Hand held medical prescription transcriber and printer unit

• US 20020099534A1
• Filed: 01/25/2001
• Published: 07/25/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rodan Enterprises, LLC (LCI Industries)
• Original Assignee: Rodan Enterprises, LLC (LCI Industries)
• Inventors: Hegarty, David D.
• Granted Patent: US 6,889,190 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/2
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 15/00 ICT specially adapted for medical reports, e.g. generation or transmission thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/10 relating to drugs or medications, e.g. for ensuring correct administration to patients
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 70/40 relating to drugs, e.g. their side effects or intended usage

Abstract

This invention relates to a unitary hand held medical prescription transcriber and printing unit. More specifically, a small, portable electronic device is provided which can record words spoken by a physician and from those words generate a printed medical prescription that is delivered directly from the device itself. The unit digitizes words spoken by the user, processes the speech to recognize the words spoken by comparing the acoustic spectral characteristics of the spoken words to the characteristics of a database of known words, formats those words in the form of a prescription, and prints the prescription onto paper using a small integral printer contained in the unit. In a alternate embodiment, the unit may display the prescription on a liquid crystal display screen and the user may edit the prescription before printing a hard copy. The unit assists in accurate dispensing of medicines by providing a legible prescription printout, while at the same time being neither time consuming nor difficult to operate.

Claims

1. A hand held unitary medical prescription transcriber and printer unit comprising:

structure of a size to be conveniently held in a user'"'"'s hand, said structure including

a voice responsive input device which converts the user'"'"'s spoken word acoustic inputs into analog signals,

a converter operable to convert said analog signals into corresponding outputted digital signals,

a database of medical prescription information stored in digital format,

a combination of digital signal and digital data matching code segments operable to match outputted digital signals from the converter with corresponding digital data stored in the database,

components for retrieving the digital data stored in the database which matches the digital signals outputted from the converter and to format the retrieved digital data from the database into a form representative of a medical prescription, and

an integral printer operable to receive the formatted digital data from the components and to print out the prescription information as readable hard copy directly from the unit.

2. A hand held medical transcriber and printer unit as set forth in claim 1, wherein said voice responsive device includes a microphone.

3. A hand held medical transcriber and printer unit as set forth in claim 1, wherein said voice responsive device is voice activated.

4. A hand held medical transcriber and printer unit as set forth in claim 1, wherein as provided an on off switch controlling operation of the voice responsive device.

5. A hand held medical transcriber and printer unit as set forth in claim 1, wherein is provided a storage element for the database information, said element being removably mounted in said structure for periodic updating of the database.

6. A hand held medical transcriber and printer unit as set forth in claim 1, wherein said combination of code segments includes speech recognition code segments.

7. A hand held medical transcriber and printer unit as set forth in claim 1, wherein is provided a programmable read-only memory module containing code segments coordinating operation of the voice responsive input device, the converter, the matching code segments, the digital data retrieving and formatting components, and the printer.

8. A hand held medical transcriber and printer unit as set forth in claim 1, wherein is included random access memory for temporary storage of the outputted digital signals from the converter and said matching code segments.

9. A hand held medical transcriber and printer unit as set forth in claim 1, wherein said printer is a thermal printer.

10. A hand held medical transcriber and printer unit as set forth in claim 1, wherein is included a recorder for recording each prescription which is transcribed and printed out by the unit permitting downloading thereof to a remote site and/or to provide a history of prescriptions written over a predetermined period of time.

11. A hand held medical transcriber and printer unit as set forth in claim 1, wherein is provided a display screen operable to display the prescription information in readable word form prior to printing thereof.

12. A hand held medical transcriber and printer unit as set forth in claim 11, wherein is provided edit code segments permitting the user of the hand held unit to change the prescription information after viewing the readout thereof on the display screen.

13. A hand held medical transcriber and printer unit as set forth in claim 11, wherein is provided alternate prescription information code segments operable to display a selection of prescription information on said screen different from but related to the prescription information retrieved from the database and response to matched digital signals from the converter and corresponding digital data stored in the database, and for permitting the user of the hand held unit to select different prescription information for delivery to the printer.

14. A hand held medical transcriber and printer unit as set forth in claim 1, wherein is provided an input connected to the database for selective modification of the database.

15. A hand held medical transcriber and printer unit as set forth in claim 1, wherein is provided code segments which generate an error message observable by the user of the unit in the event the matching code segments are unable to match outputted digital signals from the converter with corresponding digital data stored in the database.

17. A process for preparing a printed copy of a medical prescription using a hand held transcriber and printer unit as set forth in claim 16, which includes the step of spectrally analyzing the digital signals by repetitively sampling thereof to facilitate matching of the spectrally analyzed digital signals with corresponding digital data in the database.

18. A process for preparing a printed copy of a medical prescription using a hand held transcriber and printer unit as set forth in claim 16, wherein is included the step of providing a voice activated acoustic input device.

19. A process for preparing a printed copy of a medical prescription using a hand held transcriber and printer unit as set forth in claim 16, wherein is included the step of periodically introducing additional digital data into the database to update the medical information database.

20. A process for preparing a printed copy of a medical prescription using a hand held transcriber and printer unit as set forth in claim 16, wherein is included the step of providing a display screen which is operable to display the prescription information in readable word form prior to printing thereof.

21. A process for preparing a printed copy of a medical prescription using a hand held transcriber and printer unit as set forth in claim 20, wherein is included the step of displaying the prescription information on the display screen to permit the user of the hand held transcriber and printer to edit the prescription information prior to printing of hard copy thereof.

22. A process for preparing a printed copy of a medical prescription using a hand held transcriber and printer unit as set forth in claim 20, wherein is included the step of providing a display of alternate medical information on the display screen, and permitting the user to select particular medical information from that displayed on the display screen.

23. A process for preparing a printed copy of a medical prescription using a hand held transcriber and printer unit as set forth in claim 20, wherein is provided the step of displaying an error message on the display screen in the event a match is not made between the digital signals and the prescription information digital data stored in the database.

24. A process for preparing a printed copy of a medical prescription using a hand held transcriber and printer unit as set forth in claim 16, wherein is provided the step of recording a history of prescriptions transcribed and printed by the unit for periodic review and recordkeeping purposes.

25. A process for preparing a printed copy of a medical prescription using a hand held transcriber and printer unit as set forth in claim 16, wherein is provided the step of transferring the recorded history of prescriptions transcribed and printed by the unit to a remote storage site.

16. A process for preparing a printed copy of a medical prescription using a hand held transcriber and printer unit, said process comprising:

providing a voice responsive input device which converts the user'"'"'s spoken word acoustic inputs into analog signals;

converting said analog signals into corresponding digital signals;

providing a database of medical prescription information stored in digital format;

matching the digital signals with corresponding digital data stored in the database;

formatting the matched digital data from the database into a form representative of a medical prescription; and

printing out a readable hard copy of the prescription information directly from the unit.