Medical consultation recommendation assistance device, medical consultation recommendation assistance system, operation method of medical assistance device, and medical assistance program

Abstract

A medical consultation recommendation assistance device according to the present invention comprises: a plurality of user terminals that each include a sensor unit for acquiring vital data of a user; a collection unit that collects pieces of vital data which are not sensitive personal information from among pieces of vital data of a plurality of users acquired by the plurality of user terminals; a vital data distribution detection unit that obtains a distribution of the collected pieces of vital data of the plurality of users; and a display control unit that displays the vital data distribution in a first region of a display screen of each of the user terminals and displays, on the displayed distribution, the vital data collected from that user terminal.

Description

Medical Examination Recommendation Support Device, Medical Examination Recommendation Support System, Operating Method of Medical Support Device, and Medical Support Program

[0001] The present invention relates to a medical examination recommendation support device that recommends optimized health examinations for users, a medical examination recommendation support system, an operating method of a medical support device, and a medical support program.

[0002] In recent years, in the medical field, medical services that provide information for searching medical institutions, reserving doctors, providing health information, managing medical appointments, etc. have become widespread, and the convenience for users when visiting medical institutions has improved. Users judge their own health status and consider using such medical services. When judging their health status, users may use the results of medical examinations.

[0003] For example, triggered by medical examinations held by organizations such as workplaces or local governments, users may be pointed out information about diseases they currently suffer from or may suffer from in the future. Thus, in order to prevent the onset and aggravation of lifestyle-related diseases and maintain health, it is important to undergo medical examinations, receive medical examinations, receive necessary treatments, or take preventive measures. However, there are many people who do not have the opportunity to undergo medical examinations in the first place, and there are also不少 users who are not willing to actively visit medical institutions. Also, simply judging risks based on age, etc., and not visiting a doctor because they are young and do not feel any health problems is common.

[0004] Therefore, for example, Japanese Patent No. 7262979 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 1) discloses obtaining health data indicating a user's health status, data related to the user's health awareness, the environment related to the user's health, the user's knowledge level regarding health, etc., determining the type related to the user's health, and creating a document that allows the user to recognize the user's health status in descending order of the priority to be presented to the user. A document creation device has been proposed.

[0005] Furthermore, Japanese Patent Publication No. 7214174 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 2) proposes a device that outputs advice based on a comparison of recorded biological information, nutritional information, and clinical information with set biological information, target nutritional information, and target clinical information. In the proposal of Patent Document 2, a user healthcare professional can acquire medical information such as the background of dietary therapy, blood pressure measurements, activity information, and other information requiring special consideration by selecting items or entering numerical values ​​for strings or numbers enclosed in boxes.

[0006] By utilizing the proposals in Patent Documents 1 and 2, it is possible to make the user aware of their health status.

[0007] Japanese Patent No. 7262979, Japanese Patent No. 7214174

[0008] However, information automatically acquired by mobile devices, etc., or information acquired through medical interviews, includes sensitive information related to user privacy (personal information requiring special consideration). The proposals in Patent Documents 1 and 2 did not address the priority of such personal information requiring special consideration, and there were issues with personal information. The present invention aims to provide a medical consultation recommendation support device, a medical consultation recommendation support system, a method of operating a medical support device, and a medical support program that enable effective information collection while considering individual privacy, and enable medical support such as encouraging people to undergo health checkups.

[0009] A medical consultation recommendation support device according to one aspect of the present invention comprises: a plurality of user terminals having a sensor unit for acquiring the user's vital data; a collection unit for collecting vital data that does not constitute sensitive personal information from the plurality of users' vital data acquired by each of the plurality of user terminals; a vital data distribution detection unit for determining the distribution of the collected vital data of the plurality of users; and a display control unit for displaying the distribution of the vital data in a first area of ​​the display screen of each of the user terminals, and for displaying on the distribution display a display showing the vital data collected from each user terminal.

