Systems and methods for medical diagnostic support - Patents.com

Abstract

1. A medical diagnosis support system comprising: processing resources configured to acquire medical data acquired from a patient's body at a given time using a medical data acquisition device; identify and retrieve residual information associated with at least one of (i) a first location of the patient at the given time or (ii) one or more second locations of the patient at one or more corresponding second times prior to the given time; and display the medical data and residual information to a medical professional, thereby enabling the medical professional to provide a diagnosis of the patient's medical condition.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a system and method for medical diagnostic support. [Background technology]

[0002] Due to the increasing cost and complexity of healthcare around the world, the use of telemedicine, which uses telecommunications and information technologies to provide clinical care remotely, is becoming more commonplace and is increasingly being seen as a solution to the growing demand for affordable and accessible healthcare.

[0003] There are many advantages of in-person visits, where a patient physically visits a healthcare professional (e.g., a doctor or nurse), over telehealth solutions. One advantage is that a local healthcare professional often sees multiple patients from a particular geographic area. Thus, the local healthcare professional is generally familiar with the patient as well as the patient's social circle (family, neighbors, coworkers, classmates, etc.). This provides the local healthcare professional with valuable insight into illnesses in the patient's surrounding environment that telehealth healthcare professionals lack. Another advantage is that the local healthcare professional is familiar with the various environmental conditions (e.g., water pollution, air pollution, disease outbreaks, radiation levels, weather information, food poisoning information, known illnesses, etc.) within the geographic area where he or she sees his or her patients. This provides the local healthcare professional with valuable insight into the underlying reasons for the patient's medical symptoms, which may enable them to provide a more accurate diagnosis.

[0004] One of the challenges of telehealth is how to create telehealth appointments that are as effective as in-person visits and that maintain the flexibility and advantages of providing care remotely while retaining the valuable insights that local health care providers typically possess about illnesses in the geographic area or social group surrounding the patient, or about environmental conditions in the patient's location. Providing such insights to the telehealth provider can supplement the patient's electronic health record (EHR) and enable the telehealth provider to provide a better diagnosis of the patient's condition.

[0005] Also, local health workers can proactively notify potentially undiagnosed infected patients of the disease based on the disease in the geographic area or social group surrounding the patient. There is a need to provide similar notification capabilities to telehealth workers to enable notification of potentially infected patients far away.

[0006] Thus, there is a need in the art for new medical diagnostic support systems and methods. Summary of the Invention

[0007] According to a first aspect of the subject matter of the present disclosure, a medical record management system is provided comprising a processor, the processor being configured to provide a plurality of medical records, each associated with a corresponding patient, each comprising a patient identification information and at least one patient attribute, one or more of which including one or more past diagnoses previously provided to the corresponding patient, generate one or more clusters each associated with at least two medical records, each having at least one shared patient attribute having a value satisfying a common condition, based on the patient attributes, receive a diagnostic support information request including the identification information of a given patient, identify one or more patient-related clusters among the clusters each associated with the medical record of the given patient using the identification information of the given patient, where at least one of the medical records of each patient-related cluster other than the medical record of the given patient includes one or more of the past diagnoses, and transmit a diagnostic support information response including the at least one past diagnoses of the patient-related cluster other than the past diagnoses of the given patient.

[0008] In some cases, the diagnostic support information response includes corresponding shared patient attributes of the identified patient associated clusters.

[0009] In some cases, the diagnosis support information response includes only past diagnoses that have a calculated probability of association with a given patient that exceeds a threshold.

[0010] In some cases, the patient attributes include the patient's last name, the patient's first name, the patient's occupation, the patient's workplace, the patient's age group, or an identifier for the medical data capture device used to capture the medical data.

[0011] In some cases, the common condition is equality of value.

[0012] In some cases, the shared patient attribute is a geographic patient attribute and the condition is based on physical proximity.

[0013] According to a second aspect of the subject matter of the present disclosure, there is provided a medical diagnostic support system comprising a display and a processor, the processor being configured to: obtain, with respect to a plurality of patients, (a) medical information associated with a given one of the patients, and (b) diagnostic support information including at least one past diagnosis provided to a previously diagnosed patient, wherein the previously diagnosed patient and the given patient are part of at least one common cluster generated based on at least one shared patient attribute of the medical records of the previously diagnosed patient and the medical records of the given patient having a value satisfying a common condition; and display the medical information and the diagnostic support information on the display, thereby enabling a medical diagnostic entity to provide a diagnosis of a medical condition of the given patient based on (i) the medical information associated with the given patient and (ii) the diagnostic support information.

[0014] In some cases, the processor is further configured to determine one or more medical tests to be performed on the given patient based on the medical information and the diagnostic support information, and display the medical tests on the display, thereby enabling the medical diagnostic entity to recommend additional screening for the given patient.

[0015] In some cases, the processor is further configured to receive a diagnosis from a medical diagnostic entity and transmit the diagnosis to a given patient.

[0016] In some cases, the processor is further configured to process the patient queue based on the diagnostic support information such that a first patient associated with a first common cluster having a first previous diagnosis of a first disease precedes a second patient associated with a second common cluster having a second previous diagnosis of a second disease predefined as having a lower urgency level than the urgency level of the first disease.

[0017] In some cases, the prior diagnosis meets at least one predefined criterion.

[0018] In some cases, the default criterion is that the type of previous diagnosis is a contagious disease diagnosis.

[0019] In some cases, the diagnostic support information further includes relevance parameters for each of the previous diagnoses, relevance parameters generated based on the diagnosis types of the previous diagnoses and the cluster types of the common clusters, and relevance parameters indicating the likelihood of relevance of the previous diagnoses to a given patient.

[0020] In some cases, the common clusters are generated by a medical record management system.

[0021] In some cases, at least a portion of the medical information associated with a given patient is acquired by a medical data acquisition device.

[0022] In some cases, the prior diagnoses include one or more of Avian Flu, Ebola, Hepatitis, HIV / AIDS, Salmonella, or Tuberculosis.

[0023] In some cases, the shared patient attributes include the patient's last name, the patient's address, the patient's occupation, the patient's workplace, the patient's age group, and an identifier for the medical data capture device used to capture the medical data.

[0024] In some cases, the medical diagnostic support system is located remotely from a given patient.

[0025] In some cases, the common condition is equality of value.

[0026] In some cases, the shared patient attribute is a geographic patient attribute and the common condition is based on physical proximity.

[0027] According to a third aspect of the subject matter of the present disclosure, there is provided a screening plan determination system comprising: a processor configured to receive (a) patient identification information identifying a given patient; and (b) diagnostic support information including at least one past diagnosis of one or more specific medical conditions provided to a previously diagnosed patient, where the previously diagnosed patient and the given patient are part of at least one common cluster generated based on at least one shared patient attribute of the previously diagnosed patient and the given patient having a value satisfying a common condition; and determine, for the given patient, a screening plan defining one or more medical tests to be administered to the given patient based at least on the diagnostic support information, where at least one of the medical tests is necessary to diagnose whether the given patient has the medical condition.

[0028] In some cases, the screening plan includes at least one medical test that is not included in the screening plan based on medical information that does not include the supporting information.

[0029] In some cases, the test is performed by a medical data acquisition device.

[0030] In some cases, the medical tests include one or more of temperature, blood pressure, blood chemistry, or urinalysis.

[0031] In some cases, the common condition is equality of value.

[0032] In some cases, the shared patient attribute is a geographic patient attribute and the common condition is based on physical proximity.

[0033] According to a fourth aspect of the subject matter of the present disclosure, a medical notification support system is provided comprising a display and a processor, the processor is configured to obtain (a) notification support information including at least one past diagnosis of one or more specific medical conditions provided to a previously diagnosed patient, where the previously diagnosed patient and the one or more undiagnosed patients are part of at least one common cluster generated based on at least one shared patient attribute of the medical records of the previously diagnosed patient and the medical records of the undiagnosed patient having a value satisfying a common condition, and (b) patient identification information identifying the undiagnosed patient, and display the notification support information and the patient identification information on the display to enable one or more interested parties to notify the undiagnosed patient of potential infection with the medical condition.

[0034] In some cases, at least one of the medical practitioners is a medical diagnostic entity undertaking treatment for the corresponding undiagnosed patient.

[0035] In some cases, the medical diagnostic entity is different from the medical diagnostic entity undertaking the treatment of a previously diagnosed patient.

[0036] In some cases, acquisition occurs periodically.

[0037] In some cases, the notification to the undiagnosed patient is sent to at least one medical data acquisition device of the undiagnosed patient.

[0038] In some cases, the common condition is equality of value.

[0039] In some cases, the shared patient attribute is a geographic patient attribute and the common condition is based on physical proximity.

[0040] According to a fifth aspect of the subject matter of the present disclosure, there is provided a method comprising: providing a plurality of medical records, each associated with a corresponding patient, each comprising a patient identification and at least one patient attribute, one or more of the medical records including one or more past diagnoses previously provided to the corresponding patient; generating one or more clusters, each associated with at least two medical records based on the patient attributes, each having at least one shared patient attribute having a value satisfying a common condition; receiving a diagnostic support information request including the identification information of a given patient; identifying one or more patient-related clusters among the clusters each associated with the medical record of the given patient using the identification information of the given patient, wherein at least one of the medical records of each patient-related cluster other than the medical record of the given patient includes one or more of the past diagnoses; and sending a diagnostic support information response including at least one past diagnosis of the patient-related cluster other than the past diagnosis of the given patient.

[0041] In some cases, the diagnostic support information response includes corresponding shared patient attributes of the identified patient associated clusters.

[0042] In some cases, the diagnosis support information response includes only past diagnoses that have a calculated probability of association with a given patient that exceeds a threshold.

[0043] In some cases, the patient attributes include one or more of the patient's last name, the patient's address, the patient's occupation, the patient's workplace, the patient's age group, or an identifier of the medical data capture device used to capture the medical data.

[0044] In some cases, the common condition is equality of value.

[0045] In some cases, the shared patient attribute is a geographic patient attribute and the condition is based on physical proximity.

[0046] According to a sixth aspect of the subject matter of the present disclosure, there is provided a method comprising: obtaining, for a plurality of patients, (a) medical information associated with a patient among the patients; and (b) diagnostic support information including at least one past diagnosis provided to a previously diagnosed patient, wherein the previously diagnosed patient and the given patient are part of at least one common cluster generated based on at least one shared patient attribute of the medical records of the previously diagnosed patient and the medical record of the given patient having a value satisfying a common condition; and displaying the medical information and the diagnostic support information on a display, thereby enabling a medical diagnostic entity to provide a diagnosis of a medical condition of the given patient based on (i) the medical information associated with the given patient and (ii) the diagnostic support information.

[0047] In some cases, the method further comprises determining one or more medical tests to be performed on the given patient based on the medical information and the diagnostic support information, and displaying the medical tests on the display to enable a medical diagnostic entity to recommend additional screening for the given patient.

[0048] In some cases, the method further comprises receiving a diagnosis from a medical diagnostic entity and transmitting the diagnosis to the given patient.

[0049] In some cases, the method further comprises processing the patient queue based on the diagnostic support information such that a first patient associated with a first common cluster having a first previous diagnosis of a first disease precedes a second patient associated with a second common cluster having a second previous diagnosis of a second disease predefined as having a lower urgency level than the first disease.

[0050] In some cases, the prior diagnosis meets at least one predefined criterion.

[0051] In some cases, the default criterion is that the type of previous diagnosis is a contagious disease diagnosis.

[0052] In some cases, the diagnostic support information further includes relevance parameters for each of the previous diagnoses, relevance parameters generated based on the diagnosis types of the previous diagnoses and the cluster types of the common clusters, and relevance parameters indicating the likelihood of relevance of the previous diagnoses to a given patient.

[0053] In some cases, the common clusters are generated by a medical record management system.

[0054] In some cases, at least a portion of the medical information associated with a given patient is acquired by a medical data acquisition device.

[0055] In some cases, the prior diagnoses include one or more of Avian Flu, Ebola, Hepatitis, HIV / AIDS, Salmonella, or Tuberculosis.

[0056] In some cases, the shared patient attributes include the patient's last name, the patient's address, the patient's occupation, the patient's workplace, the patient's age group, or an identifier for the medical data capture device used to capture the medical data.

[0057] In some cases, the medical diagnostic support system is located remotely from a given patient.

[0058] In some cases, the common condition is equality of value.

[0059] In some cases, the shared patient attribute is a geographic patient attribute and the common condition is based on physical proximity.

[0060] According to a seventh aspect of the subject matter of the present disclosure, a method is provided comprising: receiving diagnostic support information including (a) patient identification information identifying a given patient; and (b) at least one past diagnosis of one or more specific medical conditions provided to a previously diagnosed patient, where the previously diagnosed patient and the given patient are part of at least one common cluster generated based on at least one shared patient attribute of the previously diagnosed patient and the given patient having a value satisfying a common condition; and determining, for the given patient, a screening plan defining one or more medical tests to be administered to the given patient based at least on the diagnostic support information, where at least one of the medical tests is necessary to diagnose whether the given patient has the medical condition.

[0061] In some cases, the screening plan includes at least one medical test that was not included in the screening plan based on the medical information without the supporting information.

[0062] In some cases, the test is performed by a medical data acquisition device.

[0063] In some cases, the medical tests include one or more of temperature, blood pressure, blood chemistry, or urinalysis.

[0064] In some cases, the common condition is equality of value.

[0065] In some cases, the shared patient attribute is a geographic patient attribute and the common condition is based on physical proximity.

[0066] According to an eighth aspect of the subject matter of the present disclosure, a method is provided comprising: (a) obtaining notification support information including at least one past diagnosis of one or more particular medical conditions provided to a previously diagnosed patient, where the previously diagnosed patient and the one or more undiagnosed patients are part of at least one common cluster generated based on at least one shared patient attribute of the medical records of the previously diagnosed patient and the medical records of the undiagnosed patient having a value satisfying a common condition; and (b) obtaining patient identification information identifying the undiagnosed patient; and displaying the notification support information and the patient identification information on a display to enable one or more interested parties to notify the undiagnosed patient of potential infection with the medical condition.

[0067] In some cases, at least one of the medical practitioners is a medical diagnostic entity undertaking treatment for the corresponding undiagnosed patient.

