Systems, methods, and apparatus for medical device interface connectivity

1. An interface system comprising:

a device interface configured to:

connect a device to a client system; and

enable exchange of data between the device and the client system, the client system including a message and data exchange service to communicate with the device via the device interface;

wherein the device interface comprises:

a plug-and-play detector to detect a connection of the device to the device interface; and

a serial agent, including:

a processor configured to gather information from the device via a connection between the device and the device interface and to select an appropriate device driver to operate and interact with the device connected to the device interface;

a core comprising:

a common service layer;

a network server configured to communicate with the client system over a data communication interface;

an interface eXtensible Markup Language (iXML) engine configured to parse inbound iXML messages and to build outbound iXML messages; and

a driver engine to manage a plurality of device drivers and to form a pool of threads for device driver execution;

wherein the serial agent is configured to:

operate with the plug-and-play detector to execute a plug-and-play program sequence with the device when the device is a plug-and-play device; and

transform the device into a plug-and-play device via a non plug-and-play program sequence when the device is a non plug-and-play device; and

wherein, in transforming the device into a plug-and-play device via the non plug-and-play program sequence, the serial agent is further configured to:

query a cache manager to determine whether a device driver exists for the connected device in a cache; and

if a device driver is not found in the cache, then:

parse driver information to determine an appropriate device driver for subscription; and

subscribe to the appropriate device driver.

2. The interface system of claim 1 wherein the serial agent is configured to select the appropriate device driver to operate and interact with the device regardless of a presence or absence of an existing plug-and-play capability of the device.

3. The interface system of claim 1 further comprising the device having a unique identifier facilitating identification and communication with the client system via the device interface.

4. The interface system of claim 1 wherein the serial agent is configured to transform the device into a plug-and-play device using a common device driver configured to be used for both plug-and-play and non plug-and-play devices.

5. The interface system of claim 1 wherein the serial agent is configured to execute the plug-and-play program sequence using a common device driver configured to be used for both plug-and-play and non plug-and-play devices.

6. The interface system of claim 1 wherein the iXML engine comprises a session manager and an XML generator; and

wherein the driver engine comprises:

a driver manager to transmit a device update to a universal serial bus (USB) detector;

a driver storage; and

a connection detector.

7. The interface system of claim 6 wherein the connector detector comprises a USB detector to generate a class holding at least one USB information object in response to receiving the device update from the driver manager.

8. The interface system of claim 1 wherein the device interface is to transform a USB connecting device into a plug-and-play connectivity device communicating with the client system via the serial agent.

9. The interface system of claim 1 wherein the device interface is to convert between a universal serial bus (USB) data communication protocol and an RS-232 data communication protocol.

10. The interface system of claim 1 wherein the device comprises a medical device.

11. A machine-implemented method for interfacing between a device and a clinical information system, the method comprising:

detecting, using a device interface having a serial agent, a presence of a device on a network including a clinical information system, the serial agent including:

a core, the core comprising:

a common service layer;

a network server to communicate with the clinical information system over a data communication interface;

an interface eXtensible Markup Language (iXML) engine to parse inbound iXML messages and to build outbound iXML messages; and

a driver engine to manage a plurality of device drivers and to form a pool of threads for device driver execution;

gathering information from the device connected to the device interface;

searching a device driver repository at the device interface for an object and one or more associated device drivers to represent the device;

registering the device with the clinical information system using the object; and

interacting with the device using the one or more associated device drivers to communicate between the device and the clinical information system, wherein interacting comprises:

executing a plug-and-play program sequence with the device when the device is a plug-and-play device; and

transforming the device into a plug-and-play device via a non-plug-and-play program sequence when the device is a non-plug-and-play device, the clinical information system including a message and data exchange service to communicate with the device via the device interface; and

wherein transforming the device into a plug-and-play device via the non-plug-and-play program sequence comprises:

querying a cache manager to determine whether a device driver exists for the connected device in a cache; and

if a device driver is not found in the cache, then:

determining an appropriate device driver for subscription; and

selecting the appropriate device driver.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein transforming the device into a plug-and-play device comprises transforming the device into a plug-and-play device via a non-plug-and-play program sequence when the device is a non-plug-and-play device using a common device driver configured to be used for both plug-and-play and non plug-and-play devices.

13. The method of claim 11 further comprising retrieving a device identifier stored at the device and creating a unique identifier for the device to facilitate communication between the device and the clinical information system via the device interface.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the iXML engine comprises a session manager and an XML generator and wherein the driver engine comprises a driver manager, a driver storage, and a connection detector.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the connector detector comprises a universal serial bus detector.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein the device interface transforms a universal serial bus connecting device associated with the device into a plug-and-play connectivity device communicating with the clinical information system via the serial agent.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein the device interface converts between a universal serial bus data communication protocol and an RS-232 data communication protocol.

18. The method of claim 11 wherein the device interface exchanges messages with the clinical information system via interface eXtensible Markup Language (iXML).

19. An article of manufacture comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium; and

executable program instructions embodied in the non-transitory computer readable storage medium that, when executed by a programmable system, cause the programmable system to implement a device interface system comprising:

a device interface routine connecting a device to a client system and enabling exchange of data between the device and the client system, the client system including a message and data exchange service to communicate with the device via the device interface, the device interface routine comprising:

a plug-and-play detector detecting a connection of the device to the device interface; and

a serial agent gathering information from the device via a connection between the device and the device interface and selecting an appropriate device driver to operate and interact with the device connected to the device interface regardless of a presence or absence of an existing plug-and-play capability of the device, the serial agent operating with the plug-and-play detector to execute a plug-and-play program sequence with the device when the device is a plug-and-play device, and to transform the device into a plug-and-play device via a non-plug-and-play program sequence when the device is a non-plug-and-play device, the serial agent including:

a core comprising:

 a common service layer;

 a network server to communicate with the clinical information system over a data communication interface;

 an interface eXtensible Markup Language (iXML) engine to parse inbound iXML messages and to build outbound iXML messages; and

 a driver engine to manage a plurality of device drivers and to form a pool of threads for device driver execution; and

wherein, in transforming the device into a plug-and-play device via the non-plug-and-play program sequence when the device is a non-plug-and-play device, the serial agent is further configured to:

query a cache manager of a cache to determine whether a device driver exists for the connected device in the cache; and

if the device driver is not found in the cache, then:

determine the appropriate device driver for subscription; and

select the appropriate device driver.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 19 wherein the appropriate device driver comprises a common device driver configured to be used for both plug-and-play devices and non plug-and-play devices.