[0010] A medical consultation recommendation support system according to one aspect of the present invention comprises: a plurality of user terminals having a sensor unit for acquiring the user's vital data; a collection unit for collecting vital data from a plurality of users acquired by each of the plurality of user terminals, excluding sensitive personal information; a recording unit for recording the vital data collected by the collection unit; a vital data distribution detection unit for determining the distribution of the collected vital data of the plurality of users; a vital trend determination unit for determining the trend of change in the vital data for each user collected from each of the user terminals; a display control unit for displaying the distribution of the vital data in a first area of ​​the display screen of each of the user terminals, and for displaying a display showing the trend of change in the vital data collected from each user terminal on the display of the distribution; and a knowledge database for determining the risk based on the trend of change in the vital data.

[0011] A method of operating a medical support device according to one aspect of the present invention involves acquiring vital data of multiple users using multiple user terminals, collecting vital data from the multiple users acquired by each of the multiple user terminals, excluding sensitive personal information, determining the distribution of the collected vital data of the multiple users, determining the trend of change in the vital data for each user collected from each of the user terminals, displaying the distribution of the vital data in the first area of ​​the display screen of each of the user terminals, and displaying the trend of change in the vital data collected from each user terminal on the display of the distribution.

[0012] A medical support program according to one aspect of the present invention involves causing a computer to perform the following steps: acquire vital data of multiple users using multiple user terminals; collect vital data from the multiple users acquired by each of the multiple user terminals, excluding sensitive personal information; determine the distribution of the collected vital data of the multiple users; determine the trend of change in the vital data for each user collected from each of the user terminals; display the distribution of the vital data in the first area of ​​the display screen of each of the user terminals; and display a display showing the trend of change in the vital data collected from each user terminal on the display of the distribution.

[0013] A method of operating a medical support device according to another aspect of the present invention comprises: a first display step of displaying the temporal distribution of vital data of multiple users in a first area of ​​a display screen; a second display step of displaying the temporal trend of change in the vital data of a specific user on the distribution display so that it can be confirmed; and a step of determining the disease risk based on the trend of change in the vital data of the specific user and displaying a questionnaire display for obtaining questionnaire response information related to the disease in a second area of ​​the display screen different from the first area.

[0014] Another aspect of the present invention involves a method for operating a medical support device that acquires vital data from multiple users using multiple user terminals, performs information processing using the collected vital data from the multiple users so that it can be visualized on a display screen and includes statistical information, displays the information processing results visualizing the distribution of users corresponding to the vital data on the display screen of each user terminal, and displays the changes in the vital data for each user collected from each user terminal on the visualized information processing result display.

[0015] Another aspect of the present invention involves a method for operating a medical support device that, for multiple users other than the user in question, displays a statistical two-axis graph using vital data of two types of items that do not constitute sensitive personal information. The method selects data for items corresponding to the two types of vital data from the vital data of the user in question recorded on the user's personal terminal, and overlays points on the two-axis graph that represent the vital data of the two types of items of the selected individual user.

[0016] According to the present invention, it is possible to collect effective information while considering individual privacy, and to provide medical support such as encouraging people to undergo health checkups.

[0017] This is a block diagram showing a medical consultation support system including a medical consultation recommendation support device according to one embodiment of the present invention. This is a configuration diagram showing an example of the linked device in Figure 1. This is an explanatory diagram showing the estimated number of people with normal vital signs, with vital signs on the horizontal axis and the number of people on the vertical axis, for those who have received a health checkup (solid line) and those who have not received a health checkup (dashed line). This is an explanatory diagram for explaining the information recorded in the constraint / burden DB. This is a flowchart showing the creation flow of a simplified risk inference model. This is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the relationship between vital sign changes and the timing of starting hospital visits, with time on the horizontal axis and predetermined vital signs on the vertical axis. This is an explanatory diagram showing an example of display on the user terminal 10. This is an explanatory diagram showing an example of display on the user terminal 10. This is an explanatory diagram for explaining the data flow in the embodiment. This is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the embodiment.