[0068] In some cases, the medical diagnostic entity is different from the medical diagnostic entity undertaking the treatment of a previously diagnosed patient.

[0069] In some cases, acquisition occurs periodically.

[0070] In some cases, the notification to the undiagnosed patient is sent to at least one medical data acquisition device of the undiagnosed patient.

[0071] In some cases, the common condition is equality of value.

[0072] In some cases, the shared patient attribute is a geographic patient attribute and the common condition is based on physical proximity.

[0073] According to a ninth aspect of the subject matter of the present disclosure, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code embodied thereon is provided for performing a method comprising: providing a plurality of medical records, each associated with a corresponding patient, each comprising a patient identification and at least one patient attribute, one or more of the medical records including one or more past diagnoses previously provided to the corresponding patient; generating one or more clusters, each associated with at least two medical records based on the patient attributes, each having at least one shared patient attribute having a value satisfying a common condition; receiving a diagnostic support information request including the identification information of a given patient; identifying one or more patient-related clusters among the clusters each associated with the medical record of the given patient using the identification information of the given patient, wherein at least one of the medical records of each patient-related cluster other than the medical record of the given patient includes one or more of the past diagnoses; and transmitting a diagnostic support information response including at least one past diagnoses of the patient-related cluster other than the past diagnoses of the given patient.

[0074] According to a tenth aspect of the subject matter of the present disclosure, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code embodied thereon is provided for performing a method comprising: obtaining, for a plurality of patients, (a) medical information associated with a given one of the patients; and (b) diagnostic support information including at least one past diagnosis provided to a previously diagnosed patient, wherein the previously diagnosed patient and the given patient are part of at least one common cluster generated based on at least one shared patient attribute of the medical records of the previously diagnosed patient and the medical record of the given patient having a value satisfying a common condition; and displaying the medical information and the diagnostic support information on a display, thereby enabling a medical diagnostic entity to provide a diagnosis of a medical condition of the given patient based on (i) the medical information associated with the given patient and (ii) the diagnostic support information.

[0075] According to an eleventh aspect of the subject matter of the present disclosure, there is provided a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code embodied thereon executable by at least one processor of a computer for performing a method comprising receiving diagnostic support information including (a) patient identification information identifying a given patient, and (b) at least one past diagnosis of one or more specific medical conditions provided to a previously diagnosed patient, where the previously diagnosed patient and the given patient are part of at least one common cluster generated based on at least one shared patient attribute of the previously diagnosed patient and the given patient having a value satisfying a common condition; and determining, for the given patient, a screening plan defining one or more medical tests to be administered to the given patient based at least on the diagnostic support information, where at least one of the medical tests is necessary to diagnose whether the given patient has the medical condition.

[0076] According to a twelfth aspect of the subject matter of the present disclosure, there is provided a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code embodied thereon executable by at least one processor of a computer for performing a method comprising obtaining (a) notification support information including at least one past diagnosis of one or more specific medical conditions provided to a previously diagnosed patient, where the previously diagnosed patient and the one or more undiagnosed patients are part of at least one common cluster generated based on at least one shared patient attribute of the medical records of the previously diagnosed patient and the medical records of the undiagnosed patient having a value satisfying a common condition, and (b) patient identification information identifying the undiagnosed patient, and displaying the notification support information and the patient identification information on a display to enable one or more medical personnel to notify the undiagnosed patient of potential infection with the medical condition.

[0077] According to a thirteenth aspect of the subject matter of the present disclosure, there is provided a medical diagnosis support system comprising processing resources configured to acquire medical data acquired from a patient's body at a given time using a medical data acquisition device, identify and retrieve residual information associated with at least one of (i) a first location of the patient at the given time, or (ii) one or more second locations of the patient at one or more corresponding second times prior to the given time, and display the medical data and residual information to a medical practitioner, thereby enabling the medical practitioner to provide a diagnosis of the patient's medical condition.

[0078] In some cases, the retrieved residual information is identified using a first set of rules that define the relevance of the residual information for diagnostic purposes based on at least one of: (a) metadata defining a first location and a given time, and a relevant period for the type of residual information; (b) metadata defining a second location, a corresponding second time, and a relevant period for the type of residual information; (c) a known medical condition of the patient; or (d) the acquired medical data.

[0079] In some cases, medical data is obtained from the patient's body and displayed to the medical practitioner during an online session between the patient and the medical practitioner.

[0080] In some cases, medical data is acquired from the patient's body and displayed to the medical practitioner at a third time, after the given time, and the medical data acquisition device is not in communication with the medical diagnostic support system.

[0081] In some cases, the residual information includes one or more air pollution indicators, one or more water pollution indicators, disease outbreak information, radiation level information, weather information, food poisoning information, or one or more of known illnesses at the first location or the second location.

[0082] In some cases, the residual information is obtained from online sources, at least one of which is external to the medical diagnosis support system.

[0083] In some cases, the medical data acquisition device includes at least one medical data acquisition sensor and the medical data includes at least one measurement acquired by the medical data acquisition sensor.

[0084] According to a fourteenth aspect of the subject matter of the present disclosure, there is provided a medical diagnosis support system comprising a medical data acquisition device comprising a first processing resource and at least one medical data acquisition sensor, and a medical practitioner workstation comprising a second processing resource and a display, wherein the first processing resource is configured to acquire medical data from a patient using the medical data acquisition sensor at a given time, and transmit the medical data and location information indicating the patient's location at the given time to the medical practitioner device, and the second processing resource is configured to receive the medical data and the location information from the medical data acquisition device, retrieve environmental information indicating environmental conditions at the location, and display the medical information and the environmental information on the display, thereby enabling a medical practitioner operating the medical practitioner workstation to provide a diagnosis of the patient's medical condition.

[0085] In some cases, the retrieved residual information is identified using a first set of rules that define the relevance of the residual information for diagnostic purposes based on at least one of: (a) metadata defining a first location and a given time, and a relevant period for the type of residual information; (b) metadata defining a second location, a corresponding second time, and a relevant period for the type of residual information; (c) a known medical condition of the patient; or (d) the acquired medical data.

[0086] In some cases, medical data is obtained from the patient's body and displayed to the medical practitioner during an online session between the patient and the medical practitioner.

[0087] In some cases, medical data is acquired from the patient's body and displayed to the medical practitioner at a third time, after the given time, and the medical data acquisition device is not in communication with the medical diagnostic support system.

[0088] In some cases, the residual information includes one or more air pollution indicators, one or more water pollution indicators, disease outbreak information, radiation level information, weather information, food poisoning information, or one or more of known illnesses at the first location or the second location.

[0089] In some cases, the residual information is obtained from online sources, at least one of which is external to the medical diagnosis support system.

[0090] In some cases, the medical data acquisition device includes at least one medical data acquisition sensor and the medical data includes at least one measurement acquired by the medical data acquisition sensor.

[0091] According to a fifteenth aspect of the subject matter of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for medical diagnosis support comprising acquiring medical data acquired from a patient's body at a given time using a medical data acquisition device, identifying and retrieving residual information associated with at least one of (i) a first location of the patient at the given time or (ii) one or more second locations of the patient at one or more corresponding second times prior to the given time, and displaying the medical data and said residual information to a medical practitioner, thereby enabling the medical practitioner to provide a diagnosis of the patient's medical condition.

[0092] In some cases, the retrieved residual information is identified using a first set of rules that define the relevance of the residual information for diagnostic purposes based on at least one of: (a) metadata defining a first location and a given time, and a relevant period for the type of residual information; (b) metadata defining a second location, a corresponding second time, and a relevant period for the type of residual information; (c) a known medical condition of the patient; or (d) the acquired medical data.

[0093] In some cases, medical data is obtained from the patient's body and displayed to the medical practitioner during an online session between the patient and the medical practitioner.

[0094] In some cases, medical data is acquired from the patient's body and displayed to the medical practitioner at a third time, after the given time, and the medical data acquisition device is not in communication with the medical diagnostic support system.

[0095] In some cases, the residual information includes one or more air pollution indicators, one or more water pollution indicators, disease outbreak information, radiation level information, weather information, food poisoning information, or one or more of known illnesses at the first location or the second location.

[0096] In some cases, the residual information is obtained from online sources, at least one of which is external to the medical diagnosis support system.

[0097] In some cases, the medical data acquisition device includes at least one medical data acquisition sensor and the medical data includes at least one measurement acquired by the medical data acquisition sensor.

[0098] According to a sixteenth aspect of the subject matter of the present disclosure, there is provided a medical diagnosis support method comprising: acquiring medical data from a patient at a given time by a medical data acquisition device having at least one medical data acquisition sensor using the medical data acquisition sensor; transmitting by the medical data acquisition device the medical data and location information indicating the patient's location at the given time to a medical practitioner device; receiving the medical data and the location information from the medical data acquisition device by a medical practitioner workstation having a display; retrieving by the medical practitioner workstation environmental information indicating environmental conditions at the location; and displaying the medical information and environmental information on the display to enable a medical practitioner operating the medical practitioner workstation to provide a diagnosis of the patient's medical condition.

[0099] In some cases, the retrieved residual information is identified using a first set of rules that define the relevance of the residual information for diagnostic purposes based on at least one of: (a) metadata defining a first location and a given time, and a relevant period for the type of residual information; (b) metadata defining a second location, a corresponding second time, and a relevant period for the type of residual information; (c) a known medical condition of the patient; or (d) the acquired medical data.

[0100] In some cases, medical data is obtained from the patient's body and displayed to the medical practitioner during an online session between the patient and the medical practitioner.

[0101] In some cases, medical data is acquired from the patient's body and displayed to the medical practitioner at a third time, after the given time, and the medical data acquisition device is not in communication with the medical diagnostic support system.

[0102] In some cases, the residual information includes one or more air pollution indicators, one or more water pollution indicators, disease outbreak information, radiation level information, weather information, food poisoning information, or one or more of known illnesses at the first location or the second location.

[0103] In some cases, the residual information is obtained from online sources, at least one of which is external to the medical diagnosis support system.

[0104] In some cases, the medical data acquisition device includes at least one medical data acquisition sensor and the medical data includes at least one measurement acquired by the medical data acquisition sensor.

[0105] According to a seventeenth aspect of the subject matter of the present disclosure, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied thereon executable by at least one processor of a computer to perform a method comprising acquiring medical data acquired from a patient's body at a given time with a medical data acquisition device, identifying and retrieving residual information associated with at least one of (i) a first location of the patient at the given time or (ii) one or more second locations of the patient at one or more corresponding second times prior to the given time, and displaying the medical data and residual information to a medical practitioner to enable the medical practitioner to provide a diagnosis of the patient's medical condition.

[0106] In order to understand the subject matter of the present disclosure and to see how it may be carried out in practice, the subject matter will now be described, by way of non-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: [Brief description of the drawings]

[0107] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram that generally illustrates an example of a system for performing medical testing on a patient by a remote medical practitioner, in accordance with the subject matter of the present disclosure. [Diagram 2] 1 is a schematic diagram of an environment of a system for medical diagnostic support in accordance with the subject matter of the present disclosure. [Diagram 3] FIG. 1 is a block diagram that illustrates generally an example of a medical diagnostic support system, a patient workstation, a medical data acquisition device, and a medical personnel workstation, and various connections therebetween, in accordance with the subject matter of the present disclosure. [Figure 4] FIG. 1 is a block diagram that illustrates generally an example of a medical record management system and a medical diagnosis support system and various connections therebetween, in accordance with the subject matter of the present disclosure. [Diagram 5] 1 is a block diagram that illustrates generally an example of an examination planning system, a medical data acquisition device, and a medical diagnosis support system, and various connections therebetween, in accordance with the subject matter of the present disclosure. [Figure 6]1 is a block diagram that generally illustrates an example of a medical notification support system and a medical data acquisition device, and various connections therebetween, in accordance with the subject matter of the present disclosure. [Figure 7] 1 is a flowchart illustrating an example series of operations performed by a medical record management system to provide cluster-based diagnostic support in accordance with the subject matter of this disclosure. [Figure 8] 1 is a flowchart illustrating an example sequence of operations performed by a medical diagnostic support system to provide cluster-based diagnostic support in accordance with the subject matter of this disclosure. [Figure 9] 1 is a flowchart illustrating an example sequence of operations performed by a medical diagnosis support system to process a queue of diagnosis requesting entities in accordance with the subject matter of this disclosure. [Figure 10] 1 is a flowchart illustrating an example series of operations performed by a screening planning decision system to provide cluster-based diagnostic support in accordance with the subject matter of this disclosure. [Figure 11] 1 is a flowchart illustrating an example series of operations performed by a medical notification support system to provide cluster-based notification support in accordance with the subject matter of this disclosure. [Figure 12] 1 is a flow chart illustrating an example series of actions that may be performed to provide residual information to a medical professional in accordance with the subject matter of the present disclosure. [Figure 13] 11 is a flow chart illustrating another example series of actions that may be performed to provide residual information to a medical professional in accordance with the subject matter of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0108] In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the subject matter of the present disclosure. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the subject matter of the present disclosure may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, and components have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the subject matter of the present disclosure.

[0109] In the drawings and descriptions set forth, identical reference numbers designate components that are common to various embodiments or configurations.

[0110] Unless otherwise indicated, and as will be apparent from the following description, throughout this specification, descriptions using terms such as, for example, "obtain," "generate," "receive," "transmit," "provide," and the like, are understood to include computer operations and / or processes that process and / or transform data into other data, where said data is represented as physical quantities, such as, for example, electronic quantities, and / or where said data represents physical objects. The terms "computer," "processor," and "controller" should be interpreted broadly to encompass any type of electronic device having data processing capabilities, including, as non-limiting examples, personal desktop / laptop computers, servers, computing systems, communication devices, smartphones, tablet computers, smart televisions, processors (e.g., digital signal processors (DSPs), microcontrollers, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.), groups of multiple physical machines that share the performance of various tasks, virtual servers co-resident on a single physical machine, any other electronic computing device, and / or any combination thereof.

[0111] Operations according to the teachings herein may be performed by a specially configured computer for the desired purpose, or by a general-purpose computer specially designed for the desired purpose by a computer program stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The term "non-transitory" is used herein to exclude transitory propagating signals, but to include any volatile or non-volatile computer memory technology suitable for this application.

