Dynamically adjustable frame rate from medical device control system

Abstract

To provide a medical device monitoring system and a medical device monitoring method that reduce the computer network load, that timely report high-priority information such as alarms, and that provide information at intervals requested by users.SOLUTION: A method comprises extracting information from screen images from medical device controllers, and intelligently varying rates at which the screen images are fetched from the respective medical device controllers. The rates at which the screen images are fetched are automatically varied based on information available to a server, such as available network bandwidth, an available level of network congestion, an available number of medical device controllers co-located at a single medical institution or on a given local area network (LAN), an available alarm status of a medical device controller and / or available historical timing information regarding use of medical devices connected to the medical device controllers.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Cross - reference to Related Applications This application claims the benefit of U.S. Patent Application No. 16 / 365,293, titled "Dynamically Adjustable Frame Rate from Medical Device Controller," filed on March 26, 2019, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.

[0002] Technical Field The present invention relates to remotely monitoring medical devices, and more particularly, to dynamically adjusting the frame rate required for optical character recognition (OCR) processing of an image of a screen displayed by a medical device controller.

Background Art

[0003] Related Art Many medical devices, such as some intravascular blood pumps, e.g., the Impella® 2.5 heart pump available from Abiomed, Inc. of Danvers, Massachusetts, are connected to an external medical device controller that collects and displays operating data regarding the medical device, such as heart signal level, battery temperature, blood flow rate, and tubing integrity. An exemplary medical device controller is available from Abiomed, Inc. under the trade name Automated Impella Controller®. These medical device controllers issue an alarm when an operating data value exceeds a predetermined value or range, e.g., when a leak or loss of suction is detected. These medical device controllers include a video display screen as a human interface, on which operating data and / or an alarm are displayed.

[0004] To facilitate remote monitoring by healthcare professionals and ensure effectiveness and patient safety, some of the control systems for such medical devices may be coupled to a central server that can be accessed by a monitoring station, often via a computer network including a wireless segment. The monitoring station may display real-time operational data and / or alarms on a display screen for healthcare professionals to view.

[0005] The server requests and receives images of the content displayed on the screen of the medical device control unit. Some servers use optical character recognition (OCR) technology to parse the images and extract text information such as the heart pump serial number, blood flow rate, and warning message text.

[0006] However, network congestion and intermittent wireless network connectivity can make it difficult or impossible for the server to fetch images from medical device control systems in a timely manner, potentially leading to missed or delayed notifications such as alarms. Furthermore, each OCR request issued by the server incurs a cost. This cost creates a tension between low-cost operation (infrequent image analysis, which carries the risk of delayed information reporting) and low-latency information reporting (frequent image analysis). [Overview of the Initiative]

[0007] Overview of the characteristics One aspect of the present invention provides a medical device monitoring system. The medical device monitoring system includes a server. The server is configured to automatically request and receive images. The server is configured to request and receive images from each of a plurality of medical device control devices via a computer network. Each image includes content displayed on the screen of the medical device control device. The server is also configured to perform optical character recognition on at least a portion of each image. The server is further configured to dynamically adjust the rate at which the server requests images from each medical device control device.

[0008] In any embodiment, the server may be configured to dynamically adjust the rate based on information about the medical device control unit.

[0009] In any embodiment, information relating to a medical device control device may be provided by the medical device control device.

[0010] In any embodiment, information relating to the medical device control device may include information relating to the alarm status of the medical device control device.

[0011] In any embodiment, information regarding the medical device control device may include information regarding operating parameters.

[0012] In any embodiment, information relating to the medical device control device may include information relating to the power supply of the medical device control device.

[0013] In any embodiment, information relating to the medical device control device may include information relating to the number of users simultaneously monitoring the medical device control device.

[0014] In any embodiment, the server may be configured to dynamically adjust the rate based on information about the computer network.

[0015] In any embodiment, information about the computer network may include information about the load on the computer network.

[0016] In any embodiment, information relating to a computer network may include historical information relating to the reliability of the computer network.

[0017] In any embodiment, information regarding the computer network may include information regarding the signal strength of wireless network connections available to the medical device control unit.

[0018] In any embodiment, information relating to the computer network may include information relating to the number of other medical device control devices located together with the medical device control device in the facility.

[0019] In any embodiment, the server may be configured to dynamically adjust the rate based on information about the workload on the server.

