US-12621179-B2 - Systems and methods for managing medical device network communication

Abstract

A method of controlling a medical device for transmitting and/or receiving a data stream through a medical network, the method comprising transmitting and/or receiving the data stream over the medical network by a network interface using a multicast address stored in a memory of the medical device. Upon powering up the medical device, the method further comprises disabling the network interface from transmitting and/or receiving the data stream using the multicast address. The method further comprises determining whether to continue to use the multicast address. In accordance with a determination to continue to use the multicast address, the method further comprises enabling the network interface such that the network interface can transmit and/or receive the data stream using the multicast address. In accordance with a determination not to continue to use the multicast address, the method further comprises clearing the multicast address from memory and enabling the network interface.

Inventors

• Neel MISTRY
• Eric Alexander HEREFORD
• Brandon B. HUNTER

Assignees

• STRYKER CORPORATION

Dates

Publication Date

20260505

Application Date

20231215

Claims (20)

1. 1 . A method of controlling a medical device for transmitting and/or receiving at least one data stream through a medical network, comprising: transmitting and/or receiving the at least one data stream over the medical network by a network interface of the medical device using at least one multicast address stored in a memory of the medical device; and upon powering up of the medical device after a power loss to the medical device: disabling the network interface from transmitting and/or receiving the at least one data stream using the at least one multicast address stored in the memory, determining whether to continue to use the at least one multicast address stored in the memory, in accordance with a determination to continue to use the at least one multicast address stored in the memory, enabling the network interface such that the network interface can transmit and/or receive the at least one data stream using the at least one multicast address stored in the memory, and in accordance with a determination not to continue to use the at least one multicast address stored in the memory, clearing the at least one multicast address from the memory and enabling the network interface.
2. 2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising upon being enabled after the at least one multicast address has been cleared, the network interface newly obtaining one or more multicast addresses.
3. 3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein disabling the network interface from transmitting and/or receiving the at least one data stream using the at least one multicast address comprises preventing the network interface from connecting to the medical network.
4. 4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein disabling the network interface from transmitting and/or receiving the at least one data stream using the at least one multicast address comprises preventing the network interface from fully booting.
5. 5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein disabling the network interface from transmitting and/or receiving the at least one data stream using the at least one multicast address comprises preventing the network interface from powering on.
6. 6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether to continue to use the at least one multicast address comprises determining whether the medical device is in a preselected category of medical devices, and wherein the determination not to continue to use the at least one multicast address comprises a determination that the medical device is in the preselected category of medical devices.
7. 7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the preselected category of medical devices comprises mobile medical devices.
8. 8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether to continue to use the at least one multicast address stored in the memory comprises determining whether the medical device has moved to a new location relative to a location of the medical device prior to the power loss, and wherein the determination not to continue to use the at least one multicast address stored in the memory comprises a determination that the medical device has moved to the new location.
9. 9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein determining whether the medical device has moved to the new location comprises receiving location data identifying a current location of the medical device and comparing the current location to the location of the medical device prior to the power loss.
10. 10 . A medical device for transmitting and/or receiving at least one data stream through a medical network, comprising: a network interface configured for transmitting and/or receiving the at least one data stream using at least one multicast address stored in first memory; and a controller comprising one or more processors and second memory storing one or more programs for execution by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including instructions for causing the controller to: disable the network interface from transmitting and/or receiving the at least one data stream using the at least one multicast address stored in the first memory, determine whether to continue to use the at least one multicast address stored in the first memory, in accordance with a determination to continue to use the at least one multicast address stored in the first memory, enable the network interface such that the network interface can transmit and/or receive the at least one data stream using the at least one multicast address stored in the first memory, and in accordance with a determination not to continue to use the at least one multicast address stored in the first memory, clear the at least one multicast address from the first memory and enable the network interface.
11. 11 . The medical device of claim 10 , wherein the medical device comprises an encoder configured to convert data from a native data format to packetized data, a decoder configured to convert packetized data to a native data format, or both.
12. 12 . The medical device of claim 10 , wherein the medical device is mobile.
13. 13 . The medical device of claim 10 , wherein the network interface is further configured for newly obtaining one or more multicast addresses upon being enabled after the at least one multicast address has been cleared.
14. 14 . The medical device of claim 10 , wherein disabling the network interface from transmitting and/or receiving the at least one data stream using the at least one multicast address comprises preventing the network interface from connecting to the medical network, preventing the network interface from fully booting, or preventing the network interface from powering on.
15. 15 . The medical device of claim 10 , wherein determining whether to continue to use the at least one multicast address comprises determining whether the medical device is in a preselected category of medical devices, and wherein the determination not to continue to use the at least one multicast address comprises a determination that the medical device is in the preselected category of medical devices.
