Medical Device Diagnostic Procedure Extraction System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Remote service engineers face challenges in quickly identifying relevant information from static technical documentation and historical service records to diagnose and resolve medical device malfunctions efficiently.
Innovation Solution
A computer-readable medium and apparatus that derive a base diagnostic procedure from service manuals, analyze historical service records to extract diagnostic procedures, combine and update the base procedure with historical data, calculate likelihood of success scores for each path, and output an annotated diagnostic procedure for service engineers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If service engineers manually search through technical documentation and historical service records, then comprehensive diagnostic information can be gathered, but diagnostic time increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-processes technical documentation and historical service records to extract and structure diagnostic procedures, failure modes, and resolution steps before they are needed. This preliminary organization of information allows service engineers to quickly access pre-analyzed diagnostic paths rather than manually searching through raw documentation during time-critical service situations.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intelligent intermediary layer that automatically analyzes and synthesizes information from technical documentation and historical service records. This intermediary process extracts relevant diagnostic procedures and failure modes, then presents them to service engineers in a structured format, eliminating the need for manual information gathering while ensuring comprehensive coverage.
2Ease of operation
If static technical documentation is used for diagnosis, then standardized procedures are provided, but the information may not be complete or up to date
Solution Approach 1:
The system incorporates feedback loops that continuously update diagnostic procedures by analyzing new historical service records and outcomes. Service engineer resolutions and field observations feed back into the system, automatically updating the knowledge base to reflect the latest diagnostic procedures and failure modes, ensuring information remains current and complete while maintaining standardized presentation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transforms static technical documentation into a dynamic knowledge base that evolves over time. Diagnostic procedures are no longer fixed but are continuously refined based on accumulated service experience and historical data, allowing the system to adapt to new failure modes and improve diagnostic accuracy while preserving the structure and ease of use of standardized procedures.
3Loss of information
If all diagnostic procedures from historical service records are included, then comprehensive coverage is achieved, but information overload makes it difficult to identify relevant information
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts only the most relevant diagnostic procedures and failure modes from historical service records based on the specific malfunction being diagnosed. Rather than presenting all available information, the system selectively extracts and presents diagnostic paths most applicable to the current problem, reducing information complexity while maintaining comprehensive coverage of relevant diagnostic possibilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies local quality by tailoring the presented diagnostic information to the specific context of each malfunction. Different malfunctions receive customized diagnostic procedure sets based on their characteristics, ensuring that service engineers receive highly relevant, localized information rather than a generic overwhelming collection of all possible diagnostic procedures.
4Measurement precision
If service engineers examine multiple information sources, then accurate diagnosis is possible, but time pressure reduces ability to make informed decisions
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges information from technical documentation, historical service records, and diagnostic data into a single integrated diagnostic view. By combining multiple information sources into one unified presentation that shows diagnostic procedures, failure modes, and resolution steps together, the system enables service engineers to make accurate informed decisions without the time pressure of switching between multiple separate sources.
Data Source
AI summary
A non-transitory computer readable medium (26) stores instructions executable by at least one electronic processor (20) to perform a medical device servicing method (100) for a medical device (12), including: deriving a representation (36) of abase diagnostic procedure for diagnosing a malfunction of the medical device from one or more service manuals (32); analyzing historical service records (34) to extract diagnostic procedures applied in historical service cases for diagnosing the malfunction of the medical device; adding the extracted diagnostic procedures to the representation of the base diagnostic procedure to generate an updated representation (40) of the base diagnostic procedure; calculating likelihood of success scores (42) for each path of the updated representation of the base diagnostic procedure based on statistics of outcomes of the historical service cases; and outputting the updated representation of the base diagnostic procedure on an electronic processing device (18) operable by a service engineer (SE).