication link. It also allows the network to control the instrument and/or the wireless communication link via the wireless communication link. Parks III is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
  • Therefore, a medical device wireless adapter that is backwards compatible with existing legacy devices an-d forward compatible with emerging standards, including bi-directional communication is desired.
  • Further, a medical device wireless adapter that is usable with embedded medical applications and that is also low power, a robust wireless solution with failure recovery, HIPAA compliant, and support for device location is desired.
  • SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
  • The invention comprises, in one form thereof, a medical device wireless adapter (“MDWA”) that adapts an existing legacy or newly designed medical data acquisition (“host”) device to a healthcare provider's wireless infrastructure.
  • More particularly, the invention includes a medical device wireless adapter comprising a radio section; one or more means for exchanging data between said adapter and said host device; one or more means for exchanging data between said adapter and a network; a CPU block including integrated support for hosting one or more applications; and one or more memory means; wherein said adapter is configured with one or more host interface modes.
  • BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
  • The present invention is disclosed with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
  • FIG. 1A is a block diagram of a medical device wireless adapter according to the present invention;
  • FIG. 1B is a block diagram of a medical device wireless adapter with a single CPU running both the application code and the MAC/BB code;
  • FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of an exemplary medical network infrastructure;
  • FIG. 3 is a power mode state transition diagram for an exemplary MDWA;
  • FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of an exemplary MDWA in greater detail; and
  • FIG. 5 shows an exemplary communication line filter.
  • Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views. The examples set out herein illustrate several embodiments of the invention but should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention in any manner.
  • DETAILED DESCRIPTION
  • Referring to FIG. 1A, there is shown a block diagram of a medical device wireless adapter (“MDWA”) of the present invention. In one embodiment, the MDWA 100 can connect to and exchange data over a PCMCIA bus 102. This is a particularly convenient way to add wireless connectivity to legacy medical devices having available PCMCIA slots to accept a MDWA 100 in this embodiment, in the form of a PCMCIA card. CPU block 101 (including internal and/or external memory) performs all application computational functions of MDWA 100. MDWA 100 can receive and send data to devices over one or more serial ports 103, Ethernet ports 104, USB ports 105, over the PCMCIA bus, or over other interface known to those skilled in the art, including PCI, CardBus, SPI, IEEE 1394 and I2 C. Manufacturing interface 106 can be used to program the Application CPU and associated memory 101 with the MDWA firmware at time of manufacture or in the field via an interface cable (not shown). JTAG block 109 represents self test routines that enhance the manufacturing yield of MDWA 100 by thoroughly exercising many of its functions during power up or by other request for self test, including boundary scan. These test routines can follow guidelines or standards set forth by the Joint Test Action Group (JTAG). The radio section 110 (typically including a MAC-baseband processor 123 and a Radio Frequency (RF) transceiver 124) can comprise a commercially available WiFi RF chip set. FIG. 1B shows an MDWA with the logical function of the application CPU with memory and the MAC/BB processor embodied in a single chip 125. Returning to FIG. 1A, radio section 110 can be further connected to CPU block 101 by the interface bus 112, such as Compact Flash, PCI, SPI, or other bus known to those skilled in the art. Cable 121 and connector 120 can be used to connect an antenna 111A to RF section 110. If optional diversity switch 122 is included, a second antenna, 111B, may be connected, whereupon the MAC/BB processor implements an algorithm to select the best antenna to use via diversity switch 122. Power management block 108 controls and sets the various power modes of MDWA 100. An optional connection to a secondary communication system (auxiliary device) 107 can add backup communication and supplementary location tracking functionality.
  • MDWA 100 can be a module, board, or plug in device. MDWA 100 can be used to adapt an existing legacy or newly designed medical device (collectively, “Host Devices”) to a healthcare provider's 802.11 a/b/g wireless infrastructure. As used herein, “Host Device” refers to any medical device configured to acquire patient data. Alternately, the MDWA 100 can be used to adapt a medical device to a healthcare provider's 802.3 hardwired Ethernet infrastructure. MDWA 100 can provide a number of capabilities, described below, that are not available from any of the commercially available 802.11 a/b/g network interface cards. MDWA 100 can also be suitable for use with Body Area Networks, Personal Area Networks, Wide Area Networks, Metropolitan Area Networks, Cellular networks and other networks known to those skilled in the art. For example, a Serial-to-Bluetooth adapter such as the SMK VRB2211 could be attached to the serial interface 103, allowing MDWA 100 to communicate with a host device over a short-range wireless link as is taught in U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 10/806,770, 11/031,736, 11/455,368, and 11/455,329, entitled “Personal Status Physiological Monitor System and Architecture,” to Welch, et al., the entire contents of each herein incorporated by reference.
  • Each MDWA 100 can have a unique MAC address for the Wireless interface, and a unique MAC address for the hardwired Ethernet interface. These addresses can be programmable via manufacturing interface 106. MDWA 100 can also have a Product Serial Number. The serial number can be configured on manufacturing interface 106 and readable via any MDWA 100 interface including interfaces 102, 103, 104, 105, or 106. MDWA 100 can be calibrated digitally and the calibration constants can be read & verified. Note that all functions of the manufacturing interface can be available over any interface, but in the preferred embodiment, manufacturer-specific functions are typically restricted.
  • Serial port 103 can support RX and TX signals using, for example, bipolar RS-232 signaling levels or TTL-level signals and power can be supplied over the same interface, allowing serial devices to provide power to the radio card analogous to the method used in PCMCIA interfaces. A Power/Serial port 103 can also support handshaking signals such as RTS, CTS, DTR, and DSR signals using either TTL or bipolar RS-232 signaling levels. The RTS/CTS signals can be included for devices that require hardware flow control. The DTR/DSR signals can be included in consideration for a device that asserts a signal to indicate it is ready to communicate and/or support an “On Network” indication, e.g. an LED, on the Host Device without a need for software support by the Host Device. It should be noted that any Power/Serial port input signal can also be used to “wake” MDWA 100 from a low power mode.
  • In one embodiment, the MDWA 100 operates in complex WiFi implementations, especially including IEEE 802.1x and 802.11i, which support authentication, session key negotiation, certificate management, and encryption down into the MDWA. MDWA 100 can also implement 802.11e quality of service and is upgradeable without support from the host device to support other standards such as improved roaming support (802.11r and 802.11k) as these standards are ratified. MDWA 100 can perform these functions, freeing the Host Device both in terms of compute resources as well as software complexity. Note that use of a commercial off the shelf wireless card would push much of this implementation into the device driver, or DLL, and as a result onto the host processor. While such a sharing of computational resources can be acceptable where the host is a Windows laptop with a 1-2 GHz processor and no real-time constraints, it is not a desirable solution for a host medical instrument, such as a Vital Signs Monitor.
  • By way of example, there are at least two methods in which the MDWA can be used to interface with a Host Device. The first method comprises a Host API Mode, in which the Host Device integrates a small set of code known as the Host Applications Programming Interface (API), or Host API Proxy, which allows the Host Device to manage and control the MDWA through an applications interface. The second method utilizes an Adapter Mode, in which the Host Device does not integrate any code, and operates in the manner it was originally designed, e.g. simply transmits raw data on a serial port. In this mode, the MDWA can detect that a device is ready to establish communications with a serial device, e.g. term server, and adapt that protocol to allow the device to establish communications. The MDWA does this by monitoring the data and/or control lines of the appropriate interface, and then acts on behalf of the device to present said device to the network. Once device communications has been established and completed, as by a proprietary rendezvous or similar discovery protocol, the MDWA becomes a simple pass through device, forwarding packets between two interfaces. The rendezvous protocol is described in greater detail in co-pending and commonly owed U.S. Pat. No. 6,616,606, “Patient Monitoring System,” the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Data traffic and/or control line status can also be used in this mode to detect that a connection should be timed out, and the process restarted.
  • Host API Mode
  • In one embodiment, the MDWA provides a single, common Host Application Program Interface (API) regardless of which interface is used by a given Host Device (Serial Port, PCMCIA, USB, or other alternatives). Complete functionality can be provided over all of the available interfaces. This common API encourages reuse of software components across multiple product lines, further reducing the effort to integrate the MDWA with subsequent devices.
  • In one embodiment, the Host API Proxy can be a small set of code that to be multiplexed with other network data traffic, and sent to or received from the MDWA over the appropriate interface. Unlike modems and some prior art devices, which share a single channel for network data and control information, this proxy can communicate over a set of distinct logical channels that coexist concurrently with the control channel used to manage the MDWA.
  • The code can also encapsulate the process of creating packets to be multiplexed over the appropriate interface (RS-232, PCMCIA, Ethernet, USB, or other interface), destined for either the command interpreter or a specific socket endpoint. In one embodiment, the MDWA provides deterministic behavior with respect to command traffic and data traffic that is multiplexed onto the serial port or other interface. Note that some serial interface devices, such as modems, transition a single serial connection between command mode and data mode when a connection or attachment is made with the other end of the network. While an escape sequence or control signal marks these transitions, in many cases it is impossible for the host device to tell whether the serial port was in command mode or data mode at the instant the last command or data packet was sent. The MDWA software is adapted to address this problem through the use of a multiplexing layer, which can identify and route to several logical destinations, independent of the state of the other destinations. The use of a multiplexing layer enables multiple network endpoints to be active at the same time, regardless of the type of interface. Some medical device protocols require that two distinct ports be open at the same time, e.g., one for the rendezvous packets, and one for instrument data packets. As a result, the Host Device needs to be able to send and receive data for at least two different ports, plus commands for the MDWA over a common channel. This channel can be any available host interface, e.g., USB, Ethernet, Serial, PCMCIA, CardBus, Mini-PCI, and others generally known to those skilled in the art.
  • For example, when using interfaces such as PCMCIA and Ethernet, one could simply assign these functions to different port addresses. In one embodiment, the MDWA is adapted to send/receive data to/from multiple endpoints over a common channel, allowing fully capable wireless adapter functionality over less capable interfaces such as RS-232. The Host APT Proxy provides a proxy for network communications using an object oriented C++ API styled after BSD Sockets. Examples of this can be found in the Java and C# socket APIs.
  • Adapter Mode
  • Adapter Mode provides the wireless adapter the ability to adapt so-called “dumb” host devices, such as a legacy Infusion Pump or other network-unaware devices. These adapted devices can then communicate with at least one central monitoring station, at least one server, or other controlling system product, and enable management and tracking of those devices by the IT network staff
  • In this context, the Host Device does not integrate the Host API Proxy. Rather, the MDWA actively presents the Host Device to the network. The MDWA is further adapted to execute rendezvous or discovery medical protocols on behalf of the attached Host Device. In this embodiment, the protocol can comprise a UDP packet of a pre-defined format that is broadcast to the network on a well known port This broadcast packet can include a unique device identifier that is a requirement for networked system products, even where the legacy device does not provide this capability. The unique identifier may be configured into the MDWA, either during provisioning or during customer configuration on site through a web or command line interface.
  • Once the initial rendezvous or discovery process is complete, the MDWA passes bidirectional data between the device and the networked system. This enables even a network-unaware device with only an RS-232 serial port or USB port and no network stack or other supplemental software to become a “Full Network Citizen,” with minimal or no modification to the existing device.
  • In this embodiment, the MDWA also automatically enables a network connection by completing the steps of association, obtaining an IP address, and authenticating. Furthermore, an application on the MDWA may provide the bridging of the communications data between the native device and the TCP/IP network interfaces.
  • In another embodiment, the MDWA communicates with the Network Host with either a real-time rendezvous or a store and forward mechanism, such as e-mail or pager notification. For real-time rendezvous, a pre-defined packet is transmitted as either a broadcast or directed packet to a server in order to establish a link between the host device and the server. In the case of store and forward, the MDWA buffers the information until it can be handed off to the destination, such as an e-mail or paging service. Initiation of either of these communication methods can occur upon assertion of a control line, or upon receipt of a packet the host normally sends to communicate with another RS-232 device. In a further embodiment, the MDWA Power Modes, including Hibernate, can be automatically controlled by the application running on the MDWA, based on traffic analysis. MDWA Power Modes are discussed in more detail herein.
  • In one embodiment, the manufacturing interface 106 supports manufacturing configuration of the call method. This defines the initial control signal behavior, or the initial bytes that would be transmitted/received by the MDWA to begin communications with the Host Device.
  • An MDWA 100 as so far described can be used as a part of the Wireless Infrastructure of a hospital or clinical office. FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of an exemplary medical network infrastructure 200.
  • The MDWA is configurable to address several different classes of Host Devices. The most “mission critical” of these devices are those that must communicate adverse patient conditions, such as patient alarms from continuous vital signs monitors 205, and equipment alerts from infusion pumps 204. Monitors 205 are typically attached to a single patient 209 for hours or even days, and report alarms in addition to capturing various physiological variable data including, but not limited to, pulse rate, and body temperature, as well as ECG, pulse oximetry, and additionally periodic measurements of blood pressure as needed. Vital signs monitors typically include sensors or other electrodes for acquiring patient data. The MDWA is also configurable to address body worn sensors. An example of this type of host device is more specifically described in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/591,619 entitled “Body Worn Physiological Sensor Device Having a Disposable Electrode Module,” to Baker, et. al., filed Nov. 1, 2006, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. In addition to monitors, several other types of devices can co-exist on a network. These include devices more fully described herein.
  • Spot Check Monitors 201 are devices that can typically travel with a Nurse or Clinician 203, and are used to acquire and upload individual readings while the clinician is present with a patient 209. Wireless connections in these devices allows the patient data to be transacted directly to the Clinical Information System (CIS) or Hospital Information System (HIS), via an interface such as HL7, which interface is implemented on the MDWA.
  • Infusion Pumps 204 are devices that can use a wireless network to download Drug Libraries and Medication Rules, avoiding the need for a bio-technician to track down and interact with each and every pump in the hospital. Downloading Drug Libraries and Medication Rules is aided by the MDWA that buffers the Libraries and Rules analogous to how it buffers new firmware for the host device, as is taught later in the specification In addition, prescriptions can be transferred over the wireless infrastructure to an infusion pump so that a clinician need only confirm the order or the clinician input can be transferred over the wireless infrastructure to the pharmacy and verified against the original prescription order. While wireless infusion pumps exist, they do not implement strong authentication/encryption and a bevy of legacy infusion pumps are in use in hospitals today.
  • Personal Digital Assistants 202 are handheld devices that can be used by a clinician to record and/or receive clinical information, including physiological alarms, and interact with other systems in the hospital.
  • Mobile diagnostic workstations or Computer on Wheels (COWs) 208 are PCs that can be used for clinical activities such as vital signs charting, CIS access, HIS access, and/or the ordering and accessing of Clinical Lab results such as by a hospital intranet 212. One specific application is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/131,015, “Mobile Medical Workstation,” filed May 17, 2005, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
  • Network Access to the hospital intranet 212 can be provided by a connection to a medical 802.11 wireless infrastructure 210 by MDWA 100 and by other hospital devices. Guest network access is a capability that allows patients and visitors 206 to use laptops 207 with wireless capability, such as a commercial general purpose 802.11 adapter 214, to access the Internet 211 while they are in the hospital.
  • For medical devices and instruments that provide Continuous Vital Signs Monitoring, there is an increased expectation of system reliability, including the need for a high reliability 802.11 medical network connection. By contrast, at a slightly less demanding level of reliability, Spot Check devices can use whatever network is available (including wireless infrastructure 210), whether or not it meets the mission critical requirements,
  • FIG. 4 shows a more detailed block diagram of exemplary MDWA hardware according to the invention that has been found useful to test the various functions of a MDWA as described herein. The CPU and some memory function of 101 in FIG. 1 were provided by an AT91RM9200 4001 manufactured by the Atmel Corporation. The AT91RM9200 includes a 200 MIPS ARM920T processor with 16K-byte instruction and 16K-byte data cache memories, 16K bytes of SRAM, 128K bytes of ROM, External Bus Interface featuring SDRAM, Burst Flash and Static Memory Controllers, USB Device and Host Interfaces, Ethernet 10/100 BaseT MAC, Power Management Controller, Real Time Clock, System Timer, Synchronous Serial Controller 6-channel Timer-Counter, 4-channel USART, Two-Wire Interface, Serial Peripheral Interface, Multimedia Card Interface and Parallel I/O Controller. The AT91 supports slow clock and idle modes that are used to support low-power operations discussed below. Additional memory as represented by block 101 of FIG. 1 was present as FLASH memory 4002 and SRAM memory 4003. Debugging was accomplished with the use of an Ethernet Debug connection 4004 (connector not shown) and Serial Debug connection 4005 (connector not shown). A radio section 110, comprised of a Conexant MAC/Baseband processor and transceiver (Voyager chipset) coupled to AT91RM9200 4001 via a CompactFlash Interface Bus 112. The power to radio 110 is controlled by FET 4006, to support low-power modes discussed below. The PCMCIA interface 102 of FIG. 1 was provided by PCMCIA connector 4007 and PCMCIA circuit interface by a Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transceiver (UART) 4008. The USB port interface 105 of FIG. 1 was provided by USB connector 4022. Although not implemented in the example, it is contemplated that any connector that would connect to the host, including USB connector 4022 and Ethernet Debug connection 4004 can also be coupled to hibernate circuit 4016, preferably coupled via Filtering/Protection circuits 4020. A decision to couple an interface to the hibernate circuit depends on the power used by that interface. In the present embodiment, only serial and PCMCIA physical host device interfaces are supported, therefore Ethernet and USB are disabled to save power. The serial port interface 103 of FIG. 1 was provided by serial/power connector 4009 and RS-232 level shifter 4010, allowing either TTL or RS-232 level signaling. Timing and clocks for the AT91RM9200 4001 were supplied by 18 MHz crystal 4011 (CPU clock) and a 32 kHz RTC (real time clock) Crystal 4012. MDWA power supplied by a 3.3V regulated or 4 V to 6 V unregulated power source 4013 and regulated by a 3.3 V regulator 4014 (if required) and a 1.8 V regulator 4015. Note the topology of the regulatory circuits depends is optimized for best efficiency and in some designs, the lower voltage regulator may run directly off the input power source. Hibernate circuit 4016 provided part of the power mode control system. Filtering/Protection Circuits block 4020 comprises a filter to remove RFI/EMI signals that could cause an uncommanded reset of application CPU 4001. It should be noted that any communications (signal) line can also be advantageously filtered, including reset, data, and other signal lines. Watch dog circuit 4021 provides an external monitoring circuit to detect and restart the module in the event of a software application failure or operating system fault. An auxiliary device such as a location hardware block such as is manufactured by Radianse, Inc. of Lawrence, Mass. 4017 is supported to supplement MDWA functionality. For example, optical communications block 4019 can aid in locating an asset using the MDWA to tell for example, what side of a wall the asset is on (while RF energy from Radio 110 and RF block 4018 can penetrate a wall, the light from optical communications block 4019 cannot penetrate an opaque wall). Further RF block 4018 can provide backup data communications to the MDWA 802.11 network connection. It should be noted that other public domain and proprietary hospital communication networks and channels can be added to an MDWA in addition to, or in place of the location/communication 4017 function, or the MDWA can operate with no supplementary location/communication system.
  • Referring now to FIG. 5, filtering of data, signal, and control lines, such as a reset line, can be achieved using a low-pass filter, such as implemented by the RC section (R 501, C 502) of the circuit 500. In addition, if ESD protection is required, diodes 503 to supply and grounds may be used. Depending on data speeds and immunity levels required, the capacitance of diodes 503 can serve to provide enough low-pass filtering to provide protection against signal glitches from external sources.
  • The MDWA of the present invention typically supports IEEE standards including 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g PHYs, but can be extended through firmware update to support 802.11n. To that end, a TCP/IP stack can comprise a minimum of four layers, including frill support for UDP, TCP, ARP, DHCP, and ICMP. In addition, applications are included to provide support for TFTP and web-based services. This MDWA can further provide support for a rendezvous protocol, e.g., a predefined UDP broadcast packet. Also, client support can be provided for DNS, NTP, SNMP, and other network protocols known to those skilled in the art.
  • The following is a summary of MDWA 100 wireless adapter functions that can be performed in firmware running on CPU block 101. We note that Radio Section 110 includes a CPU and all aspects of Radio CPU can run on the Application CPU 4001 and vice-versa. In a preferred embodiment, a single CPU in on the radio card implements MAC/Baseband and applications functions.
  • Asset Tracking
  • An Asset Tracking and Real Time Location Service (RTLS) using MDWA 100 can be done in at least two alternative technologies. The first is based on a hybrid IR/RF capability that can be provided by a secondary communication system attached as exemplary auxiliary device 4017 and the second is based on 802.11 Access Points receiving and examining the signal strength and/or latency of 802.11 packets. Note that some asset tracking solutions support a minimal communication channel. An exemplary back-up communications system could be set up using an AeroScout, Radianse, or PanGO module combined with an 802.11 infrastructure. An 802.11 client can be tracked by the infrastructure to which it connects, as illustrated by thin AP solutions from Aruba Wireless Networks and Cisco Networks, however, when that client goes off the air, tracking ability is typically lost. Dedicated 802.11-based tracking tags such as those offered by AeroScout or PanGO last for years, but work only on 802.11b/g infrastructures and do not support full 802.11 client communication. The MDWA can also provide uninterrupted tracking operation, where the Asset Tracking function is provided even for periods when the Host Device power has been turned off, or the main battery has been removed. The MDWA provides an auxiliary power input where a backup power source 4023 provides sufficient energy for the MDWA to beacon as if it were only an asset tracking tag. That is, the MDWA can be placed in a low-power state where it is programmed to provide asset tracking functions. Upon exit from this state, full 802.11 radio functions are restored. Tracking can continue based either only on 802.11 data traffic, or 802.11 data traffic and transmissions specifically tailored for tracking, such as transmitting on every channel periodically to ensure that all nearby APs contribute to the position determination. To save power, the MDWA (or a simple asset tracking tag) can occasionally determine which APs are nearby (e.g. using 802,11r or probe requests) and only transmit on those channels. Asset tracking can be used to track assets, patients, and personnel. Asset tracking makes it possible to find equipment and decreases the time it takes to find wheelchairs, infusion pumps and other equipment. This enables the hospital to better manage their medical equipment assets. An alarm can sound if equipment is removed from its approved area. Patient tracking allows a patient to be found quickly in the event that the patient has an event and also allows the hospital to manage patient flow to decrease wait time. Personnel tracking allows the hospital to send the nearest clinician when a patient is in trouble and allows the hospital to manage workflows so that clinicians arrive when needed, e.g., alert a surgeon so that the surgeon does not arrive before the surgical suite is ready, or before the patient has been prepped.
  • Converting to an Asset Tag
  • Any active 802.11 radio can be located by infrastructures such as those available from Cisco Systems and Aruba Networks. Similarly, asset tags can be located through its periodic beacon, though these devices cannot maintain a network connection. When an 802.11 radio is inactive, locating it becomes impossible unless it takes on the character of an asset tag, transmitting an occasional location beacon. This location beacon could be implemented by occasionally awakening and establishing a network connection or it could include full emulation of an asset tag, including beaconing that allows location detection without a full network connection (saving power compared with establishing a network connection). Modifying the number of beacons per unit time can be modified to trade off battery life for how often the location is updated, a feature that exists in asset tags, but not in radio cards. In addition, when the MDWA changes to asset tag mode, it can modify the transmission power to trade off location accuracy with battery life (generally, the more APs that hear the device, the smaller the location error). The MDWA may move into asset tag mode when either primary power is removed from the MDWA or the MDWA is placed into one of the low-power modes. To save power, the MDWA may use a different Operating System when operating in beacon mode. When the MDWA has data to transact, it automatically leaves low-power mode and the asset tag mode and enters full 802.11 radio mode to support data transmission.
  • Adding Location to the Patient Context
  • Patient mobility is a well-known contributing factor to faster recovery times and wireless monitoring of patients has existed for many years, augmenting hard-wired (typically with more parameters) bed-side monitors, to provide for patient ambulation. When hard-wired patients need assistance, it is simple to determine their location. Some bedside monitors can run in wireless mode as the patient is transported and some portable monitors support multiple parameters, allowing their use on more acute patients. What is missing is the risk mitigation for the use case of when the ambulatory patient needs assistance and needs to be found—that is, adding location to the patient context. Patient context is defined as the set of linked data that identify a patient or pertain to a patient. Items such as name, patient ID, current state of physiological parameters, alarm limits, the Monitor ID and location together provide the patient context.
  • For location to be added to the patient context via the location of the patient monitor, one must ensure that the monitor is not inadvertently switched to another patient.
  • Once a clinician attached to a patient and configured with alarm settings and the patient name, the monitor can detect when it loses physical connection with the patient because physiological inputs disappear. As long as the monitoring is continuous, one can be sure that the patient is the same. While another networked device can perform this function, when the network connection is temporarily lost, only the patient's own monitor can ensure that the monitoring has continued uninterrupted.
  • When the patient context includes location, the patient can be located in the event he needs to be found, which could be due to various reasons including a fall, loss of communication, patient pressing the nurse-call button, or physiological alarm. Patient context can be built using a location tag that is separate from the patient monitor, but then the link of asset tag to patient must be made manually.
  • Implementing the location feature requires that a binding between the location tag and the remaining components of the patient context is made. As mentioned above, this binding can be done automatically and accurately when the location tag is permanently affixed to or part of the patient monitor.
  • The location solution is typically comprised of a location engine, location sensors (APs in the case of 802.11-based location), and the location or asset tags. Location sensors are mapped onto the coordinate system of the location engine and the location of asset tags is mapped to this same coordinate system. The location engine populates a database, consisting of at least X,Y coordinates and the identifier for the asset tag. Often, additional information including time and height and meta information such as the asset type is included in the database.
  • When a patient monitor indicates the patient to whom it is bound needs assistance, the monitoring server queries the database (either by shared access or an API to the location engine) for the location of the bound asset tag. The coordinates are translated, as necessary to map from the location server's coordinate system to the monitoring server's coordinate system. The monitoring server can then provide audio, text, and or graphical indications that the patient is in need of assistance and where the patient is located. These indicators could occur on a PC, a PDA, cellular phone, hallway message panel, or other signaling device. For example, a map of the hospital could indicate a flashing red heart at the location of the patient, the patient waveform window can indicate “Arrhythmia, Room 214,” and an audio circuit could annunciate, “Arrhythmia, Room 214”.
  • Additionally, annunciators can be activated when a clinician needs to find a patient, as when it is time for a lab. Graphic annunciators can be active at all times, or only activated upon an event occurring.
  • Power Modes
  • Support for multiple power modes can address the differing needs of medical devices in the healthcare environment. This includes use models for Continuous Vital Signs monitoring, Spot Check monitoring, and other clinical devices in need of network connectivity, such as Infusion Pumps. These power modes can provide a seamless transition on and off the network in support of lower power operation or stand alone operation, and are fully integrated with the Asset Tracking and Location Service capabilities provided by the MDWA. The preferred embodiment of the MDWA supports a selection of at least five distinct Power Consumption Modes when power is applied to the card. In addition, a sixth state of Primary Power Off (no power applied to the main power connector) provides a limited functionality of the Location Service through the backup power source 4023. The MDWA power modes are shown in the power mode state transition diagram of FIG. 3.
  • When first powered up, the MDWA transitions to Idle mode once initialization is complete. Unlike traditional cards, this allows the device to be placed in a low power state, remain there as long as needed, and be ready to transmit a radio packet in a fraction of a second after the command is given to transition to an active mode. Existing radio cards drop association when changing power modes, resulting in a loss of network connection. In contrast, the MDWA is capable of transitioning between the first two modes, Continuously Aware and Power Save Polling (PSP), by API control without loss of association with an Access Point. Further, the PSP sub-mode can be changed by APT control without loss of association. The MDWA is able to transition between the two active transmission modes (Continuously Aware and Power Save Polling) and Idle mode by API control. The MDWA is also able to transition from any of these first three modes to Standby or Hibernate mode by API control, and it can further transition from Standby or Hibernate mode to Idle mode by toggling one of the control or data lines on the active host interface (e.g., PCMCIA, or Serial Port, or USB interface). This transition based on external input allows the MDWA to stay in Hibernate or Standby mode for extended periods with out activating the CPU, thereby saving energy.
  • In the preferred embodiment, in the Continuously Aware Mode, the transceiver is either continuously on, or wakes up at least once per beacon interval in addition to waking to transmit data as soon as it is received from the host. This mode is typically used for short periods of time when the Network Host or Host Device have large amounts of data to transfer and/or many commands to process. The Location capabilities can be fully operational in this mode, with either high or low resolution. Lower resolution saves power by either transmitting at an increased interval, lower power level or using only one of the physical interfaces, e.g. RF and not IR.
