A serial interface design to integrate bedside devices into patient monitoring systems

While substantial progress has been made toward the development of the Medical Information Bus (MIB), there is a pressing need, today, to integrate bedside devices into patient monitoring systems. To help meet this need, SpaceLabs Inc. has developed serial interfaces that integrate various stand-alone devices into a patient monitoring system. The company makes available a Universal Flexport Protocol to manufacturers who wish to make their devices compatible with the SpaceLabs patient monitoring systems. This paper describes the design of the Flexport serial interfaces and the Universal Flexport Protocol.