1. A method for controlling a memory device, comprising:
storing device class dependent information and a command in one or more of host system memory and host controller memory, wherein the device class dependent information and the command are associated with a memory device external to a host system that includes one or more of host system memory and host controller memory;
setting a pointer to the command in a register in a host controller;
directing access of the memory device to the command in the one or more of host system memory and host controller memory using the pointer via the host controller; and
executing the command with the memory device.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein directing access to the host system memory includes managing direct memory access (DMA) of data and providing flow control of data between a host and the memory device with the host controller.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein directing access to the host system memory includes managing DMA of data and providing flow control without host processor intervention.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the method includes storing device class independent information in one or more registers in the host controller.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein storing device class independent information includes storing one or more types of information selected from the group including:
device control and interrupt information;
device enabledisable information;
device power state controlstatus information;
one or more pointers to device-class dependent information in the host system memory;
one or more pointers to commands in the host system memory;
a particular device class associated with a particular transaction layer register entry; and
a reset command.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the command is written with small computer system interface (SCSI) protocol.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the command is modified with the device class dependent information and the device class independent information.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein directing access to the one or more of host system memory and host controller memory with the memory device via the host controller includes providing access to a read command and a write command and executing the read command and write command with the memory device.
9. A method for operating a memory device, comprising:
storing device class dependent information in a memory array;
building a read command in the memory array with a host system processor based on the device class dependent information;
locating the read command in the memory array using a pointer stored in a register in a host controller, wherein the pointer indicates the location of the read command in the memory array;
sending the read command from the memory array to the memory device via a host system controller, wherein the memory device is external to a host system that includes the memory array; and
executing the read command with the memory device by initiating a direct memory access (DMA) write from the memory device to the memory array with the memory device.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the method includes:
allocating data space in the memory array for the read command data with the host system processor; and
setting an identifier associated with the read command with the host system processor, wherein the identifier indicates a location of the data space in the memory array for the read command data.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein the identifier is a segment identifier (SID) and wherein the SID locates a base address in a SID table in the one or more of host system memory and host controller memory for the location of read command data.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein the SID identifies a range of addresses in the one or more of host system memory and host controller memory indicating valid locations for the read command data.
13. The method of claim 10, wherein the method includes initiating a memory write to the data space allocated in the memory array at the location indicated by the identifier associated with the read command by the memory device.
14. The method of claim 9, wherein the memory array is a memory array type selected from the group including host system memory and host controller memory.
15. The method of claim 9, wherein the method includes updating the read command with a completion status in the memory array with the memory device.
16. A memory system, comprising:
a host system that includes a host controller having host controller memory and a host processor coupled to the host controller; and
one or more memory devices each coupled to at least one other of the one or more memory devices and to the host system via a bus, wherein the one or more memory devices are external to the host system,
wherein the host controller locates commands in host system memory andor host controller memory using a pointer in a register in the host controller to the commands based on device class dependent information stored in the host system memory andor host controller memory, transmits the commands to the one or more memory devices, and the one or more memory devices execute the commands with a memory device controller on the one or more memory devices to read data from andor write data to the one or more memory devices.
17. The system of claim 16, wherein the host controller has a hardware port and a peripheral device is coupled to the hardware port.
18. The system of claim 17, wherein the host controller transmits commands built by the host processor in the host system memory andor the host controller memory to the number of memory devices to read data from andor write data to the peripheral device.
19. The system of claim 16, wherein the host controller transmits commands built by the host processor in the host system memory andor the host controller memory to the number of memory devices to read data from andor write data to system memory.
20. The system of claim 16, wherein the host controller transmits commands built by the host processor in the host system memory andor the host controller memory to the number of memory devices to read data from andor write data to host controller memory.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A nuclear medicine scanner system, comprising:
an intelligent scheduler which schedules a plurality of patients, each for an ordered nuclear medicine scanning procedure with a nuclear medicine scanning device based on data mined from prior patients with like scanning procedures and in a time window which minimizes the patient dose.
2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the time window includes
a time and an amount of a unit radiopharmaceutical dosage based on the ordered procedure, at least one patient characteristic and the arrival time; and
a time and a duration of a scanning procedure based on the time and dosage of the radiopharmaceutical, patient loadingunloading requirements, and the ordered procedure.
3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the data mined includes selecting andor grouping of data from prior patients by at least one of:
radiopharmaceutical;
administered unit dose of radiopharmaceutical;
a region of interest;
patient weight;
disease;
a scan protocol;
wait times from administering a radiopharmaceutical until scanning;
image quality;
scan duration;
time of day;
type of scanning device;
device options;
hours of operation; and
best practice of nuclear medicine.
4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the schedule of the plurality of patients for a day is optimized which includes adjusting the schedule of at least one patient to fit into the available time window by extending the time window and reducing the administered dose.
5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the schedule of the plurality of patients is optimized over a span of a plurality of days based on the time needed for a quality image and a minimum dose for each patient compared with a group of prior patients, and including hours of operation and staffing breaks.
6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the patient characteristics includes at least one of:
a mass of the patient;
a maximum time the patient can spend on a patient support of the scanning device.
