Distributed fault tolerant architecture for a healthcare communication system

摘要

A healthcare communication system includes a first plurality of computer devices operable as a nurse call system. The first plurality of computer devices has core nurse call functionality. The system also includes a second plurality of computer devices communicatively coupled to the first plurality of computer devices. The first plurality of computer devices are interconnected logically and/or physically in a tiered architecture arrangement to provide fault isolation among the tiers so that faults occurring in computer devices of one tier don't affect the operability of computer devices in other tiers and so that faults occurring in any of the second plurality of computer devices don't affect the core nurse call functionality of the first plurality of computer devices.

主权项

1. A healthcare communication system comprising:
a first plurality of computer devices operable as a nurse call system, the first plurality of computer devices having core nurse call functionality residing on an embedded computing platform, at least one of the first plurality of computer devices having a graphical display screen, and a second plurality of computer devices operable to provide the first plurality of computer devices with additional functionality via at least one software plug-in that is transmitted from at least one of the second plurality of computer devices to at least one of the first plurality of computer devices.