[0020] In any embodiment, the server may be configured to dynamically adjust the rate based on input from a human user.

[0021] In any embodiment, the server may be configured to dynamically adjust rates based on historical information.

[0022] In any embodiment, the historical information may include historical information relating to the timing of the connection of the medical device to the medical device control device.

[0023] In any embodiment, the historical information may include historical information relating to the accuracy of optical character recognition of at least one previous image.

[0024] In any embodiment, the servers may be further configured to dynamically adjust the number of servers requesting optical character recognition for at least a portion of each image. Another aspect of the present invention provides a method for monitoring a medical device. This method includes the steps of automatically requesting and receiving images of content displayed on the screen of a medical device control device. The images are requested and received via a computer network. The images are requested and received by each medical device control device of a plurality of medical device control devices. This method also includes the steps of automatically performing optical character recognition on at least a portion of each image and automatically and dynamically adjusting the rate at which images are requested.

[0025] In any embodiment, information relating to the medical device control device may be received. The step of automatically and dynamically adjusting the rate at which the image is requested may involve automatically and dynamically adjusting the rate based on the information relating to the medical device control device.

[0026] In any aspect, information regarding a computer network may be received. The step of automatically and dynamically adjusting the rate at which an image is requested may involve automatically and dynamically adjusting the rate based on information regarding the computer network.

[0027] In any aspect, information regarding the workload on a server may be received. The step of automatically and dynamically adjusting the rate at which an image is requested may involve automatically and dynamically adjusting the rate based on information regarding the workload on the server.

[0028] In any aspect, input from a human user may be received. The step of automatically and dynamically adjusting the rate at which an image is requested may involve automatically and dynamically adjusting the rate based on input from the human user.

[0029] Yet another aspect of the present invention provides a non - transient computer - readable medium. The medium is encoded with instructions. When executed by a processor, the instructions establish a process for performing a computer - implemented method of monitoring a medical device. The process includes a process of automatically requesting and receiving an image of the content displayed on the screen of a medical device control device. The images are requested and received from each medical device control device of a plurality of medical device control devices via a computer network. The process is configured to automatically perform optical character recognition on at least a portion of each image. The process is configured to automatically and dynamically adjust the rate at which an image is requested.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0030] The present invention will be more fully understood by reference to the following detailed description of specific aspects in conjunction with the drawings.

[0031] [Figure 1] Perspective view of an exemplary conventional medical device control device according to the prior art, and an exemplary conventional medical device coupled to the medical device control device, in this example a heart pump. [Figure 2] This figure shows an example of a virtual display screen content that can be displayed on the screen of the medical device control device shown in Figure 1, based on prior art. [Figure 3] This is a schematic block diagram of the main components of a medical device monitoring system for collecting, storing, and acquiring operational data related to multiple medical device control devices, such as the medical device control devices shown in Figures 1 and 2, according to one aspect of the present invention. [Figure 4] This flowchart schematically illustrates a method for monitoring medical devices, such as the method performed by the server shown in Figure 3, according to one aspect of the present invention. [Figure 5] This flowchart schematically illustrates a subprocess of the method shown in Figure 4, according to one aspect of the present invention, which involves a step in which the image is automatically and dynamically adjusted at a required rate based on information about a medical device or control device. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0032] Detailed description of a specific aspect Aspects of the present invention provide a medical device monitoring system and method that extract information from screen images from medical device control devices and intelligently change the rate at which screen images are fetched from each medical device control device, in order to reduce computer network load, report high-priority information such as alarms in a timely manner, and provide information at intervals requested by the user. The rate at which screen images are fetched is automatically changed based on information available to the server, such as available network bandwidth, the level of network congestion, the number of medical device control devices located together in a single healthcare facility or on a given local area network (LAN), the alarm status of the medical device control devices, and / or historical timing information regarding the use of medical devices connected to the medical device control devices.

[0033] Figure 1 is a perspective view of an exemplary conventional medical device control unit 100 and an exemplary conventional medical device 102 coupled to the medical device control unit 100, which in this example is a heart pump. In the example shown in Figure 1, the medical device control unit 100 is an Automated Impella Controller® manufactured by Abiomed, Inc. of Danvers, Massachusetts, and the heart pump 102 is an Impella® 2.5 heart pump, also available from Abiomed, Inc., but any suitable medical device control unit may be used. In some cases, a medical device and its associated medical device control unit are combined. Such a combination is referred to herein simply as a medical device control unit.