[0112] As used herein, the phrases "for example," "e.g.," "such as," "as an example," and variations thereof describe non-limiting embodiments of the subject matter of the present disclosure. References herein to "one example," "some examples," "other examples," or variations thereof mean that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment(s) is included in at least one embodiment of the subject matter of the present disclosure. Thus, references to "one example," "some examples," "other examples," or variations thereof do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment(s).

[0113] It is understood that, unless otherwise stated, certain features of the presently disclosed subject matter, which are, for clarity, described in the context of separate embodiments, may also be provided in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features of the presently disclosed subject matter, which are, for brevity, described in the context of a single embodiment, may also be provided separately or in any suitable subcombination.

[0114] In embodiments of the presently disclosed subject matter, more, fewer, and / or different steps may be performed than those shown in FIGS. 7-13. In embodiments of the presently disclosed subject matter, one or more steps shown in FIGS. 7-13 may be performed in a different order and / or one or more groups of steps may be performed simultaneously. FIGS. 1-6 show a general overview of a system architecture according to embodiments of the presently disclosed subject matter. Each module in FIGS. 1-6 may comprise any combination of software, hardware, and / or firmware that performs the functions as defined and described herein. The modules in FIGS. 1-6 may be centralized in one location or distributed across multiple locations. In other embodiments of the presently disclosed subject matter, a system may include fewer, more, and / or different modules than those shown in FIGS. 1-6.

[0115] Any reference in this specification to a method is intended to apply, mutatis mutandis, to a system capable of carrying out the method, and, mutatis mutandis, to a non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, result in the performance of the method.

[0116] Any reference in this specification to a system shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to methods that may be performed by the system, and shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that may be executed by that system.

[0117] Any reference herein to a non-transitory computer readable medium shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to a system capable of executing instructions stored on the non-transitory computer readable medium, and shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to methods that may be executed by a computer reading instructions stored on the non-transitory computer readable medium.

[0118] With this in mind, attention is directed to Fig. 1, which is a block diagram that illustrates, in schematic form, an example of a system for performing a medical examination of a patient by a remote medical practitioner, in accordance with the subject matter of the present disclosure. A user 102 and a patient 103 (a person or animal needing a medical examination) are located at a patient location 100, and a medical practitioner 124 is located at a medical practitioner location 120 that is remote from the patient location 100. Indeed, in accordance with the subject matter of the present disclosure, since the medical practitioner 124 is located at the medical practitioner location 120 that is remote from the patient location 100, the medical practitioner 124 does not have direct access to the patient 103 (e.g., the medical practitioner location 120 is not located in the same room or in any other form of proximity to the patient 103, and the medical practitioner 124 cannot hold the medical data acquisition device 104 himself and place the medical data acquisition device 104 on the body of the patient 103 to acquire medical data). In some cases, the medical personnel 124 may be located in a different room / floor / building / street / city / state / country / continent than the patient 103.

[0119] Considering that the medical professional 124 is located at a different location than the patient 103, the user 102 needs to operate the medical data acquisition device 104 to acquire medical data from the body of the patient 103. In this regard, it should be noted that the user 102 may be the patient 103 who needs a medical test (in such a case, even if the user 102 and the patient 103 are shown as separate entities in the figures, they are in fact the same entity). In another example, the user 102 may be another person (separate from the patient 103) who operates the medical data acquisition device 104 to acquire medical data from the body of the patient 103, as will be described in further detail herein. In some cases, the user 102 is not a medical professional, i.e., the user 102 is not a person who is specially trained to acquire medical data from the body of the patient 103, and is not qualified to diagnose the medical condition of the patient 103 based on the medical data acquired from the patient's body.

[0120] Attention is now directed to the components within the patient location 100 .

[0121] The medical data acquisition device 104 comprises (or is associated with) at least one processing resource 105. The processing resource 105 may be one or more processing units (e.g., central processing units), microprocessors, microcontrollers (e.g., microcontroller units (MCUs)), or any other computing / processing devices adapted to process data, independently or cooperatively, to control the associated medical data acquisition device 104 resources and to enable operations related to the medical data acquisition device 104 resources.

[0122] The medical data acquisition device 104 further comprises one or more sensors 106 (e.g., camera(s), microphone(s), thermometer, depth camera(s), otoscope, blood pressure sensor, electrocardiogram (ECG), ultrasound sensor, acoustic sensor, blood saturation sensor, etc.) including at least one sensor capable of acquiring medical data from the body of the patient 103 based on which the medical professional 124 can diagnose the patient's 103 condition. The medical data may be, for example, body temperature, blood pressure, blood saturation, ECG measurements, audio signals (e.g. of cardiac motion or lungs), ultrasound signals (e.g. of the heart, intestines, etc.), acoustic measurements, body tissue electrical resistance, body tissue stiffness, heart rate, images or video recordings of a body organ or part of a body organ (whether internal or external), 3D representations of one or more body organs or parts thereof (whether internal or external), blood sample analysis, urine sample, throat culture, saliva sample, or any other parameter associated with one or more physiological characteristics of the patient based on which a diagnosis can be provided.

[0123] In some cases, the medical data acquisition device 104 may further comprise or be associated with a data repository 107 (e.g., a database, a storage system, a memory including a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), or any other type of memory, etc.) configured to store data including, among other things, patient-related data regarding one or more patients 103 and various medical data acquired from the body of such patients 103 (e.g., data acquired during a medical test of the patient using the medical data acquisition device 104), various configuration parameters of the sensor(s) 106, a screening plan for the patient 103 (e.g., defining the medical tests to be performed on the patient 103), threshold parameters (e.g., defining the required quality levels for various types of measurements), etc. In some cases, the data repository 107 may be further configured to enable retrieval and / or updating and / or deletion of the stored data. It should be noted that, in some cases, the data repository 107 may be distributed across multiple locations, whether within the medical data acquisition devices 104 and / or within the patient locations 100 and / or within the central system 130 and / or within the medical practitioner locations 120 and / or elsewhere. It should be noted that, in some cases, relevant information regarding the patient 103 may be loaded into the data repository 107 prior to performing a medical test on the patient 103 (e.g., at the start of the medical test, and / or periodically, and / or when an entity such as, for example, the medical practitioner 124 requests the information).

[0124] It should be noted that in some cases, the medical data acquisition device 104 may be a handheld device and at least the processing resource 105 and the sensor 106 may be included within a housing of the medical data acquisition device 104, which may optionally be a handheld device. In some cases, the sensor may be included within a removable unit configured to be attached to the medical data acquisition device 104. In some cases, the sensor may be external to the medical data acquisition device 104, in which case the sensor may communicate with the medical data acquisition device 104 via a wired connection and / or a wireless connection (e.g., a WiFi connection).

[0125] It is further noted that in some cases, the medical data acquisition device 104 may further include one or more speakers for providing audio recordings (e.g., recordings of the medical practitioner 124 instructing the user 102 how to perform the medical test, voice instructions generated by the medical data acquisition device 104 instructing the user 102 how to perform the medical test, etc.) to the user 102. The medical data acquisition device 104 may further include a microphone for recording sounds including voices (e.g., of the user 102 and / or the patient 103) in the vicinity of the medical data acquisition device 104, for example, during a medical test performed using the medical data acquisition device 104. The medical data acquisition device 104 may further include a display for providing visual output (e.g., video recordings of the remote medical practitioner 124, computer-generated instructions instructing the user 102 how to perform the medical test, an indication of the quality of the measurements obtained, etc.) to the user 102.

[0126] In some cases, the medical data acquisition device 104 may communicate with the patient workstation 144 and / or the medical personnel workstation 122 and / or the central system 130, directly or indirectly, through a communication network 116 (e.g., the Internet), via wired or wireless communication. It should be noted that such communication may alternatively or additionally occur using other known communication options, such as, for example, a cellular network, a virtual private network (VPN), a local area network (LAN), etc.

[0127] In some cases, the camera 110 may also be located at the patient location 100. The camera 110 (also referred to as "external camera 110") is external to the medical data acquisition device 104 in the sense that it is not contained within the housing of the medical data acquisition device 104. The camera 110 is preferably movable independent of the medical data acquisition device 104. The camera 110 is operable to capture visible light and generate an image or video based on the captured light. The camera 110 may additionally or alternatively be sensitive to other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum near visible light (e.g., infrared radiation such as near-IR radiation). The camera 110 may be sensitive to the entire visible spectrum (e.g., commercial off-the-shelf cameras such as DSLR cameras, smartphone cameras, webcams, etc.) or only a portion thereof. In some cases, the camera 110 may be a depth camera capable of generating a 3D representation of the medical examination process.

[0128] The camera 110 is aimed at the body location of the patient 103 being examined during at least a portion of the time that the medical data acquisition device 104 is acquiring medical data from the body of the patient 103. In particular, when the camera 110 is aimed at the body location of the patient 103 being examined (as described above), it is operable to acquire one or more images (which may optionally form a video) including at least a portion of the body of the patient 103 and at least a portion of the medical data acquisition device 104 when the medical data acquisition device 104 (or one or more of the sensors 106) is adjacent to the body of the patient 103 being examined. Thus, the image capture by the camera 110 includes at least a portion of the medical data acquisition device 104 and the location on the body of the patient 103 currently being examined thereby.

[0129] In some cases, a patient workstation 114 may also be located at the patient location 100. The patient workstation 114 may be any computer, including, for example, a personal computer, a portable computer, a smart phone, or any other device with suitable processing capabilities, including devices that may be specially configured for that purpose. The patient workstation 114 may be operated by the user 102 to receive input therefrom (e.g., questions to answer, various identification information, etc.) and / or provide output thereto (e.g., indicating operating instructions for operating the medical data acquisition device 104). In some cases, the patient workstation 114 may communicate with the medical data acquisition device 104 and / or the medical personnel workstation 122 and / or the central system 130 through a communication network 116 (e.g., the Internet) via wired or wireless communication. It should be noted that such communication may alternatively or additionally be performed using other known communication options, such as, for example, a cellular network, a virtual private network (VPN), a local area network (LAN), etc. It should be noted that in some cases, the patient workstation 114 may include the camera 110, and in a more specific example, the patient workstation 114 may be a smartphone and the camera 110 may be a smartphone camera. It should be noted that in some cases, the processing resources of the patient workstation 114, or of any other computer (located at the patient location 100 or elsewhere), may perform some of the tasks described with reference to the processing resources 105 of the medical data acquisition device 104.

[0130] Attention is now directed to the components within healthcare provider location 120 .

[0131] The medical practitioner workstation 122 is located at the medical practitioner location 120. The medical practitioner workstation 122 may be any computer, including, for example, a personal computer, a portable computer, a smart phone, or any other device with suitable processing capabilities, including devices that may be specially configured for that purpose. The medical practitioner workstation 122 may receive input from the medical practitioner 124 (e.g., instructions and / or questions provided to the user 102 and / or the patient 103) and / or provide output to the medical practitioner 124 (e.g., indicative of medical data acquired by the medical data acquisition device 104). In some cases, the medical practitioner workstation 122 may communicate with the medical data acquisition device 104 and / or the patient workstation 114 and / or the central system 130 through the communication network 116 (e.g., the Internet) via wired or wireless communication. It should be noted that such communication may alternatively or additionally be performed using other known communication options, such as, for example, a cellular network, a VPN, a LAN, etc. In some cases, the medical practitioner workstation 122 may communicate with one or more other medical practitioner workstations 122, for example if a first medical practitioner operating the medical practitioner workstation 122 is interested in obtaining a second opinion from the other medical practitioner, optionally regarding a particular diagnosis provided by the first medical practitioner.

[0132] In some cases, the medical personnel workstation 122 may further comprise or be associated with a medical personnel data repository 123 (e.g., a database, a storage system, a memory including a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), or any other type of memory, etc.) configured to store data including, among other things, medical data acquired by the medical data acquisition device 104 (optionally including various metadata regarding the medical data) and other patient-related data regarding one or more patients 103. In some cases, the medical personnel data repository 123 may further be configured to enable retrieval and / or updating and / or deletion of the stored data. Of note, in some cases, the medical personnel data repository 123 may be distributed across multiple locations, whether within the medical personnel locations 120 and / or within the central system 130 and / or elsewhere. It should be noted that in some cases, relevant information for a given test patient 103 may be loaded into the data repository 123 prior to performing a medical test on the patient 103 (e.g., at the start of the medical test, and / or periodically, and / or when an entity such as, for example, a medical practitioner 124 requests the information). In some cases, the medical data may include electronic health record (EHR) data for one or more patients 103. In some cases, the EHR data may be obtained through an interface (e.g., via the communications network 116) to a remote EHR system.

[0133] In some cases, the medical practitioner system 122 may communicate with the patient workstation 144 and / or the medical data acquisition device 104 and / or the central system 130 through a communications network 116 (e.g., the Internet) via wired or wireless communications. It should be noted that such communications may alternatively or additionally occur using other known communications options, such as, for example, a cellular network, a virtual private network (VPN), a local area network (LAN), etc.

[0134] In some cases, the central system 130 may be present to enable a distributed approach in which medical data and / or other patient-related data may be received by the central system 130 from multiple patient locations 100 and forwarded by the central system 130 to multiple healthcare provider locations 120. Thus, when transmitted medical data and / or other patient-related data is received at the central system 130, it may be stored in a medical test repository 134 and the management system 132 may transmit it (e.g., via a communications network 116 such as the Internet) to a particular healthcare provider location 120. In some cases, the management system 132 may also manage other processes, such as, for example, patient sign-up, scheduling of patients to available healthcare providers, etc.

[0135] It should be noted that the central system 130 is optional to this solution and the central system 130 may be part of the medical practitioner workstation 122. Additionally, communication between the patient workstations 114 and / or medical data acquisition devices 104 and the medical practitioner workstations 122 may occur directly without the use or need for the central system 130.

