Context-Based User Interface to Medical Databases

Abstract

The user interface (402) to the medical database (306) stores context information from previous queries (414-416) and uses that context information as part of the information selection criteria for a current query (412) without the user (310) having to fully specify the information selection criteria with each query. The context information is automatically stored as profiles (418, 420, 422) for each user (310), each user (310) group (312), and optionally, each institution (204) to which the user (310) belongs. In response to the current user query (412), a combination of the information selection criteria currently entered by the user (310) and one or more information selection criteria previously entered by the user (310), the group (312), and (optionally) the institution (204) is used to query the medical database (306). Optionally, a user's group (312) membership may be determined (812) automatically based on the user's (310) current physical location and potential groups (312), for example, as inferred from a meeting calendar or signals received by wireless access points (602, 610-612). TIFF2022540564000002.tif210147

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims the benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16 / 458,093, filed Jun. 30, 2019, entitled “Context-Based User Interface to Medical Database,” the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.

[0002] Technical Field The present invention relates to user interfaces to databases, and more particularly to user interfaces to medical databases in which information selection criteria from a previous query are used in a current query without the user having to repeat the previous information selection criteria. [Background technology]

[0003] Related Technology Many patients are connected to medical devices temporarily or for longer periods of time. For example, a person who has had a heart attack may be temporarily implanted with a heart pump to reduce the workload on the patient's heart while it recovers. Heart monitors, blood pressure monitors, infusion pumps, and many other types of medical devices may be connected to a patient for extended periods of time, such as while the patient is hospitalized in a hospital. Remote monitoring systems, such as the Impella Connect remote monitoring system available from Abiomed, Inc. of Danvers, Massachusetts, allow clinicians and others to remotely monitor such medical devices. However, when multiple medical devices are distributed across multiple medical institutions, it may be difficult for a clinician to easily specify a single medical device, patient or institution, or a set of medical devices, patients and / or institutions, of interest. Summary of the Invention

[0004] Summary of Aspects One aspect of the present invention provides a medical database query system that is usable by a plurality of users, each of which is associated with at least one user group.

[0005] A first database of the medical database query system is configured to store information about at least one of: (a) a plurality of medical devices; (b) a plurality of medical institutions; and (c) a plurality of patients. Each medical device is configured for connection to a respective patient. Each medical institution is configured to house medical devices configured to admit patients and for connection to a respective patient. The information about the plurality of patients includes information about the medical institution to which each of the patients is currently admitted and information about the medical device to which each of the patients is currently connected.

[0006] The human user interface is configured to receive a series of requests from a user, each request including a request for information from a database, each request including respective information selection criteria.

[0007] The second database is configured to store, for each user, corresponding user profile information, and to store, for each user group, corresponding group profile information.

[0008] The user profiler is configured to respond to at least some of the set of requests and store information selection criteria for each such request in a second database in association with the user making the at least some of the requests, thereby augmenting the user profile information of the user.

[0009] The group profiler is configured to, in response to at least some of the set of requests, store information selection criteria for each such request in a second database in association with at least one group associated with the user making the at least some of the requests, thereby augmenting group profile information for the at least one group.

[0010] The database query engine is configured to search the first database based on a combination of (a) information selection criteria from a most recent request in the series of requests, (b) at least one information selection criterion from user profile information corresponding to a user making the most recent request, and (c) at least one information selection criterion from group profile information corresponding to a group associated with the user making the most recent request.

[0011] The database response engine is configured to provide the results returned by the database query engine to a user.

[0012] Optionally, in any embodiment, each user may be associated with an institution. In such an embodiment, the second database is further configured to store corresponding institution profile information for each institution. Such an embodiment also includes an institution profiler. The institution profiler is configured to, in response to at least some of the requests, store information selection criteria for each such request in the second database in association with the institution associated with the user making the at least some of the requests, thereby augmenting the institution profile information for the institution. In this embodiment, the combination (wherein the database query engine is configured to search the first database based on the combination) includes (d) at least one information selection criterion from the institution profile information corresponding to the institution associated with the user making the most recent request.

[0013] Optionally, any aspect may include a user logon module configured to automatically identify a user based on information selection criteria for each of a subset of the series of requests.

[0014] Optionally, in any aspect having a user logon module, the user logon module may be further configured to automatically identify a group associated with the user based on information selection criteria for each of a subset of the set of requests.

[0015] Optionally, in any embodiment having a user logon module, the user logon module may be further configured to automatically identify an institution associated with the user based on information selection criteria of each of a subset of the set of requests.

[0016] Optionally, in any aspect having a user logon module, the user logon module may be further configured to automatically query a third database. The third database may be configured to store information about a plurality of users, including for each user, the user's estimated current location. The third database may be further configured to store information about a plurality of user groups, including for each group, the group's estimated current location. The user logon module may be further configured to automatically compare the user's estimated current location to the estimated current location of at least one of the plurality of groups, and identify a group associated with the user based on a match between the user's estimated current location and the at least one of the plurality of groups.

[0017] Optionally, in any aspect having a third database, the third database may include a calendar database configured to store information about a plurality of conferences, including, for each conference, the location of the conference, the time of the conference, and a list of participants at the conference.

[0018] Optionally, in any aspect having a user logon module, in order to identify a group associated with a user, the user logon module may be configured to automatically parse the title of a current conference of multiple conferences in which the user is a participant.

[0019] Optionally, in any aspect having a user logon module, in order to identify a group associated with the user, the user logon module may be configured to automatically identify at least one participant other than the user in a list of participants in a current conference of multiple conferences in which the user is also a participant.

[0020] Optionally, in any embodiment having a third database, the third database may include an email database configured to store a plurality of electronic messages including, for each electronic message, a subject of the electronic message and a list of recipients.

[0021] Optionally, in any embodiment having a user logon module, the user logon module may be configured to automatically parse a distribution list of an electronic message of the plurality of electronic messages to identify a group associated with the user.

[0022] Optionally, in any embodiment having a user logon module, the user logon module may be configured to automatically parse the subject line of an electronic message of the plurality of electronic messages to identify a group associated with the user.

[0023] Optionally, in any embodiment having a user log-on module, in order to identify a group associated with a user, the user log-on module may be configured to automatically identify at least one recipient in a recipient list of an electronic message of the plurality of electronic messages.

[0024] Optionally, in any aspect having a third database, the third database may be configured to store an estimated current location of the user based on information from a wireless access point to which a wireless mobile device registered for the user is currently wirelessly connected.

[0025] Optionally, in any aspect having a third database, the third database may be configured to store an estimated current location of a user based on information from a wireless access point to which a wireless mobile device registered for the user is currently wirelessly connected, and to store an estimated current location of a group based on information from at least one wireless access point to which each wireless mobile device registered for each user associated with the group is currently wirelessly connected.

[0026] Optionally, in any embodiment, the human user interface may include a voice user interface and / or a graphical user interface and / or a text user interface.

[0027] Another aspect of the invention provides a method for querying a medical database, the medical database being accessible by a plurality of users, the method being usable by a plurality of users, each user being associated with at least one user group.