[0018] Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

[0019] (Embodiment) Figure 1 is a block diagram showing a medical consultation support system including a medical consultation support device according to one embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 is a configuration diagram showing an example of the linked device in Figure 1. This embodiment uses only abstract numerical information of items that users are less hesitant to provide, to monitor the user's health status and provide appropriate medical consultation recommendations. In other words, this embodiment leads to actions such as accessing medical institutions as needed early, even in a pre-illness state, and by determining the results of recording information about individuals, it raises awareness of the need to undergo health checkups, etc., and the need for medical examinations at hospitals.

[0020] Figure 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the predicted number of people with normal vital signs for those who have received a health checkup (solid line) and those who have not (dashed line), with vital signs on the horizontal axis and the number of people on the vertical axis. People who receive a health checkup are more likely to have abnormal vital signs detected through the checkup and are more likely to visit a medical institution. As a result, abnormalities in vital signs are more likely to be suppressed in people who receive a health checkup. On the other hand, people who do not receive a health checkup are less likely to notice abnormalities in their vital signs and are less likely to visit a medical institution, increasing the risk of their vital signs worsening and developing illness.

[0021] Therefore, one possible approach is to use readily available personal vital data to raise awareness among individuals about their disease risks. However, personal information is often sensitive. For example, while a common numbering system that assigns a number to each citizen to manage their information has been implemented in many countries abroad, security concerns vary depending on national characteristics. In some countries, websites where anyone can easily access personal information are in operation, while in others, the system's adoption is hindered by concerns about misuse of personal information by private companies and governments. In Japan, a major reason cited for the low rate of My Number card acquisition is the strong concern about whether personal information will be protected by assigning a number to the card. The Personal Information Protection Act also designates sensitive information such as a person's race, beliefs, social status, medical history, health-related information, and crime-related information as "sensitive personal information," and its acquisition without prior consent is prohibited. Regarding health-related information such as the results of health checkups, health guidance, medical treatment, and prescriptions, it is important to be careful in handling sensitive personal information. Many technologies rely on the use of personal biometric information, but depending on the content of that information, users may refuse to provide it.

[0022] Therefore, in this embodiment, health-related information that does not constitute sensitive personal information is collected from each individual, and the health risks of each user are presented based on changes in each individual's health-related information, etc., using the collected health-related information of multiple users as a baseline. This presentation is shown by the distribution of each individual's health-related information relative to the health-related information of multiple users, and may be displayed, for example, in a relatively large area (hereinafter referred to as the first area) on the display screen of each individual's smartphone.

[0023] Furthermore, in this embodiment, a second area on the display screen, separate from the first area, displays questions for determining disease risk, etc., and a third area, separate from the first and second areas, displays the risks obtained from the answers to the questions. In the second area, sensitive personal information can be entered by the user as needed. Through these displays, users can learn about various risks associated with health risks and gain an opportunity to take necessary measures such as accessing medical institutions. In other words, by providing users with information on health risks while respecting sensitive personal information, it becomes possible to encourage users to access prompt and appropriate medical treatment.

[0024] Individual vital data can be considered as health-related information that can be automatically and sequentially acquired by mobile devices such as smartphones and smartwatches. In this specification, vital data (data representing "vital signs" that indicate a person is alive, often referring mainly to pulse, blood pressure, and body temperature) includes not only data on body temperature, pulse, blood pressure, and respiration, but also various health-related information such as steps taken and sleep duration (these also indicate that a person is alive or are numerical evidence of that). Furthermore, vital data acquired by mobile devices may also include, for example, heart rate, respiratory rate, stress level, blood oxygen saturation, calorie consumption, body temperature, blood pressure, electrocardiogram, electromyogram, and blood glucose level. As such, the health-related information that can be obtained by mobile devices is diverse, so it is assumed that it is possible to acquire vital data for multiple items.

