System and method for reducing anxiety and pain in connection with dental procedures

Abstract

A computer system and method for use in connection with patient anxiety / pain mitigation during dental and other healthcare procedures. A menu of content objects representative of extended reality anxiety / pain mitigation-related content material can be provided to a patient by a user interface. In response to requests for the content material via user selection of the content objects from the menu, the requested content material is retrieved and provided for by an advanced AI presentation system to the patient via an extended reality hardware component. An artificial intelligence model trained on patient data and associated content material selections from a plurality of previous healthcare encounters can be used to provide recommendations for the content material. The user interface includes a chatbot system with an empathetic conversational avatar.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REDUCING ANXIETY AND PAIN IN CONNECTION WITH DENTAL PROCEDURESFIELD

[0001] This disclosure relates generally to computer systems and methods useful in connection with the reduction of anxiety and / or pain during medical and dental procedures.BACKGROUND

[0002] There is a continuing need for systems and methods to manage anxiety and pain in connection with medical and dental procedures. In particular, there is a need for systems and methods of these types that are effective, easy to operate and friendly to use. Systems and methods of these types that are cost effective would be especially advantageous.SUMMARY

[0003] Effective and easy to use systems and methods for the management of anxiety and pain during medical and dental procedures are disclosed. The systems and methods can be operated by both clinicians or other health care users, and by patients. Improved patient satisfaction and health outcomes can be achieved using the systems and methods.

[0004] One example is a computer system configured for use in connection with patient anxiety / pain mitigation during healthcare procedures, the computer system including one or more processors and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to: provide, via a user interface, a menu of content objects representative of anxiety / pain mitigation-related content material, wherein the content objects include extended reality objects representative of extended reality content material for anxiety and / or pain mitigation; receive, via the user interface, requests for the content material via user selection of the content objects from the menu, including requests for the extended reality content material via selection of the extended reality objects; retrieve the requested content material, including retrieving the requested extended reality content material; and provide the requested content material, including the requested extended reality content material, to an extended reality hardware component for presentation to the patient via the extended reality hardware component.

[0005] In some embodiments, the extended reality content material includes one or more of augmented reality (AR) content material, virtual reality (VR) content material, or mixedreality (MR) content material. For example, the extended reality content material may include both visual and audio content.

[0006] In some embodiments, providing the menu of content objects includes providing a menu including content objects representative of extended reality content material in each of one or more, including all, of (1) a pre-operative category, (2) an intra-operative category, and (3) a post-operative category. For example, providing the menu of content objects may include providing the menu of content objects via a user interface configured for intra-operative setting use, and wherein the menu of content objects provided via the user interface configured for intraoperative setting use optionally includes the content objects for the intra-operative category, and does not include the content objects for either the pre-operative category or the post-operative category. Providing the menu of content objects may include providing the menu of content objects via a user interface configured for pre-operative setting use and post-operative setting use by a user that is a patient, and wherein the menu of content objects provided via the user interface configured for pre-operative setting use and post-operative setting use optionally includes the content objects for the pre-operative category and the post-operative category, and does not include the content objects for intra-operative category.

[0007] In some embodiments, providing the menu of content objects includes providing the menu of content objects organized by category headings including one or more of (1) a preoperative category heading, (2) an intra-operative category heading, and (3) a post operative category heading.

[0008] In some embodiments, providing the menu of content objects includes providing the menu of content objects via a user interface on a desktop, laptop, or mobile device, optionally a mobile phone, a tablet, or a system-dedicated device, and optionally via an app operating on the mobile device.

[0009] In some embodiments, providing the menu of content objects includes providing the menu of content objects via a user interface on the extended reality hardware component such as for example VR, AR and MR headsets including displays.

[0010] In some embodiments, providing the menu of content objects includes providing a visual display of the menu of content objects.

[0011] In some embodiments, receiving the requests for content material includes receiving the requests in response to user touch via a touch-actuated user interface.

[0012] In some embodiments, receiving the requests for content material includes receiving the requests in response to a non-touch user gesture, optionally one or more of an eye gesture, a hand gesture or a voice gesture, via the user interface.

[0013] In some embodiments, providing the menu of content objects includes providing a menu including a pain scale; receiving the requests for content material includes receiving a request for the pain scale; retrieving the requested content material includes retrieving the pain scale; and providing the requested content material includes providing the pain scale to the extended reality hardware component for presentation to the patient via the extended reality hardware component. For example, the memory may store instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to: receive, via the user interface, information representative of a pain level selected by the patient from the pain scale. For example, receiving the information representative of the pain level may include receiving the information representative of the pain level in response to a non-touch user gesture, optionally one or more of an eye gesture, a hand gesture or a voice gesture, via the user interface. The memory may store instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to: provide the received information representative of the pain level to the extended reality hardware component for presentation to the patient via the extended reality hardware component. The memory may store instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, further causes the processors to: provide the received information representative of the pain level to a display for presentation to a clinician, optionally to a display on a desktop, laptop or mobile device associated with the clinician.

[0014] In some embodiments, providing the menu of content objects includes providing a menu including an anxiety scale; receiving the requests for content material includes receiving a request for the anxiety scale; retrieving the requested content material includes retrieving the anxiety scale; and providing the requested content material includes providing the anxiety scale to the extended reality hardware component for presentation to the patient via the extended reality hardware component. For example, the memory may store instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to: receive, via the user interface, information representative of an anxiety level selected by the patient from the anxiety scale. For example, receiving the information representative of the anxiety level may include receiving the information representative of the anxiety level in response to a non-touchuser gesture, optionally one or more of an eye gesture, a hand gesture or a voice gesture, via the user interface. The memory may store instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to: provide the received information representative of the anxiety level to the extended reality hardware component for presentation to the patient via the extended reality hardware component. The memory may store instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, further causes the processors to: provide the received information representative of the anxiety level to a display for presentation to a clinician, optionally to a display on a desktop, laptop or mobile device of the clinician.

