Medical Device Application Licensing Inheritance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Medical device manufacturers face challenges in controlling access to applications in centralized systems, particularly in ensuring that only authorized users can access and utilize the features of medical devices like infusion pumps and vital signs monitors, while also managing licensing and feature enablement efficiently.
Innovation Solution
A centralized system determines whether to inherit a portion of a second license to operate a selected application, enabling features by decrypting the license and communicating with a license server to update and manage licenses, ensuring that only authorized users can access and utilize the applications and features of medical devices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a centralized system uses traditional licensing methods for medical device applications, then access control is maintained, but system complexity and licensing management difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal licensing system where a single license file can control multiple applications across different medical devices. The license server provides a unified interface for license management, allowing one license to authorize access to various applications (e.g., infusion pump control, vital signs monitoring) on different devices within a centralized system, thereby reducing the number of separate licensing mechanisms needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a license server as an intermediary component that mediates between the centralized system and individual medical devices. The license server stores license information, validates authorization requests, and distributes license files to authorized devices. This intermediary simplifies licensing management by centralizing control while allowing individual devices to operate independently with their own license files.
2Reliability
If the system requires license verification for each application, then security is improved, but application startup time and system response time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary license verification by pre-configuring license files on medical devices before applications are executed. The license information is embedded in the device's memory or storage during system initialization or device setup, allowing the system to bypass real-time license verification during application startup. This preliminary action ensures security is maintained while eliminating time delays during critical startup phases.
3Reliability
If the centralized system manages licenses for multiple devices, then access control is strengthened, but communication overhead and network traffic increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts license verification functionality from the centralized system and embeds it locally within each medical device. Each device contains a license manager that independently validates applications against stored license files, eliminating the need for continuous communication with the centralized license server. This extraction reduces network traffic and communication overhead while maintaining strong access control through local validation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the licensing system into independent components: a centralized license server for license distribution, local license files stored on individual devices, and device-level license validators. This segmentation allows each device to operate autonomously with its own license validation, reducing the need for constant centralized communication while maintaining coordinated access control across the entire system.
Data Source
AI summary
Centralized systems execute one or more applications for monitoring and operating a plurality of network enabled medical devices. An indication to start a selected application at the centralized system or at a network enabled medical device is received at the centralized system/network enabled medical device. The selected application may require a license to operate and, at the time the indication is received, may have a first license available. Instead of using the first license, the centralized system/network enabled medical device may determine to inherit at least a portion of a second license to operate the selected application. The centralized system/network enabled medical device may inherit at least the portion of the second license to form an inherited license, where the inherited license enables features of the selected application. Using the inherited license, the selected application is started with the enabled features. Related apparatus, systems, techniques and articles are also described.