CN119694525A - Control method and system for multiple medical devices - Google Patents

Abstract

The present application provides a control method for multiple medical devices, including: establishing a communication connection with the multiple medical devices; receiving the layout of the user interface of the multiple medical devices in real time; generating the user interface mapping of the multiple medical devices in real time; determining that one of the medical devices is selected, highlighting the user interface mapping of the selected medical device on the touch screen; and in response to the user interface mapping of the selected medical device being operated, generating a control instruction and sending it to the one of the medical devices through the communication connection. The present application also provides a control system for multiple medical devices.

Description

Method and system for controlling a plurality of medical devices

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of medical science, and more particularly, to a method and system for controlling a plurality of medical devices.

Background

There are many different types of medical devices in the medical field. Depending on the patient and the specific medical purpose, the physician may choose to select different medical devices for the patient. In some use cases, it may be necessary to connect a plurality of different medical devices simultaneously for the same patient. These different medical devices can provide the doctor with different information, respectively, as needed to assist in diagnosis or treatment. A typical use scenario is in an operating room, where doctors often need to perform surgery with different medical devices. For example, anesthesia machines are required to maintain a patient in an anesthetized state, monitoring devices such as monitors or electrocardiographs are required to monitor patient physiological parameters in real time, and syringe pumps may be required to provide medication support for the patient.

The simultaneous use of multiple devices may present challenges to the physician. On the one hand, a plurality of medical devices are often distributed in a decentralized manner, and the user interface (touch screen, keyboard, buttons, etc.) for operating these medical devices needs to move the body, which not only increases the difficulty of the operation but also may cause the operation inefficiency due to the great consumption of time. On the other hand, the use of a plurality of medical devices means that the difficulty of cleaning and sterilizing increases, and cross contamination is easily caused when one medical device is operated and another medical device is operated.

Disclosure of Invention

The above-described deficiencies, drawbacks, and problems are addressed herein, and will be understood by reading and understanding the following description.

In some embodiments of the application, a method of controlling a plurality of medical devices is provided that includes establishing a communication connection with the plurality of medical devices, receiving a layout of user interfaces of the plurality of medical devices in real time, generating user interface mappings of the plurality of medical devices in real time, determining that one of the medical devices is selected, highlighting the user interface mapping of the selected medical device on a touch screen, and generating control instructions and transmitting to the selected medical device over the communication connection in response to the user interface mapping of the selected medical device being operated.

Still further embodiments of the present application provide a control system for a multi-medical device including a processor and a touch screen. The touch screen receives signals from the processor to display, and can receive operation of a user. The processor is configured to perform a method of establishing a communication connection with the plurality of medical devices, receiving a layout of user interfaces of the plurality of medical devices in real-time, generating user interface mappings of the plurality of medical devices in real-time, determining that one of the medical devices is selected, highlighting the user interface mapping of the selected medical device on a touch screen, and generating control instructions and transmitting to the selected medical device over the communication connection in response to the user interface mapping of the selected medical device being operated.

There is also provided in some embodiments of the present application a non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program having at least one code section executable by a machine to cause the machine to perform the steps of establishing a communication connection with the plurality of medical devices, receiving a layout of user interfaces of the plurality of medical devices in real time, generating user interface mappings of the plurality of medical devices in real time, determining that one of the medical devices is selected, highlighting the user interface mapping of the selected medical device on a touch screen, and generating control instructions and transmitting to the selected medical device over the communication connection in response to the user interface mapping of the selected medical device being operated.

It should be understood that the brief description above is provided to introduce in simplified form some concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any section of this disclosure.

Drawings

The application will be better understood by reading the following description of non-limiting embodiments, with reference to the attached drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration 100 of a scenario in which several medical devices are used simultaneously in accordance with some embodiments of the application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram 200 of a method of controlling a plurality of medical devices in some embodiments of the application;

FIG. 3 illustrates a user interface mapping flowchart 300 for generating a plurality of medical devices in real-time in some embodiments of the application;

FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic diagram 400 of a control system for connecting a plurality of medical devices in some embodiments of the application;

FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic diagram 500 of a touch screen of a control system including a plurality of labels in some embodiments of the application;

FIG. 6 illustrates a schematic diagram 600 of a touch screen of a control system including a plurality of labels in accordance with further embodiments of the present application;

fig. 7 illustrates a method 700 of controlling a plurality of medical devices in further embodiments of the application.