[0015] In some embodiments, the memory stores instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to: receive patient biometric information, including one or more of heart rate, blood pressure, or oxygen level. For example, the memory may store instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to: provide the biometric information to the extended reality hardware component for presentation to the patient via the extended reality hardware component. For example, providing the menu of content objects includes providing a menu including a biometrics request; receiving the requests for content material includes receiving a request for biometrics; and providing the biometric information includes providing the biometrics information in response to the receipt of the request for biometrics. For example, the memory may store instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, further causes the processors to: provide the biometric information to a display for presentation to a clinician, optionally to a display on a desktop, laptop or mobile device of the clinician.

[0016] Another example is a method for operating a computer system including one or more processors, comprising: provide, by the one or more processors via a clinician and / or patient user interface, a menu of content objects representative of anxiety / pain mitigation-related content material, wherein the content objects include extended reality objects representative of extended reality content material for anxiety and / or pain mitigation; receive, by the one or more processors via the user interface, requests for the content material via user selection of the content objects from the menu, including requests for the extended reality content material via selection of the extended reality objects; retrieve, by the one or more processors, the requested content material, including retrieving the requested extended reality content material; and provide, by the one or more processors, the requested content material, including the requestedextended reality content material, to an extended reality hardware component for presentation to the patient via the extended reality hardware component. For example, the method may further comprise processing information received from the patient by an Al model to enhance the computer system and / or content material.

[0017] In some embodiments, the memory stores instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes information received from the patient to be processed by an Al model to enhance the computer system and / or content material.

[0018] Another example is a computer system configured to provide the user interface in accordance with any of examples and embodiments above, the computer system including one or more processors and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to: receive user information, including one or more of: (1) pain scale information, (2) anxiety level information, (3) biometrics information, optionally one or more of heart rate, blood pressure, or oxygen saturation, (4) vocalics, (5) eye gaze, or (6) haptics, optionally touch pressure; access a trained model based upon the user information, wherein the trained model is configured to provide extended reality content material suggestions; receive the extended reality content material suggestions; and provide one or more of the extended reality content material suggestions via the user interface. For example, providing the one or more extended reality content material suggestions comprises providing the content material suggestions via an empathetic conversational chatbot. For example, providing the one or more extended reality content material suggestions comprises providing an empathetic visual avatar. For example the trained model comprises one or more of a neural network, a deep learning model, or a large language model.

[0019] Another example is a method for operating a computer system including one or more processors and memory for storing instructions to train the trained model of any of the above examples and embodiments, comprising: receiving training data associated with each of a plurality of users in connection with a healthcare procedure, the training data for each user including: user healthcare procedure information associated with the user, including one or more of: (1) pain scale information, (2) anxiety level information, (3) biometrics information, optionally one or more of heart rate, blood pressure, or oxygen saturation, (4) vocalics, (5) eye gaze, or (6) haptics, optionally touch pressure; and selected content material information representative of extended reality content material selected by the user; and training the modelwith the received training data. For example, the user healthcare procedure information may further comprises results information representative of anxiety / pain mitigation achieved in response to presentation to the user of the extended reality content material selected by the user, and wherein the results information optionally includes one or more of: (1) pain scale information, (2) anxiety level information, (3) biometrics information, optionally one or more of heart rate, blood pressure, or oxygen saturation, (4) vocalics, (5) eye gaze, or (6) haptics, optionally touch pressure. For example, the user healthcare procedure information further comprises satisfaction information representative of the user’s self-reported satisfaction of anxiety / pain mitigation achieved in response to presentation to the user of the extended reality content material selected by the user. For example, the user healthcare procedure information further comprises satisfaction information representative of the user’s self-reported satisfaction of anxiety / pain mitigation achieved in response to presentation to the user of the extended reality content material selected by the user.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020] FIG. 1 is a schematic, functional block diagram of a pain and anxiety management system in accordance with embodiments.

[0021] FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic illustration of a menu including content objects representative of extended reality anxiety / pain mitigation-related content that can be selected and presented to a patient, in accordance with embodiments.

[0022] FIG. 3 is a an illustration of a scene from a user interface, in accordance with embodiments.

[0023] FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic illustration of a method for generating recommendations for anxiety / pain mitigation-related content, in accordance with embodiments.

[0024] FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic illustration of a method for training a model that can be used to provide recommendations for anxiety / pain mitigation-related content, in accordance with embodiments.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0025] FIG. l is a functional diagrammatic illustration of an extended reality (XR) anxiety and pain mitigation system 10 in accordance with embodiments. The illustrated embodiments of system 10 include a patient user interface component 12, data input component 14, clinician user interface component 16, data storage component 18, XR hardware component20 and data processing component 22. Components 12, 14, 16, 18, 20 and 22 are coupled to one another for data communications by a network component 24. Network component 24 may provide known or otherwise conventional data connectivity such as for example by wired data connectivity 26 (e.g., by ethernet or other cables), and / or wireless connectivity 28 (e.g., by WiFi or Bluetooth), and can include one or more components such as the internet, local area networks (LAN) and / or wide area networks (WAN). As described in greater detail below, embodiments of system 10 are multi -platform, and can operate for purposes of helping anxious and / or painsensitive patients during dental or medical procedures. Anxiety and pain may be managed and / or reduced by providing the patient with immersive extended reality (XR) content. The XR content can be selected by patient and / or a clinician such as a health care professional to suit the patient’s psychological, social, cultural and / or other needs. Other types of content, including anxiety and pain scales can be provided to the patient, and the patient’s responses to that content can be collected and optionally presented to the patient and / or the clinician. Anxiety and pain information can be collected from the patient in real time and optionally presented back to the patient (e.g., via the XR hardware 20) in real time (e.g., as a biofeedback loop mechanism) and / or to the clinician for operational and intervention purposes. In addition, patient useability and satisfaction data can be collected and used to later (e.g., by Al approaches) optimize the system and the nature and types of content material (e.g., its operation and / or effectiveness). Other information, such as patient biometric information, can also be captured or obtained and optionally presented to one or both of the patient and / or clinician. The system 10 can improve patient management, outcomes and satisfaction, for example with analyses and evaluation of the aforementioned patient data.

