Active Cable Arrangement for Medical Device Data Integration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Hospitals face challenges in efficiently and securely connecting and displaying data from multiple heterogeneous medical devices due to the complexity and maintenance requirements of general purpose PCs, leading to high costs and security vulnerabilities.
Innovation Solution
A customized active cable arrangement with preprogrammed processing capability converts proprietary medical device data to a standard format for real-time display on a conventional monitor, eliminating the need for intermediary PCs and reducing maintenance efforts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If general purpose PCs are used to receive and display data from multiple medical devices, then data integration and display capability is improved, but system complexity and maintenance requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a medical gateway as an intermediary device between medical devices and display systems. This gateway consolidates the complexity of data integration, protocol conversion, and synchronization into a single dedicated device, eliminating the need for complex PC configurations while maintaining adaptability to multiple medical devices
Solution Approach 2:
The medical gateway is designed with universal capabilities to interface with multiple heterogeneous medical devices simultaneously. It provides multi-functionality by handling data reception, format conversion, synchronization, and display coordination through a single device, reducing overall system complexity
2Ease of operation
If general purpose PCs are deployed for medical device data display, then display functionality is improved, but maintenance costs and security vulnerabilities increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs disposable or easily replaceable USB communication cables with integrated display capabilities. These simple, standardized connectors eliminate the need for complex PC software installations and security configurations, providing secure and maintainable display functionality through hardware-based solutions
Solution Approach 2:
The medical gateway and USB display system are designed to be self-configuring and self-managing. They automatically handle data reception, format conversion, and display rendering without requiring manual PC setup or ongoing software maintenance, thereby improving security by eliminating vulnerable software interfaces
3Productivity
If multiple heterogeneous medical devices are connected to a single display system, then data consolidation is improved, but connection complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the connection architecture into distinct functional layers: medical devices connect via standardized USB cables to a medical gateway, which then interfaces with display systems. This segmentation simplifies connections by assigning specific functions to each component, reducing overall connection complexity while maintaining data consolidation efficiency
Data Source
AI summary
A customized active dongle plus cable arrangement is used to show combined and time synchronized data from different medical devices in realtime or from a specified point in time on a connected medical grade standard display monitor. The active cable arrangement of the invention is capable of communicating with a plurality of legacy and third-party medical devices via their designed physical and proprietary semantic protocols. Using the active cable arrangement, the user has the sensation of “plug and play”, by simply connecting the medical device to the monitor USB port (or to the USB hub extending the monitor USB port). The active cable arrangement of the invention transforms the proprietary protocol of the medical device, providing the monitor with standardized output for data, waveforms, alarms, setting, notifications, values and other useful information. The standard medical grade display monitor will support the display of such information according to the software API and specifications of the normalized JSON protocol.