[0025] In Figure 1, the medical consultation recommendation support system 1 includes a plurality of user terminals 10 and a server 20, and a recording unit 30, an in-hospital system 40, and a knowledge database 50 that constitute a coordinating device 60, and is configured by coordinating with each other. In this embodiment, the medical consultation recommendation support device is configured by the server 20, but the medical consultation recommendation support device may also be configured by the user terminals 10, or the medical consultation recommendation support device may be configured by the cooperation of the user terminals 10 and the server 20.

[0026] The user terminal 10 is, for example, owned by the user themselves and carried around daily for operation, information input, and information verification. Since it will be used by many people, multiple terminals are envisioned, and although Figure 1 shows two user terminals 10, it is envisioned that multiple user terminals 10 will be used that can cooperate with the server 20 as a collection unit and build big data depending on the scale of the service. In other words, the simplest user terminal 10 could be, for example, a smartphone, but various information processing terminals such as smartwatches, tablets, personal computers and their accessories can also be used. The smartphone may also cooperate with peripheral devices, and it is envisioned that data recorded in the user terminal's internal memory or in the linked external memory will be effectively utilized according to the results of user input and settings. Recently, technologies have been developed that allow individuals to manage their own medical information and health checkup information. Such terminal devices can input and utilize various data through application software (software designed for a specific use or purpose; by installing this on the device via a network, etc., the user can activate functions that cooperate with the device's hardware) recorded in their memory.

[0027] Mobile devices are owned by individuals through contracts with telecommunications service providers, etc., after verifying the identity of the subscriber and user, and processing payment procedures such as credit card information. They are designed for individual use, and various types of information are linked to the device. Therefore, much of the information obtained through mobile devices should be protected as sensitive personal information. Furthermore, the various functions of mobile devices are not solely based on contracts with the aforementioned telecommunications service providers, etc. They are also connected to internet service providers and their intermediary service providers under certain conditions during the setup process, and when using various services connected via the internet, contracts are made with the providers of these services. These contracts may each contain clauses related to privacy (sensitive personal information). Moreover, the protection of sensitive personal information is a legal requirement, and care must be taken to avoid disclosing information that could reveal facts about one's private life to others, information that the individual would not want to be made public, or information that is not yet known to the general public. In other words, the user and various service providers work together to protect sensitive personal information. Furthermore, as mentioned earlier, service providers of application software often enter into contracts with users regarding the handling of data as a condition of using the software.

[0028] Therefore, in this embodiment, the user terminal 10 may include sensitive personal information when collecting information using the user terminal 10, but it is configured so that sensitive personal information is not included in the information output externally without the user's permission. In the user terminal 10, sensitive personal information is defined by contracts with each service provider, such as the telecommunications service provider. In addition, the telecommunications service provider and the application provider may be the same, or even if they are different, they may confirm the contract regarding sensitive information with the user when they cooperate to provide services or when the user uses the application. In other words, even if the telecommunications service provider handles sensitive information, it is possible to make it so that the application provider cannot identify it through processing such as anonymization. Careful consideration is given to this when exchanging data, and processing is done so that sensitive information is not transmitted to the data recipient. In other words, it is made so that users of each terminal cannot identify other users based on the display on their own terminal. In this way, although it is desirable to statistically utilize the vital data of multiple users acquired by multiple user terminals, it is considered that this vital data itself and related data may be sensitive personal information, and vital data that does not fall under the category of sensitive personal information is handled. It is permissible to exclude sensitive personal information, employ methods such as anonymization, and select vital data. In other words, it is permissible to collect and utilize vital data that does not fall under the category of sensitive personal information.