[0026] FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic illustration of an exemplary menu 40 that can be provided to a patient and / or clinician by the system 10. As shown, the menu 40 lists a plurality of content objects identifying content materials that can be selected by the patient or clinician for display, including extended reality content material, anxiety and pain assessment content material, and biometrics material. Yet other type of general material related to the system 10 or the patient can also be presented in the menu 40. The extended reality content material is shown organized into a plurality of different categories, and in the illustrated embodiments is organized into categories including a pre-operative content category, an intra-operative content category, and a post-operative content category. Each of the categories of extended reality contentmaterial includes a plurality of content objects. Each content object identifies and / or describes the associated extended reality content material, and can be used to select the associated content material.

[0027] The extended reality content materials can include any of one or more different types of extended realty content material including for example augmented reality (AR) content material, mixed reality (MR) content material, and / or virtual reality (VR) content material. An advantage of having different types of AR material is that the patient is able to select or obtain specific types of AR materials that may maximize the anxiety and / or pain mitigation efficacy and comfort for that patient. For example, some patients may be less comfortable with full VR headsets and / or content material, and may prefer AR glasses and content material so they can retain perception of their outward facing physical environment. The XR content material will typically include video or other visual content, and may also include audio content, such as for example music and / or other audio content that the patient might expect to hear in the environment of the visual content. Other non-limiting examples of the XR content materials include those providing hypnotherapeutic, biopsychosocial, socio-cultural, and / or meditative content. Multi-lingual speech and multiple genders can also be accommodated.

[0028] An advantage of having XR content material in the different categories is that the nature of the different types of materials can be optimized for the settings associated with the categories. For example, the XR content materials for pre-operative and / or post-operative settings may be configured to provide different degrees or types of stimuli than materials for intra-operative settings. Materials for post-operative settings may provide affirmations with meditation for healing and reducing ancillary pain. For medical procedures where the patient is in a prone position, the intra-operative XR content material can be configured to provide visual content with an “artificial” horizon corresponding to a horizon the patient would experience in an upright position.

[0029] In connection with provided anxiety and pain assessment materials, known or otherwise available anxiety assessment scales, such as for example the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) can be selected from the illustrated embodiments of the menu 40 for purposes of collecting self-reported patient data, operational presentation to the patient, and for input into an Al learning model to improve the system 10. Known or otherwise available pain assessmentscales, such as for example a numeric (e g., 1-10) or visual (e g., Wong-Baker) scale, can be selected from the illustrated embodiments of the menu 40 for presentation to the patient.

[0030] The illustrated embodiments of menu 40 include objects for patient biometrics including, for example, heart rate and rhythm, blood pressure and blood oxygenation, that can be selected by the patient or clinician, for collection and optionally for display. Other embodiments of system 10 and menu 40 are configured to facilitate the selection and display of other patient biometrics.

[0031] As shown, objects for yet additional information that may be of interest to the patent and / or clinician can be presented on the menu 40. The embodiments illustrated in FIG. 2, for example, include objects for an overview or guide of the system. System 10 can be configured to provide visual, audio and / or textual explanations. Records of the patient can also be selected. In embodiments, the system 10 is compliant with applicable governmental regulations, including those of HIPAA. Other embodiments of the system 10 are configured with menus such as 40 that include objects of other content and other materials that may be of interest to the patient and / or clinician. Examples include benefits and testimonials of system 10.

[0032] Referring back to FIG. 1, the XR hardware component 20 can be any available or otherwise known component suitable for use with XR. The illustrated embodiment of XR hardware component 20 is a headset-type component and includes a visual display 50 to display visual content, including selected XR content material, to the patient. Embodiments of the XR hardware component 20 may include built-in speakers 52 for the presentation of audio content to the patient. Yet other embodiments (not shown) may include separate audio transducers (e.g., earbuds) or no audio transducers. As described below, XR hardware component 20 may also include one or both of an internal-facing or external-facing camera or other optical sensor 54 to provide the functionality of the system 10. Other embodiments may include separate optical and other transducers. Although shown for purposes of example as a fully immersive-type headset in FIG. 1, other embodiments of XR hardware component 20 include so-called smart and AR glasses. Although shown as a functional component in FIG. 1, the functionality of the XR hardware component 20 can be provided by one or more physical components in embodiments.

[0033] Patient user interface component 12 provides functionality facilitating the patient’s operation of the system 10. For example, the menu 40 of material available to the patient can be presented to the patient via the patient user interface component 12. The patientcan also operate the patient user interface component 12 to select objects on the menu 40 for display on the XR hardware component 20 and / or the patient user interface. Although shown as a functional component in FIG. 1, patient user interface component 12 can be provided by one or more physical components. For example, in embodiments the display 50 of the XR hardware component 20 can be used to display the menu 40 to the patient. In these and other embodiments the patient user interface component 12 may also be a user interface on a mobile device, such as for example a mobile phone or a tablet, operated by the patient.

