Abstract:
A method for acquiring order information data from a server controlling the order information for medical imaging system, and controlling the order information, comprises the steps of; storing order information data acquired from the server, in a memory device; detecting a change of the order information data in the server; and acquiring the changed order information data from the server to store in the memory device when the change of the order information data in the server is detected.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to a order information controlling method, and in particular, to a order information acquiring method and a order information controlling method which are preferably used in a medical field.  
           [0002]    In a hospital which is relatively large in size, there are installed a hospital information system (HIS) and a radiology information system (RIS) so that information about patients may be controlled intensively. When these systems are used, order information in a hospital can be controlled.  
           [0003]    In the case of a patient who needs radiographing, for example, when order information including a name, a sex, an age and a region for radiographing of the patient is inputted from a terminal in the hospital, the order information of this kind is stored temporarily in the server and then is transmitted to the radiographing apparatus. Therefore, it is possible for a operator such as a technologist to learn which patient should be radiographed by checking a display equipped on the radiographing apparatus, and thereby to conduct radiographing effectively.  
           [0004]    Incidentally, when conducting radiographing actually, there are some occasions where an order of radiographing is changed independently of the order of order information, because a patient is not ready for radiographing or a region to be radiographed is different, or, for example, information accompanying the patient such as a caution for the patient is sometimes changed. However, if the order and contents in the order information of the server are changed in accordance with changes of the order of radiographing and information, the original data are also changed, and confusion may be caused. On the other hand, order information inputted in the server may also be erased or changed later, which needs to be reflected for radiographing.  
           [0005]    The invention has been achieved in view of the problem in the conventional technology stated above, and its first object is to provide a medical order information controlling method which can control order information without causing any confusion.  
           [0006]    Further, order information stored in the server is predicted to be in a large amount, and it also includes information having no connection with radiographing. Therefore, there is also predicted an occasion wherein only downloading and simply displaying of order information stored in the server makes it difficult to find out target information.  
           [0007]    The invention has been achieved in view also of the problem in the conventional technology stated above, and its second object is to provide a medical order information acquiring method which can specify target medical order information effectively.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0008]    Means to achieve the first and second objects stated above are as follows.  
           [0009]    (1) A medical order information controlling method of the invention is one that acquires medical order information from the server that controls medical order information and controls it, wherein medical order information is acquired from the server, and is stored in the first and second memory devices, and then at prescribed intervals, medical order information of the aforesaid server and medical order information stored in the first memory device are compared, and when both of them are different each other, medical order information is acquired from the server to be stored in the first memory device, and the medical order information stored in the second memory device are updated at prescribed timing based on the medical order information stored in the first memory device, thus, it is possible to change optionally medical order information stored in the second memory device equipped on the radiographing apparatus, for example, without changing the medical order information in the server. Even when order information is changed on the server side, it is possible to conduct processing based on the latest data, by considering medical order information stored in the second memory device.  
           [0010]    (2) It is further preferable that the first and second memory devices are equipped on a radiographing apparatus, and medical order information stored in the second memory device can be changed by operations on the radiographing apparatus side. Further, an ultrasound diagnosis apparatus will also do in place of the radiographing apparatus.  
           [0011]    (3) Further, if the first memory device stores raw data concerning the medical order information acquired from the server, medical order information stored in the server can easily be compared with medical order information stored in the first memory device, which is preferable.  
           [0012]    (4) Further, if the first memory device converts medical order information acquired from the server into data of a prescribed format to store the data after conversion, medical order information stored in the server can be compared effectively with medical order information stored in the first memory device, only by taking out data necessary for comparison.  
           [0013]    (5) Further, if the first memory device stores checksums concerning medical order information acquired from the server, and compares the medical order information by means of comparison of checksums, it is possible to compare medical order information stored in the server with medical order information stored in the first memory device more effectively. It is further possible to keep the storage capacity of the first memory device to be low.  
           [0014]    (6) With regard to the prescribed timing, if it is other than the moment when processing is conducted based on medical order information stored in the second memory device, and other than the moment when processing can be conducted, updating of medical order information does not interfere the radiographing as processing, for example, which is preferable.  
           [0015]    (7) Further, with regard to the prescribed timing, if it is immediately after processing conducted based on the medical order information stored in the second memory device, updating of medical order information does not interfere the radiographing as processing, for example, which is preferable.  
