Hierarchical pool management, real-time matching, waiting time information display, and revenue sharing system, method, and program for booth-type online medical consultations involving healthcare professionals.

Abstract

In booth-type online medical consultations, we provide systems, methods, and programs that contribute to improving the user experience, reducing inconvenience and anxiety during waiting times, ensuring access to consultations during periods of fluctuating demand, and enabling continuous operation. [Solution] In a medical service provision system, the server device 100 receives medical interview information, obtains the operational status of each physician from multiple physician terminals 400, configures a hierarchical physician pool based on predetermined pool configuration rules, searches for candidate physicians based on the medical interview information, transitions the patient to a waiting state, sends medical consultation requests to candidate physicians sequentially or in parallel, confirms matching based on responses or the passage of time, and establishes an online medical consultation session between the patient's terminal 200 and the medical institution's terminal.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present invention relates to a business model in which a user receives online medical consultation using a private room, semi-private room booth, or other consultation facility, and in particular, through the cooperation of the consultation facility, a server device, a doctor terminal, and optionally a pharmacist terminal and a nurse terminal, the present invention relates to a system, method, and program that perform hierarchical pool management of medical staff across multiple medical institutions, real-time matching on an individual medical staff basis, standby status management, sequential calling, standby information display, advertisement display, and revenue distribution among multiple entities.

[0002] The present invention targets booth-type consultation facilities arranged in locations such as stations, commercial facilities, offices, local government facilities, pharmacies, and accommodation facilities, and technically controls a series of processes including the waiting period from when a user arrives at the booth until a doctor is connected, in walk-in type online medical consultation that does not require advance reservations.

BACKGROUND ART

[0003] In recent years, the use of online medical consultation that does not require in-person hospital visits has been expanding. On the other hand, operations that allow users to use booths, private rooms, semi-private rooms, and other consultation facilities to receive online medical consultation at locations other than their homes are also being considered, and the implementation of booth-type online medical consultation is progressing from the perspectives of ensuring privacy, stabilizing the communication environment, providing guidance before and after consultation, and facilitating payment settlement.

[0004] With the institutional development related to the revised Medical Law that will come into effect in April 2026, booth-type online medical consultation facilities have been institutionalized, making online medical consultation possible in booths installed in stations, commercial facilities, and other locations. On the other hand, since walk-in use, where users visit the booth without advance reservations, is assumed for booth-type online medical consultation, a technology for immediately assigning an appropriate doctor after the completion of the medical interview is required.

PRIOR ART DOCUMENTS

PATENT DOCUMENTS

[0005]

NON-PATENT DOCUMENT 1

[0006] However, conventional online medical consultations are mostly operated on an appointment basis, and there has been insufficient consideration of how to ensure a smooth flow from the time the user arrives at the medical facility until the consultation begins.

[0007] In particular, in booth-type online medical consultations, it is anticipated that users may visit without prior reservations. Therefore, it is necessary to promptly guide users to appropriate medical care each time they visit, according to their symptoms, desired conditions, urgency of the consultation, and other circumstances. However, the technical infrastructure suitable for such operations had not been sufficiently established.

[0008] Furthermore, from the moment a user enters the booth until the consultation begins, there are multiple processes involved, such as conducting a medical interview, performing confirmation procedures, waiting, and displaying guidance signs. It is necessary to ensure that users do not experience anxiety or inconvenience during these processes, but conventional technology has not adequately considered this point.

[0009] Furthermore, during periods of high demand for medical consultations, waiting times before treatment can become long, potentially leading to patient attrition, decreased satisfaction, and lost opportunities. Therefore, it was desirable to ensure appropriate guidance and access to medical consultations for patients, even under conditions of fluctuating demand.

[0010] Furthermore, in booth-type online medical consultations, consultation facilities can be set up in a variety of locations such as train stations, commercial facilities, offices, and municipal facilities. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure a stable user experience while taking into account differences in usage, congestion, and operating conditions at each consultation location, but such operational challenges have not been adequately addressed.

[0011] Furthermore, the time patients spend waiting for their appointments often becomes mere idle time. Despite the opportunity to provide necessary guidance, warnings, and information to patients, there were insufficient mechanisms in place to effectively utilize this time.

[0012] Furthermore, in order to promote the widespread adoption and continuous operation of booth-type online medical consultations, it is crucial to ensure sustainable business operations among the entities involved in the location of the consultation facilities, the entities involved in the provision of medical services, and other related parties. However, this point has not been given sufficient consideration in the past.

[0013] Therefore, the challenges in booth-type online medical consultations are to provide technologies that improve the user's consultation experience, reduce inconvenience and anxiety during waiting times, ensure opportunities for consultations during periods of fluctuating demand, and contribute to continuous operation.

[0014] A medical service provision system according to one aspect of the present invention comprises a patient terminal installed at a medical facility for users to receive online medical consultations, a physician terminal installed at one or more medical institutions, and one or more server devices that communicate with the patient terminal and the physician terminal. The applicant has also filed a separate patent application, Japanese Patent Application No. 2026-047277 (title of the invention: "An invention relating to a two-way settlement rule between booth operators and venue providers and hardware for medical facilities"). The present invention and Japanese Patent Application No. 2026-047277 are independent inventions, and either one can be implemented alone, or both can be implemented independently or in combination. The configuration disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 2026-047277 is not essential for implementing the present invention, and the configuration disclosed in the present invention is not essential for implementing Japanese Patent Application No. 2026-047277.

[0015] The one or more server devices include: a medical request receiving means for receiving medical requests or medical interview information from the patient receiving terminal or a user terminal associated with the patient receiving terminal; a physician status acquisition means for acquiring operational status information of each physician from the physician terminal; a hierarchical pool management means for configuring a physician pool including at least one hierarchy based on predetermined pool configuration rules; a real-time matching means for searching for candidate physicians based on the medical interview information; a patient waiting state management means for managing the patient waiting state; a sequential calling means for sequentially transmitting medical requests to the candidate physicians; and a session control means for establishing an online medical consultation session between the physician terminal of a physician whose matching has been confirmed and the patient receiving terminal. Each of these means may be provided in a single server device or distributed across multiple server devices.