[0136] If present, the central system 130 may comprise a patient and screening plan repository 136 in which various patient-related data relating to one or more patients 103 is maintained. Such patient-related data may include, for example, a patient identification number, a patient name, a patient age, a patient contact, patient medical record data (e.g., the patient's EHR, information about the patient's disease, drug sensitivity, etc.), screening plan data (as described in further detail below), etc. The central system 130 may further comprise a medical test repository 134 in which one or more of (a) medical data acquired by the medical data acquisition device 104 (optionally including various metadata relating to such medical data), (b) user-provided data provided by the user 102, for example using the patient workstation 114, including typed-in and / or voice recordings and / or additional information relating to the patient 103 provided by the user 102, and (c) diagnostic data provided by a medical professional diagnosing the patient 103 may be stored. The medical data and / or user provided data may include, for example, one or more audio and / or video recordings and / or values ​​of body temperature, blood pressure, blood saturation, electrocardiogram (ECG) measurements, audio signals (e.g. of the heart or lungs), ultrasound signals (e.g. of the heart, intestines, etc.), acoustic measurements, body tissue electrical resistance, body tissue stiffness, heart rate, images or video recordings of a body organ or part of a body organ (whether internal or external), blood sample analysis, a 3D representation of one or more body organs or parts thereof (whether internal or external), a urine sample, a throat culture, a saliva sample, or any other parameter associated with one or more physiological characteristics of the patient based on which a diagnosis can be provided.In some cases, one or more of the parameter values ​​may be associated with metadata such as, for example, a timestamp indicating the time the parameter value was obtained, location data indicating the location where the parameter value was obtained (e.g., geographic coordinates, WiFi Internet Protocol (IP) address, etc.), the type of sensor, information allowing identification of the particular sensor from which the parameter value was obtained, Inertial Navigation System (INS) and / or pressure sensor and / or room humidity and / or room temperature and / or patient orientation and / or room ambient noise level readings obtained during acquisition of the parameter value.

[0137] The central system 130 may further comprise a management system 132 configured to forward the medical data regarding the patient 103 acquired by the medical data acquisition devices 104 (whether in raw form or any processed version of the raw data acquired by the medical data acquisition devices 104), and optionally other patient-related data regarding the patient 103, to a selected medical personnel workstation 122 (e.g., an available medical personnel workstation 122, or, if no medical personnel is currently available among the multiple medical personnel workstations, the medical personnel workstation 122 with the shortest queue). It should be noted that when a central system 130 is provided, there may be multiple medical personnel locations 120 and multiple medical personnel 124, as the central system 130 may enable a distributed approach in which data (e.g., medical data and / or other patient-related data) may be received by the central system 130 from multiple patient locations 100 and forwarded by the central system 130 to multiple medical personnel locations 120.

[0138] Having described the various components at the patient location 100, the medical practitioner location 120, and the central system 130, attention is now directed to two exemplary modes of operation of the medical data acquisition device 104: an online mode and an offline mode.

[0139] In the online mode, a medical examination of the patient 103 is performed while the medical practitioner 124 is actively involved in the process. In such an operating mode, the medical practitioner 124 may be provided with a video or image sequence based on which the medical practitioner 124 provides instructions to the user 102 for positioning the medical data acquisition device 104 relative to the body of the patient 103. In addition, the medical practitioner 124 may provide instructions to the user 102 for performing the current medical examination (other than positioning instructions) and / or instructions for performing other medical examinations as part of the medical examination flow. In some cases, the instructions may be audible instructions captured by a microphone at the medical practitioner location (e.g., a microphone connected to the medical practitioner workstation 122) and provided to the user 102 via a speaker at the patient location 100 (e.g., a speaker of the medical data acquisition device 104, a speaker of the patient workstation 114, or any other speaker that provides sound that the user 102 can hear). In addition to or as an alternative to audible instructions, the instructions may be video instructions provided via a display at the patient location 100 (e.g., a display of the medical data acquisition device 104, a display of the patient workstation 114, or any other display visible to the user 102).

[0140] The video provided to the medical practitioner 124 may be captured by a camera included in the medical data acquisition device 104 (e.g., one of the sensors 106 may be a camera used for this purpose), in which case the medical practitioner 124 may view the part of the patient's body to which the camera is pointed. In an additional or alternative example, the video may be captured by an external camera 110 outside the medical data acquisition device 104, in which case the medical practitioner 124 may view the patient 103 and the medical data acquisition device 104 in the same frame. In either case, based on the camera's view, the medical practitioner 124 may provide steering instructions to the user 102 to navigate the medical data acquisition device 104 to a desired spatial arrangement relative to the patient's 103's body. In some cases, the video may be accompanied by an audio recording captured using a microphone located at the patient location 100 (e.g., a microphone on the medical data acquisition device 104, a microphone on the patient workstation 114, or any other microphone capable of capturing sound recording audio at the patient location 100).

[0141] Once the medical data acquisition device 104 reaches a desired spatial configuration (where medical data may be acquired) relative to the patient's 103 body, the medical practitioner 124 may instruct the user 102 to acquire the medical data or may themselves manipulate the sensor 106 to acquire the medical data. In some cases, the medical practitioner 124 may remotely manipulate various parameters of the sensor 106, for example via the medical practitioner workstation 122.

[0142] It should be noted that the medical data acquisition device 104 may be located outside the patient's body when acquiring medical data. Nonetheless, in some cases, a portion of the medical data acquisition device 104 may enter the patient's body (e.g., a needle penetrating the skin and / or blood vessels, a sensor entering a body orifice such as the ear or mouth, etc.). Even in such cases, a majority of the medical data acquisition device 104 may be located outside the body when making measurements.

[0143] The medical data acquired by the medical data acquisition device 104 may be transmitted (either directly or via the patient workstation 114 and / or via the central system 130 where the medical data may be stored in a medical test repository 134 associated with the patient 103 from whom the medical data was acquired) to a medical practitioner workstation 122, where it may be stored in a medical practitioner data repository 123 associated with the patient 103 from whom the medical data was acquired.

[0144] A medical practitioner 124 (e.g., a doctor, a nurse, a medical student, etc., including any other person with the know-how and skills to acquire and / or analyze medical data) located at a medical practitioner location 120 may review the acquired medical data, for example, using a medical practitioner workstation 122. Of note, the patient workstation 114, the medical practitioner workstation 122, and the central system 130 may include a display (e.g., an LCD screen), and a keyboard or any other suitable input / output device.

[0145] In some cases, the medical practitioner 124 may provide feedback data to the user 102 (e.g., by transmitting corresponding instructions to the patient workstation 114 and / or the medical data acquisition device 104), such as, for example, a diagnosis, one or more prescriptions, or instructions to perform one or more additional medical tests. Alternatively or additionally, the medical practitioner 124 may transmit the feedback data to the central system 130, which may then, optionally, transmit the feedback data to the patient workstation 114 and / or the medical data acquisition device 104 (e.g., via the communication network 116).

[0146] In some cases, the medical data acquisition device 104 and / or the patient workstation 114 may be configured to provide an indication to the user 102 of the quality of the signal acquired by the sensor. In such cases, the medical data acquisition device 104 and / or the patient workstation 114 may be configured to determine the signal quality and display an appropriate indication on a display visible to the user 102 (e.g., a display of the medical data acquisition device 104 and / or a display of the patient workstation 114). In some cases, when the signal quality does not meet a predefined threshold, the medical data acquisition device 104 and / or the patient workstation 114 may be configured to provide instructions to the user 102 to improve the acquired signal quality (e.g., instructions to reposition the medical data acquisition device 104, instructions to reduce ambient noise, etc.).

[0147] In the offline mode, a medical examination of the patient 103 is performed while the medical personnel 124 is not actively involved in the process. In such an operating mode, the medical data acquisition device 104 may provide audio and / or video navigation instructions to the user 102 for navigating the medical data acquisition device 104 to a desired spatial arrangement relative to the body of the patient 103. The navigation instructions may be determined by the medical data acquisition device 104 and / or the patient workstation 114 using information obtained from an inertial navigation system (INS), which may optionally be part of the sensor 106, and / or using matching of reference points in a reference image with images acquired by a camera included in the medical data acquisition device 104 and / or an external camera 110. The navigation instructions may be provided via speakers and / or displays of the medical data acquisition device 104 and / or the patient workstation 114 and / or any other device present in the vicinity of the user 102 in a manner that allows the user to hear and / or see the navigation instructions.

[0148] Once the medical data acquisition device 104 reaches the desired spatial configuration relative to the body of the patient 103 (where medical data can be acquired), the user 102 may operate the medical data acquisition device 104 to acquire the medical data, or alternatively, the medical data acquisition device 104 may automatically acquire the medical data.

[0149] In some cases, the medical data acquisition device 104 and / or the patient workstation 114 may be configured to provide an indication to the user 102 of the quality of the signal acquired by the sensor. In such cases, the medical data acquisition device 104 and / or the patient workstation 114 may be configured to determine the signal quality and display an appropriate indication on a display visible to the user 102 (e.g., a display of the medical data acquisition device 104 and / or a display of the patient workstation 114). In such cases, when the signal quality does not meet a predefined threshold, the medical data acquisition device 104 and / or the patient workstation 114 may be configured to provide instructions to the user 102 to improve the acquired signal quality (e.g., instructions to reposition the medical data acquisition device 104, instructions to reduce ambient noise, etc.).

[0150] It should be noted that the medical data acquisition device 104 may be located outside the patient's body when acquiring medical data. Nonetheless, in some cases, a portion of the medical data acquisition device 104 may enter the patient's body (e.g., a needle penetrating the skin and / or blood vessels, a sensor entering a body orifice such as the ear or mouth, etc.). Even in such cases, a majority of the medical data acquisition device 104 may be located outside the body when making measurements.

[0151] The medical data acquired by the medical data acquisition device 104 may be transmitted (either directly or via the patient workstation 114 and / or via the central system 130 where the medical data may be stored in a medical practitioner data repository 123 associated with the patient 130 from whom the medical data was acquired) to a medical practitioner workstation 122 where it may be stored in a medical practitioner data repository 123 associated with the patient 130 from whom the medical data was acquired.

[0152] A medical practitioner 124 (e.g., a doctor, a medical student, etc., including any other entity (human or computerized) having the know-how and technology to acquire and / or analyze medical data) located at the medical practitioner location 120 may review the acquired medical data using, for example, a display and / or speaker and / or any other suitable output device of the medical practitioner workstation 122. Of note, the patient workstation 114, the medical practitioner workstation 122, and the central system 130 may include a display (e.g., an LCD screen), and a keyboard or any other suitable input / output device.

[0153] In some cases, the medical practitioner 124 may provide feedback data to the user 102 (e.g., by transmitting corresponding instructions to the patient workstation 114 and / or the medical data acquisition device 104), such as, for example, a diagnosis, one or more prescriptions, or instructions to perform one or more additional medical tests. Alternatively or additionally, the medical practitioner 124 may transmit the feedback data to the central system 130, which may then, optionally, transmit the feedback data to the patient workstation 114 (e.g., via the communication network 116). As illustrated herein, the feedback data may be provided to the user 102 via an output device (e.g., a display, a speaker, etc.) of the medical data acquisition device 104 and / or the patient workstation 114, or any other device capable of providing a respective output to the user 102.

[0154] It should be noted that in some cases, the healthcare professional data repository 123 and / or the data repository 107 and / or the screening repository 134 and / or the patient and screening plan repository 136 may be the same single data repository accessible by all relevant entities, whether distributed or not.

[0155] Referring to FIG. 2, a schematic diagram of an environment of a system for medical diagnostic support in accordance with the subject matter of this disclosure is shown.

[0156] In accordance with a particular example of the subject matter of the present disclosure, environment 20 includes one or more medical record management systems 210, each having a processor, a data repository, and optionally a display (e.g., an LCD screen) and / or a keyboard or any other suitable input / output device, as described in further detail herein with particular reference to FIG. 4.

[0157] The medical record management system 210 maintains, in a data repository, a number of medical records, each associated with a corresponding patient 103. Each medical record comprises patient identification information (e.g., a patient identification number, a patient biometric identifier, e.g., fingerprint, DNA, iris recognition, etc.) that uniquely identifies the corresponding patient 103. In addition, each medical record comprises patient attributes (e.g., patient name, age, age group, address, occupation, workplace, location information, drug susceptibility, identifier of the medical data acquisition device 104 used to acquire the medical data, etc.) of the corresponding patient 103. Values ​​of such attributes may be used to cluster the medical records into groups, as described in further detail herein.

[0158] In addition, at least a portion of the medical records further include one or more past diagnoses that were previously provided to the corresponding patient 103 by the corresponding patient's 103 healthcare provider 124, e.g., during a past real (i.e., in-person) or virtual patient visit. For example, the medical records of a particular patient 103 may include a social security number (SSN) that uniquely identifies the patient 103, patient attributes such as, e.g., name, address, work address, location information (e.g., obtained from a GPS on the patient's 103 smartphone) having corresponding values, and one or more past diagnoses that were provided to the patient 103 during a past real / virtual patient visit to the patient's 103 healthcare provider 124, e.g., a past diagnosis provided in a recent patient visit diagnosing the patient 103 as suffering from the flu (whether temporary or chronic) or asthma or any other medical condition.

[0159] The medical record management system 210 may further be configured to cluster medical records into groups based on patient attributes. Medical records that share attribute values ​​are grouped into the same cluster. If attribute values ​​of two or more medical records satisfy a common condition (e.g., value equality, physical proximity of values, values ​​that are part of a predefined group, etc.), the attribute values ​​are determined by the medical record management system 210 to be shared attribute values.

[0160] For example, a Workplace "X" cluster may be generated that holds medical records of people who work at the same Workplace "X" based on identical values ​​for Workplace Patient attributes. In another example, the medical record management system 210 may generate a Neighborhood "Y" cluster that holds medical records with address values ​​that are within a particular geographic area that defines the geographic boundaries of a neighborhood "Y". Another example may be based on physical proximity conditions, where the medical record management system 210 may generate a Contact "Z" cluster that holds medical records of all patients 103 who have been in close physical proximity to one another (e.g., less than 5 meters from one another) during a given time frame (e.g., the last 3 days).

[0161] In some cases, the medical record management system 210 may be located at the medical practitioner location 120. In such cases, the medical record management system 210 may be incorporated within the medical practitioner workstation 122 or may operate as a stand-alone system in communication via a local network at the medical practitioner location 120. In other examples, the medical record management system 210 may be part of the central system 130 or may be a separate system located at the central system 130 location or elsewhere. In such cases, the medical record management system 210 may communicate with the medical diagnosis support system 200 and / or the patient workstations 114 and / or the medical practitioner workstations 122 via the communications network 116.