           [0016]    (8) Further, in the course of updating medical order information stored in the second memory device based on medical order information stored in the first memory device, when processing based on medical order information stored in the second memory device is prohibited, this prohibition of processing tells that the medical order information has been updated, which is preferable.  
           [0017]    (9) Further, if information concerning the prohibition of processing is displayed while the processing is prohibited, this display indicates that the medical order information has been updated, which is preferable.  
           [0018]    (10) A medical order information acquiring method of the invention is one for acquiring order information and for inputting it in a medical imaging system, and it includes at least two of the first acquiring method to access the server at the prescribed timing and to acquire the medical order information corresponding to the medical imaging system, the second acquiring method to acquire medical order information from the server based on information about a patient, and the third acquiring method to acquire medical order information by inputting directly into the medical imaging system.  
           [0019]    Herein, the order information acquired by the first acquiring method includes all the order information for the medical imaging systems and usually become a large amount of information, while the information acquired by the second or the third acquiring method is limited to the information for the patients who are going to be subjected to the medical imaging system. Therefore, in many cases, the information acquired by the second or the third method is in higher priority than the information acquired by the first method.  
           [0020]    Therefore, even when the medical order information acquired by the first acquiring method is extremely large in amount, for example, medical order information can be obtained by using the second or the third acquiring method, and target information can be specified efficiently by comparing the acquired medical order information. Incidentally, various apparatuses such as a radiographing apparatus and an ultrasound imaging apparatus are considered as the medical imaging system.  
           [0021]    (11) Further, when the medical order information stored in the server is changed, if the changed medical order information is inputted in the medical imaging system, the latest information is reflected, which is preferable.  
           [0022]    (12) Further, when the medical order information is acquired by using the first acquiring method and the second acquiring method, if the medical order information acquired by using the second acquiring method is displayed to be upper than any other medical order information on the list, target information can be specified efficiently, which is preferable.  
           [0023]    (13) Further, when the medical order information is acquired by using the first acquiring method and the second acquiring method, if the indication color of the medical order information acquired by using the second acquiring method is changed to be different from those of any other medical order information, target medical order information can be specified efficiently, which is preferable.  
           [0024]    (14) Further, when the medical order information is acquired by using the first acquiring method and the third acquiring method, if the medical order information acquired by using the third acquiring method is displayed to be upper than any other medical order information on the list, target information can be specified efficiently, which is preferable.  
           [0025]    (15) Further, when the medical order information is acquired by using the first acquiring method and the third acquiring method, if the indication color of the medical order information acquired by using the third acquiring method is changed to be different from those of any other medical order information, target medical order information can be specified efficiently, which is preferable.  
           [0026]    (16) Further, when the medical order information is acquired by using the second acquiring method or the third acquiring method, if the newer information inputted is displayed at the higher position on the list, target medical order information can be specified efficiently, which is preferable.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0027]    [0027]FIG. 1 is a schematic structure diagram of the network system that carries out a medical order information controlling method representing the present embodiment.  
         [0028]    [0028]FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an order of order information.  
         [0029]    [0029]FIG. 3 is a schematic structure diagram of the network system that carries out a medical order information controlling method representing the present embodiment.  
         [0030]    Each of FIGS.  4  ( a ),  4  ( b ) and  4  ( c ) is a diagram showing an example of display of order information.  
         [0031]    [0031]FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a schematic structure of a radiographing apparatus which can be applied to the present embodiment. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0032]    An embodiment of the invention will be explained in detail as follows. FIG. 1 is a schematic structure diagram of the network system that carries out a medical order information controlling method representing the present embodiment.  
         [0033]    In FIG. 1, server  10  installed in an office of a hospital is one constituting a part of a hospital information system (HIS) and a radiology information system (RIS), and it can input order information through key board  11   a  of terminal  11  connected.  
         [0034]    The server  10  is connected to radiographing apparatus  20  in radiographing room X through the network N. The radiographing apparatus  20  has therein memory  21  representing a first memory device, memory  22  representing a second memory device, display  23  and operation panel  24 , in addition to radiographing section  103  (FIG. 5).  
         [0035]    When radiographing, a doctor operates terminal  11  for itself, an operator operates terminal  11  based on the instruction of the doctor, or a receptionist operates terminal  11 , and thereby, order information is accumulated in server  10 . The order information in this case is one composed, for example, of a name, a sex and an age of a patient and of regions to be radiographed.  