[0034] The medical device control unit 100 includes a display screen 104 on which it displays operational data related to the medical device 102, such as cardiac signal levels, battery temperature, blood flow rate, and piping integrity. As will be discussed in more detail herein, the medical device control unit 100 may be connected to a computer network, thereby transmitting images of the content displayed on the screen 104 to a remote server (not shown).

[0035] Figure 2 shows an exemplary virtual display screen content 200 that may be displayed on screen 104 of the medical device control device 100 in Figure 1. For example, the display screen content may include the heart pump type ("Impella 5.0") 202, the heart pump serial number ("120703") 204, warning / error message 206, placement signal 207, current heart pump speed (performance) setting ("P-0") 208, heart pump motor current value 210, current or average blood flow rate 212, and minimum and maximum blood flow rates 213. The display screen content 200 is typically pixelated.

[0036] Figure 3 is a schematic block diagram of the main components of a medical device monitoring system 300 for collecting, storing, and acquiring operational data from multiple medical device control units 100. For simplicity, only medical device control units 100 are shown in Figure 3, and individual medical devices are not shown. Three medical device control units 100 are shown, but other numbers of medical device control units 100 may be used. Each medical device control unit 100 is optionally connectable to a computer network 302 via a remote link module 304. Each medical device control unit 100 is configured to automatically and repeatedly retrieve status information about the connected medical device and display the status information on a display screen 104 (Figure 1). As described above, Figure 2 shows the respective virtual display screen contents 200 that can be displayed on the screen 104 of any given medical device control unit 100.

[0037] Server 306 is configured to automatically request and receive images of the content displayed on the screen 104 of each medical device control unit 100, either periodically or as needed, usually every 20 seconds. Requests and images are transmitted via the computer network 302. Images may be transmitted as one or more messages encoded as video frames or sequences of video frames. Video frames may include, for example, pixelated copies of images displayed on the display screen 104 of the medical device control unit 100.

[0038] Server 306 is configured to process received frames (images). As described above, Server 306 parses the image and extracts text information such as heart pump serial numbers, blood flow rates, and warning message text by performing optical character recognition (OCR) on parts of the image. Server 306 may also parse the image and extract graphical information such as power icons, and compare this graphical information with predetermined pixel patterns and / or colors. Server 306 may include an OCR engine, or Server 306 may communicate with an external OCR engine 310, for example, via a computer network 302. Server 306 can then use the recognized text to automatically verify the serial number or other identifier of the medical device control unit 100, the operating parameters of the medical device control unit 100, whether an alarm has been issued by one of the medical device control units 100, and so on.

[0039] The data store 308 is configured to store one or more media files, particularly frames (images) such as MP4 videos or other suitable types of media files, and the server 306 is configured to automatically store received frames (images) in the data store 308. The data store 308 records screen images received by the server 306 for later playback, such as in response to a request from one of several monitoring stations 312. The monitoring stations 312 can use cloud-based technology to securely display images of the screen 104 of the medical device control unit 100 remotely to physicians and hospital staff anywhere with an internet connection. An exemplary remote monitoring system is available from Abiomed, Inc. in Danvers, Massachusetts, under the trade name Impella Connect® Online Device Management System.

[0040] The data store 308 is configured to provide the requested portion of a stored media file in response to a request. The data store 308 thereby supports the playback of status information for the medical device control unit 100. For example, the data store 308 may provide one or more frames (images) of a video stored in a media file for display to the user. The server 306 may also be configured to provide status information regarding one or more of the medical device control units 100 to a monitoring station among the monitoring stations 312, based on images received in real time by the server 306 and / or based on historical information held in the data store 308.

[0041] However, congestion in the computer network 302, such as congestion within the medical institution's internal computer network, and unreliable wireless network connections create an environment where it is difficult for the server 306 to request images from the medical device control device 100 and receive them in a timely manner. Furthermore, each image is processed separately by the OCR engine 310, and each OCR request issued by the server 306 incurs costs.