[0016] The aforementioned hierarchical pool management means comprises at least a part of a first-tier pool consisting of physicians belonging to a single medical institution, a second-tier pool consisting of physicians belonging to multiple medical institutions within the same corporation, a higher-tier pool consisting of physicians belonging to different corporations, a regional collaboration pool integrated by regional collaboration entities, or a cross-specialty integrated pool, and the search range may be expanded to higher tiers if no suitable physicians exist in a lower tier or if the number falls below a predetermined threshold.

[0017] The real-time matching means may select candidate physicians on an individual physician basis rather than on a clinic basis by comparing at least a portion of the medical specialty, symptom category, urgency, patient's preferred language, facility information, or clinic identification results with at least a portion of the physician's specialty, availability, queue depth, past treatment record, estimated response time, estimated remaining treatment time, online availability, assignment rule information, or triage score.

[0018] The patient waiting status management means may transition the patient to a waiting state upon completion of receiving medical interview information or fulfillment of predetermined conditions, place the patient in a waiting queue based on the waiting start time, urgency, whether or not there is an appointment, medical specialty, and other attributes, and may display the estimated waiting time, waiting rank, or alternative candidate information on the patient's terminal as needed.

[0019] The sequential calling means may send a medical consultation request to the first candidate physician determined according to the priority rules, record the number of non-responses if there is no response within a predetermined time, update the physician's operational status, and send a medical consultation request to the next candidate physician, or it may send medical consultation requests in parallel to multiple candidate physicians and confirm the match with the first physician to respond.

[0020] The one or more server devices described above may, when the total number of waiting physicians in the pool falls below a predetermined threshold, expand the search to higher-tier pools or send a request to physicians to begin waiting, and may include physicians who will soon become available as prospect candidates based on the estimated remaining time of physicians currently providing medical care.

[0021] The one or more server devices described above may, if necessary, manage pharmacist terminals or nurse terminals in the same manner as physician terminals, and may also perform the hierarchical search, assignment, and session or guidance processing for medication guidance or nursing assistance after the completion of medical treatment.

[0022] The one or more server devices described above may display advertisements or information on receiving terminals while in standby mode, record the advertisement display history, and distribute at least a portion of the advertising revenue based on the advertising fees received from advertisers to the location provider. Furthermore, the one or more server devices may register advertising slot setting information corresponding to the location provider in the advertising distribution conditions DB based on the location provision conditions received from the location provider terminal, and receive location provision by providing at least a portion of the advertising slot free of charge in accordance with the advertising slot setting information. In addition, a portion of booth sales may be paid as revenue share regardless of whether or not there are advertisements, or settlement may be made by combining fixed rent and revenue share.

[0023] The one or more server devices may, separately from dynamic doctor pool search, refer to allocation rule data to deterministically route to a specific doctor associated with at least part of the medical department, day of the week, time slot, or medical examination facility ID (including the medical examination booth ID). This configuration is used to solve the technical problems unique to medical examination facilities, where users need to receive immediate allocation after entering the room in an unmanned medical examination facility, and a session is established in conjunction with the suitability confirmation of the medical examination facility, completion of medical interview, and transition to a standby state. In the present specification, the execution timing, execution location, and execution subject of each step (pool configuration step, doctor status management step, patient waiting step, matching step, allocation step, session establishment step, allocation rule reference step, static routing step, etc.) are not limited. That is, it includes any of the following execution modes: (i) a mode in which steps are sequentially executed by a single server device, (ii) a mode in which steps are executed in a shared manner by a plurality of server devices, (iii) a mode in which steps are partially executed in cooperation with a medical examination terminal, (iv) a mode in which steps are partially executed in cooperation with a user terminal, (v) a mode in which steps are partially executed in cooperation with an external API service, and any other execution modes. Further, the execution order of each step is not limited to the order described in the present specification, and parallel execution, reverse order execution, or selective execution based on conditional branching is permitted according to implementation convenience. For example, the pool configuration step and the doctor status management step may be executed in parallel, and the patient waiting step and the matching step may be partially executed in parallel. Advantageous Effects of the Invention

[0024] According to the present invention, doctors and other medical personnel belonging to a plurality of medical institutions can be managed hierarchically, and immediate allocation can be performed on an individual doctor basis based on the user's medical interview information and the operating status of each doctor.

[0025] Further, according to the present invention, standby state transition after completion of medical interview, prioritized queue management, sequential calling, non-responsive doctor control, prefetch matching, and integrated queue management across a plurality of booths are realized, whereby waiting time and response time can be reduced in reservation-free walk-in type online medical care.

[0026] Furthermore, according to the present invention, the business model of booth-type online medical care can be technically supported by integrating standby information display or advertisement display with settlement processing including a combination of advertisement revenue distribution, free provision of advertisement spaces, revenue sharing of booth sales, or fixed rent. Brief Description of the Drawings

[0027] [Figure 1] Figure 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a medical service providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] Figure 2 is a functional block diagram of a server apparatus 100. [Figure 3] Figure 3 is a functional block diagram of a medical examination terminal 200 and a doctor terminal 400. [Figure 4] Figure 4 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure of doctor pool data 4000. [Figure 5] Figure 5 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure of allocation history and performance data 5000. [Figure 6] Figure 6 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure of clinic data 3000. [Figure 7] Figure 7 is a basic real-time matching processing sequence diagram. [Figure 8] Figure 8 is a fallback and advertisement display sequence diagram when supply is tight. [Figure 9] Figure 9 is a walk-in type queue management and priority control diagram. [Figure 10] Figure 10 is a settlement model diagram including advertisement display and revenue sharing. [Figure 11] Figure 11 is a static doctor routing diagram based on allocation rule data. [Figure 12] Figure 12 is a hierarchical doctor pool management sequence diagram. [Figure 13] Figure 13 is a patient standby state transition and sequential call sequence diagram. [Figure 14]Figure 14 is a sequence diagram of a waiting queue control with triage. [Figure 15] Figure 15 is a supply and demand adjustment and foresight matching sequence diagram. [Figure 16] Figure 16 shows a multi-booth cross-queue and multi-professional extended sequence diagram. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0028] Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the following description, identical or equivalent components will be denoted by the same reference numerals.

