US 12,469,595 B2
Ultrasound utility station
Craig Chamberlain, Bothell, WA (US); Andrew Lundberg, Bothell, WA (US); Patrick Nally, Bothell, WA (US); Kenji Kimura, Bothell, WA (US); Trevor Rogers, Bothell, WA (US); Tyler Dawson, Bothell, WA (US); Saeed Aliakbari, Bothell, WA (US); and Davin Dhatt, Bothell, WA (US)
Assigned to FUJIFILM SONOSITE, INC., Bothell, WA (US)
Filed by FUJIFILM SONOSITE, INC., Bothell, WA (US)
Filed on Mar. 11, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/693,089.
Prior Publication US 2023/0309961 A1, Oct. 5, 2023
Int. Cl. G16H 40/40 (2018.01); A61B 8/00 (2006.01); G01C 21/00 (2006.01); G06V 10/764 (2022.01); G16H 40/20 (2018.01)
CPC G16H 40/40 (2018.01) [A61B 8/4281 (2013.01); A61B 8/4433 (2013.01); A61B 8/4472 (2013.01); A61B 8/56 (2013.01); A61B 8/565 (2013.01); G01C 21/383 (2020.08); G06V 10/764 (2022.01); G16H 40/20 (2018.01); A61B 8/465 (2013.01); A61B 8/467 (2013.01)] 16 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A first ultrasound utility station to configure one or more ultrasound machines to be ready for use, the first ultrasound utility station comprising:
a processor;
a display device;
a battery exchanger coupled to the processor;
a battery charger coupled to the processor;
a probe rack coupled to the processor to house ultrasound probes that can be coupled to the one or more ultrasound machines including a first ultrasound machine;
a location generator coupled to the processor; and
a transceiver coupled to the processor; wherein the processor is configured to control:
the battery exchanger to accept a first battery from the first ultrasound machine and provide a second battery for the first ultrasound machine;
the battery charger to charge the first battery from the first ultrasound machine;
the location generator to determine a first location of the first ultrasound utility station and a battery location of the second battery that is separate from the first location; and
the transceiver to: receive a first indication of an amount of charge of the first battery from the first ultrasound machine; receive an ultrasound utility station status from a second ultrasound utility station, the ultrasound utility station status including a first status indicating that the second ultrasound utility station is currently charging other ultrasound machine and is not available to charge the first ultrasound machine and a second status indicating that the second ultrasound utility station is currently not charging the other ultrasound machine and is available to charge the first ultrasound machine; and communicate the battery location, the ultrasound utility station status and one or more of a battery status of the first battery, a battery status of the second battery, an ultrasound probe status of one or more of the ultrasound probes, and the first location to at least one of the first ultrasound machine and a user device; and
the display device is configured to display the first indication of the amount of charge of the first battery, and the ultrasound utility station status.