[0028] A first database is provided. The first database is configured to store information regarding at least one of: (a) a plurality of medical devices, (b) a plurality of medical institutions, and (c) a plurality of patients. Each medical device is configured for connection to a respective patient. Each medical institution is configured to house medical devices configured to admit patients and for connection to a respective patient. The information regarding the plurality of patients includes information regarding the medical institution to which each of the patients is currently admitted and information regarding the medical device to which each of the patients is currently connected.

[0029] A series of requests are received from a user via a human user interface, each request including a request for information from a database, each request including respective information selection criteria.

[0030] A second database is provided, the second database configured to store, for each user, corresponding user profile information, and, for each user group, corresponding group profile information.

[0031] In response to at least some of the set of requests, information selection criteria for each such request are stored in a second database in association with a user making the at least some of the requests, thereby augmenting the user profile information for the user.

[0032] In response to at least some of the set of requests, information selection criteria for each such request are stored in a second database in association with at least one group associated with the user making the at least some of the requests, thereby augmenting group profile information for the at least one group.

[0033] The first database is searched based on a combination of (a) information selection criteria from a most recent request in the series of requests, (b) at least one information selection criterion from user profile information corresponding to the user making the most recent request, and (c) at least one information selection criterion from group profile information corresponding to a group associated with the user making the most recent request.

[0034] Results returned from the search of the first database are provided to the user.

[0035] Optionally, in any embodiment, each user may be associated with an institution. In such an embodiment, the second database is further configured to store corresponding institution profile information for each institution. In such an embodiment, in response to at least some of the requests in the series of requests, information selection criteria for each request are stored in the second database in association with an institution associated with the user making the at least some of the requests, thereby augmenting the institution profile information for that institution. In addition, the combination based on which the first database is searched also includes (d) at least one information selection criterion from the institution profile information corresponding to the institution associated with the user making the most recent request.

[0036] Optionally, in any aspect, users may be automatically identified based on information selection criteria for each of a subset of the set of requests.

[0037] Optionally, in any aspect, a group associated with a user may be automatically identified based on information selection criteria for each of a subset of the set of requests.

[0038] Optionally, in any aspect, an institution associated with a user may be automatically identified based on the information selection criteria of each of a subset of the set of requests.

[0039] Optionally, in any aspect, a third database may be queried. The third database may be configured to store information regarding a plurality of users and a plurality of user groups. The information regarding the plurality of users includes, for each user, an estimated current location of the user. The information regarding the plurality of user groups includes, for each group, an estimated current location of the group. The estimated current location of the user may be compared to an estimated current location of at least one of the plurality of groups. A group associated with the user may be identified based at least in part on a match between the estimated current location of the user and the estimated current location of at least one of the plurality of groups.

[0040] Optionally, in any aspect having a third database, the third database may include a calendar database configured to store information about a plurality of conferences, including, for each conference, the location of the conference, the time of the conference, and a list of participants at the conference.

[0041] Optionally, in any aspect, identifying a group associated with the user may include automatically parsing the title of a current conference of multiple conferences in which the user is a participant.

[0042] Optionally, in any aspect, identifying a group associated with the user may include automatically identifying at least one participant other than the user in a list of participants in a current conference of multiple conferences in which the user is also a participant.

[0043] Optionally, in any embodiment having a third database, the third database may include an email database configured to store a plurality of electronic messages including, for each electronic message, a subject of the electronic message and a list of recipients.

[0044] Optionally, in any aspect, identifying a group associated with the user may include automatically parsing a distribution list of an electronic message of the plurality of electronic messages.

[0045] Optionally, in any aspect, identifying a group associated with the user may include automatically analyzing the subject of an electronic message of the plurality of electronic messages.

[0046] Optionally, in any embodiment, identifying a group associated with the user may include identifying at least one recipient in a recipient list of an electronic message of the plurality of electronic messages.

[0047] Optionally, in any aspect having a third database, the third database may be configured to store an estimated current location of the user based on information from a wireless access point to which a wireless mobile device registered for the user is currently wirelessly connected.

[0048] Optionally, in any aspect having a third database, the third database may be configured to store an estimated current location of a user and an estimated current location of a group. The estimated current location of a user may be based on information from a wireless access point to which a wireless mobile device registered for the user is currently wirelessly connected. The estimated current location of a group may be based on information from at least one wireless access point to which each wireless mobile device registered for each user associated with the group is currently wirelessly connected.

[0049] Optionally, in any embodiment, the human user interface may include a voice user interface and / or a graphical user interface and / or a text user interface.

[0050] Yet another aspect of the present invention provides a non-transitory computer readable medium, the medium encoded with instructions that, when executed by a processor, establish a process for performing a computer-implemented method for querying a medical database usable by a plurality of users, each user being associated with at least one user group. The process includes:

[0051] A process configured to access a first database, the first database configured to store information regarding at least one of: (a) a plurality of medical devices, (b) a plurality of medical institutions, and (c) a plurality of patients. Each medical device is configured for connection to a respective patient. Each medical institution is configured to house medical devices configured to admit patients and for connection to a respective patient. The information regarding the plurality of patients includes information regarding the medical institution to which each of the patients is currently admitted and information regarding the medical device to which each of the patients is currently connected.

[0052] A human user interface configured to receive a series of requests from a user, each request including a request for information from a database, each request including respective information selection criteria.

[0053] Second Database: The second database is configured to store, for each user, corresponding user profile information, and to store, for each user group, corresponding group profile information.

[0054] A user profiler configured to respond to at least some of the set of requests and store information selection criteria for each such request in a second database in association with a user making the at least some of the requests, thereby augmenting the user profile information of the user.

[0055] A group profiler configured to, in response to at least some of the set of requests, store information selection criteria for each such request in a second database in association with at least one group associated with a user making the at least some of the requests, thereby augmenting group profile information for the at least one group.

[0056] A database query engine configured to search the first database based on a combination of (a) information selection criteria from a most recent request in the series of requests, (b) at least one information selection criterion from user profile information corresponding to a user making the most recent request, and (c) at least one information selection criterion from group profile information corresponding to a group associated with the user making the most recent request.

[0057] Database Response Engine: The database response engine is configured to provide the results returned by the database query engine to a user. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0058] The present invention will be more fully understood from the following detailed description of specific embodiments taken in conjunction with the drawings.

[0059] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an exemplary conventional medical device controller and an exemplary conventional medical device coupled to the medical device controller, in this example a heart pump, according to the prior art. [Diagram 2] FIG. 1 is an illustration of an exemplary patient admitted to an exemplary medical institution connected to an exemplary medical device, in this example a cardiac monitor, in the context of one aspect of the present invention. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of the main components of a data storage and retrieval system for collecting, storing and retrieving operational data relating to medical devices, patients and medical institutions, such as the medical devices of FIG. 1 and the patients and medical institutions of FIG. 2, in the context of one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of a medical database query system including the medical database of FIG. 3, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 5A]5A, 5B, 5C and 5D (collectively FIG. 5) are diagrams illustrating exemplary hypothetical results returned by the database query engine of the medical database query system of FIG. 4 and displayed to a user by a monitoring station / console, such as that of FIG. 3. [Figure 5B] Please see the legend to FIG. 5A. [Figure 5C] Please see the legend to FIG. 5A. [Figure 5D] Please see the legend to FIG. 5A. [Figure 6] 5 is a schematic block diagram of optional components of the medical database query system of FIG. 4, including a user logon module and a location database, according to respective embodiments of the present invention. [Figure 7] 5 is a flow chart that generally illustrates the operation of the medical database query system of FIG. 4, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 8] 6 is a flow chart that generally illustrates the operation of an optional user logon module and location database of the medical database query system of FIGS. 4 and 5, in accordance with respective embodiments of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0060] Detailed Description of Specific Embodiments Aspects of the present invention provide a user interface to a medical database that stores context information from a previous query and uses the context information as part of the information selection criteria for a current query, thereby reducing the burden on the user in identifying the information they wish to receive, thereby allowing the user to focus on narrowing or clarifying the type of information they desire.

