Remote medical device access

Abstract

Systems, client computing devices, server computing devices, and methods are disclosed for accessing medical devices, providing remote access to medical devices and/or remotely accessing medical devices. In one exemplary embodiment, client computing devices utilize protocol components that may be obtained from a server computing device via a network to communicate with medical devices in a communications protocol supported by the medical device.

1 . A first computing device for accessing a medical device operably coupled to a second computing device via a network, the first computing device comprising: 
 a storage device comprising a plurality of protocol components that configure second computing device to communicate with a plurality of medical devices in accordance with a plurality of communications protocols supported by the plurality of medical devices;    a transport agent operably coupled to the storage device and the network, the transport agent being adapted to receive from the second computing device identification information associated with a particular medical device operably coupled to the second computing device, to select from the plurality of protocol components of the storage device a protocol component to configure the second computing device for communications with the particular medical device, and transfer to the second computing device via the network the protocol component selected from the plurality of protocol components.    
     
     
         2 . The first computing device of  claim 1 , wherein the transport agent is further operable to receive measurement data from the medical device via the network in response to the second computing device communicating with medical device via the protocol component.  
     
     
         3 . The first computing device of  claim 1 , wherein the transport agent is further adapted to receive measurement data from the medical device via the network in response to the second computing device communicating with medical device via the protocol component, to receive authentication information from the second computing device via the network, and to store the measurement data in the storage device such that the measurement data and any previously received measurement data may be received from the storage device based upon the authentication information.  
     
     
         4 . The first computing device of  claim 1 , wherein the transport agent is adapted to transfer the protocol component to the second computing device via the network in accordance with the Hyper-Text Transport Protocol (HTTP).  
     
     
         5 . The first computing device of  claim 1 , wherein 
 the storage device further comprises device data that correlates a plurality of medical device types with the plurality of protocol components, and    the transport agent is further adapted to select the protocol component from the plurality of protocol components based upon the identification information and the device data.    
     
     
         6 . The first computing device of  claim 1 , wherein the transport component selects the protocol component from the plurality of protocol components that defines at least one of: 
 a message format,    a packet format,    a transfer rate,    an error detection scheme,    an error correction scheme,    a command set,    a compression scheme for transferring information to and from the medical device.    
     
     
         7 . A first computing device for accessing a medical device operably coupled to a second computing device via a network, the first computing device comprising: 
 a storage device comprising a plurality of protocol components that configure the second computing device to communicate with a plurality of medical devices in accordance with communications protocols supported by the plurality of medical devices;    a memory comprising a plurality of instructions;    a network interface adapted to communicate with the second computing device via the network; and    a processor operably coupled to the storage device, the memory, and the network interface and adapted to execute the plurality of instructions to cause the processor 
 to receive from the second computing device via the network interface identification information from which a medical device type of the medical device coupled to the second computing device is determined,  
 to provide protocol component information to the second computing device via the network interface which identifies the protocol component from the plurality of protocol components for the second computing device to use to communicate with the medical device, and  
 to receive measurement data from the medical device via the network interface in response to the second computing device communicating with medical device via the protocol component identified by the protocol component information.  
   
     
     
         8 . A system for providing access to a medical device, the system comprising: 
 a first computing device;    a second computing device in communication with the first computing device, the second computing device being adapted to obtain identification information from the medical device, to transfer the identification information to the first computing device, to receive protocol component information from the first computing device that identifies a protocol component to be used by the second computing device to communicate with the medical device, to determine whether the second computing device already has the protocol component identified by the protocol component information, and obtain the protocol component identified by the protocol component information from the first computing device if the second computing device does not already have the protocol component identified by the protocol component information, and wherein    the first computing device is adapted to receive the identification information from the second computing device, to identify the protocol component of a plurality of protocol components, to transfer the protocol component information to the second computing device, and to transfer the protocol component to the second computing device if the second computing device does not already have the protocol component identified by the protocol component information.    
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein 
 the first computing device is further adapted to request the second computing device to obtain measurement data from the medical device and to transfer the measurement data obtained from the medical device to the first computing device, and    the second computing device is further adapted to obtain the measurement data from the medical device via the protocol component identified by the protocol component information and to transfer the measurement data to the first computing device in response to receiving the request from the first computing device.