Detailed Description

In the following, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described, and it should be noted that in the course of the detailed description of these embodiments, it is not possible to describe all features of an actual embodiment in detail for the sake of brevity. It should be appreciated that in the actual implementation of any of the implementations, as in any engineering or design project, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made to achieve the developers' specific goals, such as compliance with system-related and business-related constraints, which may vary from one implementation to another. Moreover, it should be appreciated that while such a development effort might be complex and lengthy, it would nevertheless be a routine undertaking of design, fabrication, or manufacture for those of ordinary skill having the benefit of this disclosure, and thus should not be construed as having the benefit of this disclosure.

Unless defined otherwise, technical or scientific terms used in the claims and specification should be given the ordinary meaning as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. The terms "first," "second," and the like in the description and in the claims, do not denote any order, quantity, or importance, but rather are used to distinguish one element from another. The terms "a" or "an" and the like do not denote a limitation of quantity, but rather denote the presence of at least one. The word "comprising" or "comprises", and the like, is intended to mean that elements or items that are immediately preceding the word "comprising" or "comprising", are included in the word "comprising" or "comprising", and equivalents thereof, without excluding other elements or items. The terms "connected" or "connected," and the like, are not limited to physical or mechanical connections, nor to direct or indirect connections.

The medical field includes a wide variety of medical devices, with different medical devices having different functions. For the same subject to be treated, multiple medical devices are often used to perform different functions. Referring to fig. 1, the above application scenario is exemplarily described. Fig. 1 illustrates a schematic view 100 of a scenario in which multiple medical devices are concurrently used in some embodiments of the application.

An operating room scenario is illustrated as an example. In the operating room 101, a patient 102 is connected to a plurality of medical devices. In one embodiment, the plurality of medical devices may include one or more of an anesthesia machine 111, a monitor 112, and a syringe pump 113.

The anesthesia machine 111 is used for anesthetizing the patient 102 and maintaining an anesthetic state. In one example, the anesthesia machine 111 may include a gas mixer. The gas mixer may receive medical gases from the outside and adjust the ratio of different medical gases by a solenoid valve therein to form a mixed gas. Further, the anesthesia machine 111 may further include an evaporator. The evaporator and the gas circuit of the gas mixer are connected. The vaporizer is capable of vaporizing an anesthetic agent for anesthetizing the patient 102 and delivering the anesthetic agent together with the mixed gas from the gas mixer to the patient 102 through the breathing circuit.

The anesthesia machine 111 may also include a user interface. Typically, the user interface comprises a touch screen. The anesthesiologist 103 can control parameters of the anesthesia machine 111 in real time by operating a user interface of the anesthesia machine 111. For example, parameters such as gas flow, anesthetic dosage, respiratory rate, etc. may be adjusted. The specific parameter adjustment range may depend on different anesthesia phases, such as anesthesia induction, anesthesia maintenance, and resuscitation.

Further, the plurality of medical devices may include a monitor 112. The monitor 112 may be coupled to the patient 102 via various sensors to obtain physiological parameters of the patient 102 in real-time. The type of sensor may be varied. For example, an invasive or non-invasive blood pressure sensor may be included to obtain the blood pressure value of the patient in real time. A heart rate sensor, a respiratory rate sensor, etc. may also be included. In addition, for anesthesia scenarios, the monitor 112 may also include a sensing module for assisting anesthesia,

For example, a sensing module of an electroencephalogram double-frequency index, and the like. And are not exhaustive.

Further, the plurality of medical devices may also include a syringe pump 113. The syringe pump 113 can be used to accurately inject a drug into the patient 102. In one example, the injected medication can be used for assisted anesthesia of the patient 102, e.g., anesthesia induction. Or for some patients 102 with complications, the syringe pump 113 may be used to provide specific medications to the patient to maintain normal vital signs of the patient 102.

