Clinical, heoristic, adminstrative, research & teaching (CHART) java-web-object information system for medical record management predicated on human body anatomy and physiology multi-media modeling

• US 6,272,468 B1
• Filed: 12/01/1997
• Issued: 08/07/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: John Peter Melrose
• Original Assignee: John Peter Melrose
• Inventors: Melrose, John Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): Cosimano, Edward R.
• Application Number:
  US08/982,026
• Time in Patent Office: 1,345 Days
• Field of Search: 705/2, 705/3, 707/1, 707/10, 707/104, 707/500, 707/501, 707/513
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 15/00 ICT specially adapted for medical reports, e.g. generation or transmission thereof

Abstract

An Internet-based computer system for determining, demonstrating and documenting human body physiology at all morphological levels and anatomic sites. The system implements Web-object, multi-media and database technologies to model and record the variable human body biochemical equilibrium and its physiological and anatomical manifestations at the genome, cell, tissue, organ and system levels; and the effects of changes in equilibrium caused by the introduction of foreign chemical substances via specific anatomic “sites” or “routes of administration”. An authorized clinician user can: access the system via a secure Web page; make a virtual copy of the system model for a particular patient, research subject or other actual or hypothetical case; make virtual copies of the case model at medically significant points in time and/or at the discretion of the clinician; depict the introduction of substance(s) of specific composition, quantity and concentration via specific human body site(s) by recording data using input interface(s) representative of the site(s); inspect the model via anatomic site-specific output interface(s) that demonstrate the effect(s) of foreign substance(s) in terms of biochemical behaviors and states, and anatomical and physiological structure and function; and document the chemical introductions and effects by recording resulting behaviors and states of the case model automatically, with or without manually recorded supplementary information, per a typical healthcare industry medical record organization and format. The patient can access copies of the patient'"'"'s own model(s) and accompanying medical record via a secure Web page. Both user types can email model and record instance(s) with encryption at will.

Claims

1. A Web-object computer system hardware and software architecture for real-time human body physiology modeling and medical record-keeping named the Clinical, Heuristic, Administrative, Research &

Teaching (CHART) System, which is an application of the following industry-standard information technology hardware components, object-oriented programming (OOP) scripts, OOP class and interface definitions and object-oriented user interfaces (OOUIs), the broad, physiologically comprehensive scope of which and real-time interoperability throughout are unique to the instant application;

a) a client system (i.e.—

any personal computer (PC) configured for multi-media support and Internet access) to be used for;

i) access to the System Web site,

ii) input of data describing site-/route-specific introduction/administration of foreign substances,

iii) multi-media display of information describing the biochemical, physiological and anatomical state(s) of the human body at specific site(s), and

iv) access to related Internet sites as/if required;

b) a Web server system array (i.e.—

two or more dynamically allocated Internet-accessible computer systems, the configuration of which is typified by that provided maintained at an Internet service provider (ISP) “

server farm”

), including;

i) a hardware and software platform for operation of the CHART System Web site,

ii) management on intercommunicating random access data storage device(s) (e.g.—

a “

RAID”

) of the CHART System software (i.e.—

the chartSystem Package of object classes, the OOP language virtual machine, integrated development environment (IDE) with which the CHART System is maintained and modified, and instantiations of the humanBody and the medicalRecord abstract classes as created and maintained by CHART System users),

iii) management of multiple, concurrent CHART System user activities including secure sign-on, and download and operation of the CHART System OOUIs to the user-operated client system(s),

iv) operation of the CHART System software and/or control of the distributed operation of CHART System software on other Internet-accessible servers;

a) to process input to the selected instantiations of the humanBody and/or medicalRecord classes,

b) to display the biochemical and physiological behaviors and states of the user-selected site(s) of the target class instantiation(s),

c) to update selected instantiation(s) of the humanBody and medicalRecord classes, per user direction, and

d) to launch browser software for automatic or user-directed access to selected Internet sites not a part of the instant application but useful for further anatomic and/or physiological demonstration of CHART System class instance output.

