Database Integrity Checking via External Verification File
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Solution Overview
Problem
Healthcare database systems face challenges in ensuring the integrity and accuracy of patient physiological data across different units, which can lead to incorrect therapy or lifestyle choices based on blood glucose values, highlighting the need for reliable integrity checks.
Innovation Solution
A healthcare management software system that includes a method for checking the integrity of databases by storing integrity information separately and using it to verify the accuracy of physiological data, ensuring correct unit conversions and data presentation through a test of database integrity information.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If integrity information is stored within the database, then data completeness is improved, but data integrity and reliability deteriorate due to potential corruption or loss
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the database into two separate components: the physiological data database and an external integrity information file. This segmentation ensures that integrity checking data is stored separately from the actual patient data, preventing potential corruption of integrity information while maintaining easy access for verification purposes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary integrity file that contains checksums or hash values of the physiological data. This intermediary structure acts as a mediator between the stored data and verification processes, enabling integrity checking without directly embedding verification data within the database structure itself.
2Measurement precision
If conversion factors are stored in the database, then conversion accuracy is improved, but data security and integrity deteriorate due to potential unauthorized modification
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts critical integrity information including conversion factors from the database and stores them in an external integrity file. This extraction protects these critical parameters from unauthorized modification while maintaining their availability for accurate data conversion and presentation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary integrity verification by checking the external integrity file before processing or presenting physiological data. This preliminary action ensures that conversion factors and other critical parameters have not been corrupted or modified before they are used in data conversions.
3Reliability
If integrity checking is performed frequently, then data reliability is improved, but system performance and processing speed deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements partial integrity checking by verifying only critical portions of the database or using sampling methods rather than checking every data element. This approach maintains data reliability for critical physiological information while minimizing the performance impact on the overall system.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs integrity verification in advance during data entry or batch processing operations, rather than during every data retrieval or display operation. This preliminary checking ensures data reliability when it matters most while avoiding repeated verification overhead during routine operations.
Data Source
AI summary
A method is disclosed for checking the integrity of a database through a test of database integrity information provided in the database and integrity information provided external to the database. The integrity information may be provided in a configuration file.