Image Stream Medical receives patent for LiveStream™ digital collaboration platform with patient privacy protection

LITTLETON, Mass., April 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Image Stream Medical announces receipt of Patent 8,401,869 for its LiveStream (link) family of video streaming products.  LiveStream enables the unique ability to allow digital video based collaboration between surgical operating rooms and remote clinicians while supporting HIPAA requirements such as patient privacy protection. 

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Surgery is a complex orchestration of people, technology, and patient data with strict guidelines on patient privacy, sterility, and safety all while delivering the best clinical outcome to the patient. New technology and new procedures are continuously evolving, making the challenges ever more difficult in an environment of increasing demands for productivity and cost-effectiveness.  Increasingly, specialists and clinicians are asked to participate in procedures to consult or to assess progress without physically traveling to and scrubbing in to the specific procedure. 

Filed provisionally on August 24, 2005, this LiveStream patent provides clinical stakeholders the ability to remotely visualize and interact with the operating room, improving patient care and staff productivity without requiring their physical presence in the room. 

The technology introduced in the LiveStream invention includes a unique triad of continuously-streamed video, audio and contextual data such as room state or procedure status.  The inclusion of contextual data in the triad enables the recognition of clinical situations such as when an operating room is visible or in patient privacy mode. Rooms in privacy mode do not allow remote connections and provide the unique ability to either grant or deny viewing privileges to a remote viewer. LiveStream also includes an innovative automated brokering system that uses a virtual "ticketing" system to grant access only by authorized users and only to live data they are authorized to view at that time.  Once the system grants ticketed access, the specialist can see and hear the operating room in real time to provide expertise at critical times during surgery, saving time and improving access.

This patent is the first in what will be a series of patents that augment Image Stream Medical's leadership in the Digital Operating Room field. The inventors, Pete Renzi and Eddie Mitchell, have pioneered medical video recording, routing, and streaming technology for the critical care environment.  Eddie Mitchell, CEO and President of Image Stream commented, "As surgical technology advances, more specialized devices and clinical skills are required in the operating environment.  LiveStream's unique technology allows access to real-time streaming of audio, video and operating room context in a way that improves care and protects patient privacy.  For example, a pathologist can provide a remote consultation by 'looking over the surgeon's shoulder' or a nurse can check on surgical progress to more efficiently plan the next case." 

ABOUT US:
Founded in 1999, Image Stream Medical, Inc. is a leader in Operating Room Integration.  The company has a long track record of innovation in the field and has emerged as the premier solution provider for the control, routing, capture and management of surgical images.  Image Stream's EasySuite™ OR Integration interfaces with any standard video assisted surgical equipment.  Image Stream's digital image management products are currently being utilized by leading institutions in surgical disciplines such as neurosurgery, cardiac, thoracic, vascular, endovascular, otolaryngology, ophthalmology, gynecology, trauma, urology, plastic and general surgery. 

SOURCE Image Stream Medical, Inc.