[0029] In Figure 1, the user terminal 10 includes a control unit 11, a recording unit 12, an input unit 13, a display unit 14, a communication unit 15, and an application unit 16. Each part of the user terminal 10, such as the control unit 11, may be composed of a processor using a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), or an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), and may control each part by operating according to a program stored in a memory (not shown), or some or all of the functions may be realized by hardware electronic circuits.

[0030] The input unit 13 of the user terminal 10 may consist of an input operation unit such as a keyboard or touchpad, or it may consist of various interfaces for receiving data from external sources. The input unit 13 acquires operation information based on user operations and information from external sources. For example, the input unit 13 can also acquire response information to a medical questionnaire through text input or voice input by the user.

[0031] The sensor unit 13a is an interface device for acquiring various types of information. For example, the sensor unit 13a may consist of various sensors such as a heart rate sensor, an accelerometer and gyroscope, GPS (Global Positioning System), a temperature sensor, a skin electrical activity sensor, and a blood oxygen concentration sensor. The input unit 13 is controlled by the control unit 11 to automatically and sequentially acquire vital data, which is health-related information. This sensor unit 13a does not need to be built into a user terminal such as a smartphone; it may be a separate wearable terminal such as a smartwatch or glasses, and may function as a single terminal by linking with the user terminal via wireless communication. There are also non-wearable health-related devices such as blood pressure monitors and scales, which can also exchange data in a similar manner, and such devices can be represented as part of the user terminal. Furthermore, in recent years, technologies have been developed that allow users to check the results of health checkups, medical records from medical examinations, and medication information on their user terminals. In some cases, the communication of such vital data is governed by communication standards that define protocols, methods for organizing content, and encryption rules.

[0032] The input unit 13, including the sensor unit 13a, enables measurement of heart rate and its variability, step count and exercise tracking, sleep monitoring, tracking of running and cycling and acquisition of routes by acquiring location information, monitoring of body temperature, evaluation of stress levels and relaxation levels by measuring skin electrical activity, and measurement of blood oxygen concentration.

[0033] Furthermore, the sensor unit 13a may be configured as a camera. For example, if the sensor unit 13a is configured as a camera, the sensor unit 13a can capture images of the user's skin condition, such as rashes, and the images from the camera can be used as health-related information. Users often receive various health information in paper form, such as medical records, prescriptions, claims, and health checkup results from medical institutions. However, by using the character recognition function of the terminal to capture images of these documents with this camera, it is possible to import this health information as digital data into the user terminal.

[0034] The control unit 11 receives user inputs to the input unit 13 and controls various parts of the user terminal 10 based on those inputs. The application unit 16, controlled by the control unit 11, can read and execute applications from a memory (not shown).

[0035] The control unit 11 records the vital data acquired by the input unit 13 in the recording unit 12. The recording unit 12 is composed of a predetermined recording medium such as a memory medium, and various vital data of the user (Vital1A, Vital2A..., Vital1B, Vital2B..., ...) are recorded in it along with date and time information. In addition, the recording unit 12 may also contain profile information of the user who possesses the user terminal 10, including information such as name, age, gender, nationality, height, and weight, which is recorded by the control unit 11.

[0036] The display unit 14 is composed of, for example, an LCD (liquid crystal panel) and a speaker. The display unit 14 is controlled by the control unit 11 to display various information on the display screen and output sound. For example, the display unit 14 can display information based on the operating system executed by the control unit 11, or display information based on the application executed by the control unit 11.

[0037] The communication unit 15, controlled by the control unit 11, enables data exchange between the user terminal 10 and the server 20, thereby enabling cooperation between the user terminal 10 and the server 20. For example, the communication unit 15 outputs vital data recorded in the recording unit 12 to the server 20. The control unit 11 transmits vital data, excluding sensitive personal information, from health-related information to the server 20. In this way, vital data from each user terminal 10 is collected by the server 20. In this embodiment, as will be described later, the distribution of vital data acquired from all user terminals 10 is calculated and presented to the user, and vital data that allows for the collection of as much data as possible may be selected as the target of collection.

