Dynamic Gateway for Medical Device Network Protocol Updates
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Modern medical devices, such as patient support apparatuses and thermal control units, face challenges in efficiently managing communications between onboard and offboard networks without requiring rebooting or power cycling, leading to interruptions in device operations.
Innovation Solution
A gateway system with a controller, transceivers, and memory containing executable and configuration files allows for dynamic management of communication protocols and message formatting between onboard and offboard networks, enabling updates and changes without rebooting the device, using formats like CAN and XML/SOAP.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the gateway uses a fixed communication configuration, then communication stability is improved, but adaptability to different communication protocols and formats deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The gateway dynamically loads communication protocol handlers and message format converters based on runtime configuration, allowing it to adapt to different protocols (CAN, LIN, Ethernet) and formats (XML, JSON, binary) without physical reconfiguration or rebooting, thus maintaining both stability and adaptability
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes communication parameters (protocol type, message ID, data length, format) through software configuration rather than hardware changes, enabling flexible adaptation to different communication standards while maintaining stable gateway operation
2Adaptability or versatility
If the gateway is rebooted to implement communication updates, then configuration changes are achieved, but device operation continuity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
Communication configuration changes are prepared and validated before being applied to the gateway. The system pre-loads new configuration parameters and tests them in a buffer before switching to active use, ensuring updates can be implemented without interrupting ongoing patient care operations
Solution Approach 2:
The gateway maintains continuous communication with patient monitoring devices and support apparatuses during configuration updates. The update mechanism is designed to switch between old and new configurations seamlessly, ensuring that patient data transmission and control commands continue without interruption
3Loss of information
If the gateway monitors all local network messages, then data completeness is improved, but processing time and energy consumption deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The gateway applies different monitoring strategies to different message types based on their importance and characteristics. Critical patient safety messages are monitored in detail with full validation, while routine status messages use simplified processing, optimizing both completeness and efficiency for different data categories
Solution Approach 2:
The system monitors all messages for basic compliance but performs detailed validation only on messages containing critical patient data or control commands. This partial validation approach ensures data completeness for important information while reducing processing overhead for routine messages
4Adaptability or versatility
If the gateway converts between different message formats, then communication compatibility is improved, but conversion complexity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The gateway uses a standardized intermediate message format as a universal translation layer between different communication protocols. All incoming messages are first converted to this intermediate format with a standardized structure, then converted to the required outgoing format, simplifying the conversion process and reducing overall system complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The message conversion process is divided into separate modular handlers for different protocol pairs and format combinations. Each handler is responsible for a specific conversion task, making the overall conversion system more manageable and easier to maintain despite supporting multiple formats
Data Source
AI summary
A medical device, such as a patient support apparatus or a thermal control unit, includes a plurality of mechanical components and a plurality of nodes adapted to communicate with each other over a local network onboard the medical device, and a gateway in communication with an off-board network. The gateway translates messages between the onboard and off-board networks, manages subscriptions to content of the local network, controls bidirectional communication, and otherwise oversees communications between the local and remote networks. The gateway utilizes a configuration file for managing the communications between the off-board and onboard networks, and the gateway is configured to switch to using new or modified configuration files without requiring a reboot or power cycle of the gateway. Updates to the communications between the onboard and off-board networks can therefore be implemented without any downtime and/or without requiring updates to software executables.