SAFETY-RELEVANT APPLICATION

Abstract

An apparatus for a safety-relevant application and a method for operating the apparatus. The apparatus has a user interface to display digits. The digits are intended to be filled with numerical values by a user. The user interface is designed to limit a selection of digits available for a user input when a numerical value is input by the user, for example the user's first input, for one of the digits that are to be filled.

Claims

1. An apparatus for a safety-relevant application, the apparatus comprising a user interface intended to display a predetermined number of digits for inputting a numerical parameter, wherein the user interface is configured to limit the predetermined number of digits depending on limits of the numerical parameter or at least one other safety-relevant limitation to a selection of digits available for a user input and to input a numerical value by the user for one of the selection of digits.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus is a medical apparatus.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the user interface includes a touchpad for manual input/output and/or a mouse for input.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the user interface includes a touchscreen for manual input/output.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the selection of digits are filled separately and/or successively with numerical values.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of the selection of digits is separately selectable and the user interface is configured, with or by selecting a respective digit of said selection of digits, to provide a virtual keyboard generally valid for all of the selection of digits or individually designed or filled for a currently selected digit, via which keyboard a numerical value is associated with the currently selected digit.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the user interface is configured to distribute the selection of the digits to an equal number of digits for places before a decimal point and places after the decimal point or to an equal number of digits for a unit and a subunit.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the user interface is configured to shift a decimal point provided on the user interface for displaying places before the decimal point and places after the decimal point between the selection of digits.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the selection of digits have digits for places before a decimal point and digits for places after the decimal point, the user interface being configured to zero-fill all places before the decimal point to a right side of the input place(s) before the decimal point so as to avoid a manual input of zeros.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus has a memory configured to store data comprising at least one hard numeric limit and/or one soft numeric limit with respect to the safety-relevant application, the user interface communicating with the memory and being configured to delay or prevent an input progress based on the at least one hard numeric limit and/or the at least one soft numeric limit.

11. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the user interface is configured to restrict a further input or to reverse a previous input, based on a comparison between at least one of the numerical values for at least one of the selection of digits available for a user input and the at least one hard numeric limit.

12. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the user interface is configured to limit a selection of available numerical values for at least one of the selection of digits based on the at least one hard numeric limit.

13. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the user interface is configured, based on a comparison between at least one of the numerical values for at least one of the selection of digits and the at least one soft numeric limit, to indicate that a further input is required.

14. A method for operating an apparatus for a safety-relevant application, the method comprising the steps of: displaying, by a user interface, a predetermined number of digits; limiting, by the user interface, the predetermined number of digits to a selection of digits based on limits of the numerical parameter or at least one other safety-relevant limitation; and inputting a numerical value for one of the selection of digits.

15. A method for operating the apparatus according to claim 1, the method comprising the steps of: displaying, with the user interface, the predetermined number of digits; limiting, with the user interface, the predetermined number of digits to the selection of digits based on said limits of the numerical parameter or said at least one other safety-relevant limitation; and inputting a numerical value for one of the selection of digits.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

[0048] In the following, the invention will be illustrated by means of drawings, wherein:

[0049] FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of a medical apparatus, viz. an infusion pump, as an example of an apparatus for a safety-relevant application including a graphical display and a touchscreen user interface;

[0050] FIG. 2 shows a schematic view of a basic design of an editor;

[0051] FIG. 3 shows a schematic view of an editor with shiftable decimal point;

[0052] FIG. 4 shows a schematic view of an editor with shifted decimal point (only places before the decimal point);

[0053] FIG. 5 shows a schematic view of a time editor;

[0054] FIG. 6 shows a schematic view of an editor with a selected digit and a numerical keyboard;

[0055] FIG. 7 shows a schematic view of an editor with a specified digit;

[0056] FIG. 8 shows a schematic view of an editor with limit bars; and

[0057] FIG. 9 shows a schematic view of an editor with a soft-limit warning.

