Secure teleconference management
A secure teleconference with a patient treatment room may be initiated by receiving, at a central facility, a request for a conference from a clinician application, and then identifying a virtual meeting room and sending an identifier for a conference to the treatment room. The conference is then be established by receiving a call at the central facility from the treatment room, where the call identifies the conference. The central facility then joins the treatment room and the clinician application to the virtual meeting room. Teleconferences may thus be established without reference to sensitive patient information. For security, no incoming conferencing calls may be made to the treatment room directly, and virtual meeting rooms may be eliminated after single use. A call may further be initiated by receiving a request from the treatment room, e.g., which is processed by the central facility to alert one or more clinicians.
1. A method, comprising:
receiving, from a clinician application, a first request, the first request comprising an indication to initiate a teleconference and an indication of a treatment room;
identifying a virtual meeting room for the teleconference;
sending, to the treatment room, an identifier of the virtual meeting room;
receiving, from the treatment room, a second request, the second request comprising an indication to join the teleconference in the virtual meeting room;
joining the treatment room to the teleconference in the virtual meeting room; and
joining the clinician application to the teleconference in the virtual meeting room.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
authenticating a clinician, the clinician using the clinician application.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
maintaining a pool of unused virtual meeting rooms;
selecting the virtual meeting room from the pool of unused virtual meeting rooms; and
removing, upon termination of the teleconference, the virtual meeting room from the pool of unused virtual meeting rooms.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising upon termination of the teleconference, deleting the virtual meeting room.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a switch input indicating a third request, the third request comprising an intention in the treatment room to initiate the teleconference;
encoding and sending, to a remote call management center, a first digital message, the first digital message comprising an identifier of the treatment room.
6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
encoding and sending, to a nurse station associated with the treatment room, a second digital message, the second digital message comprising an identifier of the treatment room.
7. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
authenticating the clinician;
sending, to the clinician application, an indication of the third request comprising the identifier of the treatment room.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, from the clinician application, a selection of a target area for enlargement within a two-dimensional teleconference image;
determining a three-dimensional coordinate of the selected target area;
sending, the treatment room, a set of camera instructions based on the three dimensional coordinate.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein determining the three dimensional coordinate of the selected target area is achieved via an inverse gnomonic transformation of one or more X,Y coordinates of the selected target area.
10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising determining one or more X,Y coordinates of the selected target area by detecting a user holding a mouse click at a point on the two-dimensional teleconference image.
11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the set of camera instructions comprises changes to a zoom level of the camera.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the set of camera instructions is sent out of band of the teleconference.
13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the set of camera instructions is sent by the clinician application out of band of the teleconference.
14. The method of claim 9 , wherein the set of camera instructions comprises a rate at which to change a pan, a tilt, or a zoom.
15. An apparatus comprising a processor, a memory, a camera, a microphone, a speaker, and communication circuitry, the apparatus being connected to a communications network via its communication circuitry, the apparatus further comprising computer-executable instructions stored in the memory of the apparatus which, when executed by the processor of the apparatus, cause the apparatus to:
not allow any incoming conference calls;
receive, from a call management center, a first request, the first request comprising an indication to join a teleconference, the teleconference comprising audio and video components;
authenticate the call management center; and
join the teleconference by initiating a connection to the teleconference.
16. The apparatus of claim 15 , further comprising an encoder, the encoder being adapted to:
receive a switch input indicating an intention to initiate the teleconference;
encode a digital message, the digital message indicating receipt of the switch input;
send, to the call management center, the digital message.
17. The apparatus of claim 16 , further comprising a video display, wherein the instructions further cause the video display to bear a message indicating when observation via the camera is underway.
18. The apparatus of claim 16 , further comprising an infrared lamp, wherein the camera is adapted to sense infrared light to support low light observation.
19. The apparatus of claim 15 , further comprising a video display, wherein the instructions further cause the apparatus to receive a set of camera instructions comprising a pan, a tilt, or a zoom, the set of camera instructions further comprising at rate at which to change the pan, the tilt, or the zoom.
20. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the instructions further cause the apparatus to receive the of camera instructions out of band of the teleconference.
21. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the instructions further cause the apparatus to join the teleconference using one-time-only use identifiers provided by the call management center.