[0029] In this invention, "consultation facility" refers to a facility used by users to receive online medical consultations, and is not limited to the booth-type consultation facilities described below, but includes a broader definition of consultation facilities, such as private rooms, semi-private rooms, partitioned spaces, pharmacy spaces, office spaces, station facilities, and other similar consultation spaces. Therefore, "booth" is just one example of a consultation facility, and this invention is not limited to booths. Furthermore, at least some of the brand operator, platform operator, booth operator, clinic operator, and location provider may be the same entity. Furthermore, in this invention, "medical institution" refers to a hospital, clinic, or other medical facility, regardless of the form of its founder. Medical institutions in Japan typically include, but are not limited to, those established under Article 7 of the Medical Care Act. That is, they include those established by medical corporations (Article 39 et seq. of the Medical Care Act), those established by individual physicians (private practices), those established by general incorporated associations or general incorporated foundations, those established by social welfare corporations or school corporations, those operated by regional medical collaboration promotion corporations (Article 70-5 of the Medical Care Act) that manage affiliated medical institutions, and those established by the national or local government. Moreover, it also includes medical institutions established under foreign laws and regulations, and medical institutions established under future amendments to laws and regulations. Therefore, in this specification, when "a single medical institution," "multiple medical institutions operated by the same legal entity," or "multiple medical institutions operated by different legal entities" is used, the term "legal entity" is not limited to medical corporations but is interpreted as a broad concept that includes the various types of founding entities mentioned above. "Same legal entity" and "different legal entities" may be interpreted as "same founding entity" and "different founding entities," respectively. Furthermore, "a single medical institution" includes cases where a clinic established solely by an individual physician constitutes a single medical institution with that individual physician as the "founding entity." The hierarchical pool structure of each embodiment in the present invention is configured in stages based on the organizational structure and the identity or difference of the operating entity of the medical institution, regardless of the legal form of the founder, and is applicable equally to medical institutions with diverse founder forms, including medical institutions operated by individual physicians. Furthermore, the hierarchical pool structure in this invention is configured in stages based on the organizational structure and the identity or difference of the operating entities of medical institutions, and each hierarchical level may correspond to various units (operating entity units, organizational units, regional units, medical department units, time units, etc.). For example, in an embodiment based on the Japanese medical law system, the first-tier pool may consist of physicians from a single medical institution, the second-tier pool may be composed of physicians from multiple medical institutions operated by the same founder (medical corporation, individual physician, general incorporated association, etc.), the third-tier pool may be composed of physicians from medical institutions operated by different founders, and the fourth-tier pool may be composed of physicians from medical institutions integrated by a regional medical collaboration promotion corporation (Article 70-5 of the Medical Care Act) or other regional collaboration entity. This clarifies the operating unit of the medical institution to which a physician belongs, the responsible entity, the party to the medical treatment contract, the entity responsible for medical fee claims, etc., and enables immediate physician allocation across multiple medical institutions while maintaining consistency within the medical system. However, the hierarchical pool structure of the present invention is not limited to corresponding to specific legal units as described above, and each level can be configured based on any unit such as operating entity, region, medical specialty, time zone, physician's expertise, etc. Furthermore, it may be implemented as a hierarchical structure that reflects the organizational form of medical institutions based on foreign laws, or as a hierarchical structure that reflects the organizational form based on future legal revisions. The configuration of one or more server devices in the present invention may be in any of the following forms. (i) Single platform implementation: A single server device operated by the online medical consultation provider performs all functions including physician pool management, real-time matching, session establishment, waiting information display, and advertising revenue distribution. (ii) Multiple platform provider division of labor: A configuration in which a first server device operated by a platform provider that provides booth management (medical interview reception, waiting status management, advertising display, etc.) and a second server device operated by a platform provider that provides online medical consultation (doctor pool management, real-time matching, session establishment, etc.) cooperate via a predetermined API or data communication protocol. In this case, at least a portion of the medical facility identification information, user identification information, medical interview information, waiting status information, or handover authentication information is transferred from the first server device to the second server device. (iii) Multi-tiered division of labor: A form in which online medical consultation platform providers, pharmacist collaboration platform providers, nurse collaboration platform providers, etc., each operate independent server devices, and processing is shared among multiple server devices through API communication. (iv) User terminal-based collaboration: A form in which collaboration between multiple server devices is performed by relaying it through a user terminal. (v) Communication via receiving terminal: A configuration in which communication between multiple server devices is performed by relaying it through receiving terminals installed at the receiving facility.

[0030] <Figure 1: Overall structure> System 1, shown in Figure 1, consists of a server device 100, patient consultation terminals 200A and 200B (including those permanently installed in booths, which are an example of a consultation facility; hereinafter simply referred to as "patient consultation terminals"), user terminals 210, medical institution terminals 400A, 400B, and 400M (including physician terminals used by physicians; hereinafter simply referred to as "physician terminals"), pharmacist terminals 500 and nurse terminals 600 as needed, etc., connected via a communication network NW1. The physician pool management unit, real-time matching unit, and queue management unit shown in Figure 1 are conceptual representations of the main functions of the control unit of the server device 100.

[0031] The patient examination terminal 200 is a user-side terminal installed at the examination facility, including terminals permanently installed within the booth. The patient examination terminal 200 is responsible for display, operation input, video and audio input / output, and server communication. Users may operate the patient examination terminal 200 directly, or they may use their own user terminal 210 in conjunction with the patient examination terminal 200. The user terminal 210 is a smartphone, tablet, etc., and is used for tasks such as entering medical questionnaire information, consent operations, checking waiting times, and payment assistance.

