U.S. patent application number 15/978022 was filed with the patent office on 2018-09-13 for systems and methods for managing and distributing user profiles for surgical systems.
The applicant listed for this patent is Johnson & Johnson Surgical Vision, Inc.. Invention is credited to Michael J. Claus, Joseph K. Liu.
Application Number | 20180261321 15/978022 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 39940605 |
Filed Date | 2018-09-13 |
United States Patent
Application |
20180261321 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Claus; Michael J. ; et
al. |
September 13, 2018 |
SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MANAGING AND DISTRIBUTING USER PROFILES FOR
SURGICAL SYSTEMS
Abstract
A medical system is presented, where the system includes a
medical profile directory configured to maintain a set of medical
system profiles, a medial profile manager configured to update and
maintain medical system profiles within the medical profile
directory, and a server configured to interface with the medical
profile manager to facilitate medical system profile maintenance.
The server is configured to transmit information from at least one
medical system profile to a surgical system, thereby enabling the
surgical system to employ a current operational parameter within
the medical system profile desired by a user.
Inventors: |
Claus; Michael J.; (Newport
Coast, CA) ; Liu; Joseph K.; (San Juan Capistrano,
CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Johnson & Johnson Surgical Vision, Inc. |
Santa Ana |
CA |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
39940605 |
Appl. No.: |
15/978022 |
Filed: |
May 11, 2018 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
|
|
|
|
|
|
Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
11839074 |
Aug 15, 2007 |
9971870 |
|
|
15978022 |
|
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 19/00 20130101;
G16H 40/40 20180101 |
International
Class: |
G16H 40/40 20060101
G16H040/40 |
Claims
1-32. (canceled)
33. A system comprising: at least one computing device comprising a
plurality of surgeon desired medical device operational settings
configurable by a surgeon; and a central server system comprising:
a medical profile directory configured to receive and maintain one
or more surgeon profiles that each define the plurality of surgeon
desired medical device operational settings for a particular
surgeon to be downloaded to the at least one computing device; a
medical profile manager configured to update one or more surgeon
profiles within the medical profile directory; and a server
configured to interface with the medical profile manager to
facilitate surgeon profile maintenance; wherein the server is
configured to direct profile maintenance actions to at least one
surgeon profile.
34. The system of claim 33, wherein the central server system is
configured to provide at least one surgeon profile to at least one
surgical system.
35. The system of claim 33, wherein the central server system acts
to propagate medical system profiles to at least one surgical
system.
36. The system of claim 33, further comprising a credential
authentication system associated with one surgical system wherein a
user is authenticated and upon authentication profile information
is provided from the central server to the one surgical system.
37. The system of claim 33, wherein the central server system is
configured to: establish a surgeon profile in the medical profile
directory; alter a surgeon profile in the medical profile
directory; and propagate surgeon profiles to at least one surgical
system.
38. The system of claim 33, wherein the central server system
further comprises a broadcast server configured to broadcast
profile information to the at least one surgical system.
39. The system of claim 33, wherein the central server system
further comprises communications modules enabling a user to obtain
at least one authorized profile from the medical profile directory
and provide the authorized profile to a further user.
40. The system of claim 34, wherein communication between the
central server system and the at least one surgical system is
wireless.
41. The system of claim 33, wherein one computing device comprises
a personal computer operable by medical personnel.
42. The system of claim 34, wherein each medical system profile
comprises user desired operational parameters used in operating at
least one surgical system.
43. A medical system comprising: a computing device comprising a
plurality of surgeon profiles, each surgeon profile comprising
desired medical device operational settings configurable by a
surgeon; and a remote server arrangement comprising: a medical
profile directory configured to receive and maintain the plurality
of surgeon profiles; a medical profile manager configured to update
the plurality of surgeon profiles; and a server configured to
interface with the medical profile manager to facilitate surgeon
profile maintenance; wherein the server is configured to transmit
the at least one surgeon profile to a surgical system, thereby
enabling the surgical system to employ desired medical device
operational settings in operating the surgical system.
44. The medical system of claim 43, wherein the server is further
configured to interface with at least one client device to enable
the medical profile manager to direct profile maintenance actions
to at least one surgeon profile in the medical profile
directory.