  • The Power Save Polling Mode of a preferred embodiment allows the Host to control a requested PSP mode (PSP-n) over the Host Interface. For example, in PSP-10 mode, the MDWA awakens every ten intervals, approximately once per second. The transceiver could awaken to transmit data received from the host immediately upon receipt of the data, but to save power preferentially synchronizes the data transmission with an already scheduled beacon awakening. This function is either built directly into the MAC layer, which buffers data until a beacon occurs, or the host waits until it is notified that the radio is awakened and then immediately pushes the data to be transmitted to the radio. The Location capabilities can be fully operational in this mode, with either high or low resolution.
  • In a preferred embodiment including an Idle Mode, the MDWA's CPU can be ready with the radio is turned off. In this mode, the Host Device is able to issue commands, change configuration parameters, and receive status over the Host Interface. The Location capabilities can be fully operational in this mode, with either high or low resolution. The capability of booting to Idle mode enables the boot process of the MDWA to take place in parallel with the boot process of the Host Device. Once started, the Host Device can place the card in any of the alternative modes. Alternately, the MDWA can boot to any power mode.
  • A Standby mode is intended to support applications with a use model indicating intermittent network connection. Here, wireless connectivity can be turned off until it is time to upload a dataset, and this mode supports a faster time to establish a network connection as compared to the Hibernate mode. In the preferred embodiment of the Standby mode, the CPU will be “asleep” and the radio will be turned off. The CPU will “wake up” upon the reception of Host API Proxy data on one of the host interfaces. The last known AP and channel are retained, precluding in many events the need to search for an appropriate AP. The Location capabilities are fully operational in this mode, with either high or low resolution.
  • The Hibernate mode supports applications where the radio has been disabled for a relatively long time, but still can benefit from a fast network connection time. This mode uses almost no power and allows the host to effectively turn off the radio, while providing a faster network association time than is possible when leaving Power Off Mode. In a preferred embodiment, the CPU and the radio are turned off and the last known AP and channel are retained. The Location capabilities may be fully operational in this mode, with either high or low resolution. Because of the extremely small power consumption in the Hibernate mode, instruments make use of the Hibernate mode in multiple situations, including when the user-accessible soft power switch is “turned off” and when the instrument needs to operate in a reduced functionality mode due to depletion of the battery. A low-power hibernate circuit 4016 re-powers the Application CPU 4001 to exit hibernate mode.
  • In one embodiment, the MDWA includes an internal latch in order to keep track of whether the Power-On Self Test (POST) has completed successfully. Once the POST has completed (i.e., due to a power-on reset), it is skipped on subsequent transitions out of Hibernate mode.
  • In a further embodiment, a backup power input 4023 can provide power for a Real Time Location Module when no power is applied to the main power input (Power Off Mode). In a preferred embodiment, the loss of power from the main supply causes the Location Module to transition to a lower power mode.
  • Persistent Data
  • The MDWA can also store persistent data across power off/on cycles and rebooting such as its authentication state, which radio band is in use, e.g., 802.11a or 802.11g, ESSID, power mode, IP address, MAC address, calibration factors, and current AP, regardless of the selected power mode. Storing these data allows the MDWA to reboot and initialize faster than depending on an external source to provide the data. It also provides a method to often avoid the time lost to scan channels to find an available AP.
  • Changing Power Modes
  • While a typical application running on a PC shows no ill effect due to the radio card resetting when the radio card operation mode is changed, alarm data and streaming data may be lost during an MDWA reset. To avoid losing data in these events, in power modes where the CPU is awake, the MDWA can apply configuration changes dynamically without a reset.
  • Network Protocol Delegation
  • All network protocols required for communication, authentication, and network management can be encapsulated by the MDWA. A full TCP/IP Stack is also provided by the MDWA, and is exposed to the Host Device through a Host API Proxy for Host APT Mode, and through a bridge application for the Adapter Mode. A proxied TCP/IP stack on the WMDA avoids the need for a TCP/IP stack on the Host Device, in order to communicate with wireless or wired Ethernet, further reducing the complexity and resource requirements imposed upon the Host Device.
  • The MDWA can include Port Based Authentication (802.1x), Wireless Encryption (802.11i/ABS and WPA/TKIP), Quality of Service (802.11e), DHCP, NTP, SNMP, and other network protocols familiar to those skilled in the art. We note that the MDWA can be upgradeable to support new networking standards and protocols as they are developed. Note that these delegations are useful for any embedded host, not simply a medical device.
  • Bi-directional Authentication
  • One embodiment of the present invention includes bi-directional authentication of the Host Device and the healthcare infrastructure using Certificates, which protects both the device and the infrastructure from adversaries. Certificate Management and Processing can be completely encapsulated by the MDWA. In one embodiment, there can be provided a minimum of two certificates: “OEM” and “Customer”. The 802.1x authentication protocol supports this functionality for both wireless and hardwired Ethernet, allowing a single authentication mechanism to be used with either of these external interfaces.
  • An OEM certificate can provide “Out of Box” device operation with system products that have the matching server-side certificate, such as an Acuity Central Monitoring Station available from Welch Allyn, Inc., connection server, or other device based on a trust relationship established with the medical device manufacturer. The Customer certificate enables those customers that wish to manage their own certificate hierarchy to do so, without disturbing the OEM certificate that can still be used to enable service support and software updates.
  • Multiple authentication types and certificates can be supported by the MDWA. The MDWA has a selection algorithm that call present the most likely certificate to be accepted based on past history or a configuration setting. If the most likely certificate is rejected, the algorithm can then present a second-most likely certificate, and so on. In many clinical contexts internet access is not available, thus with the device the full certificate chain for the server is installed, supporting bi-directional authentication, independent of external resources. A MDWA can provide a full interface to manage certificates and passwords.
  • Overview of Digital Certificates
  • Digital Certificates are the foundation of secure authentication for 802.11 a/b/g Medical Devices and Infrastructures. Certificates provide a means of bidirectional authentication that is vastly more secure than commonly used “secrets” such as usernames and passwords, while at the same tine avoiding the need for a clinician to enter any information at the medical device.
  • A digital certificate binds the identity of a person or device (the Distinguished Name) with a Public Key. This enables bidirectional authentication, which protects both the infrastructure from rogue devices, as well as the devices from rogue infrastructures.
  • Each digital certificate has a corresponding Private Key that is held by the device that the certificate represents, and is used as part of the process to prove the identity of that device. Digital certificates can be freely distributed, but the corresponding Private Key must be stored in a secure manner by the device, or the security is compromised.
  • A digital certificate is signed by a Certificate Authority (CA). Each Certificate Authority also has a digital certificate which is signed by another CA. This process repeats until a “root” CA is reached. A root CA is a CA that signs its own certificate. As a result, every certificate (except for the root CA certificate) has a chain of CA certificates associated with it. This chain of trust, provided by the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), is what allows a web browser to trace the authenticity of a web site all the way back to a well known authority such as VeriSign without any intervention by the user.
  • Medical Grade Wireless Infrastructure
  • When a World Wide Web user connects to a web site on the Internet, a vast number of services provided by the Internet are available. These services include Domain Name Service (DNS), which translates easy to remember domain names into numeric IP addresses, as well as all the PKI sites and services necessary to verify the chain of trust provided by digital certificates.
  • However, most wireless infrastructures in the hospital are heavily or even completely isolated from the Internet. These networks must function robustly in this much more isolated and independent environment. Where a certificate for a web site associates the web site name (translated by DNS) with a company name (recognized by the Certificate Authority), these same services need to be provided by the wireless system components if they are to be used in a virtually isolated Medical Grade Wireless Infrastructure.
  • The IEEE standard 802.11i, commonly referred to as WPA and WPA2, provides a framework for authenticating wireless devices using certificates and other mechanisms such as shared secret keys. This framework includes the concept of a Radius Server, which supports a variety of authentication methods) and keeps a database of the keys and certificates that are recognized by the administrators of a given site. A wireless device attempting to access the network encapsulates an authentication request to the Radius Server in a protocol called Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP).
  • Authentication mechanisms supported by Devices and the Radius Server are known by their “EAP types”. Of particular interest to a Medical Grade Wireless Infrastructure are the three EAP types that support bidirectional authentication for both the infrastructure and client (device) sides using certificates. These are: EAP-TLS, EAP-PEAP, and EAP-TTLS.
  • In addition, the MDWA also supports legacy authentication mechanisms such as Pre-Shared Key (PSK) and WEP with long and short keys.
  • Device Certificates
  • Medical Devices that contain the MDWA use certificates to authenticate the device to the Wireless Infrastructure. The MDWA stores and uses two distinct certificates for authenticating the device, the “OEM” Certificate, and the “Customer” Certificate. In addition, there is a third certificate installed on the device by the manufacture which is used by the Web Server to set up an encrypted link with a Web Browser.
  • Device OEM Certificate
  • The OEM Certificate is installed by the manufacturer of the completed host Device and one-time installation of the matching server side certificate on the end-user's Radius server is required.
  • On the server-side, use of the Device OEM certificate provides “Out of Box” operation of all the MDWA-equipped Host Devices with no site configuration of the Host Device.
  • Device Customer Certificate
  • Some sites may wish to manage their own certificate hierarchy. These customers can accomplish this by installing a Customer Certificate on the Host Device that contains the MDWA, rather than using the OEM Certificate provided by the manufacturer.
  • If a Customer Certificate is installed, then authentication will be attempted with both the Customer Certificate and the OEM Certificate. The reason for attempting to use both is that a customer could easily lock themselves and the manufacturer out of a device if only the Customer Certificate were to be used. Customer sites that deploy their own certificates do not need to install the OEM Server side Certificates on their infrastructure, so only the Customer Certificate will authenticate successfully. The last certificate to successfully authenticate will be marked internally on the MDWA and tried first on subsequent authentications. This avoids any performance penalty associated with trying to authenticate using two different certificates.
  • Web Server Certificate
  • A third certificate installed on the device by the manufacture is used by the Web Server. This Web Server is used for configuring and managing updates to the Wireless Card.
  • The Web Server Certificate and its corresponding private key are kept on the MDWA. These are used to authenticate the MDWA to a Web Browser that is accessing the administration interface on the MDWA. This certificate and associated private key are also used as seed information to set up the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) connection between the MDWA and the Web Browser.
  • Device Certificate Chains
  • Since the MDWA might not have access to any Certificate Authority on the Internet during authentication, it must store the entire certificate chain used to verify the Wireless Infrastructure's certificate. The MDWA supports two distinct certificate chains for authenticating the infrastructure, the “OEM” Chain, and the “Customer” Chain. There will normally be multiple certificates in each of these certificate chains.
  • Server Certificates and Chains
  • The 802.11 Authentication Server Certificate and its corresponding private key are kept on the 802.1x authentication server. This certificate is used to authenticate the Wireless Infrastructure to the MDWA. The Certificate Authority (CA) certificate chain is used to sign and validate the various certificates.
  • Provisioning of Certificates and Certificate Chains
  • The OEM certificate chain is written to the flash memory on the MDWA during the provisioning process. When the MDWA boots, it checks if this area has new data. If so, the area in flash memory is copied or converted to a format that can be used directly by the supplicant. All the certificates in the certificate chain are concatenated into a single PEM format file with the root certificate at the beginning of the file.
  • During the provisioning process, a device certificate and private key is written to an area in the flash memory. Like the OEM chain, this OEM device certificate and private key are converted into a form (PKCS #12) that can be used directly by the supplicant. The encryption key for the PKCS #12 envelope is also written to flash and converted to a form that is useable by the supplicant. The MDWA software uses this key to decrypt the PKCS #12 envelope and extract the private key.
  • Contents and Format of the Device Certificates
  • The device certificate contains the MAC address in the Canonical Name (CN) section of the certificate.
  • The device certificate and corresponding private key are generated outside the MDWA during the provisioning process. The device certificate is signed by a self signed or traceable Certificate Authority. Then the device certificate and private key are packaged into an encrypted PKCS #12 envelope. The OEM device certificate and key are installed on the MDWA at provisioning time. If the customer wishes to install their own device certificate and key, the PKCS #12 envelope and the password to decrypt it will be uploaded to the MDWA through the web administration interface.
  • Committed Bandwidth
  • Many medical devices use a dedicated and/or proprietary network as a method to provide dedicated bandwidth, resulting in a high probability of packet transmission success. Each dedicated/proprietary network adds cost for the hospital, A preferred implementation is that the many medical devices can share a single network. Experience with the WMTS experiment for the last 7 years indicates that competing manufacturers are not capable of creating solutions that work together in the absence of a standard. However, for the network to be shared, both the network and the clients that require a committed bandwidth on the network must support the same method for allocating and sharing bandwidth. Bandwidth allocation and prioritization such as that provided by the 802.11e QoS standard can support and enable a pre-allocation of a committed bandwidth in support of the real-time vital signs data (and other high priority data), so that other applications that share the infrastructure can do so without adversely impacting applications such as vital signs monitoring and alarm reporting. Further, a method for ensuring that the bandwidth is available includes testing the network against the intended use, including all planned network loads. This can be accomplished at installation time using tools such as IxChariot, available from Ixia.
  • SAR Management (FCC Low Power Exemption)
  • The FCC limits the amount of Joule heating by a transmitter on portable device (portable devices are defined as those used within 20 cm of the body) averaged over any 6-minute time interval. A typical 802.11 radio exceeds the SAR limits for a patient worn device unless the EIRP (Effective isotropic radiated power; EIRP=Power*Antenna_Gain) is very low. In this case, the transmission distance is severely limited. However, when the transmission protocol restricts the transmit duty cycle, source based averaging can be used. Assuming the transmission protocol limits the duty cycle to 10 percent, then a factor of 0.10 is applied to the SAR level, allowing the radio to have a high EIRP when the transmission occurs, resulting in an improved transmission range. To do this, the radio must provide a measure of the transmission duty cycle. Coupled with a knowledge of the antenna gain and transmit power, this allows the MDWA or Host Device (when the information is sent across the Host API) to implement a protocol that enforces a limit on the SAR. This limit provides support for either meeting the FCC SAR low-power exemption, or simply staying below the SAR limits.
  • Watch Dog
  • MDWA failure reports include failures due to latch up, including failure of microprocessor internal watch dog timers. Typical off the shelf radios may latch up and stop transmitting, with no way to alert the host device, resulting in loss of ability to transmit patient alarms. Should a software application or operating system fault occur, the MDWA incorporates an independent watch dog circuit, external to the microprocessor, which provides a means to restart the module, whereupon the MDWA alerts the host device of the reboot via the Host API, and returns the MDWA to a known state.
  • POST and BIST
  • One embodiment of the MDWA contains a Power-On Self Test (POST) and a Built-In Self Test (BIST). The POST occurs when the module is first powered up to ensure that the major functions operate correctly, but is bypassed during subsequent transitions out of hibernate mode (where the CPU was powered down), decreasing the power-up time. The BIST can provide a much more extensive set of tests and diagnostics, and may be used both during manufacturing as well as at the customer site to verify correct operation of the module and diagnose any hardware failure. Typical radio cards either report nothing upon start up or a numerical error code that call not be interpreted by the host. The BIST and POST provide diagnostics that are not typically available to the host device.
  • Software Updates
  • A MDWA can support updates of the wireless adapter software from the wireless network interface with little or no involvement by the Host Device. The MDWA can automatically download and install the new firmware. Alternately, devices with a user interface and appropriate service screen may trigger the final SW load into the MDWA through that user interface. In another implementation, the MDWA can be designed to load SW from the Network Server on power up or boot or upon other event (such as notification across the Host API) where the MDWA can be sure no patient is being monitored. Enterprise solutions can be used to have an external server push new firmware to the MDWA.
  • In one embodiment, the MDWA provides the ability for the Network Server to program the card software. By way of example, there are three methods for providing software updates. In the first method, the device overwrites its own firmware in real-time, which poses problems if there is an error in the code load. In a second method, two copies of the firmware can be stored on the device and the power up interrupt can point to either copy. Upon boot failure of a newly loaded version, the boot core can re-boot from the earlier firmware version. The third solution is a compromise between the first two methods, where the new firmware overwrites most, but not all of the original firmware. The boot core, responsible for a few basic operations, including writing new firmware, is left unchanged. In the event the firmware load is corrupt, the boot core is still available to re-load firmware. The second solution requires and the third solution can use a separate bank of memory from that location where code is run. This allows new firmware to be downloaded and the code integrity confirmed before the new firmware is executed. Integrity checks include CRC and revision checks.
  • The ability to update the MDWA software through the radio interface can allow a network product to update all of the MDWAs on the network, independent of the instrument type or protocol. In one embodiment, updates of the wireless card software are made over the wireless network interface with little or no involvement by the host device. The MDWA software can be supplied by HTTP, FTP, TFTP, SNMP, and other services known to those skilled in the art. The independence of software revisions to instrument type or protocol reduces the complexity of the host device software that needs to be integrated into each instrument and validated.
  • Typically, anyone with the programming tool can upload new firmware to the card. The preferred embodiment, however, advantageously uses bi-directional authentication to ensure that no one can “hijack” the device and install
  • While MDWA firmware updates can be accomplished in a device independent manner in one embodiment, in the preferred embodiment, device firmware updates will benefit from some support from the Host Device and associated communications protocol. This protocol allows a confirmation that no critical applications, e.g. continuous vital signs monitors in process, will be interrupted by a MDWA firmware update.
  • By way of example, for an MDWA embedded in a monitor, firmware updates of the MDWA can be done by either: (a) disassembly of the monitor, (b) loading the MDWA firmware into the monitor, which subsequently re-programs the MDWA or (c) an over-the-air update. Option (a) requires excessive work for each firmware update and option (b) requires custom firmware be written on both the MDWA and Host Device sides. Both require physical access to the Host Device. For these reasons, the preferred embodiment performs firmware updates for the MDWA over a WLAN communications interface. Further, since medical devices are regulated and must have traceability of all device software by serial number, the MDWA can provide the capability to store and export version information for Host Device hardware and software components to the network system. This version information can in turn be used by the system software to determine what software modules or releases are appropriate for the MDWA, the Host Device, and each of the sub-components that make up the Host Device.
  • In a further embodiment, the MDWA provides a software update to a Host Device by loading new Host Device software, including firmware updates as part of the Host API, from the wireless network. This allows the Host Device to use the MDWA as a staging area for loading firmware updates. That is, the memory that supports firmware upgrades for the MDWA can also be used as a staging area for over-the-air firmware upgrades. The invention includes a Host API that allows the Host Device to use MDWA's memory via any host interface.
  • Medical device operation cannot be safely interrupted; therefore in one embodiment, the MDWA provides a mechanism via the Host API Proxy and/or inspection of data using Adapter Mode that restricts firmware upgrade activity to only occur when there is no patient activity.
  • Diversity
  • Diversity is typically used on reception where the received power of different antenna elements is analyzed, and the element with the highest power is used for RF input. The different antenna elements can easily have a 30 dB performance difference, depending on the constructive/destructive interference at that point in space. This highest power element is assumed to be the best element for transmissions that occur at a time very close to the reception. The MDWA supports one or more antennas, any of which may be disabled for Host Devices that cannot accommodate a second antenna. By way of example, antennas can be oriented to provide polarization and spatial diversity for both the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands. The use of diversity can also be manipulated by the system software, so that the performance of the 802.11 location capabilities can be improved by sending some packets through both antennas, improving the radiation profile to achieve a more isotropic pattern and thus better accuracy for determining the location for systems that use received RF power as an input variable for location determination. A cabled, modular antenna allows for easy disposition of the antenna within an embedded device. In comparison, an antenna that is fixed with respect to the MDWA may be too large in one dimension for inclusion in the host device. A cabled antenna also can allow for an antenna-radio pair with a modular device approval to fit inside multiple embedded devices, where a fixed antenna would not, simplifying regulatory and compliance efforts for the host device development.
  • In the case where the location beacons are transmitted without any RF reception, it is not obvious which element should be used. In this case, one embodiment of the MDWA system splits power between the two elements, possibly producing a circularly polarized signal. If location beacons are very short and transmitting two beacons, one out each antenna then as in a preferred embodiment, then the beacon is transmitted via antenna 1 and then via antenna 2.
  • Alternate Channel
  • Some Real Time Location Services (RTLS) (including location products that can provide a secondary communication system, such as the AeroScout and Radianse systems) can provide a telemetry channel, typically supporting only a small data payload. The MDWA supports such interfaces and can use such systems as an auxiliary telemetry channel. For example, this channel can either be used at all times, enabled as a function of the host's state, or enabled as a function of the 802.11 link state. The data payload can be any state information for the Host Device, including, but not limited to, patient alarm status, a reduced set of physiological data, performance metrics, battery status, host on/off, 802.11 link status, etc.
  • Mesh Network (Gateway)
  • The MDWA provides a mesh network capability by acting as a client on one network or channel, an Access Point (AP) on another network or channel, and routing packets between those networks. For example, the MDWA can be an AP on a first network, such as a low power personal area network (PAN), and a station (STA) on a second network, such as an 802.11a/b/g network. The MDWA can route packets between these two networks. These networks could use the same or completely different protocols, including but not limited to 802.11a/b/g, a Personal Area Network including any of the IEEE standards, e.g. 802.15.1 (BlueTooth), 802.15.3 (Ultra Wideband), 802.15.4 (Zigbee), a Metropolitan Area Network such as 802.16 (WiMAX) or HiperMAN, and Wide Area Networks, including cellular. Using one or more of these various types of networks, the MDWA call aggregate vital signs data from one or more sensors directly attached to or worn by the patient, or from one or more applications running on the Wireless adaptor, or a combination thereof. The MDWA can further process that data (or aggregated data) in order to suppress false alarms. Once the data has been processed, the device can then forward the processed and filtered information to another device, e.g. server, PDA, laptop, cellular phone, connected to the wireless infrastructure. We note that for some networks, the concept of routing in the IP sense is not defined. For these networks, the MDWA implements the analogous functionality of taking data to/from devices on a first network and appropriately formatting the data from/to a second network.
  • Additional Functions
  • Several of the MDWA 100 functions are now described in more detail. In one embodiment, the MDWA provides two modes of operation. In either mode, the device can be customized to meet the needs of the Host Device and the final application. Parameters can be configured as follows:
  • The MDWA first provides a method to set modes for default operation, including selection of which host interface to use (USB, Serial, PCMCIA, Ethernet, Card Bus or other interface known to those skilled in the art) and defining the protocol variables, e.g. bit rate, flow control on/off. The host interface to use can be determined automatically, or set once. In another embodiment, auto rate detection algorithms are implemented in addition to setting a default operation mode.
  • The MDWA further provides a method to set TCP/IP and 802.11 parameters, e.g. configuring for DHCP or Static IP address assignment, and Service Set IDentifiers (SSID).
  • The MDWA further provides a method to install network applications, such as a web server/client, TFTP server/client, FTP Server/Client, SNMP client, NTP client, 802.1x supplicant, and other network applications familiar to those skilled in the art. These applications provide services for the radio card which the host inherits without having to implement each of these services on the host itself. For Host Devices with memory, CPU, and other constraints, this provides substantial savings.
  • In one embodiment, a TFTP client is directed to download new firmware for the MDWA and/or the host from a server. A TFTP server is then used to upload the firmware from the MDWA to the host. As those skilled in the art are aware, the same can be accomplished with a web server/client, through FTP, SNMP, and other applications. In addition, an NTP client provides a way for the host to always have an accurate date and time. This is important for time-stamping data and/or debugging, where accurate time stamps allow temporal correlation of data from the client with data from the network.
  • The MDWA further provides a method to install supplemental applications that increase the functionality of the MDWA to that similar to a conventional medical device. These functions include, but are not limited to, the ability to process, partially process, or aggregate data including, ECG data (including arrhythmia detection); EEG data; SPO2 data; CO2 data; cardiac output data; and temperature data. In one embodiment, partial processing of data can be used to off-load from the Host Device algorithms for which the Host Device does not have sufficient CPU bandwidth.
  • In one embodiment, the aggregation of data feature can be used when multiple sensors on various networks are attached to the same patient, for example, when a stand-alone SPO2 monitor and a stand-alone ECG monitor are used. In this case, knowledge of both data sets allows a more robust interpretation of the patient's condition. Arrhythmia analysis can be augmented by knowledge of the oxygen saturation levels and the trends thereof. For example, a drop in oxygen saturation levels while the heart continues beating normally could indicate a pulmonary problem such as apnea or airway obstruction.
  • The MDWA further provides a method to configure security parameters. Such parameters include, but are not limited to, installing certificates, setting passwords, and other security configuration settings known to those skilled in the art. Other parameters relate to installing a serial number, and MAC address, applying firmware upgrades, defining the operating parameters for location beacons, and in the case of adapter mode, configuring a discovery protocol.
  • Diagnosis
  • Another aspect of the MDWA involves debugging and diagnosis of an MDWA and/or host device or host device APT in the field. For example, a remote technical service group could do such debugging if status information is made available over the medical network. A MDWA according to the invention can provide status information including radio performance metrics such as RSSI, retry rates, channel information, Signal-to-noise ratio and version information to a host computer. Such information can be sent over a network via SNMP or other methods known to those skilled in the art. A further embodiment of the MDWA includes functionality to support remote trouble shooting and problem resolution through both interactive and automated diagnostics, such as reporting the results of self tests, of hardware/software compatibility status as well as the results of upgrades and configuration changes. Moreover, the MDWA can provide support for a function to partially or completely restore a factory default configuration.
  • Roaming
  • Roaming is defined herein as a circumstance where a device or installation including a MDWA logically changes association status from one AP to another, typically due to physically moving from one location to another, but also due to noise levels, AP loading, and other factors that may make a second AP provide a better communication channel. In one embodiment, the MDWA can support a roaming velocity of at least 5 miles per hour, even with encryption and authentication enabled. (Authentication adds an additional step to the roaming process.) This MDWA can further periodically scan for available Access Points in order to maintain a list of neighboring APs, which allows the MDWA to quickly jump to a new AP in the event the current AP becomes unavailable. The MDWA can use other solutions, such as CCX V2 or greater (Cisco compatibility extensions) or 802.11r in order to populate the AP list. In some applications when a device including a MDWA is out of range, a reduced scan interval can be applied after a timeout in order to reduce power consumption. The reduced power feature can be configured to run automatically or to be set through a Host Interface API.
  • Additional Uses
  • Additional embodiments of the MDWA include web servers, enabling MDWA use as: (a) a universal device configurator; (b) virtual display; (c) a broadcasting device for data display on a large screen monitor in the procedure or patient room; (d) a universal device upgrade utility; and (e) as an application server.
  • In one embodiment, a MDWA can include a web server for use as a universal device configurator. Using the MDWA universal device configurator, medical devices can be configured or re-configured remotely or locally over the internet. Such remote configuration can simplify the proliferation of device configurator applications and the configuration processes.
  • Additionally, a web server is installed on the WMDA to provide a virtual display of the host device that can be viewed via a web browser. The MDWA application can format and broadcast device data for display on a large screen monitor, such as a Monetron sold by Welch Allyn, Inc. A Monetron is a large screen that is used to collect patient monitor data and display it locally (in the same manner that a central monitoring station might see the data) to enable consulting physicians to see the data. This MDWA embodiment is also enabled to collect and combine data from other sources (devices, EMR) and broadcast for display on a large screen monitor (such as Monetron).
  • In a further embodiment, a web server is installed on the MDWA to enable the MDWA's use as universal device upgrade utility. The small web server allows a customer and/or service technician to connect to a secure server via a browser and to download and install updated firmware.
  • In a further embodiment, the web server on the MDWA allows for a customer to license new parameter analysis software that extends the capabilities of the device, and thus the MDWA functions as an application server. The new software can run on the MDWA instead of the device processor. The MDWA application displays the new hybrid data in a browser on a device having a suitable display, or the MDWA can send the displays by wireless connection to a remote monitor, including a large screen monitor.
  • While the invention has been described with reference to particular embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the invention. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the invention without departing from the scope of the invention. Therefore, it is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodiments disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out this invention, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope and spirit of the appended claims.