2. An object-oriented programming (OOP) “

package”

of classes with included methods and properties—

implemented using components, objects, messages, object interfaces, scripts and object-oriented user interfaces (OOUIs) including third-party software “

controls”

—

all of which are programmed and executed per the architecture of claim 1 of the instant application in a manner that is unique by virtue of its comprehensive scope and real-time interoperability, as follows;

a) clinically intuitive OOUIs for;

i) input of foreign substance introduction/administration data including drop-down windows for;

a) site/route (e.g.—

intramuscular),

b) substance (e.g.—

insulin),

c) form (e.g.—

liquid/injectable),

d) concentration (e.g.—

x milligrams per milliliter),

e) quantity (e.g.—

y milliliters),

f) frequency (e.g.—

bid/twice daily);

ii) output of site-/class-specific status/state information in biochemical terms with multi-media enhancement, implemented by coded linns to other Internet/Web sites that are professionally maintained and publicly accessible(e.g.—

Digitalis active ingredient levels in heart muscle, linked to audio-visual depiction of heart function under specified biochemical conditions from the ADAM Web site);

iii) management of patient-/case-specific instantiations of the humanBody abstract class and the medicalRecord abstract class including;

a) creation of a new instance, requiring user input of data describing the new subject in medical history and physical examination terms (i.e.—

demographics, sex, age, weight, health status and other parameters having empirical significance for the execution of humanBody modeling capabilities such as metabolic equilibrium, pharmacological calculation, hormone balance, etc.),

b) modification of an existing instantiation or, optionally, creation of an additional instantiation of the humanBody class with changed properties/states for the same case subject as a means for retaining a model of the current/atypical/diseased/remarkable condition of the same subject,

c) automatic update of medicalRecord class instance with output from the related humanBody instance(s) at the direction of but without manual data entry by the user,

d) archiving of humanBody class and medicalRecord class instance data to random- or limited-access media (e.g.—

hard disk, magnetic tape, CD-ROM, etc.);

b) OOP (sub-/super-)classes, components and component interfaces that;

i) describe the human body at each and every anatomic level—

sub-nuclear/organelle/genome, cell, tissue, organ, system, body—

including for each class;

a) biochemical states/properties in terms appropriate to the anatomical-physiological target (e.g.—

concentration of sodium (NA+) and potassium (K+) ions within and immediately without a neuron, and the local concentration of acetylcholine (ACH)),

b) physiological behaviors/methods that occur in the target anatomical structure (e.g.—

the adenylate cylcase-/cAMP-generating system in neurons),

c) physiology transport mechanisms pertinent to the anatomical/physiological target (e.g.—

the ACH channel mechanism for controlling the passage of N+ and K+ ions to/from the immediately proximal interstitial fluid (ISF), a/k/a the “

sodium-potassium pump”

);

ii) utilize OOP features/functions/tools in a manner that emulates the differential anatomical structures and physiological functions, including;

a) “

encapsulation”

, to hide the methods/behaviors of a structure in the confines of that structure,

b) “

inheritance”

, to include the methods/behaviors and properties/states of structures defined at higher levels of the humanBody abstract class hierarchy, which represent the simpler and more physiologically fundamental and pervasive structures and functions occur at the higher hierarchical levels,

c) “

polymorphism”

, to obtain a wide variation among fundamentally equal structures by the combination of;

(1) encapsulation for data hiding,

(2) addition of specialized methods/behaviors and properties/states at various morphological levels to implement level-specific uniqueness, and

(3) message “

overloading”

to trigger class-specific differential method execution and property transformation through common method naming;

iii) apply the user input state values to the selected OOUI methods and properties of the specified instantiation of the humanBody abstract class, implementing all messages and targeted methods immediately and concurrently to;

a) determine the new equilibrium state of the humanBody instance at large with acceptable response time, and

b) demonstrate a user-specified subset thereof on demand;

(1) via the appropriate OOUI, and/or

(2) employing other servers located in the ISP server farm or remotely, via the Internet, as/if requested by the user or directed by the System design.