It will be appreciated that the above examples schematically describe the scenario of an operating room containing a plurality of medical devices. In practice, other scenarios are also possible. For example, it may also be a scene of an intensive care unit (icu) or an ordinary ward. And the plurality of medical devices may be other than those described in the above embodiments. For example, in an I CU scenario, the plurality of medical devices may include a plurality of ventilators, monitors, electrocardiographs, and the like. Unless specifically stated otherwise, the methods described in any of the embodiments of the present application are applicable to any combination of medical devices that include a user interface.

With continued reference back to fig. 1. In an operating room scenario, the anesthesiologist 103 needs to pay attention to the physiological parameters of the patient 102 displayed on the monitor 112 at all times and adjusts the parameter settings of the anesthesia machine 111 and/or the syringe pump 113 according to the physiological parameters 102. In addition, the surgeon 104 may also have the anesthesiologist 103 operate on one or more of the plurality of medical devices depending on the condition in which the patient 102 is operating. Often, a plurality of medical devices are distributed in a scattered manner, and particularly medical devices having a relatively large volume are more difficult to be placed together in a concentrated manner for a user (e.g., anesthesiologist 103) to perform.

At least to address the above issues, some embodiments of the present application also include a control system 105 for the plurality of medical devices described above. The control system 105 may include a processor and a touch screen. Wherein the processor may be configured to perform a method of controlling a plurality of medical devices. The specific method is described in detail below in real time. And the touch screen can receive signals from the processor for display and can receive operation of a user.

As shown in fig. 1, control system 105 may be coupled to various medical devices via links 151. The link 151 may include a variety of ways. In some embodiments, link 151 comprises a wired connection. The wired connection enables transmission of signals and medical data between the control system 105 and the plurality of medical devices. In further embodiments, the link 151 may also include a wireless connection. The manner of wireless connection may be any in the art and will not be described in detail. In the manner described above, the control system 105 provides an integrated user interface for a user (e.g., doctor, nurse, etc.). By means of a touch screen on the control system 105, the user is able to achieve flexible, fast control of each of a plurality of medical devices, in cooperation with the control method described later herein.

It should be noted that the description of fig. 1 and its corresponding embodiments above is only part of an embodiment of the present application. The kind of medical device in the embodiments may also be freely chosen. In addition, the control system 105 may include a built-in power module or a power module for connecting an external power source, in addition to the processor and the touch screen. In addition, the control system 105 may also include memory, remote communication modules, and the like. The memory may be used to store data acquired on a plurality of medical devices and the telecommunications module is adapted to transmit information to a remote location, such as a remote server.

A method of controlling a plurality of medical systems is described in detail below.

Referring to fig. 2, a method 200 of controlling a plurality of medical devices in some embodiments of the application is shown. The method 200 may include:

In step 201, a communication connection is established with the plurality of medical devices. This step may be implemented by a processor. In one example, this may be implemented by a processor of the control system shown in FIG. 1. The processor may be communicatively coupled to the plurality of medical devices using wired or wireless communication. Once the communication connection is established, the processor will be able to acquire data information for a plurality of medical devices in real time.

In step 203, a layout of a user interface of the plurality of medical devices is received in real time. This step may be implemented by a processor. Specifically, the processor may determine layout information of user interfaces of the plurality of medical devices through data acquired through the communication connection after establishing the communication connection with the plurality of medical devices.

In some embodiments, the user interface includes at least one of a touch screen, a key, and a trackball. In a preferred embodiment, the user interface comprises a touch screen. Touch screens are widely used user interfaces in many medical devices. On the one hand, the touch screen can display medical data in real time for reference by a user, and on the other hand, the touch screen can be operated by the user as a user interface to generate control signals.

In step 205, user interface mappings of the plurality of medical devices are generated in real time. The processor, upon receiving the layout of the user interfaces of the plurality of medical devices, is capable of performing virtual simulation on the user interfaces of each of the plurality of medical devices in real time, and generating a user interface map in real time. It will be appreciated that the user interface map is generated based on its corresponding user interface, both having the same layout, so that the user can easily find the functional area to be operated from the user interface map quickly without changing the user's usage habit. Meanwhile, since the user interface may be changed in real time during the use of the medical device (especially, the touch screen of the medical device), the processor generates the user interface map in real time, so that consistency of the user interface and the map can be ensured.

