Medical Communication Gateway Reducing Access Point Saturation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Medical devices, such as infusion pumps, face limitations in connecting to an access point for wireless communication due to the limited number of connections supported by the access point, which can lead to a degradation in quality of service.
Innovation Solution
A medical communication system that employs a gateway to establish wireless links, allowing medical devices to connect via a communication line or backbone network instead of individual direct wireless connections, thereby reducing the load on the access point and maintaining service quality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple medical devices establish direct wireless links to an access point, then each device can communicate independently, but the access point becomes saturated due to its limited connection capacity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a gateway as an intermediary device between multiple medical devices and the access point. The gateway establishes a single wireless connection to the access point while providing communication interfaces for multiple medical devices to connect through it. This mediator approach allows numerous medical devices to communicate via one gateway connection, eliminating access point saturation while maintaining individual device communication capabilities.
2Adaptability or versatility
If an access point supports a limited number of connections, then connection management is simplified, but it cannot accommodate all medical devices within range
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple medical device connections into a single gateway connection. Instead of each medical device establishing an individual connection to the access point, multiple devices are combined and routed through one gateway to the access point. This consolidation approach increases the effective number of supported connections while managing complexity by centralizing connection handling at the gateway level.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a medical communication system, comprising at least one medical device (2a, 2b, 2c); a gateway (31) configured for establishing at least one wireless link to an access point; wherein the medical device (2a, 2b, 2c) comprises a unit (22a, 22b, 22c) for establishing a communication connection to the gateway (31) and a unit (21a, 21b, 21c) for establishing a direct wireless link to the access point, and wherein the medical device (2a, 2b, 2c) is configured to detect whether or not a communication connection to the gateway (3) is established and to set up a direct wireless communication link to the access point if a communication connection to the gateway (31) is not established, wherein the medical communication system is configured to set up a communication link between the medical device (2a, 2b, 2c) and the access point via the gateway (31) if a communication connection between the medical device (2a, 2b, 2c) and the gateway (31) is established.