Round-Robin Database for Streaming Medical Data Retrieval
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current patient monitoring systems face challenges in efficiently storing and retrieving continuous physiological data from multiple patients, leading to delays in clinical decision-making and inadequate alarm response times.
Innovation Solution
A clinical network environment utilizing a round-robin database (RRDB) system that stores physiological data in a streamlined structure, allowing for rapid acquisition and retrieval of trend data, and a journal database to analyze medical events for performance improvement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If continuous physiological data from multiple patients is stored using traditional database systems, then data completeness is maintained, but data retrieval speed decreases and delays clinical decision-making
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the database into two distinct components: a round-robin database for rapid sequential storage and retrieval of continuous physiological data, and a journal database for event-oriented medical event storage. This segmentation allows each database type to be optimized for its specific function, with the round-robin database providing fast retrieval through its sequential write-head mechanism that avoids complex indexing operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a data management system that acts as an intermediary between the patient monitoring devices and the database storage/retrieval mechanisms. This intermediary layer handles the complexity of data routing, format conversion, and coordination between the round-robin and journal databases, allowing rapid data access while managing the underlying structural complexity.
2Loss of time
If traditional alarm systems are used to monitor physiological parameters, then alarm detection capability is maintained, but response time increases due to data access delays
Solution Approach 1:
The round-robin database is pre-configured with a sequential write-head structure that anticipates future data writes by continuously allocating space in a circular buffer format. This preliminary structuring eliminates the need for complex index updates and space allocation during real-time operations, enabling immediate data retrieval for alarm responses without sacrificing trend data accessibility.
3Productivity
If detailed physiological trend data is stored for all patients, then data analysis capability is improved, but storage efficiency decreases and system performance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different storage qualities to different data types: the round-robin database stores continuous physiological trend data in a highly optimized sequential format optimized for rapid retrieval, while the journal database stores medical events in a compact event-oriented format. This local optimization allows the system to maintain high productivity for time-critical operations while efficiently managing overall storage volume through format-appropriate compression and organization.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of storing streaming physiological information obtained from a medical patient in a multi-patient monitoring environment includes receiving identification information, retrieving parameter descriptors, creating a round-robin database file, receiving a data stream, and using a predetermined data rate to map the data stream to locations in the round-robin database file.