45. The medical system of claim 43, wherein one surgeon profile
comprises at least one medical system operational parameter
associated with the user usable to operate the surgical system in a
desired manner.
46. The medical system of claim 43, wherein the medical profile
directory, medical profile manager, and server collectively act to
propagate multiple medical system profiles to an array of surgical
systems.
47. The medical system of claim 43, further comprising a credential
authentication system associated with the surgical system, wherein
a user is authenticated and upon authentication at least one
surgeon profile is provided from the medical profile directory to
the surgical system.
48. The medical system of claim 43, wherein the medical system is
configured to: establish a surgeon profile in the medical profile
directory; alter a surgeon profile in the medical profile
directory; and propagate at least one surgeon profile to the
surgical system.
49. The medical system of claim 43, further comprising a broadcast
server configured to operate with the medical profile directory,
medical profile manager, and server to broadcast profile
information to the surgical system.
50. The medical system of claim 43, further comprising
communications modules enabling a user to obtain one surgeon
profile from the medical profile directory using a client device
and provide the one surgeon profile to a further user.
51. The medical system of claim 43, wherein communication between
the remote server arrangement and the computing device is
wireless.
52. The medical system of claim 44, wherein the computing device
comprises a personal computer operable by medical personnel.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The invention relates to systems and methods for medical
care, and more particularly to systems and methods for managing and
distributing user profiles within surgical systems.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Surgical systems often require the configuration of a large
and complex set of parameters and settings, typically specific
settings requested or frequently employed by individuals such as
surgeons. One medical system employing individual settings is a
phacoemulsification system for ophthalmic surgery, used to remove
the lens of an eye damaged by cataract. FIG. 1 shows a functional
block diagram of a phacoemulsification system known in the art. The
system 100 may include a control unit 102 and a handpiece 104
operably coupled together. As shown in FIG. 2, the handpiece 104
may include a needle 106 for insertion into an eye E and a
vibrating unit 108 configured to ultrasonically vibrate the needle
106. The vibrating unit 108, which may include, e.g., a
piezoelectric crystal, vibrates the needle 106 according to one or
more parameters, such as frequency, pulse width, shape, size, duty
cycle, amplitude, and so on.
[0003] It is common for each surgeon to use his or her own
customized set(s) of parameters particular to the system, and it is
not uncommon for surgeons to conduct surgical procedures at
different locations. However, with current surgical systems,
setting up a surgeon's customized set of parameters in every system
the surgeon works with can be difficult, costly, and cumbersome.
Accordingly, improved systems and methods for managing and
distributing the surgeon's customized settings in multiple medical
devices or systems such as phacoemulsification systems are
desirable.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0004] The invention is generally directed to systems and methods
for medical care, and more particularly to systems and methods for
managing and distributing user profiles for surgical systems.
[0005] According to one aspect of the present design, there is
provided a medical system comprising a medical profile directory
configured to maintain a set of medical system profiles, a medical
profile manager configured to update and maintain medical system
profiles within the medical profile directory, and a server
configured to interface with the medical profile manager to
facilitate medical system profile maintenance. The server is
configured to transmit information from at least one medical system
profile to a surgical system, thereby enabling the surgical system
to employ a current operational parameter within the medical system
profile desired by a user.
[0006] According to a second aspect of the present design, there is
provided a method for providing medical system operating parameters
to surgical systems. The method comprises collecting medical system
operating parameters for at least one authorized user within at
least one medical system profile, enabling the one medical system
profile to be altered by at least one authorized user, and
propagating the one medical system profile to at least one surgical
system pursuant to predetermined propagation parameters.
[0007] Other systems, methods, features and advantages of the
invention will be or will become apparent to one with skill in the
art upon examination of the following figures and detailed
description. It is intended that all such additional systems,
methods, features and advantages be included within this
description, be within the scope of the invention, and be protected
by the accompanying claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0008] In order to better appreciate how the above-recited and
other advantages and objects of the inventions are obtained, a more
particular description of the embodiments briefly described above
will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof,
which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. It should be
noted that the components in the figures are not necessarily to
scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the
principles of the invention. Moreover, in the figures, like
reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the
different views. However, like parts do not always have like
reference numerals. Moreover, all illustrations are intended to
convey concepts, where relative sizes, shapes and other detailed
attributes may be illustrated schematically rather than literally
or precisely.