[0032] The medical institution terminal 400 is a broad concept that includes physician terminals used by physicians, and terminals used by medical institution administrators or staff as needed. Hereinafter, when referring to terminals used by physicians, the term "physician terminal" will be used, and when referring to these collectively in context, the term "medical institution terminal" will be used. The physician terminal 400 is a terminal installed in each medical institution or possessed by a physician, and is responsible for displaying online consultation screens, receiving consultation requests, responding, transmitting operational status, and executing consultation sessions. The pharmacist terminal 500 and nurse terminal 600 are used for post-consultation medication guidance or nursing assistance, and may transmit operational status and receive guidance in a manner similar to the physician terminal 400.

[0033] The location provider terminal 800 is used by location providers such as train stations, commercial facilities, companies, and local governments, and is used for managing installation contracts, advertising space provision conditions, advertising revenue distribution conditions, booth sales distribution conditions, fixed rent conditions, etc. The advertiser terminal 850 is used for transmitting advertising materials, distribution conditions, advertising fees, etc.

[0034] In the standby signage / revenue sharing model shown in Figure 1, advertisements may be displayed on the screen of the patient terminal or on the display screen within the patient facility during the waiting time, and a portion of the advertising revenue may be distributed to the location provider. Alternatively, the provider may receive the location in exchange for providing advertising space free of charge, or they may pay compensation through revenue sharing of sales related to the patient facility regardless of whether or not there are advertisements, or through a combination of fixed rent and revenue sharing.

[0035] <Figure 2: Functional block diagram of server device 100> The server device 100 shown in Figure 2 may be implemented as one or more server devices and comprises a communication unit 110, a control unit 120, and a storage unit 130. The communication unit 110 communicates with the patient terminal 200, the user terminal 210, the doctor terminal 400, the pharmacist terminal 500, the nurse terminal 600, the location provider terminal 800, and the advertiser terminal 850.

[0036] The control unit 120 may be distributed across one or more server devices and includes at least a medical request reception unit 131, a physician status acquisition unit 132, a physician pool management unit 133, a real-time matching unit 134, a queue management unit 135, a waiting time calculation unit 136, a session control unit 137, an allocation history management unit 138, a performance aggregation unit 139, an allocation rule data reference unit 140, a physician routing unit 141, a revenue share management unit 142, a location provider settlement unit 143, a hierarchical pool management unit 144, a patient waiting status management unit 145, a sequential call / triage unit 146, a supply / demand adjustment / predictive matching unit 147, and a multi-professional pool management unit 148.

[0037] The medical consultation request reception unit 131 receives medical consultation requests and medical history information from the patient terminal 200 or user terminal 210. The physician status acquisition unit 132 acquires operational status information such as standby, in consultation, on break, or offline from multiple physician terminals in real time. The physician pool management unit 133 and the hierarchical pool management unit 144 organize physicians into multiple hierarchical pools according to their affiliated clinic, affiliated corporation, regional collaboration entity, day of the week, or time of day, and may dynamically reconfigure the pools in response to the addition or departure of physicians, changes in medical specialty, changes in working hours, or changes in regional collaboration relationships.

[0038] The real-time matching unit 134 searches for candidate physicians by comparing medical specialties, symptom categories, urgency, triage scores, etc., with physicians' specialties, queue depth, past performance, preferred language support, etc. The queue management unit 135 and the patient waiting status management unit 145 transition patients to a waiting state, add them to the waiting queue, determine the order, update the waiting ranking, and display the waiting time.

[0039] The waiting time calculation unit 136 calculates the estimated waiting time based on each doctor's current queue depth, average response time, average consultation time, estimated remaining consultation time, etc. The session control unit 137 establishes a video and audio session between the matched doctor and the patient's terminal. The allocation history management unit 138 and the performance aggregation unit 139 record the allocation time, session establishment time, non-response history, advertisement display history, distribution amount, etc., and aggregate the utilization rate, average response time, number of consultations, etc.

[0040] The allocation rule data reference unit 140 and the physician routing unit 141 may, separately from dynamic search, refer to allocation rule data based on medical specialty, day of the week, time slot, consultation facility ID (including consultation booth ID), etc., and perform deterministic routing to a specific physician. In this case, by combining it with consultation facility suitability confirmation, completion of medical interview, and waiting state transition, a consultation facility-specific immediate allocation process that differs from a simple reservation system can be realized.

[0041] The Revenue Share Management Department 142 and the Venue Provider Settlement Department 143 calculate the settlement amount or distribution amount based on the actual display of on-call advertisements, advertising costs, venue provision contract terms, booth sales, fixed rent, revenue share rate, etc. The Sequential Calling / Triage Department 146 performs urgency determination, sequential calls to candidate doctors, parallel calls to multiple candidates, recording of non-response counts, and inactivity control. The Supply and Demand Adjustment / Predictive Matching Department 147 monitors the number of on-call doctors, expands to higher levels, requests to start on-call, and predictively registers doctors who will soon be available on-call.

[0042] The storage unit 130 includes a physician pool database, an assignment history database, an accounting / settlement database, an advertising delivery conditions database, and a location provision contract conditions database. The storage unit 130 may also include, as necessary, a triage results database, a waiting queue database, a non-response history database, a user confirmation log database, a multi-professional collaboration database, an external API collaboration database, a staff terminal operation log database, and an assignment rule update history database.

[0043] <Figure 3: Functional block diagram of patient terminal 200 and physician terminal 400> The patient consultation terminal 200 shown in Figure 3 comprises a communication unit 211, a display and operation unit 220, a storage unit 230, and a control unit 240. The patient consultation terminal 200 can receive medical consultation requests from the user or a BYOD device and display advertisements or guidance information while waiting. The control unit 240 displays the medical questionnaire screen, accepts user operations, displays the estimated waiting time, accepts user confirmation operations, and issues a session start command.

[0044] The physician terminal 400 comprises a communication unit 411, a medical consultation screen display unit 420, a status transmission unit 430, and a medical consultation control unit 440. The status transmission unit 430 transmits the operating status, such as standby, in consultation, on break, or offline, to the server device 100. The medical consultation control unit 440 performs tasks such as responding to consultation request notifications, starting video and audio sessions, and sending consultation completion notifications.

