Patent ID: 8473908

Claim:
A method for administrating configuration files in a medical facility, said medical facility comprising a plurality of computer-operated medical devices that each operate to perform a respective medical task according to a configuration file, a memory in which a plurality of different configuration files, respectively for different medical devices, are stored, at least some of said configuration files being stored in said memory as different versions of a configuration file, and a central administration apparatus in communication with said memory, and being communicable with said medical devices via a network in which said central administration apparatus functions as a server and the medical devices function as respective clients of the server, said method comprising: prior to implementing a respective medical task at a respective medical device among said plurality of medical devices, establishing a communication connection via said network between the respective medical device and the central administration apparatus to request a configuration file; in response to the request, automatically initiating a search of said memory at said central administration apparatus, to select a version of a configuration file in said memory that satisfies criteria that include at least appropriateness of a version of a configuration file for use in performing the respective medical task at the respective medical device, and a current run-time environment of the respective medical task at the respective medical device; automatically making a version of a configuration file in said memory, that satisfies said criteria, available, as a selected configuration file, to the respective medical device for check-out; from the respective medical device, checking out the selected file, as a checked-out file, from the central administration apparatus via the communication connection in a form that allows a change in the checked-out file to be made at the respective medical device; after completion of the respective medical task at the respective medical device, returning the checked-out file, via the communication connection, to the central administration apparatus as a checked-in file; and upon receipt of each checked-in file at said central administration apparatus, automatically determining whether the checked-in file contains a change made by the respective medical device and, if a change in the checked-in file is detected, storing the checked-in file in said memory as another version of the configuration file, with an indicator of said change that causes said change to be automatically identified and used by said central administration apparatus, in a subsequent search of said memory initiated by a respective medical device, to satisfy said appropriateness in the criteria of said subsequent search.