[0042] Aspects of the present invention solve these problems by automatically and dynamically adjusting the rate at which the server 306 requests images from the medical device control unit 100. Optionally or alternatively, the server 306 may transmit (possibly different) rates to each medical device control unit 100, to which each medical device control unit 100 transmits its images to the server 306 at the commanded rate without explicit requests from the server 306 for each image. For simplicity of explanation, as used herein and in the appended claims, dynamically adjusting the rate at which the server 306 “requests images” encompasses both (a) the server 306 explicitly requesting each image and (b) the server 306 commanding the rate at which the medical device control unit 100 should transmit images without explicit requests for each image.

[0043] The server 306 may request images from different medical device control units 100 at different rates, and the server 306 may dynamically adjust the rates independently for different medical device control units 100. Exemplary factors used by the server 306 to automatically determine the image rate from a particular medical device control unit 100 or a group of medical device control units 100 include the level of network congestion, whether a medical device control unit 100 is sounding an alarm, the severity of the alarm, whether a cardiac pump 102 or other medical device is connected to a particular medical device control unit 100, the patient's condition, and user commands.

[0044] Server 306 can automatically and dynamically adjust the rate at which images are requested based on various categories of information, including (a) information from the medical device control device 100, (b) information from the computer network 302, (c) information from other servers such as Server 306 or the OCR engine 310, and (d) information from or about human users or patients of the system 300. Some of the information in any of these categories may be historical. Examples from each of these categories are shown below. Information from different and / or other categories may be used as needed to meet or address the work objective.

[0045] Figure 4 is a flowchart illustrating a schematic method for monitoring the medical device 100. Server 306 (Figure 3) can perform this method. In operation 400, this method requests and receives an image ("received image"). The received image is requested and received via the computer network 302. The received image is requested and received by each medical device control unit 100 of the multiple medical device control units. Each received image includes the content displayed on the screen 104 of the medical device control unit 100.

[0046] In 402, for each received image, at least a portion of the image is optically recognized via a service call to the OCR engine 310 to generate a text result. In 404, a first text result is extracted from the text result. The first text result is extracted from a portion of the image that contains information about the medical device control unit 100 and / or medical devices such as a heart pump connected to the medical device control unit 100. In 406, information about the medical device control unit 100 is automatically confirmed from the first text result.

[0047] Optionally or alternatively, in order to automatically determine information about the medical device control device 100 and / or medical devices connected to the medical device control device 100, one or more portions of the received image may be analyzed, for example, by comparing those portions pixel by pixel with a predetermined pixel pattern and / or a predetermined set of colors. For example, in order to automatically determine whether the medical device control device 100 is currently powered by a battery or commercial power, a power icon 222 in the image may be compared with a predetermined pattern.

[0048] In 408, the rate at which images are requested from the medical device control unit 100 is automatically and dynamically adjusted based on information about the medical device control unit 100 or the associated medical device 102. "Dynamically" means that the rate is changed over time, not just once. The rate may be changed as often as the server 306 detects a reason to change the rate, or it may be changed less often.

[0049] Table 1 shows an example of a first category of information that can be automatically identified from the image, namely the information received from the medical device control device 100, and how this information affects the image request rate. For example, if OCR of the current image from the medical device control device 100 fails, the server 306 may change the interval to zero to immediately request a new image until at least one image or a predetermined number (e.g., three) consecutive images have been successfully OCR-processed, after which the interval may be returned to a value determined by the default value or other information. However, if OCR of a predetermined number of consecutive images fails, the server 306 must increase the interval and generate an error.

[0050] Server 306 receives information from the medical device control unit 100 when a significant event occurs, such as when the medical device control unit 100 is powered on or when the heart pump 102 is connected to the medical device control unit 100. Server 306 may be configured to store information such as the time of these events. Server 306 may be further configured to calculate statistics such as a calculated average time between when the medical device control unit 100 is powered on and when the heart pump 102 or other medical device is connected to the medical device control unit 100, and to store statistical or historical information. After a statistically significant number of samples have been collected by Server 306, if it detects that the medical device control unit 100 has been powered on, Server 306 may set the image request interval to a relatively high value, such as about 1 minute, for about 70% of the average time until the heart pump 104 is connected, and then automatically switch to a default interval, such as about 20 seconds, or another predetermined value.

[0051] The examples in Table 1 relate to a specific type of medical device control device 100 and a specific type of medical device (heart pump). Other types of medical device control devices and medical devices may provide different types of information and therefore may have different types of triggers and different intervals. Therefore, the contents of Table 1 should not be considered a limitation on the breadth of the claims of this disclosure or the appended claims. The same applies to other tables included herein.

