Peripheral Alarm Device with Audio Verification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing patient monitoring systems are expensive and not re-configurable or re-usable, lacking flexibility in alarm generation and verification mechanisms, which limits their application and effectiveness.
Innovation Solution
A peripheral alarm device with a discrete housing, integrated audio and light indicators, and a control system that verifies alarm generation and communicates with medical software to ensure proper operation, preventing other software from interfering and allowing exclusive control by medical software.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a monitoring system includes components specially designed for the particular application with specific hardware and pre-installed software, then the system is effective for carrying out its monitoring objectives, but the system becomes expensive and the components are not re-configurable or re-usable for other applications
Solution Approach 1:
The alarm device is separated from the host computing system into a discrete peripheral device. The alarm device includes its own housing, audio speaker, audio detector, and control system, while the host computing system runs medical software for monitoring. This segmentation allows the alarm device to be independently configured and potentially reused with different monitoring systems or applications.
Solution Approach 2:
The alarm device is designed as a universal peripheral device that can be used with different host computing systems and medical software applications. The device includes an audio speaker for generating alarms and an audio detector for verifying alarm generation, making it adaptable to various monitoring scenarios and potentially reusable across different applications.
2Reliability
If the monitoring system includes a dedicated speaker that generates only a few different sounds, then the alarm generation is reliable for specific applications, but the system lacks flexibility in alarm generation
Solution Approach 1:
The alarm device allows dynamic selection of alarm sounds from a set of predetermined alarms stored in memory. The control system can select different alarm sounds based on alarm instructions from the host computing system, enabling flexible alarm generation while maintaining reliability through controlled selection from predefined options.
Solution Approach 2:
The device includes memory with a set of predetermined alarms stored thereon, allowing the control system to change alarm parameters (sound type, frequency, pattern) based on the specific monitoring situation. This enables flexible alarm generation while maintaining reliability through structured parameter selection.
3Reliability
If the alarm device includes an audio detector to verify alarm generation, then the reliability of alarm generation is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The audio detector is integrated into the same housing as the audio speaker and control system, forming a compact alarm device. This merging of components verifies alarm generation reliability while minimizing device complexity through integrated design rather than separate distributed components.
Solution Approach 2:
The audio detector provides feedback to the control system by detecting the audible alarm generated by the audio speaker. The control system analyzes this detection signal to verify proper alarm generation, creating a closed-loop feedback system that ensures reliability without requiring complex external verification infrastructure.
4Reliability
If the control system analyzes the detection signal to verify alarm generation, then the reliability of alarm communication is improved, but the processing time and system complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The control system is pre-configured with the capability to analyze detection signals from the audio detector. The verification process is built into the normal alarm operation flow, allowing rapid analysis without requiring complex post-processing or external verification steps, thus minimizing time loss while maintaining reliability.
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 solution enables flexible and reliable alarm generation and verification, ensuring that alarms are properly generated and communicated, while allowing the host computing system to use third-party software, thus enhancing the monitoring system's functionality and usability.
Implementation Method 1
an audio speaker held by the device housing and configured to generate an audible alarm
Implementation Method 2
an audio detector held by the device housing and positioned to detect the audible alarm generated by the alarm device
Data Source
AI summary
Peripheral alarm device for a patient monitoring system. In an embodiment, the peripheral alarm device includes an audio speaker and an audio detector. The peripheral alarm device also includes a control system that includes circuitry configured to communicate with the audio detector and a medical software program executed by a host computing system. The audio speaker is configured to generate an audible alarm in response to alarm instructions from the host computing system. The audio detector is configured to communicate a detection signal to the control system. The control system is configured to analyze the detection signal to verify whether the audible alarm was properly generated and communicate a control signal to the host computing system. The peripheral alarm device may include a light indicator and a light detector instead of the audio speaker and the audio detector or in addition to the audio speaker and the audio detector.