[0162] The environment 20 may further include one or more diagnosis requesting entities 103 (note that the terms patient and diagnosis requesting entity are used interchangeably herein) that require a medical diagnosis to be performed by one or more medical diagnosis entities 124 (note that the terms medical practitioner and medical diagnosis entity are used interchangeably herein). The diagnosis requesting entities 103 may be located at a patient location 100, which may optionally be located remotely from the medical practitioner location 120 (e.g., in a different room / floor / building / street / city / state / country / continent than the diagnosis requesting entities 103).

[0163] Each diagnosis requesting entity 103 may request a medical diagnosis from one or more medical diagnosis entities 124 (whether randomly selected by the central system 130 or specifically identified by the diagnosis requesting entity 103). The medical diagnosis request may be made in person, for example at the medical diagnosis entity's 124 facility (i.e., medical practitioner location 120) as part of a real in-person patient visit of the diagnosis requesting entity 103, or the medical diagnosis request may be made by the diagnosis requesting entity 103 from a patient workstation 114 as part of a virtual patient visit. In some cases, the diagnosis request may be entered by the medical diagnosis entity 124 using the medical practitioner workstation 122, for example when the first medical diagnosis entity 124 operating the medical practitioner workstation 122 is interested in obtaining a second opinion from a second medical diagnosis entity 124 regarding a particular diagnosis provided by the first medical diagnosis entity 124.

[0164] As part of the diagnosis request, the medical diagnosis entity 124 may have access to medical data provided by the diagnosis requesting entity 103 (e.g., indications of particular physiological phenomena such as headache, stomach pain, nausea, diarrhea, etc.) and / or medical data optionally acquired from the body of the diagnosis requesting entity 103 by the medical data acquisition device 104. The medical data may include attribute values ​​representative of physiological characteristics of the diagnosis requesting patient 103 (e.g., temperature, blood pressure, ECG measurements, etc.), and in some cases, one or more of the attribute values ​​may be associated with metadata, such as, for example, a timestamp indicating the time the value was acquired and / or an ID number identifying the medical data acquisition device 104 used to acquire the value.

[0165] For example, a particular diagnosis requesting entity 103 may use its patient workstation 114 to initiate a virtual patient visit with a medical diagnosis entity 124. The diagnosis requesting entity 103 inputs the patient identification information, i.e., its SSN, its temperature, e.g., as acquired by the patient 103 using a medical data acquisition device 104, a complaint of a medical phenomenon (e.g., headache), and requests a diagnosis from the medical diagnosis entity 124. The medical diagnosis entity 124 may access the diagnosis request, along with all attached medical data, at the medical practitioner workstation 122.

[0166] The environment 20 may further include one or more medical diagnostic support systems 200, each having a processor, a data repository, and optionally a display (e.g., an LCD screen), and / or a keyboard or any other suitable input / output device, as described in more detail herein, particularly with reference to FIG. 3. In some cases, the medical diagnostic support system 200 may be located at the medical practitioner location 120. In such cases, the medical diagnostic support system 200 may be incorporated within a medical practitioner workstation 122 or may operate as a standalone system in communication via a local network at the medical practitioner location 120. In other examples, the medical diagnostic support system 200 may be part of the central system 130 or may be a standalone system located at the central system 130 location or any other location. In such cases, the medical diagnostic support system 200 may communicate with the medical record management system 210 and / or the patient workstations 114 and / or the medical practitioner workstations 122 via the communication network 116.

[0167] The medical diagnosis entity 124 may use the medical diagnosis support system 200 to obtain diagnostic support information for a given diagnosis request entity 103 .

[0168] In some cases, the diagnostic support information includes at least one past diagnosis provided to a previously diagnosed patient, and the previously diagnosed patient and the given diagnosis request entity 103 are part of at least one common cluster. Optionally, the diagnostic support information may include only past diagnoses that have a calculated association probability with the given diagnosis request entity 103 that exceeds a certain threshold, for example, only past diagnoses given within a recent time frame are included in the diagnostic support information. In addition, the diagnostic support information may include shared attribute values ​​that account for clustering the common clusters associated with the diagnosis request entity 103. The diagnostic support information may optionally be obtained from a medical record management system 210, as detailed herein, particularly in FIG. 4.

[0169] In additional or alternative examples, the diagnostic support information includes residual information indicating the location of a given diagnosis requesting entity 103 at the time the given diagnosis requesting entity 103 requested a diagnosis, or environmental conditions (e.g., water pollution, air pollution, disease outbreaks, radiation levels, weather information, food poisoning information, known diseases, etc.) at the past locations of a given diagnosis requesting entity 103 (e.g., obtained from a location monitoring device such as a GPS receiver or any other source).

[0170] The diagnostic support information may be displayed on the medical practitioner workstation 122 , thereby enabling the medical diagnosis entity 124 to provide a diagnosis of the medical condition of a given diagnosis requesting entity 103 .

[0171] Continuing with the first example above with respect to clustering, a given diagnosis requesting entity 103 that is part of a particular workplace "X" cluster may request a diagnosis from a medical diagnosis entity 124. The medical diagnosis entity 124 may use the medical diagnosis support system 200 to retrieve and display diagnostic support information for the given diagnosis requesting entity 103, including past diagnoses given to patients that are part of the workplace "X" cluster that meet a particular relevance threshold, e.g., a diagnosis of a particular food-related condition given the previous day to a colleague of the diagnosis requesting entity 103, thereby enabling the medical diagnosis entity 124 to provide a diagnosis of the medical condition of the given diagnosis requesting entity 103 taking into account the diagnosis requesting entity's 103's possible exposure to the same food-related situation.

[0172] Continuing with the second example above, a given diagnosis requesting entity 103 that is part of a particular neighborhood "Y" cluster may request a diagnosis from a medical diagnosis entity 124. The medical diagnosis entity 124 may use the medical diagnosis support system 200 to retrieve and display diagnostic support information for the given diagnosis requesting entity 103, including past diagnoses given to patients that are part of the neighborhood "Y" cluster that meet a particular relevance threshold, e.g., a diagnosis of infectious disease given two days ago to a neighbor of the diagnosis requesting entity 103, thereby enabling the medical diagnosis entity 124 to provide a diagnosis of the medical condition of the given diagnosis requesting entity 103, taking into account the possibility of exposure to infectious disease.

[0173] Continuing with the third example above, a given diagnosis requesting entity 103 that is part of a particular contact "Z" cluster may request a diagnosis from a medical diagnosis entity 124. The medical diagnosis entity 124 may use the medical diagnosis support system 200 to retrieve and display diagnostic support information for the given diagnosis requesting entity 103, including past diagnoses given to patients that are part of the contact "Z" cluster that meet a particular relevance threshold, e.g., a diagnosis of a contact infectious disease given today to a person who was in physical proximity of 5 meters from the diagnosis requesting entity 103 at any point in the last three days, thereby enabling the medical diagnosis entity 124 to provide a diagnosis of a medical condition of the given diagnosis requesting entity 103 taking into account the possibility of exposure to a contact infectious disease.

[0174] As another example where the diagnostic supporting information includes residual information indicative of environmental conditions, a given diagnosis requesting entity 103 known to have asthma seeks diagnosis due to difficulty in breathing. This may be the case when the given diagnosis requesting entity 103 is located in a geographic area known to have high air pollution levels at the time the given diagnosis requesting entity 103 seeks diagnosis. A medical diagnosis entity 124 that is not familiar with the air pollution at the location of the given diagnosis requesting entity 103 may not be able to identify that the reason the given diagnosis requesting entity 103 is having difficulty in breathing is the high air pollution level at that location and may provide an incorrect diagnosis. Having the diagnostic supporting information including residual information indicative of environmental conditions at the location of the given diagnosis requesting entity 103 allows the medical diagnosis entity 124 to provide an accurate diagnosis.

[0175] The medical diagnostic support system 200 may further determine that one or more additional medical tests are performed to obtain additional medical data from a particular diagnosis requesting entity 103. The additional medical tests are determined based on the medical information and based on the diagnostic support information. For example, based on the diagnostic support information including the relevant past diagnosis of influenza in the cluster of a given diagnosis requesting entity 103, the medical diagnostic support system 200 may display to the medical diagnosis entity 124 a suggested additional medical test of body temperature (assuming that no body temperature test has been performed on the diagnosis requesting entity 103). As another example, the additional medical tests may be determined based on residual information indicative of environmental conditions, so that if the medical diagnosis entity 124 is aware of high air pollution levels at the location of the given diagnosis requesting entity 103, it may instruct the given diagnosis requesting entity 103 to perform a lung vibration test to enable the medical diagnosis entity 124 to provide an accurate diagnosis.

[0176] Additional medical tests may be displayed on the display, enabling the medical diagnosis entity 124 to recommend to the diagnosis requesting entity 103 additional medical tests to be performed.

[0177] Optionally, the additional medical tests may be automatically updated in the medical data acquisition device 104 of the diagnosis requesting entity 103, thereby enabling the diagnosis requesting entity 103 to perform the additional medical tests using the medical data acquisition device 104, i.e. without having to manually configure the medical data acquisition device 104 to be suitable for performing the additional medical tests. Additionally or alternatively, the additional medical tests may be incorporated into an examination plan (stored in the patient and examination plan repository 136) associated with the diagnosis requesting entity 103, such that the medical data acquisition device 104 will also perform the additional medical tests the next time it is used to collect medical data from the diagnosis requesting entity 103. Continuing with the above example, the required body temperature test may optionally be automatically updated in the medical data acquisition device 104 of the patient 103, thereby enabling the patient 103 to test his or her own body temperature with the medical data acquisition device 104, or it may optionally be added to the screening plan associated with the diagnosis request entity 103 stored in the patient and screening plan repository 136, such that the medical data acquisition device 104 will also conduct the additional medical test the next time it is used to collect medical data from the diagnosis request entity 103.

[0178] The medical diagnostic support system 200 may further receive a diagnosis of a medical condition of a given diagnosis requesting entity 103 provided by the medical diagnosis entity 124 from the medical diagnosis entity 124, e.g. via the medical professional workstation 122, and transmit the diagnosis to the given diagnosis requesting entity 103, e.g. via the patient workstation 114.

[0179] The medical diagnosis support system 200 may further be configured to process a queue of diagnosis requesting entities 103 waiting to receive a diagnosis from a medical diagnosis entity 124, for example by waiting physically at a medical personnel location 120 or by sending a diagnosis request to a medical personnel workstation 122, which may be remote as shown herein. This processing is based on the diagnostic support information. Thus, for example, a first diagnosis requesting entity 103 associated with a first common cluster having a first past diagnosis of a first disease will be ahead of a second diagnosis requesting entity 103 associated with a second common cluster having a second past diagnosis of a second disease predefined as having a lower urgency level than the urgency level of the first disease, even if a second diagnosis requesting entity 103 enters the queue before the first diagnosis requesting entity 103. As another example, a first asthma diagnosis requesting entity 103 located in an area having a first air pollution level will take precedence over a second asthma diagnosis requesting entity 103 located in an area having an air pollution level lower than the first air pollution level.

[0180] In a particular example with respect to clusters, if a first diagnosis requesting entity 103 associated with a particular cluster having a past diagnosis of a disease having a low urgency level (e.g., common influenza) and a second diagnosis requesting entity 103 associated with a particular cluster having a past diagnosis of a disease having a high urgency level (e.g., Ebola hemorrhagic fever) are waiting to receive a diagnosis from a given medical diagnosis entity 124, the medical diagnosis support system 200 may ensure that the second diagnosis requesting entity 103 is ahead of the first diagnosis requesting entity 103 in the queue to receive a diagnosis from the given medical diagnosis entity 124.

[0181] In another example with respect to clusters, a diagnosis request entity 103 associated with a particular cluster having an associated prior diagnosis of an infectious disease is prior to a diagnosis request entity 103 associated with a particular cluster having an associated prior diagnosis of a non-infectious disease.

[0182] Additionally, after obtaining diagnostic support information for a given diagnosis request entity 103, the screening plan determination system 500 may determine a screening plan that includes medical tests related to symptoms included in the previous diagnoses found in the common cluster of the given diagnosis request entity 103. Additionally, the screening plan determination system 500 may determine an updated screening plan in response to a diagnosis of a particular medical condition given to another patient 103. The updated screening plan is given to all undiagnosed patients 103 included in the common cluster to test for potential infection with that medical condition, as further described herein, particularly in FIG.

[0183] Additionally, in response to a diagnosis of a particular medical condition given to another patient 103, the medical notification support system 600 may notify all undiagnosed patients 103 included in a common cluster of a given diagnosis request entity 103 of potential infection with that medical condition, as further described herein, particularly in FIG. 6 .

[0184] Attention is now directed to FIG. 3, which illustrates a block diagram that generally illustrates one example of a medical diagnostic support system, a patient workstation, a medical data acquisition device, and a medical personnel workstation, and the various connections therebetween, in accordance with the subject matter of the present disclosure.

[0185] The medical diagnostic support system 200 may comprise or be associated with a medical diagnostic support system data repository 320 (e.g., a database, a storage system, a memory including read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), or any other type of memory, etc.) configured to store data including, among other things, medical records, diagnoses, medical tests, etc., as described in further detail herein. In some cases, the medical diagnostic support system data repository 320 may be further configured to enable retrieval and / or updating and / or deletion of the stored data. It should be noted that in some cases, the medical diagnostic support system data repository 320 may be distributed.

[0186] The medical diagnostic support system 200 may further include a medical diagnostic support system display 310 (e.g., a computer monitor or any other type of screen or display) capable of displaying information (e.g., displaying diagnostic support information to the medical diagnostic entity 124). It should be noted that if the medical diagnostic support system 200 is incorporated into the medical practitioner workstation 122, the medical diagnostic support system display 310 may be the display of the medical practitioner workstation 122.

[0187] The medical diagnosis support system 200 may further include a keyboard or any other suitable input / output device.