[0052] (Table 1) Exemplary information regarding medical device control systems TIFF0007877511000001.tif152167

[0053] Server 306 is configured to automatically and dynamically adjust the rate at which images are requested from the medical device control unit 100 based on information about the medical device control unit 100. Each entry in Table 1 includes the name of the information, a trigger condition, and an interval. When Server 306 detects a condition in the information that satisfies the trigger condition of an entry in Table 1, Server 306 may change the interval at which it requests images from the corresponding medical device control unit 100 to the interval value in the table entry. Server 306 may use additional rules to control the value at which the image request interval is changed and / or how often the image request interval is changed. If multiple conditions are met, Server 306 may change the image request interval to the shortest interval of the met conditions or to the longest interval of the met conditions, based on the additional rules.

[0054] If the conditions in the table are not met, the server 306 may revert to a default interval, such as approximately 20 seconds. Some of these conditions may cause the image request interval to be changed to a value greater than the default value. For example, if a blood pump is not currently connected to a given medical device control unit 100, the medical device control unit 100 is essentially not currently in use and therefore does not currently provide particularly useful information, so the image request interval may be set to a relatively large value. On the other hand, for example, if alarm text 206 indicates a problem, the image request interval may be set to a relatively small value to refresh the display on the monitoring station 312 more frequently, so that personnel monitoring the monitoring station 312 receive more up-to-date information.

[0055] Optionally, server 306 may perform validation tests on the text results returned by the OCR engine 310. For example, if a field such as average blood flow rate 212 (Figure 2) is expected to be numerical, the returned OCR text is checked and only accepted if it contains only digits and any decimal points. Numeric fields may be range-checked. For example, if it is known in advance that the value of each placement signal 207 must be within the range of 0 to 100, the returned OCR text may be compared to this range. If a field fails its respective validation test, the interval may be shortened to, for example, 5 seconds until the image is OCR processed to obtain a valid value for the field.

[0056] The example in Table 1 uses simple conditions, but the server 306 can use combinations of conditions to automatically determine the image request interval. For example, if the average blood flow rate 212 is less than 1 or greater than 8, and the minimum blood flow rate 213 is less than 1, the server 306 can separately change the image request interval to 1 second, i.e., less than the interval of either of the two conditions.

[0057] Other examples of information in the first category, i.e., information received from the medical device control unit 100, include any information available in the image, such as the pump performance level 208, any specific alarm 206, local time 224, and pump serial number 204. The pump performance level 208 is a display of the operating parameter set by the user of the medical device control unit 100, in this case essentially the desired pump speed, such as via a user interface implemented using the display screen 104 on the medical device control unit 100.

[0058] Figure 5 is a schematic flowchart illustrating a sub-operation of operation 408 (Figure 4), namely, the operation that automatically and dynamically adjusts the rate at which the image is requested based on information about the medical device or control device 100. In operation 500, a table such as Table 1 is scanned for entries that match information about the medical device control device 100 and its name. Recall that information is automatically confirmed from the first OCR text result (operation 406 in Figure 4), and / or one or more parts of the received image, such as the power icon, are analyzed to determine the information about the medical device control device 100.

[0059] If a matching table entry is found in 502, control proceeds to 504. Generally, entries in Table 1 can be characterized as either increasing the interval above the default or decreasing the interval below the default. Generally, table entries that increase the interval value above the default value can be associated with relatively "relaxed" situations where rapid updates are not required or undesirable, such as when no pump is connected to the medical device control unit 100 or when network congestion necessitates a lower update frequency. On the other hand, table entries that decrease the interval value below the default value can be associated with relatively "pressure" situations where rapid updates are required, such as when the medical device control unit 100 is sounding an alarm.

[0060] If all matching table entries increase the interval above the default value, the overall situation may be considered mitigated, and the maximum interval value may be selected. In another, more conservative embodiment, the minimum interval value may be selected.

[0061] If all matching table entries reduce the interval below the default value, the overall situation may be considered tense, and a minimum interval value may be selected to address the most serious problem represented by the matching table entries.