In step 207, it is determined that one of the medical devices is selected, and a user interface map of the selected medical device is highlighted on the touch screen. As described above, the processor is capable of generating user interface mappings for the plurality of medical devices in real-time during communication with the plurality of medical devices. These user interface mappings are not necessarily all displayed on the touch screen. The processor, upon determining that one of the plurality of medical devices is selected, highlights its user interface map on the touch screen in a manner that facilitates a user using the touch screen to operate on the user interface map of the selected medical device.

In step 209, control instructions are generated and sent to the selected medical device over the communication connection in response to the user interface map of the selected medical device being operated. As described above, the layout of each user interface map corresponds to the user interface of the respective medical device, and accordingly, these user interface maps are also configured to receive user input to generate instructions capable of controlling the respective medical device and to be sent to the one of the medical devices via the communication connection described above, thereby enabling control of the medical device using the user interface map on the touch screen. Meanwhile, due to the corresponding relation between the user interface and the mapping, the user can obtain the same effect as that of operating the user interface on the medical equipment when operating the user interface mapping.

The configuration mode of the embodiment can realize the control of a plurality of medical devices on one touch screen at the same time. In this way, when a plurality of medical devices are not easily operated at a relatively short distance at the same time, a user (e.g., doctor) can achieve free control by merely operating the touch screen and selecting one of the medical devices without moving the body. And, more importantly, in embodiments of the present application, communication connections and data reception are established simultaneously for a plurality of medical devices, and user interface virtual mappings for the plurality of medical devices are also generated simultaneously in real time. By the configuration mode, the operation of the touch screen is more sensitive, and once a certain medical device is selected, the user interface mapping of the medical device can be immediately highlighted, and the display is performed after the data processing is not needed. This greatly reduces the delay of data, especially in use scenarios where the timeliness of the operation is demanding, such as operating rooms, I CUs or emergency, where the delay of the selective switching of medical devices can be reduced as much as possible. Furthermore, the risk of cross-contamination of multiple medical devices by operating only one touch screen can also be avoided by the user.

It will be appreciated that the medical devices described above may be varied and that the plurality of medical devices includes at least one of a monitor, an anesthesia machine, a ventilator, a syringe pump, an electrocardiograph, and an electroencephalograph. According to different application scenes, the user can select by himself. For example, at least some of the medical devices shown in fig. 1 may be selected in an operating room setting. Other medical devices, such as ultrasound devices, etc., may be included in addition to the medical devices listed above. Different medical devices may contain different user interfaces. As described above, the user interface includes at least one of a touch screen, keys, a trackball. Accordingly, the manner in which the layouts of the different user interfaces are received and retrieved may be different, as exemplarily described below. For the manner in which the user interface comprises a touch screen, the data may be obtained directly from the medical device comprising the touch screen, the data may contain physiological parameter information from the patient, and may also comprise layout information of the touch screen, the layout information on the touch screen representing the layout of the user interface of the medical device. For the manner in which the user interface includes keys, an exemplary method of obtaining a user interface layout includes reading a model of a medical device and finding a user interface layout of a medical device of a corresponding model in a pre-stored database of medical devices. For the manner in which the user interface includes a track ball, the manner in which the user interface layout is obtained may refer to the manner in which the user interface is a key-type user interface, which is not described herein. It should be noted that the layout receiving manner of the user interface may be other.

Furthermore, the manner in which the user interface map of the selected medical device is highlighted on the touch screen may also be varied. The main purpose of highlighting is to facilitate accurate and convenient control of the selected medical device by the user. The manner of highlighting is described exemplarily below.

In some embodiments, the highlighting may be that, of the generated user interface mappings of the plurality of medical devices, only the user interface mapping of the selected medical device is displayed on the touch screen. In this way, it can be ensured that the user interface map of the selected medical device has a larger size and avoids interference of other user interface maps, avoiding the possibility of malfunction.

In further embodiments, highlighting may be magnifying the user interface map of the selected medical device on the touch screen in the generated user interface map of the plurality of medical devices. For example, where multiple medical device user interface mappings are displayed on the same U I interface, when one mapping is selected, it may be displayed in magnification to distinguish it from other user mappings. The configuration mode is beneficial to the targeted control of the selected medical equipment by a user on one hand, and is beneficial to comprehensive judgment by observing the conditions of other medical equipment on the other hand.