[0188] The medical diagnostic support system 200 further includes a medical diagnostic support system processor 300. The medical diagnostic support system processor 300 may be one or more processing units (e.g., central processing units), microprocessors, microcontrollers (e.g., microcontroller units (MCUs)), or any other computing device or module including multiple and / or parallel and / or distributed processing units adapted to process data independently or cooperatively to control associated medical diagnostic support system 200 resources and to enable operations related to the medical diagnostic support system 200 resources.

[0189] The medical diagnostic support system processor 300 may include one or more of a diagnostic support information management module 330 and a patient queue management module 340 .

[0190] The diagnostic support information management module 330 may be configured to obtain medical information associated with a given diagnosis requesting entity 103 and manage the process of obtaining diagnostic support information for a given diagnosis requesting entity 103. The diagnostic support information management module 330 may be further configured to display the medical information and diagnostic support information on the medical diagnostic support system display 310. As will be described in further detail with particular reference to Figures 8, 12, and 13, the display of such data on the medical diagnostic support system display 310 may enable the medical diagnosis entity 124 to provide a diagnosis of a medical condition of the given diagnosis requesting entity 103.

[0191] The diagnostic support information management module 330 may be further configured to manage the process of determining one or more additional medical tests to be performed in addition to any tests performed before the diagnosis requesting entity 103 presents a medical visit and / or tests included in the diagnosis requesting entity's 103's current screening plan, in order to obtain additional medical data from the given diagnosis requesting entity 103, and displaying the medical tests on the medical diagnostic support system display 310. As will be described in further detail with particular reference to FIG. 8 , displaying such data on the medical diagnostic support system display 310 may enable the medical diagnosis entity 124 to recommend additional tests to the given diagnosis requesting entity 103.

[0192] The diagnostic support information management module 330 may also be configured to manage the process of receiving a diagnosis of a medical condition of a given diagnosis requesting entity 103 provided by the medical diagnosis entity 124 from the medical diagnosis entity 124, e.g. via the medical practitioner workstation 122, and transmitting the diagnosis to the given diagnosis requesting entity 103, e.g. via the patient workstation 114 or the medical data acquisition device 104, as will be described in further detail with particular reference to FIG. 8 .

[0193] Since there are various scenarios in healthcare in general, and telehealth in particular, where a medical diagnosis entity 124 has a queue of diagnosis requesting entities 103 waiting for diagnosis, it is beneficial to process the queue of diagnosis requesting entities 103 based on urgency level, i.e. emergency cases coming sooner than routine check-ups. The patient queue management module 340 may be configured to manage the process of processing the queue of diagnosis requesting entities 103 such that a first diagnosis requesting entity 103 associated with a first common cluster having a first past diagnosis of a first disease will be ahead of a second diagnosis requesting entity 103 associated with a second common cluster having a second past diagnosis of a second disease predefined as having a lower urgency level than the first disease, even if the second diagnosis requesting entity 103 enters the queue before the first diagnosis requesting entity 103, as will be described in more detail with particular reference to FIG. 9 . Additionally or alternatively, the patient queue management module 340 may be configured to manage the process of handling the queue of diagnosis requesting entities 103 such that a first asthma diagnosis requesting entity 103 located in an area having a first air pollution level is placed ahead of a second asthma diagnosis requesting entity 103 located in an area having an air pollution level lower than the first air pollution level.

[0194] Attention is now directed to FIG. 4, which illustrates a block diagram that generally illustrates an example of a medical record management system and a medical diagnosis support system, and the various connections therebetween, in accordance with the subject matter of this disclosure.

[0195] The medical record management system 210 may include or be associated with a medical record management system data repository 440 (e.g., a database, a storage system, memory including read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), or any other type of memory, etc.) configured to store data including, among other things, medical records, patient attributes, clusters of medical records, etc., as described in further detail herein. In some cases, the medical record management system data repository 440 may be further configured to enable retrieval and / or updating and / or deletion of the stored data. It should be noted that in some cases, the medical record management system data repository 440 may be distributed.

[0196] The medical record management system data repository 440 may maintain a number of medical records, each medical record associated with a corresponding patient 103. Each medical record comprises patient identification information (e.g., a patient identification number, a patient biometric identifier, e.g., fingerprint, DNA, iris recognition, etc.) that uniquely identifies the corresponding patient 103. In addition, each medical record comprises patient attributes (e.g., patient name, age, age group, address, occupation, workplace, location information, drug susceptibility, identifier of the medical data acquisition device 104 used to acquire the medical data, etc.) of the corresponding patient 103. In addition, at least some of the medical records further comprise one or more past diagnoses that were previously provided to the corresponding patient 103 by the corresponding patient's 103's medical practitioner 124, for example, during a past real (i.e., in-person) or virtual patient visit.

[0197] The medical record management system 210 may further include a medical record management system display 430 (e.g., a computer monitor or any other type of screen or display) capable of displaying information (e.g., displaying diagnostic support information to the medical diagnostic entity 124). It should be noted that if the medical record management system 210 is incorporated into a medical practitioner workstation 122, then the medical record management system display 430 may be the display of the medical practitioner workstation 122.

[0198] The medical records management system 210 may further include a keyboard or any other suitable input / output device.

[0199] The medical record management system 210 further includes a medical record management system processor 400. The medical record management system processor 400 may be one or more processing units (e.g., central processing units), microprocessors, microcontrollers (e.g., microcontroller units (MCUs)), or any other computing device or module including multiple and / or parallel and / or distributed processing units adapted to process data independently or cooperatively to control associated medical record management system 210 resources and to enable operations related to the medical record management system 210 resources.

[0200] The medical record management system processor 400 may include one or more of a common cluster management module 410 and a diagnostic support management module 420 .

[0201] The common cluster management module 410 may be configured to manage the process of clustering medical records into groups based on patient attributes. Medical records that share at least one attribute value are grouped into the same cluster. Here, as will be described in more detail with particular reference to FIG. 7, if the values ​​of an attribute value of two or more medical records satisfy a common condition (e.g., value equality, physical proximity of values, values ​​that are part of a predefined group, etc.), the attribute value is determined to be a shared attribute value by the medical record management system 210.

[0202] The diagnostic support management module 420 includes: (1) receiving a request for diagnostic support information from a medical diagnostic support system 200, the request including an identification of a given diagnostic request entity 103; (2) generating diagnostic support information comprising information of past diagnoses of patient-related clusters, i.e., clusters associated with the medical record of a given diagnosis request entity 103; and (3) sending a diagnostic support information response comprising diagnostic support information, i.e., past diagnoses from the patient-related clusters, to the medical diagnostic support system 200, as will be described in more detail with particular reference to FIG. 7; The device may be configured to manage the process of:

[0203] Attention is now directed to FIG. 5, which illustrates a block diagram that generally illustrates one example of an examination planning system, a medical data acquisition device, and a medical diagnosis support system, and the various connections therebetween, in accordance with the subject matter of the present disclosure.

[0204] The environment 20 may include one or more screening planning systems 500 each capable of determining one or more medical tests to be administered to a diagnosis requesting entity 103 .

[0205] In some cases, the screening planning system 500 may be located at the healthcare provider location 120. In such cases, the medical record management system 210 may be incorporated into the healthcare provider workstation 122 or may operate as a stand-alone system in communication via a local network at the healthcare provider location 120. In other examples, the screening planning system 500 may be part of the central system 130 or may be a separate system located at the central system 130 location or elsewhere. In such cases, the screening planning system 500 may communicate with the medical diagnosis support system 200 and / or the medical record management system 210 and / or the patient workstation 114 and / or the healthcare provider workstation 122 and / or the medical data acquisition device 104 via the communication network 116.

[0206] The screening plan determination system 500 may determine a screening plan as a result of a given diagnosis request of the diagnosis requesting entity 103 (e.g., via the patient workstation 114 or the medical professional workstation 122) based at least on the diagnostic support information. The diagnostic support information may be obtained by the screening plan determination system 500 itself or may be obtained from the medical diagnosis support system 200 and / or the medical record management system 210. The diagnostic support information may include information of past diagnoses of one or more specific medical conditions provided to previously diagnosed patients who share at least one common cluster with the diagnosis requesting entity 103. A common cluster as illustrated herein is generated based on at least one shared patient attribute of the previously diagnosed patients and the given diagnosis requesting entity 103 having values ​​that satisfy a common condition (e.g., equality of attribute values, physical proximity of values ​​of geographic attributes, etc.). For example, in response to a diagnosis request for the given patient 103, a screening plan is determined for the given patient 103 based on the past diagnosis common cluster of the given patient. The determined screening plan may include medical tests whose results may be used to identify conditions that characterize a previous diagnosis.

[0207] Optionally, the screening plan determination process may be initiated in response to a diagnosis given to another patient 103, which diagnosis necessitates determining an updated screening plan for all other patients in the common cluster of the patient 103. For example, in response to a given patient 103 being diagnosed with a contagious disease, a screening plan is determined for all other patients 103 in the given patient's common cluster. The determined screening plan includes medical tests whose results may be used to identify conditions that characterize the diagnosed contagious disease.

[0208] Optionally, the determined screening plan may be uploaded to the medical data acquisition device 104 of the given patient, thereby enabling the medical data acquisition device 104 to provide instructions for carrying out the screening plan to the given patient.

[0209] The screening planning system 500 may comprise or be associated with a screening planning system data repository 540 (e.g., a database, a storage system, a memory including read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), or any other type of memory, etc.) configured to store data including, among other things, screening plans, diagnostic requests, diagnostic support information, past diagnoses, etc., as described in further detail herein. In some cases, the screening planning system data repository 540 may be further configured to enable retrieval and / or updating and / or deletion of the stored data. It should be noted that in some cases, the screening planning system data repository 540 may be distributed.

[0210] The screening planning system 500 may further include a screening planning system display 530 (e.g., a computer monitor or any other type of screen or display) capable of displaying information (e.g., displaying diagnostic support information to the medical diagnostic entity 124). It should be noted that if the screening planning system 500 is incorporated into the medical practitioner workstation 122, the screening planning system display 530 may be the display of the medical practitioner workstation 122.

[0211] Screening planning system 500 may further include a keyboard or any other suitable input / output device.

[0212] The screening planning determination system 500 further includes a screening planning determination system processor 510. The screening planning determination system processor 510 may be one or more processing units (e.g., a central processing unit), microprocessor, microcontroller (e.g., a microcontroller unit (MCU)), or any other computing device or module including multiple and / or parallel and / or distributed processing units adapted to process data independently or cooperatively to control associated screening planning determination system 500 resources and to enable operations related to the screening planning determination system 500 resources.

[0213] The screening planning system processor 510 may include a screening planning module 520 .

[0214] The screening schedule determination module 520 may be configured to manage the process of screening schedule determination, as will be described in further detail with particular reference to FIG.

[0215] Attention is now directed to FIG. 6, which illustrates a block diagram that generally illustrates one example of a medical notification support system and a medical data acquisition device, and the various connections therebetween, in accordance with the subject matter of this disclosure.

[0216] The environment 20 may further include one or more medical notification support systems 600 .

[0217] In some cases, the medical notification support system 600 may be located at the medical practitioner location 120. In such cases, the medical record management system 210 may be incorporated into the medical practitioner workstation 122 or may operate as a stand-alone system in communication via a local network at the medical practitioner location 120. In other examples, the medical notification support system 600 may be part of the central system 130 or may be a separate system located at the central system 130 location or elsewhere. In such cases, the medical notification support system 600 may communicate with the medical diagnosis support system 200 and / or the medical record management system 210 and / or the patient workstation 114 and / or the medical practitioner workstation 122 and / or the medical data acquisition device 104 via the communication network 116.

[0218] Each medical notification support system 600 may obtain notification support information. The notification support information may be automatically determined by the medical notification support system 600 itself or may be obtained from the medical diagnosis support system 200 and / or the medical record management system 210. The notification support information includes at least one past diagnosis of one or more specific medical conditions provided to the previously diagnosed patient 103, the previously diagnosed patient 103 and the one or more undiagnosed patients 103 are part of at least one common cluster generated based on at least one shared patient attribute of the medical records of the previously diagnosed patient 103 and the medical records of the undiagnosed patient 103 having values ​​that satisfy a common condition (e.g., equality of attribute values, physical proximity of values ​​of geographic attributes, etc.), and obtain patient identification information identifying the undiagnosed patient 103.

[0219] The medical notification support system 600 may include or be associated with a medical notification support system data repository 640 (e.g., a database, a storage system, a memory including read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), or any other type of memory, etc.) configured to store data including, among other things, notification support information, as described in further detail herein. In some cases, the medical notification support system data repository 640 may be further configured to enable retrieval and / or updating and / or deletion of the stored data. Of note, in some cases, the medical notification support system data repository 640 may be distributed.

[0220] The medical notification support system 600 may further include a medical notification support system display 630 (e.g., a computer monitor or any other type of screen or display) capable of displaying information (e.g., displaying diagnostic support information to the medical diagnostic entity 124). It should be noted that if the medical notification support system 600 is incorporated into the medical practitioner workstation 122, the medical notification support system display 630 may be the display of the medical practitioner workstation 122.

[0221] The medical notification support system 600 may further include a keyboard or any other suitable input / output device.

[0222] The medical notification support system 600 may further display the notification support information and the patient identification information on a display, thereby enabling the medical diagnostic entity 124 to notify the undiagnosed patient 103 of potential exposure to the medical condition included in the previous diagnosis. Optionally, the notification support information may be automatically uploaded by the medical notification support system 600 to the patient workstation 114 and / or medical data acquisition device 104 of the undiagnosed patient 103 without the involvement of the medical diagnostic entity 124, to notify the undiagnosed patient 103 of potential exposure to the medical condition.

[0223] The medical notification support system 600 further includes a medical notification support system processor 610. The medical notification support system processor 610 may be one or more processing units (e.g., a central processing unit), microprocessor, microcontroller (e.g., a microcontroller unit (MCU)), or any other computing device or module including multiple and / or parallel and / or distributed processing units adapted to process data independently or cooperatively to control associated medical notification support system 600 resources and to enable operations related to the medical notification support system 600 resources.

[0224] The medical notification support system processor 610 may include a notification determination module 620 .

[0225] The notification decision module 620 may be configured to manage the process of notification decisions, as will be described in further detail with particular reference to FIG.