[0062] If at least one matching table entry increases the interval above the default value and at least one matching table entry decreases the interval below the default value, one or more additional rules may be used to determine whether to increase or decrease the interval value. In some embodiments, each table entry has a priority value (not shown), and the matching table entry with the highest priority value is selected. Thus, for example, if some information indicates that a short image request interval value is appropriate, but the corresponding medical device control unit 100 is not connected to a cardiac pump, it is not meaningful to quickly fetch images from the medical device control unit 100, and a long interval value can be selected. This strategy may be implemented as follows:

[0063] In 504, the shortest interval value among all matching table entries is temporarily stored. Similarly, in 506, the longest interval value among all matching table entries is temporarily stored. In 508, either the shortest or longest interval value is selected from temporary storage based on one or more additional rules.

[0064] If any matching table entry reduces the interval below the default value, the additional rule may cause it to select the shortest interval value, or it may cause it to select a table entry based on a priority value or according to other selection criteria. If there are no matching table entries that reduce the interval below the default value, the additional rule may cause it to select the longest interval value.

[0065] In 510, the selected interval value is used to set the image request interval of the medical device control unit 100. In 512, the following information regarding the medical device control unit is analyzed.

[0066] Returning to Figure 4, at 410, information about the computer network 320 is automatically checked. For example, the server 306 may query the computer network 306 or use a tool such as ping to measure the level of network congestion, utilization, and / or available bandwidth. Note that the computer network 320 may include several public and / or private networks, such as wired and / or wireless private networks within a healthcare facility, public and private wide-area networks such as the Internet, public and private cellular networks, and private networks located within the facilities of a service provider housing the server 306. Each of these networks or segments may have its own set of characteristics, and different medical device control units 100 may be coupled to the server 306 via different networks and segments. Therefore, for each medical device control unit 100, or for each group of medical device control units 100 arranged together, the server 306 may choose to use the characteristics of the most restrictive network or segment in the path to that medical device control unit 100 or group.

[0067] Server 306 may store information indicating which wide-area network, local network, and / or network segment each medical device control unit 100 is connected to, and / or which network components or segments computer network traffic travels through. This information can be extracted from header information in network packets received by Server 306 from the medical device control unit 100 using a traceroute tool or other well-known tools and techniques.

[0068] Based on information regarding which computer networks, segments, etc., various medical device control devices 100 are connected to, the server 306 can calculate the number of medical device control devices 100 connected to any given computer network, segment, router, etc. Using this information, along with information regarding the network and segment bandwidth between the server 306 and the medical device control devices 100, the server 306 can calculate a sustainable interval across the available infrastructure. Specifically, the server 306 can calculate a total sustainable interval across the available infrastructure and then divide that total interval among the medical device control devices 100 based on information regarding each individual medical device control device 100.

[0069] Server 306 stores historical information regarding the reliability of computer network connections to various medical device control units 100, and may use relatively short intervals for historically unreliable networks. Each medical device control unit (MDC) 100 may report the healthcare institution on which it is installed. This information may be entered into the memory of the medical device control unit 100 by a human, such as through a user interface implemented on screen 104. Using information on which healthcare institutions host which medical device control units 100, Server 306 can predict information such as the network reliability of newly connected medical device control units 100.

[0070] Table 2 shows a second category of information that can be automatically verified by server 306, namely information about the computer network 302, and an example of how this information affects the image request rate, i.e., the trigger and the corresponding interval.

[0071] (Table 2) Exemplary information on computer networks TIFF0007877511000002.tif133167

[0072] In 412, the rate at which images are requested from the medical device control unit 100 is automatically and dynamically adjusted based on information from the computer network 302, with necessary modifications, in the same manner as discussed with respect to Table 1 and Figure 5.

[0073] Table 3 shows a third category of information that can be automatically verified by server 306, namely information about server 306 or other servers such as the OCR engine 310, and an example of how this information affects the image request rate, i.e., the trigger and corresponding interval.

[0074] (Table 3) Exemplary information regarding servers and server environments TIFF0007877511000003.tif49167

[0075] In step 414, server 306 automatically checks information about server 306 and, optionally, related servers such as the OCR engine 310 (some of which are not shown). In step 416, the rate at which images are requested from the medical device control unit 100 is automatically and dynamically adjusted based on information about the servers, including server 306, in the same manner as discussed with respect to Tables 1 and 2 and Figure 5, with necessary modifications. Optionally, if it is found that servers such as server 306 or the OCR engine 310 are busy beyond a predetermined threshold, such as approximately 70%, another copy of the server may be created, for example using virtual machine technology, and the workload may be distributed among the available servers. Conversely, if it is found that a server is busy less than a predetermined threshold, such as approximately 40%, the server can be terminated, and the workload of the terminated server may be distributed among the remaining servers.