Claims (110)

1. A medical device wireless adapter comprising:
a radio section;
one or more means for connecting to and exchanging data between said adapter and a host device;
one or more means for exchanging data between said adapter and a network;
a CPU block including integrated support for hosting one or more applications; and
one or more memory means;
wherein said adapter is configured with one or more host interface modes.
2. The adapter of claim 1, wherein said adapter is a PCMCIA card.
3. The adapter of claim 1, wherein said means for connecting to and exchanging data with a host device is a PCMCIA bus.
4. The adapter of claim 1, wherein said adapter is a module.
5. The adapter of claim 1, wherein said adapter is a card.
6. The adapter of claim 1, wherein said adapter is a plug-in device.
7. The adapter of claim 1, wherein said means for connecting to and exchanging data with a host device is one or more serial ports.
8. The adapter of claim 1, wherein said means for connecting to and exchanging data with a host device is one or more Ethernet ports.
9. The adapter of claim 1, wherein said means for connecting to and exchanging data with a host device is one or more USB ports.
10. The adapter of claim 1, wherein said adapter further comprises a manufacturing interface.
11. The adapter of claim 10, wherein said manufacturing interface is adapted to program said CPU and said at least one memory with firmware.
12. The adapter of claim 1, wherein said adapter further comprises a de-bugging block.
13. The adapter of claim 12, wherein said de-bugging block is adapted to perform self test routines.
14. The adapter of claim 1, wherein said radio section includes a MAC-baseband processor and a radio frequency transceiver.
15. The adapter of claim 14, wherein said radio section further includes a WiFi RF chip set.
16. The adapter of claim 1, wherein said radio section is connectable to said CPU block by a CPU compact flash bus.
17. The adapter of claim 1, further comprising one or more antennas.
18. The adapter of claim 17, wherein said one or more antennas is a WiFi antenna.
19. The adapter of claim 18, wherein said WiFi antenna is connectable to said radio section by a pigtail and connector.
20. The adapter of claim 17, wherein said one or more antennas are arranged in a dual diversity antenna configuration.
21. The adapter of claim 1, wherein said adapter is a 802.11 a/b/g network interface card.
22. The adapter of claim 1, wherein said adapter further comprises at least one user interface.
23. The adapter of claim 1, wherein said adapter includes one or more configuring means, wherein said configuring means is chosen from the group consisting of: setting TCP/IP parameters; adding applications; removing applications; for installing security certificates; removing security certificates; setting one or more passwords; setting a default operation mode; setting a serial number; setting a MAC address; upgrading firmware; setting a rate of transmission for one or more location beacons; setting host configuration parameters; configuring a discovery protocol; configuring authentication; and configuring encryption.
24. The adapter of claim 23, wherein said host configuration parameters are chosen from the group consisting of bit rate and flow control.
25. The adapter of claim 1, wherein said adapter includes a means for connecting to an authenticated, encrypted network.
26. The adapter of claim 1, further comprising one or more interfaces, wherein at least one of said one or more interfaces is a host interface.
27. The adapter of claim 26, wherein said adapter includes a means for automatically determining one or more active host interfaces.
28. The adapter of claim 1, wherein said adapter includes one or more location tracking modes and one or more beacons.
29. The adapter of claim 28, wherein said one or more location tracking modes is operational as a function of a host device's power state.
30. The adapter of claim 29, wherein said power state is chosen from the group consisting of power off, low battery, battery removed, and low-power mode.
31. The adapter of claim 28, wherein said one or more beacons is an integrated multiple physical layer location beacon.
32. The adapter of claim 31, wherein said integrated multiple physical layer location beacon includes a variable rate.
33. The adapter of claim 31, wherein said adapter is configured to utilize a subset of said integrated multiple physical layers of said location beacon.
34. The adapter of claim 29, wherein said beacons are configured to transmit data at a regular rate.
35. The adapter of claim 29, wherein said beacons are configured to transmit data at a variable rate.
36. The adapter of claim 49, wherein said variable rate is a function of a power state of said adapter.
37. The adapter of claim 28 wherein said adapter further comprises a dedicated power supply means connected to said one or more location tracking modes and one or more beacons.
38. The adapter of claim 1, further comprising a power management block.
39. The adapter of claim 1 wherein said adapter is configured with one or more power modes.
40. The adapter of claim 39 wherein said adapter includes PSP and CAM modes, and is configured to dynamically switch between said PSP and CAM modes without losing network connection.
41. The adapter of claim 39 wherein said one or more power modes are chosen from the group consisting of: an idle mode wherein said radio block is turned off and said CPU block remains active; a standby mode wherein said radio block is turned off and a CPU block clock is stopped; and a hibernate mode wherein both said radio block and CPU are turned off.
42. The adapter of claim 41 wherein said adapter is configured to store a network state to allow for rapid re-association.
43. The adapter of claim 42 wherein said network state is chosen from the group consisting of AP, Channel, and IP Address.
44. The adapter of claim 41 wherein said CPU block is configured to automatically exit standby mode to a fully functional state upon detection of activity on a host interface.
45. The adapter of claim 41 wherein said CPU block is configured to automatically exit hibernate mode to a fully functional state upon detection of activity on a host interface.
46. The adapter of claim 1, wherein said adapter further comprises a primary and secondary power supply.
47. The adapter of claim 28, wherein said one or more beacons operate independent of a power state of the adapter.
48. The adapter of claim 1, wherein said adapter is configured to perform a power-on self test.
49. The adapter of claim 48, wherein said adapter performs said power-on self test only when power to said adapter is cycled.
50. The adapter of claim 1, wherein said one or more applications is chosen from the group consisting of bi-directional authentication; 802.11i encryption; one or more web servers; a plurality of password/user name combinations; a TCP/IP sockets API proxy; a conversion means from a native device communication protocol to one or more TCP/IP network interfaces; a SNMP server; a FTP server; and a TFTP server.
51. The adapter of claim 50, wherein said bi-directional authentication follows the Extensible Authentication Protocol.
52. The adapter of claim 51, wherein said Extensible Authentication Protocol follows the 802.1x standards.
53. The adapter of claim 50, wherein said bi-directional authentication application is configured to provide certificate management and processing.
54. The adapter of claim 50, wherein said bi-directional authentication application is configured to provide password management and processing.
55. The adapter of claim 50, wherein said bi-directional authentication application is configured to work with multiple certificates.
56. The adapter of claim 55, wherein said bi-directional authentication application is configured to intelligently choose which of said multiple certificates to offer a RADIUS server.
57. The adapter of claim 50, wherein said web server is a secure server.
58. The adapter of claim 50, wherein at least one of said plurality of password/user name combinations is a function of unique identifiers specific to said adapter.
59. The adapter of claim 50, wherein said TCP/IP sockets API proxy is configured to support multiple endpoints.
60. The adapter of claim 50, wherein said TCP/IP sockets API proxy is configured to simultaneously accept commands and data.
61. The adapter of claim 50, wherein said TCP/IP sockets API proxy is configured to provide deterministic behavior with respect to command and data traffic.
62. The adapter of claim 50, wherein said conversion means from a native device communication protocol to one or more TCP/IP network interfaces provides a means for a non-networked host device to communicate on a network without modifying existing hardware or software.
63. The adapter of claim 50, wherein said conversion means from a native device communication protocol to one or more TCP/IP network interfaces is configured to fulfill communications requirements needed to establish a communication link between a non-networked host device and a network device.
64. The adapter of claim 63, wherein said requirements are chosen from the group consisting of FTP, TFTP, electronic mail, and a server.
65. The adapter of claim 1, wherein said one or more applications is chosen from the group consisting of: ECG processing; arrhythmia processing; SPO2 processing; temperature processing; blood pressure processing; CO2 processing; cardiac output processing; and EEG processing.
66. The adapter of claim 65, wherein said blood pressure processing is for non-invasive blood pressure measurement.
67. The adapter of claim 65, wherein said blood pressure processing is for invasive blood pressure measurement.
68. The adapter of claim 65, wherein said CO2 processing is for End-Tidal CO2.
69. The device of claim 65, wherein said CO2 processing is for sidestream COc 29.3.
70. The adapter of claim 1, wherein said one or more applications includes an integrated bar-code scanner.
71. The adapter of claim 1, wherein said radio block contains an NTP client.
72. The adapter of claim 1, wherein said radio block contains at least one watchdog circuit to recover from latch up.
73. The adapter of claim 72, wherein said at least one watchdog circuit is disposed externally to a microprocessor.
74. The adapter of claim 1, wherein said adapter is embedded with bandwidth allocation and control.
75. The adapter of claim 74, wherein said bandwidth allocation and control meets 802.11e standards.
76. The adapter of claim 1, wherein said adapter further includes a self test capable of determining full functionality of integrated circuits.
77. The adapter of claim 1, wherein said adapter includes a rate-versus-range algorithm, wherein said algorithm has been optimized for a high packet success rate.
78. The adapter of claim 1, wherein said adapter is configured to provide firmware upgrades to a host device.
79. The adapter of claim 78, wherein firmware upgrades are conditioned upon the state of said host device not actively monitoring a patient.
80. The adapter of claim 78, wherein said adapter further comprises means to determine whether said host device requires a firmware upgrade.
81. The adapter of claim 80, wherein said adapter is configured to provide a firmware upgrade status to a network device.
82. The adapter of claim 78, wherein said adapter further comprises means to download a firmware upgrade for a host device.
83. The adapter of claim 1, wherein said adapter is configurable to aggregate data from said one or more applications.
84. The adapter of claim 1, wherein said adapter is configured to act simultaneously as a network master and a network slave.
85. The adapter of claim 84, wherein said adapter is configured to act as a slave on a first network and a master on at least one other network.
86. The device of claim 85, wherein said adapter is configured to route packets from said first network to said at least one other network.
87. The adapter of claim 85, wherein said at least one other network uses a different protocol than the said first network.
88. The adapter of claim 83, wherein said adapter aggregates data from multiple sensors disposed across at least one network.
89. The adapter of claim 88, wherein said adapter processes data from said multiple sensors.
90. The adapter of claim 1, further comprising a cabled, modular antenna.
91. The adapter of claim 90, wherein said antenna is chosen from the group consisting of a diversity antenna and a dual-band antenna.
92. The adapter of claim 91, wherein said diversity antenna can be disabled or enabled.
93. A medical device wireless adapter comprising:
a radio section;
a means for connecting to and exchanging data with at least one host device;
at least one means for exchanging data between said adaptor and a network;
a CPU block including integrated support for hosting at least one application; and
at least one memory means;
wherein said radio section, said connection means, said CPU block, and said memory means are disposed on a unitary structure; and
wherein said adapter is configured with at least one interface mode.
94. The adapter of claim 93, wherein said adapter is a PCMCIA card.
95. The adapter of claim 93, wherein said means for connecting to and exchanging data with a host device is a PCMCIA bus.
96. The adapter of claim 93, wherein said adapter is a module.
97. The adapter of claim 93, wherein said adapter is a card.
98. The adapter of claim 93, wherein said adapter is a plug-in device.
99. A wireless adapter comprising:
a radio section;
one or more means for exchanging data between said adapter and a host device;
one or more means for exchanging data between said adapter and a network;
a processing circuit including one or more microprocessors, wherein said one or more microprocessors are configured to host one or more applications and one or more radio transceivers; and
one or more memory means;
wherein said adapter is configured with one or more host interface modes.
100. A medical device wireless adapter comprising:
a radio section;
one or more means for exchanging data between said adapter and at least one host device;
one or more means for exchanging data between said adapter and a network;
a CPU block including integrated support for hosting one or more applications;
a de-bugging block;
a power management block;
a manufacturing interface;
a user interface; and
one or more memory means;
wherein said adapter is configured with one or more host interface modes.
101. A method for adapting a legacy medical device to a wireless infrastructure, comprising the steps of:
providing a legacy medical device;
providing a medical device wireless adapter, wherein said adapter comprises a radio section, one or more means for connecting to and exchanging data between said adapter and said host device, one or more means for exchanging data between said adapter and a wireless infrastructure, a CPU block including integrated support for hosting one or more applications; and one or more memory means, wherein said adapter is configured with one or more host interface modes, and wherein one of said one or more host interface modes is Adapter Mode;
configuring said adapter with a set of parameters appropriate to said host device, wherein said parameters are chosen from the group consisting of network settings, communication port settings, and rendezvous packet definition;
connecting said adapter to said host device;
detecting when said host device has requires a network connection;
presenting said host device to said wireless infrastructure via said adapter; and
enabling a network connection by exchanging data between said wireless infrastructure and said host device via said adapter.
102. The method of claim 101, further comprising the steps of configuring said adapter to execute at least one rendezvous protocol on behalf of said host device, and executing said protocol.
103. The method of claim 102, further comprising the step of broadcasting to said infrastructure said protocol, wherein said protocol comprises a UDP packet of a pre-defined format.
104. The method of claim 102, further comprising the step of passing bidirectional data between said host device and said wireless infrastructure via said adapter once said rendezvous protocol is executed.
105. The method of claim 101, wherein said network connection is enabled by the further steps of associating, obtaining an IP address, and authenticating.
106. A method of converting an 802.11 radio into an asset tag and back to an 802.11 radio, comprising the steps of:
providing an 802.11 radio, wherein said radio includes a radio section, one or more means for connecting to and exchanging data between said radio and a wireless infrastructure, one or more location tracking modes, and one or more beacons, wherein said radio includes configurable beacon parameters;
configuring said one or more beacon parameters, wherein said parameters are chosen from the group consisting of transmit power, duty cycle, and beacon method;
executing a loop until data transaction required, wherein said loop comprises the further steps of detecting when low-power operation is required, booting an operating system, transmitting the beacon as configured and sleeping until the next beacon;
ending said loop; and
booting a full operating system.
107. A method for adding location to a patient context comprising the steps of:
providing a patient monitor;
providing an asset tag, wherein said asset tag includes an identifier;
providing a location engine, wherein said location engine includes a coordinate system;
providing location sensors;
connecting said asset tag to said location engine;
determining content of a patient context, wherein said patient context includes at least one identifier unique to said patient;
binding said asset tag identifier and said at lease one identifier unique to said patient;
mapping said location sensors to said coordinate system;
mapping the location of said asset tag to said coordinate system;
populating a database, wherein said database contains data chosen from the group consisting of x,y coordinates, asset tag identifiers, time, height, asset type, and meta information;
providing one or more annunciators, wherein said one or more annunciators is chosen from the group consisting of audio, text, and graphic;
providing conditions for activating said one or more annunciators;
activating said one or more annunciators; and
indicating the location of said patient when said conditions for annunciating are satisfied.
108. The method of claim 107, wherein said patient context comprises information chosen from the group consisting of: name; patient ID; current state of physiological parameters; alarm limits; and location.
109. The method of claim 107 wherein said patient context includes at least one continuous vital sign reading, wherein disruption of said continuous vital sign reading breaks said binding between said asset tag identifier and the remainder of the patient context.
110. A method for supporting out of box operation with strong authentication and encryption for a medical device wireless adapter comprising the steps of:
providing a medical device wireless adapter, wherein said adapter comprises a radio section, one or more means for connecting to and exchanging data between said adapter and a host device, one or more means for exchanging data between said adapter and a wireless infrastructure, a CPU block including integrated support for hosting one or more applications; and one or more memory means, and wherein said adapter is configured with one or more host interface modes, an OEM certificate, an OEM certificate chain, a web server certificate, and a web server certificate chain;
determining if a customer device certificate is required;
creating a customer device and server certificates if required;
creating certificate chains for customer certificate;
installing customer certificate to provision radio;
installing server certificates to provision said infrastructure;
powering-on said device;
authenticating, wherein said adapter will loop a process until authentication is complete, wherein said process includes the further steps of starting loop; attempting to authenticate using a primary certificate;
completing network authentication if successful; determining if network authentication occurred; promoting a secondary certificate to primary certificate if authentication failed to occur; and ending loop; and
completing the network connection.
US11/610,952 2005-12-14 2006-12-14 Medical device wireless adapter Abandoned US20070135866A1 (en)

Priority Applications (6)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CA002632648A CA2632648A1 (en) 2005-12-14 2006-12-14 Medical device wireless adapter
AU2006325783A AU2006325783B2 (en) 2005-12-14 2006-12-14 Medical device wireless adapter
PCT/US2006/062109 WO2007070855A2 (en) 2005-12-14 2006-12-14 Medical device wireless adapter
US11/610,952 US20070135866A1 (en) 2005-12-14 2006-12-14 Medical device wireless adapter
EP06840266A EP1968691A4 (en) 2005-12-14 2006-12-14 Medical device wireless adapter
US14/954,023 US10893037B2 (en) 2005-12-14 2015-11-30 Medical device wireless adapter

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US75020205P 2005-12-14 2005-12-14
US11/610,952 US20070135866A1 (en) 2005-12-14 2006-12-14 Medical device wireless adapter

Related Child Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US14/954,023 Division US10893037B2 (en) 2005-12-14 2015-11-30 Medical device wireless adapter

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
US20070135866A1 true US20070135866A1 (en) 2007-06-14

Family

ID=38140430

Family Applications (2)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US11/610,952 Abandoned US20070135866A1 (en) 2005-12-14 2006-12-14 Medical device wireless adapter
US14/954,023 Active 2027-12-18 US10893037B2 (en) 2005-12-14 2015-11-30 Medical device wireless adapter

Family Applications After (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US14/954,023 Active 2027-12-18 US10893037B2 (en) 2005-12-14 2015-11-30 Medical device wireless adapter

Country Status (5)

Country Link
US (2) US20070135866A1 (en)
EP (1) EP1968691A4 (en)
AU (1) AU2006325783B2 (en)
CA (1) CA2632648A1 (en)
WO (1) WO2007070855A2 (en)

