Portable diagnostic device

A portable diagnostic device, particularly for medical field-examinations comprising a case-like housing in which replaceable electronic examining units are arranged serving for the examination of different physiological functions and/or conditions. The housing comprises an electronic power supply feeding each of the electronic examining units, a common display receiving the output signals of the examining units and electrical connectors providing electrical connections between the housing and each of the examining units. The inner room of the housing is divided into two separate parts, the first of which is arranged in a modular system and accommodates slide-in examining units, while the second part serves to accommodate the accessory means required for the examinations.

The invention relates to a portable diagnostic device, particularly for 
field-examinations, which can provide quick, correct and many-sided 
diagnostic information on the vital functions and/or conditions of the 
examined persons even under unfavorable field environmental circumstances. 
The development and application of the portable types of diagnostic devices 
have recently come more and more into the foreground. Portable case-like 
like devices have already been worked out for the examination of almost 
every vital function, which can well be used also for field-examinations. 
Such instruments are e.g. the portable electrocardioscopes, thermometers, 
pulse rate meters, blood pressure meters, etc. The portable 
electrocardioscopes of the Austrian Company Hugo Sachs and that of the 
Medicor Works, Budapest are for example available on the market. 
Although these instruments proved to be good for individual examinations, 
they could not meet the complexity of requirements raised by the demands 
of field-examinations. 
In most of the cases there is a need even under unfavorable field 
conditions to simultaneously examine or control a plurality of vital 
functions and to obtain information about several condition data of the 
examined patient as quick as possible. The work of installation of several 
portable instruments is a complicated task which takes much time, the 
measuring cables of the instruments can easily get mixed up with each 
other which may result in malfunctions and the necessary instruments must 
be preselected prior to visiting the examination site. The greatest 
disadvantage of such installed systems is the loss of the portable 
character because a person can not carry and handle more than one, or at 
most two of such case-like instruments. 
The object of the invention is to provide a portable diagnostic device 
which can fully meet the requirements of field-examinations and can easily 
be installed and handled. 
This object is attained by providing a portable diagnostic device 
comprising according to invention a plurality of replaceable electronic 
units each of which serves for the examination of different physiological 
functions and/or conditions, these units being arranged in and integral 
with a case-like housing. The housing comprises an electronic power supply 
feeding each of the electronic examining units, a common display receiving 
the output signals of the examining units, and electrical connectors 
providing electrical connections between the housing and the respective 
examining units. The inner space of the case-like housing comprises at 
least two separated spaces, the first space serving for the accommodation 
of all of the electronic examining units, while the second space 
accommodates all the accessory means required for the examinations. The 
first space is arranged in a modular system to receive at least four 
electronic examining units. The replaceable electronic examining units are 
selected and arranged to comply with the complexity of the existing 
examination demands. 
A preferred embodiment of the diagnostic device comprises an 
electrocardioscope, an electroencephalographical oscilloscope, a 
thermometer, a pulse rate meter, a spirometer, a blood pressure meter, an 
audiometer and a reaction time meter. 
Each of the electronic examining units having a self supporting chassis and 
an independent electronic circuitry, these units are arranged in a modular 
system and are assembled in a practical geometric order beside each other. 
A preferred embodiment of the invention comprises a common display which is 
connected via a display function selecting switch to the measuring 
terminals of the connector receptacles receiving the connector plugs of 
the individual electronic examining units. 
The combination of the individually known examining units into a common 
portable diagnostic system immediately eliminates the specific problems 
connected with the field-examinations and opens the way for the 
introduction of numerous essential constructional rationalizations. By 
this system the portable feature is maintained and the need for the 
separate installation and layout of the individual measuring apparatuses 
and for the complicated arrangement of the measuring and examining units 
which are to be attached to the examined persons is eliminated. By means 
of the integration of the individual apparatuses numerous distinct 
housings can be eliminated, while in the single common housing a common 
display can be arranged which increases the visuality and lucidity of the 
examination and greatly decreases the possibility of false readings of the 
measuring results. 
