Computerized medical diagnostic system utilizing list-based processing
First Claim
1. A computerized medical diagnostic method, comprising:
- a) storing a list of diseases in a data storage in a computer, wherein each disease is associated with a list of symptoms, and wherein each symptom is associated with a list of questions;
b) obtaining medical information from a user through an interface connected to the computer;
c) selecting, with a processor in the computer, a disease from the list of diseases based on the obtained medical information;
d) selecting, with the processor in the computer, a symptom from the list of symptoms associated with the selected disease;
e) asking, through an interface connected to the computer, at least one question from the list of questions associated with the selected symptom to obtain additional medical information from the user;
f) determining, with a processor in the computer, whether or not a patient is to be diagnosed with the selected disease based upon the obtained medical information; and
g) providing, through an interface connected to the computer, the results of the determining to the user.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for providing computerized, knowledge-based medical diagnostic advice. The medical advice is provided to the general public over a network, such as a telephone network with the use of a telephone or the Internet with the use of an Internet access device. Alternatively, the medical advice can be provided to a patient in a stand-alone mode by use of a computer. The invention utilizes a list-based processing method of generating and executing diagnostic scripts. For the purpose of diagnosing a health problem of a patient, medical knowledge is organized into a list of the diseases to be considered. Each disease on the disease list includes a list of symptoms that is checked in a patient. Each symptom on the symptom list is then further described as a response to a list of one or more questions asked of the patient about the symptom. This triply-nested list structure is converted by suitable data structure transformations into a script that is stored. When a patient requires diagnosis, the script is played back as a sequence of questions. The responses of the patient are analyzed and converted into symptoms. The symptoms are accumulated into diseases. Finally the diseases are selected and reported as a diagnosis.
363 Citations
33 Claims
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1. A computerized medical diagnostic method, comprising:
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a) storing a list of diseases in a data storage in a computer, wherein each disease is associated with a list of symptoms, and wherein each symptom is associated with a list of questions; b) obtaining medical information from a user through an interface connected to the computer; c) selecting, with a processor in the computer, a disease from the list of diseases based on the obtained medical information; d) selecting, with the processor in the computer, a symptom from the list of symptoms associated with the selected disease; e) asking, through an interface connected to the computer, at least one question from the list of questions associated with the selected symptom to obtain additional medical information from the user; f) determining, with a processor in the computer, whether or not a patient is to be diagnosed with the selected disease based upon the obtained medical information; and g) providing, through an interface connected to the computer, the results of the determining to the user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A computerized diagnostic method, comprising:
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storing a list of diseases on a storage of a computer, wherein each disease is associated with a list of symptoms, and wherein each symptom is associated with a list of questions; repetitively asking questions, with a processor of the computer, to elicit responses, wherein the responses establish symptoms; determining, with the processor of the computer, the probability that a patient has a given disease based on the established symptoms; and declaring a diagnosis, with the processor of the computer, based upon the determined probability. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A computerized diagnostic system, comprising:
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means for storing a list of diseases on a computer, wherein each disease is associated with a list of symptoms, and wherein each symptom is associated with a list of questions; means for repetitively asking questions to elicit responses, wherein the responses establish symptoms; means for determining the probability that a patient has a given disease based on the established symptoms; and means for declaring a diagnosis based upon the determined probability.
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20. A computerized medical diagnostic system, comprising:
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a storage configured to store a list of diseases, wherein each disease is associated with a list of symptoms, and wherein each symptom is associated with a list of questions; a storage configured to store a script engine, which when executed repetitively asks questions, through an output unit, to elicit responses, wherein the responses establish symptoms, determines the probability that a patient has a given disease based on the established symptoms, and declares a diagnosis based upon the determined probability; and
a processor configured to execute the script engine. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A computerized diagnostic system, comprising:
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a) means for storing a list of diseases on a computer, wherein each disease is associated with a list of symptoms, and wherein each symptom is associated with a list of questions; b) means for obtaining medical information from a user; c) means for selecting a disease from the list of diseases based on the obtained medical information; d) means for selecting a symptom from the list of symptoms associated with the selected disease; e) means for asking at least one question from the list of questions associated with the selected symptom to obtain additional medical information from the user; f) means for determining whether or not a patient is to be diagnosed with the selected disease based upon the obtained medical information; and g) means for providing the results of the determining to the user.
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27. A computerized medical diagnostic system, comprising:
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a storage configured to store a list of diseases, wherein each disease is associated with a list of symptoms, and wherein each symptom is associated with a list of questions; a storage configured to store a script engine, which when executed a) requests medical information from a user through an output unit, b) obtains medical information from a user through an interface, c) selects a disease from the list of diseases based on the obtained medical information, d) selects a symptom from the list of symptoms associated with the selected disease, e) asks at least one question from the list of questions associated with the selected symptom to obtain additional medical information from the user, f) determines whether or not a patient is to be diagnosed with the selected disease based upon the obtained medical information, and g) provides the results of the determining to the user; and a processor configured to execute the script engine. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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Specification