Interoperability Hub for Clinical System Configuration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Complex clinical solutions face interoperability challenges due to disparate application environments developed by different manufacturers or on different platforms, leading to difficulties in exchanging and interpreting information, and manual processes are required for configuration updates and linking new systems, which is inefficient and error-prone.
Innovation Solution
An interoperability hub and remote agents are used to manage configuration information across interconnected systems, allowing automatic registration, data collection, and updates, enabling seamless communication and data exchange between application environments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If manual configuration processes are used for each application system, then configuration can be tailored to specific systems, but the process becomes arduous and error-prone with no way to know dependencies
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an interoperability hub as an intermediary system that sits between application environments and configuration repositories. This hub automatically discovers application systems, retrieves their configuration information, and manages the configuration data without requiring manual intervention. The hub acts as a mediator that translates between different application environments and provides unified configuration management.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements self-service configuration management where application environments automatically register themselves with the interoperability hub and retrieve their own configuration information. The system autonomously discovers application systems, determines their configuration requirements, and updates configurations without human intervention, eliminating the need for manual research and updating.
2Reliability
If centralized configuration management is implemented, then configuration consistency across systems is improved, but the system complexity increases with new components
Solution Approach 1:
The interoperability hub is designed as a universal system that can manage configuration information for multiple different application environments, regardless of their specific technologies or vendors. It provides multi-functional capabilities including automatic discovery, information retrieval, configuration updates, and consistency maintenance across diverse application systems through a single unified interface.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the configuration management function into separate modular components: the interoperability hub handles high-level coordination and retrieval, while individual application environments manage their own specific configuration details. This segmentation allows the system to maintain complexity at appropriate levels without overwhelming any single component.
3Productivity
If automatic configuration retrieval is implemented, then manual research and updating tasks are reduced, but the system requires sophisticated dependency tracking
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms where the interoperability hub continuously monitors application environments, retrieves their current configuration information, and uses this feedback to automatically update configurations. The system receives feedback about application system states, processes this information, and autonomously performs configuration updates without requiring manual research or knowledge of dependencies.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods enabling the automatic configuration of application environments in a clinical system are disclosed. An interoperability hub can be implemented within a clinical solution made up of a plurality of independent application environments. Each application environment may have an interoperability agent running on it which facilitates communication with the interoperability hub. Each agent running on a specific application environment is configured to look into that system and collect configuration information from that application environment that other systems in the solution require. The configuration information for an application environment can be sent to the interoperability hub and maintained. Further, if that application environment requires any configuration information from any other application environment, it can obtain that information from the interoperability hub and handle that information appropriately with respect to the application environment. The interoperability agent may monitor the application environment for any changes and notify the interoperability hub accordingly.