Multimedia Features of a Dynamically Adaptive Telemedicine System

A dynamically adaptive multidisciplinary work station (DAMDW) architecture delivers very good multimedia telemedicine service. The DAMDW is a Unix workstation with software components that operate on various computer architectures. It adapts to the specialty of the physician and to the bandwidth available to the participating health care centers. The network flexibility of the DAMDW makes it usable in an existing telecommunications infrastructure while incorporating advances in computer and communication technology. This feature prevents early obsolescence. The DAMDW utilizes most telecommunications services. This allows multimedia features that improve with increased bandwidth without discarding capital equipment. It also simpli$es connectivity to standard local area networks (LANs) in hospitals.