Depending on the actual purpose of the examinations the same case-like 
housing can contain a wide range of various functional units (if some 
minor modifications are carried out in the wiring). This way the 
diagnostic device can actually "adapt itself" to the medical task which is 
to be solved thereby. 
The diagnostic device can be operated either from the mains power or from a 
battery. It can easily be transported by its handle and it can be set up 
on a table.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2 the diagnostic device is shown with opened 
casing lid 10 and with swung out accessory storage 3. During transport the 
device has a suitcase like shape which has a handle 9 on its end by which 
it can easily be carried by hand. The elements that can be swung out or 
opened i.e. the casing lid 10 and the accessory storage 3 are protected by 
catches (not shown in the drawings) from inadvertent opening. 
It can be seen from the side view that the inner space of the housing 12 of 
the device consists of two separate parts. The first space 1 serves to 
accommodate the examining units 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 and the common electronic 
circuits (power supply, display, common amplifiers, etc.). There is behind 
the first space 1 within the rear part of the device the second space 2 
serving to accommodate the accessory means required for the operation of 
the device. The accessory means are located in appropriate compartments 
within the storage 3 which can be swung out around a hinge 11. 
The width of the examining units 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 was selected to be in 
accordance with a predetermined modular spacing. The width of the 
examining unit 8 e.g. an electrocardioscope is just twice as big as that 
of the other units. The height of the examining units is smaller than the 
overall height of the device and on the free upper surface of these units 
handling and signalling means as well as connector sockets are situated. 
Each examining unit has this way an "L" shaped face-plate which makes it 
possible for these examining units that, however small mechanical 
dimensions they have, they represent fully efficient measuring instruments 
wherein all the means (e.g. knobs, sockets, instruments) required for the 
operation and adjustment are located in logically understandable and lucid 
geometric configurations. 
To the rear of the upper surface of the examining units there is provided a 
vertical front plate 13 on the housing in which a common digital display 
14 and the common adjusting means 15 (e.g. buttons, keys, knobs, etc.) are 
located. This arrangement facilitates the work of the operator. 
The examining units 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 are located in the first space 1 of 
the housing 12 arranged in a modular system. The housing 12 comprises 
multipole connector sockets receiving respective connector plugs mounted 
on the rear surface of the examining units. 
If the examining units are pulled out from the housing 12, they cannot be 
operated because their electrical connections are broken. These units 
receive their electrical power and their control and operating voltages 
from the power supply and the adjusting means located in the common 
housing. The examining units transmit the results of the examinations 
through the connectors to the common electronic circuitry located in the 
housing. 
The results of the examinations are coupled to the common display 14 
through a display function selecting switch having contact terminals 
connected to the measuring output terminals of the multipole connectors. 
The number of the positions of the function selecting switch is preferably 
equal to the number of the different kind of examinations that can be 
carried out by the device. 
Each examining unit may be adaptable for the examination of more than one 
physiological function and/or state. The modular constructional 
arrangement of the examining units offers the possibility for selecting an 
assembly thereof in the housing which corresponds to the actual diagnostic 
tasks that must be carried out by the device. The invention cannot of 
course be limited to any specific arrangement of the examining units which 
may comprise an electrocardioscope, an EEG unit, different kinds of 
thermometers, pulse-rate meters, blood pressure meters, instruments for 
blood counting, an audiometer, a spirometer, etc. If the actual diagnostic 
task changes, the examining units can be partly or fully replaced by other 
ones and re-assembled and the device can in this way be adapted to the new 
demands. This adaptation requires only some minor modifications in the 
wiring of the multipole connector sockets associated with the examination 
units, and a universal wiring arrangement of these connectors can also be 
worked out by which the examining units can be interchanged without 
effecting any modifications in the wiring. 
The portable diagnostic device facilitates the performance of 
field-examinations (i.e. examinations that can be carried out everywhere 
without any local limitations, for example in vehicles, at the site of 
given events, etc.) because it provides room in the storage 3 for the 
accessories required for the examinations which are located in well 
designed cells in a lucid arrangement that increases the speed of the 
preparatory phases of the examinations and prevents the accessories from 
being accidentally interchanged. From this arrangement the operator can 
easily detect if some of the accessories are missing.