Abstract:
An integrated apparatus for a medical alarm system includes modules and functions of both area alarm units and master alarm units. An input/output module is provided to specify functions of the area alarm units and master alarm units when the two functions are separately executed. In addition, functions of both area alarm units and the master alarm units can also be operated in an integrated apparatus. The execution programs of the integrated apparatus can be updated and modified by connecting the integrated apparatus to an external memory card. Therefore, the integrated apparatus saves not only disassembling and assembling time, but also costs of update operation.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the invention 
         [0002]    The present invention relates to an alarm, and more particularly to a medical alarm. 
         [0003]    2. Description of the Prior Art 
         [0004]    Recently with the rapid improvement of medical technique and equipment, not only the cure rate but also the average life is higher. Because excellent medical technique is based on powerful and stable medical equipment, improvement of the medical equipment has become more attentive. 
         [0005]    In a hospital, there are many sickrooms used for treatment, operation, admission, or so on. Therefore, the environmental data of the sickrooms, such as the contents of oxygen, nitrogen, and nitrous oxide, or temperature, humidity, pressure, gas concentration, and so on are necessary to be monitored and analyzed to ensure medical safety for patients and medical personnel. 
         [0006]    Reference is made to  FIG. 1A  and  FIG. 1B , wherein the  FIG. 1A  is a block diagram of a prior art area alarm unit and the  FIG. 1B  is a block diagram of a prior art master alarm unit. Each of the area alarm units  10  is installed in each of the sickrooms, and a sensor  102  is used to detect various environmental data, such as the contents of oxygen, nitrogen, and nitrous oxide, or temperature, humidity, pressure, gas concentration, etc. Afterward, all of the area alarm units  10  are connected to the central master alarm unit  20 , and the detected environmental data of the area alarm units  10  are integrated and delivered to the master alarm unit  20 . Furthermore, the detected environmental data are instantaneously updated. A display  202  of the maser alarm  20  is used to display environmental information of all sickrooms; or an external host  3  can be connected to the master alarm unit  20  to collect and organize the detected environmental data. Therefore, supervisors can exactly monitor all sickrooms by the external host  3 . 
         [0007]    Because the area alarm unit  10  and the master alarm unit  20  are the different apparatuses, the prior art alarm system is lack of installation flexibility. In other word, the amount of the area alarm units  10  and the master alarm units  20  are proportional to the amount of the monitored sickrooms. For example, fifty area alarm units  10  are required to purchase for service of fifty monitored sickrooms, and the master alarm units  20  are purchased according to actual demand for integrating and monitoring the environmental data. Therefore, if the numbers of the monitored sickrooms, or the number of the area alarm units  10  and the master alarm units  20  need to change, the installation costs increase, otherwise the installation efficiency decreases. Furthermore, all execution programs are embedded in processors of both area alarm units  10  and master alarm units  20  before shipping from factories. When the execution programs of the area alarm units  10  or the master alarm units  20  need to be updated, inside circuit boards of the area alarm units  10  or the master alarm units  20  have to be taken apart to update the execution programs. Therefore, it is to spend not only disassembling and assembling time but also costs of update operation. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0008]    It is a primary object of the present invention to provide an integrated apparatus of a medical alarm system so as to combine modules and functions of both area alarm units and master alarm units in the integrated apparatus. Therefore, the integrated apparatus can be used as an area alarm unit to detect environmental data in a sickroom or a master alarm unit to integrate detected environmental data in a monitor room. Furthermore, the integrated apparatus can also provide functions of an area alarm unit or a master alarm unit separately. 
         [0009]    It is another object of the present invention to provide an integrated apparatus of a medical alarm system. A memory card module is installed in the integrated apparatus and connected to an external memory card with software programs to update and modify execution programs of the integrated apparatus. In addition, the memory card is used to copy stored data in the integrated apparatus to an external host so as to save not only disassembling and assembling time but also costs of updating the prior art circuit boards. 
