MRI Room Entry Management Using Tablet Terminal as Key
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Solution Overview
Problem
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems face challenges with metal objects, such as mobile terminals, being accidentally brought into the imaging room, leading to potential magnetic field interactions and safety issues.
Innovation Solution
An entry management system that uses a tablet terminal as a key to unlock the door of the MRI room, with the tablet terminal placed on a holder outside the room, ensuring only authorized personnel and patients can enter, thereby reducing the risk of metal objects being brought inside.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the door of the MRI room is kept locked to prevent metal objects from entering, then safety is improved, but accessibility and ease of operation deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
A mobile terminal is introduced as an intermediary object between the locking mechanism and the user. The terminal acts as a key carrier that mediates the unlocking action, allowing authorized access while maintaining security. The terminal communicates with the lock control unit to trigger door unlocking without requiring physical key exchange or complex authentication procedures at the door.
Solution Approach 2:
The mechanical key-based locking system is replaced with an electronic control system. The lock control unit receives signals from the mobile terminal via wireless or wired communication and electronically controls the door lock, substituting the mechanical key insertion and turning mechanism with an electronic signal-based system that maintains security while improving convenience.
2Ease of operation
If mobile terminals are allowed inside the MRI room for patient communication and monitoring, then ease of operation is improved, but the risk of magnetic field interactions and safety issues increases
Solution Approach 1:
The mobile terminal is extracted from the MRI room environment and kept outside in the waiting area. This physical separation removes the potential source of magnetic field interference from the sensitive MRI imaging environment, while still allowing the terminal to serve its communication function for patients through the door or via intercom systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The system prevents the harmful action of bringing metal objects into the magnetic field by establishing a rule where the mobile terminal must be placed in the waiting area before MRI examination. This preliminary preventive measure stops the potential magnetic field interaction before it can occur, rather than trying to mitigate it during the imaging process.
Data Source
AI summary
A apparatus according to an embodiment includes a processing circuitry. The processing circuitry is configured to detect whether a mobile terminal is placed at a certain position that is located outside an entrance of a room in which a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus is installed. The processing circuitry is configured to execute unlock a door of the entrance, or output information related to permission for entry into the room through the entrance, in a case in which it is detected that the mobile terminal is placed at the certain position.