[0034] Patient user interface component 12 can also be operated by the patient to select objects on the menu 40, and to cause the system 10 to retrieve and present the content materials associated with those objects to the patient. In embodiments, for example, the patient user interface component 12 may include a touch screen that can be actuated by the patient’s touch to select objects from the menu 40. These and other embodiments of the patient user interface component 12 may also be configured to touch-free or haptic actuation by the patient. Although shown as a component in FIG. 1, functionality of the user interface component 12 can also be provided by other components of the system 10. For example, hand gestures, voice commands or eye gaze, detected by various sensors such as the optical sensor 54 on or associated with the XR hardware component 54, can be used to select objects on the menu 40 and to provide other user input to the system 10. In yet other embodiments (not shown), the patient user interface component 12 may include a microphone or other audio sensor to receive voice commands. In some embodiments, the content available to the patient via the patient user interface component 12 may be limited. For example, the patient user interface component 12 may be configured for use by the patient when the patient is not at the clinician’s healthcare facility, and may not include the intra-operative category of content objects.

[0035] Clinician user interface component 16 is similar to that of the patient user interface component 12. However, in embodiments, the clinician user interface component 16 may have more and / or less functionality than the patient user interface component 12. For example, there may be no need for the clinician to be able to select content objects from the menu 40 when the menu is presented on the XR hardware component 20. Instead, the clinician may view the menu 40 and select desired content materials on the user interface on a desktop, laptop, or mobile device such as a mobile phone or tablet. In embodiments, the clinician userinterface component 16 may not include the pre-operative and / or post-operative category of content objects.

[0036] Patient user interface component 12 and / or clinician user interface component 16 may also be operated to select one or more of the anxiety and pain assessment content objects from the menu 40. In response to the selection of an anxiety or pain assessment content object, the associated anxiety or pain scale will be presented to the patient by the patient user interface component 12 (e.g., displayed to the patient on the display 50 of the XR hardware component 20). The patient can then operate the patient user interface component 12 to select an anxiety or pain level from the associated scale pre-, intra-, or post-operatively. The selected anxiety or pain level can then be presented to the clinician by the clinician user interface component 16, and optionally to the patient by the patient user interface component 12 (e.g., displayed to the patient on the display 50 of the XR hardware component 20).

[0037] Patient user interface component 12 and / or clinician user interface component 16 may also be operated to select one or more of the patient biometrics objects from the menu 40. In response to the selection of a patient biometrics object, the associated patient biometric information will be presented to the clinician by the clinician user interface component 16. In some embodiments the patient may be able to choose to have the associated patient biometric information to be presented to the patient by the patient user interface component 12.

[0038] Similarly, user interface component 12 and / or clinician user interface component 16 may be operated to select one or more of the general information objects from the menu 40. In response to the selection of the system overview and guide object, for example, an explanation of the functionality and operation of the system 10 may be presented to the patient by the patient user interface component 12. As another example, in response to the selection by the patient in selecting varying embodiments and content materials, that chosen content pre-operatively can be provided to the clinician via the clinician user interface component 16.

[0039] Data processing component 22 may provide the computing and other operational functionality of the system 10. In response to the selection of material and / or other objects from the menu 40, the data processing component causes the associated materials and information to be retrieved (e.g., from the data storage component 18) and presented to the patient or clinician (e.g., on the XR hardware component 20). The data processing component 22 includes one or more processors coupled to memory storing instructions for the computing and operationalfunctionality. Although shown as a functional component in FIG. 1, in embodiments, the functionality of the data processing component 22 can be provided by one or more physical components. For example, in embodiments, the data processing functionality can be provided by a computer system operating at the site of the patient using the system 10 (e.g., at the patient’s home and / or at the clinician’s healthcare facility). Functionality of the data processing component 22 may also be provided by a server that is remote from the location of the patient and / or the clinician operating the system 10. Alternatively or additionally, at least portions of the functionality of the data processing component 22 may be provided by the XR hardware component 20. Instructions executed by the processors of the data processing component 22 may be stored by the data storage component 18. In yet other embodiments, all or portions of the functionality of the data processing component 22 may be provided by a laptop, desktop, or mobile device, such as a mobile phone or tablet, operated by the patient and / or clinician.

[0040] Data storage component 18 stores the content material provided by system 10, and may also store information received from the patient (e.g., anxiety and pain scores) during the operation of the system. For example, the XR content material, anxiety and pain assessment material, and general materials may be stored by the data storage component 18. Although shown as a functional component in FIG. 1, in embodiments, the functionality of the data storage component 18 can be provided by one or more physical components. For example, all or portions of the functionality of the data storage component 18 may be provided by cloud data storage. Alternatively or additionally, all or portions of the functionality of the data storage component 18 can be provided by data storage of the data processing component 22. In yet other embodiments, all or portions of the functionality of the data storage component 18 may be provided by a desktop, laptop or mobile device, such as a mobile phone or tablet, operated by the patient and / or clinician.

[0041] Data input 14 can operate as a port or link to other devices and systems used in connection with the system 10. For example, medical devices such as heart rate sensors, blood pressure sensors and blood oxygenation level sensors (not shown) that provide the patient’s biometric information can be coupled to the system 10 via the data input 14. Data input 14 can also be coupled to healthcare records or information systems to provide access to the patient’s records. Information collected during the use of system 10 can also be transmitted to the patient’s healthcare record via the data input 14.

[0042] In embodiments, system 10 is configured as a clinician-dedicated system that is operates with a data processing component 22 and a data storage component 18 that are controlled and maintained by or on behalf of the clinician (e.g., by a computer system at the facility of the clinician). In other embodiments, system 10 is configured in a web server environment. In embodiments of these types, a website that provides the functionality of the system 10 described herein can be provided by the data processing component 22 and data storage component 18, and patients and clinicians can use their respective user interfaces 12 and 16 to access the website. Additionally or alternatively, at least portions of the above-described functionality of the system 10 can be provided by an app operating on a device, such as a laptop, desktop, mobile phone or tablet, of the patient and / or clinician.