         [0036]    For example, radiographing apparatus  20  accesses server  10  when the power is turned on, and order information which has been read from the server  10  is stored in memory  21  and also in memory  22 .  
         [0037]    [0037]FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an order of order information. Order information stored in memories  21  and  22  can be confirmed by display  23  (FIG. 1). Primarily, radiographing is conducted in the displayed order. However, it sometimes happens that a radiographer has to move up patient D for radiographing to save the waiting time because patient C who is scheduled to be radiographed before the patient D is not in a radiographing room when the radiographer tries to radiograph the patient C in the radiographing room. In this case, the radiographer can operate through operation panel  24  to change the order of patients C and D.  
         [0038]    The order of patients C and D in the order information stored in memory  22  is changed by the operation mentioned above, and order information after the change is stored. However, order information stored in memory  21  is not changed. Therefore, as far as the information stored in server  10  is not changed, both of them agree with each other. Therefore, even after the checking of the order information in the server, the display in operation panel  24  does not return to the previous radiographing order that is registered in the server. Further even in the case where an error of a patient name is corrected through operation panel  20 , the content of the correction is effective only in the radiographing apparatus  20 . If this correction is reflected to the center server, confusion in handling the order information arises, due to the fact that a person who is authorized only to the operation of radiographing apparatus is able to handle the original of the information in the hospital. Therefore, the above system in which the correction is not reflected to the server is preferable.  
         [0039]    In this case, order information in the server  10  is optionally updated when a patient who needs radiographing newly appears. Since the radiographing apparatus  20  accesses server  10  at regular intervals of a certain period of time (for example, of  10  minutes) and compares order information, it is possible to learn whether the order information of server  10  has been changed or not.  
         [0040]    The comparison like this is conducted in the following methods.  
         [0041]    (Method 1)  
         [0042]    In this method, raw data relating to reservation data are stored in memory  21  from server  10 , and raw data are compared with other raw data in the case of an access of the radiographing apparatus  20 . This method is a most sure method.  
         [0043]    (Method 2)  
         [0044]    In this method, order information is read out of server  10  to be converted into a prescribed format, and data after conversion are stored in memory  21 , thus, in the case of an access of the radiographing apparatus  20 , necessary data only (for example, a patient name and regions) are compared with other necessary data. Compared with an occasion wherein raw data are compared with other raw data, comparison can be carried out more efficiently. It is further possible to keep a storage capacity of memory  21  to be low.  
         [0045]    (Method 3)  
         [0046]    In this method, checksums concerning order information read out of server  10  are obtained, and these checksums are stored in memory  21  so that checksums are compared with other checksums when the radiographing apparatus  20  accesses. Compared with the aforesaid methods, comparison can be carried out most efficiently. It is further possible to keep a storage capacity of memory  21  to be low.  
         [0047]    When the order information in server  10  is judged by the comparison like this to have been changed, the radiographing apparatus  20  updates order information stored in memory  21  in a form of converting into order information read out of server  10 .  
         [0048]    Then, the radiographing apparatus  20  updates order information stored in memory  22 . However, if the order information is updated carelessly, there is a fear for a radiographer to be confused because the radiographer is radiographing based on order information stored in memory  22 , and there also is a fear that unintended radiographing is carried out accidentally. It is therefore possible to commit that it is preferable to update order information in memory  22  at the timing that controls confusion of a radiographer.  
         [0049]    It is preferable that the timing to control confusion of a radiographer is outside a period of time when radiographing processing is actually conducted based on the order information stored in memory  22 , and is outside the moment when radiographing processing is ready (for example, when a patient to be radiographed is set on a radiographing stand to be ready for radiographing). Furthermore, it is more preferable that the timing to control confusion of a radiographer is immediately after radiographing (for example, immediately after a radiographer presses an unillustrated radiographing button), because radiographing is less influenced even when the order information is updated.  
         [0050]    In addition, for controlling confusion of radiographing, it is considered to prohibit radiographing processing (for example, radiographing is not carried out even when a radiographing button is pressed), when updating order information, by making display  23  to indicate the message of “no radiographing is allowed because of updating of order information”. A radiographer who has observed this message can learn that order information is being updated, and can wait until the order information is rewritten to the new one.  
         [0051]    [0051]FIG. 3 is a schematic structure diagram of the network system that implements a medical order information acquiring method representing the other embodiment.  