[0061] The aspects summarized above and described in further detail below have the effect of improving the accuracy of a database query system in providing information requested by a user without the user having to fully specify the information in each query. Each user query includes at least one information selection criterion. This information selection criterion is used to select information from the database. However, these aspects automatically create and utilize a user profile that stores information selection criteria previously entered by the respective user in previous queries. In response to a current user query, the aspects combine (a) the information selection criterion entered by the user in the current query with (b) one or more information selection criteria previously entered by the user and stored in the user profile to form a more specific information selection criterion. The more specific information selection criterion is used to select information from the database. The selected information is then provided to the user. Thus, these aspects utilize the context provided by the user's recent queries to select information from the database.

[0062] Each user is a member of, and thus associated with, at least one group. Examples of groups include doctors caring for a particular patient, doctors affiliated with a particular medical practice or clinic, nurses assigned to a particular hospital floor or ward, technicians maintaining medical equipment, administrators affiliated with a particular hospital, and technical support personnel affiliated with a particular medical equipment manufacturer. The aspects also automatically create and utilize group profiles that store information selection criteria entered in previous queries by users of the respective groups. In response to a current user query, the aspects combine (a) the information selection criteria entered by the user in the current query, (b) one or more information selection criteria previously entered by the user and stored in the user profile, and (c) one or more information selection criteria previously entered by users in the same group as the user and stored in the group profile to form a more specific information selection criteria.

[0063] Optionally, each user is associated with an institution, e.g., a hospital that employs or admits the user. Other examples of institutions include medical device manufacturers and research institutes, such as universities. Some aspects automatically create and utilize an institution profile that stores information selection criteria entered in previous queries by users associated with the respective institution. In response to a current user query, these aspects combine (a) the information selection criteria entered by the user in the current query, (b) one or more information selection criteria previously entered by the user and stored in the user profile, (c) one or more information selection criteria previously entered by users in the same group as the user and stored in the group profile, and (d) one or more information selection criteria previously entered by users associated with the same institution as the user and stored in the institution profile to form a more specific information selection criteria.

[0064] Thus, these and other aspects provide database information that more precisely meets a user's needs without burdening the user with fully specifying each query. These aspects are premised on the assumption that a human user typically does not initially know how to fully specify a query, but instead makes a series of increasingly narrower queries, or a series of increasingly broader queries, or a series of queries with ever-changing focus, until the user refines the query to meet his or her needs. In many cases, a user does not know in advance what information he or she needs, but instead essentially experiments with their queries until they are presented with information that appears to be useful. Sometimes, the information returned in response to a query raises questions that lead the user to make a different, but related, query.

[0065] These aspects take advantage of the fact that in a series of queries by a user, at least some information selection criteria are likely to be the same or similar between queries, so that the context defined by the first query in the series can be inferred and carried over to subsequent queries, allowing the user to focus on narrowing or broadening the scope of their query rather than repeating all previously entered information selection criteria.

[0066] Group and institution profiles further ease the burden on users in specifying the information they wish to receive by taking advantage of similarities between possible inquiries by users who are members of a group and users associated with a common institution. Some aspects automatically determine a user's current group membership based on the user's automatically determined current physical location. For example, if a user is located in close physical proximity to a set of other users, such as in a conference room, these aspects may infer that the user is currently a member of a group that includes the other users in the conference room. The user's current physical location may be inferred by these aspects from a conference calendar, signals received by a wireless access point from the user's mobile device, e.g., phone, tablet, laptop computer, or other available information.

[0067] 1 is a perspective view of an exemplary conventional medical equipment controller 100 and an exemplary conventional implantable medical device 102, in this example a heart pump, coupled to the medical equipment controller 100. In the example shown in FIG. 1, the medical equipment controller 100 is an Automated Impella Controller® available from Abiomed, Inc. of Danvers, Massachusetts, and the heart pump 102 is an Impella® 2.5 heart pump, also available from Abiomed, Inc., although any suitable medical device and controller may be used.

[0068] A medical device can be connected to a patient, for example, by implanting the medical device in the patient, or by connecting the medical device to the patient, for example, via a wire, strap, light beam, etc. For example, an automatic blood pressure cuff (not shown) is a medical device that can be connected to a patient via a strap. In another example, an electrocardiograph (not shown) is a medical device that can be connected to a patient via an electrical wire.

[0069] The medical device controller 100 and any associated medical devices are collectively referred to herein as medical devices 104. In some cases, a medical device and its associated medical device controller are coupled together. Such couplings are also referred to herein simply as medical devices 104.

[0070] 2, each medical device 104, in this case cardiac monitor 200, is configured for connection to a respective patient 202. The medical institution 204, here represented by a hospital, is configured to admit patients, such as patient 202, and house medical devices 104, such as cardiac monitor 200. Other examples of medical institutions 204 include clinics, doctors' offices, medical research facilities, and medical device manufacturers.

[0071] Returning to Figure 1, the medical equipment controller 100 may include a display screen 106 on which the medical equipment controller 100 displays operational data regarding the medical device 102, such as cardiac signal levels, battery temperature, blood flow, and tubing integrity. The medical equipment controller 100 may be connected to a computer network, as shown in Figure 3, thereby transmitting the operational data to a remote data server.

[0072] FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of the main components of a data storage and retrieval system 300 for collecting, storing and retrieving operational data from and about medical devices, represented by exemplary medical devices 104. Although three medical devices 104 are shown, other numbers of medical devices 104 may be used. The medical devices 104 may all be located at a single medical institution 204, or the medical devices 104 may be distributed across several medical institutions 204. Each medical device 104 may be, but is not necessarily, connectable to a computer network 302. Each network-connectable medical device 104 is configured to automatically and repeatedly retrieve status information about itself 104 and transmit messages containing the status information via the computer network 302 to a data server 304, which stores the status information in a database 306. A monitoring station, illustrated by monitoring station 308, may request information from the database 306 via the data server 304 and display this information to a user, represented by user 310. An exemplary user 310 group 312 is also shown in dotted lines.

[0073] The monitoring station 308 may also function as a console, in which case the monitoring station / console 308 may be used to manually input information into the database 306 by a user 310. In addition, some medical devices 104 may also include a user interface for the user 310 to input information for storage in the database 306. For example, when a heart pump (FIG. 1) is implanted in a patient 202, patient information such as the patient's name, the name of the medical institution 204 such as a hospital to which the patient 202 is admitted, the room number, an identifier of a user authorized to access information about the patient 202, an identification of the medical device 104 connected to the patient 202, the medical institution 204 housing the medical device 104 or to which the patient 202 is admitted, etc. may be entered and stored in the database 306 by the data server 304.