[0043] The clinical, biomedical and behavioral science-informed system 10 and associated methods provide important advantages. For example, they may enhance behavior management of the health and psychological complexities of patients, and additionally those who may identify or be identified as special care patients. System 10 may reduce reliance on pharmacologic approaches that may have addictive potential. Patient satisfaction may be increased, and patient “no shows” reduced. Efficiencies of health care provision can be enhanced. The perceptual and secondary biometric data can improve the betterment of the patient experience and the clinician’s and provider’s clinical and organizational outcomes. It can be adapted to meet multi-cultural needs (e g., cultural ambient music, sounds and language and gender selection). Voice, text and eye gaze direction capabilities enhance the ease of use and navigation of the system, especially during the healthcare procedures when the patient’s ability to communicate by other approaches or means may be limited.

[0044] Embodiments may capture patient selections and / or associated patient biometric information. Such captured data can be processed using artificial intelligence (Al) systems to enhance iterations of development and provided content options. For example, probability modeling can determine the most relaxing content such as music, sound, images and messaging combinations.

[0045] Materials in the pre-operative category may, for example, include an AR app projection that projects a display of a metahuman voicing with the possibility of multiple languages about relaxations, meditations and hypnotherapeutic techniques that are, for example, target designed for pre-operative dental and / or medical procedures. Pre-operatively, patients canpre-select certain AR & VR intra-operative environments in conjunction with a selection of layered variations of ambient sounds, specific VR artifacts, and / or ambient music which helps personalize their operative relaxation experience. Materials in the intra-operative category may provide for moving or toggling between AR and VR when using passthrough XR devices. The optional display of biometric information and anxiety and pain perception can provide patient biofeedback and facilitate the clinician’s determination of potential distress or uneasiness in the patient. Biometric and perceptual data may be fed into deep learning, generative and / or general Al models to develop enhanced ecosphere layered environments and to enable the patient to better select the environment that best suits their ability to manage their anxiety and pain. Materials in the post-operative category can be the same as and / or different than those of the preoperative category. Additionally, there may be an option for the clinician to include postoperative instructions for care using a customizable meta-clinician-human.

[0046] Embodiments of the system 10 includes a user interface 12 that operates in connection with the XR hardware component 20 to provide a synthetic empathetic user interface including one or both of audio (e.g., chatbot) or visual communication features. FIG. 3, for example, is a diagrammatic illustration of a scene of an extended reality user interface 100 including an empathetic visual chatbot avatar 102 in the form of a lab coat-wearing penguin, in accordance with embodiments. Components of the system 10, including the data input component 14, data storage component 18 and / or data processing component 22, which can provide the empathetic user interface in connection with the patient user interface component 12 and / or XR hardware component 20. Information provided by the user interface can include recommendations to the user for extended reality content material. The extended reality content material suggestions may be personalized for the particular patient, for example to the patient’s needs or desires at a particular time and / or for a particular type of procedure. Embodiments include a trained model that can provide suggestions for suitable extended reality content material. In embodiments, the trained model can be one or more of a large language model (LLM), deep learning generative artificial intelligence (Al), self-automating or autonomous Al that has properties of self-healing scripts, an artificial neural network, a convolutional neural network, a recurrent neural network, a modular neural network, or any other suitable type of machine learning model. The functionality of the trained model can be provided, for example,by the data processing component 22 in connection with instructions and other information from data storage component 18.

[0047] FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic illustration of a method 110 for providing an empathetic user interface including a visual chatbot avatar such as 102 in accordance with embodiments. As shown by step 112, the method 110 includes receiving patient data or information about the patient that is related to the healthcare procedure associated with the patient. The patient data may, for example, be data relating to aspects of the procedure, such as for example one or more of a pre-operative, intra-operative and / or post-operative procedural elements. Additionally or alternatively, the patient data may include one or more of (1) pain scale and / or anxiety level patient provided information (e.g., via the patient user interface component 12), (2) biometrics information, such as for example one of more of the patient’s then-current heart rate, blood pressure or oxygenation saturation data points (e g., from sensors and via data input component 14), (3) vocalic utterance and non-utterance information (e.g., received from microphones via the data input component), (4) eye gaze (e.g., received via the XR hardware component 20), or haptics information such as the patient’s touch assessed as pressure (e.g., on a sensor held by the patient and via the data input component).

[0048] At step 114, the trained model is accessed based upon the patent data. The trained model can, for example, process the patient data, and based upon the patient data provide suggestions for extended reality content material suitable for the patient. The suggestions for extended reality content material provided by the trained model may, for example, be particularly well suited to the patent since they were provided based upon past patient selfreported, biometric and satisfaction data relative to a given procedure and / or across procedure in addition to when relevant current, patient information (e.g., the patient’s current pain and anxiety levels compared to historical patient data points). As shown by steps 116 and 118, the extended reality content material suggestions can be received, and one or more of the received suggestions may be provided to the patient as recommendations via the user interface component 12 and / or XR hardware component 20. In embodiments, for example, the system 10 may rank the expected efficacy of the extended reality content material suggestions, and provide recommendations up to a predetermined number of the highest ranked suggestions. In embodiments, the recommendations may be provided in graphic form, for example by text-basedlists, optionally with links that can be used by the patient to select the associated content material, and / or in audio form, for example by the chatbot avatar 102.

[0049] FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic illustration of a method 150 for training a model that can be used in connection with the method 110 described above. As shown by step 152, the method 150 includes receiving training data associated with each of a plurality of patients or users in connection with a healthcare procedure the user underwent (e.g., previous patient procedures). The patient data may, for example, be data relating to the aspect of the procedure, such as for example one or more of a pre-operative, intra-operative and / or post-operative nature of the procedure. Additionally or alternatively, the patient data may include one or more of: (1) pain scale information and / or anxiety level information provided by the patient in connection with the procedure (e.g., via the patient user interface component 12), (2) biometrics information, such as for example one of more of the heart rate, blood pressure or oxygenation saturation of the patient in connection with the procedure (e.g., from sensors and via data input component 14), (3) vocalics information from the patient during the procedure (e.g., received from microphones via the data input component), (4) eye gaze of the patient during the procedure (e.g., received via the XR hardware component 20), or haptics information such as the patient’s touch pressure (e.g., on a sensor held by the patient during the procedure and via the data input component).

