INTERACTIVE PATIENT FORUMS

• US 20140085403A1
• Filed: 11/26/2013
• Published: 03/27/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/02/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Inventors: RYAN, John C.
• Application Number:
  US14/090,204
• Publication Number:
  US 20140085403A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/14.07
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/021 Measuring pressure in heart or blood vessels A61B5/0205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 80/00 ICT specially adapted for facilitating communication between medical practitioners or patients, e.g. for collaborative diagnosis, therapy or health monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/147 Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals selecting H04Q
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/15 Conference systems

Abstract

In a medical communication method, two or more persons are identified as having a selected medical condition or characteristic. At the residence of each identified person, a video conference-enabling unit (56) is operatively connected with a consumer electronics device (50, 52) disposed in the identified person'"'"'s residence. A video conference is conducted between at least two of the two or more identified persons using their respective consumer electronics devices (50, 52) and video conference-enabling units (56).

Claims

1. A medical communication system comprising:

audio/video interfaces disposed in residences of subjects, each audio/video interface including a consumer electronics device providing audio/video playback capability and a camera providing audio/video recording capability; and

a distributed medical server including a processor disposed in each residence and operatively coupled with the audio/video interface of that residence, the distributed medical server being configured to perform video conferencing in conjunction with selected processors and the network in which selected subjects view the video conference using the playback capability of the consumer electronics device disposed in the subject'"'"'s residence and participate in the video conference by being recorded using the camera disposed in the subject'"'"'s residence;

wherein the distributed medical server includes a current speaker disambiguation engine configured to determine which participant of the video conference is currently displayed based on relative audio signal strength integrated over a time window.

2. The medical communication system of claim 1 wherein the distributed medical server is further configured to play selected portions of pre-recorded audio/video content on the audio/video interfaces of selected residences in accordance with care plan schedules for subjects residing in those residences.

3. The medical communication system of claim 1 wherein the distributed medical server supports a plurality of ongoing unmoderated medically related video conferences that subjects join and exit in an ad hoc manner.

4. The medical communication system of claim 1 wherein the consumer electronics device providing audio/video playback capability comprises a television.

5. The medical communication system of claim 1 wherein the camera includes a video recording lens and an automatic lens cover arranged to physically block the video recording lens except during recording of audio/video content.

6. The medical communication method of claim 5, wherein the camera further includes a microphone configured to physically retract from view except when the audio/video recording device is recording audio/video content.

7. A medical communication method comprising:

conducting a video conference on a medically related topic between at least two persons sharing a selected medical condition or characteristic using audio/video recording devices disposed in the persons'"'"' respective residences; and

during the conducting of the video conference, physically blocking video recording lenses of the respective audio/video recording devices except when the audio/video recording device is recording audio/video content.

8. The medical communication method of claim 7, further comprising:

during the conducting of the video conference, physically retracting from view microphones of the respective audio/video recording devices except when the audio/video recording device is recording audio/video content.

9. The medical communication method of claim 7, further comprising:

determining which participant of the video conference is currently displayed based on relative audio signal strength integrated over a time window.

10. A medical communication system comprising:

audio/video interfaces disposed in residences of subjects, each audio/video interface including a television and a set-top box including a camera providing audio/video recording capability; and

a server connected with the set-top boxes of the audio/video interfaces via the Internet, the server configured to perform video conferencing via the Internet in conjunction with selected audio/video interfaces in which selected subjects view the video conference on the television of the audio/video interface disposed in the subject'"'"'s residence and participate in the video conference by being recorded using the camera of the set-top box of the audio/video interface disposed in the subject'"'"'s residence.

11. The medical communication system of claim 10 further comprising:

a current speaker disambiguation engine configured to determine a current speaker during the video conferencing based on relative audio signal strength integrated over a time window, the audio/video interfaces being configured to display the current speaker during the video conferencing.

12. The medical communication system of claim 11 wherein the set-top box of each audio/video interface further includes an automatic lens cover arranged to physically block the video recording lens of the camera of the audio/video interface except when the subject in whose residence the audio/video interface is disposed is the current speaker.

13. The medical communication system of claim 10 wherein the camera includes a video recording lens and an automatic lens cover arranged to physically block the video recording lens except during recording of audio/video content.

14. The medical communication system of claim 13, wherein the camera further includes a microphone configured to physically retract from view except during recording of audio/video content.

15. The medical communication system of claim 10 wherein each audio/video interface further includes:

a blood pressure measurement device configured to acquire a blood pressure reading of the subject; and

a handheld remote controller configured to enable the subject to input the blood pressure reading to the server.