Cited By (314)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20060145871A1 (en) * 2004-12-02 2006-07-06 Smith & Nephew, Inc. Radio Frequency Identification for Medical Devices
US20070255126A1 (en) * 2006-04-28 2007-11-01 Moberg Sheldon B Data communication in networked fluid infusion systems
US20070253021A1 (en) * 2006-04-28 2007-11-01 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Identification of devices in a medical device network and wireless data communication techniques utilizing device identifiers
US20070255120A1 (en) * 2004-11-24 2007-11-01 Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. Internet-Protocol Based Telemetry Patient Monitoring System
US20070258395A1 (en) * 2006-04-28 2007-11-08 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Wireless data communication protocols for a medical device network
US20070281614A1 (en) * 2006-06-01 2007-12-06 Motorola, Inc. Method and apparatus for dual mode communications
US20080030345A1 (en) * 2007-05-24 2008-02-07 Smith & Nephew, Inc. System and method for tracking surgical assets
US20080072028A1 (en) * 2006-09-20 2008-03-20 Allison Michael S Method of restarting a computer platform
US20080166992A1 (en) * 2007-01-10 2008-07-10 Camillo Ricordi Mobile emergency alert system
US20080175166A1 (en) * 2007-01-18 2008-07-24 Research In Motion Limited System and method for seeking a wireless network for a wireless device
US20080228045A1 (en) * 2007-02-23 2008-09-18 Tia Gao Multiprotocol Wireless Medical Monitors and Systems
US20080243105A1 (en) * 2007-03-28 2008-10-02 Christopher Horvath Surgical Footswitch with Movable Shroud
US20080262557A1 (en) * 2007-04-19 2008-10-23 Brown Stephen J Obesity management system
US20080301438A1 (en) * 2007-05-31 2008-12-04 Parkinson Steven W Peer-to-peer smime mechanism
US20080296393A1 (en) * 1997-10-17 2008-12-04 Jovanovski Brian L Multipurpose optical reader
US20090043268A1 (en) * 2007-08-06 2009-02-12 Eddy Patrick E Wound treatment system and suction regulator for use therewith
US20090054737A1 (en) * 2007-08-24 2009-02-26 Surendar Magar Wireless physiological sensor patches and systems
US20090069642A1 (en) * 2007-09-11 2009-03-12 Aid Networks, Llc Wearable Wireless Electronic Patient Data Communications and Physiological Monitoring Device
US20090105549A1 (en) * 2007-10-19 2009-04-23 Smiths Medical Pm, Inc. Wireless telecommunications system adaptable for patient monitoring
US20090103469A1 (en) * 2007-10-19 2009-04-23 Smiths Medical Pm, Inc. Method for establishing a telecommunications network for patient monitoring
WO2009055635A1 (en) * 2007-10-26 2009-04-30 Hill-Rom Services, Inc. System and method for collection and communication of data from multiple patient care devices
US20090140043A1 (en) * 2007-12-03 2009-06-04 Nortel Networks Limited Portable memory module with wireless emitter to facilitate the provision of location-dependent services
WO2009055608A3 (en) * 2007-10-24 2009-06-11 Hmicro Inc Method and apparatus to retrofit wired healthcare and fitness systems for wireless operation
US20090150175A1 (en) * 2007-12-07 2009-06-11 Roche Diagnostics Operations, Inc. Method and system for multi-device communication
US20090171174A1 (en) * 2007-12-31 2009-07-02 Nellcor Puritan Bennett Llc System and method for maintaining battery life
WO2009086672A1 (en) * 2007-12-29 2009-07-16 Zte Corporation Network interface card for wimax system
US20090184825A1 (en) * 2008-01-23 2009-07-23 General Electric Company RFID Transponder Used for Instrument Identification in an Electromagnetic Tracking System
WO2009093891A1 (en) * 2008-01-25 2009-07-30 Mobihealth B.V. Mobile monitoring system and method
US20090243878A1 (en) * 2008-03-31 2009-10-01 Camillo Ricordi Radio frequency transmitter and receiver system and apparatus
US20090254037A1 (en) * 2008-04-01 2009-10-08 Deka Products Limited Partnership Methods and systems for controlling an infusion pump
US20090251205A1 (en) * 2008-04-03 2009-10-08 Innolux Display Corp. Power supply circuit having standby detection circuit
US20090307681A1 (en) * 2008-06-05 2009-12-10 Ryan Armado Wireless Network and Methods of Wireless Communication For Ophthalmic Surgical Consoles
US20090327515A1 (en) * 2008-06-30 2009-12-31 Thomas Price Medical Monitor With Network Connectivity
US20100036236A1 (en) * 2006-05-12 2010-02-11 Koninklijke Philips Electronics N. V. Method of interfacing a detachable display system to a base unit for use in mri
US20100076453A1 (en) * 2008-09-22 2010-03-25 Advanced Medical Optics, Inc. Systems and methods for providing remote diagnostics and support for surgical systems
US20100121164A1 (en) * 2008-11-12 2010-05-13 Smiths Medical Pm, Inc. Oximeter device
WO2010063758A1 (en) * 2008-12-03 2010-06-10 Trysome Limited Criticality of data
US20100179421A1 (en) * 2007-05-24 2010-07-15 Joe Tupin System and method for non-invasive instantaneous and continuous measurement of cardiac chamber volume.
US20100195576A1 (en) * 2009-02-05 2010-08-05 Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. System and method for providing message push service in wireless communication system
KR20100090201A (en) * 2009-02-05 2010-08-13 삼성전자주식회사 System and method for supporting message push service in wireless communication system
US20100234695A1 (en) * 2009-03-12 2010-09-16 Raytheon Company Networked symbiotic edge user infrastructure
US20100299709A1 (en) * 2009-05-19 2010-11-25 O'connor Michael Denis Accessing content via a receiver coupled to a transmitter
WO2010151246A1 (en) * 2009-06-22 2010-12-29 Analogic Corporation Two-way authentication
US20110004073A1 (en) * 2008-02-28 2011-01-06 Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. Wireless patient monitoring using streaming of medical data with body-coupled communication
US20110019824A1 (en) * 2007-10-24 2011-01-27 Hmicro, Inc. Low power radiofrequency (rf) communication systems for secure wireless patch initialization and methods of use
US20110060215A1 (en) * 2009-03-30 2011-03-10 Tupin Jr Joe Paul Apparatus and method for continuous noninvasive measurement of respiratory function and events
US20110067092A1 (en) * 2009-09-15 2011-03-17 Welch Allyn, Inc. Automatic provisioning of authentication credentials
US20110078253A1 (en) * 2008-12-12 2011-03-31 eVent Medical, Inc System and method for communicating over a network with a medical device
US7942844B2 (en) 2006-04-28 2011-05-17 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Remote monitoring for networked fluid infusion systems
US20110151924A1 (en) * 2009-12-17 2011-06-23 Miller Rosemarie B Method and apparatus for providing layered wireless networks
US20110156886A1 (en) * 2009-12-31 2011-06-30 Clinkscales William L Paging interface adapter
WO2011085205A1 (en) 2010-01-08 2011-07-14 Cisco Technology, Inc Wireless adapter
US20110179123A1 (en) * 2010-01-19 2011-07-21 Event Medical, Inc. System and method for communicating over a network with a medical device
US20110182333A1 (en) * 2007-01-31 2011-07-28 Broadcom Corporation Rf transceiver device with rf bus
US20110182223A1 (en) * 2008-08-11 2011-07-28 Koninklijke Philips Electronics, N.V. Techniques for solving overhearing problems of body area network medium access control protocols
US20110213216A1 (en) * 2010-02-28 2011-09-01 Nellcor Puritan Bennett Llc Adaptive wireless body networks
US20110221590A1 (en) * 2010-03-15 2011-09-15 Welch Allyn, Inc. Personal Area Network Pairing
US8026821B2 (en) 2000-05-05 2011-09-27 Hill-Rom Services, Inc. System for monitoring caregivers and equipment at a patient location
US8073008B2 (en) 2006-04-28 2011-12-06 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Subnetwork synchronization and variable transmit synchronization techniques for a wireless medical device network
US20120023049A1 (en) * 2010-07-21 2012-01-26 Thomas Doerr Operating ability monitoring system
US20120030547A1 (en) * 2010-07-27 2012-02-02 Carefusion 303, Inc. System and method for saving battery power in a vital-signs monitor
US8116275B2 (en) 2005-10-13 2012-02-14 Trapeze Networks, Inc. System and network for wireless network monitoring
US8115635B2 (en) 2005-02-08 2012-02-14 Abbott Diabetes Care Inc. RF tag on test strips, test strip vials and boxes
US20120056741A1 (en) * 2010-09-07 2012-03-08 Liping Julia Zhu System to track one or more indoor persons, outdoor persons and vehicles
US8150357B2 (en) 2008-03-28 2012-04-03 Trapeze Networks, Inc. Smoothing filter for irregular update intervals
US8161278B2 (en) 2005-03-15 2012-04-17 Trapeze Networks, Inc. System and method for distributing keys in a wireless network
US20120117557A1 (en) * 2009-07-13 2012-05-10 Zte Corporation Method and system for upgrading wireless data card
US8197444B1 (en) 2010-12-22 2012-06-12 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Monitoring the seating status of a fluid reservoir in a fluid infusion device
DE102011102854A1 (en) * 2010-05-31 2012-06-28 Seca Ag Device for modular evaluation
US8218449B2 (en) 2005-10-13 2012-07-10 Trapeze Networks, Inc. System and method for remote monitoring in a wireless network
WO2012095829A2 (en) * 2011-01-16 2012-07-19 Q-Core Medical Ltd. Methods, apparatus and systems for medical device communication, control and localization
US8238942B2 (en) 2007-11-21 2012-08-07 Trapeze Networks, Inc. Wireless station location detection
US8238298B2 (en) 2008-08-29 2012-08-07 Trapeze Networks, Inc. Picking an optimal channel for an access point in a wireless network
US20120249798A1 (en) * 2011-04-04 2012-10-04 Lsis Co., Ltd. Rtls tag device and real time location system
US20120314634A1 (en) * 2011-06-09 2012-12-13 Symbol Technologies, Inc. Client bridge between wired and wireless communication networks
US8340110B2 (en) 2006-09-15 2012-12-25 Trapeze Networks, Inc. Quality of service provisioning for wireless networks
US8344847B2 (en) 2009-07-09 2013-01-01 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Coordination of control commands in a medical device system having at least one therapy delivery device and at least one wireless controller device
US8360975B1 (en) * 2008-02-25 2013-01-29 Midmark Corporation Networked interface appliance for improved medical device integration and physician workflow
US8373562B1 (en) 2007-07-25 2013-02-12 Pinpoint Technologies Inc. Asset tracking system
US8386042B2 (en) 2009-11-03 2013-02-26 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Omnidirectional accelerometer device and medical device incorporating same
US8400268B1 (en) * 2007-07-25 2013-03-19 Pinpoint Technologies Inc. End to end emergency response
US20130069771A1 (en) * 2011-09-20 2013-03-21 Michael M. Frondorf Hospital bed having powerline communication capability
US8421606B2 (en) 2004-08-02 2013-04-16 Hill-Rom Services, Inc. Wireless bed locating system
US20130096649A1 (en) * 2010-04-09 2013-04-18 Zoll Medical Corporation Systems and methods for ems device communication interface
US8457031B2 (en) 2005-10-13 2013-06-04 Trapeze Networks, Inc. System and method for reliable multicast
US20130147271A1 (en) * 2011-12-09 2013-06-13 Lapis Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Power supply device, method for controlling the power supply device, and electronic apparatus
US20130160082A1 (en) * 2010-08-31 2013-06-20 Lantronix, Inc. Medical Device Connectivity to Hospital Information Systems Using Device Server
US8474332B2 (en) 2010-10-20 2013-07-02 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Sensor assembly and medical device incorporating same
US8479595B2 (en) 2010-10-20 2013-07-09 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Sensor assembly and medical device incorporating same
US8487758B2 (en) 2009-09-02 2013-07-16 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Medical device having an intelligent alerting scheme, and related operating methods
EP2614455A2 (en) * 2010-09-08 2013-07-17 Lantronix, Inc. Graphical tools for obtaining data from a medical device
US8495918B2 (en) 2010-10-20 2013-07-30 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Sensor assembly and medical device incorporating same
US20130227288A1 (en) * 2009-11-06 2013-08-29 Roche Diagnostics International Ag Method and system for establishing cryptographic communications between a remote device and a medical device
US8523803B1 (en) 2012-03-20 2013-09-03 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Motor health monitoring and medical device incorporating same
US20130257614A1 (en) * 2009-09-20 2013-10-03 Awarepoint Corporation Wireless Tracking System And Method For Backhaul Of Information
US20130270160A1 (en) * 2012-04-16 2013-10-17 I. T. I. Co., Ltd. Dialysis treatment instrument monitoring system and dialysis treatment instrument monitoring method
US8564447B2 (en) 2011-03-18 2013-10-22 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Battery life indication techniques for an electronic device
US8562565B2 (en) 2010-10-15 2013-10-22 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Battery shock absorber for a portable medical device
US8574201B2 (en) 2009-12-22 2013-11-05 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Syringe piston with check valve seal
US8603026B2 (en) 2012-03-20 2013-12-10 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Dynamic pulse-width modulation motor control and medical device incorporating same
US8603032B2 (en) 2010-10-15 2013-12-10 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Medical device with membrane keypad sealing element, and related manufacturing method
US8603027B2 (en) 2012-03-20 2013-12-10 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Occlusion detection using pulse-width modulation and medical device incorporating same
US8603033B2 (en) 2010-10-15 2013-12-10 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Medical device and related assembly having an offset element for a piezoelectric speaker
US20130331069A1 (en) * 2012-06-07 2013-12-12 Qualcomm Incorporated Power-based fast dormancy
US8614596B2 (en) 2011-02-28 2013-12-24 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Systems and methods for initializing a voltage bus and medical devices incorporating same
US8628510B2 (en) 2010-12-22 2014-01-14 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Monitoring the operating health of a force sensor in a fluid infusion device
US8638762B2 (en) 2005-10-13 2014-01-28 Trapeze Networks, Inc. System and method for network integrity
US8670383B2 (en) 2006-12-28 2014-03-11 Trapeze Networks, Inc. System and method for aggregation and queuing in a wireless network
US8680412B2 (en) 2005-03-31 2014-03-25 Novartis Ag Footswitch operable to control a surgical system
US8678793B2 (en) 2004-11-24 2014-03-25 Q-Core Medical Ltd. Finger-type peristaltic pump
US8690855B2 (en) * 2010-12-22 2014-04-08 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Fluid reservoir seating procedure for a fluid infusion device
US20140107499A1 (en) * 2012-10-12 2014-04-17 True Process, Inc. Medical Information Management System
US8720784B2 (en) 2005-06-03 2014-05-13 Hand Held Products, Inc. Digital picture taking optical reader having hybrid monochrome and color image sensor array
US8720781B2 (en) 2005-03-11 2014-05-13 Hand Held Products, Inc. Image reader having image sensor array
US8720785B2 (en) 2005-06-03 2014-05-13 Hand Held Products, Inc. Apparatus having hybrid monochrome and color image sensor array
US8733660B2 (en) 2005-03-11 2014-05-27 Hand Held Products, Inc. Image reader comprising CMOS based image sensor array
US8755269B2 (en) 2009-12-23 2014-06-17 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Ranking and switching of wireless channels in a body area network of medical devices
US8808269B2 (en) 2012-08-21 2014-08-19 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Reservoir plunger position monitoring and medical device incorporating same
US8818322B2 (en) 2006-06-09 2014-08-26 Trapeze Networks, Inc. Untethered access point mesh system and method
US8814792B2 (en) 2010-07-27 2014-08-26 Carefusion 303, Inc. System and method for storing and forwarding data from a vital-signs monitor
US20140289812A1 (en) * 2011-11-17 2014-09-25 Fresenius Medical Care Holdings, Inc. Remote control of dialysis machines
US8864726B2 (en) 2011-02-22 2014-10-21 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Pressure vented fluid reservoir having a movable septum
US8870818B2 (en) 2012-11-15 2014-10-28 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Systems and methods for alignment and detection of a consumable component
US8902904B2 (en) 2007-09-07 2014-12-02 Trapeze Networks, Inc. Network assignment based on priority
US20140355047A1 (en) * 2013-06-03 2014-12-04 Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd System and method to provide mobile printing using near field communication
US8907782B2 (en) 2010-06-30 2014-12-09 Welch Allyn, Inc. Medical devices with proximity detection
US8920144B2 (en) 2009-12-22 2014-12-30 Q-Core Medical Ltd. Peristaltic pump with linear flow control
US8920381B2 (en) 2013-04-12 2014-12-30 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Infusion set with improved bore configuration
US8957777B2 (en) 2010-06-30 2015-02-17 Welch Allyn, Inc. Body area network pairing improvements for clinical workflows
US8964747B2 (en) 2006-05-03 2015-02-24 Trapeze Networks, Inc. System and method for restricting network access using forwarding databases
US8966018B2 (en) 2006-05-19 2015-02-24 Trapeze Networks, Inc. Automated network device configuration and network deployment
US8978105B2 (en) 2008-07-25 2015-03-10 Trapeze Networks, Inc. Affirming network relationships and resource access via related networks
US20150087920A1 (en) * 2013-09-25 2015-03-26 Zoll Medical Corporation Localized Monitoring
US9020419B2 (en) 2011-01-14 2015-04-28 Covidien, LP Wireless relay module for remote monitoring systems having power and medical device proximity monitoring functionality
US9018893B2 (en) 2011-03-18 2015-04-28 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Power control techniques for an electronic device
US20150134358A1 (en) * 2011-02-14 2015-05-14 Michelle Fisher Connected Medical Devices
US9033924B2 (en) 2013-01-18 2015-05-19 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Systems for fluid reservoir retention
US9046919B2 (en) 2007-08-20 2015-06-02 Hmicro, Inc. Wearable user interface device, system, and method of use
US9055925B2 (en) 2010-07-27 2015-06-16 Carefusion 303, Inc. System and method for reducing false alarms associated with vital-signs monitoring
US9056160B2 (en) 2006-11-13 2015-06-16 Q-Core Medical Ltd Magnetically balanced finger-type peristaltic pump
US9078582B2 (en) 2009-04-22 2015-07-14 Lifewave Biomedical, Inc. Fetal monitoring device and methods
DE102014100591A1 (en) * 2014-01-20 2015-07-23 Beurer Gmbh Wireless data transmission module for medical devices
US9100917B1 (en) * 2005-07-12 2015-08-04 Marvell International Ltd. Power save modes for a system-on-chip and a host processor of a wireless device
US20150221194A1 (en) * 2012-08-22 2015-08-06 Connect-In Ltd Monitoring system
US9101305B2 (en) 2011-03-09 2015-08-11 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Glucose sensor product and related manufacturing and packaging methods
US20150223706A1 (en) * 2010-07-27 2015-08-13 Carefusion 303, Inc. System and method for saving battery power in a patient monitoring system
US9107994B2 (en) 2013-01-18 2015-08-18 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Systems for fluid reservoir retention
US9142923B2 (en) 2003-08-21 2015-09-22 Hill-Rom Services, Inc. Hospital bed having wireless data and locating capability
WO2015142312A1 (en) * 2014-03-17 2015-09-24 East Carolina University Console devices for comprehensive remote hearing assessment and related systems and methods
US9191799B2 (en) 2006-06-09 2015-11-17 Juniper Networks, Inc. Sharing data between wireless switches system and method
US9204794B2 (en) 2013-01-14 2015-12-08 Covidien Lp Medical device with electrically isolated communication interface
US9230421B2 (en) 2000-05-05 2016-01-05 Hill-Rom Services, Inc. System for monitoring caregivers and equipment
US9242043B2 (en) 2013-03-15 2016-01-26 Tandem Diabetes Care, Inc. Field update of an ambulatory infusion pump system
US9258702B2 (en) 2006-06-09 2016-02-09 Trapeze Networks, Inc. AP-local dynamic switching
US9259528B2 (en) 2013-08-22 2016-02-16 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Fluid infusion device with safety coupling
US20160058390A1 (en) * 2014-08-28 2016-03-03 Nant Health, Llc Patient sensor data exchange systems and methods
US9299240B2 (en) 2013-02-27 2016-03-29 Welch Allyn, Inc. Anti-loss for medical devices
US9308321B2 (en) 2013-02-18 2016-04-12 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Infusion device having gear assembly initialization
US9333292B2 (en) 2012-06-26 2016-05-10 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Mechanically actuated fluid infusion device
US9333290B2 (en) 2006-11-13 2016-05-10 Q-Core Medical Ltd. Anti-free flow mechanism
US9357929B2 (en) 2010-07-27 2016-06-07 Carefusion 303, Inc. System and method for monitoring body temperature of a person
US9364609B2 (en) 2012-08-30 2016-06-14 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Insulin on board compensation for a closed-loop insulin infusion system
US9393399B2 (en) 2011-02-22 2016-07-19 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Sealing assembly for a fluid reservoir of a fluid infusion device
US9399096B2 (en) 2014-02-06 2016-07-26 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Automatic closed-loop control adjustments and infusion systems incorporating same
US9402949B2 (en) 2013-08-13 2016-08-02 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Detecting conditions associated with medical device operations using matched filters
US9420952B2 (en) 2010-07-27 2016-08-23 Carefusion 303, Inc. Temperature probe suitable for axillary reading
US9433731B2 (en) 2013-07-19 2016-09-06 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Detecting unintentional motor motion and infusion device incorporating same
US9457158B2 (en) 2010-04-12 2016-10-04 Q-Core Medical Ltd. Air trap for intravenous pump
EP2637540B1 (en) 2010-11-08 2016-10-05 Gojo Industries, Inc. Hygiene compliance module
US9463309B2 (en) 2011-02-22 2016-10-11 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Sealing assembly and structure for a fluid infusion device having a needled fluid reservoir
US9495511B2 (en) 2011-03-01 2016-11-15 Covidien Lp Remote monitoring systems and methods for medical devices
US20160360998A1 (en) * 2015-06-11 2016-12-15 Moon-Seog JUN System, terminal, and method for digital electrocardiogram authentication
US9522223B2 (en) 2013-01-18 2016-12-20 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Systems for fluid reservoir retention
WO2016205212A1 (en) * 2015-06-15 2016-12-22 The Regents Of The University Of California Subject assessment using localization, activity recognition and a smart questionnaire
US20170053086A1 (en) * 2009-07-21 2017-02-23 Zoll Medical Corporation Systems and methods for ems device communications interface
US9585620B2 (en) 2010-07-27 2017-03-07 Carefusion 303, Inc. Vital-signs patch having a flexible attachment to electrodes
US9598210B2 (en) 2007-12-27 2017-03-21 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Reservoir pressure equalization systems and methods
US9610402B2 (en) 2014-03-24 2017-04-04 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Transcutaneous conduit insertion mechanism with a living hinge for use with a fluid infusion patch pump device
US9610401B2 (en) 2012-01-13 2017-04-04 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Infusion set component with modular fluid channel element
US9615792B2 (en) 2010-07-27 2017-04-11 Carefusion 303, Inc. System and method for conserving battery power in a patient monitoring system
US9623179B2 (en) 2012-08-30 2017-04-18 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Safeguarding techniques for a closed-loop insulin infusion system
CN106569972A (en) * 2016-11-11 2017-04-19 西安电子科技大学 USB interface-based JTAG one-chip microcomputer wireless emulator and method
US9636453B2 (en) 2014-12-04 2017-05-02 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Advance diagnosis of infusion device operating mode viability
US9657902B2 (en) 2004-11-24 2017-05-23 Q-Core Medical Ltd. Peristaltic infusion pump with locking mechanism
US9662445B2 (en) 2012-08-30 2017-05-30 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Regulating entry into a closed-loop operating mode of an insulin infusion system
CN106788619A (en) * 2017-01-10 2017-05-31 江苏思柯瑞数据科技有限公司 2.4G frequency band signals launch configurator
US9681828B2 (en) 2014-05-01 2017-06-20 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Physiological characteristic sensors and methods for forming such sensors
US9694132B2 (en) 2013-12-19 2017-07-04 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Insertion device for insertion set
US9726167B2 (en) 2011-06-27 2017-08-08 Q-Core Medical Ltd. Methods, circuits, devices, apparatuses, encasements and systems for identifying if a medical infusion system is decalibrated
US20170242968A1 (en) * 2016-02-24 2017-08-24 Nokia Technologies Oy Method and apparatus for configuration for monitoring patient information
US9750877B2 (en) 2013-12-11 2017-09-05 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Predicted time to assess and/or control a glycemic state
US9750878B2 (en) 2013-12-11 2017-09-05 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Closed-loop control of glucose according to a predicted blood glucose trajectory
US9764082B2 (en) 2014-04-30 2017-09-19 Icu Medical, Inc. Patient care system with conditional alarm forwarding
US20170289137A1 (en) * 2016-03-31 2017-10-05 International Business Machines Corporation Server authentication using multiple authentication chains
US9824569B2 (en) 2011-01-28 2017-11-21 Ecolab Usa Inc. Wireless communication for dispenser beacons
US9833563B2 (en) 2014-09-26 2017-12-05 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Systems for managing reservoir chamber pressure
US9833564B2 (en) 2014-11-25 2017-12-05 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Fluid conduit assembly with air venting features
US9839753B2 (en) 2014-09-26 2017-12-12 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Systems for managing reservoir chamber pressure
US9839741B2 (en) 2011-02-22 2017-12-12 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Flanged sealing element and needle guide pin assembly for a fluid infusion device having a needled fluid reservoir
US9849240B2 (en) 2013-12-12 2017-12-26 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Data modification for predictive operations and devices incorporating same
US9849239B2 (en) 2012-08-30 2017-12-26 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Generation and application of an insulin limit for a closed-loop operating mode of an insulin infusion system
US9855110B2 (en) 2013-02-05 2018-01-02 Q-Core Medical Ltd. Methods, apparatus and systems for operating a medical device including an accelerometer
US9861748B2 (en) 2014-02-06 2018-01-09 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. User-configurable closed-loop notifications and infusion systems incorporating same
US20180014253A1 (en) * 2014-12-05 2018-01-11 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. Apparatus and Method for Enabling Broadcast of a Wireless Signal when Switching Operation Mode
US9880528B2 (en) 2013-08-21 2018-01-30 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Medical devices and related updating methods and systems
US9879668B2 (en) 2015-06-22 2018-01-30 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Occlusion detection techniques for a fluid infusion device having a rotary pump mechanism and an optical sensor
US9878095B2 (en) 2015-06-22 2018-01-30 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Occlusion detection techniques for a fluid infusion device having a rotary pump mechanism and multiple sensor contact elements
US9878096B2 (en) 2012-08-30 2018-01-30 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Generation of target glucose values for a closed-loop operating mode of an insulin infusion system
US9889257B2 (en) 2013-08-21 2018-02-13 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Systems and methods for updating medical devices
US9895490B2 (en) 2010-12-22 2018-02-20 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Occlusion detection for a fluid infusion device
US9937292B2 (en) 2014-12-09 2018-04-10 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Systems for filling a fluid infusion device reservoir
US9943645B2 (en) 2014-12-04 2018-04-17 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Methods for operating mode transitions and related infusion devices and systems
US9949641B2 (en) 2007-10-19 2018-04-24 Smiths Medical Asd, Inc. Method for establishing a telecommunications system for patient monitoring
US9971871B2 (en) 2011-10-21 2018-05-15 Icu Medical, Inc. Medical device update system
US9986911B2 (en) 2007-10-19 2018-06-05 Smiths Medical Asd, Inc. Wireless telecommunications system adaptable for patient monitoring
US9987425B2 (en) 2015-06-22 2018-06-05 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Occlusion detection techniques for a fluid infusion device having a rotary pump mechanism and sensor contact elements
US9987420B2 (en) 2014-11-26 2018-06-05 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Systems and methods for fluid infusion device with automatic reservoir fill
US9993594B2 (en) 2015-06-22 2018-06-12 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Occlusion detection techniques for a fluid infusion device having a rotary pump mechanism and rotor position sensors
US10001450B2 (en) 2014-04-18 2018-06-19 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Nonlinear mapping technique for a physiological characteristic sensor
US9999721B2 (en) 2015-05-26 2018-06-19 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Error handling in infusion devices with distributed motor control and related operating methods
US10007765B2 (en) 2014-05-19 2018-06-26 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Adaptive signal processing for infusion devices and related methods and systems
US10010668B2 (en) 2015-06-22 2018-07-03 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Occlusion detection techniques for a fluid infusion device having a rotary pump mechanism and a force sensor
US10016554B2 (en) 2008-07-09 2018-07-10 Baxter International Inc. Dialysis system including wireless patient data
US10037722B2 (en) 2015-11-03 2018-07-31 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Detecting breakage in a display element
US10042986B2 (en) 2013-11-19 2018-08-07 Icu Medical, Inc. Infusion pump automation system and method
US20180228381A1 (en) * 2006-12-19 2018-08-16 Valencell, Inc. Earpiece monitor
US10061899B2 (en) 2008-07-09 2018-08-28 Baxter International Inc. Home therapy machine
US10085905B2 (en) 2014-08-11 2018-10-02 Stryker Corporation Patient support apparatuses with wireless headwall communication
US10105488B2 (en) 2013-12-12 2018-10-23 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Predictive infusion device operations and related methods and systems
US10113543B2 (en) 2006-11-13 2018-10-30 Q-Core Medical Ltd. Finger type peristaltic pump comprising a ribbed anvil
US10117992B2 (en) 2015-09-29 2018-11-06 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Infusion devices and related rescue detection methods
US10130767B2 (en) 2012-08-30 2018-11-20 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Sensor model supervisor for a closed-loop insulin infusion system
US10141651B2 (en) 2015-01-22 2018-11-27 Cardiac Pacemakers, Inc. No-matching-circuit multi-band diversity antenna system for medical external communications
US10137243B2 (en) 2015-05-26 2018-11-27 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Infusion devices with distributed motor control and related operating methods
US10146911B2 (en) 2015-10-23 2018-12-04 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Medical devices and related methods and systems for data transfer
US10152049B2 (en) 2014-05-19 2018-12-11 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Glucose sensor health monitoring and related methods and systems
US10195341B2 (en) 2014-11-26 2019-02-05 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Systems and methods for fluid infusion device with automatic reservoir fill
US10200241B2 (en) 2015-05-13 2019-02-05 Stryker Corporation Method of wireless discovery and networking of medical devices in care environments
US10201657B2 (en) 2015-08-21 2019-02-12 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Methods for providing sensor site rotation feedback and related infusion devices and systems
US10212032B2 (en) * 2008-12-03 2019-02-19 Carefusion 303, Inc. Method and apparatus for automatically integrating a medical device into a medical facility network
US10232113B2 (en) 2014-04-24 2019-03-19 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Infusion devices and related methods and systems for regulating insulin on board
US10238030B2 (en) 2016-12-06 2019-03-26 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Wireless medical device with a complementary split ring resonator arrangement for suppression of electromagnetic interference
US10242060B2 (en) 2006-10-16 2019-03-26 Icu Medical, Inc. System and method for comparing and utilizing activity information and configuration information from multiple medical device management systems
US10238801B2 (en) 2009-04-17 2019-03-26 Icu Medical, Inc. System and method for configuring a rule set for medical event management and responses
US10238799B2 (en) 2014-09-15 2019-03-26 Icu Medical, Inc. Matching delayed infusion auto-programs with manually entered infusion programs
US10265031B2 (en) 2014-12-19 2019-04-23 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Infusion devices and related methods and systems for automatic alert clearing
US10274349B2 (en) 2014-05-19 2019-04-30 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Calibration factor adjustments for infusion devices and related methods and systems
US10272201B2 (en) 2016-12-22 2019-04-30 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Insertion site monitoring methods and related infusion devices and systems
US10275572B2 (en) 2014-05-01 2019-04-30 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Detecting blockage of a reservoir cavity during a seating operation of a fluid infusion device
US10279126B2 (en) 2014-10-07 2019-05-07 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Fluid conduit assembly with gas trapping filter in the fluid flow path
US10293108B2 (en) 2015-08-21 2019-05-21 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Infusion devices and related patient ratio adjustment methods
US10307528B2 (en) 2015-03-09 2019-06-04 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Extensible infusion devices and related methods
US10307535B2 (en) 2014-12-19 2019-06-04 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Infusion devices and related methods and systems for preemptive alerting
US10311972B2 (en) 2013-11-11 2019-06-04 Icu Medical, Inc. Medical device system performance index
US10314974B2 (en) 2014-06-16 2019-06-11 Icu Medical, Inc. System for monitoring and delivering medication to a patient and method of using the same to minimize the risks associated with automated therapy
WO2019111216A1 (en) * 2017-12-08 2019-06-13 Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Limited Medical device location tracking
US10333843B2 (en) 2013-03-06 2019-06-25 Icu Medical, Inc. Medical device communication method
US20190206558A1 (en) * 2013-06-28 2019-07-04 Elwha Llc Patient medical support system and related method
US10356081B2 (en) * 2016-01-29 2019-07-16 Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. Systems and methods for secure automated network attachment
US10360787B2 (en) 2016-05-05 2019-07-23 Hill-Rom Services, Inc. Discriminating patient care communications system
US10363365B2 (en) 2017-02-07 2019-07-30 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Infusion devices and related consumable calibration methods
US10395769B2 (en) 2015-12-16 2019-08-27 Hill-Rom Services, Inc. Patient care devices with local indication of correspondence and power line interconnectivity
US10391242B2 (en) 2012-06-07 2019-08-27 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Diabetes therapy management system for recommending bolus calculator adjustments
US10434246B2 (en) 2003-10-07 2019-10-08 Icu Medical, Inc. Medication management system
US10449298B2 (en) 2015-03-26 2019-10-22 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Fluid injection devices and related methods
US10449306B2 (en) 2015-11-25 2019-10-22 Medtronics Minimed, Inc. Systems for fluid delivery with wicking membrane
US10463297B2 (en) 2015-08-21 2019-11-05 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Personalized event detection methods and related devices and systems
US10478557B2 (en) 2015-08-21 2019-11-19 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Personalized parameter modeling methods and related devices and systems
US10485431B1 (en) 2018-05-21 2019-11-26 ARC Devices Ltd. Glucose multi-vital-sign system in an electronic medical records system
US10496797B2 (en) 2012-08-30 2019-12-03 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Blood glucose validation for a closed-loop operating mode of an insulin infusion system
US10492684B2 (en) 2017-02-21 2019-12-03 Arc Devices Limited Multi-vital-sign smartphone system in an electronic medical records system
US20190365282A1 (en) * 2018-03-05 2019-12-05 Jeffrey Scott Gibson Capnography device with constant remote surveillance and notification capabilities coupled with automated drug delivery instruments
US10500135B2 (en) 2017-01-30 2019-12-10 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Fluid reservoir and systems for filling a fluid reservoir of a fluid infusion device
US10506926B2 (en) 2017-02-18 2019-12-17 Arc Devices Limited Multi-vital sign detector in an electronic medical records system
US10529219B2 (en) 2017-11-10 2020-01-07 Ecolab Usa Inc. Hand hygiene compliance monitoring
US10532165B2 (en) 2017-01-30 2020-01-14 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Fluid reservoir and systems for filling a fluid reservoir of a fluid infusion device
WO2020018388A1 (en) * 2018-07-17 2020-01-23 Icu Medical, Inc. Updating infusion pump drug libraries and operational software in a networked environment
US10552580B2 (en) 2017-02-07 2020-02-04 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Infusion system consumables and related calibration methods
US10575767B2 (en) 2015-05-29 2020-03-03 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Method for monitoring an analyte, analyte sensor and analyte monitoring apparatus
US10582981B2 (en) 2016-02-02 2020-03-10 Stryker Corporation Accessory support and coupling systems for an accessory support
US10589038B2 (en) 2016-04-27 2020-03-17 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Set connector systems for venting a fluid reservoir
US10602987B2 (en) 2017-08-10 2020-03-31 Arc Devices Limited Multi-vital-sign smartphone system in an electronic medical records system
US10646649B2 (en) 2017-02-21 2020-05-12 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Infusion devices and fluid identification apparatuses and methods
US10664569B2 (en) 2015-08-21 2020-05-26 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Data analytics and generation of recommendations for controlling glycemic outcomes associated with tracked events
US10692595B2 (en) 2018-07-26 2020-06-23 Icu Medical, Inc. Drug library dynamic version management
US10741280B2 (en) 2018-07-17 2020-08-11 Icu Medical, Inc. Tagging pump messages with identifiers that facilitate restructuring
US10765799B2 (en) 2013-09-20 2020-09-08 Icu Medical, Inc. Fail-safe drug infusion therapy system
WO2020198169A1 (en) * 2019-03-22 2020-10-01 Sibel Inc. Wireless communication system for wearable medical sensors
US20200345233A1 (en) * 2017-09-30 2020-11-05 Shenzhen Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics Co., Ltd. Monitoring system, data transmission method, portable monitor, and configurator
US10861592B2 (en) 2018-07-17 2020-12-08 Icu Medical, Inc. Reducing infusion pump network congestion by staggering updates
US10894320B2 (en) * 2015-11-19 2021-01-19 Kabushiki Kaisha Yaskawa Denki Robot system and robot control method
US11097051B2 (en) 2016-11-04 2021-08-24 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Methods and apparatus for detecting and reacting to insufficient hypoglycemia response
US11109816B2 (en) 2009-07-21 2021-09-07 Zoll Medical Corporation Systems and methods for EMS device communications interface
US11116924B2 (en) 2014-05-27 2021-09-14 Resmed Inc. Remote respiratory therapy device management
US11207463B2 (en) 2017-02-21 2021-12-28 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Apparatuses, systems, and methods for identifying an infusate in a reservoir of an infusion device
US11235100B2 (en) 2003-11-13 2022-02-01 Icu Medical, Inc. System for maintaining drug information and communicating with medication delivery devices
USRE48951E1 (en) 2015-08-05 2022-03-01 Ecolab Usa Inc. Hand hygiene compliance monitoring
US11272815B2 (en) 2017-03-07 2022-03-15 Ecolab Usa Inc. Monitoring modules for hand hygiene dispensers
US11281195B2 (en) * 2017-09-29 2022-03-22 Intel Corporation Integrated circuits with in-field diagnostic and repair capabilities
US11284333B2 (en) 2018-12-20 2022-03-22 Ecolab Usa Inc. Adaptive route, bi-directional network communication
US11309070B2 (en) 2018-07-26 2022-04-19 Icu Medical, Inc. Drug library manager with customized worksheets
US20220215954A1 (en) * 2020-08-09 2022-07-07 Kevin Patel System for remote medical care
US11443607B2 (en) * 2014-01-06 2022-09-13 Binatone Electronics International Limited Dual mode baby monitoring
US11495334B2 (en) 2015-06-25 2022-11-08 Gambro Lundia Ab Medical device system and method having a distributed database
US11501867B2 (en) 2015-10-19 2022-11-15 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Medical devices and related event pattern presentation methods
US11504014B2 (en) 2020-06-01 2022-11-22 Arc Devices Limited Apparatus and methods for measuring blood pressure and other vital signs via a finger
US11516183B2 (en) 2016-12-21 2022-11-29 Gambro Lundia Ab Medical device system including information technology infrastructure having secure cluster domain supporting external domain
US11571508B2 (en) 2013-08-30 2023-02-07 Icu Medical, Inc. System and method of monitoring and managing a remote infusion regimen
US11574737B2 (en) 2016-07-14 2023-02-07 Icu Medical, Inc. Multi-communication path selection and security system for a medical device
US11587669B2 (en) 2018-07-17 2023-02-21 Icu Medical, Inc. Passing authentication token to authorize access to rest calls via web sockets
US11605468B2 (en) 2015-05-26 2023-03-14 Icu Medical, Inc. Infusion pump system and method with multiple drug library editor source capability
US11666702B2 (en) 2015-10-19 2023-06-06 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Medical devices and related event pattern treatment recommendation methods
US11679189B2 (en) 2019-11-18 2023-06-20 Eitan Medical Ltd. Fast test for medical pump
US11830599B2 (en) 2008-04-01 2023-11-28 Deka Products Limited Partnership Infusion pump method and systems

