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 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. Using these flexible MULTI sockets means a certain amount of physical connector sockets are missing from the monitor, which upsets users. The failure means 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 shortage of physical connector sockets in Life Scope VS bedside monitors is a serious usage inflexibility for users.
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 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 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.

To access each type of hardware, an external measurement cable with a digital parameter code stored in its plug needs to be inserted into one of the two MULTI sockets. These measurement cables that come with yellow coded plugs are collectively cited as Smart Cables by the manufacturer and each embedded digital parameter code pinpoints the exact type of internal hardware and software needed by a particular measurement cable.
Each yellow MULTI socket allows only one channel of the internal
hardware, except for Temperature allowing up to two channels of hardware.
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As an exception, a MULTI socket can link up to two channels of Temperature hardware |
Note the hardware mentioned here (Temperature, IBP, Cardiac Output, Thermistor Respiration and FiO2) are linked to the shared-use MULTI socket internally, and not from the outside |
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An external measurement cable with a valid digital code embedded in its plug selects the intended internal hardware (only if available) |
Below image shows the MULTI-PARAMETER UNIT (MPU), complete with two yellow MULTI sockets for communal sharing. An external Smart Cable with a valid parameter code selects the needed hardware in the MPU using one of the two MULTI sockets.
Based on the fact that all MULTI sockets must be capable of doing IBP
monitoring, and the logic that IBP hardware should not be more than the number of MULTI sockets, the IBP hardware are therefore not placed in the common pool for sharing; instead, each MULTI socket comes with its own dedicated
IBP hardware.

A MULTI socket can only access its own dedicated IBP hardware, and makes use of its when
an IBP measurement cable is plugged into it. For non-IBP
monitoring, both MULTI sockets can access the common sharing pool comprising Temperature, Cardiac
Output, Thermistor Respiration and FiO2 hardware in the MPU.
The company observed with disappointment that the quantity of MULTI sockets in the MPU is not a number
that can be decided at will, but corresponds exactly to the number
of internal IBP hardware
channels that are intended to be placed inside each MPU. This characteristics is highly undesirable for using the MULTI sockets in a practical way.
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This is a process of adding sockets, not monitoring parameters |
Given the
large amount of hardware in the MPU, more MULTI sockets are needed to
make good
use of the hardware that would otherwise be idling. As illustrated, this is achieved by using an external expansion box
filled with more MULTI sockets (each with own dedicated IBP amplifier
hardware).