[0009] FIG. 1 shows a diagram of a phacoemulsification system known
in the art;
[0010] FIG. 2 illustrates a handpiece for a phacoemulsficiation
system known in the art;
[0011] FIG. 3 is a medical system in accordance with the teachings
provided herein;
[0012] FIG. 4 is a diagram of a medical system in accordance with
the teachings provided herein;
[0013] FIG. 5 illustrates data transmission via a video server;
and
[0014] FIG. 6 shows a wireless transmission aspect of the current
design.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0015] The following description and the drawings illustrate
specific embodiments sufficiently to enable those skilled in the
art to practice the system and method described. Other embodiments
may incorporate structural, logical, process and other changes.
Examples merely typify possible variations. Individual components
and functions are generally optional unless explicitly required,
and the sequence of operations may vary. Portions and features of
some embodiments may be included in or substituted for those of
others.
[0016] While the present design may be used in various environments
and applications, it will be discussed herein with a particular
emphasis on a medical or hospital environment, where a surgeon or
health care practitioner performs. For example, one embodiment of
the present design is a phacoemulsification surgical system that
comprises an independent graphical user interface (GUI) host
module, an instrument host module, and a GUI device.
[0017] It is to be understood that any type of system having a
large number of configuration parameter values to be set and
centrally maintained may benefit from the design presented herein,
and such a design is not limited to a phacoemulsification system or
even a medical system. The present design may be implemented in,
for example, systems including but not limited to
phacoemulsification-vitrectomy systems, corneal correction systems,
such as femtosecond and excimer laser systems, vitrectomy systems,
dental systems, heart-lung surgical devices, industrial
applications, communication network systems, access control
systems, fire control/guidance devices, and aerospace
applications.
[0018] The present design apparatus and method may employ various
interface mechanisms to alter the database contents of the surgical
instrument, such as via a GUI device, or other subsystem; it will
be discussed herein with a particular emphasis on saving,
recalling, and altering parameter values stored in the instruments
database via a graphical user interface. The user interface device
may include but is not limited to a touch screen monitor, mouse,
keypad, foot pedal switch, and/or a computer monitor. The present
design is intended to provide a basic user access or interface
mechanism for viewing, altering, and managing a large number of
configuration parameter values stored in a central database file
system that affect the behavior of one or more remote surgical
instruments.
[0019] The phacoemulsification system 100 typically includes a
microprocessor computer 110 operably connected to and controlling
various other elements of the system. In a number of embodiments,
the system 100 may include a variable speed pump 112, such as a
peristaltic and/or venturi pump, providing a vacuum source. The
system may also include a pulsed ultrasonic power source 114 that
provides control outputs to a pump speed controller 116 and an
ultrasonic power level controller 118. A vacuum sensor 120 provides
an input to the computer 110 representing the vacuum level on the
output side of the pump 112. Venting may be provided by a vent 122.
The system 100 may also include a phase detector 124 for providing
an input to the computer 100 that represents a phase shift between
a sine wave representation of the voltage applied to the handpiece
104 and the resultant current into the handpiece 104. The
functional representation of the system 100 also includes a system
bus 126 to enable the various elements to be operably in
communication with each other.