Families Citing this family (61)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US11677577B2 (en) 2004-03-16 2023-06-13 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Premises system management using status signal
US10339791B2 (en) 2007-06-12 2019-07-02 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Security network integrated with premise security system
US11190578B2 (en) 2008-08-11 2021-11-30 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Integrated cloud system with lightweight gateway for premises automation
US20170118037A1 (en) 2008-08-11 2017-04-27 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Integrated cloud system for premises automation
US11811845B2 (en) 2004-03-16 2023-11-07 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Communication protocols over internet protocol (IP) networks
US11343380B2 (en) 2004-03-16 2022-05-24 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Premises system automation
US10721087B2 (en) 2005-03-16 2020-07-21 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Method for networked touchscreen with integrated interfaces
US11244545B2 (en) 2004-03-16 2022-02-08 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Cross-client sensor user interface in an integrated security network
US11368429B2 (en) 2004-03-16 2022-06-21 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Premises management configuration and control
US20050216302A1 (en) 2004-03-16 2005-09-29 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Business method for premises management
US11489812B2 (en) 2004-03-16 2022-11-01 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Forming a security network including integrated security system components and network devices
US10522026B2 (en) 2008-08-11 2019-12-31 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Automation system user interface with three-dimensional display
US10237237B2 (en) 2007-06-12 2019-03-19 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Communication protocols in integrated systems
US11916870B2 (en) 2004-03-16 2024-02-27 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Gateway registry methods and systems
US10142392B2 (en) 2007-01-24 2018-11-27 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Methods and systems for improved system performance
US11582065B2 (en) 2007-06-12 2023-02-14 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Systems and methods for device communication
US11700142B2 (en) 2005-03-16 2023-07-11 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Security network integrating security system and network devices
US11496568B2 (en) 2005-03-16 2022-11-08 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Security system with networked touchscreen
US20170180198A1 (en) * 2008-08-11 2017-06-22 Marc Baum Forming a security network including integrated security system components
US10999254B2 (en) 2005-03-16 2021-05-04 Icontrol Networks, Inc. System for data routing in networks
US11615697B2 (en) 2005-03-16 2023-03-28 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Premise management systems and methods
US20120324566A1 (en) 2005-03-16 2012-12-20 Marc Baum Takeover Processes In Security Network Integrated With Premise Security System
US10079839B1 (en) 2007-06-12 2018-09-18 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Activation of gateway device
US11706279B2 (en) 2007-01-24 2023-07-18 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Methods and systems for data communication
US7633385B2 (en) 2007-02-28 2009-12-15 Ucontrol, Inc. Method and system for communicating with and controlling an alarm system from a remote server
US8451986B2 (en) 2007-04-23 2013-05-28 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Method and system for automatically providing alternate network access for telecommunications
US11212192B2 (en) 2007-06-12 2021-12-28 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Communication protocols in integrated systems
US11646907B2 (en) 2007-06-12 2023-05-09 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Communication protocols in integrated systems
US11601810B2 (en) 2007-06-12 2023-03-07 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Communication protocols in integrated systems
US11316753B2 (en) 2007-06-12 2022-04-26 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Communication protocols in integrated systems
US11423756B2 (en) 2007-06-12 2022-08-23 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Communication protocols in integrated systems
US11218878B2 (en) 2007-06-12 2022-01-04 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Communication protocols in integrated systems
US10523689B2 (en) 2007-06-12 2019-12-31 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Communication protocols over internet protocol (IP) networks
US10223903B2 (en) 2010-09-28 2019-03-05 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Integrated security system with parallel processing architecture
US11831462B2 (en) 2007-08-24 2023-11-28 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Controlling data routing in premises management systems
US11916928B2 (en) 2008-01-24 2024-02-27 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Communication protocols over internet protocol (IP) networks
US20170185278A1 (en) 2008-08-11 2017-06-29 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Automation system user interface
US11758026B2 (en) 2008-08-11 2023-09-12 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Virtual device systems and methods
US11729255B2 (en) 2008-08-11 2023-08-15 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Integrated cloud system with lightweight gateway for premises automation
US11792036B2 (en) 2008-08-11 2023-10-17 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Mobile premises automation platform
US8638211B2 (en) 2009-04-30 2014-01-28 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Configurable controller and interface for home SMA, phone and multimedia
DE102009029495A1 (en) * 2009-09-16 2011-03-24 Endress + Hauser Conducta Gesellschaft für Mess- und Regeltechnik mbH + Co. KG Transmitter for a multi-sensor system, in particular as field device for process automation technology and method for operating the transmitter
US8836467B1 (en) 2010-09-28 2014-09-16 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Method, system and apparatus for automated reporting of account and sensor zone information to a central station
EP2627277B1 (en) 2010-10-12 2019-11-20 Smith & Nephew, Inc. Medical device
US9147337B2 (en) 2010-12-17 2015-09-29 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Method and system for logging security event data
US9737649B2 (en) 2013-03-14 2017-08-22 Smith & Nephew, Inc. Systems and methods for applying reduced pressure therapy
US11405463B2 (en) 2014-03-03 2022-08-02 Icontrol Networks, Inc. Media content management
US11315681B2 (en) 2015-10-07 2022-04-26 Smith & Nephew, Inc. Reduced pressure therapy device operation and authorization monitoring
US10130743B2 (en) * 2015-11-17 2018-11-20 Dale J. Yeatts Wireless diagnostic system for indirect flow measurement in artificial heart pumps
US10492141B2 (en) * 2015-11-17 2019-11-26 Tandem Diabetes Care, Inc. Methods for reduction of battery usage in ambulatory infusion pumps
US10694461B2 (en) 2016-01-04 2020-06-23 Blackberry Limited Method and mobile transceiver for asset tracking
US10541987B2 (en) 2016-02-26 2020-01-21 Tandem Diabetes Care, Inc. Web browser-based device communication workflow
EP3454917B1 (en) 2016-05-13 2022-04-06 Smith & Nephew, Inc Automatic wound coupling detection in negative pressure wound therapy systems
AU2017335635B2 (en) 2016-09-29 2023-01-05 Smith & Nephew, Inc. Construction and protection of components in negative pressure wound therapy systems
WO2018156708A1 (en) 2017-02-24 2018-08-30 Collaborative Care Diagnostics, LLC Secure communications and records handling system and associated method
WO2019014141A1 (en) 2017-07-10 2019-01-17 Smith & Nephew, Inc. Systems and methods for directly interacting with communications module of wound therapy apparatus
CN112369066A (en) * 2018-06-29 2021-02-12 皇家飞利浦有限公司 WLAN client congestion detection and reporting
GB201820668D0 (en) 2018-12-19 2019-01-30 Smith & Nephew Inc Systems and methods for delivering prescribed wound therapy
US11489948B2 (en) * 2019-12-30 2022-11-01 Cloudflare, Inc. Method and system for reliable application layer data transmission through unreliable transport layer connections in a network
WO2022180267A1 (en) * 2021-02-26 2022-09-01 Vitir As A network system controlling roaming of devices between wireless access points of a network
CN114779658B (en) * 2022-06-21 2022-09-06 深圳市桑尼奇科技有限公司 Be applied to wifi chip of intelligent house

Citations (21)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US599294A (en) * 1898-02-15 Henry f
US3810102A (en) * 1972-03-31 1974-05-07 Telserv Inc System for transmission and analysis of biomedical data
US5387994A (en) * 1994-02-14 1995-02-07 Thermo King Corporation Communications adapter for converting wire-based communication to wireless communication
US5502726A (en) * 1992-01-31 1996-03-26 Nellcor Incorporated Serial layered medical network
US6047207A (en) * 1994-09-28 2000-04-04 Heartstream, Inc. Method of using a measuring instrument and data gathering system
US20030065536A1 (en) * 2001-08-13 2003-04-03 Hansen Henrik Egesborg Portable device and method of communicating medical data information
US6616606B1 (en) * 2000-05-19 2003-09-09 Welch Allyn Protocol, Inc. Patient monitoring system
US20030181798A1 (en) * 2002-03-25 2003-09-25 Ammar Al-Ali Physiological measurement communications adapter
US6650939B2 (en) * 2000-03-17 2003-11-18 Medtronic, Inc. Universal interface for implantable medical device data management
US20040176667A1 (en) * 2002-04-30 2004-09-09 Mihai Dan M. Method and system for medical device connectivity
US20040223180A1 (en) * 2003-05-08 2004-11-11 Transact Technologies Incorporated Transactional printer with wireless communication to host
US20050015516A1 (en) * 2003-07-14 2005-01-20 Pay-Lun Ju IP appliance connectable with handheld device
US20050033148A1 (en) * 1998-09-08 2005-02-10 Ulrich Haueter Module for a computer interface
US6876958B1 (en) * 1999-07-01 2005-04-05 New Breed Corporations Method and system of optimized sequencing and configuring of items for packing in a bounded region
US20050165323A1 (en) * 1999-10-07 2005-07-28 Lamont, Llc. Physiological signal monitoring apparatus and method
US6950859B1 (en) * 2002-12-23 2005-09-27 Microtune (San Diego), Inc. Wireless cable replacement for computer peripherals
US20050261559A1 (en) * 2004-05-18 2005-11-24 Mumford John R Wireless physiological monitoring system
US20060238333A1 (en) * 2003-03-21 2006-10-26 Welch Allyn Protocol, Inc. Personal status physiologic monitor system and architecture and related monitoring methods
US7129836B2 (en) * 2003-09-23 2006-10-31 Ge Medical Systems Information Technologies, Inc. Wireless subject monitoring system
US20080139953A1 (en) * 2006-11-01 2008-06-12 Welch Allyn, Inc. Body worn physiological sensor device having a disposable electrode module
US7913300B1 (en) * 2005-04-08 2011-03-22 Netapp, Inc. Centralized role-based access control for storage servers

Family Cites Families (15)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5938733A (en) * 1996-03-08 1999-08-17 International Business Machines Corporation Object oriented representation of network requests in a client server model
US5999294A (en) * 1997-03-13 1999-12-07 Aironet Wireless Communications, Inc. Detachable antenna with optical port
US6138186A (en) * 1998-07-20 2000-10-24 Hewlett-Packard Company Burst transfer management system utilizing pointers to ensure that there is enough space in a buffer to receive burst transfers without corrupting data
AU5877799A (en) * 1998-09-18 2000-04-10 Pixelfusion Limited Apparatus for use in a computer system
US6763032B1 (en) * 1999-02-12 2004-07-13 Broadcom Corporation Cable modem system with sample and packet synchronization
CA2365609A1 (en) * 1999-02-12 2000-08-17 Cygnus, Inc. Devices and methods for frequent measurement of an analyte present in a biological system
US20020016719A1 (en) * 2000-06-19 2002-02-07 Nemeth Louis G. Methods and systems for providing medical data to a third party in accordance with configurable distribution parameters
US20030016738A1 (en) * 2001-07-18 2003-01-23 Boolos Timothy L. Testing system and method of non-invasive testing
KR100472092B1 (en) * 2002-05-14 2005-03-08 주식회사 헬스피아 A blood sugar test device using a wireless phone and a method to transmit the blood sugar level to internet server
US7321599B1 (en) * 2002-07-30 2008-01-22 Otc Wireless, Inc. Wired protocol to wireless protocol converter
KR100523283B1 (en) * 2002-12-24 2005-10-24 한국전자통신연구원 terminal for collecting data using wireless network, and data collecting system using the terminal
US7587287B2 (en) * 2003-04-04 2009-09-08 Abbott Diabetes Care Inc. Method and system for transferring analyte test data
US7934005B2 (en) * 2003-09-08 2011-04-26 Koolspan, Inc. Subnet box
US7084617B2 (en) * 2004-04-21 2006-08-01 Denso Corporation Electric current sensor having magnetic gap
US20060122542A1 (en) * 2004-12-08 2006-06-08 Len Smith Wireless physical testing system and method of use

Patent Citations (24)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US599294A (en) * 1898-02-15 Henry f
US3810102A (en) * 1972-03-31 1974-05-07 Telserv Inc System for transmission and analysis of biomedical data
US5502726A (en) * 1992-01-31 1996-03-26 Nellcor Incorporated Serial layered medical network
US5387994A (en) * 1994-02-14 1995-02-07 Thermo King Corporation Communications adapter for converting wire-based communication to wireless communication
US6047207A (en) * 1994-09-28 2000-04-04 Heartstream, Inc. Method of using a measuring instrument and data gathering system
US20050033148A1 (en) * 1998-09-08 2005-02-10 Ulrich Haueter Module for a computer interface
US6876958B1 (en) * 1999-07-01 2005-04-05 New Breed Corporations Method and system of optimized sequencing and configuring of items for packing in a bounded region
US20050165323A1 (en) * 1999-10-07 2005-07-28 Lamont, Llc. Physiological signal monitoring apparatus and method
US6650939B2 (en) * 2000-03-17 2003-11-18 Medtronic, Inc. Universal interface for implantable medical device data management
US6616606B1 (en) * 2000-05-19 2003-09-09 Welch Allyn Protocol, Inc. Patient monitoring system
US20030065536A1 (en) * 2001-08-13 2003-04-03 Hansen Henrik Egesborg Portable device and method of communicating medical data information
US6850788B2 (en) * 2002-03-25 2005-02-01 Masimo Corporation Physiological measurement communications adapter
US20030181798A1 (en) * 2002-03-25 2003-09-25 Ammar Al-Ali Physiological measurement communications adapter
US20040176667A1 (en) * 2002-04-30 2004-09-09 Mihai Dan M. Method and system for medical device connectivity
US6950859B1 (en) * 2002-12-23 2005-09-27 Microtune (San Diego), Inc. Wireless cable replacement for computer peripherals
US20060238333A1 (en) * 2003-03-21 2006-10-26 Welch Allyn Protocol, Inc. Personal status physiologic monitor system and architecture and related monitoring methods
US20070069887A1 (en) * 2003-03-21 2007-03-29 Welch Allyn Protocol, Inc. Personal status physiologic monitor system and architecture and related monitoring methods
US7382247B2 (en) * 2003-03-21 2008-06-03 Welch Allyn, Inc. Personal status physiologic monitor system and architecture and related monitoring methods
US20040223180A1 (en) * 2003-05-08 2004-11-11 Transact Technologies Incorporated Transactional printer with wireless communication to host
US20050015516A1 (en) * 2003-07-14 2005-01-20 Pay-Lun Ju IP appliance connectable with handheld device
US7129836B2 (en) * 2003-09-23 2006-10-31 Ge Medical Systems Information Technologies, Inc. Wireless subject monitoring system
US20050261559A1 (en) * 2004-05-18 2005-11-24 Mumford John R Wireless physiological monitoring system
US7913300B1 (en) * 2005-04-08 2011-03-22 Netapp, Inc. Centralized role-based access control for storage servers
US20080139953A1 (en) * 2006-11-01 2008-06-12 Welch Allyn, Inc. Body worn physiological sensor device having a disposable electrode module

