Voice-Controlled Clinical Information Dashboard

• US 20090177477A1
• Filed: 10/08/2008
• Published: 07/09/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/08/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Regents of the University of California (University of California)
• Original Assignee: Regents of the University of California (University of California)
• Inventors: Nenov, Valeriy I., Buxey, Farzad D., Martin, Neil A., Hu, Xiao
• Granted Patent: US 8,688,459 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/275
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00203 with speech control or speech recognition
• 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 5/7445 Display arrangements, e.g. multiple display units
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/749 Voice-controlled interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/1815 Semantic context, e.g. disambiguation of the recognition hypotheses based on word meaning
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/228 of application context
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation

Abstract

A method provides a display area of a computer system for displaying a set of data. The data includes clinical data for one or more medical patients. The method provides multiple controls for performing multiple functions. The method provides an audio interface for controlling at least one of the controls through audio commands.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

providing a display area of a computer system for displaying a set of data, said data comprising clinical data for one or more medical patients;

providing a plurality of controls for performing a plurality of functions; and

providing an audio interface for controlling at least one of said controls through at least one audio command.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more of said controls is not displayed in said display area.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a particular control is associated with at least one audio command.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein a particular control is an overloaded control that is associated with at least two different audio commands.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a particular audio command is a macro audio command for controlling more than one of said controls.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a particular control comprises one of a button, a menu, a menu item, a list, a list box, a list item, a combo box, a radio button, a check box, a text area, a text pane, a scroll bar, a cursor, and a slider.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said clinical data comprises at least one of vital statistics, lab results, and medical imaging.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said display area comprises a plurality of windows, wherein a particular set of voice commands is for rearranging one or more of said windows in said display area.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said rearranging comprises one of moving, maximizing, minimizing, opening, and closing one of said windows in said display area.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing a customization tool for allowing a user to specify a particular audio command for a particular set of controls.

11. A method comprising:

providing a display area of a computer system for displaying data;

providing a plurality of controls that are not displayed within said display area, wherein each control is for performing a function; and

providing an audio interface for operating one or more of said controls through a single voice command.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said plurality of controls is a first plurality, said method further comprising providing a second plurality of controls that are displayed within said display area.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein at least one of said controls that are not displayed within said display area is for performing at least one of zooming, panning, and changing resolution of an image displayed in said display area.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein a particular control of said plurality of controls is not accessible through a hotkey combination.

15. A method comprising:

providing a display area of a computer system for displaying graphical content;

providing a plurality of controls that alter the display of the graphical content, wherein a particular control is a buried control that is not displayed in said display area; and

providing an audio interface for receiving a plurality of voice commands, wherein a particular voice command is for operating said particular buried control to alter the display of the graphical content.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein said altering comprises at least one of zoom in, zoom out, pan left, pan right, pan up, pan down, increase resolution, and decrease resolution.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein said graphical content comprises clinical data.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein said graphical content comprises one of a computed tomography (“

CT”

) scan, computed radiography (“

CR”

) scan, magnetic resonance imaging (“

MRI”

), positron emission tomography (“

PET”

) scan, x-ray, and angiogram.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein said graphical content comprises an image acquired through medical imaging.

20. A method comprising:

providing a display area of a computer system for displaying data; and

providing an audio interface for receiving a plurality of different voice commands for performing a plurality of different functions; and

providing a dynamic voice command engine for generating a plurality of different sets of candidate voice commands based on different sets of data displayed in said display area.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein said data displayed in said display area comprises a list of selectable names, wherein a particular voice command that selects a particular name comprises the particular name itself.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein said particular voice command that selects the particular name comprises only the particular name itself.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein said list of selectable names comprises names of medical patients.

24. The method of claim 20, wherein the voice command engine is for generating a set of candidate voice commands each time new data is displayed in said display area.

25. The method of claim 20, wherein the voice command engine is for generating a set of candidate voice commands automatically without human intervention.

26. The method of claim 20, wherein the voice command engine is for generating a set of candidate voice commands each time data is removed from said display area.

27. The method of claim 20, wherein the voice command engine is for generating at least one candidate voice command that is not programmed by a programmer of the voice command engine.

28. A method comprising:

providing a display area of a computer system for displaying a clinical information dashboard comprising a plurality of display windows within said dashboard, wherein at least one of said display windows is for displaying clinical information for one or more medical patients; and

providing an audio input device for receiving a plurality of voice commands, wherein a particular voice command is for altering the display orientation of one of (i) the dashboard and (ii) a particular display window within said dashboard.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein said altering comprises one of maximizing, minimizing, and moving.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein another particular voice command is for opening a new window within said dashboard.

31. The method of claim 28, wherein another particular voice command is for opening another dashboard within said display area.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein opening said other dashboard within said display area automatically causes said first dashboard to be minimized.