[0058] The Figures are merely schematic and are solely for the purpose of understanding the invention. Like elements are provided with like reference symbols. The features of the individual embodiments can be interchanged.

[0059] Moreover, spatially relative terms such as “located under”, “below”, “lower”, “located above”, “upper”, “to the left”, “left”, “to the right”, “right” and the like can be used to simply describe the relationship of one element or one structure to one or more other elements or structures shown in the Figures. The spatially relative terms are intended to comprise, in addition to the orientation shown in the Figures, other orientations of the component in use or in operation. The component can be oriented differently (rotated by 90 degrees or in a different orientation), and the spatially relative descriptors used here can likewise be interpreted correspondingly.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0060] The method and the apparatus will now be exemplified on the basis of embodiments.

[0061] The concept aims at safety-relevant applications, in particular with respect to medical apparatuses, such as the infusion pump 1 having a touchscreen user interface 2 in FIG. 1, in the foregoing also described as user interface 2 or as part thereof, which concept requires numerical data to be input by an operator, also referred to as user.

[0062] The editor 3 as interacting tool or input tool for the man-machine operation as part of the above-described user interface 2 is designed with regard to safety. A principle of interaction involves a mechanism forcing the user to maximize his/her attention to the input process when inputting values for an infusion pump 1, for example, as shown in FIG. 1, so as to avoid errors.

[0063] The basic idea is to divide a number into number fields 4, referred to as digits here, which must be selected individually and filled with a numerical value by the user. This approach forces the user to reflect on the number during editing, while he/she visually concentrates on the relevant screen elements of the editor 3.

[0064] In particular, the number fields 4 are designed interactively.

[0065] The editor 3 makes use of a series of number fields 4 allowing to indicate individually number values during programming (see FIG. 2).

[0066] The places before the decimal point 5 and the places after the decimal point 6 are separated by a decimal point allowing the user to clearly distinguish the places before the decimal point 5 and the places after the decimal point 6. The places after the decimal point are displayed smaller for further visual distinction. The distance between the number fields 4 may be enlarged to distinguish between hundred digits and thousand digits.

[0067] Number fields 4 released for editing may be displayed with a colored, such as white, background, and values can be entered by touching the touchscreen user interface 2 at those places. Number fields 4 which cannot be edited for various reasons (e.g., due to restrictions of limits resulting from apparatus physics or the application) are displayed, for example, with a differently colored background, are greyed out, for example. Therefore, the user can input only values that correspond to specific limits or come within admissible ranges.

[0068] The editor 3 as shown in FIG. 2 can display a maximum of six number fields 4, for example. However, the user possibly cannot edit all of the six number fields 4 in which an application logic prevents restricted or illogical values from being indicated. When places after the decimal point 6 are used, the editor 3 can force the user to edit a maximum of four successive number fields 4 so that the user cannot input any illogical value such as “1000.01”. Rather, values like “10.25” or “110.5” can be considered as compliant by the application logic. In cases where only places before the decimal point 5 are required to indicate a value, the editor 3 can be displayed also without the decimal point.

[0069] As schematically shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the editor 3 may have a movable decimal point. In one application scenario, the decimal point remains at a fixed position and cannot be shifted. However, several scenarios require the flexibility to indicate more or fewer number fields 4 either to the right or to the left of the decimal point (see FIG. 3). In those cases, the editor 3 allows the user to shift the decimal point to a different position via the arrows for moving the decimal point 7. The decimal point can never be shifted without conscious action of the user.

[0070] Shifting the decimal point does not change the general function of the editor 3. All additional places after the decimal point 6 and number fields 4 are smaller to ensure the distinction from the places before the decimal point 5. The push buttons 7 for shifting the decimal point likewise move at the position of the decimal point to increase the clarity of the positioning of the decimal point. As soon as a value has been input, the arrows 7 for shifting the decimal point disappear.