[0226] Having described environment 20 and its components, attention is now directed to FIG. 7, which illustrates a flowchart illustrating an example series of operations performed by a medical record management system to provide cluster-based diagnostic support in accordance with the subject matter of the present disclosure.

[0227] According to some examples of the subject matter of this disclosure, the medical record management system 210 can be configured to execute a diagnostic support information management process 700 using the common cluster management module 410 and the diagnostic support management module 420.

[0228] To this end, the medical record management system 210 may be configured to provide a plurality of medical records, each associated with a corresponding patient 103, each medical record comprising patient identification information and at least one patient attribute, one or more of the medical records including one or more past diagnoses previously provided to the corresponding patient 103. Optionally, the diagnostic support information may include only past diagnoses that have a calculated relevance probability with a given diagnosis request entity 103 exceeding a certain threshold, e.g., only past diagnoses given within a recent time frame are included in the diagnostic support information. In addition, the diagnostic support information may include shared attribute values ​​that account for clustering common clusters associated with the diagnosis request entities 103 (block 710).

[0229] After providing the medical records, the medical record management system 210 may be further configured to generate one or more clusters based on patient attributes, each cluster being associated with at least two medical records having at least one shared patient attribute with values ​​that each satisfy a common condition (e.g., equality of values, physical proximity of values, values ​​that are part of a predefined group, etc.). For example, a workplace "X" cluster may be generated that holds medical records of people who work at the same workplace "X" based on identical values ​​for a workplace patient attribute. In another example, the medical record management system 210 may generate a neighborhood "Y" cluster that holds medical records with address values ​​that are within a particular geographic area that defines the geographic boundaries of neighborhood "Y". Another example may be based on a physical proximity condition, where the medical record management system 210 may generate a contact "Z" cluster that holds medical records of all patients 103 who have been in physical proximity to each other (e.g., less than 5 meters from each other) during a given time frame (e.g., the last three days) (block 720).

[0230] In parallel with blocks 710 and 720, the medical record management system 210 may be further configured to receive a request for diagnostic support information that includes an identification of a given patient 103 (block 730).

[0231] After receiving the request for diagnostic support information, the medical record management system 210 may be further configured to use the identification information of the given patient 103 to identify one or more patient-related clusters of the clusters, each of which is associated with the medical record of the given patient 103, and at least one of the medical records of each patient-related cluster other than the medical record of the given patient 103 includes one or more past diagnoses (block 740).

[0232] After identifying the patient-associated clusters, the medical record management system 210 may be further configured to send a diagnosis support information response including past diagnoses of the patient-associated clusters, optionally only relevant past diagnoses (block 750).

[0233] It should be noted that with respect to FIG. 7, some of the blocks may be combined into linked blocks or broken down into several blocks, and / or other blocks may be added. Also, in some cases, the blocks may be performed in a different order than described herein (e.g., block 730 may be performed before block 720, etc.). It should also be noted that some of the blocks are optional. It should also be noted that, although the flow diagrams are described with reference to system elements that implement them, this is by no means mandatory, and the blocks may be performed by elements other than those described herein.

[0234] Attention is now directed to FIG. 8, which illustrates a flow chart illustrating an example series of operations performed by a medical diagnostic support system to provide cluster-based diagnostic support in accordance with the subject matter of this disclosure.

[0235] According to some examples of the subject matter of this disclosure, the medical diagnosis support system 200 may be configured to execute a diagnostic support information management process 800 using the diagnostic support information management module 330.

[0236] For this purpose, the medical diagnostic support system 200 may be configured to obtain medical information associated with a given diagnosis request entity 103. The medical information may be obtained from the medical diagnosis entity 124 and / or the diagnosis request entity 103. The medical diagnostic support system 200 may further be configured to obtain diagnostic support information regarding the given diagnosis request entity 103. The diagnostic support information may be obtained by the medical diagnostic support system 200 itself, for example by determining the diagnostic support information based on a clustering of medical records of the diagnosis request entity 103 stored in the medical diagnostic support system data repository 320. The medical diagnostic support system 200 may cluster the medical records into groups based on patient attributes. Medical records that share an attribute value are grouped into the same cluster. Here, if the values ​​of the attribute values ​​of two or more medical records satisfy a common condition (e.g. value equality, physical proximity of values, values ​​that are part of a predefined group, etc.), the attribute value is determined by the medical diagnostic support system 200 to be a shared attribute value. The diagnostic support information may optionally be obtained by the medical diagnostic support system 200 from a medical record management system 210, as described above, particularly in FIG.

[0237] The diagnostic support information includes at least one past diagnosis provided to the previously diagnosed patient, and as described above with respect to FIG. 2, the previously diagnosed patient and the given diagnosis request entity 103 are part of at least one common cluster. Optionally, the diagnostic support information may include only past diagnoses that have a calculated relevance probability with the given diagnosis request entity 103 exceeding a certain threshold, for example, only past diagnoses given within a recent time frame are included in the diagnostic support information. For example, only past diagnoses provided to the previously diagnosed patient within the last 5 days are included in the diagnostic support information. In addition, the time frame may be calculated depending on the particular medical condition diagnosed in the past diagnosis, for example, a past diagnosis of a disease with a lasting effect has a longer time frame than a disease with a temporary effect. For example, a past diagnosis of HIV has a long relevance time frame (optionally an infinite time frame), while a past diagnosis of influenza has a short relevance time frame (for example, one week).

[0238] Additionally, the diagnostic support information may include shared patient attribute values ​​that were the reason for clustering the common clusters associated with the given diagnosis request entity 103. The shared patient attributes may include name, address, workplace location, location information (e.g. obtained from the GPS of the smartphone of the diagnosis request entity 103) with corresponding values ​​for the given diagnosis request entity 103. The shared patient attribute value may be, for example, a workplace "X" value for the workplace attribute, and thus the diagnostic support information includes the value of "X" for the workplace attribute in addition to past diagnoses given to members of the workplace "X" cluster (block 810).

[0239] After obtaining the medical information and diagnostic support information, the medical diagnostic support system 200 may be further configured to display the medical information and diagnostic support information on a medical diagnostic support system display 310 (e.g., a computer monitor or any other type of screen or display). It is noted that if the medical diagnostic support system 200 is incorporated in a medical practitioner workstation 122, the medical information and diagnostic support information is displayed on the display of the medical practitioner workstation 122. The display of the medical information and diagnostic support information enables the medical diagnostic entity 124 to provide a diagnosis of a medical condition of a given diagnosis requesting entity 103 based on the medical information and diagnostic support information (block 820).

[0240] The medical diagnosis support system 200 may further be configured to receive a diagnosis of the medical condition of the given diagnosis requesting entity 103 provided by the medical diagnosis entity 124, for example via the medical practitioner workstation 122 (block 830).

[0241] After receiving a diagnosis of a medical condition of a given diagnosis requesting entity 103, the medical diagnostic support system 200 may be further configured to transmit the diagnosis to the given diagnosis requesting entity 103, for example via the patient workstation 114 or the medical data acquisition device 104, or in any other manner (block 840).

[0242] In addition or as an alternative to block 820, after obtaining the medical information and diagnostic support information, the medical diagnostic support system 200 may be configured to determine one or more additional medical tests to be performed to obtain additional medical data from a particular diagnosis requesting entity 103. The additional medical tests are determined based on the medical information and diagnostic support information. For example, based on the diagnostic support information including one or more past diagnoses of a particular infectious disease in a cluster of a given diagnosis requesting entity 103, the medical diagnostic support system 200 may determine a set of suggested additional tests relevant to the diagnosis of such infectious disease (block 850).

[0243] After determining the additional medical tests, the medical diagnosis support system 200 may be further configured to display the additional medical tests on a medical diagnosis support system display 310 (e.g., a computer monitor or any other type of screen or display). It should be noted that if the medical diagnosis support system 200 is incorporated in the medical practitioner workstation 122, the additional medical tests are displayed on the medical practitioner workstation 122. By displaying the additional medical tests, the medical diagnosis entity 124 may be able to recommend the additional medical tests to be performed to the diagnosis requesting entity 103, e.g., a list of suggested additional tests may be displayed to the medical diagnosis entity 124, and the medical diagnosis entity 124 may decide whether to instruct / recommend the diagnosis requesting entity 103 to perform one or more of the additional tests. For example, based on the diagnostic support information including several past diagnoses of a particular infectious disease in the cluster of a given diagnosis requesting entity 103, the medical diagnosis support system 200 may display to the medical diagnosis entity 124, on the display of the medical practitioner workstation 122, a set of suggested additional tests related to the diagnosis of the infectious disease. The medical diagnosis entity 124 may decide whether to instruct / recommend the diagnosis request entity 103 to perform one or more of these additional tests.

[0244] Optionally, information of the required additional medical tests may be automatically transmitted to the medical data acquisition device 104 of the diagnosis requesting entity 103, thereby enabling the diagnosis requesting entity 103 to instruct the additional medical tests to be performed using the medical data acquisition device 104, i.e. without having to manually configure the medical data acquisition device 104 to be suitable for performing the additional medical tests.

[0245] Alternatively, the additional medical tests may be introduced into the screening plan (stored in the patient and screening plan repository 136) associated with the diagnosis request entity 103, so that the medical data acquisition device 104 will also perform the additional medical tests the next time it is used to collect medical data from the diagnosis request entity 103.

[0246] Continuing with the above example, the additional medical tests selected by the medical diagnosis entity 124 to diagnose a contagious disease may be automatically transmitted to the medical data acquisition device 104 of the diagnosis requesting entity 103, thereby enabling the diagnosis requesting entity 103 to be instructed to perform the additional medical tests using the medical data acquisition device 104. Additionally or alternatively, the additional medical tests may be added to the screening plan associated with the diagnosis requesting entity 103 stored in the patient and screening plan repository 136. In such a case, the medical data acquisition device 104 also performs the additional medical test(s) when next used to collect medical data from the diagnosis requesting entity 103 (block 860).

[0247] It should be noted that with respect to FIG. 8, some of the blocks may be combined into a linked block or broken down into several blocks, and / or other blocks may be added. Also, in some cases, the blocks may be performed in a different order than described herein (e.g., block 850 may be performed before block 820, etc.). It should also be noted that some of the blocks are optional. It should also be noted that, although the flow diagrams are described with reference to system elements that implement them, this is by no means mandatory, and the blocks may be performed by elements other than those described herein.

[0248] Referring to FIG. 9, a flow chart is provided illustrating an example of a series of operations performed by a medical diagnosis support system to process a queue of diagnosis requesting entities in accordance with the subject matter of this disclosure.

[0249] According to some examples of the subject matter of this disclosure, the medical diagnosis support system 200 may be configured to execute a patient queue management process 900 using the patient queue management module 340 .

[0250] In healthcare in general, and telehealth in particular, there are numerous scenarios in which a medical diagnosis entity 124 has a queue of diagnosis requesting entities 103 waiting for diagnosis, either by waiting physically at a healthcare provider location, or by sending a diagnosis request to a healthcare provider workstation 122. It is therefore beneficial to process the queue of diagnosis requesting entities 103 based on urgency level, i.e., emergency cases are processed more quickly than routine check-ups.

[0251] To this end, the medical diagnostic support system 200 may be configured to obtain medical information associated with each diagnosis requesting entity 103 in the queue waiting for a diagnosis. The medical information may be obtained from the medical diagnosis entities 124 and / or the diagnosis requesting entities 103. The medical diagnostic support system 200 may further be configured to obtain diagnostic support information for a given diagnosis requesting entity 103. The diagnostic support information may be obtained by the medical diagnostic support system 200 itself, for example by calculating the diagnostic support information based on medical records stored in the medical diagnostic support system data repository 320. The diagnostic support information may optionally be obtained from the medical record management system 210 (block 910), all as described above, particularly in block 810 of FIG. 8.

[0252] After obtaining the medical information and diagnostic support information associated with each diagnosis requesting entity 103 in the queue of diagnosis requesting entities 103 waiting for a diagnosis, the medical diagnostic support system 200 may be further configured to process the queue of diagnosis requesting entities 103, as required, such that the processing is based on the diagnostic support information such that a first diagnosis requesting entity 103 associated with a first common cluster having a first past diagnosis of a first disease will be ahead of a second diagnosis requesting entity 103 associated with a second common cluster having a second past diagnosis of a second disease predefined as having a lower urgency level than the urgency level of the first disease, even if the second diagnosis requesting entity 103 enters the queue before the first diagnosis requesting entity 103.

[0253] In a particular example, when a first diagnosis requesting entity 103 associated with a particular cluster having a past diagnosis of a disease having a low urgency level (e.g., common influenza) and a second diagnosis requesting entity 103 associated with a particular cluster having a past diagnosis of a disease having a high urgency level (e.g., Ebola hemorrhagic fever) are waiting to receive a diagnosis from a given medical diagnosis entity 124, the medical diagnosis support system 200 may ensure that the second diagnosis requesting entity 103 is ahead of the first diagnosis requesting entity 103 even if the first diagnosis requesting entity 103 enters the queue before the second diagnosis requesting entity 103.

[0254] In another example, a diagnosis request entity 103 associated with a particular cluster having a past diagnosis of an infectious disease precedes a diagnosis request entity 103 associated with a particular cluster having a past diagnosis of a non-infectious disease (block 920).

[0255] 9, it should be noted that some of the blocks may be combined into linked blocks or broken down into several blocks, and / or other blocks may be added. It should also be noted that although the flow diagrams are described with reference to system elements implementing them, this is by no means mandatory and the blocks may be performed by elements other than those described herein.

[0256] Attention is now directed to FIG. 10, which illustrates a flow chart illustrating an example series of operations performed by a screening planning system to provide cluster-based diagnostic support in accordance with the subject matter of this disclosure.

[0257] According to some examples of the subject matter of this disclosure, the screening planning decision system 500 may be configured to perform the screening planning decision process 1000 using the screening planning decision module 520.

[0258] To this end, the screening planning system 500 may be configured to receive patient identification information identifying the diagnosis request entity 103 and to receive diagnostic support information, the diagnostic support information including at least one past diagnosis of one or more specific medical conditions provided to the previously diagnosed patient 103, the previously diagnosed patient 103 and the diagnosis request entity 103 being part of at least one common cluster. The common cluster is generated based on at least one shared patient attribute of the previously diagnosed patient 103 and the diagnosis request entity 103 having values ​​satisfying a common condition (block 1010).

