Apparatus and methods for managing blood pressure vital sign content in an electronic anesthesia record

Abstract

A graphical user interface and methods for managing blood pressure vital sign content in an electronic anesthesia record on a multi-function gesture-sensitive device via gesture-based means. The graphical user interface and methods give an improved user interface and set of functions via novel functions unique to gesture sensitive interfaces.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method, performed by an application program and shown within an application program window, on a gesture-sensitive device, for editing blood pressure vital sign content in an electronic anesthesia record, via gesture based means, the method comprising the steps of:
 (a) performing a first gesture to place the application program into an edit mode;   (b) performing a second gesture, the focus of which forms an initial vertex of a rectangle;   (c) performing a third gesture, wherein the user will move the focus of the third gesture away from the initial vertex and in doing so expanding the area of the rectangle while the application program displays the rectangle in the application program window;   (d) performing a fourth gesture over any portion of the rectangle and moving the rectangle to a new location, wherein upon completion of the fourth gesture, the application program will relocate all bounded blood pressure vital sign content from their original position in the application program window to their new position as determined by the location of the bounding rectangle and their relative location therein;   (e) performing the first gesture a second time to take the application program out of edit mode.   
     
     
         2 . A computer-implemented method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises the step of changing the background color of a portion of the application program window to indicate the application program is in edit mode. 
     
     
         3 . A computer-implemented method, performed by an application program and shown within an application program window, on a gesture-sensitive device, for inspecting blood pressure vital sign content in an electronic anesthesia record, via gesture based means, the method comprising the steps of:
 (a) performing a first gesture to place the application program into an inspect mode;   (b) performing a second gesture, the focus of which forms an initial vertex of a rectangle;   (c) performing a third gesture, wherein the user will move the focus of the third gesture away from the initial vertex and in doing so expanding the area of the rectangle while the application program displays the rectangle in the application program window, wherein the application program will display additional information about the blood pressure vital sign content bounded by the rectangle, the additional information comprising, the pressure in mmHg if it is a pressure value and the beats per minute if it is a heart rate value;   (d) performing the first gesture a second time to take the application program out of inspect mode.   
     
     
         4 . A computer-implemented method, performed by an application program and shown within an application program window, on a gesture-sensitive device, for scale-shifting in an electronic anesthesia record, via gesture based means, the method comprising the steps of:
 (a) performing a first gesture on a grid at least a portion of which is displayed in the application program window, the grid having rows representing a scale of blood pressure values from low to high, the grid having a first horizontal region spanning a low range of blood pressure values, a second horizontal region spanning the intermediate range of blood pressure values and a third horizontal region spanning a high range of blood pressure values, the first horizontal region having a first increment between rows, the first gesture causing the application program to change the increment from the first increment to a second increment in the first horizontal region, the second increment being smaller than the first increment, the third horizontal region having a first increment and the application program in response to the first gesture changes the first increment to a second increment, the first increment being smaller than the second increment;   (b) performing the first gesture an optional second time in the first horizontal region wherein the application program changes the increment from the second increment to a third increment such that the third increment is smaller than the second increment.   
     
     
         5 . A computer-implemented method as recited in  claim 4 , wherein the first horizontal region spans the range of 0 mmHg to 49 mmHg. 
     
     
         6 . A computer-implemented method as recited in  claim 4 , wherein the second horizontal region spans the range of 50 mmHg to 150 mmHg. 
     
     
         7 . A computer-implemented method as recited in  claim 4 , wherein the third horizontal region spans the range of 150 mmHg to 220 mmHg. 
     
     
         8 . A computer-implemented method as recited in  claim 4 , wherein the first increment is 10 mmHg per row. 
     
     
         9 . A computer-implemented method as recited in  claim 4 , wherein the second increment is 5 mmHg per row. 
     
     
         10 . A computer-implemented method as recited in  claim 4 , wherein the third increment is 1 mmHg per row. 
     
     
         11 . A computer-implemented method as recited in  claim 4 , wherein the application program changes the background color of the first horizontal region after the first gesture from a first color to a second color. 
     
     
         12 . A computer-implemented method, performed by an application program and shown within an application program window, on a gesture-sensitive device, for deleting pre-existing blood pressure vital sign content in an electronic anesthesia record, via gesture based means, the method comprising the steps of:
 (a) performing a first gesture to place the application program into a delete mode;   (b) performing a second gesture over pre-existing blood pressure vital sign content and deleting that content as the focus of the second gesture passes over it;   (c) performing the first gesture a second time to take the application program out of delete mode.   
     
     
         13 . A computer-implemented method as recited in  claim 12 , wherein the method further comprises the step of changing the background color of a portion of the application program window to indicate the application program is in delete mode. 
     
     
         14 . A computer-implemented method, performed by an application program and shown within an application program window, on a gesture-sensitive device, for time-shifting in an electronic anesthesia record, via gesture based means, the method comprising the step of:
 (a) performing a gesture on a grid at least a portion of which is displayed in the application program window, the grid having columns representing increments of time, with time advancing from left to right, such that the application program in response to the gesture, changes the increment between at least two columns from a lower resolution to a higher resolution.   
     
     
         15 . A computer-implemented method as recited in  claim 14 , wherein the method further comprises the step of changing the background color of the columns whose resolution the application program made higher in response to the gesture. 
     
     
         16 . A computer-implemented method, performed by an application program and shown within an application program window, on a gesture-sensitive device, for expanding and magnifying at least a portion of the application program window, in an electronic anesthesia record, via gesture based means, the method comprising the step of:
 (b) performing a gesture on the application program window, the application program window being divided into at least a first and second area, each first and second area when separately gestured will expand to substantially fill the application program window and the content of the area under gesture will be magnified by a first magnification   (c) performing the gesture an optional second time, in response to which, the application program will increase the magnification of the area under gesture, now substantially filling the application program window, by a second magnification.