[0020] In operation, the control unit 102 supplies ultrasonic power
to the phacoemulsification handpiece 104. An irrigation fluid
source 128 provides irrigation fluid to the handpiece 104. The
irrigation fluid and an ultrasonic pulse are applied by the
handpiece 104 to a patient's eye E, which are indicated by arrows F
and P, respectively. Aspiration of the eye E is achieved by means
of the pump 112, which is indicated by arrow A. The handpiece 104
may include a switch 130 for enabling a surgeon to select an
amplitude of electrical pulses to the handpiece 104 via the
computer 110, the power level controller 118, and the ultrasonic
power source 114. The operation of the system 100 in general may be
in accordance with the disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 6,629,948, which
is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
[0021] As shown above, there are many parameters of the system 100
that can be set by the surgeon associated with the various
functions described above, e.g., type of ultrasonic power level
(such as continuous, pulsed, t-phaco, or combinations thereof), max
rate of aspiration, max rate of irrigation, and other parameters
and modes of operation, such as those disclosed in U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 11/401,529 entitled "Application of a system
parameter as a method and mechanism for controlling eye chamber
stability," which is hereby incorporated by reference in its
entirety. These parameters can be controllable by various
interfaces, such as computer user interfaces and/or foot
pedals/switches. An example computer user interface for system 100
is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/030,443
entitled "Phacoemulsification System Utilizing Graphical User
Interfaces for Adjusting Pulse Parameters," and an example foot
pedal/switch control is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,983,901
entitled "Digital Electronic Foot Control for Medical Apparatus and
the Like" and U.S. Pat. No. 5,268,624 entitled "Footpedal Control
with User Selectable Operational Ranges." All three of these
references are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety
into the present application.
[0022] FIG. 2 illustrates the general components of handpiece 104
and its interaction with eye E. Handpiece 104 includes vibrating
unit 108 and switch 130, which typically enables the surgeon to
switch between vibrating states, such as going from a "chop" state
to a "sculpt" state, wherein the ultrasonic energy from the
handpiece 104 varies. Needle 106 vibrates and contacts eye E
pursuant to vibrations received from vibrating unit 108.
[0023] The present design enables the surgeon to enter his or her
desired settings for the medical device, a phacoemulsification
system in this embodiment. A series of settings can be employed by
a surgeon, such as a max pulse amplitude, pulse shape, footpedal
settings, max aspiration rate, max irrigation rate, and other
settings desired by the surgeon, such as those described above. In
the past, the surgeon might have to manually enter the setting or
have the settings input for her before commencing surgery, a time
consuming and costly procedure. The present design maintains a
surgeon's desired settings at a central location and allows those
settings to be distributed or used on multiple phaco or medical
machines. In this manner, a change by the surgeon can pass to the
central location and propagate through the system or network and be
available on other similar machines. Furthermore, these settings
can be easily shared by other surgeons at remote locations.
[0024] FIG. 3 illustrates a central server system 1000 for managing
and distributing surgeon user settings for a surgical system 1300,
such as a phacoemulsification system 100 or a corneal correction
system such as an excimer and/or femtosecond laser (not shown). The
surgical system 1300 includes a set of parameters for
configuration, e.g., in the case of a phacoemulsification system
100, such as those described above. These parameters can be stored
as a surgeon's customizeable profile in a data file. The data files
for the various surgeons can be stored in a central surgeon account
database or directory 1160 within the central server system 1000. A
typical profile may include settable parameters and that
individual's desired settings, if provided, or a set or at least
one default setting. For example, if a surgeon does not wish to
employ a specific aspiration setting but has specific power setting
requirements, a default aspiration parameter or set of parameters
may be provided in her profile. The profile may be in any desired
form, including but not limited to a database file, text file, or
other electronic file or electronic information repository known in
the art. In this description, the information pertinent to the
medical device in question and associated with the surgeon or
individual will be called a profile, but it is to be specifically
understood that the term profile refers to any general collection
of information pertinent to execution of the functionality
described herein and generally associated with an individual.
[0025] The central server 1000 may support various modules or
functions which may link various computing devices or electronic
devices, including but not limited to email 1190, chat 1150, video
cast 1130, message boards 1110, and surgeon web pages or blogs
1195. Multiple components or servers or devices or software may be
employed to effectuate the functionality provided in central server
system 1000.
