NIHON KOHDEN Life Scope J (BSM-9101) Bedside Monitor

Category: NIHON KOHDEN (日本光電) Life Scope monitoring history from the 1990s. This article discussed the attempt to pass off the yellow MULTI sockets as an innovative modular design and using the old modular rack of Life Scope BSS-9800 to mislead the market Life Scope J is a modular monitor.

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NIHON KOHDEN Life Scope Patient Monitors Struggling The Disruptive Digital Revolution (V)

 

 

THE MAGIC SHOW

 

Where fear is, there is your task -  Carl Jung

In order not to reveal to the market NIHON KOHDEN had already given up development to make modular monitors, the modular Life Scope S and Life Scope M were still being actively promoted on brochures. Since it could not be for sales improvement, its real purpose was to continue the impression the company is still capable of making modular monitors.

The failed modular monitors continued to appear in later promotion brochure in order to hide the truth from the market

About 9 years after the launch of modular Life Scope S Bedside Station, a new Life Scope J (BSM-9101) purporting to be a modular bedside monitor was released for export.

 

Instead of working on a new measurement LAN, what we saw was a bizarre attempt to hide the missing technology platform essential for modular monitors. The Corporate Director spearheading the Life Scope J bedside monitor project was thus asked to step down from the board in 2006, and had to leave the company because of the seriousness of his incompetence (this happened before June 29, 2006).

 

From subsequent behavior, we know the manufacturer had already crossed the Rubicon, and there was no turning back on Life Scope J bedside monitor. Major ramifications from the market, however, cannot be avoided when the real situation is fully understood by the market.

 

Life Scope J (BSM-9101) Bedside Monitor was finally released in June 2007 (after what was an unusually long delay, apparently as a result of new information curtailment policy and staying vague).

 

The processing main unit was MU-910R, complete with an AY-920PA Input Unit similar in structure to the Saturn module. It is important to ask when will they end this all?

 

Just like the Saturn module, the AY-920PA Input Unit contains huge amount of hardware and continued to use an internal MPU sharing four flexible yellow MULTI sockets. These four yellow sockets are of course not enough, additional MULTI sockets can be linked to AY-920PA Input Unit using an external AA-910P expansion box. The integration of AA-910P to AY-920PA is analog, and again limited to a maximum of four MULTI sockets to avoid signal degradation.

The patient monitoring hardware inside the AY-920PA Input Unit are divided into a conventional block and an MPU block. The conventional block uses dedicated sockets and ordinary measurement cables while the MPU block makes use of Smart Cables with different parameter code for different hardware.

CONVENTIONAL BLOCK

- 2 channels of Temperature

- ECG

- SpO2

- NIBP

MPU BLOCK with four MULTI sockets

- 4 channels of IBP

- 6 channels of Temperature (3 MULTI sockets = 6-ch TEMP)

- Cardiac Output

- Thermistor Respiration

- FiO2

- <MULTI socklets as serial ports> Mainstream CO2, 2nd SpO2, BIS and NMT 

Note:

Other options such as Sidestream CO2, Multi-gas, EEG etc., are connected using the external device interface, and not via MULTI sockets.

The configured Life Scope J Bedside Monitor was masquerading as a modular monitor

The market communication was meticulously executed to portray Life Scope J (BSM-9101) bedside monitor as a modular monitor when it is a true-blue configured monitor.

Life Scope J bedside monitor appears to be a modular monitor in this brochure image

In above brochure image, Life Scope J (on the right) shown using 12 yellow MULTI sockets was an impossible configuration; there was obvious intention to hide the fact only four MULTI sockets can be added using an external box. If 12 MULTI sockets are realized, it also means 12 channels of IBP; this is a monitor, not polygraph.

This is a fake configuration, since AY-920PA Input Unit can only make use of one AA-910P expansion unit

In the next picture, you can see the AY-920PA Input Unit was designed in a shape that when combined with the recorder make Life Scope J (BSM-9101) bedside monitor (left) closely resemble the Life Scope S (BSS-9800) bedside station with a 8-slot module rack filled with modules (right).

Life Scope J bedside monitor was configured while Life Scope S bedside station was modular

In other words, Life Scope J bedside monitor was intentionally designed in appearance to look like an updated version of the Life Scope S bedside station.

The components making up a Life Scope J (BSM-9101) bedside monitor system is shown in next picture. The connection from MU-910R Main Unit to AY-920PA Input Unit is using the same connector type utilized by BSS-9800 bedside station, to give the impression the old modular racks can be daisy-chained to the AY-920A Input Unit.

Why was there a need for a failed module rack? The module list also confirmed there was no new module added.

Life Scope J Bedside Monitor is not a modular monitor

 

The purpose of the old module rack and old modules were there for the powerful association of Life Scope J with modular monitors in the minds of the intended audience (including employees). It was a powerful way to get the audience to nod their heads when making claim that Life Scope J is a modular monitor. It was a magic show.

Without offering a new measurement LAN network, connecting to the old module rack was just a pretense, and exposed after they were discontinued without replacements.

There was no replacements for discontinued module rack and modules

The Input Unit and expansion box of Life Scope J bedside monitor is only the equivalence of Life Scope S modular monitor's Saturn module and expansion boxes.

Life Scope J bedside monitor has to depend on external device interface for real expansion

Without a measurement LAN network, The Life Scope J (BSM-9101) Bedside Monitor main unit cannot reach any individual module, including the recorder. If you inspect the connection, the recorder can only be connected to the main unit by direct wire. External device interface on the AY-920PA Input Unit and on MU-910R Main Unit is the link to third party devices to add more monitoring parameters, in addition to using serial kit sets. It is just like any configured patient monitor in the market.

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