It should be noted that neither displaying only the user interface map of a selected one of the medical devices nor highlighting one of the plurality of user interface maps does not affect the real-time generation and updating of the plurality of user interface maps to maximize the immediacy of data processing and manipulation. It should also be noted that in some embodiments, the control methods described above may be implemented by the control system 105 of FIG. 1. In other embodiments, the control method described above may be implemented by any other control system.

Alternative embodiments of the steps described above are described below by way of example. Referring to FIG. 3, a user interface mapping flowchart 300 of generating a plurality of medical devices in real time is shown in some embodiments of the application. In some examples, the generating, in real-time, the user interface map of the plurality of medical devices may include:

in step 301, a user interface map having the same layout is generated based on the received layout of the user interface. The specific implementation manner of the processor for receiving the user interface layout has been described in detail above, and will not be repeated. It should be noted that, in this embodiment, the user interface map of the same layout is generated without displaying the generated user interface map. That is, the step of generating is performed by the processor and may be performed on all user interface mappings, as appropriate. For example, in some embodiments, the touch screen used to display the user interface map is larger in size and the user interface map is smaller in size or smaller in number, where displaying multiple or all of the maps is contemplated. In other embodiments, the touch screen used to display the user interface map is smaller in size and the user interface map is larger in size or smaller in number, at which time it may be considered to display one or even none of the maps. Even so, since the user interface mappings of the plurality of medical devices of the present application are all generated in real time, no additional generation process is required when performing the subsequent steps. In particular, the process of switching user interface mappings will be smoother.

In step 303, a user interface map of at least one medical device is displayed while continuously generating user interface maps of the plurality of medical devices. As described above, depending on factors such as the touch screen, the user interface map size and number, in embodiments of the application, all user interface maps need not be displayed, but may be as appropriate. In some embodiments, the processor may select to display a user interface map of at least one medical device, and the user interface map is continuously generated even when not displayed. By the configuration mode, the user interface mapping which is displayed or not displayed can be continuously updated, and low delay of data transmission and smoothness of operation are ensured when a user controls a plurality of medical devices by using the control method of the embodiment.

Optionally, step 305 may also be included, updating the user interface map in response to an update of the layout of the user interface. In medical devices, the user interface is often updated according to the user's operation. For example, the configuration of the interface in the touch screen may be continuously changed according to the function selected by the user, the operation of the device by the user, the submenu selected by the user, and the like. Accordingly, in an embodiment of the present application, the processor is capable of detecting an update in the layout of the user interface in real time on the basis of receiving data from the plurality of medical devices in real time, and synchronously updating the user interface map in accordance with the update. Such a configuration can further reduce the perceived delay of being operated between the user interface on the medical device and the user interface map in the control system.

The solution described thus far in any of the embodiments of steps 301-305 enables to ensure consistency of the user interface in the medical device and the user interface mapping in the control system and to minimize delays of display and operation that may be caused by updating of the user interface or switching of different user interface mappings. Finally, the user operation control system can be ensured to realize timely and accurate operation of any one of a plurality of medical equipment.

Furthermore, the method provided by the application may equally be varied in the way in which one of the medical devices is determined to be selected. The following is a detailed description.

In some embodiments, a method of determining a selection may include detecting a line of sight of a user in real-time with an image acquisition unit, determining a direction of the line of sight of the user, and selecting the one of the medical devices in response to the direction of the line of sight pointing at the one of the medical devices.

By the configuration mode, continuity of user operation can be ensured. By capturing the line of sight of the user with the image acquisition unit, it is possible to instantly learn on which medical device the user's attention is focused, and thus to determine that the medical device is selected, without requiring additional operations by the user. In particular, when the sight and the attention of the user are switched among a plurality of medical devices, the mode can realize automatic determination of the focused medical device, and the workflow of the user can be reduced. The technology of capturing the line of sight may be any in the art, for example, may be determined by capturing facial information, eyeball information, etc. of the user, and will not be described herein. It will be appreciated that in some embodiments, the process of determining the direction of the user's gaze may also be determined based on a time threshold for which the user's gaze is in a certain direction. For example, a user gaze direction is directed towards one of the medical devices beyond a certain time threshold, determining that the device is selected. The time threshold may be set according to actual needs, for example, 2 seconds. In this way, the possibility of incorrect operation can be reduced, for example, it being possible to avoid that a certain medical device is determined incorrectly merely because the user is looking through. Further, the image acquisition unit is any device having an image acquisition function in the art, such as a camera, a video camera, or the like.

