Method and system for configuring a consolidated software application

• US 20090150831A1
• Filed: 12/07/2007
• Published: 06/11/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Roche Diabetes Care Inc. (Roche Holding AG)
• Original Assignee: Roche Diagnostics Operations Incorporated (Roche Holding AG)
• Inventors: Beck, Timothy L., Allen, Janette Elaine, Baker, Christopher Richard, Buck, Schuyler, Young, Morris J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,566,818 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/845
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/40 for the management of medical equipment or devices, e.g. scheduling maintenance or upgrades

Abstract

A system and method for selectively configuring features and functions of a consolidated software application for particular end users.

Claims

1. A method of customizing a consolidated software application including a plurality of features and functions for a particular end user, the method comprising:

activating selected features and functions of the consolidated software application during installation of the consolidated software application on a computing device having a user interface accessible by an end user;

displaying activated features and functions which were activated during the activating step on a user interface accessible by a system administrator;

permitting the system administrator to selectively enable and disable activated features and functions after installation of the consolidated software application on the computing device;

displaying activated and enabled features and functions on the user interface accessible to the end user;

permitting the end user to selectively show and hide active and enabled features and functions from display on the user interface; and

removing those features and functions that the end user selects to hide from display on the user interface accessible to the end user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein information related to non-active features and functions of the consolidated software application which were not activated during the activating step is not displayed on the user interfaces accessible by the system administrator and the end user.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein information related to disabled features and functions that were disabled by the system administrator during the selectively enabling and disabling activated features step is also not displayed on the user interface accessible by the end user.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the activating step includes providing an activation key for use during installation of the consolidated software application.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the activation key identifies a product class of the consolidated software application selected from a consumer mode and a healthcare professional mode.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the activation key establishes a trial mode of operation for the consolidated software application on a computing device, the activation key indicating a number of days that the end user is allowed to operate the consolidated software application in the trial mode.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the activation key indicates included countries for which the activation key is valid.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the activation key also indicates excluded countries for which the activation key is invalid.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein the activation key includes a plurality of hexidecimal characters to indicate which features and functions of the consolidated software application are activated.

10. The method of claim 4, wherein the activating step further comprises allowing an installer of the consolidated software application to selectively activate features and functions during installation separate from those features and functions activated by the activation key.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the consolidated software application is configured to provide a plurality of different features and functions to process physiological information data received from a portable device related to management of a health condition, the consolidated software application including instructions to display representations of physiological information data on the user interface.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the activating step is based at least in part on a geographic region of the end user.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the activating step is based at least in part on a type of end user.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the end user is one of a consumer, a healthcare professional, a managed care provider, a health maintenance organization, and a payor.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the activating step is based at least in part on an authorized field of use of the end user.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the consolidated software application includes a base application including the plurality of base feature sets which are always activated and enabled, and a plurality of additional feature sets which may be selectively activated during the activating step and selectively enabled and disabled during the step of permitting the system administrator to selectively enable and disable activated features.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the activating step establishes a language for use on the user interface accessible by an end user.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the activating step establishes at least one language for reports generated by the consolidated software application.

19. A computer-readable medium having computer executable instructions for performing the method of claim 1.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the consolidated software application includes a plurality of styles of display icons, graphics, and color schemes which may be used on a display of the user interface accessible by the end user, and wherein the activating step activates selected styles of icons, graphics, and color schemes to adjust a look and feel of the software.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the activating step selects a background image for use on a display of the user interface accessible by the end user from a plurality of background images in the consolidated software application.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the activating step selects different messages, instructions, and help topics for use on a display of the user interface accessible by the end user based on the activated and enabled features and functions.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the features and functions include hardware connectivity software used to permit the computing device to communicate with a plurality of external devices, and wherein the activating step selectively activates portions of the hardware connectivity software for an identified external device.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the external device is one of a glucose meter, an infusion pump, a cellular phone, and a personal data assistants (PDA).

25. A method of multi-level customization of a consolidated software application by a marketing group, a system administrator, and an end user, the method comprising:

permitting a marketing group to selectively activate the features and functions of the consolidated software application based on at least one of a geographic region of the end user, a type of end user, and a permitted field of use for the end user during installation of the consolidated software application on a computing device having a user interface accessible by the end user;

permitting a system administrator to selectively enable and disable activated features after installation of the consolidated software application;

permitting the end user to selectively show and hide active and enabled features and functions from display on the user interface; and

removing those features and functions that the end user selects to hide from a display of the user interface accessible to the end user.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein information related to non-active features and functions of the consolidated software application which were not activated by the marketing group is not displayed on user interfaces accessible by the system administrator and the end user.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein information related to disabled features and functions that were disabled by the system administrator is also not displayed on the user interface accessible by the end user.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein the step of permitting a marketing group to selectively activate the features and functions of the consolidated software application includes providing an activation key for use during installation of the consolidated software application.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the step of permitting a marketing group to selectively activate the features and functions of the consolidated software application further comprises allowing an installer of the consolidated software application to selectively activate features and functions during installation separate from those features and functions activated by the activation key.

30. The method of claim 25, wherein the consolidated software application is configured to provide a plurality of different features and functions to process physiological information data received from a portable device related to management of a health condition, the consolidated software application including instructions to display representations of physiological information data on the user interface.

31. A computer-readable medium having computer executable instructions for performing the method of claim 25.

32. The method of claim 25, wherein the consolidated software application includes a plurality of styles of display icons, graphics, and color schemes which may be used on a display of the user interface accessible by the end user, the marketing group activating selected styles of icons, graphics, and color schemes to adjust a look and feel of the software.

33. The method of claim 25, wherein the marketing group selectively activates a background image for use on a display of the user interface accessible by the end user from a plurality of background images in the consolidated software application.

34. The method of claim 25, wherein the features and functions of the consolidated software application include a plurality of different messages, instructions, and help topics for use on a display of the user interface accessible by the end user based on the activated and enabled features and functions.

35. The method of claim 25, wherein the features and functions of the consolidated software application include hardware connectivity software used to permit the computing device to communicate with a plurality of external devices, at least one of the marketing group and the system administrator selectively activating portions of the hardware connectivity software for an identified external device.

36. A healthcare management system configured to receive and process physiological information data related to at least one patient from a portable device, the healthcare management system comprising:

a computing device configured to access and download physiological information data from a portable device;

a memory accessible by the computing device to store the downloaded physiological information data;

at least one user interface having a display which receives display information from computing device;

software configured to operate on the computing device and implement a plurality of different features and functions to manage the physiological information data from the portable device related to management of a health condition, the software including instructions to display representations of physiological information data included in the memory on the display of the user interface;

means for activating selected features and functions of the consolidated software application during installation of the consolidated software application on the computing device;

means for displaying activated features and functions which were activated by the activating means on the display of the user interface accessible by a system administrator;

means for permitting the system administrator to selectively enable and disable activated features and functions after installation of the consolidated software application on the computing device;

means for displaying activated and enabled features and functions on the user interface accessible to the end user;

means for permitting the end user to selectively show and hide active and enabled features and functions from display on the user interface; and

means for displaying information related to those features and functions that the end user selects to show on the display on the user interface accessible to the end user.