Point-of-care testing system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10078730-B2
Application number	US-201615140542-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 28, 2016
Priority date	May 2, 2015
Publication date	Sep 18, 2018
Grant date	Sep 18, 2018

Abstract

A point of care (POC) testing system and a method for configuration of a POC testing system are disclosed that provide a workflow solution for the configuration management of POC analyzers. The POC system and method provide for convenient assisted workflows that enable efficient replacement of POC analyzers and enable traceable relocation of POC analyzers within, for example, a hospital.

First claim

We claim:

1. A point of care (POC) testing system, the POC system comprising:
one or more POC analyzer(s) for analyzing one or more patient sample(s), the one or more POC analyzer(s) each having an analyzer identifier for identifying the one or more POC analyzer(s);
a portable computing device configured to identify the one or more POC analyzer(s) based on the corresponding analyzer identifier, the portable computing device having a user interface configured to receive a configuration command, wherein the portable computing device generates a configuration request according to the configuration command, the configuration request comprising the analyzer identifier(s) of the identified POC analyzer(s);
a server for storing system parameter(s) corresponding to the one or more POC analyzer(s), wherein the portable computing device is configured to transmit the configuration request to the server, wherein the server is configured to receive the configuration request, update at least one system parameter corresponding to at least one identified POC analyzer(s), and transmit an analyzer update command comprising at least one analyzer parameter update to at least one identified POC analyzer(s); and
a communication network configured to communicatively connect the one or more POC analyzer(s) and the portable computing device with the server, wherein the one or more POC analyzer(s) are configured to receive the analyzer update command and to update at least one analyzer parameter according to the corresponding analyzer parameter update, wherein the one or more POC analyzer(s) comprise at least a first POC analyzer and a second POC analyzer, wherein the portable computing device is configured to identify the first POC analyzer and the second POC analyzer on the basis of the corresponding analyzer identifiers, wherein the configuration command received by the portable computing device comprises a replacement command corresponding to a replacement of the first POC analyzer with the second POC analyzer, wherein the configuration request transmitted by the portable computing device to the server comprises the replacement command and the analyzer identifiers corresponding to the first POC analyzer and the second POC analyzer, wherein the server is configured to retrieve one or more system parameter(s) corresponding to the first POC analyzer, wherein the server is configured to update system parameter(s) corresponding to the second POC analyzer using the retrieved system parameter(s), wherein the server is configured to retrieve one or more analyzer parameter(s) corresponding to the first POC analyzer, and wherein the server is configured to transmit to the second POC analyzer the retrieved analyzer parameter(s).

2. The POC testing system according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more POC analyzer(s) are configured to request an analyzer update on occurrence(s) of certain event(s) and/or at regular intervals.

3. The POC testing system according to claim 1 , wherein the configuration command received by the portable computing device comprises a relocation command corresponding to a relocation of the identified POC analyzer(s).

4. The POC testing system according to claim 3 , wherein the configuration request transmitted by the portable computing device to the server comprises the relocation command.

5. The POC testing system according to claim 3 , wherein the server is configured to update one or more system parameter(s) in accordance with the relocation of the identified POC analyzer(s).

6. The POC testing system according to claim 3 , wherein the server is further configured to retrieve at least one analyzer parameter update in accordance with the relocation of the identified POC analyzer(s).

7. The POC testing system according to claim 1 , wherein the server is configured to transmit the at least one retrieved analyzer parameter update to the identified POC analyzer(s).

8. The POC testing system according to claim 1 , wherein the server is configured to retrieve analytical data from the one or more POC analyzer(s) and update program data of the one or more POC analyzer(s).

9. The POC testing system according to claim 8 , wherein the analytical data is data representing the measurement of patient health parameter(s).

10. The POC testing system according to claim 8 , wherein program data is a software update.

11. A method for configuration of a point of care (POC) testing system, the method comprising:
providing one or more POC analyzer(s) for analyzing one or more patient sample(s), the one or more POC analyzer(s), each having an analyzer identifier for identifying the POC analyzer(s);
providing a portable computing device;
providing a server for storing system parameter(s) corresponding to the one or more POC analyzer(s);
communicatively connecting the one or more POC analyzer(s) and the portable computing device with the server by a communication network;
identifying at least one of the one or more POC analyzer(s) based on the corresponding analyzer identifier(s) by the portable computing device;
receiving a configuration command via a user interface of the portable computing device;
generating a configuration request according to the configuration command by the portable computing device, the configuration request comprising the analyzer identifier(s) of the identified POC analyzer(s);
transmitting the configuration request to the server by the portable computing device;
receiving the configuration request by the server;
updating at least one system parameter corresponding to the identified POC analyzer(s) by the server;
transmitting an analyzer update command to the identified POC analyzer(s) by the server, the analyzer update command comprising at least one analyzer parameter update;
receiving the respective analyzer update command by the identified POC analyzer(s);
updating of at least one analyzer parameter according to the corresponding analyzer parameter update by the identified POC analyzer(s);
identifying a first POC analyzer and a second POC analyzer by the portable computing device based on the corresponding analyzer identifiers;
receiving a replacement command corresponding to a replacement of the first POC analyzer with the second POC analyzer;
transmitting the replacement command to the server within the configuration request by the portable computing device, the configuration request comprising the analyzer identifiers corresponding to the first POC analyzer and the second POC analyzer;
retrieving one or more system parameter(s) corresponding to the first POC analyzer by the server;
updating system parameter(s) corresponding to the second POC analyzer by the server using the retrieved system parameter(s);
retrieving one or more analyzer parameter(s) corresponding to the first POC analyzer by the server; and
transmitting the retrieved analyzer parameter(s) to the second POC analyzer by the server.

12. The method for configuration of a POC testing system according to claim 11 , wherein the server transmitting an analyzer update command comprises at least one analyzer parameter update to the identified POC analyzer(s).

13. The method for configuration of a POC testing system according to claim 12 , wherein the identified POC analyzer(s) receives the analyzer update command.

14. The method for configuration of a POC testing system according to claim 13 , wherein the identified POC analyzer(s) updating of at least one analyzer parameter according to the corresponding analyzer parameter update is initiated by one or more POC analyzer(s) requesting an analyzer update on occurrence(s) of certain event(s) and/or at regular int

Assignees

• Roche Diagnostics Operations Inc

Inventors

• Delgrande Diego
• Hall Gillian
• Montejo Alejandro Morcillo
• Shufelt Stephanie

Classifications

• G16H40/63

  for local operation · CPC title

• G16H40/67

  for remote operation · CPC title

• H04L41/08

  Configuration management of networks or network elements (address allocation H04L61/50) · CPC title

• G16H10/40

  for data related to laboratory analysis, e.g. patient specimen analysis · CPC title

• H04L67/12

  specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks · CPC title