[0050] The training data may also include information representative of the content material selected by the user and associated with the patient data. In some embodiments, the healthcare procedure information may also include satisfaction information that is representative of the patient’s self-reported satisfaction with anxiety / pain mitigation achieved in response to the presentation of the associated extended reality content material. Satisfaction information of this type may, for example, be received in response to a patient questionnaire (e.g., presented to and completed by the patient following the healthcare procedure), and received through the patient user interface component 12.

[0051] Empathetic user interfaces such as those described above may have memorybased deep learning generative Al, and / or artificial generative intelligence (AGI). This Al may operate as an artificial neural network able to analyze and recognize patterns in the data obtained from the patient's past experiences with the system (e.g., self-reported pain scale and / or anxiety scale information, heart rate, blood pressure, 02 saturation levels, before and after procedures). Embodiments of the system may develop the ability to compare personalized patient data to priorhistorical records and also to a larger training model based on all prior patients with similar data points. The system may be configured to determine recognizable patterns from comparative data sets and to make real time personalized recommendations about which set of intersecting XR scenarios have the greatest likelihood of mitigating anxiety and / or pain (i.e., intersectionality of available scenes, music, ambient sounds, relevant eco-artifacts such as turtle on beach, rabbits playing). The user interface may operate as an 'agentic Al' that helps the patient by using automated decision-making when operating within the VR or AR mode of the system. A rationale for using a deep learning agentic LLM is its ability to continuously learn and improve its performance. This may be supplemented by also analyzing the impact of the Al recommendations against patient satisfaction data, for example both individually and across patients.

[0052] Embodiments may also include using the generative Al model in a more generalized Al AGI that presents to the patient within VR and AR as well as within an app using the visualized avatar such as the lab coat-wearing penguin. In embodiments, the avatar may be presented as a floating 3-D holographic image in the user interface. The avatar may present within AR as being marked in world space using computational spatial computer modeling software. Within VR, the avatar may present as a fully animated 3D graphic illustration that moves and talks using various Al generative voices, illustrative, video, music and sound software programming.

[0053] In embodiments, important characteristics of the avatar are its empathic conversational chatbot character that may be configured to have evolving levels of synthetic empathy. In embodiments, the chatbot may also be configured to read, compare and analytically discern a need for a particular empathetic type response not only based on vocalics and eye gaze, but also paired with an analysis of past to present biometric level patient data. Use of empathetic content language and vocalics may allow a patient to perceive that the avatar chat-bot Al system is taking others’ points of view, seemingly trying to better understand the patient’s shared emotional experience and / or is viewed as being helpful to the patient by caring about the patient’s needs and expectations being fully understood by the Al system. Empathy by the patient for the Al chat-bot may, in turn, facilitate social human & in / non human bonding and foster an interpersonal relationship over time between the two lived and non-lived entities. In embodiments, the avatar may be configured in a manner that enables patients to develop a bondtoward the character based in part on its long term memory of the patient’s needs and expectations from the system and from its friendly, engaging and likeable, expressions. This feature may be managed using an LLM configuration that evokes one or more of three levels of empathy: cognitive, motivational and emotional empathy. The avatar may recognize and seemingly be perceived as understanding, albeit algorithmically, the emotional state of the patient by reading their nonverbal cues of vocalics, eye gaze when looking at the screen or to the horizon within AR or VR, biometric HR and BP data while in an intra-operative encounter, and in embodiments the inclusion of other sensory capacities such as haptics relative to the pressure of touch to a screen or controller device or within marked world space using non-invasive nonsurgical neurotechnology brain controller interface systems. Patient's recognition of the avatar’s presentation of 'cognitive empathy' may further lead them to accept the avatar as being 'motivational' in its expression of empathy. A patient may begin to accept that the avatar cares and is concerned, even albeit as a representation of the larger system in which it is incorporated. As such, patients may be motivated to want to work collaboratively with the avatar during preprocedure, intra-procedure and post-procedure encounters to reduce anxiety and pain. Having patients' increased belief in the avatar may help the body to work in a more mindful, focused, and systemically connected way with the overall system for anxiety and pain reduction. In embodiments, the avatar may be configured to provide synthetic and perceived cognitive and motivational empathy. Recognition and eventual acceptance by the patient of these two forms of empathy may be, at least in part, viewed by patients as the chatbot expressing a synthetic form of emotional empathy. These perceptions may occur when a patient recognizes the avatar as having the ability to share in their emotions by demonstrating another’s feelings. Embodiments of this type may include a multisensory neural networking Al system which pulls in, draws on and pattern recognizes sights, sounds, touch, spatial awareness, and in embodiments smells and taste. This can then lead a patient to perceive that the Al chatbot is seemingly sharing sensory data in such a manner that alludes to a synthetic ‘feeling’, which when paired with the patient’s feeling, can lead patients to perceive that the human patient and in / non human patient are sharing emotional empathy.