         [0010]    To achieve the objectives mentioned above, an integrated apparatus comprises modules and functions of both area alarm units and master alarm units. Furthermore, an input/output module is provided to distinguish functions of the area alarm units and the master alarm units. In addition, functions of both area alarm units and the master alarm units can also be operated in an integrated apparatus; and the execution programs of the integrated apparatus can be updated and modified by connecting to an external memory card. 
         [0011]    It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary, and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed. Other advantages and features of the invention will be apparent from the following description, drawings and claims. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING 
         [0012]    The above and further advantages of this invention may be better understood by referring to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
           [0013]      FIG. 1A  is a block diagram of a prior art area alarm unit; 
           [0014]      FIG. 1B  is a block diagram of a prior art master alarm unit; 
           [0015]      FIG. 2  is an architecture block diagram of an integrated apparatus according to the present invention; 
           [0016]      FIG. 3  is a schematic view of using the integrated apparatus; and 
           [0017]      FIG. 4  is another schematic view showing application of the integrated apparatus. 
           [0018]      FIG. 5  is an architecture block diagram of an integrated apparatus according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
       
    
    
       [0019]    The drawings will be described further in connection with the following detailed description of the present invention. 
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0020]    Reference is made to  FIG. 2  which is an architecture block diagram of an integrated apparatus according to the present invention. The integrated apparatus comprises a control unit  41  with an embedded operating system and a plurality of modules. The functions of the prior art area alarm unit  10  and the master alarm unit  20  are also provided in a same apparatus by electrically connecting between the control unit  41  and each of the modules, namely, the integrated apparatus  4  provides the functions of both the prior art area alarm unit  10  and the master alarm unit  20 . Hence, the control unit  41  can be, but not limited to, a central processing unit (CPU) with at least  32  bits. The plurality of modules comprises: 
         [0021]    1. A detection module  42  is used to detect various environmental data, such as the contents of oxygen, nitrogen, and nitrous oxide, or temperature, humidity, pressure, gas concentration, etc., and the data are delivered to the control unit  41  to be analyzed whether which are up to the standards or not. 
         [0022]    2. A display module  43  can be an organic light emitting diode (OLED), a light emitting diode (LED), a liquid crystal display (LCD), or so on. The display module  43  shows with different signs to indicate a normal or abnormal environmental condition according to the analyzed data. 
         [0023]    3. A switch module  44  can be used to connect to various external extension apparatus  5  with a switch function, such as a vacuum sweeper, an air compressor, or so on. For example, the switch module  44  is installed in a second integrated apparatus  4   b , which provides function of the master alarm unit, and is connected to the first integrated apparatus  4   a , which provides function of the area alarm unit, to receive recorded alarm signals from the first integrated apparatus  4   a.    
         [0024]    4. A relay module  45  is used to connect to other apparatuses or circuit boards so as to deliver the alarm signals to other alarm systems or apparatuses. For example, the relay module  45  is installed in the first integrated apparatus  4   a , which provides function of the area alarm unit, and is connected to the second integrated apparatus  4   b , which provides function of the master alarm unit, to output sensed alarm signals by the detection module  42  of the first integrated apparatus  4   a  to the second integrated apparatus  4   b.    
         [0025]    5. A web server module  41   a  is embedded in the control unit  41  and used as an embedded web server. The web server module  41   a  can be updated by an external memory card to be monitored by the Internet. 
         [0026]    The integrated apparatus  4  further comprises a interface port module  46  to connect to an external host  3  in a wired or wireless way to carefully monitor sickrooms in a hospital. In this embodiment, an RS-232 interface port provides the wired way, while a wireless LAN card provides the wireless way. The interface port module  46  can be used as an interface module, which supports the TCP/IP communication protocol, and can be connected to a personal computer so as to monitor environmental data on the personal computer by the web server module  41   a.    
