SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PERFORMING A DIAGNOSTIC ANALYSIS OF PHYSIOLOGICAL INFORMATION

• US 20100125182A1
• Filed: 11/14/2008
• Published: 05/20/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Clayton, Darnell, SCHROETER, HORST, Chang, E-Lee, Roberts, Linda, Khandelwal, Madhur
• Granted Patent: US 9,408,537 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/301
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/01 Measuring temperature of body parts ; Diagnostic temperature sensing, e.g. for malignant or inflamed tissue clinical contact thermometers G01K13/20
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/021 Measuring pressure in heart or blood vessels A61B5/0205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/024 Detecting, measuring or recording pulse rate or heart rate A61B5/0205, A61B5/021 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02416 using photoplethysmograph signals, e.g. generated by infrared radiation A61B5/14552 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14532 for measuring glucose, e.g. by tissue impedance measurement
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14551 for measuring blood gases
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4842 Monitoring progression or stage of a disease
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4872 Body fat
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7246 using correlation, e.g. template matching or determination of similarity
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/744 Displaying an avatar, e.g. an animated cartoon character
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7465 Arrangements for interactive communication between patient and care services, e.g. by using a telephone network telemetry of measured physiological signal A61B5/0002
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 3/006 based on simulated virtual individual or collective life forms, e.g. social simulations or particle swarm optimisation [PSO]
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/20 for electronic clinical trials or questionnaires
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems

Abstract

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, an avatar engine having a controller to retrieve a user profile of a user, present the user an avatar having characteristics that correlate to the user profile, detect one or more responses of the user during a communication exchange between the user and the avatar, identify from the one or more responses a need to determine a medical status of the user, establish communications with a medical diagnostic system, receive physiological information associated with the user, submit the physiological information to the medical diagnostic system, receive from the medical diagnostic system a diagnostic analysis of the physiological information, and present the diagnostic analysis to at least one of the user and a medical agent of the user, wherein the user is presented the diagnostic analysis by way of the avatar. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. An avatar engine, comprising a controller to:

retrieve a user profile of a user;

present the user an avatar having characteristics that correlate to the user profile;

detect one or more responses of the user during a communication exchange between the user and the avatar;

identify from the one or more responses a need to determine a medical status of the user;

establish communications with a medical diagnostic system;

receive physiological information associated with the user;

submit the physiological information to the medical diagnostic system;

receive from the medical diagnostic system a diagnostic analysis of the physiological information; and

present the diagnostic analysis to at least one of the user and a medical agent of the user, wherein the user is presented the diagnostic analysis by way of the avatar.

2. The avatar engine of claim 1, wherein the controller is adapted to:

receive a prognosis from the medical diagnostic system; and

present the prognosis to at least one of the user and a medical agent of the user, wherein the user is presented the prognosis by way of the avatar.

3. The avatar engine of claim 1, wherein the physiological information comprises at least one of a body temperature measurement of the user, a blood pressure measurement of the user, a heart rate measurement of the user, a height measurement of the user, a weight measurement of the user, a body fat measurement of the user, and an ailment described by the user.

4. The avatar engine of claim 1, wherein the controller is adapted to receive the physiological information from one or more medical instruments coupled to the user.

5. The avatar engine of claim 1, wherein the medical agent corresponds to a physician or a registered nurse.

6. The avatar engine of claim 1, wherein the controller is adapted to:

determine from a comparison of the diagnostic analysis and prior diagnostic analysis results provided by the medical diagnostic system an improvement or deterioration in a physiological condition of the user; and

present the user by way of the avatar the improvement or deterioration in the physiological condition of the user.

7. The avatar engine of claim 6, wherein the avatar engine operates in a computing device communicatively coupled to an interactive media communication system (iMCS), and wherein the iMCS corresponds to one of an Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) communication system, an interactive cable TV communication system, an interactive satellite TV communication system, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) communication system, an Internet Service Provider (ISP) network, and a cellular communication system.

8. The avatar engine of claim 1, wherein the medical diagnostic system operates from the avatar engine.

9. A method, comprising:

presenting a user an avatar having characteristics that correlate to a profile of the user;

identifying from a communication exchange between the user and the avatar a need to physiologically analyze the user;

receiving physiological information associated with the user;

submitting the physiological information to a medical system;

receiving from the medical system a diagnostic analysis of the physiological information; and

presenting the diagnostic analysis by way of the avatar.

10. The method of claim 9, comprising presenting the user or a medical agent the diagnostic analysis by way of the avatar.

11. The method of claim 10, comprising:

receiving a prognosis from the medical agent; and

presenting the user the prognosis by way of the avatar.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the medical agent corresponds to a physician or a registered nurse.

13. The method of claim 12, comprising the medical agent prescribing medication according to the diagnostic analysis.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the physiological information comprises at least one of a body temperature measurement of the user, a blood pressure measurement of the user, a heart rate measurement of the user, a height measurement of the user, a weight measurement of the user, a body fat measurement of the user, and an ailment described by the user.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the medical system is adapted to retrieve a physiological profile of the user to perform the diagnostic analysis of the user'"'"'s physiological information.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the method operates in a computing device communicatively coupled to an interactive media communication system (iMCS).

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the method operates in a computing device communicatively coupled to an interactive media communication system (iMCS), and wherein the iMCS corresponds to one of an Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) communication system, an interactive cable TV communication system, an interactive satellite TV communication system, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) communication system, an Internet Service Provider (ISP) network, and a cellular communication system.

18. A computer-readable storage medium, comprising computer instructions for:

conducting a communication exchange between a user and an avatar;

submitting to a medical system physiological information associated with the user;

receiving from the medical system a diagnostic analysis of the physiological information; and

presenting the diagnostic analysis by way of the avatar.

19. The storage medium of claim 18, comprising computer instructions for presenting the user the avatar correlated to a profile of the user, wherein the avatar is an interactive avatar.

20. The storage medium of claim 18, comprising computer instructions for:

presenting a medical agent the diagnostic analysis by way of the avatar; and

receiving a prognosis from the medical agent; and

presenting the user the prognosis by way of the avatar, wherein the medical agent corresponds to a physician or a registered nurse, and wherein the medical agent prescribes medication according to the diagnostic analysis.

21. The storage medium of claim 18, wherein the physiological information comprises at least one of a body temperature measurement of the user, a blood pressure measurement of the user, a heart rate measurement of the user, a height measurement of the user, a weight measurement of the user, a body fat measurement of the user, and an ailment described by the user.

22. The storage medium of claim 18, comprising computer instructions for receiving the physiological information from one or more measurement instruments coupled to the user.

23. The storage medium of claim 18, comprising computer instructions for:

receiving from the medical system one or more recommendations for improving the health of the user; and

presenting the user the one or more recommendations by way of the avatar.

24. A method, comprising delivering an interactive avatar service that performs physiological diagnostic services.

25. A system, comprising a controller to provide diagnostic analysis of physiological information supplied by an interactive avatar system.