Electronic key convey solution for in-hospital medical body area network (MBAN) systems

A electronic key conveyance system of a medical institution, comprising:

• a control point receiving one or more electronic keys from a coordinator of an MBAN spectrum, each of the electronic keys authorizing the medical institution to use at least a portion of the MBAN spectrum;
• a channel regulator generating by a processor one or more channel use rules based on the electronic keys, the channel use rules authorizing MBAN systems of the medical institution to use the at least a portion of the MBAN spectrum;
• and,
• one or more access points and/or ports receiving the channel use rules from the channel regulator and notifying the MBAN systems of presently authorized portions of the MBAN spectrum based on the channel use rules;
• wherein each of the access points and/or ports maintains channel use rules received from the channel regulator in a queue and notifies MBAN systems connecting and/or associated therewith of presently authorized portions of the MBAN spectrum based on the channel use rules in the queue.

A method for conveying an electronic key throughout a medical institution, comprising:

• receiving one or more electronic keys from a coordinator of an MBAN spectrum, each of the electronic keys authorizing the medical institution to use at least a portion of the MBAN spectrum;
• generating, by a processor that is separate from the coordinator, one or more channel use rules based on the electronic keys, the channel use rules authorizing MBAN systems of the medical institution to use the at least a portion of the MBAN spectrum, wherein each of the channel use rules includes an MBAN type and a listing of authorized channels for the MBAN type, the MBAN type corresponding to MBAN communication standard, and the channel use rules are generated to prevent overlapping usage of the MBAN spectrum by different types of MBAN systems;
• and,
• notifying the MBAN systems of presently authorized portions of the MBAN spectrum based on the channel use rules.