         [0027]    Reference is made to  FIG. 3  which is a schematic view of using the integrated apparatus. A plurality of first integrated apparatus  4   a  (area alarm unit) are connected to a second integrated apparatus  4   b  (mater alarm). The plurality of first integrated apparatus  4   a  are placed in different sickrooms, respectively; and the second integrated apparatus  4   b  is placed in a central control room. Each detection module  42  of the first integrated apparatus  4   a  is provided to detect various environmental data and the detected environmental data are delivered to the first integrated apparatus  4   a . The first integrated apparatus  4   a  can be connected to the external extension apparatus  5 , such as a vacuum sweeper, an air compressor, etc. (not shown) by the switch module  44  to detect the environmental data. The detected data are also delivered to the control unit  41  of the first integrated apparatus  4   a  for analysis by the control unit  41 ; and then the analyzed data is delivered to the display module  43  for display. 
         [0028]    The first integrated apparatus  4   a  is used as an extension apparatus by connecting a relay module  45  thereof to a switch module  44  of the second integrated apparatus  4   b  to deliver the detected environmental data. In this embodiment, the first integrated apparatus  4   a  is connected to the second integrated apparatus  4   b  by an RS-485 annunciator board. The plurality of first integrated apparatus  4   a  (area alarm unit) are placed in different sickrooms to detect various environmental data, respectively; and the second integrated apparatus  4   b  (master alarm unit) is placed in a central control room to connect to the first integrated apparatus  4   a  by a plurality of switch module  44 . Afterward, the display module  43  of the second integrated apparatus  4   b  is provided to display required information of all sickrooms. In this embodiment, a green LED and a red LED of the display module  43  are corresponded to the first integrated apparatus  4   a  (area alarm unit), and are used to display a normal or an abnormal environmental condition separately. Furthermore, the relay module  45  of the second integrated apparatus  4   b  is also connected to an external apparatus, such as an alarm apparatus, or an auto-alarm apparatus, etc. (not shown) to provide a pluralistic and integrated monitor so as to enhance security of the hospital. 
         [0029]    In addition, the integrated apparatus  4  provides not only function of the area alarm unit or the master alarm unit but also function of combining the two alarms together. Reference is made to  FIG. 4  which is another schematic view showing application of the integrated apparatus. For example, five first integrated apparatuses  4   a  (area alarm unit) and one second integrated apparatus  4   b  (master alarm unit) are provided to monitor five sickrooms. However, one of the five first integrated apparatuses  4   a  simultaneously provides the functions of the area alarm unit and the master alarm unit because a real master alarm unit can be omitted. That is to say, a third integrated apparatus  4   c  is provided to detect environmental data and the detected data are displayed on a first display module  43   a . The switch module  44  is used to receive environmental data from the four area alarm units installed in four different sickrooms. Therefore, the environmental data of all five sickrooms are delivered to the control unit  41  of the third integrated apparatus  4   c  for further processing. Afterward, the processed data of all five sickrooms are displayed on a second display module  43   b.    
         [0030]    Three functions (the area alarm units, the master alarm units, and combination of the area alarm units and the masters) of the prevent invention can be specified by an update program; and the update program of the integrated apparatus  4  can be also modified. As shown in  FIG. 5 , a memory card module  47  can be a secure digital (SD) card module. For example, if the web server module  41   a  has update requirement, the update program is stored in the external memory card  47   a  and the external memory card  47   a  is connected to an external host  3 . Afterward, the external memory card  47   a  is connected to the memory card module  47  of the integrated apparatus  4  so that the web server module  41  a can be updated by the external host  3 . Therefore, a part of circuit board installed in the integrated apparatus  4  need not be taken apart from the integrated apparatus  4  before updating. Accordingly, not only disassembling and assembling time is reduced but also costs of updating the prior art circuit boards is reduced. 
         [0000]    Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the details thereof. Various substitutions and modifications have been suggested in the foregoing description, and others will occur to those of ordinary skill in the art. Therefore, all such substitutions and modifications are intended to be embraced within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.