16. 16 . The medical device of claim 15 , wherein the preselected category of medical devices comprises mobile medical devices.
17. 17 . The medical device of claim 10 , wherein determining whether to continue to use the at least one multicast address stored in the first memory comprises determining whether the medical device has moved to a new location relative to a location of the medical device prior to a power loss, and wherein the determination not to continue to use the at least one multicast address stored in the memory comprises a determination that the medical device has moved to the new location.
18. 18 . The medical device of claim 17 , wherein determining whether the medical device has moved to the new location comprises receiving location data identifying a current location of the medical device and comparing the current location to the location of the medical device prior to the power loss.
19. 19 . The medical device of claim 10 , wherein the network interface transmitting and/or receiving the at least one data stream comprises at least one of encoding the at least one data stream for transmission through the medical network and decoding the at least one data stream received through the medical network.
20. 20 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing software comprising instructions that when executed by a computing system cause the computing system to perform the method of: transmitting and/or receiving the at least one data stream over the medical network by a network interface of the medical device using at least one multicast address stored in a memory of the medical device; and upon powering up of the medical device after a power loss to the medical device: disabling the network interface from transmitting and/or receiving the at least one data stream using the at least one multicast address stored in the memory, determining whether to continue to use the at least one multicast address stored in the memory, in accordance with a determination to continue to use the at least one multicast address stored in the memory, enabling the network interface such that the network interface can transmit and/or receive the at least one data stream using the at least one multicast address stored in the memory, and in accordance with a determination not to continue to use the at least one multicast address stored in the memory, clearing the at least one multicast address from the memory and enabling the network interface.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/476,638, filed Dec. 21, 2022, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein. FIELD This disclosure generally relates to medical device communication, and more specifically, to managing multicast addresses associated with medical devices. BACKGROUND Medical rooms can include devices connected to a network that transmit data through the network and/or receive data from the network. A given device can be assigned multicast addresses on the network that define the network locations to which data from the device is routed or can subscribe to multicast addresses on the network that define the network locations from which the device receives data. Routes between devices on the network can be maintained through power loss by storing the multicast addresses in non-volatile memory on the devices. When a device is powered up after a power loss and reconnects to the network, data routing to and/or from the device is preserved by the stored multicast addresses. A common reason that a device in a medical room may lose power is that the device is unplugged so that it could be moved to a different location. Some devices in medical rooms may be mobile devices that are intended to be moved from one room to another. For example, imaging systems are often mobile so that they can be moved from one medical room to another, as needed. Different medical rooms may have different networks and the multicast addressing on one network may not be usable on another network. When a mobile device is unplugged, moved to a different medical room that has a different network, and powered up again, the mobile device may use the multicast addresses it was using in the other medical room prior to being unplugged, which may potentially lead to conflicts as the multicast addresses may be directed to different network devices or different data routes. SUMMARY According to an aspect, systems and methods include controlling how a device communicates on a network when powering up after a power loss. When the device powers up again after losing power, but before the device starts communicating on the network, the device may determine whether it should continue to use multicast addresses it was using to communicate prior to the power loss. If the device determines that it should continue to use the multicast addresses, then the device can continue to communicate on the network using the multicast addresses. If, however, the device determines that it should not continue to use the multicast addresses, the device clears its multicast addresses from memory. The device may then obtain new multicast addresses to communicate on the network. The determination of whether the device should continue to use the multicast addresses may include a determination that the device is a mobile device. If the device is a mobile device, then it may clear the multicast addresses, regardless of whether it has actually been moved to a new location. The determination of whether the device should continue to use the multicast addresses may include a determination that the device has been moved to a location that has a different network. According to an aspect, a method of controlling a medical device for transmitting and/or receiving at least one data stream through a medical network includes transmitting and/or receiving the at least one data stream over the medical network by a network interface of the medical device using at least one multicast address stored in a memory of the medical device. Upon powering up of the medical device after a power loss to the medical device, the method further includes disabling the network interface from transmitting and/or receiving the at least one data stream using the at least one multicast address stored in the memory. The method further includes determining whether to continue to use the at least one multicast address stored in the memory. In accordance with a determination to continue to use the at least one multicast address stored in the memory, the method further includes enabling the network interface such that the network interface can transmit and/or receive the at least one data stream using the at least one multicast address stored in the memory. In accordance with a determination not to continue to use the at least one multicast address stored in the memory, the method further includes clearing the at least one multicast address from the memory and enabling the network interface. Optionally, the method further includes, upon being enabled after the at least one multicast address has been cleared, the network interface newly obtaining one or more multicast addresses. Optionally, disabling the network interface from transmitting and/or receiving the at least one data stream using the at least one multicast address includes preventing the network interface from connecting to the medical netw