[0026] Surgeon account or profile manager 1170 may interact with
web server 1180 and central surgeon account database or directory
1160 to manage multiple surgeon profiles. In general, three
pertinent functions may be performed by Surgeon account or profile
manager 1170 and central surgeon account database or directory
1160: receiving or initially obtaining a profile, altering a
profile, and propagating a profile. Regarding initially obtaining a
profile, if surgeon X's profile has not been provided, it may be
received at web server 1180, either from a surgeon's PC 1200 or
from a surgical system 1300 via broadcast server 1140. The profile
for surgeon X may be received and surgeon account or profile
manager 1170 may provide surgeon X's profile to central surgeon
account database or directory 1160 for the express purpose of
maintaining the profile. Altering or updating a profile may be
accomplished by the surgeon or other person acting through the
surgeon's PC 1200 or surgical system 1300 to update a particular
entry in the file or even the entire profile. Note that while the
PCs here are labeled surgeon PCs 1200, they may in fact be any
authorized data entry device, including a wireless device, wired
device, PC, phone, PDA, or any other device enabling a user to
receive and edit his or her profile once authorized. If the surgeon
wishes to change his profile, he may request his profile, which may
be available locally or may be obtained via web server or server
1180 and surgeon account or profile manager or medical profile
manager 1170 from surgeon account database or directory 1160, also
known as a medical profile directory. The surgeon may then alter
his profile at his client device or PC, for example changing his
desired pulse amplitude settings, and save his profile. Changes to
the profile may be provided to web server 1180 and subsequently to
surgeon account or profile manager 1170 which updates the profile
in surgeon account database or directory 1160. The surgeon can make
changes to his profile at a client device or at a surgical system
1300. The result is an updated profile for the particular surgeon
or user maintained in surgeon account database or directory
1160.
[0027] The surgeon may also elect to share or publish his/her
profile to other surgeons to enable discussion, collaboration, and
optimization of profiles. With this collaboration, a surgeon can
adopt a profile from another surgeon, such as a key opinion leader,
and simply update his/her surgical system 1300 accordingly.
[0028] A new or updated profile can be distributed to all systems
in the field. Two general ways of updating profiles may be
employed--either when updates are made, propagating throughout the
system, or periodic propagation such as sending the profiles out at
low usage times for the network. A combination of these may be
provided. The propagation of updates when received can provide
ready access to updated information, but monitoring profile changes
and propagating at irregular times can be costly in terms of
processing and network traffic. Periodic updating can control
processing and network traffic costs, but can result in old
profiles being maintained on surgical systems 1300.
[0029] Propagation through the system may be initiated from the
central server system or from outside the central server system
1000, such as by an administrator or administrator device issuing a
"propogate" type of command to the central server system 1000. Such
a command may be generated by surgeon account or profile manager
1170 or within surgeon account database or directory 1160 itself.
Once a propagate type command is issued, or the time for
propagation passes via a counter counting down or similar method,
the surgeon account or profile manager 1170 may retrieve any or all
of the profiles in surgeon account database or directory 1160 and
direct them to web server 1180 for propagation to desired devices,
including but not limited to surgical systems 1300. If desired, a
certain propagation map can be generated, such as propagate all
profiles to all devices, including surgeon PCs 1300, once per week,
and to surgical systems once per day, and for surgeons residing or
practicing in country X or state X or hospital system X, propagate
profiles to surgical systems in country X or state X or hospital
system X every two hours. Other predetermined arrangements for
propagating can be provided. During propagation, web server 1180
may receive profiles and provide the profiles to broadcast server
1140, which broadcasts the profiles to surgical system 1300.
[0030] Propagation may occur for all profiles, certain selected or
predetermined profiles, profiles that have been updated since the
last propagation, or in some other desired manner. Propagation may
take place wirelessly or over a wired transmission system or
combination of both. Broadcast server 1130 may transmit information
and receive information over the air or wirelessly.
[0031] An alternative updating method is for the user to log onto a
surgical system 1300 and to either request a profile update or have
the surgical system 1300 automatically request an updated profile
from central server system 1000. In this arrangement, surgical
system 1300 may maintain a set of profiles locally or may not
maintain any profiles locally. If no profiles are maintained
locally, the surgical system must obtain profiles from central
server system 1000 whenever appropriate, such as when a surgeon
logs into or uses the system. Alternately, for example, in a
situation where four surgeons are expected to use one specific
surgical system 1300 at a particular site, the surgical system 1300
may obtain the current profiles for those four surgeons from
central server system 1000 via web server 1180, surgeon account or
profile manager 1170, and surgeon account database or directory
1160. The surgical system may obtain one or more profiles in this
manner at any appropriate time, may obtain each user's profile at a
given time, or a combination of both. In this manner, specific
profiles may be obtained when desired.