[0074] Thus, the database 306 stores information about the medical devices 104. Specifically, the database 306 is configured to store information about at least one of (a) a plurality of medical devices 104, (b) a plurality of medical institutions 204, and (c) a plurality of patients 202. The information about the medical devices 104 includes information about the medical institutions 204 to which each of the patients 202 is currently admitted and information about the medical devices 104 to which each of the patients 202 is currently connected. The information about the patients 202 includes information about the medical institutions 204 to which each of the patients 202 is currently admitted and information about the medical devices 104 to which each of the patients 202 is currently connected.

[0075] 3 shows a single database 306, several sub-databases may be used, such as one sub-database per medical institution 204 or one sub-database per administrative jurisdiction, such as Europe, Japan, the United States, etc. Thus, for example, separate sub-databases may be used to store information about patients 202 admitted to each medical institution 204 and / or information about medical devices 104 housed in each medical institution 204. Nevertheless, these sub-databases are collectively referred to herein as database 306.

[0076] 4 is a schematic block diagram of a medical database query system 400 according to one embodiment of the present invention. The medical database query system 400 includes and queries the database 306 shown in FIG.

[0077] The human user interface 402 is configured to receive a series of requests 404 from a user 310. Although one human user interface 402 and one user 310 are shown, the medical database query system 400 may include any number of human user interfaces 402 and may be used by any number of users 310. For example, each monitoring station / console 308 (FIG. 3) may include a human user interface 402. Returning to FIG. 4, the human user interface 402 may include any combination of a voice user interface 406, a graphical user interface 408, and / or a text-based user interface 410.

[0078] Each request in the set of requests 404 is a request for information from the database 306. Each request in the set of requests 404 includes at least one respective information selection criterion. Examples of information selection criteria include selection criteria that specify a particular patient 202 by patient name or medical identification number (MIN), or a particular medical institution 204 by name or identification number, or a particular medical device 104 by serial number, manufacturer, function, type, etc. Exemplary queries are "Show me information about patient Bob Smith" and "Show me information about Impella heart pump, serial number 179078."

[0079] Each request in the set of requests 404 may include a combination of information selection criteria, such as "Show me information about patient Bob Smith at ABC Hospital." Some requests specify a single patient 202, medical device 104, and / or medical institution 204, but a request may specify multiple patients 202, multiple medical devices 104, and / or multiple medical institutions 204. For example, "Show me all heart pumps at ABC Hospital" or "Show me all heart pumps that are in alarm."

[0080] As a result of obtaining information about a set of patients 202, medical devices 104, and / or medical institutions 204, the user 310 may wish to narrow or clarify a search. For example, after requesting the system 400 to "show me all heart pumps at ABC Hospital," the user 310 may wish to see information about only heart pumps at ABC Hospital that are in alarm or that have been implanted for more than a specified time. Thus, in a subsequent request, the user 310 may request the system 400 to "show me alarms" or "show me implants longer than 2 days." The medical database query system 400 uses the most recent request 412 of the series of requests 404 in the context of previous requests, such as previous request 414 and previous request 416, to build selection criteria for querying the medical database 306 to satisfy the most recent request 412 of the user 310. Thus, the user queries "Show me alarms" and "Show me implants longer than 2 days" may be implemented by the medical database query system 400 as "Show me all heart pumps in ABC Hospital that are in alarm" and "Show me all heart pumps in ABC Hospital that have been implanted longer than 2 days," respectively.

[0081] The medical database query system 400 stores user profiles 418, group profiles 420, and (optionally) institution profiles 422 in a second database 424. Each user profile 418 includes information selection criteria from some of the previous requests 414-416 made by the user 310. The second database 424 is configured to store corresponding user profile information for each user 310. Similarly, the second database 424 is configured to store corresponding group profile information for each group, and (optionally) store corresponding institution profile information for each medical institution.

[0082] In response to a user 310 making a request 412, the user profiler 426 stores the information selection criteria(s) of the most recent request 412 in a second database 424 and associates the information selection criteria(s) with the user 310 who made the request 412. Thus, over time, as the user makes a series of requests 404, the user profiler 426 augments the user profile information 418 of the user 310.

[0083] Similarly, in response to requests 412 made by the user 310 and other users, the group profiler 428 stores the information selection criteria(s) of the most recent request 412 in the second database 424 and associates the information selection criteria(s) with the group of which the user 310 making the request 412 is a member. Thus, over time, as users 310 in the group 312 make requests, the group profiler 428 augments the group's group profile information 420.

[0084] Similarly, in response to a request 412 made by the user 310, or other users, the institution profiler 430 stores the information selection criteria(s) of the most recent request 412 in the second database 424 and associates the information selection criteria(s) with the institution 204 to which the user 310 making the request 412 belongs. Thus, over time, as users affiliated with the institution 204 make requests, the institution profiler 430 augments the institution's institution profile information 422.

[0085] As described above, the medical database query system 400 uses the most recent request 412 of the series of requests 404 in the context of the previous requests 414-416 to construct selection criteria for querying the medical database 306 to satisfy the most recent request 412 of the user 310. The database query engine 432 is configured to search the medical database 306 based on a combination of (a) the information selection criteria(s) from the most recent request 412, (b) at least one information selection criterion from the user profile information 418 corresponding to the user 310 who made the most recent request 412, (c) at least one information selection criterion from the group profile information 420 corresponding to the group 312 associated with the user 310 who made the most recent request 412, and (optionally) (d) at least one information selection criterion from the institution profile information 422 corresponding to the institution 204 associated with the user 310 who made the most recent request 412.

[0086] The database response engine 434 is configured to provide the results returned by the database query engine 432 to the user 310. Figure 5 shows an exemplary hypothetical result 500 returned by the database query engine 432 and displayed to the user 310, such as by one of the monitoring stations / consoles 308 (Figure 3).

[0087] Each user 310's membership in one or more groups 312 and / or affiliation to one or more institutions 204 may be represented by data stored in a database 424. This data may be entered and maintained by an administrator via an administrative user interface (not shown).

[0088] Optionally, however, the user logon module 436 automatically identifies the user 310, the group 312 with which the user 310 is associated, and / or the institution 204 with which the user 310 is associated, for example, based on the information selection criteria in a subset of the set of requests 404 made by the user 310. One way to automatically identify the user 310 is to compare the information selection criteria in the subset of requests to the information selection criteria in the user profile 418. The user profile 418 containing the information selection criteria that best matches the information selection criteria in the subset of requests is assumed to be associated with the current user 310 and thus may be used to identify the current user 310.

[0089] Similarly, one way to automatically identify a group 312 for a current user 310 is to compare the information selection criteria in the subset of requests with the information selection criteria in the group profile 420. The group profile 420 containing information selection criteria that most closely matches the information selection criteria in the subset of requests recently made by the user 310 may be assumed to be associated with the current user 310.

[0090] Similarly, one way to automatically identify the institution 204 of the current user 310 is to compare the information selection criteria in the subset of requests with the information selection criteria in the institution profile 422. The institution profile 422 containing the information selection criteria that most closely matches the information selection criteria in the subset of requests recently made by the user 310 may be assumed to be associated with the current user 310.

