Category: Product Review of NIHON KOHDEN Life Scope VS (Venus) series bedside monitors and related. The Life Scope VS series consists of BSM-3521, BSM-3552, BSM-3562, BSM-3572, BSM-3733, BSM-3753, BSM-3763 and BSM-3773.
Launched
in early 2011, the configured LIFE SCOPE VS (BSM-3500 and BSM-3700) series patient monitors
targets mid-acuity sites with the configured BSM-3500 series using a 12.1 inch
touchscreen display while the configured BSM-3700 series uses a 15-inch touchscreen display. (The BSM-3500 series was belatedly launched in the USA market in 2016).
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Configured Life Scope VS (BSM-3000) series models |
There are four models for the 12.1-inch configured BSM-3500 series, namely
a. Life Scope BSM-3532 bedside monitor
b. Life Scope BSM-3552 bedside monitor
c. Life Scope BSM-3562 bedside monitor
d. Life Scope BSM-3572 bedside monitor
The difference among the monitors is the SpO2 algorithm; the latest international version is refrained from use in the USA market for undisclosed reasons.
Another four models
are for the 15-inch configured BSM-3700 series, namely
a. Life Scope BSM-3753 bedside monitor
b. Life Scope BSM-3755 bedside monitor
c. Life Scope BSM-3763 bedside monitor
d. Life Scope BSM-3773 bedside monitor
The failure to provide user benefits for flexible connector sockets |
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NIHON KOHDEN wanted to make the new series different from the market, and the prominent feature of Life Scope VS bedside monitors is the utilization of flexible MULTI (short for multi-parameter) sockets that are for sharing use by a group of internal hardware, and can also be diverted to be serial ports. These sockets are colored yellow.
For the Life Scope VS bedside monitors, the yellow MULTI sockets can
be utilized for IBP, Temperature and Cardiac Output, plus a variety of digital serial kit sets. These MULTI
sockets demand the use of custom measurement cables with valid NIHON
KOHDEN
digital hexadecimal parameter codes embedded in their connection plugs;
this is a prerequisite because the sockets are shared for many
parameters. The
parameter code informs the monitor what internal hardware and software
are needed to support a newly plugged-in measurement cable (as there are more than one type).
Unfortunately, the market reaction to the use of MULTI sockets and coded measurement cables is not what the company wanted. The end result of using flexible MULTI sockets actually translated to inadequacy of physical connector sockets for users! The insufficient amount of physical connector sockets greatly upsets users and they want their physical sockets back instead. What is the use of socket flexibility when it creates a shortage of physical sockets for users? The manufacturer is looking at the wrong way to provide the benefits of socket flexibility, more efforts and technology are needed in order to be of value to customers worldwide.
The archaic concept of a MULTI-PARAMETER UNIT (MPU) from the 1990s |
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Veiled
in secrecy, NIHON KOHDEN does not explain to the market how they could
make sockets that are flexible enough for a total five types of internal hardware, as
well as being diverted for use as serial ports for self-contained kit sets. Almost all sales and marketing people
employed in Japan Head Office have no engineering background, so there are plenty of "company
secrets" that should not be discussed with the distributors or customers.
Here
are the relevant facts, and it was a quest to find the solution for a small module with a front panel that did not have enough panel space to mount all the necessary connector sockets.

Back in the 1990s, NIHON KHODEN identified five types of analog hardware (Temperature, IBP, Cardiac Output, Thermistor-method Respiration, FiO2)
to form a hardware community that link to only two sockets meant for sharing use. These flexible communal sockets
are known as MULTI (short for multi-parameter) sockets and colored yellow.
The hardware community, known as a MULTI-PARAMETER UNIT (MPU),
was a design to minimize the number of physical sockets needed on a front panel with limited space area, resulting in an MPU with the unusual characteristics of
having more hardware than MULTI sockets. We need to view the MPU from the right perspective to understand that this is not a design to adopt when there is sufficient panel space to mount all the necessary sockets.
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