The following description is made in connection with a specific arrangement of the control system. Referring to fig. 4, a schematic diagram 400 of a control system for connecting a plurality of medical devices in some embodiments of the application is shown.

As shown in fig. 4, the control system 401 includes a processor 411 and a touch screen 421. Wherein the processor 411 is configured to perform the method as described in any of the embodiments of the application above. The touch panel 421 receives a signal from the processor, displays the signal, and can receive a user operation.

The control system 401 connects to a plurality of medical devices 402-404. For ease of description, the embodiment is described with 3 medical devices as an example, but it is understood that the number of the plurality of medical devices may also be arbitrary. Further, in some embodiments, the control system 401 may also include image acquisition units 412-414. The image acquisition units 412-414 acquire images including the direction of the user's line of sight and transmit to the processor. The transmission may be any type of transmission, for example, the image acquisition unit may be connected to a plurality of medical devices, and transmitted via a connection between the medical devices and the control system. Or the image acquisition unit may establish a connection (not shown in the figure) with itself and the control system, and transmit image data through the connection established with itself and the control system.

In such a configuration, the processor 411 may determine a direction of a line of sight of the user from the images acquired by the image acquisition units 412-414, and further determine that the direction of sight is directed to one of the medical devices, so as to select the medical device. In one example, there is a one-to-one correspondence between the image acquisition units 412-414 and the plurality of medical devices 402-404. For example, the image acquisition unit 412 is provided on the medical device 402, the image acquisition unit 413 is provided on the medical device 403, and the image acquisition unit 414 is provided on the medical device 404. When it is detected that the user's line of sight is directed towards one of the image acquisition units (e.g., any of the image acquisition units 412-414), it is possible to determine that the medical device to which the user is looking at the image acquisition unit is being gazed.

In addition, the embodiment of the application can also introduce a face recognition technology. For example, the image acquisition unit acquires the sight line direction and detects the user identity information, so that different authorities are given to different user identities. For example, only if a user of a specific identity is detected, its gaze direction is allowed to influence the selection of the medical device. For example, in an operating room use scenario, the identity information of the anesthesiologist may be entered in advance and only the anesthesiologist is allowed to control the control system. This can avoid interference by other personnel such as nurses or doctors not operating the medical device.

The above illustrates a case of a plurality of image capturing units, and the number of image capturing units may also be adjusted under the teachings of the present disclosure. For example, a plurality of image acquisition units are configured for the same medical device to improve detection accuracy. Or a plurality of medical devices controlled using only one image acquisition unit. For example, one image acquisition unit may be fixed at a specific location (e.g., a wall), and the relative positional relationship with a plurality of medical devices may be established in advance. In this way, it is possible in a subsequent method to determine which of the plurality of medical devices corresponds to the direction of the user's line of sight.

In other embodiments, the manner in which one of the medical devices is determined to be selected may also be by displaying a plurality of labels on the touch screen, each label corresponding to one of the medical devices, and selecting one of the medical devices in response to the label of the one of the medical devices being operated. Such a configuration does not require additional attachment equipment, which is advantageous in terms of saving the cost of the equipment and reducing the possibility of malfunction.

For a clearer description of the above embodiments, please refer to fig. 5, which illustrates a schematic diagram 500 of a touch screen of a control system including a plurality of labels according to some embodiments of the present application.

