Medical diagnostic system with event drivers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11523747-B2
Application number	US-202016733235-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 2, 2020
Priority date	Jan 3, 2019
Publication date	Dec 13, 2022
Grant date	Dec 13, 2022

Abstract

A method for operating a medical diagnostic system that is configured to use a system component of the diagnostic system to generate examination data of a person under examination during an examination procedure is provided. The examination procedure with control of the system component is controlled by a piece of control software, and a component driver exchanges control commands of the control software with the system component in order to control the system component. The method includes providing an event driver that communicates with the control software via an interface of the control software. Via the event driver, a first event is detected in the examination procedure and reported to the event driver. When the first event is detected in the examination procedure, the use of the system component in the examination procedure is modified to a first type defined by the event driver.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for operating a medical diagnostic system that is configured to use a system component of the medical diagnostic system to generate examination data of a person under examination during an examination procedure, wherein the examination procedure with control of the system component is controlled by a piece of control software, and a component driver exchanges control commands of the control software with the system component, such that the system component is controlled, the method comprising:
providing an event driver that communicates with the control software via an interface of the control software, the event driver and the interface being software;
detecting, via the event driver, a first event in the examination procedure and reporting the detected first event to the event driver; and
modifying the use of the system component in the examination procedure to a first type defined by the event driver when the first event is detected in the examination procedure.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein it is only due to the event driver that the control software is operable to detect the first event, report an occurrence of the first event to the event driver via the interface, and modify the use of the system component in the examination procedure to the first type.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting, by the event driver, a second event in the examination procedure; and
modifying the use of the system component in the examination procedure to a second type defined by the event driver when the second event is detected.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein changing the operating mode to the second operating mode comprises:
setting the system component to an idle status, in which a power supply of the system component is at least reduced; or
setting the system component from the idle status, in which the power supply of the system component is at least reduced, to an active operating status, in which the system component is usable to generate the examination data.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein modifying the use of the system component in the examination procedure to the first type comprises changing an operating status of the system component from a first operating mode to a second operating mode, the second operating mode being different than the first operating mode.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein modifying the use of the system component to the second type comprises setting the system component from the idle status, in which a power supply of the system component is at least reduced, to an active operating status, in which the system component is usable to generate the examination data.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein recording the examination data is only possible when the system component has been set to the active operating status.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting the first event comprises:
detecting that a couch for supporting the person under examination is positioned relative to the medical diagnostic system such that the person under examination is positionable on the couch, but the examination data is not recordable;
detecting that a recording of the examination data is started or terminated; or
detecting that the couch for supporting the person under examination is positioned relative to the diagnostic system such that the examination data is recordable.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the event driver has data with which the first event is identifiable in the examination procedure and with which it is determinable how the examination procedure is modified on detection of the first event.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting the first event comprises:
detecting a defined status in the procedure of the examination procedure; or
detecting a particular status at the system component.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the medical diagnostic system is an imaging system.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the imaging system is a magnetic resonance (MR) facility, and the system component is a couch for positioning the person under examination, a gradient system for generating magnetic field gradients, or a receive coil for receiving MR signals.

13. A medical diagnostic system comprising:
a system component configured to generate examination data of a person under examination during an examination procedure;
a memory;
at least one processor,
wherein the memory is configured to store a piece of control software, via which the examination procedure is controlled when the control software is executed by the at least one processor, while using the system component,
wherein a component driver is configured to exchange control commands of the control software with the system component, such that the system component is controlled,
wherein the memory is further configured to store an event driver that communicates with the control software via an interface of the control software, the event driver and the interface being software, and
wherein the medical diagnostic system is configured, when using the event driver, to:
detect, via the event driver, a first event in the examination procedure; and
change use of the system component in the examination procedure to a first type defined by the event driver when the first event is detected in the examination procedure.

14. The medical diagnostic system of claim 13 , wherein the medical diagnostic system is an imaging system.

15. The medical diagnostic system of claim 14 , wherein the imaging system is a magnetic resonance (MR) facility, and the system component is a couch for positioning the person under examination, a gradient system for generating magnetic field gradients, or a receive coil for receiving MR signals.

16. In a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions executable by one or more processors of a medical diagnostic system to operate the medical diagnostic system, such that a system component of the diagnostic system is used to generate examination data of a person under examination during an examination procedure, wherein the examination procedure with control of the system component is controlled by a piece of control software, and a component driver exchanges control commands of the control software with the system component, such that the system component is controlled, the instructions comprising:
providing an event driver that communicates with the control software via an interface of the control software, the event driver and the interface being software;
detecting, via the event driver, a first event in the examination procedure and reporting the detected first event to the event driver; and
modifying the use of the system component in the examination procedure to a first type defined by the event driver when the first event is detected in the examination procedure.

Assignees

• Siemens Healthcare Gmbh

Inventors

• Bauer Simon
• Feiweier Thorsten
• Köglmeier Christian
• Prinz Carsten
• Splitthoff Daniel Nicolas
• Zenge Michael
• Schneider Michael

Classifications

• A61B5/055 Primary

  involving electronic [EMR] or nuclear [NMR] magnetic resonance, e.g. magnetic resonance imaging · CPC title

• G01R33/307

  specially adapted for moving the sample relative to the MR system, e.g. spinning mechanisms, flow cells or means for positioning the sample inside a spectrometer · CPC title

• G01R33/543 Primary

  Control of the operation of the MR system, e.g. setting of acquisition parameters prior to or during MR data acquisition, dynamic shimming, use of one or more scout images for scan plane prescription (G01R33/546 takes precedence) · CPC title