[0038] Furthermore, the communication unit 15 acquires display information from the server 20 and outputs it to the control unit 11. As will be described later, the communication unit 15 can acquire information from the knowledge database 50 via the server 20, but it may also communicate directly with the knowledge database 50. The knowledge database 50 stores "knowledge" about health and disease as data and organizes it in an easy-to-search format. It can be used by doctors and medical professionals to help diagnose patients based on their health status and to confirm treatment methods. The database information can also be enriched using information from the user terminal, and each user can access this information (via the server 20 in this embodiment) to self-manage their own health status. By using the server 20, it becomes possible to organize user data and reflect it in the database, and when providing information to users, it is possible to change specialized content into expressions that are easy for the general public to understand.

[0039] The communication unit 15 receives information on the distribution of vital data (hereinafter referred to as vital distribution information) and information on changes in the vital data of an individual using the user terminal 10 (hereinafter referred to as vital change information) from the server 20 and provides it to the application unit 16. The application unit 16 generates display data for displaying the vital distribution display based on the vital distribution information and vital change information provided by the server 20 in the first area on the display screen of the display unit 14 and outputs it to the display unit 14.

[0040] The application unit 16 for displaying the distribution is envisioned to be a program or hardware that can implement or integrate with the functions of spreadsheet software, numerical calculation software, statistical software, graph creation software, etc., which are already widely available on the market. For example, the application unit 16 is envisioned to have the functionality to process information such as the density of plot areas for items, series, and their targets (data sources) on the screen, including statistical information, when numerical values ​​are entered into input areas corresponding to each item according to defined rules (for example, whether the data source for each numerical value is large or small, or the trend of change). This information can be visualized using heatmaps, bar graphs, 3D graphs, scatter plots, etc. Statistical analysis refers to the quantitative and unified visualization of the trends and properties of a group by analyzing the distribution of individual elements within that group. The resulting numerical values ​​are called statistics. The application unit 16 is not limited to two axes; it may also display values ​​as histograms or use three axes (such as a 3D scatter plot).

[0041] In other words, the application unit 16 can display visualized information processing results, such as whether there are many or few users corresponding to each vital data value, and the approximate number of users corresponding to each vital data value. This visualized information processing result display could be the numerical values ​​themselves or include numerical values, but it is envisioned to include illustrations that use colors to represent the number corresponding to each value, or icons and their changes to represent the number corresponding to each value by size or other means. This information processing result display makes it possible for users to intuitively grasp, recognize, and understand the overall situation in an easy-to-understand manner. Health-related information, in particular, may require prompt action, so clear communication is important.

[0042] That is, for other people (multiple users) other than the user, by performing a statistical two-axis graph display using vital data of two types of items that do not fall under the personal information requiring consideration, the user can avoid handling unnecessary information, and at the same time, it enables easy visualization of data through statistical processing. Note that the two-axis graph is exemplified because it is easy to arrange and display on a flat display. A one-axis display may also be used, but it will only provide information from a specific perspective and be less persuasive. Also, a display with three or more axes may be used, but there is a possibility that the readability will be reduced due to an increase in the amount of information and the complexity of the display on a two-dimensional flat display.

[0043] Regarding the display of information of multiple users where such a statistical distribution is easy to understand, information regarding users within a narrowed range in a specific classification such as a profile may also be used. For example, the information may be limited by gender, age, the area where one lives, location, or a specific period. For example, when becoming an older user, there are those who do not want to be compared with younger people, and there are also those who are confident in their physical strength and want to maintain their youth. Also, people who commute by private car, etc. tend to have fewer steps than those who use public transportation, and during hot summer periods, there is also a tendency for the sleep time to be shortened due to restlessness in sleep because they tend to refrain from going out. Furthermore, even for the same person, activities and sleep change depending on the day. Since most people should be healthy, by collecting data from many people, it becomes easier to understand one's own health condition through comparison with one's own data. Also, by collecting a large amount of data for users with various circumstances, it is considered that individual circumstances will be leveled out.

