Mobile Auscultation System with Remote Server for Diagnostic Accuracy
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current electronic auscultation devices face limitations in data storage capacity, processing power, and the inability to distinguish between auscultation zones, leading to unreliable probabilistic diagnoses and a lack of evolution in disease databases.
Innovation Solution
A data acquisition, communication, and evaluation system featuring a chest piece with a sound transducer, a portable receiver unit with display and processing capabilities, and a distant server that processes and updates databases, enabling sophisticated analysis of auscultation data, including zone-specific characteristics and adventitious sounds, and allows for the creation of new disease databases.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If auscultation data are processed on a telephone device, then portability and ease of operation are improved, but reliability of diagnostic results deteriorates due to limited processing capability
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides processing tasks between the mobile device (data acquisition and preliminary processing) and a remote server (sophisticated analysis and database updates). This segmentation allows the mobile device to maintain portability while the server provides the computational power needed for reliable diagnostic results.
Solution Approach 2:
A remote server acts as an intermediary between the mobile auscultation device and the comprehensive disease database. The server receives data from the mobile device, performs sophisticated processing, and returns diagnostic results, enabling reliable analysis without requiring the mobile device to have extensive local processing capabilities.
2Device complexity
If a single database is used for all auscultation zones, then device complexity is reduced, but measurement precision deteriorates due to inability to distinguish zone-specific characteristics
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements zone-specific databases that store reference data for different auscultation zones (e.g., lung zones, heart zones). Each zone has its own tailored reference data and processing parameters, allowing the system to distinguish and analyze zone-specific characteristics with high precision while the automated zone identification maintains reasonable overall complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system automatically changes processing parameters based on the identified auscultation zone. Different zones have different reference values, frequency ranges, and diagnostic criteria stored in their respective databases. The system selects and applies the appropriate parameters automatically based on zone detection, achieving high measurement precision without requiring manual parameter selection.
3Reliability
If sophisticated algorithms and large databases are employed, then reliability of probabilistic diagnosis is improved, but device complexity and processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the processing workload by implementing sophisticated algorithms and maintaining large databases on a remote server rather than on the mobile device. The mobile device handles data acquisition and basic processing, while the server performs complex analysis using advanced algorithms and comprehensive disease databases, achieving high diagnostic reliability without requiring the mobile device to have extensive processing capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
A remote server acts as an intermediary that provides access to sophisticated diagnostic algorithms and large disease databases without requiring them to be embedded in the mobile device. The server receives raw data from the mobile device, applies complex processing algorithms, and returns diagnostic results, enabling reliable diagnosis while keeping the mobile device relatively simple.
4Measurement precision
If adventitious sounds are detected and analyzed, then measurement precision of pathological detection is improved, but device complexity increases due to additional processing requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the analysis of adventitious sounds by implementing specialized detection algorithms on the remote server rather than on the mobile device. The server performs sophisticated analysis of crackles, wheezes, and other adventitious sounds using dedicated processing routines and zone-specific reference data, achieving high measurement precision while keeping the mobile device relatively simple.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes processing parameters specifically for detecting and analyzing adventitious sounds. Different frequency ranges, time windows, and detection thresholds are applied based on the type of adventitious sound being detected. The server automatically adjusts these parameters based on the identified sound characteristics and the auscultation zone, achieving high detection precision without requiring complex manual configuration.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system provides reliable probabilistic evaluations of auscultation data, enables database evolution, and offers accessible information for both medical professionals and non-trained users, enhancing diagnostic accuracy and database completeness.
Implementation Method 1
a chest piece for acquiring auscultation data and communicating said data in the form of a signal
Data Source
AI summary
A system having a chest piece for fitting to human skin, a receiver unit and a distant server; said chest piece encapsulates a sound transducer for acquiring raw sound data for being communicated as data signal; said receiver, in operation, is in communication with said chest piece; said receiver is a portable device having a display unit and data processing ability, and is further connectable to a local data network or global internet; said distant server comprises computer coded instructions which, in operation, processes said data signals, stores medical information and communicates said data signals and/or medical information with at least two recipients, the recipients are able to communicate information.