Cited By (606)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20080296393A1 (en) * 1997-10-17 2008-12-04 Jovanovski Brian L Multipurpose optical reader
US8026821B2 (en) 2000-05-05 2011-09-27 Hill-Rom Services, Inc. System for monitoring caregivers and equipment at a patient location
US9230421B2 (en) 2000-05-05 2016-01-05 Hill-Rom Services, Inc. System for monitoring caregivers and equipment
US8258965B2 (en) 2000-05-05 2012-09-04 Hill-Rom Services, Inc. System for monitoring caregivers and equipment at a patient location
US8766804B2 (en) 2000-05-05 2014-07-01 Hill-Rom Services, Inc. System for monitoring caregivers and equipment
US9666061B2 (en) 2000-05-05 2017-05-30 Hill-Rom Services, Inc. System for monitoring caregivers and equipment
US8487774B2 (en) 2000-05-05 2013-07-16 Hill-Rom Services, Inc. System for monitoring caregivers and equipment
US10206837B2 (en) 2003-08-21 2019-02-19 Hill-Rom Services, Inc. Hospital bed and room communication modules
US9142923B2 (en) 2003-08-21 2015-09-22 Hill-Rom Services, Inc. Hospital bed having wireless data and locating capability
US9925104B2 (en) 2003-08-21 2018-03-27 Hill-Rom Services, Inc. Hospital bed and room communication modules
US9572737B2 (en) 2003-08-21 2017-02-21 Hill-Rom Services, Inc. Hospital bed having communication modules
US10434246B2 (en) 2003-10-07 2019-10-08 Icu Medical, Inc. Medication management system
US11235100B2 (en) 2003-11-13 2022-02-01 Icu Medical, Inc. System for maintaining drug information and communicating with medication delivery devices
US8421606B2 (en) 2004-08-02 2013-04-16 Hill-Rom Services, Inc. Wireless bed locating system
US8678793B2 (en) 2004-11-24 2014-03-25 Q-Core Medical Ltd. Finger-type peristaltic pump
US9657902B2 (en) 2004-11-24 2017-05-23 Q-Core Medical Ltd. Peristaltic infusion pump with locking mechanism
US9404490B2 (en) 2004-11-24 2016-08-02 Q-Core Medical Ltd. Finger-type peristaltic pump
US8816846B2 (en) * 2004-11-24 2014-08-26 Koninklijke Philips N.V. Internet-protocol based telemetry patient monitoring system
US20070255120A1 (en) * 2004-11-24 2007-11-01 Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. Internet-Protocol Based Telemetry Patient Monitoring System
US10184615B2 (en) 2004-11-24 2019-01-22 Q-Core Medical Ltd. Peristaltic infusion pump with locking mechanism
US20060145871A1 (en) * 2004-12-02 2006-07-06 Smith & Nephew, Inc. Radio Frequency Identification for Medical Devices
US8542122B2 (en) 2005-02-08 2013-09-24 Abbott Diabetes Care Inc. Glucose measurement device and methods using RFID
US8390455B2 (en) 2005-02-08 2013-03-05 Abbott Diabetes Care Inc. RF tag on test strips, test strip vials and boxes
US8358210B2 (en) 2005-02-08 2013-01-22 Abbott Diabetes Care Inc. RF tag on test strips, test strip vials and boxes
US8223021B2 (en) 2005-02-08 2012-07-17 Abbott Diabetes Care Inc. RF tag on test strips, test strip vials and boxes
US8115635B2 (en) 2005-02-08 2012-02-14 Abbott Diabetes Care Inc. RF tag on test strips, test strip vials and boxes
US10735684B2 (en) 2005-03-11 2020-08-04 Hand Held Products, Inc. Image reader comprising CMOS based image sensor array
US9578269B2 (en) 2005-03-11 2017-02-21 Hand Held Products, Inc. Image reader comprising CMOS based image sensor array
US11323649B2 (en) 2005-03-11 2022-05-03 Hand Held Products, Inc. Image reader comprising CMOS based image sensor array
US11323650B2 (en) 2005-03-11 2022-05-03 Hand Held Products, Inc. Image reader comprising CMOS based image sensor array
US9305199B2 (en) 2005-03-11 2016-04-05 Hand Held Products, Inc. Image reader having image sensor array
US9465970B2 (en) 2005-03-11 2016-10-11 Hand Held Products, Inc. Image reader comprising CMOS based image sensor array
US11863897B2 (en) 2005-03-11 2024-01-02 Hand Held Products, Inc. Image reader comprising CMOS based image sensor array
US11317050B2 (en) 2005-03-11 2022-04-26 Hand Held Products, Inc. Image reader comprising CMOS based image sensor array
US10721429B2 (en) 2005-03-11 2020-07-21 Hand Held Products, Inc. Image reader comprising CMOS based image sensor array
US10171767B2 (en) 2005-03-11 2019-01-01 Hand Held Products, Inc. Image reader comprising CMOS based image sensor array
US8720781B2 (en) 2005-03-11 2014-05-13 Hand Held Products, Inc. Image reader having image sensor array
US8733660B2 (en) 2005-03-11 2014-05-27 Hand Held Products, Inc. Image reader comprising CMOS based image sensor array
US8978985B2 (en) 2005-03-11 2015-03-17 Hand Held Products, Inc. Image reader comprising CMOS based image sensor array
US9576169B2 (en) 2005-03-11 2017-02-21 Hand Held Products, Inc. Image reader having image sensor array
US10958863B2 (en) 2005-03-11 2021-03-23 Hand Held Products, Inc. Image reader comprising CMOS based image sensor array
US8161278B2 (en) 2005-03-15 2012-04-17 Trapeze Networks, Inc. System and method for distributing keys in a wireless network
US8635444B2 (en) 2005-03-15 2014-01-21 Trapeze Networks, Inc. System and method for distributing keys in a wireless network
US8680412B2 (en) 2005-03-31 2014-03-25 Novartis Ag Footswitch operable to control a surgical system
US9454686B2 (en) 2005-06-03 2016-09-27 Hand Held Products, Inc. Apparatus having hybrid monochrome and color image sensor array
US9058527B2 (en) 2005-06-03 2015-06-16 Hand Held Products, Inc. Apparatus having hybrid monochrome and color image sensor array
US8720785B2 (en) 2005-06-03 2014-05-13 Hand Held Products, Inc. Apparatus having hybrid monochrome and color image sensor array
US9092654B2 (en) 2005-06-03 2015-07-28 Hand Held Products, Inc. Digital picture taking optical reader having hybrid monochrome and color image sensor array
US8720784B2 (en) 2005-06-03 2014-05-13 Hand Held Products, Inc. Digital picture taking optical reader having hybrid monochrome and color image sensor array
US10691907B2 (en) 2005-06-03 2020-06-23 Hand Held Products, Inc. Apparatus having hybrid monochrome and color image sensor array
US10949634B2 (en) 2005-06-03 2021-03-16 Hand Held Products, Inc. Apparatus having hybrid monochrome and color image sensor array
US11238252B2 (en) 2005-06-03 2022-02-01 Hand Held Products, Inc. Apparatus having hybrid monochrome and color image sensor array
US11238251B2 (en) 2005-06-03 2022-02-01 Hand Held Products, Inc. Apparatus having hybrid monochrome and color image sensor array
US10002272B2 (en) 2005-06-03 2018-06-19 Hand Held Products, Inc. Apparatus having hybrid monochrome and color image sensor array
US9438867B2 (en) 2005-06-03 2016-09-06 Hand Held Products, Inc. Digital picture taking optical reader having hybrid monochrome and color image sensor array
US11604933B2 (en) 2005-06-03 2023-03-14 Hand Held Products, Inc. Apparatus having hybrid monochrome and color image sensor array
US11625550B2 (en) 2005-06-03 2023-04-11 Hand Held Products, Inc. Apparatus having hybrid monochrome and color image sensor array
US9100917B1 (en) * 2005-07-12 2015-08-04 Marvell International Ltd. Power save modes for a system-on-chip and a host processor of a wireless device
US8638762B2 (en) 2005-10-13 2014-01-28 Trapeze Networks, Inc. System and method for network integrity
US8514827B2 (en) 2005-10-13 2013-08-20 Trapeze Networks, Inc. System and network for wireless network monitoring
US8457031B2 (en) 2005-10-13 2013-06-04 Trapeze Networks, Inc. System and method for reliable multicast
US8116275B2 (en) 2005-10-13 2012-02-14 Trapeze Networks, Inc. System and network for wireless network monitoring
US8218449B2 (en) 2005-10-13 2012-07-10 Trapeze Networks, Inc. System and method for remote monitoring in a wireless network
US20070253021A1 (en) * 2006-04-28 2007-11-01 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Identification of devices in a medical device network and wireless data communication techniques utilizing device identifiers
US8073008B2 (en) 2006-04-28 2011-12-06 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Subnetwork synchronization and variable transmit synchronization techniques for a wireless medical device network
US7942844B2 (en) 2006-04-28 2011-05-17 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Remote monitoring for networked fluid infusion systems
US20070258395A1 (en) * 2006-04-28 2007-11-08 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Wireless data communication protocols for a medical device network
US20070255126A1 (en) * 2006-04-28 2007-11-01 Moberg Sheldon B Data communication in networked fluid infusion systems
US8964747B2 (en) 2006-05-03 2015-02-24 Trapeze Networks, Inc. System and method for restricting network access using forwarding databases
US20100036236A1 (en) * 2006-05-12 2010-02-11 Koninklijke Philips Electronics N. V. Method of interfacing a detachable display system to a base unit for use in mri
US8121667B2 (en) * 2006-05-12 2012-02-21 Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. Interfaced base unit and display system for an MRI magnet room
US8966018B2 (en) 2006-05-19 2015-02-24 Trapeze Networks, Inc. Automated network device configuration and network deployment
US20070281614A1 (en) * 2006-06-01 2007-12-06 Motorola, Inc. Method and apparatus for dual mode communications
US10327202B2 (en) 2006-06-09 2019-06-18 Trapeze Networks, Inc. AP-local dynamic switching
US11432147B2 (en) 2006-06-09 2022-08-30 Trapeze Networks, Inc. Untethered access point mesh system and method
US8818322B2 (en) 2006-06-09 2014-08-26 Trapeze Networks, Inc. Untethered access point mesh system and method
US9258702B2 (en) 2006-06-09 2016-02-09 Trapeze Networks, Inc. AP-local dynamic switching
US9838942B2 (en) 2006-06-09 2017-12-05 Trapeze Networks, Inc. AP-local dynamic switching
US10798650B2 (en) 2006-06-09 2020-10-06 Trapeze Networks, Inc. AP-local dynamic switching
US11627461B2 (en) 2006-06-09 2023-04-11 Juniper Networks, Inc. AP-local dynamic switching
US10834585B2 (en) 2006-06-09 2020-11-10 Trapeze Networks, Inc. Untethered access point mesh system and method
US9191799B2 (en) 2006-06-09 2015-11-17 Juniper Networks, Inc. Sharing data between wireless switches system and method
US10638304B2 (en) 2006-06-09 2020-04-28 Trapeze Networks, Inc. Sharing data between wireless switches system and method
US11758398B2 (en) 2006-06-09 2023-09-12 Juniper Networks, Inc. Untethered access point mesh system and method
US8340110B2 (en) 2006-09-15 2012-12-25 Trapeze Networks, Inc. Quality of service provisioning for wireless networks
US20080072028A1 (en) * 2006-09-20 2008-03-20 Allison Michael S Method of restarting a computer platform
US7962734B2 (en) * 2006-09-20 2011-06-14 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Method of restarting a computer platform
US10242060B2 (en) 2006-10-16 2019-03-26 Icu Medical, Inc. System and method for comparing and utilizing activity information and configuration information from multiple medical device management systems
US11194810B2 (en) 2006-10-16 2021-12-07 Icu Medical, Inc. System and method for comparing and utilizing activity information and configuration information from multiple device management systems
US9333290B2 (en) 2006-11-13 2016-05-10 Q-Core Medical Ltd. Anti-free flow mechanism
US9056160B2 (en) 2006-11-13 2015-06-16 Q-Core Medical Ltd Magnetically balanced finger-type peristaltic pump
US10113543B2 (en) 2006-11-13 2018-10-30 Q-Core Medical Ltd. Finger type peristaltic pump comprising a ribbed anvil
US9581152B2 (en) 2006-11-13 2017-02-28 Q-Core Medical Ltd. Magnetically balanced finger-type peristaltic pump
US20180228381A1 (en) * 2006-12-19 2018-08-16 Valencell, Inc. Earpiece monitor
US11399724B2 (en) * 2006-12-19 2022-08-02 Valencell, Inc. Earpiece monitor
US10716481B2 (en) 2006-12-19 2020-07-21 Valencell, Inc. Apparatus, systems and methods for monitoring and evaluating cardiopulmonary functioning
US11350831B2 (en) 2006-12-19 2022-06-07 Valencell, Inc. Physiological monitoring apparatus
US20210236003A1 (en) * 2006-12-19 2021-08-05 Valencell, Inc. Wearable apparatus having integrated physiological and/or environmental sensors
US11272849B2 (en) 2006-12-19 2022-03-15 Valencell, Inc. Wearable apparatus
US11395595B2 (en) 2006-12-19 2022-07-26 Valencell, Inc. Apparatus, systems and methods for monitoring and evaluating cardiopulmonary functioning
US11083378B2 (en) 2006-12-19 2021-08-10 Valencell, Inc. Wearable apparatus having integrated physiological and/or environmental sensors
US11324407B2 (en) 2006-12-19 2022-05-10 Valencell, Inc. Methods and apparatus for physiological and environmental monitoring with optical and footstep sensors
US11109767B2 (en) 2006-12-19 2021-09-07 Valencell, Inc. Apparatus, systems and methods for obtaining cleaner physiological information signals
US11412938B2 (en) 2006-12-19 2022-08-16 Valencell, Inc. Physiological monitoring apparatus and networks
US11000190B2 (en) 2006-12-19 2021-05-11 Valencell, Inc. Apparatus, systems and methods for obtaining cleaner physiological information signals
US10987005B2 (en) 2006-12-19 2021-04-27 Valencell, Inc. Systems and methods for presenting personal health information
US11272848B2 (en) 2006-12-19 2022-03-15 Valencell, Inc. Wearable apparatus for multiple types of physiological and/or environmental monitoring
US8670383B2 (en) 2006-12-28 2014-03-11 Trapeze Networks, Inc. System and method for aggregation and queuing in a wireless network
US20080166992A1 (en) * 2007-01-10 2008-07-10 Camillo Ricordi Mobile emergency alert system
US7969909B2 (en) * 2007-01-18 2011-06-28 Research In Motion Limited System and method for seeking a wireless network for a wireless device
US20110228704A1 (en) * 2007-01-18 2011-09-22 Research In Motion Limited System and method for seeking a wireless network for a wireless device
US8649294B2 (en) 2007-01-18 2014-02-11 Blackberry Limited System and method for seeking a wireless network for a wireless device
US20080175166A1 (en) * 2007-01-18 2008-07-24 Research In Motion Limited System and method for seeking a wireless network for a wireless device
US8611400B2 (en) * 2007-01-31 2013-12-17 Broadcom Corporation RF transceiver device with RF bus
US20110182333A1 (en) * 2007-01-31 2011-07-28 Broadcom Corporation Rf transceiver device with rf bus
US20080228045A1 (en) * 2007-02-23 2008-09-18 Tia Gao Multiprotocol Wireless Medical Monitors and Systems
US8465473B2 (en) 2007-03-28 2013-06-18 Novartis Ag Surgical footswitch with movable shroud
US20080243105A1 (en) * 2007-03-28 2008-10-02 Christopher Horvath Surgical Footswitch with Movable Shroud
US20080262557A1 (en) * 2007-04-19 2008-10-23 Brown Stephen J Obesity management system
US20100179421A1 (en) * 2007-05-24 2010-07-15 Joe Tupin System and method for non-invasive instantaneous and continuous measurement of cardiac chamber volume.
US7518502B2 (en) * 2007-05-24 2009-04-14 Smith & Nephew, Inc. System and method for tracking surgical assets
US8463361B2 (en) 2007-05-24 2013-06-11 Lifewave, Inc. System and method for non-invasive instantaneous and continuous measurement of cardiac chamber volume
US20080030345A1 (en) * 2007-05-24 2008-02-07 Smith & Nephew, Inc. System and method for tracking surgical assets
US20080301438A1 (en) * 2007-05-31 2008-12-04 Parkinson Steven W Peer-to-peer smime mechanism
US8296559B2 (en) * 2007-05-31 2012-10-23 Red Hat, Inc. Peer-to-peer SMIME mechanism
US8674806B1 (en) 2007-07-25 2014-03-18 Rf Technologies, Inc. End to end emergency response
US8400268B1 (en) * 2007-07-25 2013-03-19 Pinpoint Technologies Inc. End to end emergency response
US8373562B1 (en) 2007-07-25 2013-02-12 Pinpoint Technologies Inc. Asset tracking system
US20090043268A1 (en) * 2007-08-06 2009-02-12 Eddy Patrick E Wound treatment system and suction regulator for use therewith
US9046919B2 (en) 2007-08-20 2015-06-02 Hmicro, Inc. Wearable user interface device, system, and method of use
US8926509B2 (en) 2007-08-24 2015-01-06 Hmicro, Inc. Wireless physiological sensor patches and systems
US20090054737A1 (en) * 2007-08-24 2009-02-26 Surendar Magar Wireless physiological sensor patches and systems
US8902904B2 (en) 2007-09-07 2014-12-02 Trapeze Networks, Inc. Network assignment based on priority
US20090069642A1 (en) * 2007-09-11 2009-03-12 Aid Networks, Llc Wearable Wireless Electronic Patient Data Communications and Physiological Monitoring Device
US9986911B2 (en) 2007-10-19 2018-06-05 Smiths Medical Asd, Inc. Wireless telecommunications system adaptable for patient monitoring
US8373557B2 (en) * 2007-10-19 2013-02-12 Smiths Medical Asd, Inc. Method for establishing a telecommunications network for patient monitoring
US20090103469A1 (en) * 2007-10-19 2009-04-23 Smiths Medical Pm, Inc. Method for establishing a telecommunications network for patient monitoring
US9949641B2 (en) 2007-10-19 2018-04-24 Smiths Medical Asd, Inc. Method for establishing a telecommunications system for patient monitoring
US20090105549A1 (en) * 2007-10-19 2009-04-23 Smiths Medical Pm, Inc. Wireless telecommunications system adaptable for patient monitoring
US8134459B2 (en) 2007-10-19 2012-03-13 Smiths Medical Asd, Inc. Wireless telecommunications system adaptable for patient monitoring
WO2009055608A3 (en) * 2007-10-24 2009-06-11 Hmicro Inc Method and apparatus to retrofit wired healthcare and fitness systems for wireless operation
US10284923B2 (en) 2007-10-24 2019-05-07 Lifesignals, Inc. Low power radiofrequency (RF) communication systems for secure wireless patch initialization and methods of use
US8611319B2 (en) 2007-10-24 2013-12-17 Hmicro, Inc. Methods and apparatus to retrofit wired healthcare and fitness systems for wireless operation
US20110019595A1 (en) * 2007-10-24 2011-01-27 Surendar Magar Methods and apparatus to retrofit wired healthcare and fitness systems for wireless operation
US20110019824A1 (en) * 2007-10-24 2011-01-27 Hmicro, Inc. Low power radiofrequency (rf) communication systems for secure wireless patch initialization and methods of use
US9155469B2 (en) 2007-10-24 2015-10-13 Hmicro, Inc. Methods and apparatus to retrofit wired healthcare and fitness systems for wireless operation
EP2211693A1 (en) * 2007-10-26 2010-08-04 Hill-Rom Services, Inc. System and method for collection and communication of data from multiple patient care devices
US8082160B2 (en) 2007-10-26 2011-12-20 Hill-Rom Services, Inc. System and method for collection and communication of data from multiple patient care devices
US8756078B2 (en) 2007-10-26 2014-06-17 Hill-Rom Services, Inc. System and method for collection and communication of data from multiple patient care devices
WO2009055635A1 (en) * 2007-10-26 2009-04-30 Hill-Rom Services, Inc. System and method for collection and communication of data from multiple patient care devices
US11031130B2 (en) 2007-10-26 2021-06-08 Hill-Rom Services, Inc. Patient support apparatus having data collection and communication capability
US9734293B2 (en) 2007-10-26 2017-08-15 Hill-Rom Services, Inc. System and method for association of patient care devices to a patient
EP2211693A4 (en) * 2007-10-26 2013-08-21 Hill Rom Services Inc System and method for collection and communication of data from multiple patient care devices
US8238942B2 (en) 2007-11-21 2012-08-07 Trapeze Networks, Inc. Wireless station location detection
US8727216B2 (en) * 2007-12-03 2014-05-20 Apple Inc. Portable memory module with wireless emitter to facilitate the provision of location-dependent services
US20090140043A1 (en) * 2007-12-03 2009-06-04 Nortel Networks Limited Portable memory module with wireless emitter to facilitate the provision of location-dependent services
US8452413B2 (en) 2007-12-07 2013-05-28 Roche Diagnostics Operations, Inc. Method and system for multi-device communication
US20090150175A1 (en) * 2007-12-07 2009-06-11 Roche Diagnostics Operations, Inc. Method and system for multi-device communication
US7979136B2 (en) * 2007-12-07 2011-07-12 Roche Diagnostics Operation, Inc Method and system for multi-device communication
US20110230142A1 (en) * 2007-12-07 2011-09-22 Roche Diagnostics Operations, Inc. Method and system for multi-device communication
US9598210B2 (en) 2007-12-27 2017-03-21 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Reservoir pressure equalization systems and methods
WO2009086672A1 (en) * 2007-12-29 2009-07-16 Zte Corporation Network interface card for wimax system
US20090171174A1 (en) * 2007-12-31 2009-07-02 Nellcor Puritan Bennett Llc System and method for maintaining battery life
US20090184825A1 (en) * 2008-01-23 2009-07-23 General Electric Company RFID Transponder Used for Instrument Identification in an Electromagnetic Tracking System
WO2009093891A1 (en) * 2008-01-25 2009-07-30 Mobihealth B.V. Mobile monitoring system and method
US8360975B1 (en) * 2008-02-25 2013-01-29 Midmark Corporation Networked interface appliance for improved medical device integration and physician workflow
US8535223B2 (en) * 2008-02-28 2013-09-17 Koninklijke Philips N.V. Wireless patient monitoring using streaming of medical data with body-coupled communication
US20110004073A1 (en) * 2008-02-28 2011-01-06 Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. Wireless patient monitoring using streaming of medical data with body-coupled communication
US8150357B2 (en) 2008-03-28 2012-04-03 Trapeze Networks, Inc. Smoothing filter for irregular update intervals
US20090243878A1 (en) * 2008-03-31 2009-10-01 Camillo Ricordi Radio frequency transmitter and receiver system and apparatus
US11830599B2 (en) 2008-04-01 2023-11-28 Deka Products Limited Partnership Infusion pump method and systems
US9669161B2 (en) * 2008-04-01 2017-06-06 Deka Products Limited Partnership Methods and systems for controlling an infusion pump
US20090254037A1 (en) * 2008-04-01 2009-10-08 Deka Products Limited Partnership Methods and systems for controlling an infusion pump
US9132227B2 (en) * 2008-04-01 2015-09-15 Deka Products Limited Partnership Methods and systems for controlling an infusion pump
US20150374913A1 (en) * 2008-04-01 2015-12-31 Deka Products Limited Partnership Methods and Systems for Controlling an Infusion Pump
US8085016B2 (en) * 2008-04-03 2011-12-27 Chimei Innolux Corporation Power supply circuit having standby detection circuit
TWI393000B (en) * 2008-04-03 2013-04-11 Chimei Innolux Corp Power supply circuit
US20090251205A1 (en) * 2008-04-03 2009-10-08 Innolux Display Corp. Power supply circuit having standby detection circuit
US20090307681A1 (en) * 2008-06-05 2009-12-10 Ryan Armado Wireless Network and Methods of Wireless Communication For Ophthalmic Surgical Consoles
US20090327515A1 (en) * 2008-06-30 2009-12-31 Thomas Price Medical Monitor With Network Connectivity
US10016554B2 (en) 2008-07-09 2018-07-10 Baxter International Inc. Dialysis system including wireless patient data
US10224117B2 (en) 2008-07-09 2019-03-05 Baxter International Inc. Home therapy machine allowing patient device program selection
US10646634B2 (en) 2008-07-09 2020-05-12 Baxter International Inc. Dialysis system and disposable set
US10068061B2 (en) 2008-07-09 2018-09-04 Baxter International Inc. Home therapy entry, modification, and reporting system
US10061899B2 (en) 2008-07-09 2018-08-28 Baxter International Inc. Home therapy machine
US11918721B2 (en) 2008-07-09 2024-03-05 Baxter International Inc. Dialysis system having adaptive prescription management
US10095840B2 (en) 2008-07-09 2018-10-09 Baxter International Inc. System and method for performing renal therapy at a home or dwelling of a patient
US11311658B2 (en) 2008-07-09 2022-04-26 Baxter International Inc. Dialysis system having adaptive prescription generation
US10272190B2 (en) 2008-07-09 2019-04-30 Baxter International Inc. Renal therapy system including a blood pressure monitor
US8978105B2 (en) 2008-07-25 2015-03-10 Trapeze Networks, Inc. Affirming network relationships and resource access via related networks
US20110182223A1 (en) * 2008-08-11 2011-07-28 Koninklijke Philips Electronics, N.V. Techniques for solving overhearing problems of body area network medium access control protocols
US10511571B2 (en) * 2008-08-11 2019-12-17 Koninklijke Philips N.V. Techniques for solving overhearing problems of body area network medium access control protocols
US8238298B2 (en) 2008-08-29 2012-08-07 Trapeze Networks, Inc. Picking an optimal channel for an access point in a wireless network
US20100076453A1 (en) * 2008-09-22 2010-03-25 Advanced Medical Optics, Inc. Systems and methods for providing remote diagnostics and support for surgical systems
US8005947B2 (en) * 2008-09-22 2011-08-23 Abbott Medical Optics Inc. Systems and methods for providing remote diagnostics and support for surgical systems
US20100121164A1 (en) * 2008-11-12 2010-05-13 Smiths Medical Pm, Inc. Oximeter device
US8352007B2 (en) 2008-11-12 2013-01-08 Smiths Medical Asd, Inc. Oximeter device
US11478148B2 (en) * 2008-12-03 2022-10-25 Carefusion 303, Inc. Method and apparatus for automatically integrating a medical device into a medical facility network
US10212032B2 (en) * 2008-12-03 2019-02-19 Carefusion 303, Inc. Method and apparatus for automatically integrating a medical device into a medical facility network
WO2010063758A1 (en) * 2008-12-03 2010-06-10 Trysome Limited Criticality of data
US10931522B2 (en) 2008-12-03 2021-02-23 Carefusion 303, Inc. Method and apparatus for automatically integrating a medical device into a medical facility network
GB2466784B (en) * 2008-12-03 2013-01-02 Trysome Ltd Criticality of data in a data logging system
US20210127971A1 (en) * 2008-12-03 2021-05-06 Carefusion 303, Inc. Method and apparatus for automatically integrating a medical device into a medical facility network
US8082312B2 (en) 2008-12-12 2011-12-20 Event Medical, Inc. System and method for communicating over a network with a medical device
US20110078253A1 (en) * 2008-12-12 2011-03-31 eVent Medical, Inc System and method for communicating over a network with a medical device
KR20100090201A (en) * 2009-02-05 2010-08-13 삼성전자주식회사 System and method for supporting message push service in wireless communication system
US20100195576A1 (en) * 2009-02-05 2010-08-05 Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. System and method for providing message push service in wireless communication system
KR101639661B1 (en) * 2009-02-05 2016-07-15 삼성전자주식회사 System and method for supporting message push service in wireless communication system
US8264997B2 (en) * 2009-02-05 2012-09-11 Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. System and method for providing message push service in wireless communication system
US20100234695A1 (en) * 2009-03-12 2010-09-16 Raytheon Company Networked symbiotic edge user infrastructure
US9596989B2 (en) * 2009-03-12 2017-03-21 Raytheon Company Networked symbiotic edge user infrastructure
US9002427B2 (en) 2009-03-30 2015-04-07 Lifewave Biomedical, Inc. Apparatus and method for continuous noninvasive measurement of respiratory function and events
US20110060215A1 (en) * 2009-03-30 2011-03-10 Tupin Jr Joe Paul Apparatus and method for continuous noninvasive measurement of respiratory function and events
US11654237B2 (en) 2009-04-17 2023-05-23 Icu Medical, Inc. System and method for configuring a rule set for medical event management and responses
US11013861B2 (en) 2009-04-17 2021-05-25 Icu Medical, Inc. System and method for configuring a rule set for medical event management and responses
US10238801B2 (en) 2009-04-17 2019-03-26 Icu Medical, Inc. System and method for configuring a rule set for medical event management and responses
US9078582B2 (en) 2009-04-22 2015-07-14 Lifewave Biomedical, Inc. Fetal monitoring device and methods
US8682262B2 (en) 2009-05-19 2014-03-25 Cisco Technology, Inc. Dual function device
US8281343B2 (en) 2009-05-19 2012-10-02 Cisco Technology, Inc. Management and display of video content
US20100299417A1 (en) * 2009-05-19 2010-11-25 Stephen Christopher Austin Configuring a network connection
WO2010135337A1 (en) * 2009-05-19 2010-11-25 Cisco Technology, Inc. Dual function device
US8352616B2 (en) 2009-05-19 2013-01-08 Cisco Technology, Inc. Configuring a network connection
US20100296654A1 (en) * 2009-05-19 2010-11-25 Terence Wilson Configuring a network connection
US20100299709A1 (en) * 2009-05-19 2010-11-25 O'connor Michael Denis Accessing content via a receiver coupled to a transmitter
WO2010151246A1 (en) * 2009-06-22 2010-12-29 Analogic Corporation Two-way authentication
US9579454B2 (en) 2009-07-09 2017-02-28 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Coordination of control commands in a medical device system based on synchronization status between devices
US9987426B2 (en) 2009-07-09 2018-06-05 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Coordination of control commands in a medical device system based on synchronization status between devices
US8344847B2 (en) 2009-07-09 2013-01-01 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Coordination of control commands in a medical device system having at least one therapy delivery device and at least one wireless controller device
US9517304B2 (en) 2009-07-09 2016-12-13 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Coordination of control commands and controller disable messages in a medical device system
US20120117557A1 (en) * 2009-07-13 2012-05-10 Zte Corporation Method and system for upgrading wireless data card
US11109816B2 (en) 2009-07-21 2021-09-07 Zoll Medical Corporation Systems and methods for EMS device communications interface
US20170053086A1 (en) * 2009-07-21 2017-02-23 Zoll Medical Corporation Systems and methods for ems device communications interface
US8487758B2 (en) 2009-09-02 2013-07-16 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Medical device having an intelligent alerting scheme, and related operating methods
US20110067092A1 (en) * 2009-09-15 2011-03-17 Welch Allyn, Inc. Automatic provisioning of authentication credentials
US9077544B2 (en) * 2009-09-15 2015-07-07 Welch Allyn, Inc. Automatic provisioning of authentication credentials
US20130257614A1 (en) * 2009-09-20 2013-10-03 Awarepoint Corporation Wireless Tracking System And Method For Backhaul Of Information
US8386042B2 (en) 2009-11-03 2013-02-26 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Omnidirectional accelerometer device and medical device incorporating same
US8892886B2 (en) * 2009-11-06 2014-11-18 Roche Diagnostics International Ag Method and system for establishing cryptographic communications between a remote device and a medical device
US20130227288A1 (en) * 2009-11-06 2013-08-29 Roche Diagnostics International Ag Method and system for establishing cryptographic communications between a remote device and a medical device
US20110151924A1 (en) * 2009-12-17 2011-06-23 Miller Rosemarie B Method and apparatus for providing layered wireless networks
US8626234B2 (en) * 2009-12-17 2014-01-07 Alcatel Lucent Method and apparatus for providing layered wireless networks
US8920144B2 (en) 2009-12-22 2014-12-30 Q-Core Medical Ltd. Peristaltic pump with linear flow control
US8574201B2 (en) 2009-12-22 2013-11-05 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Syringe piston with check valve seal
US8755269B2 (en) 2009-12-23 2014-06-17 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Ranking and switching of wireless channels in a body area network of medical devices
US20110156886A1 (en) * 2009-12-31 2011-06-30 Clinkscales William L Paging interface adapter
EP2522080A1 (en) * 2010-01-08 2012-11-14 United States Foundation For Inspiration And Recognition of Science and Technology Wireless adapter
US9008723B2 (en) 2010-01-08 2015-04-14 United States Foundation For Inspiration And Recognition Of Science And Technology Wireless adapter
WO2011085205A1 (en) 2010-01-08 2011-07-14 Cisco Technology, Inc Wireless adapter
EP2522080A4 (en) * 2010-01-08 2014-10-29 Us Foundation For Inspiration And Recognition Of Science And Technology Wireless adapter
US20110219091A1 (en) * 2010-01-19 2011-09-08 Event Medical, Inc. System and method for communicating over a network with a medical device
US8171094B2 (en) 2010-01-19 2012-05-01 Event Medical, Inc. System and method for communicating over a network with a medical device
US8060576B2 (en) 2010-01-19 2011-11-15 Event Medical, Inc. System and method for communicating over a network with a medical device
US20110231505A1 (en) * 2010-01-19 2011-09-22 Event Medical, Inc. System and method for communicating over a network with a medical device
US20110231504A1 (en) * 2010-01-19 2011-09-22 Event Medical, Inc. System and method for communicating over a network with a medical device
US20110179123A1 (en) * 2010-01-19 2011-07-21 Event Medical, Inc. System and method for communicating over a network with a medical device
US20110213216A1 (en) * 2010-02-28 2011-09-01 Nellcor Puritan Bennett Llc Adaptive wireless body networks
US10206570B2 (en) 2010-02-28 2019-02-19 Covidien Lp Adaptive wireless body networks
US9973883B2 (en) 2010-03-15 2018-05-15 Welch Allyn, Inc. Personal area network pairing
US9000914B2 (en) 2010-03-15 2015-04-07 Welch Allyn, Inc. Personal area network pairing
US9662016B2 (en) 2010-03-15 2017-05-30 Welch Allyn, Inc. Personal area network pairing
US20110221590A1 (en) * 2010-03-15 2011-09-15 Welch Allyn, Inc. Personal Area Network Pairing
US9504388B2 (en) 2010-03-15 2016-11-29 Welch Allyn, Inc. Personal area network pairing
US20130096649A1 (en) * 2010-04-09 2013-04-18 Zoll Medical Corporation Systems and methods for ems device communication interface
US10765873B2 (en) * 2010-04-09 2020-09-08 Zoll Medical Corporation Systems and methods for EMS device communications interface
US9457158B2 (en) 2010-04-12 2016-10-04 Q-Core Medical Ltd. Air trap for intravenous pump
DE102011102854A1 (en) * 2010-05-31 2012-06-28 Seca Ag Device for modular evaluation
US8907782B2 (en) 2010-06-30 2014-12-09 Welch Allyn, Inc. Medical devices with proximity detection
US10136817B2 (en) 2010-06-30 2018-11-27 Welch Allyn, Inc. Body area network pairing improvements for clinical workflows
US8957777B2 (en) 2010-06-30 2015-02-17 Welch Allyn, Inc. Body area network pairing improvements for clinical workflows
US9402545B2 (en) 2010-06-30 2016-08-02 Welch Allyn, Inc. Medical devices with proximity detection
US9386924B2 (en) 2010-06-30 2016-07-12 Welch Allyn, Inc. Body area network pairing improvements for clinical workflows
US8560473B2 (en) * 2010-07-21 2013-10-15 Biotronik Se & Co. Kg Operating ability monitoring system
US20120023049A1 (en) * 2010-07-21 2012-01-26 Thomas Doerr Operating ability monitoring system
US20120030547A1 (en) * 2010-07-27 2012-02-02 Carefusion 303, Inc. System and method for saving battery power in a vital-signs monitor
US11083415B2 (en) 2010-07-27 2021-08-10 Carefusion 303, Inc. Vital-signs patch having a strain relief
US8814792B2 (en) 2010-07-27 2014-08-26 Carefusion 303, Inc. System and method for storing and forwarding data from a vital-signs monitor
US9357929B2 (en) 2010-07-27 2016-06-07 Carefusion 303, Inc. System and method for monitoring body temperature of a person
US20150223706A1 (en) * 2010-07-27 2015-08-13 Carefusion 303, Inc. System and method for saving battery power in a patient monitoring system
US9585620B2 (en) 2010-07-27 2017-03-07 Carefusion 303, Inc. Vital-signs patch having a flexible attachment to electrodes
US11311239B2 (en) 2010-07-27 2022-04-26 Carefusion 303, Inc. System and method for storing and forwarding data from a vital-signs monitor
US9055925B2 (en) 2010-07-27 2015-06-16 Carefusion 303, Inc. System and method for reducing false alarms associated with vital-signs monitoring
US11090011B2 (en) 2010-07-27 2021-08-17 Carefusion 303, Inc. System and method for reducing false alarms associated with vital-signs monitoring
US11264131B2 (en) * 2010-07-27 2022-03-01 Carefusion 303, Inc. System and method for saving battery power in a patient monitoring system
US9420952B2 (en) 2010-07-27 2016-08-23 Carefusion 303, Inc. Temperature probe suitable for axillary reading
US9615792B2 (en) 2010-07-27 2017-04-11 Carefusion 303, Inc. System and method for conserving battery power in a patient monitoring system
US20130160082A1 (en) * 2010-08-31 2013-06-20 Lantronix, Inc. Medical Device Connectivity to Hospital Information Systems Using Device Server
US20120056741A1 (en) * 2010-09-07 2012-03-08 Liping Julia Zhu System to track one or more indoor persons, outdoor persons and vehicles
EP2614455A2 (en) * 2010-09-08 2013-07-17 Lantronix, Inc. Graphical tools for obtaining data from a medical device
EP2614455A4 (en) * 2010-09-08 2015-04-15 Lantronix Inc Graphical tools for obtaining data from a medical device
US8603032B2 (en) 2010-10-15 2013-12-10 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Medical device with membrane keypad sealing element, and related manufacturing method
US8562565B2 (en) 2010-10-15 2013-10-22 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Battery shock absorber for a portable medical device
US8603033B2 (en) 2010-10-15 2013-12-10 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Medical device and related assembly having an offset element for a piezoelectric speaker
US8474332B2 (en) 2010-10-20 2013-07-02 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Sensor assembly and medical device incorporating same
US8495918B2 (en) 2010-10-20 2013-07-30 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Sensor assembly and medical device incorporating same
US8479595B2 (en) 2010-10-20 2013-07-09 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Sensor assembly and medical device incorporating same
EP2637540B1 (en) 2010-11-08 2016-10-05 Gojo Industries, Inc. Hygiene compliance module
US9633543B2 (en) 2010-11-08 2017-04-25 Gojo Industries, Inc. Hygiene compliance module
US9633544B2 (en) 2010-11-08 2017-04-25 Gojo Industries, Inc. Hygiene compliance module
US9984553B2 (en) 2010-11-08 2018-05-29 Gojo Industries, Inc. Hygiene compliance module
US10614699B2 (en) 2010-11-08 2020-04-07 Gojo Industries, Inc. Hygiene compliance module
US9633545B2 (en) 2010-11-08 2017-04-25 Gojo Industries, Inc. Hygiene compliance module
US8628510B2 (en) 2010-12-22 2014-01-14 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Monitoring the operating health of a force sensor in a fluid infusion device
US10071200B2 (en) 2010-12-22 2018-09-11 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Fluid reservoir seating procedure for a fluid infusion device
US8197444B1 (en) 2010-12-22 2012-06-12 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Monitoring the seating status of a fluid reservoir in a fluid infusion device
US9555190B2 (en) 2010-12-22 2017-01-31 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Fluid reservoir seating procedure for a fluid infusion device
US9770553B2 (en) 2010-12-22 2017-09-26 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Monitoring the operating health of a force sensor in a fluid infusion device
US8690855B2 (en) * 2010-12-22 2014-04-08 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Fluid reservoir seating procedure for a fluid infusion device
US9895490B2 (en) 2010-12-22 2018-02-20 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Occlusion detection for a fluid infusion device
US9020419B2 (en) 2011-01-14 2015-04-28 Covidien, LP Wireless relay module for remote monitoring systems having power and medical device proximity monitoring functionality
US9674811B2 (en) 2011-01-16 2017-06-06 Q-Core Medical Ltd. Methods, apparatus and systems for medical device communication, control and localization
WO2012095829A2 (en) * 2011-01-16 2012-07-19 Q-Core Medical Ltd. Methods, apparatus and systems for medical device communication, control and localization
WO2012095829A3 (en) * 2011-01-16 2012-11-08 Q-Core Medical Ltd. Methods, apparatus and systems for medical device communication, control and localization
US9824569B2 (en) 2011-01-28 2017-11-21 Ecolab Usa Inc. Wireless communication for dispenser beacons
US11769574B2 (en) * 2011-02-14 2023-09-26 Michelle Fisher Transmitting medical digital artifacts to a mobile device
US20210174918A1 (en) * 2011-02-14 2021-06-10 Michelle Fisher Transmitting medical digital artifacts to a mobile device
US20150134358A1 (en) * 2011-02-14 2015-05-14 Michelle Fisher Connected Medical Devices
US10892044B2 (en) * 2011-02-14 2021-01-12 Michelle Fisher Connected medical devices
US8945068B2 (en) 2011-02-22 2015-02-03 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Fluid reservoir having a fluid delivery needle for a fluid infusion device
US9629992B2 (en) 2011-02-22 2017-04-25 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Fluid infusion device and related sealing assembly for a needleless fluid reservoir
US9610431B2 (en) 2011-02-22 2017-04-04 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Pressure vented fluid reservoir having a movable septum
US9839741B2 (en) 2011-02-22 2017-12-12 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Flanged sealing element and needle guide pin assembly for a fluid infusion device having a needled fluid reservoir
US8864726B2 (en) 2011-02-22 2014-10-21 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Pressure vented fluid reservoir having a movable septum
