Medical Device Data Indexing via Connectivity Logs
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing data storage and retrieval systems for medical devices face challenges due to intermittent network connectivity, leading to gaps in recorded operational data and difficulties in indexing to specific times of interest.
Innovation Solution
A data storage and retrieval system that includes a medical device capable of repeatedly capturing status information and sending messages via a computer network, even during intermittent connectivity. The system uses a network connectivity log to record connection and disconnection times, allowing a media server to store status information contiguously and calculate indices for retrieving specific data portions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the medical device controller transmits operational data whenever network connection exists, then data transmission occurs over intermittent connections, but gaps appear in the recorded operational data at the server
Solution Approach 1:
The medical device controller stores operational data locally in its memory before network transmission occurs. This preliminary storage ensures that data is captured continuously regardless of network availability, and can be transmitted later when connectivity is restored, eliminating gaps in the recorded data at the server
Solution Approach 2:
The controller's local memory acts as an intermediary buffer between the operational data generation and the server recording system. This intermediary storage decouples the data capture process from the transmission process, allowing continuous data collection to be buffered and transmitted in batches when network conditions permit
2Ease of operation
If the server records operational data as received from the controller, then recording is simple, but the recorded data does not represent continuous time and indexing to specific times becomes impossible
Solution Approach 1:
The server performs preliminary processing of incoming data packets by extracting and storing timing information along with the operational data. This preliminary organization of temporal metadata enables later indexing operations to function correctly, transforming simple sequential recording into time-indexed storage without adding complexity to the basic recording mechanism
Solution Approach 2:
The server segments the incoming data stream by separating timing information from operational data values, storing them in关联 manner. This segmentation allows the system to maintain simple recording operations while enabling sophisticated time-based indexing and retrieval capabilities through the organized temporal structure
3Device complexity
If the controller lacks sufficient memory to store operational data during network gaps, then device complexity is reduced, but the controller cannot compensate for connectivity gaps by transmitting historical data
Solution Approach 1:
The controller stores only the most recent operational data values in its limited memory, discarding older data when memory capacity is reached. This partial storage approach maximizes the use of limited memory resources to capture the most relevant recent data, providing some compensation for network gaps without requiring excessive memory capacity
Data Source
AI summary
A web-based interface enables medical personnel to remotely monitor medical devices. A monitoring system records operational data and alarms from the medical devices in a file. However, since network connections between the medical devices and the monitoring system are intermittent, the file does not contain a contiguous stream of data for each medical device. The file pauses recording during gaps in network connectivity. The system displays current data, as well as a list of alarms. If medical personnel wish to view more detail about an earlier time or one of the alarms, the system calculates where in the file the medical device data was recorded. This calculation accounts for the discontiguous nature of the data. The system uses times the network connection is made and broken to calculate an index into the file that corresponds to the time of the user-selected alarm.