Medical Device Availability Tracking via Deep Packet Inspection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Medical facilities face challenges in efficiently tracking the location and availability of mobile medical devices for maintenance, leading to wasted time and resources as technicians spend hours searching for devices that are in use or incorrectly located.
Innovation Solution
A system that captures and analyzes packets transmitted over the medical facility's communication network using deep packet inspection (DPI) to determine the status and location of medical devices, sending notifications to technicians when devices are available for maintenance without interfering with existing systems or requiring physical tagging.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If technicians manually track down medical devices for maintenance, then they can provide maintenance services, but they waste significant time searching for devices and waiting for availability
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements continuous feedback by monitoring network packets to track device status and location in real-time. The monitoring computer analyzes packets to determine whether devices are in use or available, and provides ongoing updates to technicians about device availability, enabling them to respond immediately when devices become available for maintenance.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by proactively identifying and notifying technicians about devices that are available for maintenance before technicians would otherwise have to search for them. The system continuously monitors device status and sends advance notifications when devices transition to an available state, allowing technicians to plan and execute maintenance tasks more efficiently.
2Loss of information
If the system monitors device status through network packet analysis, then it provides real-time device availability information, but it requires deep packet inspection capabilities
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces an intermediary monitoring computer that sits between the medical devices and technicians. This intermediary captures and analyzes network packets to extract device status and location information, then presents this information in a usable format to technicians. The intermediary handles the complexity of packet inspection while providing simple notifications to end users.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces manual mechanical tracking methods with electronic packet analysis. Instead of technicians physically searching for devices or manually checking their status, the system uses automated network packet inspection to detect and report device availability, substituting electronic monitoring for manual mechanical processes.
3Reliability
If technicians receive notification lists of devices needing maintenance, then they can plan maintenance tasks, but they cannot determine real-time device availability
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides continuous feedback about device availability status by monitoring network packets in real-time. When a device transitions from 'in use' to 'available' status, the system detects this change and immediately notifies the technician, enabling them to respond without delay and ensuring accurate maintenance scheduling based on actual device availability rather than estimates.
Data Source
AI summary
This disclosure describes systems, methods, and computer programs for notifying about availability of a medical device to receive maintenance. In one embodiment, a computer receives: (i) packets related to medical device activity, which are transmitted over a communication network, and (ii) an identifier of a certain medical device that is to receive maintenance. The computer performs deep packet inspection (DPI) of the packets. The computer determines, based on a result of DPI of a first packet, that the certain medical device is being utilized to treat a patient, so it notifies not to use the certain medical device in additional treatments. Based on a result of DPI of a second packet, which was transmitted after the first packet, the computer determines that the certain medical device was no longer being utilized to treat any patient, so the computer notifies that the certain medical device is available for maintenance.