[0045] The pharmacist terminal 500 and the nurse terminal 600 may, in conjunction with the patient consultation terminal 200 or the physician terminal 400, display medication guidance screens, receive nursing support tasks, and transmit the operational status of each terminal.

[0046] <Figure 4: Example of data structure for physician pool data of 4000> The physician pool data 4000 shown in Figure 4 includes physician ID 40001, affiliated clinic information, specialty information, operational status information, pool hierarchy information, response waiting queue depth information, past response performance information, estimated response time information, estimated remaining consultation time information, number of non-responses information, preferred language information, online availability information, and assignment rule information.

[0047] Here, operational status information indicates states such as non-operational, standby, treating patients, resting, and offline, and may include a history of state transitions such as non-operational → standby → treating patients → standby as needed. Pool hierarchy information indicates the hierarchy of pools to which the physician belongs, such as a single medical institution pool, a pool within the same corporation, a pool with different corporations, or a regional collaboration pool. Response waiting queue depth information indicates the number of patients or requests waiting for the physician, and past response performance information may include cumulative number of consultations, number of consultations by medical department, average response time, evaluation score, etc.

[0048] The allocation rule information indicates fixed correspondences such as subject → physician, day of the week → physician, time slot → physician, or consultation facility → physician (including booth → physician), and may include information on recommended physicians, substitute physicians, and prohibited physicians. Separate from matching through dynamic physician pool search, this allocation rule information is used for static routing to enable walk-in immediate allocation at consultation facilities.

[0049] <Figure 5: Example of data structure for allocation history and performance data 5000> The allocation history and performance data 5000 shown in Figure 5 includes allocation ID 50001, request time information, waiting queue entry time information, urgency information, application hierarchy information, assigned physician information, session establishment time information, waiting time information, physician-specific utilization rate information, average response time information, number of consultations information, non-response history information, advertisement display history information, user verification information, and distribution amount information.

[0050] This data allows the server device 100 to continuously aggregate the utilization rate, average response time, number of consultations, non-response tendencies, and triage score for each physician, and the correspondence between these and the actual allocation results. This data can then be used to calculate future candidate rankings, adjust priorities, or predictively match. Furthermore, by including advertising display history information and distribution amount information, it becomes possible to link waiting displays and revenue distribution to consultation events and audit them.

[0051] <Figure 6: Example of data structure for clinic data 3000> The clinic data 3000 shown in Figure 6 includes clinic ID 30001, basic information, affiliated corporation information, medical specialty information, available time slots information, hierarchical pool configuration information, physician pool reference information, fallback destination information, regional collaboration entity information, contract terms information, advertising space provision conditions information, multi-professional collaboration information, and medical institution display information.

[0052] Fallback information indicates other clinics or higher-tier pools that can be used as a switchover option in the event of supply shortages. Contract terms information may include revenue share with the location provider, fixed rent, minimum guarantee, and advertising space provision conditions. Medical institution display information includes the name of the medical institution, address, medical specialty, and other information displayed on the patient terminal for user verification. Advertising space provision conditions information may include advertising space setting information corresponding to the location provision conditions received from the location provider's terminal.

[0053] <Figure 7: Basic Real-Time Matching Processing Sequence Diagram> In Figure 7, basic real-time matching processing is performed between the user terminal 210, booth 200, server 100, and physician terminal group 400. In step S101, a medical consultation request is sent from the user terminal 210 or booth 200. In step S102, the medical history information is sent to server 100.

[0054] In step S103, the server 100 obtains operational status information from multiple physician terminals. In step S104, the server 100 searches the physician pool or refers to assignment rule data. In step S105, the server 100 matches the medical specialty, symptom category, and urgency with the physician's specialty, operational status, queue depth, past performance, etc., to select candidate physicians or identify physicians to whom fixed routing is intended.

[0055] In step S106, a physician assignment notification is sent to the selected physician. In step S107, an immediate session is established if a response is received. In step S108, the assignment history and applicable rules are recorded, and in step S109, the utilization rate and other data are compiled.

[0056] In this embodiment, the optimal physician is selected on an individual physician basis rather than on a clinic basis. Therefore, even if there are multiple physicians within the same clinic, it is possible to immediately connect to the physician with the highest response rate and the highest degree of expertise match.

[0057] <Figure 8: Fallback and advertising display sequence diagram during supply shortage> In Figure 8, fallback processing in case of supply shortage is performed between the user, booth 200, server 100, the first clinic physician group, and the second clinic physician group. In steps S201 and S202, a medical consultation request and a medical history questionnaire are sent. In step S203, server 100 queries for candidate physicians at the first clinic.

[0058] In step S204, the server 100 determines not whether the first clinic has insufficient capacity, but whether there is a supply shortage, i.e., whether the estimated waiting time or queue depth exceeds a predetermined threshold. If a supply shortage is determined, in step S205, a waiting advertisement may be displayed on the screen of the booth 200.

[0059] In step S206, server 100 queries for candidate doctors in the second clinic or a higher-level pool. In step S207, it displays a comparison of the estimated waiting time at the first clinic and the estimated waiting time at the second clinic, and suggests switching to another clinic. In step S208, if the user accepts, in step S209, it connects with a doctor at the other clinic.

[0060] In step S210, a distribution record is made based on advertising revenue or booth sales. Here, a portion of the advertising fees received from advertisers may be distributed to the space provider, or space may be provided in exchange for providing advertising space free of charge, or a portion of booth sales, regardless of whether there is advertising, may be paid as revenue sharing or a combination of fixed rent and revenue sharing.

[0061] Thus, the fallback mechanism in this embodiment is characterized by switching users to other clinics while presenting comparative information, not when the clinic has the capacity to cover the treatment needs but when the supply is tight.