7. The system according to claim 2, wherein the loadingunloading requirements include a measure of patient mobility based on at least one of:
an age of the patient;
a mass of the patient;
a height-mass ratio of the patient;
whether the patient is ambulatory;
whether the patient is conscious.
8. The system according to claim 1, further including:
a tracking unit which tracks each received ordered unit dose of the radiopharmaceutical, the decay of each radiopharmaceutical with time, and the intended patient; and
a forecasting unit which based on tracked unit doses of radiopharmaceuticals, and the arrival of the plurality of scheduled patients, forecasts:
the time to administer to each tracked unit dosage of radiopharmaceutical to each patient;
the time and duration to load each patient into the scanning device;
the time and duration to perform the ordered scanning procedure; and
the time and duration to unload each patient from the scanning device.
9. The system according to claim 7, wherein the forecasting unit revises the forecast based on at least one of:
a cancellation to the schedule;
an emergency addition to the schedule;
a delay in receiving of the unit doses ordered radiopharmaceutical;
a loss of at least one unit dose of radiopharmaceutical;
a delay in administering the radiopharmaceutical to at least one patient;
a delay in loading andor unloading the patient; and
a delay due to an extended scan procedure.
10. The system according to claim 7, wherein the forecasting unit includes \u201cwhat if\u201d scenarios based on at least one proposed change to at least one patient schedule and the forecast unit forecasts the changes to all scheduled patients affected by the at least one proposed change to the at least one patient schedule as an alternative forecast.
11. A method of scheduling nuclear medicine imaging, comprising:
scheduling a plurality of patients, each for an ordered nuclear medicine scanning procedure with a nuclear medicine scanning device based on data mined from prior patients with like scanning procedures and in a time window which minimizes the patient dose.
12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the time window includes:
a time and an amount of a unit radiopharmaceutical dosage based on the ordered procedure, at least one patient characteristic and the arrival time; and
a time and a duration of a scanning procedure based on the time and dosage of the radiopharmaceutical, patient loadingunloading requirements, and the ordered procedure.
13. The method according to claim 14, wherein data mining further includes:
selecting times and durations of scanning procedures of prior patient scanning procedures based on at least one of:
radiopharmaceutical;
administered unit dose of radiopharmaceutical;
a region of interest;
a scan protocol;
scan duration;
time of day;
type of scanning device;
device options;
hours of operation; and
best practice guidelines.
14. The method according to claim 11, further including:
adjusting the schedule of at least one patient to fit into the available time window by extending the time window and reducing the administered dose.
15. The method according to claim 11, further including:
optimizing the schedule of the plurality of patients over a plurality of days based on the time needed for a quality image and a minimum dose for each patient compared with a group of prior patients, and including hours of operation and staffing breaks.
16. The method according to claim 11, further including:
tracking each received ordered unit dose of the radiopharmaceutical, the decay of each radiopharmaceutical with time, and the associated dosage for each patient; and
forecasting based on tracked unit doses of radiopharmaceuticals, and the arrival of the plurality of scheduled patients:
the time to administer to each tracked unit dosage of radiopharmaceutical to each associated patient;
the time and duration to load each patient into the scanning device;
the time and duration to perform the ordered scanning procedure; and
the time and duration to unload each patient from the scanning device.
17. The method according to claim 16, further including:
revising the forecast based on at least one of:
a cancellation to the schedule;
an emergency addition to the schedule;
a delay in receiving of the unit doses ordered radiopharmaceutical;
a loss of at least one unit dose of radiopharmaceutical;
a delay in administering the radiopharmaceutical to at least one patient;
a delay in loading andor unloading the patient; and
a delay due to an extended scan procedure.
18. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium carrying software which controls one or more electronic data processing devices to perform the method according to claim 11.
19. An electronic data processing device configured to perform the method according to claim 11.
20. A nuclear medicine scanner system, comprising:
at least one processor configured to:
schedule a plurality of patients for an ordered nuclear medicine scanning procedure for a nuclear medicine scanning device, each patient scheduled for:
an arrival date and time;
a time and an amount of a unit radiopharmaceutical dosage based on the ordered procedure, the patient characteristics and the arrival time; and
a time and duration of a scanning procedure based on the time and dosage of the radiopharmaceutical, patient loadingunloading requirements, and the ordered procedure; and
forecast based on received unit doses of radiopharmaceuticals, and the arrival of the plurality of scheduled patients:
the time to administer to each received unit dosage of radiopharmaceutical to each patient;
the time and duration to load each patient into the scanning device;
the time and duration to perform the ordered scanning procedure; and
the time and duration to unload each patient from the scanning device.
21. A nuclear medicine scanner system, comprising:
at least one processor configured to:
track a plurality of received ordered unit doses of radiopharmaceuticals and each tracked unit dose includes a decay of each radiopharmaceutical dose with time, and an intended patient with a scheduled arrival time and with an ordered scanning procedure; and
forecast based on data mined about use of a scanning device, the tracked unit doses of radiopharmaceuticals, and an arrival of each patient:
a time to administer each tracked unit dose to each patient,
a time and duration to load each patient into the scanning device,
a time and duration to perform the ordered scanning procedure with the scanning device, and
a time and duration to unload each patient from the scanning device.