[0259] After receiving the patient identification information and the diagnostic support information, the screening plan determination system 500 may be further configured to determine a screening plan for the diagnosis requesting entity 103 based at least on the diagnostic support information. The screening plan defines one or more medical tests to be performed on the diagnosis requesting entity 103, at least one of the medical tests being necessary to diagnose whether the diagnosis requesting entity 103 has a medical condition that has been previously diagnosed with respect to at least one other diagnosis requesting entity 103 that is part of a common cluster (block 1020).

[0260] It should be noted that with respect to Figure 10, some of the blocks may be combined into linked blocks or broken down into several blocks, and / or other blocks may be added. It should also be noted that, although the flow diagrams are described with reference to system elements that implement them, this is by no means mandatory and the blocks may be performed by elements other than those described herein.

[0261] Attention is now directed to FIG. 11, which illustrates a flow chart illustrating an example series of operations performed by a medical notification support system to provide cluster-based notification support in accordance with the subject matter of this disclosure.

[0262] According to some examples of the subject matter of this disclosure, the medical notification support system 600 may be configured to perform the notification decision process 1100 using the notification decision module 620 .

[0263] To this end, the medical notification support system 600 may be configured to obtain notification support information, which includes at least one past diagnosis of one or more specific medical conditions provided to the previously diagnosed patient 103, where the previously diagnosed patient 103 and the one or more undiagnosed patients 103 are part of at least one common cluster. The common cluster is generated based on at least one shared patient attribute of the medical records of the previously diagnosed patient 103. Also, the notification support information includes the medical records of the undiagnosed patients 103 having values ​​that satisfy the common condition. In addition, the medical notification support system 600 may be configured to obtain patient identification information that identifies the undiagnosed patient 103 (block 1110).

[0264] After obtaining the notification support information and the patient identification information, the medical notification support system 600 may be further configured to display the notification support information and the patient identification information on the medical notification support system data display 630, thereby enabling the medical diagnostic entity 124 to notify the undiagnosed patient 103 of the potential infection with the medical condition. Optionally, the medical notification support system 600 may automatically notify the undiagnosed patient 103 of the potential infection with the medical condition directly via the patient workstation 114 and / or the medical data acquisition device 104 without involving the medical diagnostic entity 124 (block 1120).

[0265] It should be noted that with respect to Figure 11, some of the blocks may be combined into linked blocks or broken down into several blocks, and / or other blocks may be added. It should also be noted that although the flow diagrams are described with reference to system elements that implement them, this is by no means mandatory and the blocks may be performed by elements other than those described herein.

[0266] Referring to FIG. 12, a flow chart illustrating an example series of operations that may be performed to provide residual information to medical personnel in accordance with the subject matter of this disclosure is shown.

[0267] According to some examples of the subject matter of this disclosure, the medical diagnosis support system 200 may be configured to execute the other diagnostic support information management process 1200 using the diagnostic support information management module 330.

[0268] To this end, the medical diagnosis support system 200 is configured to acquire (block 1210) medical data regarding the patient 103. The medical data may be acquired from the body of the patient 103 at a given time, for example, using the medical data acquisition device 104, or any other suitable device capable of acquiring medical data from the body of the patient 103, or may be acquired in other ways (including, for example, the patient 103 providing information by answering a questionnaire).

[0269] When using a medical data acquisition device 104 that includes at least one medical data acquisition sensor 106 , the medical data may include at least one measurement acquired by the medical data acquisition sensor 106 .

[0270] The medical diagnosis support system 200 is further configured to identify and retrieve residual information associated with at least one of (i) the location of the patient 103 at the time the medical data was acquired in block 1210, or (ii) one or more other locations of the patient 103 at one or more corresponding times prior to the time the medical data was acquired in block 1210 (block 1220).

[0271] The residual information may include one or more air pollution indicators indicating a current air pollution level at the current location of the patient 103 and / or a past air pollution level at locations visited by the patient at respective times up to a particular time prior to when the medical data was acquired in block 1210, one or more water pollution indicators indicating a current water pollution level at the current location of the patient 103 and / or a past water pollution level at locations visited by the patient at respective times up to a particular time prior to when the medical data was acquired in block 1210, information on a current disease occurrence at the current location of the patient 103 and / or a past disease occurrence at locations visited by the patient at respective times up to a particular time prior to when the medical data was acquired in block 1210. The medical data may include one or more of the following: current radiation levels at the patient's 103 current location and / or past radiation levels at locations visited by the patient at each time up to a particular time prior to when the medical data was acquired in block 1210; current weather information at the patient's 103 current location and / or past weather information at locations visited by the patient at each time up to a particular time prior to when the medical data was acquired in block 1210; food poisoning information; current known illnesses at the patient's 103 current location and / or past known illnesses at locations visited by the patient at each time up to a particular time prior to when the medical data was acquired in block 1210;

[0272] In some cases, the retrieved residual information is identified using a rule set that defines the relevance of the residual information for diagnostic purposes. It is clearly desirable to identify residual information that has value for diagnostic purposes. The fact that in a given location, there was an influenza outbreak three months before a patient 103 complains of influenza-related symptoms is irrelevant for providing a diagnosis for such patient 103. In contrast, if in the same given location, there was an influenza outbreak the day before a patient 103 complains of influenza-related symptoms, the fact that such an influenza outbreak was identified at that time is clearly highly relevant for providing a diagnosis for such patient 103 who is likely to have influenza.

[0273] Similarly, if very high levels of air pollution are measured in a particular location of a given asthma patient 103 two days before the asthma patient 103 complains of asthma-related symptoms, having such knowledge is irrelevant as this does not indicate a potential reason why the patient 103 has asthma-related symptoms, but if very high levels of air pollution are measured in a particular location of a given asthma patient 103 one hour before the patient 103 complains of asthma-related symptoms, such knowledge is highly relevant in providing a diagnosis of such patient 103 who is likely experiencing asthma-related symptoms due to the current high levels of air pollution.

[0274] The rule set based on when relevance may be determined may be determined based on at least one of: (a) the time when the medical data is acquired in block 1210, the patient's location at the time when the medical data is acquired in block 1210, and metadata defining a relevance period of the type of residual information (e.g., for influenza, the relevance period is several days, for air pollution, the relevance period is one day, etc.); (b) the patient's location and respective time before the medical data is acquired in block 1210, and metadata defining a relevance period of the type of residual information (e.g., for influenza, the relevance period is several days, for air pollution, the relevance period is one day, etc.); (c) the patient's known medical condition (if the patient 103 is known to have asthma, then air pollution levels have high relevance when trying to diagnose the condition); or (d) the acquired metadata (if the medical data indicates that the patient 103 is suffering from shortness of breath, also known as dyspnea, then air pollution levels have high relevance when trying to diagnose the condition).

[0275] In some cases, the residual information is obtained from online sources, such as the Internet (e.g., from websites providing information on air pollution, weather, water pollution, disease outbreaks, etc.). In some cases, at least one of the online sources is external to the medical diagnosis support system 200. In other examples, the residual information may be obtained from local governments and / or international organizations that collect such information.

[0276] The medical diagnosis support system 200 displays the medical data and residual information to the medical practitioner, thereby enabling the medical practitioner to provide a diagnosis of the patient's medical condition (block 1230).

[0277] In some cases, medical data is acquired from the patient's body and displayed to the medical practitioner during an online session between the patient and the medical practitioner. In other examples, medical data is acquired from the patient's body at a given time and displayed to the medical practitioner at a later time after the given time. This may be the case when the medical data acquisition device 104 is not in real-time communication with the medical diagnosis support system 200.

[0278] It should be noted that with respect to Figure 12, some of the blocks may be combined into linked blocks or broken down into several blocks, and / or other blocks may be added. It should also be noted that although the flow diagrams are described with reference to system elements that implement them, this is by no means mandatory and the blocks may be performed by elements other than those described herein.

[0279] Referring to FIG. 13, a flow chart illustrating another example of a series of operations that may be performed to provide residual information to a medical professional in accordance with the subject matter of this disclosure is shown.

[0280] According to some examples of the subject matter of this disclosure, the medical data acquisition device 104 and the medical diagnostic support system 200 may be configured to execute another diagnostic support information management process 1200 .

[0281] For this purpose, the medical data acquisition device 104 may be configured to acquire medical data from the patient 103 using the medical data acquisition sensor 106 at a given time (block 1310) and transmit the medical data and location information indicating the location of the patient 103 to the medical diagnosis support system 200 at the given time (block 1320).

[0282] The medical diagnosis support system 200 receives medical data and location information from the medical data acquisition device 104 (block 1330), retrieves environmental information indicative of environmental information at the location (similar to block 1220) (block 1340), and displays the medical information and environmental information on a display, thereby enabling a medical professional operating a medical professional workstation to provide a diagnosis of the patient's medical condition (block 1350).

[0283] It should be noted that with respect to Figure 13, some of the blocks may be combined into linked blocks or broken down into several blocks, and / or other blocks may be added. It should also be noted that, although the flow diagrams are described with reference to system elements that implement them, this is by no means mandatory and the blocks may be performed by elements other than those described herein.

[0284] It should be understood that the subject matter of the present disclosure is not limited in its application to the details described in the description contained herein or shown in the drawings. The subject matter of the present disclosure is capable of other embodiments and can be implemented and carried out in various ways. It should therefore be understood that the expressions and terms used herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. Thus, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception on which the present disclosure is based may be readily utilized as a basis for designing other structures, methods, and systems for carrying out some of the purposes of the subject matter of the present disclosure.

[0285] It should also be understood that the systems of the presently disclosed subject matter may be implemented, at least in part, as a suitably programmed computer. Similarly, the presently disclosed subject matter contemplates a computer program that is readable by a computer to perform the disclosed methods. The presently disclosed subject matter further contemplates a machine-readable memory tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by a machine to perform the disclosed methods.

Claims

1. A medical diagnosis support system, comprising: acquiring medical data acquired from the patient's body at a given time using a medical data acquisition device; Identifying and retrieving residual information associated with at least one of (i) a first location of the patient at the given time, or (ii) one or more second locations of the patient at one or more corresponding second times prior to the given time; Displaying the medical data and the residual information to a medical practitioner, thereby enabling the medical practitioner to provide a diagnosis of the patient's medical condition. a processing resource configured to The retrieved residual information is identified using a first set of rules that define relevance of the residual information for diagnostic purposes based on at least one of: (a) metadata defining a relevance period of the first location and the given time and type of residual information, or (b) the metadata defining a relevance period of the second location and the corresponding second time and type of residual information.

2. 2. The medical diagnostic support system of claim 1, wherein the first rule set further determines the relevance of the residual information for the diagnostic purpose based on at least one of: (c) a known medical condition of the patient; or (d) the acquired medical data.

3. The medical diagnostic support system of claim 1 , wherein the medical data is obtained from the patient's body and displayed to the medical professional during an online session between the patient and the medical professional.

4. 2. The medical diagnostic support system of claim 1, wherein the medical data is acquired from the patient's body at a third time after the given time and displayed to the medical personnel, and the medical data acquisition device is not in communication with the medical diagnostic support system.

5. The residual information is a. one or more air pollution indicators; b. one or more water contamination indicators; c. Disease outbreak information; d. Radiation level information; e. Weather information; f. Food poisoning information, or g. Known illnesses at the first location or the second location The medical diagnostic support system according to claim 1 , comprising one or more of the following:

6. The medical diagnostic support system of claim 1 , wherein the residual information is obtained from online sources, at least one of the online sources being external to the medical diagnostic support system.

7. The medical diagnostic support system of claim 1 , wherein the medical data acquisition device includes at least one medical data acquisition sensor, and the medical data includes at least one measurement value acquired by the medical data acquisition sensor.

8. 1. A medical diagnostic support method implemented in a medical diagnostic support system including a display and a processor, comprising: The processor, acquiring medical data acquired from a patient's body at a given time using a medical data acquisition device; Identifying and retrieving residual information associated with at least one of: (i) a first location of the patient at the given time; or (ii) one or more second locations of the patient at one or more corresponding second times prior to the given time; displaying said medical data and said residual information on said display to enable medical personnel to provide a diagnosis of said patient's medical condition; Let them do so, The method of claim 1, wherein the retrieved residual information is identified using a first rule set that defines relevance of the residual information for diagnostic purposes based on at least one of: (a) metadata defining a relevance period of the first location and the given time and type of residual information; or (b) the metadata defining the relevance period of the second location and the corresponding second time and type of residual information.

9. 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first rule set further determines the relevance of the residual information for the diagnostic purpose based on at least one of: (c) a known medical condition of the patient; or (d) the acquired medical data.

10. 10. The method of claim 8, wherein the medical data is obtained from the patient's body and displayed to the medical practitioner during an online session between the patient and the medical practitioner.

11. 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the medical data is acquired from the patient's body at a third time after the given time and displayed to the medical personnel, and the medical data acquisition device is not in communication with the medical diagnostic support system.

12. The residual information is a. one or more air pollution indicators; b. one or more water contamination indicators; c. Disease outbreak information; d. Radiation level information; e. Weather information; f. Food poisoning information, or g. Known illnesses at the first location or the second location The method of claim 8 , further comprising one or more of the following:

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the residual information is obtained from online sources, at least one of the online sources being external to the medical diagnostic support system.

14. The method of claim 8 , wherein the medical data acquisition device includes at least one medical data acquisition sensor, and the medical data includes at least one measurement value acquired by the medical data acquisition sensor.

15. acquiring medical data acquired from a patient's body at a given time using a medical data acquisition device; Identifying and retrieving residual information associated with at least one of: (i) a first location of the patient at the given time; or (ii) one or more second locations of the patient at one or more corresponding second times prior to the given time; displaying said medical data and said residual information to a medical practitioner to enable said medical practitioner to provide a diagnosis of said patient's medical condition; Equipped with A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code embodied thereon executable by at least one processor of a computer to perform a method, wherein the retrieved residual information is identified using a first set of rules that define relevance of the residual information for diagnostic purposes based on at least one of: (a) metadata defining a relevance period of the first location and the given time and type of residual information, or (b) the metadata defining the second location and the corresponding second time and type of residual information.

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