[0062] <Figure 9: Walk-in type queue management and priority control diagram> In Figure 9, walk-in requests from multiple booths (N units) that do not require reservations are placed into a waiting queue. The waiting queue may employ a FIFO (First-In, First-Out) system, a priority queue, an urgency-weighted queue, or other methods. Even in an asymmetric configuration where N >> M for a group of M doctors, response times can be reduced by prioritizing high-urgency requests, prioritizing highly specialized doctors within the same medical department, and suggesting alternative clinics or doctors based on estimated waiting times.

[0063] Furthermore, in the configuration shown in Figure 9, deterministic routing to fixed physicians based on assignment rule data may be used in conjunction with dynamic matching. This makes it possible to implement operations such as pre-determining the assigned physician for each booth ID, switching the assigned physician depending on the day of the week or time of day, or statically assigning only certain medical specialties.

[0064] <Figure 10: Settlement model diagram including advertising and revenue sharing> Figure 10 illustrates the relationship between the platform operator, advertisers, location providers, and consultation booths. Advertisers pay advertising fees, and the platform operator displays the advertisements in the consultation booths, thereby gaining an effect of attracting customers or providing information. Location providers provide the space for the booths, and the platform operator pays them in the form of advertising revenue sharing, sales revenue sharing, or rent.

[0065] Specifically, the following settlement methods can be adopted: 1) a distribution of a portion of advertising revenue obtained from advertisers to the space provider; 2) a provision of space in exchange for providing advertising space to the space provider free of charge; 3) a payment of a portion of booth sales as revenue share, regardless of whether or not there is advertising; and 4) a combination of fixed rent and revenue share.

[0066] These settlement methods may be used individually or in combination. Examples include revenue sharing with a minimum guarantee, partial offsetting of fixed rent, and a combination of providing advertising space free of charge and revenue sharing.

[0067] <Figure 11: Static physician routing diagram based on assignment rule data> As shown in Figure 11, the conditions for requesting a consultation include the medical department, day of the week, time slot, or consultation facility ID (including consultation booth ID), and the assignment rule data maintains correspondences such as internal medicine → doctor A, dermatology → doctor B, Monday mornings → doctor C, consultation facility 200A (including booth 200A) → doctor D.

[0068] The server device 100 can, apart from matching through dynamic physician pool search, refer to the assignment rule data and deterministically route patients to specific physicians based on fixed 1:1 assignment rules. This configuration has technical significance that differs from simple reservation table referencing, as it requires users to receive immediate assignment after completing a medical interview in an unmanned environment at the consultation facility (including booths), and is processed in conjunction with facility suitability verification, waiting status management, and session control.

[0069] For example, configurations can be adopted such as prioritizing the assignment of gynecologists to specific consultation facilities or booths, routing to on-call doctors during weekday evenings, or prioritizing static rules only during peak hours. If there is no response after static routing, it may fall back to normal dynamic pool search.

[0070] <Figure 12: Hierarchical physician pool management sequence diagram> In Figure 12, hierarchical physician pool management processing is performed between the user, booth 200, server 100, first-tier pool, second-tier pool, and higher-tier pool. In step S301, a medical consultation request is sent, and in step S302, medical history information is sent. In step S303, a search of the first-tier pool is performed.

[0071] In step S304, the presence or absence of a suitable physician or a predetermined threshold is determined. If no suitable physicians exist, or if the number of waiting physicians, estimated waiting time, etc., do not meet the threshold, the search is expanded to the second level in step S305, and if necessary, the search is further expanded to a higher level in step S306.

[0072] In step S307, candidate physician information is returned; in step S308, the assignment result is notified; and in step S309, connection instructions are displayed. This allows the search scope to be gradually expanded from a single medical institution to within the same corporation, to different corporations, and to regional collaboration entities.

[0073] <Figure 13: Patient waiting state transition and sequential call sequence diagram> In Figure 13, patient waiting state transitions and sequential calls are performed between the user, booth 200, server 100, candidate physician A, candidate physician B, and physician pool DB. In step S401, the completion of the medical interview is detected, and in step S402, a waiting state transition request is generated. In step S403, the patient is placed into the waiting queue.

[0074] In step S404, a medical consultation request is sent to the first candidate physician. If no response is received within the specified time, a non-response or timeout is detected in step S405, the number of non-responses is recorded in step S406, and the operational status is changed to non-operational if necessary. In step S407, a medical consultation request is sent to the next candidate physician.

[0075] If a response is received in step S408, a matching confirmation notification is issued in step S409, and user verification or connection initiation is performed in step S410. This enables sequential call control, where the patient is transitioned to a waiting state upon completion of the medical interview, and medical requests are sent sequentially starting with the most suitable candidate.

[0076] <Figure 14: Triage-equipped standby queue control sequence diagram> In Figure 14, waiting queue control is performed between the user, booth 200, server 100, triage unit, waiting queue, and group of doctors, taking urgency into consideration. In steps S501 and S502, the medical request and medical history information are transmitted. In step S503, the triage unit determines the urgency and medical department, and in step S504, the results are returned.

[0077] In step S505, patients are added to the waiting queue with attributes such as urgency and whether they have an appointment. In step S506, emergency patients are given priority, and regular patients are ordered based on the waiting start time, whether they have an appointment, and their medical specialty. In steps S507 and S508, suitable physician candidates are checked and returned.

[0078] In step S509, the assignment order is determined, and in step S510, the estimated waiting time or alternative candidates are presented. If the urgency exceeds a predetermined threshold, in addition to being placed at the front of the waiting queue, the patient may be guided to a face-to-face consultation or given instructions to contact emergency services.

[0079] <Figure 15: Supply and Demand Adjustment and Forward Matching Sequence Diagram> In Figure 15, supply and demand adjustment and predictive matching processes are performed between the monitoring unit, server 100, physician pool, higher-level pool, candidate physicians, and waiting patients. In step S601, the number of waiting physicians is monitored, and in step S602, status is acquired for threshold determination.

[0080] If the number of waiting physicians falls below a threshold, the search is expanded to higher levels in step S603, or a request to begin waiting is sent to physicians in step S604. In parallel, the estimated remaining consultation time is monitored in step S605, and physicians who will soon be available to wait are pre-registered in step S606.

