A framework for automatic testing of medical device compatibility

A vast amount of international research projects has recently been dealing with the development of an open communication standard to enhance medical device interoperability. Most approaches target a service oriented architecture based on Ethernet bus systems. Medical devices are connected to the bus and provide or consume data and applications via so-called services. For automatic discovery of device services within the network, devices possess self-descriptions (profiles) that specify the services offered by the device. These profiles are based on the international standard ISO/IEEE 11073. This article proposes a method to automatically document and test the compatibility of data in medical device networks based on their profiles. Using the new method, the time it takes to test compatibility can be significantly reduced.