[0076] Table 4 shows a fourth category of information that can be verified by server 306, namely information from or about users or patients of system 300, and an example of how this information affects the image request rate, i.e., triggers and corresponding intervals. As described above, each monitoring station (MS) 312 displays information about one or more user-selected medical device control units (MDCs) 100. It can be assumed that one user accesses each monitoring station 312. Therefore, the number of monitoring stations 312 is equal to the number of monitoring users.

[0077] (Table 4) Exemplary user input and user information TIFF0007877511000004.tif77167

[0078] Returning to Figure 4, at 418, user input (commands) are received and forwarded to the server 306, either by the server 306 or by one of the monitoring stations 312. User input may, for example, designate a particular medical device control unit 100 as “Important” or “Critical.” Similarly, user input may designate a particular patient as “Critical.” User input (“Monitor”) may include a user-specified interval. Each monitoring station 312 may monitor one or more medical device control units 312. The server 306 may supply information to the monitoring stations 312 so that the monitoring stations 312 can display this information to their respective users, or the server 306 may be notified by the monitoring stations 312 or another server (not shown) which monitoring station 312 is monitoring which medical device control unit 100. In either case, the server 306 stores information indicating the number of monitoring stations 312 that are monitoring each medical device control unit 100. Using this information and / or other information, the server 306 may automatically and dynamically adjust the image request rate to the individual medical device control units 100, as shown in Figure 4, 420, in the same manner as discussed with respect to Tables 1 to 3 and Figure 5, with the necessary modifications.

[0079] While the present invention is described through the exemplary embodiments described above, modifications and variations thereof can be made to the exemplary embodiments without departing from the inventive concept disclosed herein. For example, certain parameter values, such as interval time and triggers, may be described in relation to the embodiments disclosed within the scope of the invention, but the values ​​of all parameters can vary widely to suit various applications. Unless otherwise specifically indicated in the context or understood by those skilled in the art, terms such as “about” mean within ±20%.

[0080] As used herein, including in the attached claims, the term "and / or" as used in relation to a list of items means one or more items in the list, i.e., at least one of the items in the list, but not necessarily all of the items in the list. The term "or" as used herein, including in the attached claims, as used in relation to a list of items means one or more items in the list, i.e., at least one of the items in the list, but not necessarily all of the items in the list. "Or" does not mean "exclusive OR".

[0081] Aspects of the embodiment may be described in terms of flowcharts and / or block diagrams, but the functions, operations, decisions, etc., of all or part of each block or combination of blocks may be combined, separated into separate operations, or performed in other orders. Each block, module, or all or part of combinations thereof may be implemented as computer program instructions (such as software), hardware (combinatorial logic, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), processors, or other hardware), firmware, or a combination thereof.

[0082] The server 306 or a portion thereof may be implemented by one or more processors that execute instructions stored in memory or are controlled by instructions stored in memory. Each processor may be a general-purpose processor such as a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digital signal processor (DSP), a dedicated processor, or a combination thereof, as required.

[0083] The memory may be random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, or any other memory, or a combination thereof, suitable for storing control software or other instructions and data. Instructions defining the function of the present invention may be sent to the processor in many forms, including but not limited to information permanently stored on tangible non-temporary, non-writable storage media (e.g., read-only memory devices in a computer such as ROM, or devices readable by computer I / O attachments such as CD-ROMs and DVD discs), information modifiable on tangible non-temporary, writable storage media (e.g., floppy disks, removable flash memory, and hard drives), or information transmitted to the computer via a communication medium, including wired or wireless computer networks. Furthermore, while embodiments may be described in relation to various exemplary data structures, the system may be embodied using a variety of data structures.

[0084] Aspects or parts of the disclosure may be combined in ways not described above and / or expressly claimed. In addition, the embodiments disclosed herein can be adequately implemented without any elements not specifically disclosed herein. Therefore, the present invention should not be considered limited to the embodiments disclosed.

