Patent Application
20090202123
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for controlling medical apparatuses and a device therefor. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and device therefor that makes the use of wired or wireless network architecture to remotely control a server for picking images generated by at least one medical imaging apparatus.
2. Background of the Invention
As computer technology continuously improves, the cooperation of computer technologies and medical instruments permit more advanced medical techniques to be practiced in the medical field. For instance, 3D computer imaging techniques can be exploited in supersonic medical apparatuses to show internal images of the human body or the face and shape of a fetus. Other medical analog imaging apparatuses such as a CAT scanner and an endoscope can digitize their produced image by using computer techniques and then store or further manipulate them. Through combination of images, the cause of sickness within the human body can be found much more rapidly and hence, greatly uplifting the success rate of surgical operations.
Medical analog imaging apparatuses such as an angiograph, an ultrasound, an endoscope, an intraoral camera or a CAT scanner are used to take internal images of the human body and generate medical analog image signals. Analog image data generated by these different kinds of medical analog imaging apparatuses are enormous and do not have the same analog image data properties. Further the image data of medical analog imaging apparatuses produced by different manufacturers are incompatible and therefore, it is difficult to widely apply or share the resources.
Therefore, the medical world has formulated a Digital Imaging Communications in Medicine (DICOM) specifications. All manufacturers can manufacture medical apparatuses according to the DICOM specifications to achieve widespread application and resources sharing of generated image data. Different apparatuses can therefore communicate or control mutually through the DICOM specifications. Hence, a computerized medical environment without national boundaries and obstacles can be constructed In the prior art, even though new-type medical apparatuses conform to the DICOM specifications, they are limited to have merely the same data format, and have no control system for integrated applications. In present, most hospitals are still using many old-types of medical analog imaging apparatuses, which do not comply with the DICOM specifications.
The primary object of the present invention is to provide a method for remotely controlling a medical apparatus. The medical apparatus is used to take internal images of human body and have control command sets complying with the DICOM specifications hence, the generated digital image data will comply with the DICOM specifications. In the method, firstly, a server is built and connected to the medical apparatus and then a remote device is constructed to join with the server. Next, the remote device executes a remote control program to generate at least one DICOM control command, which is sent to the medical apparatus via the server. The server then executes a communication program to perform control communications with the medical apparatus. The medical apparatus is commanded to take analog images within human body for generating digital image data and store them in the server or sent them to the remote device. Thus, this integrated medical apparatus is complied with the DICOM specifications and can be remotely controlled.
The second object of the present invention is to provide a method for remotely controlling a medical apparatus, which is used to take internal images of human body for generating medical analog image signals. In this method, a digital conversion device is firstly built and connected to the medical apparatus. The digital conversion device is used to convert the medical analog image signals into digital image data to comply with the DICOM specifications. Secondly, a server is constructed and connected to the digital conversion device. Next, a remote device is placed and connected to the server. That is, the remote device is connected to the digital conversion device via the server. The remote device then executes a remote control program to generate at least one DICOM control command that is sent to the server. The server then executes a communication program to perform control communications with the digital conversion device so as to control the digital conversion device to capture or store the digital image data into the server or send the digital image data to the remote device. Thereby, conventional medical analog imaging apparatuses that do not comply with the DICOM specifications can thus be integrated and remotely controlled through the digital conversion device.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a device for remotely controlling a medical apparatus. The device comprises at least one medical apparatus, a digital conversion device, a server, an image storage database and at least a remote device. The medical apparatus comprises at least one old-type medical apparatuses and at least one new-type medical apparatuses. The old-type medical apparatus is used to take inside image of human body for generating medical analog image signals. The digital conversion device is connected to the old-type medical apparatus and used to convert the medical analog image signals into a set of digital image data that comply with the DICOM specifications. The server is connected to the new-type medical apparatus or the digital conversion device and is capable of executing at least one communication program to perform control communication functions with the new-type medical apparatus or the digital conversion device.