[0091] Another method for automatically identifying the user 310 and / or the groups 312 and / or institutions 204 with which the user 310 is associated is based on the current location of the user 310. In one embodiment, the current or estimated location of the user 310 may be compared to the estimated locations of several potential groups 312, and the group 312 to which the user 310 is closest may be assumed to be the group 312 with which the user 310 is currently associated. For example, if the user 310 is a member of several groups 312, and one of those groups 312, e.g., a compliance group, or a member of the compliance group is currently meeting in a particular conference room and the user 310 is scheduled to attend the meeting, it may be assumed that the user 310 is in a meeting with the compliance group and is therefore currently a member of that group 312. Thus, to identify the group 312 associated with the user 310, the user logon module 436 may automatically identify at least one participant other than the user 310 in the list of participants in the current meeting in which the user 310 is also a participant.

[0092] Similarly, if the user 310 belongs to several institutions 204, the current location or estimated location of the user 310 may be compared to the locations of the several institutions 204, and the institution 204 to which the user 310 is closest may be assumed to be the institution 204 with which the user 310 is currently associated.

[0093] The user logon module 436 may use a location database 600, and optionally other infrastructure, as shown generally in FIG. 6, to automatically estimate the current location of the user 310 and / or automatically identify groups 312 of which the user 310 is currently a member. The location database 600 may be, but need not be, distinct from the other databases 306 and 424. The location database 600 is configured to store information about the users 310 of the medical database query system 400, including for each user 310, the estimated current location of the user 310. The location database 600 is also configured to store information about a plurality of user 310 groups 312, including for each group 312, the estimated current location of the group 312.

[0094] In some embodiments, the location database 600 includes a calendar database, such as a Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Exchange, or Google Calendar database. The calendar database stores information about multiple conferences. For each conference, the calendar database stores the conference location, the conference time, and a list of participants in the conference. Thus, a calendar entry typically describes participants (potential users 310) who plan to meet together at a location. Often, the calendar entry includes a title or subject that can be parsed to infer the identity of the set of participants or the purpose of the conference, and thus the identity of the group 312. Thus, if the current user 310 is listed as a participant of a currently occurring conference along with other users 310 of the group 312 of which the current user 310 is a member, the user logon module 436 can infer that the current user 310 is currently a member of the group 312.

[0095] Optionally or alternatively, the location database 600 includes an email database configured to store a plurality of electronic messages. For each electronic message, the email database stores a subject and a list of recipients of the electronic message. The user logon module 436 may automatically parse the distribution list of the electronic message to identify a group 312 associated with the current user 310. The recipients of the electronic message may be assumed to be members of the group 312.

[0096] Optionally or alternatively, the user logon module 436 may use both the calendar database and the email database to identify groups 312 of which the current user 310 is a member. The user logon module 436 may require both electronic messages and calendar entries to identify the same group 312 before assuming that the current user 310 is a member of the group. Additionally, the user logon module 436 may automatically parse the subject of electronic messages to find multiple electronic messages with a common or similar subject and then concatenate the distribution lists of the respective electronic messages. Optionally or alternatively, the user logon module 436 may automatically parse the subject of electronic messages to find subjects similar to calendar meeting titles or subjects to correlate the electronic messages with meetings. Distribution lists of electronic messages correlated with meeting attendees may be used to increase confidence that the presented group 312 is, in fact, a group of which the user 310 is currently a member if the electronic message and the meeting have a common or similar subject or title.

[0097] Thus, to identify a group associated with a user, the user logon module 436 may be configured to automatically parse the subject of the electronic message and / or automatically identify at least one recipient in a recipient list of the electronic message.

[0098] If the physical location of the user 310 can be estimated independently, i.e., if the user 310 is determined to be located inside or within a predetermined distance of the conference room apart from the fact that the user 310 is scheduled to attend the conference room, then it may be assumed that the user 310 is in a meeting with others in the conference room and is therefore currently a member of that group 312.

[0099] The calendar entry typically identifies the location of the meeting, such as by the conference room name or other identifier. Because conference rooms are typically not mobile, a location database 600 may be provisioned with information regarding the physical location of each conference room. In that case, as shown diagrammatically in FIG. 6, if the current physical location of the user 310 can be independently estimated, i.e., if it is determined that the user 310 is located inside or within a predetermined distance from the conference room, such as from a WiFi signal transmitted by a mobile device carried by the user 310, apart from the fact that the user 310 will be attending the conference, the user 310 may be assumed to be in a conference room with participants and thus currently a member of that group 312. Optionally, the physical locations of other people in the group 312 may be independently estimated, such as from respective WiFi signals transmitted by respective mobile devices carried by other members of the group 312.

[0100] The location database 600 may be configured to store an estimated current location of the user 310 based on information from a wireless access point 602 to which a wireless mobile device, exemplified by a mobile phone 604 and a Wi-Fi enabled laptop computer 606, registered to the user 310, is currently wirelessly connected 608. The wireless access point 602 may be a Wi-Fi access point, a cellular telephone base station, or any other type of wireless infrastructure facility capable of identifying and locating the wireless mobile devices 604-606. In the example shown in FIG. 6, the wireless access point 602 establishes a wireless connection 608 with the wireless mobile devices 604-606 of the user 310 because of its proximity to the wireless mobile devices 604-606 compared to other wireless access points, exemplified by wireless access points 610 and 612, to which the wireless mobile devices 604-606 of the user 310 could at least theoretically connect, but which are farther away.

[0101] Similarly, location database 600 may be configured to store estimated current locations of other users, represented by users 614, 616, 618, and 620, based on information from wireless access points 602, 610-612 to which respective wireless mobile devices (not shown) registered to the other users 614-620 are currently wirelessly connected. Users determined to be in proximity to one another by wireless access points 602, 610-612, e.g., user 614 and user 616, may be assumed for purposes of location database 600 to be members of group 312, or at least potential members of group 312, pending further clarification, such as by accessing the calendars and / or electronic messages of the potential members of group 312, as described herein.

[0102] If at least some users 310 are known to be members of groups 312, such as as a result of provisioning of the location database 600 or provisioning of database 424 (FIG. 4), then for purposes of the location database 600, any set of users 310 who are members of a given group 312 and who are simultaneously within a predetermined distance of one another may be considered to be meeting together for purposes of automatically determining whether a current user 310 is in proximity to a meeting and therefore currently a member of a group 312.

[0103] Thus, the location database 600 can be configured to store an estimated current location of the group 312 based on information from at least one wireless access point 602 to which each wireless mobile device registered for the users 614-616 associated with the group 312 is currently wirelessly connected.

[0104] Although the automatic determination of the physical location of each user 310 has been described using wireless technology, wired computer network equipment may optionally or alternatively be used. For example, using a wired router 622, the location of user 624 may be estimated using a fixed computer 626 (or at least a fixed network connection) based on which port on router 622 the computer 626 establishes a network connection to.

[0105] Thus, the user log-on module 436 may compare the estimated current location of the user 310 to the estimated current location of at least one of the multiple groups 312 and identify a group 312 associated with the user 310 based on a match between the estimated current location of the user 310 and the estimated current location of the at least one group 312.

[0106] 7 is a flow chart that generally illustrates the operation of a medical database query system 300 implementing a method 700 for querying a medical database 306. The system 300 and method 700 can be used by multiple users 310. Each user 310 is associated with at least one group 312 of users 310.