US9533132B2 (en) 2011-02-22 2017-01-03 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Pressure vented fluid reservoir for a fluid infusion device
US8870829B2 (en) 2011-02-22 2014-10-28 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Fluid infusion device and related sealing assembly for a needleless fluid reservoir
US8900206B2 (en) 2011-02-22 2014-12-02 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Pressure vented fluid reservoir for a fluid infusion device
US9339639B2 (en) 2011-02-22 2016-05-17 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Sealing assembly for a fluid reservoir of a fluid infusion device
US9463309B2 (en) 2011-02-22 2016-10-11 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Sealing assembly and structure for a fluid infusion device having a needled fluid reservoir
US9393399B2 (en) 2011-02-22 2016-07-19 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Sealing assembly for a fluid reservoir of a fluid infusion device
US8614596B2 (en) 2011-02-28 2013-12-24 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Systems and methods for initializing a voltage bus and medical devices incorporating same
US9495511B2 (en) 2011-03-01 2016-11-15 Covidien Lp Remote monitoring systems and methods for medical devices
US9101305B2 (en) 2011-03-09 2015-08-11 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Glucose sensor product and related manufacturing and packaging methods
US9616165B2 (en) 2011-03-09 2017-04-11 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Glucose sensor product
US8564447B2 (en) 2011-03-18 2013-10-22 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Battery life indication techniques for an electronic device
US9018893B2 (en) 2011-03-18 2015-04-28 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Power control techniques for an electronic device
US9755452B2 (en) 2011-03-18 2017-09-05 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Power control techniques for an electronic device
US20120249798A1 (en) * 2011-04-04 2012-10-04 Lsis Co., Ltd. Rtls tag device and real time location system
US20120314634A1 (en) * 2011-06-09 2012-12-13 Symbol Technologies, Inc. Client bridge between wired and wireless communication networks
US8553603B2 (en) * 2011-06-09 2013-10-08 Symbol Technologies, Inc. Client bridge between wired and wireless communication networks
US9726167B2 (en) 2011-06-27 2017-08-08 Q-Core Medical Ltd. Methods, circuits, devices, apparatuses, encasements and systems for identifying if a medical infusion system is decalibrated
US20130069771A1 (en) * 2011-09-20 2013-03-21 Michael M. Frondorf Hospital bed having powerline communication capability
US11626205B2 (en) 2011-10-21 2023-04-11 Icu Medical, Inc. Medical device update system
US9971871B2 (en) 2011-10-21 2018-05-15 Icu Medical, Inc. Medical device update system
US20140289812A1 (en) * 2011-11-17 2014-09-25 Fresenius Medical Care Holdings, Inc. Remote control of dialysis machines
US10404803B2 (en) 2011-11-17 2019-09-03 Fresenius Medical Care Holdings, Inc. Monitoring of home dialysis machines using a network connected system
US10154097B2 (en) 2011-11-17 2018-12-11 Fresnius Medical Care Holdings, Inc. Control of home dialysis machines using a network connected system
US10855774B2 (en) 2011-11-17 2020-12-01 Fresenius Medical Care Holdings, Inc. Communication with home dialysis machines using a network connected system
US9948720B2 (en) 2011-11-17 2018-04-17 Fresenius Medical Care Holdings, Inc. Remote control of dialysis machines
US11302442B2 (en) 2011-11-17 2022-04-12 Fresenius Medical Care Holdings, Inc. Communication with home dialysis machines using a network connected system
US9635111B2 (en) 2011-11-17 2017-04-25 Fresenius Medical Care Holdings, Inc. Remote control of dialysis machines
US9178891B2 (en) * 2011-11-17 2015-11-03 Fresenius Medical Care Holdings, Inc. Remote control of dialysis machines
US11688514B2 (en) 2011-11-17 2023-06-27 Fresenius Medical Care Holdings, Inc. Remote control of multiple medical devices
US9450418B2 (en) * 2011-12-09 2016-09-20 Lapis Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Power supply device, method for controlling the power supply device, and electronic apparatus
US20130147271A1 (en) * 2011-12-09 2013-06-13 Lapis Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Power supply device, method for controlling the power supply device, and electronic apparatus
US9610401B2 (en) 2012-01-13 2017-04-04 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Infusion set component with modular fluid channel element
US9379652B2 (en) 2012-03-20 2016-06-28 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Motor health monitoring and medical device incorporating same
US10228663B2 (en) 2012-03-20 2019-03-12 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Dynamic pulse-width modulation motor control and medical device incorporating same
US9344024B2 (en) 2012-03-20 2016-05-17 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Occlusion detection using pulse-width modulation and medical device incorporating same
US9379653B2 (en) 2012-03-20 2016-06-28 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Dynamic pulse-width modulation motor control and medical device incorporating same
US8523803B1 (en) 2012-03-20 2013-09-03 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Motor health monitoring and medical device incorporating same
US8603027B2 (en) 2012-03-20 2013-12-10 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Occlusion detection using pulse-width modulation and medical device incorporating same
US8603026B2 (en) 2012-03-20 2013-12-10 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Dynamic pulse-width modulation motor control and medical device incorporating same
US10141882B2 (en) 2012-03-20 2018-11-27 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Motor health monitoring and medical device incorporating same
US9509963B2 (en) * 2012-04-16 2016-11-29 I. T. I. Co., Ltd. Independent wireless dialysis instrument monitoring system and method using camera with programmable camera control mechanism
US20130270160A1 (en) * 2012-04-16 2013-10-17 I. T. I. Co., Ltd. Dialysis treatment instrument monitoring system and dialysis treatment instrument monitoring method
US10089443B2 (en) 2012-05-15 2018-10-02 Baxter International Inc. Home medical device systems and methods for therapy prescription and tracking, servicing and inventory
US9467941B2 (en) * 2012-06-07 2016-10-11 Qualcomm Incorporated Power based fast dormancy
US10391242B2 (en) 2012-06-07 2019-08-27 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Diabetes therapy management system for recommending bolus calculator adjustments
US20130331069A1 (en) * 2012-06-07 2013-12-12 Qualcomm Incorporated Power-based fast dormancy
US9333292B2 (en) 2012-06-26 2016-05-10 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Mechanically actuated fluid infusion device
US9757518B2 (en) 2012-06-26 2017-09-12 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Mechanically actuated fluid infusion device
US10232112B2 (en) 2012-08-21 2019-03-19 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Reservoir plunger position monitoring and medical device incorporating same
US9517303B2 (en) 2012-08-21 2016-12-13 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Reservoir plunger position monitoring and medical device incorporating same
US8808269B2 (en) 2012-08-21 2014-08-19 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Reservoir plunger position monitoring and medical device incorporating same
US10026287B2 (en) * 2012-08-22 2018-07-17 Connect-In Ltd. Monitoring system
US20150221194A1 (en) * 2012-08-22 2015-08-06 Connect-In Ltd Monitoring system
US9662445B2 (en) 2012-08-30 2017-05-30 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Regulating entry into a closed-loop operating mode of an insulin infusion system
US9364609B2 (en) 2012-08-30 2016-06-14 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Insulin on board compensation for a closed-loop insulin infusion system
US10496797B2 (en) 2012-08-30 2019-12-03 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Blood glucose validation for a closed-loop operating mode of an insulin infusion system
US11628250B2 (en) 2012-08-30 2023-04-18 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Temporary target glucose values for temporary reductions in fluid delivery
US9849239B2 (en) 2012-08-30 2017-12-26 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Generation and application of an insulin limit for a closed-loop operating mode of an insulin infusion system
US9878096B2 (en) 2012-08-30 2018-01-30 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Generation of target glucose values for a closed-loop operating mode of an insulin infusion system
US10758674B2 (en) 2012-08-30 2020-09-01 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Safeguarding measures for a closed-loop insulin infusion system
US10130767B2 (en) 2012-08-30 2018-11-20 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Sensor model supervisor for a closed-loop insulin infusion system
US9526834B2 (en) 2012-08-30 2016-12-27 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Safeguarding measures for a closed-loop insulin infusion system
US9623179B2 (en) 2012-08-30 2017-04-18 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Safeguarding techniques for a closed-loop insulin infusion system
US20140107499A1 (en) * 2012-10-12 2014-04-17 True Process, Inc. Medical Information Management System
US9513104B2 (en) 2012-11-15 2016-12-06 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Systems and methods for alignment and detection of a consumable component
US8870818B2 (en) 2012-11-15 2014-10-28 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Systems and methods for alignment and detection of a consumable component
US9204794B2 (en) 2013-01-14 2015-12-08 Covidien Lp Medical device with electrically isolated communication interface
US10016117B2 (en) 2013-01-14 2018-07-10 Covidien Lp Medical device with electrically isolated communication interface
US9522223B2 (en) 2013-01-18 2016-12-20 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Systems for fluid reservoir retention
US9033924B2 (en) 2013-01-18 2015-05-19 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Systems for fluid reservoir retention
US9107994B2 (en) 2013-01-18 2015-08-18 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Systems for fluid reservoir retention
US9855110B2 (en) 2013-02-05 2018-01-02 Q-Core Medical Ltd. Methods, apparatus and systems for operating a medical device including an accelerometer
US9308321B2 (en) 2013-02-18 2016-04-12 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Infusion device having gear assembly initialization
US9299240B2 (en) 2013-02-27 2016-03-29 Welch Allyn, Inc. Anti-loss for medical devices
US9761100B2 (en) 2013-02-27 2017-09-12 Welch Allyn, Inc. Anti-loss for medical devices
US10333843B2 (en) 2013-03-06 2019-06-25 Icu Medical, Inc. Medical device communication method
US11470000B2 (en) 2013-03-06 2022-10-11 Icu Medical, Inc. Medical device communication method
US11776689B2 (en) 2013-03-15 2023-10-03 Tandem Diabetes Care, Inc. Field update of an ambulatory infusion pump system
US11049614B2 (en) 2013-03-15 2021-06-29 Tandem Diabetes Care, Inc. Field update of an ambulatory infusion pump system
US9242043B2 (en) 2013-03-15 2016-01-26 Tandem Diabetes Care, Inc. Field update of an ambulatory infusion pump system
US9895491B2 (en) 2013-03-15 2018-02-20 Tandem Diabeters Care, Inc. Field update of an ambulatory infusion pump system
US11152115B2 (en) 2013-03-15 2021-10-19 Tandem Diabetes Care, Inc. Field update of an ambulatory infusion pump system
US10456524B2 (en) 2013-03-15 2019-10-29 Tandem Diabetes Care, Inc. Field update of an ambulatory infusion pump system
US8920381B2 (en) 2013-04-12 2014-12-30 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Infusion set with improved bore configuration
US20140355047A1 (en) * 2013-06-03 2014-12-04 Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd System and method to provide mobile printing using near field communication
US9489163B2 (en) * 2013-06-03 2016-11-08 Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. System and method to provide mobile printing using near field communication
US20190206558A1 (en) * 2013-06-28 2019-07-04 Elwha Llc Patient medical support system and related method
US10692599B2 (en) * 2013-06-28 2020-06-23 Elwha Llc Patient medical support system and related method
US9795732B2 (en) 2013-07-19 2017-10-24 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Detecting unintentional motor motion and infusion device incorporating same
US9433731B2 (en) 2013-07-19 2016-09-06 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Detecting unintentional motor motion and infusion device incorporating same
US9402949B2 (en) 2013-08-13 2016-08-02 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Detecting conditions associated with medical device operations using matched filters
US10124113B2 (en) 2013-08-13 2018-11-13 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Detecting conditions associated with medical device operations using matched filters
US9889257B2 (en) 2013-08-21 2018-02-13 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Systems and methods for updating medical devices
US9880528B2 (en) 2013-08-21 2018-01-30 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Medical devices and related updating methods and systems
US11024408B2 (en) 2013-08-21 2021-06-01 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Medical devices and related updating methods and systems
US10188789B2 (en) 2013-08-22 2019-01-29 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Fluid infusion device with safety coupling
US9259528B2 (en) 2013-08-22 2016-02-16 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Fluid infusion device with safety coupling
US11571508B2 (en) 2013-08-30 2023-02-07 Icu Medical, Inc. System and method of monitoring and managing a remote infusion regimen
US10765799B2 (en) 2013-09-20 2020-09-08 Icu Medical, Inc. Fail-safe drug infusion therapy system
US10716475B2 (en) * 2013-09-25 2020-07-21 Zoll Medical Corporation Localized monitoring
US20150087920A1 (en) * 2013-09-25 2015-03-26 Zoll Medical Corporation Localized Monitoring
US10311972B2 (en) 2013-11-11 2019-06-04 Icu Medical, Inc. Medical device system performance index
US11501877B2 (en) 2013-11-11 2022-11-15 Icu Medical, Inc. Medical device system performance index
US10042986B2 (en) 2013-11-19 2018-08-07 Icu Medical, Inc. Infusion pump automation system and method
US11763927B2 (en) 2013-11-19 2023-09-19 Icu Medical, Inc. Infusion pump automation system and method
US11037668B2 (en) 2013-11-19 2021-06-15 Icu Medical, Inc. Infusion pump automation system and method
US9750877B2 (en) 2013-12-11 2017-09-05 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Predicted time to assess and/or control a glycemic state
US9750878B2 (en) 2013-12-11 2017-09-05 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Closed-loop control of glucose according to a predicted blood glucose trajectory
US10105488B2 (en) 2013-12-12 2018-10-23 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Predictive infusion device operations and related methods and systems
US9849240B2 (en) 2013-12-12 2017-12-26 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Data modification for predictive operations and devices incorporating same
US10960136B2 (en) 2013-12-12 2021-03-30 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Predictive infusion device operations and related methods and systems
US9694132B2 (en) 2013-12-19 2017-07-04 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Insertion device for insertion set
US11443607B2 (en) * 2014-01-06 2022-09-13 Binatone Electronics International Limited Dual mode baby monitoring
DE102014100591A1 (en) * 2014-01-20 2015-07-23 Beurer Gmbh Wireless data transmission module for medical devices
DE102014100591B4 (en) * 2014-01-20 2020-03-19 Beurer Gmbh Wireless data transmission module for medical devices
US9399096B2 (en) 2014-02-06 2016-07-26 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Automatic closed-loop control adjustments and infusion systems incorporating same
US10166331B2 (en) 2014-02-06 2019-01-01 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Automatic closed-loop control adjustments and infusion systems incorporating same
US11241535B2 (en) 2014-02-06 2022-02-08 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. User-configurable closed-loop notifications and infusion systems incorporating same
US9861748B2 (en) 2014-02-06 2018-01-09 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. User-configurable closed-loop notifications and infusion systems incorporating same
WO2015142312A1 (en) * 2014-03-17 2015-09-24 East Carolina University Console devices for comprehensive remote hearing assessment and related systems and methods
US9610402B2 (en) 2014-03-24 2017-04-04 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Transcutaneous conduit insertion mechanism with a living hinge for use with a fluid infusion patch pump device
US10034976B2 (en) 2014-03-24 2018-07-31 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Fluid infusion patch pump device with automatic fluid system priming feature
US9987422B2 (en) 2014-03-24 2018-06-05 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Fluid infusion patch pump device with automatic startup feature
US10001450B2 (en) 2014-04-18 2018-06-19 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Nonlinear mapping technique for a physiological characteristic sensor
US10232113B2 (en) 2014-04-24 2019-03-19 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Infusion devices and related methods and systems for regulating insulin on board
US11344674B2 (en) 2014-04-24 2022-05-31 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Infusion devices and related methods and systems for regulating insulin on board
US11628246B2 (en) 2014-04-30 2023-04-18 Icu Medical, Inc. Patient care system with conditional alarm forwarding
US9764082B2 (en) 2014-04-30 2017-09-19 Icu Medical, Inc. Patient care system with conditional alarm forwarding
US10898641B2 (en) 2014-04-30 2021-01-26 Icu Medical, Inc. Patient care system with conditional alarm forwarding
US9681828B2 (en) 2014-05-01 2017-06-20 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Physiological characteristic sensors and methods for forming such sensors
US10275572B2 (en) 2014-05-01 2019-04-30 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Detecting blockage of a reservoir cavity during a seating operation of a fluid infusion device
US10007765B2 (en) 2014-05-19 2018-06-26 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Adaptive signal processing for infusion devices and related methods and systems
US10152049B2 (en) 2014-05-19 2018-12-11 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Glucose sensor health monitoring and related methods and systems
US10274349B2 (en) 2014-05-19 2019-04-30 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Calibration factor adjustments for infusion devices and related methods and systems
US11116924B2 (en) 2014-05-27 2021-09-14 Resmed Inc. Remote respiratory therapy device management
US11752286B2 (en) 2014-05-27 2023-09-12 Resmed Inc. Remote respiratory therapy device management
US10314974B2 (en) 2014-06-16 2019-06-11 Icu Medical, Inc. System for monitoring and delivering medication to a patient and method of using the same to minimize the risks associated with automated therapy
US10646651B2 (en) 2014-06-16 2020-05-12 Icu Medical, Inc. System for monitoring and delivering medication to a patient and method of using the same to minimize the risks associated with automated therapy
US11628254B2 (en) 2014-06-16 2023-04-18 Icu Medical, Inc. System for monitoring and delivering medication to a patient and method of using the same to minimize the risks associated with automated therapy
US10085905B2 (en) 2014-08-11 2018-10-02 Stryker Corporation Patient support apparatuses with wireless headwall communication
US10762171B2 (en) 2014-08-28 2020-09-01 Nanthealth, Inc. Patient sensor data exchange systems and methods
US20230090420A1 (en) * 2014-08-28 2023-03-23 Nanthealth, Inc. Patient sensor data exchange systems and methods
US10437959B2 (en) * 2014-08-28 2019-10-08 Nanthealth, Inc. Patient sensor data exchange systems and methods
US11915198B2 (en) * 2014-08-28 2024-02-27 Nanthealth, Inc. Patient sensor data exchange systems and methods
US11521175B2 (en) 2014-08-28 2022-12-06 Nanthealth, Inc. Patient sensor data exchange systems and methods
US11126969B2 (en) 2014-08-28 2021-09-21 Nanthealth, Inc. Patient sensor data exchange systems and methods
US20160058390A1 (en) * 2014-08-28 2016-03-03 Nant Health, Llc Patient sensor data exchange systems and methods
US11574721B2 (en) 2014-09-15 2023-02-07 Icu Medical, Inc. Matching delayed infusion auto-programs with manually entered infusion programs
US11289183B2 (en) 2014-09-15 2022-03-29 Icu Medical, Inc. Matching delayed infusion auto-programs with manually entered infusion programs
US10799632B2 (en) 2014-09-15 2020-10-13 Icu Medical, Inc. Matching delayed infusion auto-programs with manually entered infusion programs
US10238799B2 (en) 2014-09-15 2019-03-26 Icu Medical, Inc. Matching delayed infusion auto-programs with manually entered infusion programs
US9839753B2 (en) 2014-09-26 2017-12-12 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Systems for managing reservoir chamber pressure
US9833563B2 (en) 2014-09-26 2017-12-05 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Systems for managing reservoir chamber pressure
US10279126B2 (en) 2014-10-07 2019-05-07 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Fluid conduit assembly with gas trapping filter in the fluid flow path
US9833564B2 (en) 2014-11-25 2017-12-05 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Fluid conduit assembly with air venting features
US10195341B2 (en) 2014-11-26 2019-02-05 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Systems and methods for fluid infusion device with automatic reservoir fill
US9987420B2 (en) 2014-11-26 2018-06-05 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Systems and methods for fluid infusion device with automatic reservoir fill
US9943645B2 (en) 2014-12-04 2018-04-17 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Methods for operating mode transitions and related infusion devices and systems
US11636938B2 (en) 2014-12-04 2023-04-25 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Methods for operating mode transitions and related infusion devices and systems
US9636453B2 (en) 2014-12-04 2017-05-02 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Advance diagnosis of infusion device operating mode viability
US20180014253A1 (en) * 2014-12-05 2018-01-11 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. Apparatus and Method for Enabling Broadcast of a Wireless Signal when Switching Operation Mode
US10506517B2 (en) * 2014-12-05 2019-12-10 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. Apparatus and method for enabling broadcast of a wireless signal when switching operation mode
US9937292B2 (en) 2014-12-09 2018-04-10 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Systems for filling a fluid infusion device reservoir
US11744942B2 (en) 2014-12-19 2023-09-05 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Infusion devices and related methods and systems for preemptive alerting
US11191896B2 (en) 2014-12-19 2021-12-07 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Infusion devices and related methods and systems for preemptive alerting
US10307535B2 (en) 2014-12-19 2019-06-04 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Infusion devices and related methods and systems for preemptive alerting
US10265031B2 (en) 2014-12-19 2019-04-23 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Infusion devices and related methods and systems for automatic alert clearing
US10141651B2 (en) 2015-01-22 2018-11-27 Cardiac Pacemakers, Inc. No-matching-circuit multi-band diversity antenna system for medical external communications
US11196164B2 (en) 2015-01-22 2021-12-07 Cardiac Pacemakers, Inc. No-matching-circuit multi-band diversity antenna system for medical external-communications
US10307528B2 (en) 2015-03-09 2019-06-04 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Extensible infusion devices and related methods
US10449298B2 (en) 2015-03-26 2019-10-22 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Fluid injection devices and related methods
US11115265B2 (en) 2015-05-13 2021-09-07 Stryker Corporation Method of wireless discovery and networking of medical devices in care environments
US10200241B2 (en) 2015-05-13 2019-02-05 Stryker Corporation Method of wireless discovery and networking of medical devices in care environments
US11765026B2 (en) 2015-05-13 2023-09-19 Stryker Corporation Method of wireless discovery and networking of medical devices in care environments
US9999721B2 (en) 2015-05-26 2018-06-19 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Error handling in infusion devices with distributed motor control and related operating methods
US10137243B2 (en) 2015-05-26 2018-11-27 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Infusion devices with distributed motor control and related operating methods
US11605468B2 (en) 2015-05-26 2023-03-14 Icu Medical, Inc. Infusion pump system and method with multiple drug library editor source capability
US10575767B2 (en) 2015-05-29 2020-03-03 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Method for monitoring an analyte, analyte sensor and analyte monitoring apparatus
US20160360998A1 (en) * 2015-06-11 2016-12-15 Moon-Seog JUN System, terminal, and method for digital electrocardiogram authentication
US9750435B2 (en) * 2015-06-11 2017-09-05 Moon-Seog JUN System, terminal, and method for digital electrocardiogram authentication
WO2016205212A1 (en) * 2015-06-15 2016-12-22 The Regents Of The University Of California Subject assessment using localization, activity recognition and a smart questionnaire
US10937547B2 (en) 2015-06-15 2021-03-02 The Regents Of The University Of California Subject assessment using localization, activity recognition and a smart questionnaire
US10010668B2 (en) 2015-06-22 2018-07-03 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Occlusion detection techniques for a fluid infusion device having a rotary pump mechanism and a force sensor
US9993594B2 (en) 2015-06-22 2018-06-12 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Occlusion detection techniques for a fluid infusion device having a rotary pump mechanism and rotor position sensors
US9987425B2 (en) 2015-06-22 2018-06-05 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Occlusion detection techniques for a fluid infusion device having a rotary pump mechanism and sensor contact elements
US9878095B2 (en) 2015-06-22 2018-01-30 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Occlusion detection techniques for a fluid infusion device having a rotary pump mechanism and multiple sensor contact elements
US9879668B2 (en) 2015-06-22 2018-01-30 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Occlusion detection techniques for a fluid infusion device having a rotary pump mechanism and an optical sensor
US11495334B2 (en) 2015-06-25 2022-11-08 Gambro Lundia Ab Medical device system and method having a distributed database
USRE48951E1 (en) 2015-08-05 2022-03-01 Ecolab Usa Inc. Hand hygiene compliance monitoring
US10478557B2 (en) 2015-08-21 2019-11-19 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Personalized parameter modeling methods and related devices and systems
US11872372B2 (en) 2015-08-21 2024-01-16 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Identification of sites for sensing arrangements
US11027064B2 (en) 2015-08-21 2021-06-08 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Methods for providing sensor site rotation feedback and related infusion devices and systems
US10293108B2 (en) 2015-08-21 2019-05-21 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Infusion devices and related patient ratio adjustment methods
US10543314B2 (en) 2015-08-21 2020-01-28 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Personalized parameter modeling with signal calibration based on historical data
US11484651B2 (en) 2015-08-21 2022-11-01 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Personalized parameter modeling methods and related devices and systems
US10463297B2 (en) 2015-08-21 2019-11-05 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Personalized event detection methods and related devices and systems
US10201657B2 (en) 2015-08-21 2019-02-12 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Methods for providing sensor site rotation feedback and related infusion devices and systems
US10664569B2 (en) 2015-08-21 2020-05-26 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Data analytics and generation of recommendations for controlling glycemic outcomes associated with tracked events
US10867012B2 (en) 2015-08-21 2020-12-15 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Data analytics and insight delivery for the management and control of diabetes
US11857765B2 (en) 2015-08-21 2024-01-02 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Personalized parameter modeling methods and related devices and systems
US11338086B2 (en) 2015-08-21 2022-05-24 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Infusion devices and related patient ratio adjustment methods
US10117992B2 (en) 2015-09-29 2018-11-06 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Infusion devices and related rescue detection methods
US11501867B2 (en) 2015-10-19 2022-11-15 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Medical devices and related event pattern presentation methods
US11666702B2 (en) 2015-10-19 2023-06-06 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Medical devices and related event pattern treatment recommendation methods
US11075006B2 (en) 2015-10-23 2021-07-27 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Medical devices and related methods and systems for data transfer
US10146911B2 (en) 2015-10-23 2018-12-04 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Medical devices and related methods and systems for data transfer
US10037722B2 (en) 2015-11-03 2018-07-31 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Detecting breakage in a display element
US10894320B2 (en) * 2015-11-19 2021-01-19 Kabushiki Kaisha Yaskawa Denki Robot system and robot control method
US10449306B2 (en) 2015-11-25 2019-10-22 Medtronics Minimed, Inc. Systems for fluid delivery with wicking membrane
US10395769B2 (en) 2015-12-16 2019-08-27 Hill-Rom Services, Inc. Patient care devices with local indication of correspondence and power line interconnectivity
US11924192B2 (en) * 2016-01-29 2024-03-05 Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. Systems and methods for secure automated network attachment
US10356081B2 (en) * 2016-01-29 2019-07-16 Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. Systems and methods for secure automated network attachment
US11171944B2 (en) * 2016-01-29 2021-11-09 Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. Systems and methods for secure automated network attachment
US20220060468A1 (en) * 2016-01-29 2022-02-24 Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. Systems and methods for secure automated network attachment
US11540891B2 (en) 2016-02-02 2023-01-03 Stryker Corporation Accessory support and coupling systems for an accessory support
US11000340B2 (en) 2016-02-02 2021-05-11 Stryker Corporation Accessory support and coupling systems for an accessory support
US10582981B2 (en) 2016-02-02 2020-03-10 Stryker Corporation Accessory support and coupling systems for an accessory support
US10542075B2 (en) * 2016-02-24 2020-01-21 Nokia Technologies Oy Method and apparatus for configuration for monitoring patient information
US20170242968A1 (en) * 2016-02-24 2017-08-24 Nokia Technologies Oy Method and apparatus for configuration for monitoring patient information
US10171452B2 (en) * 2016-03-31 2019-01-01 International Business Machines Corporation Server authentication using multiple authentication chains
US10523659B2 (en) * 2016-03-31 2019-12-31 International Business Machines Corporation Server authentication using multiple authentication chains
US11095635B2 (en) * 2016-03-31 2021-08-17 International Business Machines Corporation Server authentication using multiple authentication chains
US20170289137A1 (en) * 2016-03-31 2017-10-05 International Business Machines Corporation Server authentication using multiple authentication chains
US10589038B2 (en) 2016-04-27 2020-03-17 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Set connector systems for venting a fluid reservoir
US11791055B2 (en) 2016-05-05 2023-10-17 Hill-Rom Services, Inc. Discriminating patient care communications system
US10360787B2 (en) 2016-05-05 2019-07-23 Hill-Rom Services, Inc. Discriminating patient care communications system
US11574737B2 (en) 2016-07-14 2023-02-07 Icu Medical, Inc. Multi-communication path selection and security system for a medical device
US11097051B2 (en) 2016-11-04 2021-08-24 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Methods and apparatus for detecting and reacting to insufficient hypoglycemia response
CN106569972A (en) * 2016-11-11 2017-04-19 西安电子科技大学 USB interface-based JTAG one-chip microcomputer wireless emulator and method
US10238030B2 (en) 2016-12-06 2019-03-26 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Wireless medical device with a complementary split ring resonator arrangement for suppression of electromagnetic interference
US11516183B2 (en) 2016-12-21 2022-11-29 Gambro Lundia Ab Medical device system including information technology infrastructure having secure cluster domain supporting external domain
US10272201B2 (en) 2016-12-22 2019-04-30 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Insertion site monitoring methods and related infusion devices and systems
CN106788619A (en) * 2017-01-10 2017-05-31 江苏思柯瑞数据科技有限公司 2.4G frequency band signals launch configurator
US10532165B2 (en) 2017-01-30 2020-01-14 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Fluid reservoir and systems for filling a fluid reservoir of a fluid infusion device
US10500135B2 (en) 2017-01-30 2019-12-10 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Fluid reservoir and systems for filling a fluid reservoir of a fluid infusion device
US10363365B2 (en) 2017-02-07 2019-07-30 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Infusion devices and related consumable calibration methods
US11908562B2 (en) 2017-02-07 2024-02-20 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Infusion system consumables and related calibration methods
US10552580B2 (en) 2017-02-07 2020-02-04 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Infusion system consumables and related calibration methods
US10506926B2 (en) 2017-02-18 2019-12-17 Arc Devices Limited Multi-vital sign detector in an electronic medical records system
US10646649B2 (en) 2017-02-21 2020-05-12 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Infusion devices and fluid identification apparatuses and methods
US11207463B2 (en) 2017-02-21 2021-12-28 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Apparatuses, systems, and methods for identifying an infusate in a reservoir of an infusion device
US11672910B2 (en) 2017-02-21 2023-06-13 Medtronic Minimed, Inc. Infusion devices and fluid identification apparatuses and methods
US10667688B2 (en) 2017-02-21 2020-06-02 ARC Devices Ltd. Multi-vital sign detector of SpO2 blood oxygenation and heart rate from a photoplethysmogram sensor and respiration rate, heart rate variability and blood pressure from a micro dynamic light scattering sensor in an electronic medical records system
US10492684B2 (en) 2017-02-21 2019-12-03 Arc Devices Limited Multi-vital-sign smartphone system in an electronic medical records system
US11272815B2 (en) 2017-03-07 2022-03-15 Ecolab Usa Inc. Monitoring modules for hand hygiene dispensers
US11903537B2 (en) 2017-03-07 2024-02-20 Ecolab Usa Inc. Monitoring modules for hand hygiene dispensers
US10602987B2 (en) 2017-08-10 2020-03-31 Arc Devices Limited Multi-vital-sign smartphone system in an electronic medical records system
US11281195B2 (en) * 2017-09-29 2022-03-22 Intel Corporation Integrated circuits with in-field diagnostic and repair capabilities
US20200345233A1 (en) * 2017-09-30 2020-11-05 Shenzhen Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics Co., Ltd. Monitoring system, data transmission method, portable monitor, and configurator
US10529219B2 (en) 2017-11-10 2020-01-07 Ecolab Usa Inc. Hand hygiene compliance monitoring
WO2019111216A1 (en) * 2017-12-08 2019-06-13 Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Limited Medical device location tracking
CN111542360A (en) * 2017-12-08 2020-08-14 费雪派克医疗保健有限公司 Medical device position tracking
US20190365282A1 (en) * 2018-03-05 2019-12-05 Jeffrey Scott Gibson Capnography device with constant remote surveillance and notification capabilities coupled with automated drug delivery instruments
US10485431B1 (en) 2018-05-21 2019-11-26 ARC Devices Ltd. Glucose multi-vital-sign system in an electronic medical records system
US10950339B2 (en) 2018-07-17 2021-03-16 Icu Medical, Inc. Converting pump messages in new pump protocol to standardized dataset messages
US11373753B2 (en) 2018-07-17 2022-06-28 Icu Medical, Inc. Converting pump messages in new pump protocol to standardized dataset messages
US11152110B2 (en) 2018-07-17 2021-10-19 Icu Medical, Inc. Tagging pump messages with identifiers that facilitate restructuring
US10741280B2 (en) 2018-07-17 2020-08-11 Icu Medical, Inc. Tagging pump messages with identifiers that facilitate restructuring
US11670416B2 (en) 2018-07-17 2023-06-06 Icu Medical, Inc. Tagging pump messages with identifiers that facilitate restructuring
US11152108B2 (en) 2018-07-17 2021-10-19 Icu Medical, Inc. Passing authentication token to authorize access to rest calls via web sockets
US11923076B2 (en) 2018-07-17 2024-03-05 Icu Medical, Inc. Converting pump messages in new pump protocol to standardized dataset messages
US11483402B2 (en) 2018-07-17 2022-10-25 Icu Medical, Inc. Maintaining clinical messaging during an internet outage
US11152109B2 (en) 2018-07-17 2021-10-19 Icu Medical, Inc. Detecting missing messages from clinical environment
US11483403B2 (en) 2018-07-17 2022-10-25 Icu Medical, Inc. Maintaining clinical messaging during network instability
US11139058B2 (en) 2018-07-17 2021-10-05 Icu Medical, Inc. Reducing file transfer between cloud environment and infusion pumps
US11328804B2 (en) 2018-07-17 2022-05-10 Icu Medical, Inc. Health checks for infusion pump communications systems
WO2020018388A1 (en) * 2018-07-17 2020-01-23 Icu Medical, Inc. Updating infusion pump drug libraries and operational software in a networked environment
US11328805B2 (en) 2018-07-17 2022-05-10 Icu Medical, Inc. Reducing infusion pump network congestion by staggering updates
US11881297B2 (en) 2018-07-17 2024-01-23 Icu Medical, Inc. Reducing infusion pump network congestion by staggering updates
US11587669B2 (en) 2018-07-17 2023-02-21 Icu Medical, Inc. Passing authentication token to authorize access to rest calls via web sockets
US10861592B2 (en) 2018-07-17 2020-12-08 Icu Medical, Inc. Reducing infusion pump network congestion by staggering updates
US11783935B2 (en) 2018-07-17 2023-10-10 Icu Medical, Inc. Health checks for infusion pump communications systems
US10964428B2 (en) 2018-07-17 2021-03-30 Icu Medical, Inc. Merging messages into cache and generating user interface using the cache
US11594326B2 (en) 2018-07-17 2023-02-28 Icu Medical, Inc. Detecting missing messages from clinical environment
US10692595B2 (en) 2018-07-26 2020-06-23 Icu Medical, Inc. Drug library dynamic version management
US11437132B2 (en) 2018-07-26 2022-09-06 Icu Medical, Inc. Drug library dynamic version management
US11309070B2 (en) 2018-07-26 2022-04-19 Icu Medical, Inc. Drug library manager with customized worksheets
US11284333B2 (en) 2018-12-20 2022-03-22 Ecolab Usa Inc. Adaptive route, bi-directional network communication
US11711745B2 (en) 2018-12-20 2023-07-25 Ecolab Usa Inc. Adaptive route, bi-directional network communication
WO2020198169A1 (en) * 2019-03-22 2020-10-01 Sibel Inc. Wireless communication system for wearable medical sensors
US11679189B2 (en) 2019-11-18 2023-06-20 Eitan Medical Ltd. Fast test for medical pump
US11504014B2 (en) 2020-06-01 2022-11-22 Arc Devices Limited Apparatus and methods for measuring blood pressure and other vital signs via a finger
US20220215954A1 (en) * 2020-08-09 2022-07-07 Kevin Patel System for remote medical care
US11664124B2 (en) * 2020-08-09 2023-05-30 Kevin Patel System for remote medical care

