Method and system for generating personalized health information with accommodation for consumer health terminology

• US 20080021288A1
• Filed: 07/24/2006
• Published: 01/24/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/24/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WebMD LLC (WebMD Health Corporation)
• Original Assignee: WebMD LLC (WebMD Health Corporation)
• Inventors: Link, David, Bowman, Brad, Tanna, Tushar, Gang, David
• Granted Patent: US 8,888,697 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/300
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/70 for mining of medical data, e.g. analysing previous cases of other patients
• CPC Class Codes: G16Z 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 90/10 Information and communication technologies [ICT] supporting adaptation to climate change, e.g. for weather forecasting or climate simulation

Abstract

The invention features methods, systems, and computer programs for generating a customized set of possible medical conditions, thereby providing access to medical information relevant to the user'"'"'s state of health. The methods and systems involve at least some of the following steps: receiving a list of symptoms specified in terms selected from a first language set; translating the list of symptoms into a translated list of symptoms specified in terms selected from a second language set; using the translated list of symptoms to generate possible medical conditions, the possible medical conditions described in terms of the second language set; and translating the possible medical conditions into descriptions that are specified in terms selected from the first language set.

Claims

1. A method for generating a customized set of possible medical conditions, said method comprising:

receiving a list of symptoms specified in terms selected from a first language set;

translating the list of symptoms into a translated list of symptoms specified in terms selected from a second language set;

using the translated list of symptoms to generate possible medical conditions, said possible medical conditions described in terms of the second language set; and

translating the possible medical conditions into descriptions that are specified in terms selected from the first language set.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first language set is non-professional medical language.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the second language set is professional medical language.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the list of symptoms comprises symptoms and additional personal health information.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the additional personal health information is age, gender, or geographic location.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the received list of symptoms is received from one or more of:

user input or an external data source.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the external data source is the user'"'"'s stored health profile, public health information, or a health tracking system.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the translating the list of symptoms comprises correlating concept-specific identifiers associated with the symptoms specified in terms selected from the first language with concept-specific identifiers associated with the symptoms specified in terms selected from the second language.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising exporting the translated list of symptoms to an external system.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

querying for additional symptom information based on one or more of the following;

one or more symptoms, one or more possible medical conditions, or one or more symptoms and one or more possible medical conditions; and

adding the additional symptom information to the list of symptoms.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising assigning a weight coefficient to each of the possible medical conditions and generating an ordered list of possible medical conditions.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the translated list of symptoms is added to a user profile.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more of the possible medical conditions are added to a user profile.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing possible medical treatment information in non-professional language, wherein the possible medical treatment information corresponds to one of the possible medical conditions.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the list of symptoms is generated by a method comprising:

presenting a representation of a human body to the user through a visual display;

defining a plurality of regions within the representation of the human body;

receiving input from the user selecting a particular one of the plurality of regions;

in response to the received input, displaying to the user a list of medical symptoms associated with the selected region; and

enabling the user to select symptoms from the displayed list of symptoms.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

querying the user for additional symptom information based on one or more symptoms selected by the user; and

adding the additional symptom information to the list of symptoms.

17. A method of generating input for a health condition query system, said method comprising:

presenting a representation of a human body to a user through a visual display;

defining a plurality of regions within the representation of the human body;

receiving input from the user selecting a first region of the plurality of regions;

in response to the received input, displaying to the user a list of medical symptoms associated with the selected first region;

enabling the user to select a plurality of symptoms from the displayed list of symptoms, the symptoms being the input for the health condition query system; and

presenting a list of possible medical conditions derived from the plurality of medical symptoms.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

receiving input from the user selecting a second region of the plurality of regions;

in response to the received input, displaying to the user a list of medical symptoms associated with the second selected region; and

enabling the user to select a plurality of symptoms from the displayed list of symptoms associated with the second selected region;

wherein

the list of possible medical conditions is derived from the plurality of medical symptoms associated with the first and second selected regions.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising enabling the user to select the orientation of the representation of the human body.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the representation of a human body is a female body or a male body.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

querying the user for additional symptom information based on one or more symptoms selected by the user; and

adding the additional symptom information to the list of symptoms.

22. A method comprising:

providing an interface to a query engine, which in response to receiving symptom information from a plurality of users provides a personalized list of possible diagnostic information to each of the plurality of users;

receiving input through the interface to the query engine from each of the plurality of users, said input from each user comprising health symptom information and geographic location information; and

analyzing the symptom information and the geographic location information for the plurality of users to determine medical conditions as a function of geographic area.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the query engine comprises:

presenting a representation of a human body to a user through a visual display;

defining a plurality of regions within the representation of the human body;

receiving input from the user selecting a particular one of the plurality of regions;

in response to the received input, displaying to the user a list of medical symptoms associated with the selected region; and

enabling the user to select symptoms from the displayed list of symptoms.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the receiving input comprises:

receiving from a plurality users symptoms specified in terms selected from a first language set; and

translating the symptoms into translated symptoms specified in terms selected from a second language set.

25. A system for generating a customized set of possible medical conditions, said system comprising:

an interface for receiving a list of symptoms specified in terms selected from a first language set;

a translation engine for translating the list of symptoms into a translated list of symptoms specified in terms selected from a second language set; and

a analysis module for generating possible medical conditions using the translated list of symptoms, said possible medical conditions described in terms of the second language set,

wherein the translation engine is also programmed for translating the possible medical conditions generated by the analysis module into descriptions that are specified in terms selected from the first language set.

26. The system of claim 25, further comprising:

a query engine for querying for additional symptom information based on one or more of the following;

one or more symptoms, one or more possible medical conditions, or one or more symptoms and one or more possible medical conditions, wherein the query engine adds the additional symptom information to the list of symptoms.

27. The system of claim 25, further comprising an assignor for assigning a weight coefficient to each possible medical condition, wherein the analysis module is programmed to generate an ordered list of possible medical conditions based on the assigned weight coefficients.

28. The system of claim 25, wherein the interface comprises a representation of a human body presented to the user through a visual display, wherein

a plurality of regions are defined within the representation of the human body;

the interface is programmed to receive input from the user selecting a particular one of the plurality of regions; and

the interface is programmed to display to the user a list of medical symptoms associated with the selected region and is programmed to enable the user to select a plurality of symptoms from the displayed list of symptoms.

29. A program stored on a computer readable medium which when executed by a processor performs the functions of:

displaying a representation of a human body to a user through a visual display;

defining a plurality of regions within the representation of the human body;

enabling the user to select a particular one of the plurality of regions;

displaying to the user a list of medical symptoms associated with the selected region;

enabling the user to select a plurality of symptoms from the displayed list of symptoms; and

presenting to the user a list of possible medical conditions derived from the plurality of symptoms.

30. The system of claim 29, further comprising:

a query engine for querying the user for additional symptom information based on one or more symptoms selected by the user.

31. A system comprising:

an interface to a query engine for providing a personalized list of possible diagnostic information to each of a plurality of users in response to receiving symptom information from the plurality of users, said interface receiving input from each of the plurality of users, said input from each user comprising health symptom information and geographic location information; and

an analysis module for analyzing the symptom information and the geographic location information for the plurality of users to determine possible medical conditions as a function of geographic area.