[0107] At 702, a first database 306 is provided. The first database 306 is configured to store information regarding at least one of: (a) a plurality of medical devices 104, (b) a plurality of medical institutions 204, and (c) a plurality of patients 202. Each medical device 104 is configured for connection to a respective patient 202. The information regarding the medical institutions 204 includes information regarding the medical institutions 204 to which each of the patients 202 is currently admitted and information regarding the medical devices 104 to which each of the patients 202 is currently connected. Each medical institution 204 is configured to house medical devices 104 configured to admit patients 202 and for connection to a respective patient 202.

[0108] At 704, a series of requests 404 are received from a user 310 via a human user interface 406-410. Each request includes a request for information from a database 306. Each request includes respective information selection criteria. In some embodiments, the human user interface includes a voice user interface, a graphical user interface, and / or a text user interface.

[0109] At 706, a second database (profile database) 424 is provided. The second database 424 is configured to store, for each user 310, corresponding user profile information 418, and, for each user 310 group 312, corresponding group profile information 420.

[0110] At 708, in response to at least some of the set of requests 404, the information selection criteria for each such request are stored in the second database 424 in association with the user 310 who made those at least some of the requests, thereby augmenting the user profile information 418 for the user 310.

[0111] At 710, in response to at least some of the set of requests 404, information selection criteria for each such request are stored in a second database 424 in association with at least one group 312 associated with the user 310 making the at least some of the requests, thereby augmenting the group profile information 420 for the at least one group 312.

[0112] At 712, the first database 306 is searched based on a combination of (a) information selection criteria from a most recent request 412 in the series of requests 404, (b) at least one information selection criterion from user profile information 418 corresponding to the user 310 who made the most recent request 412, and (c) at least one information selection criterion from group profile information 420 corresponding to a group 312 associated with the user 310 who made the most recent request 412.

[0113] At 714 , the results 500 returned as a result of the search of the first database 306 are provided to the user 310 .

[0114] Optionally, each user 310 may be associated with an institution 204. In this case, the second database 424 is further configured to store corresponding institution profile information 422 for each institution 204. Optionally, at 716, in response to at least some of the set of requests 404, information selection criteria for each request are stored in the second database 424 in association with the institution 204 associated with the user 310 making the at least some of the requests, thereby augmenting the institution profile information 422 for that institution 204. In this case, the combination based on which the first database 306 is searched at 712 also includes (d) at least one information selection criterion from the institution profile information 422 corresponding to the institution 204 associated with the user 310 making the most recent request 412.

[0115] FIG. 8 is a flow chart that generally illustrates an optional operation 800 of the optional user logon module 436 and the optional location database 600 .

[0116] Optionally, at 802 , users 310 are automatically identified based on information selection criteria for each of a subset of the set of requests 404 .

[0117] Optionally, at 804 , groups 312 associated with the user 310 are automatically identified based on information selection criteria for each of the subsets of the set of requests 404 .

[0118] Optionally, at 806 , institutions 204 associated with the user 310 are automatically identified based on the information selection criteria of each of the subsets of the set of requests 404 .

[0119] Optionally, at 808, a third database (location database) 600 is queried. The third database 600 is configured to store information regarding a plurality of users 310 and a plurality of groups 312. For each user, the third database 600 is configured to store an estimated current location of the user 310. For each group, the third database 600 is configured to store an estimated current location of the group 312. At 810, the estimated current location of the user 310 is compared to the estimated current location of at least one group 312 of the plurality of groups. At 812, a group 312 associated with the user 310 is identified based at least in part on a match between the estimated current location of the user 310 and the estimated current location of the at least one group 312 of the plurality of groups.

[0120] As described above, the third database (location database) 600 may include a calendar database configured to store information about multiple conferences. For each conference, the third database 600 stores the location of the conference, the time of the conference, and a list of participants at the conference.

[0121] Optionally, at 814, identifying a group 312 associated with the user 310 includes automatically parsing the title of a current conference of multiple conferences in which the user 310 is a participant.

[0122] Optionally, at 816, identifying the group 312 associated with the user 310 includes automatically identifying at least one participant other than the user 310 in a list of participants in a current conference of the multiple conferences in which the user 310 is also a participant.

[0123] As noted above, the third database (location database) 600 may include an email database configured to store a plurality of electronic messages including, for each electronic message, a subject of the electronic message and a list of recipients.

[0124] Optionally, at 818, identifying a group 312 associated with the user 310 includes automatically parsing a distribution list of an electronic message of the plurality of electronic messages.

[0125] Optionally, at 820, identifying a group 312 associated with the user 310 includes automatically parsing the subject of an electronic message of the plurality of electronic messages.

[0126] Optionally, at 822, identifying a group 312 associated with the user 310 includes identifying at least one recipient in a recipient list of an electronic message of the plurality of electronic messages.

[0127] The third database (location database) 600 may be configured to store an estimated current location of the user 310 based on information from a wireless access point 602 to which a wireless mobile device 604-606 registered for the user 310 is currently wirelessly connected 608.

[0128] Optionally, the third database (location database) 600 is configured to store an estimated current location of the user 310 based on information from a wireless access point 602 to which the wireless mobile devices 604-606 registered for the user 310 are currently wirelessly connected 608. In addition, the third database (location database) 600 may be configured to store an estimated current location of the group 312 based on information from at least one wireless access point 602 to which each wireless mobile device registered for each user 614-616 associated with the group 312 is currently wirelessly connected.

[0129] Although the present invention has been described through the above exemplary embodiments, modifications of the exemplary embodiments and variations of the exemplary embodiments may be made without departing from the inventive concept disclosed herein. For example, certain parameter values ​​such as dimensions and materials may be described in connection with the disclosed embodiments within the scope of the present invention, but the values ​​of all parameters may vary over a wide range to suit various applications. Unless otherwise indicated in the context or understood by a person skilled in the art, terms such as "about" mean within ±20%.

[0130] As used herein, including the claims, the term "and / or" used in connection with a list of items means one or more of the items in the list, i.e., at least one of the items in the list, but not necessarily all of the items in the list. As used herein, including the claims, the term "or" used in connection with a list of items means one or more of the items in the list, i.e., at least one of the items in the list, but not necessarily all of the items in the list. "Or" does not mean "exclusive or."

[0131] Although aspects of the embodiments may be described with reference to flowcharts and / or block diagrams, the functions, operations, decisions, etc. of all or a portion of each block, or combinations of blocks, may be combined, separated into separate operations, or performed in other orders. References to "modules" are for convenience only and are not intended to limit the implementation. All or a portion of each block, module, or combinations thereof may be implemented as computer program instructions (e.g., software), hardware (e.g., combinatorial logic, application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), field programmable gate array (FPGA), processor or other hardware), firmware, or a combination thereof.

[0132] The medical database query system 400, or portions thereof, may be implemented by one or more processors that execute or are controlled by instructions stored in memory. Each processor may be a general-purpose processor, such as a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digital signal processor (DSP), a special-purpose processor, or the like, or a combination thereof, as appropriate.