         [0052]    In FIG. 3, server  10  installed in office Y of a hospital is one constituting a part of a hospital information system (HIS) and a radiology information system (RIS), and order information can be inputted therein through key board  11   a  of terminal  11  connected.  
         [0053]    The server  10  is connected to the radiographing apparatus  20  installed in radiographing room X through the network N. The radiographing apparatus  20  has therein memory  210  representing a memory device, display  22  and operation panel  23 , in addition to radiographing section  103  (FIG. 5).  
         [0054]    When radiographing, a doctor operates terminal  11  for itself, or an operator operates terminal  11  based on the instruction of the doctor, and thereby, order information is accumulated in server  10 . The order information in this case is one composed, for example, of a name, a sex and an age of a patient and of regions to be radiographed.  
         [0055]    For example, radiographing apparatus  20  accesses server  10  at regular intervals of 10 minutes (time can be changed optionally), and order information read out of it is stored in memory  210 . The order information stored in memory  210  can be displayed on display  22 .  
         [0056]    Each of FIGS.  4  ( a )- 4  ( c ) is a diagram showing an example of order information displayed on display  22 . In this case, a radiographer can check a name of the patient who has come to the radiographing room, while observing the display, and can conduct necessary radiographing.  
         [0057]    However, an amount of information stored in server  10  is tremendous, and information which is unnecessary for radiographing (for example, order information requesting ultrasound diagnosis) is also included. Therefore, if all pieces of information are downloaded from the server  10 , it is sometimes difficult to search the target information.  
         [0058]    In concrete explanation of the foregoing, order information displayed as in FIG. 4 ( a ) is exactly the same as information stored in server  10  which has been downloaded, and it therefore includes information for CT or the like other than radiographing. Under this situation, it is impossible to search specific information because an amount of information is too much.  
         [0059]    In the present embodiment, on the other hand, it is possible to use the following three acquiring methods by combining them.  
         [0060]    1) A method to acquire order information by focusing an object to radiographing (by focusing medical imaging system to a radiographing apparatus) by means of inputting from operation panel  23 .  
         [0061]    2) A method to acquire order information by focusing patients by means of inputting from operation panel  23 .  
         [0062]    3) A method to acquire order information based on information inputted from operation panel  23 .  
         [0063]    Incidentally, the server  10  provides order information focused by some of the methods stated above to radiographing apparatus  20 . The information thus provided is stored in memory  210  of the radiographing apparatus  20 .  
         [0064]    In the example shown in FIG. 4 ( b ), an object is focused to radiographing first (method 1)) and then patients are focused to those of 20 years old and downward (method 2)) for acquiring order information.  
         [0065]    For example, when a patient arrives at a radiographing room, it is impossible to search target reservation easily when the number of cases displayed is large, if the method 1) only is used.  
         [0066]    In that case, if an age of the patient is known, reacquiring is conducted under the condition of 20 years old and downward, for example. In this case, information acquired by the method 2) is given priority, and when this information is displayed to be in an upper position in a reservation list on display  22 , the information can easily be searched from many lists. In this case, it is possible to exhibit an emphasizing effect by changing a color of characters for only information having priority or by reversing the display for the information.  
         [0067]    Further, there sometimes is an occasion wherein reservation which is not included in the reservation acquired by the method 1) only is acquired by the method 2). This is a case wherein a reservation of Mr. X scheduled to be radiographed by apparatus B is acquired by apparatus A through the method 2) because of troubles of the apparatus B, under the condition that only reservations scheduled to be radiographed by apparatus A have been acquired by the method 1), when a plurality of radiographing apparatuses such as, for example, apparatus A and apparatus B are operated. In this case, it is preferable to display the reservation of Mr. X by giving priority thereto because it has high attention.  
         [0068]    As patient information for focusing order information which can be inputted from operation panel  23 , there are considered various ones such as a name, an ID number, a sex and an age (—years and upward, —years and downward) and regions to be radiographed of a patient. Incidentally, when the scheduled time for radiographing is included in each order information, it is also considered that pieces of order information are arranged to be in a sequence wherein a piece of information closest to the present time comes first.  
         [0069]    Though the method 1) and the method 2) are combined in the example stated above, the method 1) and the method 3) can also be combined.  
