The networking of the many computer-controlled medical devices available in a modern operating room (OR) has been gaining in importance for years, because it is the only way to meet the clinical need for more safety, efficiency and ergonomics in the OR. A challenge so far was the networking of devices from different manufacturers. Here, the German research project “OR.NET – Secure Dynamic Networking in the Operating Room and Clinic” (2012-2016) laid important foundations in the form of a service-oriented communication protocol for the dynamic cross-vendor networking of medical devices, which is now part of the ISO/IEEE 11073 “Service-oriented Device Connectivity” series of standards, an internationally recognized standard.

However, a problem in the use of the new standards so far was that manufacturers can model the network representation of similar devices differently, which complicates the integration into a system of networked medical devices as well as testing and approval of networked devices. This is where the project “PoCSpec – Modular Specializations for Point-of-Care Medical Devices”, co-ordinated by OFFIS and funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, from 2019 – 2021 came in. The project developed additions to the ISO/IEEE 11073 family of standards that specified the networking requirements for specific device categories, i.e. the scope, structure and significance of the data and services offered in the network as well as the behavior of the device at runtime, so that devices from different manufacturers can be uniformly monitored and controlled via the network. This was implemented as an example for two particularly complex device categories: endoscopy and high-frequency surgery.