[0133] The memory may be random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), flash memory or any other memory, or combination thereof, suitable for storing control software or other instructions and data. The instructions that define the functionality of the present invention may be delivered to the processor in many forms, including, but not limited to, information permanently stored on a tangible, non-transitory, non-writeable storage medium (e.g., a read only memory device within the computer such as a ROM or a device readable by a computer I / O attachment such as a CD-ROM or DVD disk), information mutably stored on a tangible, non-transitory, writeable storage medium (e.g., floppy disks, removable flash memory, and hard drives), or information communicated to the computer via a communications medium, including a wired or wireless computer network. Additionally, although aspects may be described with reference to various exemplary data structures, the system may be embodied using a variety of data structures.

[0134] Aspects of the disclosure, or portions thereof, may be combined in ways not described above and / or not expressly claimed. In addition, the embodiments disclosed herein may suitably be practiced in the absence of any element not specifically disclosed herein. Thus, the present invention should not be considered as limited to the disclosed embodiments.

[0135] As used herein, numerical terms such as "first," "second," and "third" are used to distinguish each database from another, and are not intended to indicate a particular order or total number of databases in a particular embodiment. Thus, for example, a given embodiment may include only a second database and a third database.

Claims

1. The system includes information regarding the medical institution (204) to which each of the patients (202) is currently hospitalized and information regarding the medical device (104) to which each of the patients (202) is currently connected; a first database (306) configured to store information regarding at least one of: (a) a plurality of medical devices, each medical device (104) configured for connection to a respective patient (202); (b) a plurality of medical institutions, each medical institution (204) configured to admit a patient (202) and house a medical device (104) configured for connection to a respective patient (202); and (c) a plurality of patients (202); a human user interface (402) configured to receive a series of requests (404) from a user (310), each request (412, 414, 416) being a request for information from said first database (306), each request (412, 414, 416) including respective information selection criteria for querying said first database to satisfy said request; a second database (424) configured to store, for each user (310), corresponding user profile information (418), and, for each user (310) group (312), corresponding group profile information (420); a user profiler (426) configured to, in response to at least some requests (412) of the set of requests (404), store the information selection criteria of each such request (412) in association with the user (310) making the at least some requests in the second database (424), thereby augmenting the user profile information (426) of the user (310); a group profiler (428) configured to, in response to at least some of the requests (412) of the set of requests (404), store the information selection criteria of each such request (412) in the second database (424) in association with at least one group (312) associated with the user (310) that made the at least some of the requests (412), thereby augmenting the group profile information (420) of the at least one group (312); a database query engine (432) configured to search the first database (306) based on a combination of (a) information selection criteria from a most recent request (412) in the series of requests (404), (b) at least one information selection criterion from the user profile information (418) corresponding to the user (310) making the most recent request (412), and (c) at least one information selection criterion from the group profile information (420) corresponding to a group (312) associated with the user (310) making the most recent request (412); a database response engine (434) configured to provide results (500) returned by the database query engine (432) to the user (310); wherein each user (310) is associated with at least one user group.

2. Each user (310) is associated with an institution (204); the second database (424) is further configured to store, for each institution (204), corresponding institution profile information (422); The medical database query system (300, 400), an institution profiler (430) configured to, in response to at least some of the requests (412, 414, 416) of the set of requests (404), store the information selection criteria of each such request (412, 414, 416) in the second database (424) in association with the institution (204) associated with the user (310) that made the at least some of the requests (412, 414, 416), thereby augmenting the institution profile information (422) of the institution (204). Further comprising: the combination, wherein the database query engine (432) is configured to search the first database (306) based on the combination, includes (d) at least one information selection criterion from the institution profile information (422) corresponding to an institution (204) associated with the user (310) who made the most recent request (412); 2. The medical database query system (300, 400) of claim 1. automatically identifying the user (310) based on the respective information selection criteria of a subset of the set of requests (404); automatically identifying the groups (312) associated with the user (310) based on the respective information selection criteria of a subset of the set of requests (404); 3. The medical database query system of claim 2, further comprising a user logon module configured to automatically identify the institution associated with the user based on information selection criteria of each of a subset of the set of requests.

4. 2. The medical database query system of claim 1, further comprising a user logon module configured to automatically identify the user based on information selection criteria of each of a subset of the set of requests.

5. 5. The medical database query system of claim 4, wherein the user logon module is further configured to automatically identify the group associated with the user based on the respective information selection criteria of a subset of the set of requests.

6. The user logon module (436) automatically: information about a plurality of users (310), including, for each user (310), an estimated current location of said user; and Information regarding a plurality of groups (312) of a plurality of users (310), including for each group (312) an estimated current location of said group (312). querying a third database (600) configured to store comparing the estimated current location of the user (310) to the estimated current location of at least one group (312) of the plurality of groups; identifying the group (312) associated with the user (310) based on a match between the estimated current location of the user (310) and the estimated current location of the at least one group (312) of the plurality of groups; 5. The medical database query system (300, 400) of claim 4, further configured to:

7. 7. The medical database query system of claim 6, wherein the third database comprises a calendar database configured to store information about a plurality of conferences, including, for each conference, a conference location, a conference time, and a list of participants at the conference.

8. 8. The medical database query system of claim 7, wherein the user logon module is configured to automatically analyze a title of a current conference of the plurality of conferences in which the user is a participant, to identify the group associated with the user.

9. 8. The medical database query system of claim 7, wherein to identify the group associated with the user, the user logon module is configured to automatically identify at least one participant other than the user in the list of participants in a current conference of the plurality of conferences in which the user is also a participant.

10. 7. The medical database query system of claim 6, wherein the third database comprises an email database configured to store a plurality of electronic messages, the electronic messages including, for each electronic message, a subject of the electronic message and a list of recipients.

11. 11. The medical database query system of claim 10, wherein the user logon module is configured to automatically parse a distribution list of an electronic message of the plurality of electronic messages to identify the group associated with the user.

12. 11. The medical database query system of claim 10, wherein the user logon module is configured to automatically analyze a subject of an electronic message of the plurality of electronic messages to identify the group associated with the user.

13. 11. The medical database query system of claim 10, wherein the user logon module is configured to automatically identify at least one recipient in the recipient list of an electronic message of the plurality of electronic messages to identify the group associated with the user.

14. 7. The medical database query system (300, 400) of claim 6, wherein the third database (600) is configured to store the estimated current location of the user (310) based on information from a wireless access point (602) to which a wireless mobile device (604, 606) registered for the user (310) is currently wirelessly connected (608).

15. The third database (600) the estimated current location of the user (310) based on information from a wireless access point (602) to which a wireless mobile device (604, 606) registered to the user (310) is currently wirelessly connected (608); and determining the estimated current location of the group (312) associated with the user (310) based on information from at least one wireless access point (602, 610-612) to which each wireless mobile device registered for each user (614-620) associated with the group (312) is currently wirelessly connected; 7. The medical database query system (300, 400) of claim 6, configured to store.

16. The medical database query system (300, 400) of claim 1, wherein the human user interface (402) comprises a voice user interface (406).

17. The medical database query system (300, 400) of claim 1, wherein the human user interface (402) comprises a graphical user interface (408).

18. The medical database query system (300, 400) of claim 1, wherein the human user interface (402) comprises a text user interface (410).