Claims

1. A medical device monitoring system (300) comprising one or more processors, wherein the one or more processors are Receiving at least one image (200) of the content displayed on the screen (104) of at least one medical device control device (100) of a plurality of medical device control devices via a computer network (302), Analyzing at least one of the aforementioned images to determine whether one or more of the multiple trigger conditions are met, In response to at least two of the plurality of trigger conditions being met, the at least one medical device control device sends a request to the at least one medical device control device to change the first rate at which it transmits images to one or more processors to a second rate, It is configured to perform, The first and second rates are non-zero, Each of the plurality of trigger conditions is associated with at least one of a plurality of predetermined rates at which the at least one medical device control device transmits images to the one or more processors. Two or more of the aforementioned multiple trigger conditions are associated with different rates among the aforementioned multiple predetermined rates. The second rate is selected by one or more processors in response to a determination that the second rate is the fastest or slowest of the predetermined rates associated with one or more of the at least two trigger conditions. Medical device monitoring system.

2. The medical device monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the second rate is faster than the first rate.

3. The medical device monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the second rate is slower than the first rate.

4. The medical device monitoring system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein each of the plurality of medical device control devices is configured to be connected to a heart pump.

5. The aforementioned multiple trigger conditions are, A first trigger condition based on whether or not the at least one image contains a value of a placement signal within a first predetermined range, A second trigger condition based on whether or not the at least one image includes a motor current value within a second predetermined range, A third trigger condition based on whether or not the at least one image contains blood flow within a third predetermined range, Includes, The medical device monitoring system according to claim 4, wherein the first trigger condition, the second trigger condition, and the third trigger condition are associated with different rates among a plurality of predetermined rates.

6. The medical device monitoring system according to claim 4, wherein the plurality of trigger conditions include a trigger condition based on whether or not the at least one medical device control device is connected to a power source.

7. A method for monitoring medical devices, The device receives (400) at least one image (200) of the content displayed on the screen (104) of at least one medical device control device (100) of a plurality of medical device control devices via a computer network (302), The aforementioned device analyzes at least one image to determine whether one or more of the multiple trigger conditions are met, The device transmits a request to at least one medical device control device to change the rate at which it transmits images to one or more processors from a first rate to a second rate, in response to at least two of the multiple trigger conditions being met by the device. Includes, The first and second rates are non-zero, Each of the plurality of trigger conditions is associated with at least one of a plurality of predetermined rates at which the at least one medical device control device transmits images to the one or more processors. Two or more of the aforementioned multiple trigger conditions are associated with different rates among the aforementioned multiple predetermined rates. The second rate is selected in response to a determination that the second rate is the fastest or slowest of the predetermined rates associated with one or more of the at least two trigger conditions. method.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the second rate is faster than the first rate.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein the second rate is slower than the first rate.

10. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 9, wherein each of the plurality of medical device control devices is configured to be connected to a heart pump.

11. The aforementioned multiple trigger conditions are, A first trigger condition based on whether or not the at least one image contains a value of a placement signal within a first predetermined range, A second trigger condition based on whether or not the at least one image includes a motor current value within a second predetermined range, A third trigger condition based on whether or not the at least one image contains blood flow within a third predetermined range, Includes, The method according to claim 10, wherein the first trigger condition, the second trigger condition, and the third trigger condition are associated with different rates among the plurality of predetermined rates.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein the plurality of trigger conditions include a trigger condition based on whether or not the at least one medical device control device is connected to a power source.

13. A non-temporary computer-readable medium on which instructions are encoded, wherein when the instructions are executed by one or more processors, the one or more processors are configured to: Receiving at least one image (200) of the content displayed on the screen (104) of at least one medical device control device (100) of a plurality of medical device control devices via a computer network (302), Analyzing at least one of the aforementioned images to determine whether one or more of the multiple trigger conditions are met, In response to at least two of the plurality of trigger conditions being met, the at least one medical device control device sends a request to the at least one medical device control device to change the first rate at which it transmits images to one or more processors to a second rate, The computer implementation method includes, The first and second rates are non-zero, Each of the plurality of trigger conditions is associated with at least one of a plurality of predetermined rates at which the at least one medical device control device transmits images to the one or more processors. Two or more of the aforementioned multiple trigger conditions are associated with different rates among the aforementioned multiple predetermined rates. The second rate is selected in response to a determination that the second rate is the fastest or slowest of the predetermined rates associated with one or more of the at least two trigger conditions. Non-temporary computer-readable media.

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