[0054] Embodiments may be created using LLM memory software technologies such as MemGPT technologies for a personalized LLM, including those by organizations that have developed technology useful in vetting, improving upon and analyzing the integrative abilities ofLLM with memory-based technologies. In part, approaches of these types may have a system instruction presented to the personalized LLM which in turn has a writing function that provides a working context to the systems instruction. This can then be placed into a queue for retrieval from an output buffering cloud-based server system. The looped LLM may then use archival storage of personalized shared context specific messaging between user (patient) and LLM (e.g., avatar), allowing the avatar to provide for an extended virtual memory by having a closed looped system whereby it's pulling contextual learning data from another perpetual server source of historical messages stored with the avatar. Systems of these types, such as for example MemGPT, can create a perpetual chat system whereby the Al can manage its own memory storage system. The avatar may then in embodiments engage as a synthetically empathic conversational agent that remembers, reflects and / or dynamically evolves in long-term conversational communication with patients over time, but perhaps more importantly, from pre- to intra- to post-operative experiences.

[0055] In embodiments, the memory based empathic technologies may be coupled with a non invasive brain-computer interface (BCI) communication system that allows patients to use their electro-encephalography (EEG) signals to control the VR or AR device by having it decode a patient’s intentions and sent commands. Embodiments of these types may be useful to patients who are unable to speak while undergoing procedures. This BCI functionality may also be accomplished in a variety of ways, one of which could be through the use of biomechanics with magnetic induction coupling and layering technologies, such as for example with a wearable device.

[0056] Embodiments that incorporate brain computer interfacing technologies, can be incorporated into a pair of normal glasses. Technologies of these types may use EEG sensors to read brain wave activity to determine eye movement, which in turn may be used to move an object or to start an action within an app, VR or AR environment. Integration of these technologies may allow for greater fluidity of interfacing with the avatar, optionally without vocalics, before, during and after procedures. This approach may enhance the interconnected social bond and relationship between the avatar and the patient, which may increase the patient 's acceptance of the avatar’s personalized conversational memory intensive cognitive, motivational, and even perceived emotional characterization of synthetic empathy that comes across as considerate, caring, and compassionate. The avatar may continuously assist patients in reducinghealth care-related anxiety and pain. Because the avatar and Al may be conversing with patients as an Intelligence Assistant handling possible HIPAA protected information, the system may be configured to include an encrypted HIPAA-compliant cloud-based storage system that handles conversational Al for patient engagement. Embodiments may also employ Al to help provide HIPAA-complaint anomaly detection, 256-bit AES encryption and decryption, automated audit trails and risk assessments, data masking, a real-time alert system, incident analysis, NLP text analysis, automatic redacting of sensitive information system, automated reporting and document management and personalized employee related trainings.

[0057] Various modifications and additions can be made to the exemplary embodiments discussed without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. For example, while the embodiments described above refer to particular features, the scope of this disclosure also includes embodiments having different combinations of features and embodiments that do not include all of the described features. Accordingly, the scope of the present disclosure is intended to embrace all such alternatives, modifications, and variations as fall within the scope of the claims, together with all equivalents thereof.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A computer system configured for use in connection with patient anxiety / pain mitigation during healthcare procedures, the computer system including one or more processors and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to: provide, via a user interface, a menu of content objects representative of anxiety / pain mitigation-related content material, wherein the content objects include extended reality objects representative of extended reality content material for anxiety and / or pain mitigation; receive, via the user interface, requests for the content material via user selection of the content objects from the menu, including requests for the extended reality content material via selection of the extended reality objects; retrieve the requested content material, including retrieving the requested extended reality content material; and provide the requested content material, including the requested extended reality content material, to an extended reality hardware component for presentation to the patient via the extended reality hardware component.

2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the extended reality content material includes one or more of augmented reality (AR) content material, virtual reality (VR) content material, or mixed reality (MR) content material.

3. The computer system of claim 2, wherein the extended reality content material includes both visual and audio content.

4. The computer system of claim 1, wherein providing the menu of content objects includes providing a menu including content objects representative of extended reality content material in each of one or more, including all, of (1) a pre-operative category, (2) an intraoperative category, and (3) a post-operative category.

5. The computer system of claim 4, wherein providing the menu of content objects includes providing the menu of content objects via a user interface configured for intra-operative setting use, and wherein the menu of content objects provided via the user interface configured for intra-operative setting use optionally includes the content objects for the intra-operative category, and does not include the content objects for either the pre-operative category or the post-operative category.

6. The computer system of claim 4, wherein providing the menu of content objects includes providing the menu of content objects via a user interface configured for pre-operative setting user and post-operative setting use by a user that is a patient, and wherein the menu of content objects provided via the user interface configured for pre-operative setting use and postoperative setting use optionally includes the content objects for the pre-operative category and the post-operative category, and does not include the content objects for intra-operative category.

7. The computer system of claim 4, wherein providing the menu of content objects includes providing the menu of content objects organized by category headings including one or more of (1) a pre-operative category heading, (2) an intra-operative category heading, and (3) a post operative category heading.

8. The computer system of claim 1, wherein providing the menu of content objects includes providing the menu of content objects via a user interface on a desktop, laptop, or mobile device, optionally a mobile phone, a tablet, or a system-dedicated device, and optionally via an app operating on the mobile device.

9. The computer system of claim 1, wherein providing the menu of content objects includes providing the menu of content objects via a user interface on the extended reality hardware component such as for example VR, AR and MR headsets including displays.

10. The computer system of claim 1, wherein providing the menu of content objects includes providing a visual display of the menu of content objects.11 . The computer system of claim 1 , wherein receiving the requests for content material includes receiving the requests in response to user touch via a touch-actuated user interface.

12. The computer system of claim 1, wherein receiving the requests for content material includes receiving the requests in response to a non-touch user gesture, optionally one or more of an eye gesture, a hand gesture or a voice gesture, via the user interface.

13. The computer system of claim 1, wherein: providing the menu of content objects includes providing a menu including a pain scale; receiving the requests for content material includes receiving a request for the pain scale; retrieving the requested content material includes retrieving the pain scale; and providing the requested content material includes providing the pain scale to the extended reality hardware component for presentation to the patient via the extended reality hardware component.

14. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the memory stores instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to: receive, via the user interface, information representative of a pain level selected by the patient from the pain scale.

15. The computer system of claim 14, wherein: receiving the information representative of the pain level includes receiving the information representative of the pain level in response to a non-touch user gesture, optionally one or more of an eye gesture, a hand gesture or a voice gesture, via the user interface.

16. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the memory stores instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to:provide the received information representative of the pain level to the extended reality hardware component for presentation to the patient via the extended reality hardware component.

17. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the memory stores instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, further causes the processors to: provide the received information representative of the pain level to a display for presentation to a clinician, optionally to a display on a desktop, laptop or mobile device associated with the clinician.

18. The computer system of claim 1, wherein: providing the menu of content objects includes providing a menu including an anxiety scale; receiving the requests for content material includes receiving a request for the anxiety scale; retrieving the requested content material includes retrieving the anxiety scale; and providing the requested content material includes providing the anxiety scale to the extended reality hardware component for presentation to the patient via the extended reality hardware component.

19. The computer system of claim 18, wherein the memory stores instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to: receive, via the user interface, information representative of an anxiety level selected by the patient from the anxiety scale.

20. The computer system of claim 19, wherein: receiving the information representative of the anxiety level includes receiving the information representative of the anxiety level in response to a non-touch user gesture, optionally one or more of an eye gesture, a hand gesture or a voice gesture, via the user interface.21 . The computer system of claim 19, wherein the memory stores instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to: provide the received information representative of the anxiety level to the extended reality hardware component for presentation to the patient via the extended reality hardware component.

22. The computer system of claim 19, wherein the memory stores instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, further causes the processors to: provide the received information representative of the anxiety level to a display for presentation to a clinician, optionally to a display on a desktop, laptop or mobile device of the clinician.

23. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the memory stores instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to: receive patient biometric information, including one or more of heart rate, blood pressure, or oxygen level.

24. The computer system of any of claim 23, wherein the memory stores instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to: provide the biometric information to the extended reality hardware component for presentation to the patient via the extended reality hardware component.

25. The computer system of claim 24, wherein: providing the menu of content objects includes providing a menu including a biometrics request; receiving the requests for content material includes receiving a request for biometrics; and providing the biometric information includes providing the biometrics information in response to the receipt of the request for biometrics.

26. The computer system of claim 23, wherein the memory stores instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, further causes the processors to: provide the biometric information to a display for presentation to a clinician, optionally to a display on a desktop, laptop or mobile device of the clinician.

27. A method for operating a computer system including one or more processors, comprising: provide, by the one or more processors via a clinician and / or patient user interface, a menu of content objects representative of anxiety / pain mitigation-related content material, wherein the content objects include extended reality objects representative of extended reality content material for anxiety and / or pain mitigation; receive, by the one or more processors via the user interface, requests for the content material via user selection of the content objects from the menu, including requests for the extended reality content material via selection of the extended reality objects; retrieve, by the one or more processors, the requested content material, including retrieving the requested extended reality content material; and provide, by the one or more processors, the requested content material, including the requested extended reality content material, to an extended reality hardware component for presentation to the patient via the extended reality hardware component.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising processing information received from the patient by an Al model to enhance the computer system and / or content material.

29. The computer system of any of claims 1-26, wherein the memory stores instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes information received from the patient to be processed by an Al model to enhance the computer system and / or content material.

30. A computer system configured to provide the user interface in accordance with any of claims 1-29, the computer system including one or more processors and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to: receive user information, including one or more of: (1) pain scale information, (2) anxiety level information, (3) biometrics information, optionally one or more of heart rate, blood pressure, or oxygen saturation, (4) vocalics, (5) eye gaze, or (6) haptics, optionally touch pressure; access a trained model based upon the user information, wherein the trained model is configured to provide extended reality content material suggestions; receive the extended reality content material suggestions; and provide one or more of the extended reality content material suggestions via the user interface.

31. The computer system of claim 30, wherein providing the one or more extended reality content material suggestions comprises providing the content material suggestions via an empathetic conversational chatbot.

32. The computer system of claim 31, wherein providing the one or more extended reality content material suggestions comprises providing an empathetic visual avatar.

33. The computer system of claim 31, wherein the trained model comprises one or more of a neural network, a deep learning model, an automated self-healing script model, memory storying Al model, or other forms of a large language model.

34. A method for operating a computer system including one or more processors and memory for storing instructions to train the trained model of any of claims 30-33, comprising: receiving training data associated with each of a plurality of users in connection with a healthcare procedure, the training data for each user including: user healthcare procedure information associated with the user, including one or more of: (1) pain scale information, (2) anxiety level information, (3)biometrics information, optionally one or more of heart rate, blood pressure, or oxygen saturation, (4) vocalics, (5) eye gaze, or (6) haptics, optionally touch pressure; and selected content material information representative of extended reality content material selected by the user; and training the model with the received training data.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the user healthcare procedure information further comprises results information representative of anxiety / pain mitigation achieved in response to presentation to the user of the extended reality content material selected by the user, and wherein the results information optionally includes one or more of (1) pain scale information, (2) anxiety level information, (3) biometrics information, optionally one or more of heart rate, blood pressure, or oxygen saturation, (4) vocalics, (5) eye gaze, or (6) haptics, optionally touch pressure.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein the user healthcare procedure information further comprises satisfaction information representative of the user’s self-reported satisfaction of anxiety / pain mitigation achieved in response to presentation to the user of the extended reality content material selected by the user.

37. The method of claim 34, wherein the user healthcare procedure information further comprises satisfaction information representative of the user’s self-reported satisfaction of anxiety / pain mitigation achieved in response to presentation to the user of the extended reality content material selected by the user.

Images