19. 1. A method (700) for querying a medical database (306) usable by a plurality of users (310), each user (310) being associated with at least one user group (312), comprising the steps of: providing (702) a first database (306) configured to store information about at least one of: (a) a plurality of medical devices (104), each medical device (104) configured for connection to a respective patient (202), (b) a plurality of medical institutions (204), each medical institution (204) configured to admit a patient (202) and to house a medical device (104) configured for connection to a respective patient (202); and (c) a plurality of patients (202), including information about a medical institution (204) to which each of the patients (202) is currently admitted and information about a medical device (104) to which each of the patients (202) is currently connected; receiving (704) a series of requests (404) from a user (310) via a human user interface (402), each request (412, 414, 416) being a request for information from said first database (306), each request (412, 414, 416) including respective information selection criteria for querying said first database to satisfy said request; providing (706) a second database (424) configured to store, for each user (310), corresponding user profile information (418), and, for each user (310) group (312), corresponding group profile information (420); storing (708) in response to at least some requests (412) of the set of requests (404) the information selection criteria for each such request (412) in association with the user (310) making the at least some requests in the second database (424), thereby augmenting the user profile information (426) for the user (310); storing (710) in response to at least some of the requests (412) of the set of requests (404) the information selection criteria for each such request (412) in the second database (424) in association with at least one group (312) associated with the user (310) making the at least some of the requests (412), thereby augmenting the group profile information (420) for the at least one group (312); searching (712) the first database (306) based on a combination of (a) information selection criteria from a most recent request (412) in the series of requests (404), (b) at least one information selection criterion from the user profile information (418) corresponding to the user (310) making the most recent request, and (c) at least one information selection criterion from the group profile information (420) corresponding to a group (312) associated with the user (310) making the most recent request (412); and Providing (714) to the user (310) results (500) returned as a result of the search of the first database (306).

20. Each user (310) is associated with an institution (204); the second database (424) is further configured to store, for each institution (204), corresponding institution profile information (422); The method further comprising: storing (716) in response to at least some of the requests (412) of the set of requests (404) the information selection criteria for each request in association with the institution (204) associated with the user (310) making the at least some of the requests in the second database (424), thereby augmenting the institution profile information (422) for the institution (204); Further comprising:

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the combination based on which the first database (306) is searched includes (d) at least one information selection criterion from the institution profile information (422) corresponding to an institution (204) associated with the user (310) who made the most recent request (412).

21. Automatically identifying (802) the user (310) based on the respective information selection criteria of a subset of the set of requests (404); automatically identifying (804) the groups (312) associated with the user (310) based on the respective information selection criteria of a subset of the set of requests (404); and 21. The method of claim 20, further comprising automatically identifying (806) the institution (204) associated with the user (310) based on the respective information selection criteria of the subset of the set of requests (404).

22. 20. The method of claim 19, further comprising automatically identifying the user based on information selection criteria of each of the subset of the set of requests.

23. 23. The method of claim 22, further comprising automatically identifying (804) the group (312) associated with the user (310) based on the respective information selection criteria of a subset of the set of requests (404).

24. Automatically, information about a plurality of users (310), including, for each user (310), an estimated current location of said user (310); and Information regarding a plurality of groups (312) of a plurality of users (310), including for each group (312) an estimated current location of said group (312). querying a third database (600) configured to store: comparing (810) the estimated current location of the user (310) with the estimated current location of at least one group (312) of the plurality of groups; and identifying (812) the group (312) associated with the user (310) based at least in part on a match between the estimated current location of the user (310) and the estimated current location of the at least one group (312) of the plurality of groups; 23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

25. 25. The method of claim 24, wherein the third database (600) comprises a calendar database configured to store information about a plurality of conferences, including for each conference a conference location, a conference time, and a list of participants in the conference.

26. 26. The method of claim 25, wherein identifying (812) the group (312) associated with the user (310) includes automatically parsing a title of a current conference of the plurality of conferences in which the user (310) is a participant.

27. 26. The method of claim 25, wherein identifying the group (812) associated with the user (310) includes automatically identifying at least one participant other than the user (310) in the list of participants in a current conference of the plurality of conferences in which the user (310) is also a participant.

28. 25. The method of claim 24, wherein the third database (600) comprises an email database configured to store a plurality of electronic messages including, for each electronic message, a subject of the electronic message and a list of recipients.

29. 30. The method of claim 28, wherein identifying (812) the group (312) associated with the user (310) comprises automatically parsing a distribution list of an electronic message of the plurality of electronic messages.

30. 30. The method of claim 28, wherein identifying (812) the group (312) associated with the user (310) comprises automatically parsing a subject of an electronic message of the plurality of electronic messages.

31. 30. The method of claim 28, wherein identifying (812) the group (312) associated with the user (310) comprises identifying at least one recipient in the recipient list of an electronic message of the plurality of electronic messages.

32. 25. The method of claim 24, wherein the third database (600) is configured to store the estimated current location of the user (310) based on information from a wireless access point (602) to which a wireless mobile device (604-606) registered for the user (310) is currently wirelessly connected (608).

33. The third database (600) the estimated current location of the user (310) based on information from a wireless access point (602) to which a wireless mobile device (604-606) registered to the user (310) is currently wirelessly connected (608); and determining the estimated current location of the group (312) associated with the user (310) based on information from at least one wireless access point (602, 610-612) to which each wireless mobile device (604, 606) registered for each user (614-620) associated with the group (312) is currently wirelessly connected; 25. The method of claim 24, further configured to store.

34. The method of claim 19, wherein the human user interface (402) comprises a voice user interface (406).

35. The method of claim 19, wherein the human user interface (402) comprises a graphical user interface (408).

36. The method of claim 19, wherein the human user interface (402) comprises a text user interface (410).

37. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a computer-implemented method (700) for querying a medical database (306) usable by a plurality of users (310), wherein each user (310) is associated with at least one user group (312), the method comprising: accessing a first database (306) configured to store information about at least one of: (a) a plurality of medical devices (104), each medical device (104) configured for connection to a respective patient (202), (b) a plurality of medical institutions (204), each medical institution (204) configured to admit a patient (202) and to house a medical device (104) configured for connection to a respective patient (202); and (c) a plurality of patients (202), including information about a medical institution (204) to which each of the patients (202) is currently admitted and information about a medical device (104) to which each of the patients (202) is currently connected; receiving a series of requests (404) from a user (310) via a human user interface (402), each request (412, 414, 416) being a request for information from said first database (306), each request (412, 414, 416) including respective information selection criteria for querying said first database to satisfy said request; accessing a second database (424) configured to store, for each user (310), corresponding user profile information (418), and, for each user (310) group (312), corresponding group profile information (420); in response to at least some requests (412) of the set of requests (404), storing the information selection criteria of each such request in the second database (424) in association with the user (310) making the at least some requests (412), thereby augmenting the user profile information (420) of the user (310); in response to at least some of the requests (412) of the set of requests (404), storing the information selection criteria of each such request in the second database (424) in association with at least one group (312) associated with the user (310) making the at least some of the requests (412), thereby augmenting the group profile information (420) of the at least one group (312); searching the first database (306) based on a combination of (a) information selection criteria from a most recent request (412) in the series of requests (404), (b) at least one information selection criterion from the user profile information (418) corresponding to the user (310) making the most recent request (412), and (c) at least one information selection criterion from the group profile information (420) corresponding to a group (312) associated with the user (310) making the most recent request (412); providing results (500) returned as a result of said search of said first database (306) to said user (310); A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising:

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