Wherein the control system 501 comprises a touch screen 511. The control system 501 is coupled to a plurality of medical devices 502-504. Also, on the touch screen 511 of the control system 501, a plurality of labels 512-514 are displayed. It will be appreciated that there is a one-to-one correspondence between the tags and the medical device. In the example of fig. 5, medical devices 502-504 include a monitor 502, a syringe pump 503, and an anesthesia machine 504. Accordingly, the labels 512-514 on the touch screen 511 include a monitor label 512, a syringe pump label 513, and an anesthesia machine label 514, respectively. In the example of fig. 5, the monitor's tab 512 is manipulated (e.g., clicked) at which point the control system 501 may determine that the corresponding medical device, i.e., the monitor 502, is selected. At this point, a user interface map 521 of the monitor 502 is displayed in the touch screen 511. The user interface mapping and the corresponding relation of the user interface have been described in detail above and are not described in detail here. Further, the user can implement control of the monitor 502 by manipulating the user interface map 521.

By means of the arrangement of the plurality of labels, switching of control of different medical devices can also be achieved. Referring to FIG. 6, a schematic diagram 600 of a touch screen of a control system including a plurality of labels in further embodiments of the present application is shown. The manner in which the control system 501, the medical devices 502-504, and the tags 512-514 are configured may be as described in fig. 5, and will not be described in detail herein. The difference is that the example of fig. 6 shows the interface change on the touch screen 511 when another tab, such as tab 513, is operated. As depicted in fig. 6, user interface map 621 represents a user interface of medical device 503. The user interface of syringe pump 503 is illustrated in fig. 6 as including a plurality of keys (lower region) and touch regions (upper region), and accordingly user interface map 621 includes virtual keys and touch regions. In this way, the user may directly manipulate user interface map 621 to control syringe pump 503. According to the scheme provided by the application, the autonomous switching of control among a plurality of medical devices can be realized on the basis of not adding additional hardware devices. Moreover, even for non-touch screen devices, embodiments of the present application can be well controlled.

It should be noted that in fig. 4-6, the schematic diagrams of the various components are only for clarity of illustration of embodiments of the present application and are not representative of the actual size/position/distance relationship.

The inventors have further appreciated that in an application scenario involving a plurality of medical devices, parameters of different medical devices may be interrelated. In conventional operations, a user may be required to perform repeated operations on different medical devices one by one. For example, electrocardiographs and monitors may monitor similar physiological parameters simultaneously, and may only operate one by one when a user needs to set the frequency, period, or false alarms that require elimination of a certain physiological parameter. This not only increases the workflow, but may delay diagnosis. Some embodiments of the present application also improve upon the above-described scenarios depending upon the multi-device control system and/or multi-device control method of the present application.

Referring to fig. 7, a method 700 of controlling a plurality of medical devices in further embodiments of the application is shown. The method 700 may include:

In step 701, a communication connection is established with the plurality of medical devices.

In step 703, a layout of a user interface of the plurality of medical devices is received in real time.

In step 705, a user interface map of the plurality of medical devices is generated in real time.

In step 707, it is determined that one of the medical devices is selected, and a user interface map of the selected medical device is highlighted on the touch screen.

In step 709, in response to the user interface map of the selected medical device being operated, control instructions are generated and sent to the one of the medical devices via the communication connection.

Steps 701-709 may be described with reference to any of the embodiments described above, for example, with reference to steps 201-209, and are not described in detail herein.

Still further, at step 711, it is automatically determined whether the control instruction is applicable to an unselected medical device. That is, after receiving the user operation of the user interface mapping of the selected medical device, the processor can automatically determine that the instruction represented by the operation can be applied to other unselected medical devices, and the processor can determine the meaning of the instruction represented by the operation, so as to determine whether the instruction is also present in other medical device presets.

In step 713. The control instructions are sent to the at least one unselected medical device in response to the at least one unselected medical device being applicable. Once the processor determines that the control instructions described above can also be applied to other medical devices, this generally means that the same instruction needs to be executed on a plurality of other medical devices. At this point, the processor may be configured to automatically send control instructions to the at least one unselected medical device for execution of the same or similar instructions thereto.

Thanks to the control system/method of the present application, a plurality of medical devices, which are otherwise independent, can be centrally managed and controlled by the system/method of the present application, and, as a medium, enable integration between data for processing. The application scenarios in the above embodiments may be various, and are described below by way of example. When the plurality of medical devices includes an anesthesia machine and a monitor, both may have some parameter modules that are identical, such as a module that characterizes the depth of anesthesia, or a parameter measurement module of respiration rate/heart rate. When multiple medical devices include monitors and electrocardiographs, both may have the same physiological parameters of respiratory rate, heart rate, etc. These same parameters may have a correspondence between them, for example, alarm thresholds, acquisition frequencies, etc. The user may need to adjust these parameters at the time of use, such as silence of false alarms, adjustment of thresholds, adjustment of acquisition frequency, etc. The above method of the present application makes it unnecessary for the devices having the same/similar functions to be operated repeatedly, thus greatly improving the working efficiency.

