Panning a display of a portable medical device

In a medical device having a display element, a method of providing an intuitive graphical display of patient data, the method comprising:

• obtaining measurement data corresponding to values of a physiological characteristic measured over a period of time;
• rendering a graphical representation of a portion of the measurement data on the display element, resulting in a display of the values of the physiological characteristic measured during a first interval of the period of time;
• thereafter, processing a user-initiated display panning command;
• in response to the user-initiated display panning command, dynamically panning the graphical representation while updating the portion of the measurement data;
• and
• thereafter, rendering a display of the values of the physiological characteristic measured during a second interval of the period of time.

A medical device comprising:

• at least one memory element configured to store physiological characteristic data corresponding to values of a physiological characteristic for a patient;
• a graphics engine configured to generate image rendering display commands associated with the physiological characteristic data;
• a display element coupled to the graphics engine, the display element configured to receive the image rendering display commands and, in response thereto, render visual representations of the physiological characteristic data;
• and
• a human-machine interface element operatively coupled to the graphics engine, and configured to generate display shifting commands in response to user interaction therewith;
• wherein
• the display element renders a visual representation of the physiological characteristic data such that it corresponds to a first time interval;
• and
• in response to a display shifting command generated by the human-machine interface element, the display element updates the visual representation of the physiological characteristic data such that it corresponds to a second time interval.