[0081] In step S607, a response status is returned, and in step S608, a look-ahead candidate is presented. This allows for both avoiding supply shortages and shortening response times.

[0082] <Figure 16: Multiple Booth Cross-Queue and Multi-Job Expansion Sequence Diagram> In Figure 16, multi-booth cross-queue and multi-professional expansion processing is performed between booth 200A, booth 200B, cross-waiting queue, physician pool, pharmacist / nurse pool, and users. In steps S701 and S702, waiting patients are admitted from multiple booths. In step S703, the waiting order is managed across multiple facilities.

[0083] In steps S704 and S705, physician candidates are reviewed and returned; in step S706, medical institution information is displayed and user verification is performed; in step S707, a consent response is received; and in step S708, a session is established.

[0084] After the consultation is completed, candidates for medication guidance or nursing assistance are sought in step S709, and multidisciplinary matching guidance is provided in step S710. This allows for the assignment of a physician to a cross-service waiting queue that integrates waiting patients from multiple medical facilities, and can be extended to matching pharmacists or nurses using the same method as needed.

[0085] <Variation 1: Method for identifying a clinic> In each of the embodiments described above, the identification of a clinic may be done by the user selecting from a list of multiple clinics, or by the server device 100 automatically determining the clinic based on the medical history information. If multiple suitable clinics are identified, a virtual physician pool may be formed by integrating the physicians belonging to those clinics, and the optimal physician may be selected regardless of the clinic they belong to.

[0086] <Modification Example 2: Combining Static and Dynamic Routing> Static routing based on allocation rule data may be applied at all times, or it may be applied only to specific medical departments, days of the week, time slots, or booths. Furthermore, if the physician at the static routing destination is unresponsive, or if the estimated waiting time exceeds a predetermined threshold, the real-time matching unit 134 may switch to dynamic pool search.

[0087] <Variation 3: Display content while waiting> The information displayed while waiting is not limited to advertisements; it may also include waiting time, waiting order, user guide, warnings, medication information, suggestions for switching to another clinic, disaster information, etc. If advertisements are displayed, the delivery conditions may be changed depending on user attributes, waiting time, location attributes, or time of day.

[0088] <Modification 4: Settlement Terms> The settlement terms for the venue provider may include advertising revenue sharing, free provision of advertising space, revenue sharing, fixed rent, minimum guarantee, upper limit, or any combination thereof. A structure that distributes revenue regardless of whether or not there is advertising, a structure that treats the provision of advertising space as a benefit in kind, or a structure that offsets or nets advertising revenue and revenue sharing may be adopted.

[0089] <Modification 5: Application to competition avoidance patterns> In each of the embodiments described above, the identification of candidate physicians is not limited to an automatic process performed by the server device 100. For example, the server device 100 may display a list of candidate physicians, their specialties, estimated waiting times, and other information on the patient terminal 200 or user terminal 210, and identify a physician based on the user's selection. Alternatively, the server device 100 may input medical history information or vital data into an external or internal AI triage service and match the patient based on the recommended medical specialty, urgency score, or candidate physician information output by the service. Furthermore, the server device 100 may acquire candidate physician information or candidate clinic information through API integration with an external matching service, or identify a physician based on specified information entered from a staff terminal installed at the patient facility or call center. In these embodiments as well, patient waiting status management, user verification, and session establishment control may be performed by the server device 100.

[0090] <Modification 6: Parallel calls, state transition control, and assignment rule updates> In each of the embodiments described above, the calling of candidate physicians is not limited to a sequential method; a consultation request may be sent in parallel to multiple candidate physicians, and a match may be confirmed with the first physician to respond. Furthermore, the physician's operational status may transition between idle, on standby, in consultation, on break, and offline, and may include transitions from idle to standby, from standby to in consultation, and returning to standby after consultation is completed. In addition, the physician pool may be dynamically reconfigured in response to the addition or departure of physicians, changes in medical specialty, changes in days of the week or time of day, or changes in regional collaboration relationships. The assignment rule data may include information on recommended physicians, substitute physicians, and prohibited physicians, and may be dynamically updated according to time of day, congestion level, physician status, or external conditions. Triage results are maintained as numerical or graded triage scores, and the priority of the waiting queue may be adjusted continuously or graded according to the triage score.

[0091] As described above, the present invention enables the integrated implementation of walk-in immediate connection, waiting section management, hierarchical pool search, individual physician selection, static routing, waiting status display, and revenue distribution, which are specific to booth-type online medical consultations. It can also be applied to various embodiments, including user selection type, AI triage integration type, external API integration type, and staff terminal-based type, as well as parallel calling, state transition control, dynamic reconfiguration, and assignment rule updates. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0092] 100 Server Devices 110 Communications Department 120 Control Unit 130 Storage section 131 Medical Treatment Request Reception Department 132 Department for Acquiring Physician's Condition 133 Physician Pool Management Department 134 Real-time Matching Department 135 Queue Management Department 136 Waiting time calculation unit 137 Session Control Unit 138 Assignment History Management Department 139 Performance Data Compilation Department 140 Assignment Rule Data Reference Section 141 Physician Routing Department 142 Revenue Sharing Management Department 143 Place provider payment department 144-tier pool management department 145 Patient Waiting Status Management Department 146 Sequential Calling and Triage Unit 147 Supply and Demand Adjustment / Forecast Matching Department 148 Multidisciplinary Pool Management Department 200 receiving terminals 200A, 200B Consultation terminals (including those permanently installed in booths, which are an example of consultation facilities) 210 User terminals 211 Communications Department 220 Display operation section 230 Storage section 240 Control Unit 3000 Clinic Data 30001 Clinic ID 400 physician terminals 400A, 400B, 400M Doctor's Terminal 4000 physician pool data 40001 Doctor ID 411 Communications Department 420 Medical screen display section 430 Status transmission unit 440 Medical Treatment Control Department 500 pharmacist terminals 5000 Allocation History / Performance Data 50001 Assigned ID 600 Nurse Terminals 800 Location Provider Terminal 850 advertiser terminals NW1 Communication Network

Claims

1. A method for providing online medical consultation services via a patient terminal installed at a medical consultation facility, wherein one or more server devices, A candidate setting step in which multiple medical institutions, including two or more medical institutions with different operating entities, are set as potential destinations for a user who has arrived at the aforementioned medical facility, wherein the multiple medical institutions may be pre-set or dynamically set. A cross-matching step is performed to identify candidate physicians by searching at least one of the following units, either at the medical institution level or at the individual physician level, with the entire group of physicians belonging to any of the aforementioned multiple medical institutions being included in the search, regardless of the medical institution to which they belong, and to confirm the matching with the candidate physicians. A session establishment step to establish an online medical consultation session between the medical institution terminal of the physician whose matching has been confirmed and the patient's terminal, A method for performing the above, wherein each of the steps may be performed entirely by a single server device or divided among multiple server devices.