[0071] As shown in FIG. 5, an editing of time information can also be provided. Time editors 3 can follow the same scheme and have a division into hours 8 as upper unit, minutes 9 as middle unit and seconds 10 as subunit, irrespective of whether or not they contain editable number fields 4. The simultaneous display of hours 8, minutes 9 and second 10 takes place with the aim of preventing the user from confusing hours 8 with minutes 9 and minutes 9 with seconds 10. If the application logic does not permit the input of hours 8, minutes 9 or seconds 10, the corresponding number fields 4 are highlighted in a different color, for example greyed out (see FIG. 5).

[0072] In a possible variant, the user can input optionally either hours 8 in combination with minutes 9 or minutes 9 in combination with seconds 10. When editing initially starts with the input of the number fields 4 for the hours 8, the number fields 4 for the seconds 10 are greyed out and, thus, are no longer available for editing. In this way, the confusion between hours 8, minutes 9 and seconds 10 is reduced.

[0073] Selecting a number field 4 or the general concept for use of implementing the numerical editor 3 requires the user to touch initially a specific number field 4 which requires inputting of a numerical value.

[0074] When selecting one of the number fields 4 as a selected number field 11, a number block in the form of a (virtual) fold-away/fold-out keyboard 12, which was removed before, appears at the bottom of the editor 3 (see FIG. 6). It indicates all values that can be input at the selected position, namely the selected number field 11. Values which are not allowed to be used at the selected position 11 due to limits or other restrictions, are greyed out on the number block and, thus, are not available.

[0075] When the user has input a value for the selected number field 11, the number appears in the number field 11 and the virtual keyboard 12 disappears. The editor 3 fills all places before the decimal point 5 to the right of the indicated place before the decimal point 5 with zeros 13 to avoid the manual input of zeros 13. When the user does not wish to have any zeros 13 for a specific number field 4, he/she can select said number field 4 to change the value thereof. In all cases, the editor 3 fills only number fields 4 in which no hard limits are violated with zeros 13.

[0076] The operation for selecting a number field 4 is repeated until the user has indicated the complete value for the desired parameter intended for application.

[0077] After the user has set a value, said value must be confirmed by touching the “confirm” key, before the further processing takes place. The selection not to use the indicated value can be made by touching the push button “cancel”. In this case, the apparatus, such as the infusion pump 1 of FIG. 1, ignores the changes made by the editor 3 and returns to the previous value (if available) for said parameter.

[0078] In order to delete a value in the editor 3 and to restart, the user can touch the push button “delete” 14 which deletes all values of the number fields 4.

[0079] The editor 3 contains the concept of the limits which are visually displayed by the so-called limit bar 15. The limit bar 15 is placed above the numerical value in the view shown in FIG. 8.

[0080] The limit bar 15 shows at its ends the inadmissible value ranges referred to as hard limits. In the middle area of the bar the standard value range (for example marked in color, grey range) and the soft limit range (for example marked in color, yellow range) are located. The soft limit range marks values, in English frequently referred to as soft limits, which, although admissible, have to be particularly observed/confirmed for safety reasons.

[0081] Application-specific limits of an infusion pump 1 can be provided by the drug library which is a collection of drug-related and hospital-related safety information stored in a memory of the infusion pump.

[0082] The editor 3 does not allow hard limits to be exceeded as selecting specific number fields 4 or values input to the latter which violate hard limits or correspond to an invalid numerical input will delay or prevent progress in the procedure.

[0083] If the user indicates a value that is within the soft limit range for the parameter, the infusion pump 1 reacts by marking the range of the limit bar 15 which is outside the soft limits in a different color, for example yellow (see FIG. 8). A dynamic cursor on the bar indicates where in the range of the possible values the value input by the user is located. This is for the purpose of informing the user before the value is confirmed. For infusion pumps 1 soft limits can be set for a specific drug in the drug library of the apparatus.

[0084] If the user confirms a value that is outside a soft limit, the user interface 2 displays a soft limit warning 16 to ensure additional safety. The soft limit warning 16 requests the user to either overwrite the soft-limit warning 16 (i.e., to accept the value) or to return to editing the value so as to change said value (see FIG. 9).