The image storage database is connected to the server and used to store the digital image data. The remote device is connected to the server and is capable of generating at least one DICOM control command that is sent to the medical apparatus via the server. Thereby, all medical apparatuses can be integrated to form a computerized medical environment without national boundaries and obstacles.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide with the above-mentioned device to remotely control medical apparatus, in which the digital conversion device, the server and the remote device are all equipped with network interface units, hence, that they can be interconnected using a network. The network interface units can utilize a wired or wireless network to achieve network connection, hence allowing remote control and data transmission.
The various objects and advantages of the present invention will be more readily understood from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the appended drawing, in which:
As shown in
In order to integrate medical analog image signals generated by the old-type medical apparatus 11, in the present invention, a digital conversion device 20 is connected to the old-type medical apparatus 11. The main function of the digital conversion device 20 is to convert the medical analog image signals into digital image data complying with the DICOM specifications. As shown in
The image capturing unit 21 can be an ac/dc converter and connected to the old-type medical apparatus 11. The image capturing unit 21 is used to capture the medical analog image signals and convert the medical analog image signals into digital image data complying with the DICOM specifications. Generally, an image signal line 13 is provided to the old-type medical apparatus 11 and connected to a display screen 14 for displaying the captured analog image. In the present invention, the image capturing unit 21 is connected to the image signal line 13 to capture the analog image signal. The image capturing unit 21 utilizes a computer image-capturing card to extract the analog image signal and convert these into digital image files of AVI or MPEG format. However, it is still necessary to modify the encoded format of the image-capturing card and convert the analog image files into digital image data that comply with the DICOM specifications.
The storage unit 22 can be a hard disk drive, which is connected to the image capturing unit 21 for storing the generated digital image data. The display unit 23 can be a screen display, and is used to display the digital image data captured by the image capturing unit 21 or the digital image data stored in the storage unit 22. The medium duplicating unit 24 can be a CD-RW recorder, and is used to duplicate the digital image data stored in the storage unit 22 into a medium format such as VCD for long-term preservation or education purposes. The operation interface unit 25 includes devices such as keyboard, mouse or touch pad, and is used to control actions such as storage, deletion, search, medium duplication or transmission of the digital image data in the storage unit 22.
The network interface unit 26 is connected to the image capturing unit 21, and is joined to a network 2 for sending the digital image data to other computers or apparatuses conforming to the DICOM specifications. The network 2, which connects to the network interface unit 26, can be a wired or a wireless network. Therefore, the network interface unit 26 can be a wired network interface such as a TCP/IP network card for wired network transmission or a wireless network interface such as an 802.11 wireless network card for wireless network transmission.
Through the function of the digital conversion device 20, the old-type medical apparatus 11, like the new-type medical apparatus 10, is able to generate digital image data that comply with the DICOM specifications. The only discrepancy between them is that the new-type medical apparatus 10 has control command sets comply with the DICOM specifications, and can be directly controlled by DICOM control commands to act. The old-type medical apparatus 11 cannot directly accept the DICOM control command sets. It is necessary to generate digital image data through the image capturing unit 21 and store the digital image data in the storage unit 22 of the digital conversion device 20, and then controlled by the DICOM control command sets.
Reference is again made to
As shown in
The remote device 40 can remotely control the new-type medical apparatuses 10 or the old-type medical apparatuses 11 through the digital conversion device 20 via the server 30. The remote device 40 can be a desktop computer, a notebook computer or a personal digital assistant (PDA). The remote device 40 generates at least a DICOM control command sent to the server 30. Through the communication program of the server 30 with the new-type medical apparatuses 10 or the old-type medical apparatuses 11 through the digital conversion device 20, the new-type medical apparatuses 10 or the old-type medical apparatuses 11 through the digital conversion device 20 is controlled to perform generation, capturing, storage and transmission of the digital image data.
As shown in
Because the image data format and communication format have been defined in the DICOM specifications, the present invention designs a complete control system, whose internal transmission and communication data formats fully comply with the DICOM specifications.
Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the details thereof. Various substitutions and modifications have been suggested in the foregoing description, and other will occur to those of ordinary skill in the art. Therefore, all such substitutions and modifications are intended to be embraced within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.
This patent application is being filed as a Continuation-in-Part of patent application Ser. No. 10/676,103, filed 2 Oct. 2003, currently pending.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 10676103 | Oct 2003 | US |
| Child | 12403673 | US |