[0032] Regarding specific component functionality, the components
illustrated in FIG. 3 may be combined or may be split among various
devices while still performing the functionality desired. For
example, the surgeon account or profile manager 1170 may be
combined with the surgeon account database or directory 1160 on a
single device, such as an ASIC or semiconductor having memory, and
web server 1180 may comprise more than one device, which generally
includes computing hardware, such as those from IBM, Hewlett
Packard, or Dell, and access management, network and database
software known in the art, such as those from Microsoft, Oracle,
Siebel, SAP, and others. In general, the surgeon account or profile
manager 1170 is a device or software that exhibits the
functionality of maintaining profiles, typically indexed such that
they can be updated and efficiently passed to other devices in the
system when desired, such as a software database residing in
memory. Surgeon account database or directory 1160 is a device or
software that exhibits the functionality of seeking profiles from
surgeon account or profile manager 1170 when requested, receiving
requests or commands from web server 1180 and/or broadcast server
1140 and providing information and/or profiles to those devices or
elements, and performing other functions, including but not limited
to reporting that particular profiles are unavailable if an errant
request is received, assigning tags or indexes to profiles, and so
forth.
[0033] Web server 1180 is typically a device that receives data
from and transmits data to client devices, such as the surgeon's
PCs 1200 shown in FIG. 3. Other client devices or intermediate
devices, such as wireless devices or routers or nodes may be
employed. Further, while not specifically shown in FIG. 3, web
server 1180 may transmit information to surgical systems 1300 if
desired. In essence, web server 1180 controls all information
transmitted from and received by central server system 1100,
including propagation requests, profile requests, and so forth, and
directs the information to and from the appropriate component or
components. One skilled in the art would be able to employ a
typical web server device and configure the device to perform the
functionality described herein. Web server 1180 may interface with
or be formed with broadcast server 1140, which again is either
hardware or software having the functionality of interfacing with
the surgical systems 1300 deployed in the field. Broadcast server
may therefore receive information from or transmit information to
web server 1180 and/or surgeon account or profile manager 1170 for
the purpose of receiving profiles or profile updates or providing
profiles or profile updates to surgical systems 1300.
[0034] Many operating rooms do not have computer networking
capability. In other words, the rooms do not have physical network
connections to enable surgical systems to be networked with other
computing devices outside of the room; however, adding such
networking equipment may be undesirable, because it could require
cables and other hardware that could impede the mobility of the
surgical systems (which are often on wheels to give the surgeon the
flexibility to move systems around for optimum spacing). One
approach is to use a wireless network, i.e., a network that allows
these computing systems to communicate with each other and remote
systems wirelessly, e.g., a wireless LAN or personal area network
(PAN). An implementation of a wireless network is to include a
wireless network component in each system (e.g., a wireless network
card, network adapter, or PAN compatible device, such as a
Bluetooth, IrDA, UWB, or the like compatible device) configured to
communicate with a local or nearby wireless router, e.g., an 802.11
router known in the art, such as those from Linksys or D-Link,
which is communicatively coupled to remote system, e.g., through
the Internet. Another implementation involves having a wireless
network component in each system configured to communicate with a
global wireless network, such as a cellular network, e.g., Verizon,
or a Datacast network, e.g., from Ambient Devices.
[0035] In addition to surgical profiles, the central server system
1100 can also be utilized to propagate diagnostics data for a
particular patient to a particular surgical system 1300. Turning to
FIG. 4, one or more diagnostics systems 1350 can be operatively in
communication with the central server system 1100. The diagnostics
systems 1350 can obtain relevant diagnostics data for a particular
patient and upload the data to the central server system 1100. The
data can be associated with a particular surgeon's profile in the
profile directory 1160, which could include a directory of patients
and their respective patient data. Such data can then be
broadcasted/downloaded to the appropriate surgical system(s) 1300.
This can be particularly useful in the case where the surgical
system 1300 is a corneal correction system, such as an excimer
laser system. The diagnostics system 1350 could be a wavefront
aberrometer known in the art, such as COAS.TM. from Wavefront
Sciences, Inc., that obtains wavefront measurements from a patient
that is used by the corneal correction system for making the proper
corneal corrections in a patient's eye.
