Personalized health communication system

• US 8,712,792 B2
• Filed: 07/21/2003
• Issued: 04/29/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/24/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WebMD LLC (WebMD Health Corporation)
• Original Assignee: WebMD LLC (WebMD Health Corporation)
• Inventors: Bowman, Bradley R, Marshall, Philip D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Morgan, Robert
• Assistant Examiner(s): RAPILLO, KRISTINE K
• Application Number:
  US10/624,098
• Publication Number:
  US 20040019505A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,935 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• 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

Personalization of access to health-related information on a computer network is provided based upon a health history of a user. In one implementation, personal health-related information about the user is obtaining from the user operating a client computer. The health-related information includes one or more health-related terms that each corresponds to a health-related concept. The health related terms provided by the user are correlated with a health terminology thesaurus that is stored on a computer-readable medium, such as at a server remote from the user client. Each of the health-related terms is associated with a single concept unique identifier that uniquely identifies a corresponding health-related concept. Health-related works or content is made accessible over the computer network by correlating the concept unique identifiers for the user'"'"'s health information with corresponding concept unique identifiers that are associated with the health-related content.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented communication method comprising:

from each of a plurality of receiving users, receiving by a computer system corresponding personal health message receiving criteria for determining messages to be received by that receiving user via at least one of e-mail and a personal homepage, the corresponding personal health message receiving criteria for each user including at least one of a personal characteristic, a predefined health condition, and a receiving user-defined health condition that is relevant to that receiving user;

from a transmitting user, receiving a plurality of messages intended for at least one of the receiving users, wherein each message includes i) personal health message transmitting criteria selected by the transmitting user for directing each received message to other users, the personal health message transmitting criteria including at least one of a personal characteristic, a predefined health condition, and a transmitting user-defined health condition that is relevant to at least one of each received message and the transmitting user, and ii) a communication for at least one of the receiving users, wherein each of the plurality of messages is generated by the transmitting user from a transmitting user interface displayed on a display that includes at least one field allowing the transmitting user to select the personal health message transmitting criteria and at least one field to compose the communication;

comparing, by the computer system, the transmitting criteria in each of the plurality of received messages to the personal health message receiving criteria for each of the plurality of receiving users to identify matches; and

transmitting each of the plurality of received messages to identified receiving users comprising at least one of the receiving users via at least one of an e-mail and the personal homepage without identifying the identified receiving users to the transmitting user, the transmitting being based on a match between the transmitting criteria and the receiving criteria.

2. The method of claim 1 in which the identified receiving users include those for whom the personal health message receiving criteria include all of the personal health message transmitting criteria.

3. The method of claim 1 in which the identified receiving users include those for whom the personal health message receiving criteria include at least selected ones of the personal health message transmitting criteria.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving corresponding personal health message receiving criteria from each of the plurality of receiving users includes receiving the receiving user-defined health condition that is relevant to that receiving user, the method further including correlating the receiving user-defined health condition with a health terminology thesaurus having concept unique identifiers that correspond to and provide uniform characterizations of the receiving user-defined health condition.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving personal health message transmitting criteria includes receiving the transmitting user-defined health condition that is relevant to at least one of each received message and the transmitting user, the method further including correlating the transmitting user-defined health condition with a health terminology thesaurus.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising obtaining from each of the plurality of receiving users and the transmitting user corresponding personal health-related information, the health-related information including one or more health-related terms that each corresponds to a health-related concept;

and

correlating with a health terminology thesaurus each of the one or more health-related terms with a single concept unique identifier that uniquely identifies a corresponding health-related concept, each concept unique identifier having associated with it one or more terms corresponding to a common health-related concept, at least one of the terms being a lay medical term and not a clinical medical term.

7. The method of claim 6 in which computer implementation of the method employs a client computer and a server computer that are interconnected by a computer network, the method further comprising:

transmitting at least some of the corresponding personal health-related information over the computer network from the client computer to the server computer, the server computer storing the health terminology thesaurus; and

correlating, by the server computer, each of the one or more health-related terms with a single concept unique identifier.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the personal characteristic for the personal health message receiving criteria includes at least one of a gender, an age, an age range, a smoking habit, a non-smoking habit, an exercising habit, a non-exercising habit, an overweight indicator, and an underweight indicator, and

the personal characteristic for the personal health message transmitting criteria includes at least one of a gender, an age, an age range, a smoking habit, a non-smoking habit, an exercising habit, a non-exercising habit, an overweight indicator and an underweight indicator.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein

the predefined health condition for the personal health message receiving criteria includes at least one of pregnancy, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, heart disease, Type I diabetes, Type II diabetes, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and colon cancer, and

the predefined health condition for the personal health message transmitting criteria includes at least one of pregnancy, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, heart disease, Type I diabetes, Type II diabetes, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and colon cancer.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

receive from each of a plurality of receiving users corresponding personal health message receiving criteria for determining messages to be received by that receiving user via at least one of e-mail and a personal homepage, the corresponding personal health message receiving criteria for each user including at least one of a personal characteristic, a predefined health condition, and a receiving user-defined health condition that is relevant to that receiving user;

receive from a transmitting user a plurality of messages intended for at least one of the receiving users, wherein each message includes i) personal health message transmitting criteria selected by the transmitting user for directing each received message to other users, the personal health message transmitting criteria including at least one of a personal characteristic, a predefined health condition, and a transmitting user-defined health condition that is relevant to at least one of each received message and the transmitting user, and ii) a communication for at least one of the receiving users, wherein each of the plurality of messages is generated by the transmitting user from a transmitting user interface displayed on a display that includes at least one field allowing the transmitting user to select the personal health message transmitting criteria and at least one field to compose the communication;

compare the transmitting criteria in each of the plurality of received messages to the personal health message receiving criteria for each of the plurality of receiving users to identify matches; and

transmit each of the plurality of received messages to identified receiving users comprising at least one of the receiving users via at least one of an e-mail and the personal homepage without identifying the identified receiving users to the transmitting user, the transmitting being based on a match between the transmitting criteria and the receiving criteria.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the identified receiving users include those for whom the personal health message receiving criteria include all of the personal health message transmitting criteria.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the identified receiving users include those for whom the personal health message receiving criteria include at least selected ones of the personal health message transmitting criteria.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein each of the plurality of receiving users'"'"' corresponding personal health message receiving criteria is received using a receiving user interface.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein each of the plurality of receiving users'"'"' corresponding personal health message receiving criteria is received using a receiving user interface that allows the receiving user to identify the receiving user-defined health condition that is relevant to that receiving user, and the computer executable instructions further including instructions that cause the computer to correlate the receiving user-defined health condition with a health terminology thesaurus having concept unique identifiers that correspond to and provide uniform characterizations of the receiving user-defined health condition.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the at least one field allowing the transmitting user to select the personal health message transmitting criteria allows the transmitting user to select, for each of the messages, the transmitting user predefined health condition that is relevant to at least one of each received message and the transmitting user from among a predefined set of predefined health conditions.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the at least one field allowing the transmitting user to select the personal health message transmitting criteria allows the transmitting user to identify, for each of the messages, the transmitting user-defined health condition that is relevant to at least one of each received message and the transmitting user, the computer executable instructions further including instructions that cause the computer to correlate the transmitting user-defined health condition with a health terminology thesaurus.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the computer to:

obtain from each of the plurality of receiving users and the transmitting user corresponding personal health-related information, the health-related information including one or more health-related terms that each corresponds to a health-related concept; and

correlate with a health terminology thesaurus each of the one or more health-related terms with a single concept unique identifier that uniquely identifies a corresponding health-related concept, each concept unique identifier having associated with it one or more terms corresponding to a common health related concept, at least one of the terms being a lay medical term and not a clinical medical term.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 in which the instructions are configured such that the computer employs a client computer and a server computer that are interconnected by a computer network, the instructions being further configured to cause the computer to:

transmit the corresponding personal health-related information over the computer network from the client computer to the server computer, the server computer storing the health terminology thesaurus; and

correlate, by the server computer, each of the one or more health-related terms with a single concept unique identifier.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein:

the personal characteristic for the personal health message receiving criteria includes at least one of a gender, an age, an age range, a smoking habit, a non-smoking habit, an exercising habit, a non-exercising habit, an overweight indicator and an underweight indicator, and

the personal characteristic for the personal health message transmitting criteria includes at least one of a gender, an age, an age range, a smoking habit, a non-smoking habit, an exercising habit, a non-exercising habit, an overweight indicator and an underweight indicator.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein:

the predefined health condition for the personal health message receiving criteria includes at least one of pregnancy, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, heart disease, Type I diabetes, Type II diabetes, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and colon cancer, and

the predefined health condition for the personal health message transmitting criteria includes at least one of pregnancy, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, heart disease, Type I diabetes, Type II diabetes, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and colon cancer.