         [0070]    In this case, a name of a patient “SHIRAI (other than four persons in the diagram)” and a region to be radiographed are not acquired from a server, but order information is acquired when an operator inputs these information directly from operation panel  23  or from an unillustrated inputting terminal, and it is possible to display a list in which the information of the method 3) shown in FIG. 4 (C) is given priority. This is preferable when radiographing an emergency patient who is not registered in a server.  
         [0071]    [0071]FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a schematic structure of a radiographing apparatus which can be applied to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 5, radiographing apparatus  20  is equipped with radiographing section  103  and controller  102 .  
         [0072]    Radiographing section  103  is one wherein information of radiographic image (X-ray transmission plane image) of a subject such as a human body created by X-ray emitted from X-ray generator  30  is accumulated and recorded temporarily on plate-shaped stimulable phosphor plate  4  that is structured by laminating accumulative phosphor on a support by utilizing stimulable phosphor that stores a part of X-ray energy when irradiated by X-ray from X-ray source  31  driven by driving source  32  and shows photo-stimulated luminescence in accordance with X-ray energy accumulated when irradiated by exciting light such as visible light or a laser beam, and the stimulable phosphor plate  4  is scanned by a laser beam so that photo-stimulated luminescence may be conducted successively, and light of photo-stimulated luminescence is read in succession photoelectrically by photoelectric reading section  120  to obtain image signals. Then, the radiographing section  103  radiates erasing light on the stimulable phosphor plate  104  after being subjected to image signal reading, so that X-ray energy remaining on the plate may be released for the following radiographing.  
         [0073]    The radiographing section  103  has therein stimulable phosphor plate  104  on which radiographic image information of subject M representing a subject is recorded, laser light source section  106  composed of a laser diode or the like generating a laser beam representing exciting light for the stimulable phosphor plate  104 , laser driving circuit  105  for driving the laser light source section  106 , optical system  107  for scanning the stimulable phosphor plate  104  with a laser beam emitted from the laser light source section  106 , and photoelectric reading section  120  that converges photo-stimulated luminescence excited by an exciting laser beam, then, conducts photoelectric conversion and obtains image signals. The photoelectric reading section  120  has therein light-converging body  108  that converges photo-stimulated luminescence excited by an exciting laser beam, photomultiplier  110  that converts light converged by the light-converging body  108  photoelectrically, high voltage source  110   a  that impresses voltage on the photomultiplier  110 , conversion section  111  that converts current signals coming from the photomultiplier  110  into digital signals through current-voltage conversion, voltage amplification and A/D conversion, correction section  112  that corrects digital signals converted by the conversion section  111 , and image transmission section  113  that transmits digital signals corrected by the correction section  112 , and digital signals of the read radiographic image are transmitted to controller  102 . Incidentally, the correction section  112  is composed of RISC processor and it corrects delay in response and non-uniformity of digital signals.  
         [0074]    The radiographing section  103  further has halogen lamp  114  that radiates erasing light and driver  115  that drives the halogen lamp  114 , for releasing X-ray energy remaining on stimulable phosphor plate  104  after being subjected to image signal reading. The radiographing section  103  further has control section  117  that controls respectively laser driving circuit  105 , high voltage source  110   a , conversion section  111 , correction section  112 , image transmitting section  113  and driver  115 . Laser light source section  106 , optical system  107 , light-converging body  108 , photomultiplier  110  and halogen lamp  114  all of the radiographing section  103  are moved solidly as an unillustrated sub-scanning unit in the sub-scanning direction perpendicular to the laser scanning direction by an unillustrated ball screw mechanism. This sub-scanning unit conducts sub-scanning by moving in the course of image reading, and halogen lamp  114  emits light for erasing in the course of its returning.  
         [0075]    The controller  102  has therein personal computer main body section  25 , key board (or operation panel)  24  and monitor display section (display)  23 , and it temporarily stores on a memory the digital signals of radiographic image information received from the radiographing section  103 , then, conducts image processing and controls display on monitor display section  27  and image processing in accordance with operation input from key board  24 , to output radiographic image information which has been subjected to image processing.  
         [0076]    The invention has been explained above referring to the embodiments, and yet the invention should not be construed to be limited to the embodiments, and modifications and improvement may naturally be made.  
         [0077]    For example, as a medical imaging system, there are available a computed tomography (CT), a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), an ultrasound imaging apparatus and a digital X-ray apparatus, in addition to the radiographing apparatus. The invention is further applicable to acquisition and control of order information for medical imaging system other than the apparatuses mentioned above.