[0036] The diagnostics system 1350 can include networking and/or
wireless networking capabilities described above to upload the
information to a central server system 1100 to be associated with
the proper surgeon and/or surgical system 1300 and ultimately
downloaded to the appropriate surgical system 1300. Patient and
surgeon data can likewise be downloaded to the appropriate
diagnostics system 1350 from the central server system 1100 which
can be used to review and confirm accuracy of data and to also
prompt for missing data.
[0037] FIG. 5 illustrates another embodiment of propagation or
transmission of data from central server system 1100 to surgical
system 1300 using a video server 1400. As implied by the devices
shown in FIG. 5, the information to and from the surgical system
1300 and central server system 1100 may be carried over various
devices or intermediate nodes, including but not limited to a video
server 1400. Typical functionality of the video server 1400 is to
provide video from the surgical system 1300 to the central server
system 1100, such as video of a phacoemulsification procedure for
archiving or analysis purposes. Video can also be provided from the
central server system 1100 to surgical system 1300 via video server
1400, such as training videos or previously recorded videos of the
patient undergoing a procedure.
[0038] FIG. 6 illustrates an alternative aspect of the design
including the surgical system 1300 interfacing with wireless
storage device 1500 for the purpose of storing information received
wirelessly and/or to be transmitted wirelessly.
[0039] In operation, the surgeon may set up her profile from any
internet enabled device via the internet, or alter her profile via
the internet using a web browser or other software configured for
this purpose. The surgeon then simply needs to identify herself to
a surgical system 1300 such as a phacoemulsification or corneal
correction machine, and the machine can obtain her desired surgical
parameters from central server system 1100. Downloading of the
profile may occur wirelessly, such as by wireless transmission from
central system server 1100 to surgical system 1300. All surgeon
parameters are stored in the central server system 1100. Using the
email, chat, web pages, and other communicative functionality of
central server system. 1100, a surgeon can publish or broadcast his
profile to other surgeons or users when desired by sending a
request to the central server system 1100 and surgeon account
database or directory 1160 via surgeon account or profile manager
1170 to do so. With appropriate authorization, other surgeons or
users could download a profile or multiple profiles to client
devices and/or surgical systems 1300. The surgeon can also identify
patients to be operated on and thus have the surgeon's surgical
system 1300 download and receive patient data and diagnostics
information from a diagnostics system 1350 if available.
[0040] One alternate embodiment of the current design is the use of
an authentication system, such as a badge reader and badge or
keycard style system. Whenever an authorized user or surgeon having
a key card or badge presents that key card or badge to an
appropriate reader associated with a surgical system 1300, the
surgeon may be afforded the opportunity to download his profile or
parameters or appropriate patient data to the surgical system 1300,
or such downloading may occur automatically when the individual
presents the appropriate credentials. A password or other
credential authentication scheme may be employed at the surgical
system 1300 or at another appropriate location in the system.
[0041] A further aspect of the present system is the ability to
provide usage statistics, maintenance parameters, and other
pertinent information from a surgical system 1300 to central server
system 1100. The surgical system 1300, such as a
phacoemulsification machine, can wirelessly transmit data back to
central server systems 1100 regarding the number of times or number
amount of time the surgical system 1300 has been used, the number
of disposable units used, such as phacoemulsification packs,
whether enough usage has occurred to require maintenance, and
whether any detected problems exist. A system that provides usage
statistics and maintenance parameters is described in U.S. Pat. No.
6,036,458, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its
entirety.
[0042] In the foregoing specification, the invention has been
described with reference to specific embodiments thereof. It will,
however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be
made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of
the invention. For example, the reader is to understand that the
specific ordering and combination of process actions described
herein is merely illustrative, and the invention may appropriately
be performed using different or additional process actions, or a
different combination or ordering of process actions. For example,
this invention is particularly suited for applications involving
medical systems, but can be used beyond medical systems in general.
As a further example, each feature of one embodiment can be mixed
and matched with other features shown in other embodiments.
Additionally and obviously, features may be added or subtracted as
desired. Accordingly, the invention is not to be restricted except
in light of the attached claims and their equivalents.
* * * * *