Implanted Medical Device Recall Notification via Polling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current recall notification systems for implanted medical devices are inefficient and prone to errors, as they rely on external parties to contact patients, which can be unreliable due to changes in patient information or physician status over time.
Innovation Solution
Implanted medical devices are equipped with a network interface that periodically polls a recall service endpoint to check for recall notifications, and if a recall is detected, the device directly notifies the user through a tactile sensation, eliminating the need for external communication.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If external parties contact patients for recall notifications, then recall notification can be sent, but notification reliability deteriorates due to changes in patient information or physician status over time
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of the traditional approach where external parties proactively contact patients for recall notifications, this patent inverts the communication direction by having the implanted medical device autonomously poll the recall service endpoint. The device initiates the communication to check its own recall status, eliminating dependency on external parties having accurate patient contact information.
Solution Approach 2:
The implanted medical device performs self-service by autonomously checking its own recall status through periodic polling of the recall service endpoint. The device uses its own unique identifier to query the service and directly receives notification results, eliminating the need for external intermediaries to manage patient contact information.
2Reliability
If external parties manually contact patients, then recall notifications can be delivered, but system complexity increases due to need for maintaining accurate patient records
Solution Approach 1:
This patent extracts the recall status checking function from the external notification system and relocates it directly to the implanted medical device. By taking out the polling capability and embedding it in the device, the system eliminates the complex infrastructure needed to maintain and query external patient contact databases.
3Reliability
If the device polls the recall service endpoint periodically, then notification completeness improves, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The implanted medical device performs periodic polling of the recall service endpoint at predetermined intervals rather than continuously. This periodic action ensures that recall status checks are performed regularly enough to maintain notification completeness while allowing the device to enter low-power states between polling cycles, thereby managing energy consumption effectively.
Data Source
AI summary
Aspects of this disclosure include a recall notification method, a method for communicating an action to be performed by a device, and a method of operating a relay service by a network device. One embodiment of the recall notification method may comprise periodically transmitting, by a network interface of a medical device implanted in a user's body, a poll request to a recall service endpoint. The method may further comprise receiving, by the network interface in response to the poll request, a recall notification; and in response to receiving the recall notification, directly notifying the user.