Category:
Product Review, Life Scope
modular monitoring, networking and connectivity
In
this record we examined the inside of the yellow plug designed for NIHON KOHDEN (日本光電 ) Life Scope Smart Cables.
The Purpose of the Smart Cables is to make it possible for sharing the yellow MULTI sockets
The cables with a coded yellow plug known as Smart Cables are needed to make it possible for sharing the yellow shared-use MULTI sockets. We had explained the Principles of Operation of the Life Scope Smart Cables working together with the Multi-parameter Unit (MPU). Since the MULTI sockets are being shared, the MPU needs to know what hardware is needed for each use, this is achieved by inserting a digital code in the yellow connection plug of the cable being used. In this article we are looking at the physical contents of what is inside the coded yellow plugs of a Smart Cables.
Physically, the digital code is stored in an EEPROM chip mounted on a small flexible PC board which in turn is electrically wired to the pins of the Smart Cable yellow plug. The digital code in the EEPROM is inserted at the factory and not allowed to change after production.
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| This picture shows a small printed board holding a hexadecimal digital code wired to the pins of the yellow connection plug of a Smart Cable |
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| The EEPROM in the Smart Cable is a non-volatile digital memory chip holding the hexadecimal code |
There is no analog amplifier parts in the yellow smart plug of the Smart Cables
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| The
digital code in the Smart Cable allows the MPU mechanism in the shown Input Unit to recognize it and unlock the corresponding hardware. There is no analog amplifier parts in the Smart Cable |
Explanations of Smart Cables by earlier official documents
a.
Analog circuitry components are available in the
configured Multi-parameter unit. The selection is based on a code stored on the "connection cord connector".
b. There is EEPROM in the "connection cord connector" and there is circuit in the Multi-parameter Unit to communicate with the EEPROM.
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| There is a EEPROM chip in the "connection cord connector" (plug) |
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| Size of the PC Board relative to pins of the yellow connection plug |
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| The cheap digital chip on the PC Board; you can see it is not an analog amplifier |
c.
MULTI socket channel immediately recognizes the parameter to be measured the moment you
plug a Smart Cable into it. When the Smart Cable is removed from the
MULTI socket, the monitor looses the ability to recognize the parameter and no hardware is available for use by the MULTI socket. MULTI means "multi-parameter"
d.
The digital code in the EEPROM is hexadecimal and parts of the EEPROM
are also being utilized to store erasable data like IBP site label and
IBP zero-calibration value.
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| The MPU shows the vital sign parameter when a Smart Cable is plugged in (Model BSM-2300) |
The hexadecimal code stored in the plugs for below two types of
transducers is identical since they are using the same hardware.
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| The hexadecimal code stored in the plugs of these two sensors are identical since the parameter and needed hardware are similar |
It should be pointed out one Smart Cable can be utilized for two channels of
Temperature; this is not true for IBP channels.
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| This
yellow plug is coded for temperature measurement hardware selection and has enough wires for two channels of
temperature measurements |
Under
US FDA rule, a cable is only a cable if it does not change the signal
that passes through it. A Smart Cable with an identity code is just a
cable but if it has an amplifier it becomes a medical device and
requires FDA registration. The FDA records do not tell us the Smart Cables are medical devices.
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| US FDA records tell us there is no module embedded in the cable |