card-iac-pen
Client: Telbus GmbH (now Telmed Medizintechnik GmbH)
- Development Period: 1992 - 2001 (in several stages)
- Period of use: since 1993
- Size of the code base: around 150,000 lines of code
Telbus GmbH is a medium sized company that specializes in the development and manufacture of highly integrated applications of microsystems technology and biophysical measurement systems.
Statement of the problem
The card-iac-pen (TM) is a portable ECG device in stick form. One electrode is suitable for fitting into a lab coat pocket like a ball point pen. Despite the unfavourable arrangement of the electrodes determined by the shape of the housing, the card-iac-pen has the ability to record and save clinically usable electrocardiograms. The microcontroller working in the card-iac-pen manages the measurement data memory and detects the patient's heartbeats.
Our Services
FORTecH Software carried out the development of the microcontroller firmware and the PC-end communication interface. To fulfil the requirements of EN ISO 13485, we worked within the guidelines of the client's quality management system.
The firmware includes the following range of functions:
- Real-time operating system without using a standard operating system,
- Recording of ECG signals with an optional input of additional symptoms,
- Detection of stable skin contact,
- Heartbeat detection and frequency calculation,
- Dialog management via keypad and LCD display,
- IrDA communication with the involvement of an external library,
- Remote configuration and read-out of the data to the physician's workplace,
- Connection to the mobile phone network for transmission of ECG data to a control centre,
- Secure update of the firmware via the infrared interface.
The PC-end software included the following components:
- a communications library for optional connection via IrDA or mobile phone network,
- an update program for updating the firmware via IrDA,
- various configuration and diagnostic programs for production and service.