Apparatus for determining association variables

• US 20070179363A1
• Filed: 09/27/2006
• Published: 08/02/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/10/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Trigeminal Solutions, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Trigeminal Solutions, Inc.
• Inventors: Gaskill, Steve, Carpenter, Chris, Stupp, Steven
• Granted Patent: US 8,038,613 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/301
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0002 Remote monitoring of patients using telemetry, e.g. transmission of vital signals via a communication network A61B5/07 takes precedence; transmission systems for measured values G08C; transmission H04B; transmission of digital information H04L; wireless communication networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7267 involving training the classification device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/18 for evaluating statistical data , e.g. average values, frequency distributions, probability functions, regression analysis forecasting specially adapted for a specific administrative, business or logistic context G06Q10/04
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/20 for electronic clinical trials or questionnaires
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/60 relating to nutrition control, e.g. diets
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/30 for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/50 for simulation or modelling of medical disorders
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/70 for mining of medical data, e.g. analysing previous cases of other patients
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 128/92 Computer assisted medical diagnostics

Abstract

An apparatus, and related method, for determining one or more association variables is described. The apparatus includes at least one processor, at least one memory, and at least one program module. The program module is stored in the memory and is configurable to be executed by the processor. The program module includes instructions for determining a statistical relationship between one or more temporal onsets corresponding to one or more events and a pattern of occurrence of a compound variable. The compound variable corresponds at least to a pattern of occurrence of a first variable and a pattern of occurrence of a second variable. The determining includes contributions from presence and absence information in the pattern of occurrence of the compound variable.

Claims

1. A method of determining one or more association variables associated with a medical condition, comprising:

determining a first product between an onset vector and a pattern of occurrence of a first variable, wherein the onset vector includes one or more temporal onsets corresponding to episodic increases in severity of one or more symptoms associated with the medical condition, and wherein the first product includes contributions from presence and absence information in the pattern of occurrence of the first variable;

determining a second product between a result of the first product and a pattern of occurrence of a second variable, wherein the second product includes contributions from presence and absence information in the pattern of occurrence of the second variable; and

identifying the first variable and the second variable as the association variables in accordance with a result of the second product.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the pattern of occurrence of the first variable is during a first set of time intervals and the pattern of occurrence of a second variable is during a second set of time intervals, and wherein a respective time interval in a respective set of time intervals precedes a corresponding respective temporal onset in the one or more temporal onsets.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein time intervals in at least one of the first set of time intervals and the second set of time intervals are offset in time from the one or more temporal onsets.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein time intervals in the first set of time intervals are different than time intervals in the second set of time intervals.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying one or more groups of association variables in accordance with one or more of the identified association variables.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more temporal onsets correspond to at least one type of headache.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein at least the one type of headache includes migraines, and wherein the first variable is a first migraine trigger and the second variable is a second migraine trigger.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a statistical relationship between the one or more temporal onsets, the pattern of occurrence of the first variable, and the pattern of occurrence of the second variable.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising determining a statistical relationship between the one or more temporal onsets and a plurality of variables.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising determining a ranking of the plurality of variables in accordance with the statistical relationships.

8. The method of claim 0, further comprising providing recommendations in accordance with the first variable and the second variable.

12. The method of claim 0, further comprising receiving information including the onset vector, the pattern of occurrence of the first variable, and the pattern of occurrence of the second variable.

13. A graphical user interface, comprising:

one or more questions associated with a medical condition, wherein the medical condition is characterized by episodic increases in severity of one or more associated symptoms, and wherein the one or more questions are to collect information about one or more items consumed by an individual on a previous occasion; and

reminder information about the one or more item consumed by the individual on the previous occasion, wherein the reminder information is provided by another device than a device displaying the graphical user interface.

14. A graphical user interface, comprising:

questions associated with a medical condition, wherein the medical condition is characterized by episodic increases in severity of one or more associated symptoms; and

pre-selected answers for two or more of the questions, wherein the pre-selected answers are selected in accordance with a user history, the user history includes one or more answers provided on one or more previous occasions by a user; and

wherein the graphical user interface is configured to allow the user to modify one or more of the pre-selected answers.

15. A graphical user interface, comprising:

questions associated with a medical condition, wherein the medical condition is characterized by episodic increases in severity of one or more associated symptoms; and

pre-selected answers for two or more of the questions such that answering a respective question only involves selection if a respective answer to the respective pre-determined question is different than a corresponding pre-selected answer.

16. A method of determining one or more association variables for a medical condition, comprising:

receiving information associated with at least one item consumed by an individual;

mapping from the information to a set of ingredients in at least the item; and

determining at least one association variable from the set of ingredients, wherein at least the one association variable is associated with an episodic increase in a severity of one or more symptoms associated with the medical condition.

17. A method of providing recommendations associated with a medical condition, comprising:

identifying a first association variable and a second association variable, wherein a severity of one or more symptoms associated with the medical condition are episodically increased for at least one individual if at least the one individual is exposed to the first association variable during a first time interval and the second association variable during a second time interval, and wherein the first time interval and the second time interval precede the episodic increase in the severity; and

providing a recommendation for at least the one individual in accordance with at least one of the first association variable and the second association variable.

18. A method of determining association variables for a medical condition, comprising:

identifying a first association variable, wherein the first association variable is associated with an episodic increase in a severity of one or more symptoms associated with the medical condition; and

determining at least another association variable by associating the first association variable with a set of pre-determined association variables.

19. An apparatus for collecting information associated with a medical condition, comprising:

at least one processor;

at least one memory; and

at least one program module, the program module stored in the memory and configurable to be executed by the processor, the program module including;

instructions for a set of pre-determined questions;

instructions for asking, one or more times during a time interval, a subset of pre-determined questions in the set of pre-determined questions;

instructions for receiving, one or more times during the time interval, answers to the subset of pre-determined questions; and

instructions for receiving configuration instructions, wherein the configuration instructions select the subset of pre-determined questions that are asked, and wherein the instructions for asking include providing pre-selected answers for two or more of pre-the determined questions in the subset of pre-determined questions such that answering a respective pre-determined question only involves selection if a respective answer to the respective pre-determined question is different than a corresponding pre-selected answer.

20. A method of determining one or more association variables associated with a medical condition, comprising:

determining a statistical relationship between a pattern of occurrence of a compound variable and one or more temporal onsets corresponding to episodic increases in severity of one or more symptoms associated with the medical condition, wherein the compound variable corresponds at least to a pattern of occurrence of a first variable and a pattern of occurrence of a second variable; and

identifying the first variable and the second variable as the association variables in accordance with the statistical relationship.

21. An apparatus for determining one or more association variables associated with a medical condition, comprising:

at least one processor;

at least one memory; and

at least one program module, the program module stored in the memory and configurable to be executed by the processor, the program module including;

instructions for determining a statistical relationship between a pattern of occurrence of a compound variable and one or more temporal onsets corresponding to episodic increases in severity of one or more symptoms associated with the medical condition, wherein the compound variable corresponds at least to a pattern of occurrence of a first variable and a pattern of occurrence of a second variable; and

instructions for identifying the first variable and the second variable as the association variables in accordance with the statistical relationship.