Comparing protocols of medical imaging devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11223523-B2
Application number	US-202016952356-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 19, 2020
Priority date	Nov 25, 2019
Publication date	Jan 11, 2022
Grant date	Jan 11, 2022

Abstract

A computer-implemented method is for comparing protocols. In an embodiment, the computer-implemented method includes first receipt of a first protocol relating to a performance of a measurement at a first medical device, including a plurality of first protocol steps; and second receipt of a second protocol relating to a performance of a measurement at a second medical device. The computer-implemented method further includes determination of a plurality of arrangements of the first protocol steps; determination of a plurality of comparison values, each of the comparison values being based on a comparison of the second protocol with one of the arrangements of the first protocol steps; determination of an agreement value based upon the plurality of comparison values; and provision of the agreement value.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method for comparing protocols, comprising:
firstly receiving a first protocol, the first protocol relating to a performance of a measurement at a first medical device and the first protocol including a plurality of first protocol steps;
secondly receiving a second protocol, the second protocol relating to a performance of a measurement at a second medical device;
firstly determining a plurality of arrangements of the plurality of first protocol steps, wherein pairs of the plurality of arrangements vary;
secondly determining a plurality of comparison values, wherein each of comparison values, of the plurality of comparison values, is based on a comparison of the second protocol with one of the plurality of arrangements of the plurality of first protocol steps;
thirdly determining an agreement value based upon the plurality of comparison values; and
provisioning the agreement value.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
replacing the first protocol on the first medical device with the second protocol, or deleting the first protocol on the first medical device, upon the agreement value exceeding a threshold value.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 ,
wherein the plurality of arrangements of the plurality of first protocol steps includes all permutations of the plurality of first protocol steps which satisfy a defined condition.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 ,
wherein the second protocol includes a plurality of second protocol steps,
and wherein the computer-implemented method further comprises:
inserting null elements into the first protocol or the second protocol, so that a number of the plurality of first protocol steps corresponds to a number of the plurality of second protocol steps.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 ,
wherein the second protocol includes a plurality of second protocol steps,
wherein each of the comparison values is based on a plurality of comparisons of one of the plurality of first protocol steps with one of the plurality of second protocol steps.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 ,
wherein the first protocol is received during the firstly receiving via a user input,
wherein the first protocol is incompatible with the second medical device, and wherein the computer-implemented method further comprises:
controlling the second medical device based upon the second protocol upon the agreement value exceeding a threshold value.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 ,
wherein the first protocol is received during the firstly receiving via a user input,
wherein the first protocol is incompatible with the second medical device, and wherein the computer-implemented method further comprises:
controlling the second medical device based upon the second protocol upon the agreement value exceeding a threshold value.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 ,
wherein the plurality of arrangements of the plurality of first protocol steps includes all permutations of the plurality of first protocol steps which satisfy a defined condition.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 ,
wherein the second protocol includes a plurality of second protocol steps,
and wherein the computer-implemented method further comprises:
inserting null elements into the first protocol or the second protocol, so that a number of the plurality of first protocol steps corresponds to a number of the plurality of second protocol steps.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 ,
wherein the second protocol includes a plurality of second protocol steps, and
wherein each of the comparison values is based on a plurality of comparisons of one of the plurality of first protocol steps with one of the plurality of second protocol steps.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 ,
wherein each of the plurality of first protocol steps, and each of the plurality of second protocol steps, includes at least one of a protocol step identifier and a plurality of parameter pairs, wherein a parameter pair, of the plurality of parameter pairs, includes a parameter identifier and an associated parameter value, and wherein the secondly determining is further based on at least one of the protocol step identifier and the plurality of parameter pairs.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11 ,
wherein the secondly determining further comprises:
fourth determining a first partial comparison value based upon the protocol step identifier of the first protocol step that is to be compared and the protocol step identifier of the second protocol step,
fifth determining a second partial comparison value based upon the plurality of parameter pairs of the first protocol step and the plurality of parameter pairs of the second protocol step that are to be compared,
first calculating a protocol step comparison value of the first protocol step that is to be compared and the second protocol step, via adding of the first and second partial comparison values, and
second calculating the comparison value based upon the comparison values of the first protocol step and the second protocol step.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 ,
wherein the plurality of first protocol steps include first scan protocol steps and first reconstruction protocol steps, and wherein each of the first scan protocol steps includes a plurality of subordinate first reconstruction protocol steps.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 ,
wherein the plurality of arrangements is determined such that a subordination structure of the first scan protocol steps and the plurality of first reconstruction protocol steps is retained.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14 , wherein during the firstly determining, only those arrangements of the plurality of first protocol steps, in which an order of the first scan protocol steps is unchanged, are determined.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 ,
wherein during the firstly determining, only arrangements of the plurality of first protocol steps in which an order of the first scan protocol steps remains unchanged, are determined.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 ,
wherein the second protocol includes a plurality of second protocol steps,
wherein the second protocol steps comprise second scan protocol steps and second reconstruction protocol steps, wherein each second scan protocol step, of the second protocol steps, includes a plurality of subordinate second reconstruction protocol steps,
wherein the firstly determining and the secondly determining are executed independently for the first scan protocol steps and the second scan protocol steps and for the first reconstruction protocol steps and the second reconstruction protocol steps.

18. A non-transitory computer program product storing a computer program, directly loadable into a memory of a comparison device, including program sections for executing the computer-implemented method of claim 1 when the program sections are executed by the comparison device.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing program sections, readable and executable by a comparison device to execute the computer-implemented method of claim 1 when the program sections are executed by the comparison device.

20. A comparison device for comparing protocols, comprising:
an interface, designed for first receipt of a first protocol relating to a perfo

Assignees

• Siemens Healthcare Gmbh

Inventors

• Blum Christian
• Falkner Andreas
• Lapp Robert

Classifications

• G16H40/60 Primary

  for the operation of medical equipment or devices · CPC title

• H04L41/0873

  Checking configuration conflicts between network elements · CPC title

• H04L41/0859

  by keeping history of different configuration generations or by rolling back to previous configuration versions · CPC title

• H04L41/0213

  Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP] · CPC title

• H04L69/18 Primary

  Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols · CPC title