scope:

The scope of this standard is a communication protocol specification for a distributed system of point-of-care (PoC) medical devices and medical IT systems that need to exchange data or safely control networked PoC medical devices by defining a profile for Web Service specifications and defining additional Web Service specifications as part of this standard.

Purpose

Currently, there is no part of the 11073 standard series that allows plug-and-play-enabled communication of medical devices in an Internet Protocol (IP)-based distributed PoC medical device communication system. Therefore, this standard defines a discovery, messaging, and event propagation method for a distributed PoC medical device communication system based on Web Services. Moreover, it proposes a set of protocols that allow advertisement of STREAMs (e.g., waveforms) as well as provision of remote control in a safe way. For this purpose, the Devices Profile for Web Services (DPWS) is used as a communication foundation and tailored to be utilized in a distributed PoC medical device communication system.

This standard can be used for any diagnostic, therapeutic, or monitoring communication needs where PoC medical devices shall be able to discover communication partners, exchange virtual device descriptions, provide and consume event-driven data, and enable safe remote control.