2. The system comprises a patient terminal installed at a patient consultation facility, patient terminals installed at multiple medical institutions, and one or more server devices that communicate with these terminals, wherein the one or more server devices A candidate setting unit sets up multiple medical institutions, including two or more medical institutions with different operating entities, as candidates for a patient's destination upon arrival at the aforementioned medical facility, wherein the multiple medical institutions may be pre-set or dynamically set. A cross-matching unit identifies candidate physicians by searching for the entire integrated group of physicians belonging to any of the aforementioned multiple medical institutions, regardless of the operating entity, and determines the matching with those candidate physicians, regardless of the medical institution to which they belong. A session establishment unit establishes an online medical consultation session between the medical institution terminal of the physician whose matching has been confirmed and the patient's terminal. A system comprising the above, wherein each of the above components may be provided in a single server device or distributed among multiple server devices.

3. In order to provide online medical services via a patient terminal installed at a medical facility, one or more computers are configured A candidate setting step in which multiple medical institutions, including two or more medical institutions with different operating entities, are set as potential destinations for a user who has arrived at the aforementioned medical facility, wherein the multiple medical institutions may be pre-set or dynamically set. A cross-matching step is performed to identify candidate physicians by searching at least one of the following units, either at the medical institution level or at the individual physician level, with the entire group of physicians belonging to any of the aforementioned multiple medical institutions being included in the search, regardless of the medical institution to which they belong, and to confirm the matching with the candidate physicians. A session establishment step to establish an online medical consultation session between the medical institution terminal of the physician whose matching has been confirmed and the patient's terminal, A program for performing the steps, wherein each of the steps may be performed entirely by a single computer or divided among multiple computers.

4. A method according to claim 1, comprising displaying the options of a plurality of medical institutions on the patient's terminal or the user's terminal, accepting the user's selection operation for the options, searching for candidate doctors prioritizing doctors belonging to the medical institution if a specific medical institution is selected, and searching for candidate doctors across the entire integrated target if no specific medical institution is specified.

5. A method according to claim 1, comprising receiving medical interview information of the user from the receiving terminal or the user's user terminal, and transitioning the user to a standby state upon completion of receiving the medical interview information or fulfillment of other predetermined conditions.

6. The method according to Claim 1, In the candidate setting step, the first medical institution among the multiple medical institutions is determined by the user's selection operation or predetermined assignment, the user's medical questionnaire information is received from the examination terminal or the user's user terminal, and the user is transitioned to a standby state upon completion of receiving the medical questionnaire information or fulfillment of other predetermined conditions. In the cross-matching step, if the estimated waiting time, queue depth, and other indicators of supply shortage related to the first medical institution exceed a predetermined threshold, physicians belonging to other medical institutions that are operated by different entities than the first medical institution are identified as candidate physicians to the extent that they can provide medical care to the user, through a search conducted on a medical institution basis or on an individual physician basis, and information relating to the other medical institution is presented to the patient's terminal. A method for establishing an online medical consultation session between a medical institution terminal of a physician belonging to another identified medical institution and the patient's terminal, in the session establishment step, when the user's acceptance operation for the presentation is received.

7. The system according to claim 2, The candidate setting unit determines the first medical institution among the multiple medical institutions based on the user's selection operation or predetermined assignment, receives the user's medical interview information from the examination terminal or the user's user terminal, and transitions the user to a standby state upon completion of receiving the medical interview information or fulfillment of other predetermined conditions. When the estimated waiting time, queue depth, and other indicators of supply shortage related to the first medical institution exceed a predetermined threshold, the cross-matching unit identifies physicians belonging to other medical institutions that are operated by different entities than the first medical institution as candidate physicians within the scope of those capable of providing medical care to the user, by searching on a medical institution basis or on an individual physician basis, and presents information related to the other medical institution to the patient's terminal. The session establishment unit is a system that, when the user's acceptance operation for the presentation is received, establishes an online medical consultation session between the medical institution terminal of a physician belonging to the other identified medical institution and the patient's terminal.

8. The program according to claim 3, In the candidate setting step, the first medical institution among the multiple medical institutions is determined by the user's selection operation or predetermined assignment, the user's medical questionnaire information is received from the examination terminal or the user's user terminal, and the user is transitioned to a standby state upon completion of receiving the medical questionnaire information or fulfillment of other predetermined conditions. In the cross-matching step, if the estimated waiting time, queue depth, and other indicators of supply shortage related to the first medical institution exceed a predetermined threshold, physicians belonging to other medical institutions that are operated by different entities than the first medical institution are identified as candidate physicians to the extent that they can provide medical care to the user, through a search conducted on a medical institution basis or on an individual physician basis, and information relating to the other medical institution is presented to the patient's terminal. A program that, in the session establishment step, when the user's acceptance operation for the presentation is received, establishes an online medical consultation session between the medical institution terminal of a physician belonging to the identified other medical institution and the patient's terminal.

9. A method according to claim 6, wherein the determination of whether the indicator of supply shortage exceeds a predetermined threshold is based not on a shortage of the medical capacity of the first medical institution, but on whether the estimated waiting time or the depth of the waiting queue exceeds a predetermined threshold.

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