Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Integrating A GUI Into An Existing Medical Device

Posted by Hemos on from the build-it-from-the-bottom-up dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "As I'm not quite familiar with medical devices, I was fascinated by this long article from Medical Electronics Manufacturing. It tells us that "new technology makes graphical user interfaces (GUIs) a fast and cost-effective way to add features and improve on existing designs" of these medical devices. And it really looks simple to use. You just need a standard PC and an HTML authoring tool to develop your GUI. It is then compiled in micro-HTML and embedded in silicon, leading to a graphical OS chip which doesn't need to be powerful or have tons of memory. "The GUI shipped with the Amulet Technologies starter kit, for example, contains almost half a megabit of information in HTML. When all of the gifs, widgets, and other files are imported and compiled into micro-HTML, the file size is reduced to a mere 66 Kb of memory." This overview contains more details and a photograph of such a GUI at work."

2 of 129 comments (clear)

  1. I worry... by littlerubberfeet · · Score: 3, Interesting

    How robust is this? I hope they are using QNX or VxWorks. I do think that a GUI could eliminate some errors and make training easier.

    an application:Centrifuge. One company evaluating a GUI has a significant stake in the centrifuge market. Its design teams' core competencies are motors and speed control.

    As the centrifuge spins too fast and destroys the samples. Maybe destrying DNA evidence and getting a death row inmate killed.

    Newly available technology enables medical device manufacturers to avoid additional costs and design complexity without sacrificing time to market

    Are they more worried about medical safety or time-to market?

    --
    Sig (appended to the end of comments you post, 120 chars)
  2. Think of the Children! by tsanth · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I could see how something like this could be useful, particularly when building devices which will be used primarily by children: acute asthma sufferers, for example, are told to take daily spirometer readings. The problem with this is that many children will either forget or refuse to take the readings.

    Much of the time, children will visit their asthma doctor having "forgotten" to take their daily readings. To make up for it, they take a dozen or so readings right before the appointment: the data is flawed and as a result, treatment suffers. With cutesy GUIs like this integrated into the spirometer, children can look at their daily readings as more of a game than a chore.