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
WO2007070855A2 (en) 2007-06-21
AU2006325783A1 (en) 2007-06-21
CA2632648A1 (en) 2007-06-21
EP1968691A2 (en) 2008-09-17
US20160080365A1 (en) 2016-03-17
US10893037B2 (en) 2021-01-12
WO2007070855A3 (en) 2008-02-14
EP1968691A4 (en) 2012-01-25
AU2006325783B2 (en) 2011-09-08

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
US10893037B2 (en) Medical device wireless adapter
ES2917419T3 (en) Communication systems between a sensor electronics unit and a display device of an analyte monitoring system
US9629546B2 (en) Hand-held medical-data capture-device having a digital infrared sensor with no analog readout ports and optical detection of vital signs through variation amplification and interoperation with electronic medical record systems through a static IP address
US8638221B2 (en) Modular patient communicator for use in life critical network
US9313192B2 (en) Communications hub for use in life critical network
Frehill et al. Using zigbee to integrate medical devices
US20180317780A1 (en) Multi-Vital Sign Detector of SpO2 Blood Oxygenation and Heart Rate From a Photoplethysmogram Sensor and Respiration Rate, Heart Rate Variability and Blood Pressure from a Micro Dynamic Light Scattering Sensor in an Electronic Medical Records System
US20200345233A1 (en) Monitoring system, data transmission method, portable monitor, and configurator

Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
AS Assignment

Owner name: WELCH ALLYN INC., NEW YORK

Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:BAKER, STEVEN D.;PETERSEN, ERIC G.;REEL/FRAME:018789/0894

Effective date: 20061213

AS Assignment

Owner name: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT, ILLINOIS

Free format text: SECURITY INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:ALLEN MEDICAL SYSTEMS, INC.;HILL-ROM SERVICES, INC.;ASPEN SURGICAL PRODUCTS, INC.;AND OTHERS;REEL/FRAME:036582/0123

Effective date: 20150908

Owner name: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT, IL

Free format text: SECURITY INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:ALLEN MEDICAL SYSTEMS, INC.;HILL-ROM SERVICES, INC.;ASPEN SURGICAL PRODUCTS, INC.;AND OTHERS;REEL/FRAME:036582/0123

Effective date: 20150908

STCB Information on status: application discontinuation

Free format text: ABANDONED -- FAILURE TO RESPOND TO AN OFFICE ACTION

AS Assignment

Owner name: HILL-ROM SERVICES, INC., ILLINOIS

Free format text: RELEASE BY SECURED PARTY;ASSIGNOR:JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A.;REEL/FRAME:050254/0513

Effective date: 20190830

Owner name: MORTARA INSTRUMENT, INC., WISCONSIN

Free format text: RELEASE BY SECURED PARTY;ASSIGNOR:JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A.;REEL/FRAME:050254/0513

Effective date: 20190830

Owner name: ALLEN MEDICAL SYSTEMS, INC., ILLINOIS

Free format text: RELEASE BY SECURED PARTY;ASSIGNOR:JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A.;REEL/FRAME:050254/0513

Effective date: 20190830

Owner name: MORTARA INSTRUMENT SERVICES, INC., WISCONSIN

Free format text: RELEASE BY SECURED PARTY;ASSIGNOR:JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A.;REEL/FRAME:050254/0513

Effective date: 20190830

Owner name: ANODYNE MEDICAL DEVICE, INC., FLORIDA

Free format text: RELEASE BY SECURED PARTY;ASSIGNOR:JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A.;REEL/FRAME:050254/0513

Effective date: 20190830

Owner name: WELCH ALLYN, INC., NEW YORK

Free format text: RELEASE BY SECURED PARTY;ASSIGNOR:JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A.;REEL/FRAME:050254/0513

Effective date: 20190830

Owner name: HILL-ROM, INC., ILLINOIS

Free format text: RELEASE BY SECURED PARTY;ASSIGNOR:JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A.;REEL/FRAME:050254/0513

Effective date: 20190830

Owner name: HILL-ROM COMPANY, INC., ILLINOIS

Free format text: RELEASE BY SECURED PARTY;ASSIGNOR:JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A.;REEL/FRAME:050254/0513

Effective date: 20190830

Owner name: VOALTE, INC., FLORIDA

Free format text: RELEASE BY SECURED PARTY;ASSIGNOR:JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A.;REEL/FRAME:050254/0513

Effective date: 20190830