Some embodiments of the present application also provide a control system for a plurality of medical devices, which may be as shown in fig. 1 or 4, or any other in the art. The control system may include a processor and a touch screen. The processor is configured to perform the method according to any embodiment of the application. The touch screen receives signals from the processor to display, and can receive operation of a user.

Some embodiments of the present application also provide a non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program having at least one code section executable by a machine to cause the machine to perform the steps of the method of any of the embodiments described above.

Accordingly, the present disclosure may be realized in hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software. The present disclosure may be realized in a centralized fashion in at least one computer system, or in a distributed fashion where different elements are spread across several interconnected computer systems. Any kind of computer system or other apparatus adapted for carrying out the methods described herein is suited.

Various embodiments may also be embedded in a computer program product, which comprises all the features enabling the implementation of the methods described herein, and which, when loaded in a computer system, is able to carry out these methods. Computer program in the present context means any expression, in any language, code or notation, of a set of instructions intended to cause a system having an information processing capability to perform a particular function either directly or after either or both of a) conversion to another language, code or notation, and b) replication in a different material form.

The above specific embodiments are provided to provide a more thorough understanding of the present disclosure, but the present invention is not limited to these specific embodiments. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications, equivalent substitutions and changes may be made to the present invention without departing from the spirit thereof, and such changes should be construed to be within the scope of the present invention.

Claims (13)

1.A method of controlling a plurality of medical devices, comprising:

Establishing a communication connection with the plurality of medical devices;

receiving in real time a layout of a user interface of the plurality of medical devices;

Generating user interface mappings of the plurality of medical devices in real time;

Determining that one of the medical devices is selected, highlighting a user interface mapping of the selected medical device on the touch screen, and

In response to the user interface map of the selected medical device being operated, control instructions are generated and sent to the selected medical device over the communication connection.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating, in real-time, a user interface map of the plurality of medical devices comprises:

Generating a user interface map having the same layout based on the received layout of the user interface, and

A user interface map of at least one medical device is displayed while continuously generating user interface maps of the plurality of medical devices.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the generating, in real-time, a user interface map of the plurality of medical devices further comprises:

The user interface map is updated in response to an update of the layout of the user interface.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining that one of the medical devices is selected comprises:

Detecting the sight of a user in real time by using an image acquisition unit;

Determining a gaze direction of the user, and

The one of the medical devices is selected in response to the gaze direction being directed toward the one of the medical devices.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining that one of the medical devices is selected comprises:

displaying a plurality of labels on the touch screen, each label corresponding to one of the medical devices;

one of the medical devices is selected in response to the tag of the one of the medical devices being operated.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein highlighting the user interface map of the selected medical device on the touch screen comprises at least one of:

displaying only the user interface map of the selected medical device on the touch screen in the generated user interface maps of the plurality of medical devices;

in the generated user interface maps of the plurality of medical devices, the user interface map of the selected medical device is displayed in an enlarged manner on the touch screen.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

Automatically judging whether the control instruction is applicable to unselected medical equipment;

The control instructions are sent to the at least one unselected medical device in response to the at least one unselected medical device being applicable.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the user interface includes at least one of a touch screen, a key, and a trackball.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the communication connection includes at least one of wired communication and wireless communication.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of medical devices comprises at least one of a monitor, an anesthesia machine, a ventilator, a syringe pump, an electrocardiograph, and an electroencephalograph.

11. A control system for a plurality of medical devices, comprising:

a processor configured to perform the method of any one of claims 1-10, and

And the touch screen receives signals from the processor, displays the signals and can receive operation of a user.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

And the image acquisition unit acquires an image comprising the direction of the user's line of sight and transmits the image to the processor.

13. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program having at least one code section executable by a machine to cause the machine to perform the steps of the method of any one of claims 1-10.