Implantable Device Data Integrity Tracking via Hash Digests
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Solution Overview
Problem
Medical devices with limited memory face challenges in maintaining the authenticity and integrity of patient data over time, as data is often overwritten, making it difficult to verify the authenticity of patient data without records of previous data.
Innovation Solution
A system that generates unique digests for blocks of patient data, allowing for verification by hashing operations performed on implantable devices, external devices, and remote servers, which store and compare digest packets to ensure data integrity and authenticity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If data is stored in implantable devices with limited memory, then patient data can be collected and monitored, but data integrity and authenticity cannot be verified over time as data gets overwritten
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the critical verification element (hash digest) from the complete data set. Instead of storing and verifying entire data records, the system stores only compact hash digests that represent the authenticity of data blocks. This allows verification of data integrity without requiring the original data to be permanently retained in the implantable device memory.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary hashing operations on data blocks before they are overwritten. Hash digests are calculated and stored in advance, creating a verification record that persists even after the original data is overwritten. This preliminary action enables future verification of data authenticity without needing to retain the original data.
2Reliability
If hash digests are stored for every data block, then data authenticity can be verified, but storage requirements increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential verification information (hash digest) from the complete data block. Instead of storing entire data records for verification purposes, the system stores compact hash digests that are significantly smaller in size. This extraction principle reduces storage requirements while maintaining verification capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates simplified copies of data in the form of hash digests. These digest copies serve as verification proxies for the original data blocks, allowing authenticity verification without storing the full data sets. The copy is much smaller but contains the essential verification information.
3Reliability
If complete patient data is retained for verification purposes, then data integrity can be confirmed, but memory limitations of implantable devices are exceeded
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the verification essence from complete data blocks by calculating hash digests. Instead of retaining entire patient data records in the implantable device, the system stores only the condensed hash digest representations. This extraction enables integrity confirmation with minimal storage footprint that fits within device memory constraints.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transforms the data representation from full data blocks to hash digest form, changing the parameter of data size dramatically. This parameter change allows verification functionality to be maintained while storage requirements are reduced to fit within the limited memory capacity of implantable medical devices.
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments herein relate to systems for tracking and maintaining the integrity of patient device data over extended periods of time. In a first aspect, a medical device system is included having an implantable device that can include a control circuit, a communication circuit, and one or more sensors. The system can also include an external device including a control circuit and a communication circuit. The external device can be configured to receive patient data from the implantable device and execute a hashing operation on units of received patient device data and one or more previous digest packets to create new digest packets. The external device can be configured to store the new digest packets and forward digest packets onto another device of the medical device system when requested to allow patient data to be authenticated. Other embodiments are also included herein.