[0044] This embodiment proposes an operation method of a medical support device, which is characterized in that for the above-described display (two-axis graph) using data of many users, data corresponding to the above two types (exemplified) of vital data is selected from the vital data of the user himself / herself recorded by the personal terminal of the user, and points indicating the two types of (item) vital data of the selected user individual are superimposed and displayed on the above two-axis graph.

[0045] Collect data from many users so that, by recognizing the differences from the situations presented by many people, the user can judge whether they are biased and can be treated as a set that does not only compare with the special cases included therein as much as possible.

[0046] Also, when looking at time-series changes and the like in the display of this embodiment, if the overall image (such as the average value, variance, standard deviation, etc.) changes, it may indicate that something like an infectious disease is spreading, which can be a reference when grasping the situation of the world. To enable such usage, the user may be able to operate the terminal to classify or display in time series (such as arranging or animating in a video). Also, since there are daily differences in the user's life, a method of displaying the average value may be used, or the average may be calculated weekly to display the time-series changes. Depending on the user's settings, the graph may be changed to various display modes.

[0047] In addition, the memory referred to by the application unit 16 is also provided with an inference model constructed by the knowledge database 50 described later. This inference model is created in the knowledge database 50 based on information from the in-hospital system 40 described later regarding what changes in vital data occurred in people who became frequent hospital visitors due to illness, and it is for inferring the risk of illness and the like for changes in vital data.

[0048] The application unit 16 as the inference unit uses such an inference model to obtain the risk of illness and the like for vital change information, generates display data for displaying the obtained risk (simple risk display), and outputs it to the display unit 14. The display unit 14 has a second region and a third region in addition to the first region for displaying the vital distribution display. The display unit 14 displays the vital distribution display and the simple risk display in the first region and the third region of the display screen, respectively, and displays the questionnaire display described later in the second region.

[0049] The simplified risk display is obtained by the application unit 16 within the user terminal 10 and is a display that briefly explains the risk, for example, displayed in text. The simplified risk display is a display that shows the user health risks, which may encourage them to request a more detailed risk display (hereinafter referred to as the detailed risk display), or it may be an effective display that provides initial motivation for visiting a medical institution or undergoing a health checkup. For example, the simplified risk display may display health risks in stages, or it may display the name of a disease that can be considered from vital sign change information and indicate whether or not there is a possibility of risk for that disease, or it may recommend visiting a medical institution. The simplified risk display and the detailed risk display will show at least one burden (risk) for the user or the user's family, which includes time burden, physical burden, mental burden, and economic burden.

[0050] The risk determination unit 11a of the control unit 11 provides a more detailed risk display (detailed risk display) than the simplified risk display. For detailed risk display, the risk determination unit 11a displays the medical questionnaire in the second area of ​​the display screen. When the user inputs answers to the medical questionnaire, the risk determination unit 11a acquires the medical questionnaire response information. The medical questionnaire response information provided by the user may include sensitive personal information. Furthermore, if the input unit 13 is equipped with a camera as a sensor unit 13a, the risk determination unit 11a may be able to acquire images captured by the camera as medical questionnaire response information. For example, images obtained by photographing skin conditions such as rashes may be used as medical questionnaire response information. The risk determination unit 11a transmits the medical questionnaire response information via the communication unit 15.

[0051] This questionnaire response information is transmitted to the communication unit 52 of the knowledge database 50 via the server 20. As will be described later, the knowledge database 50 generates risk information for displaying detailed risks based on the questionnaire response information. The knowledge database 50 supplies the generated risk information to the user terminal 10 via the server 20. The risk determination unit 11a displays a detailed risk display corresponding to the risk information in the third area of ​​the display screen.

[0052] The server 20 includes a control unit 21 and communication units 22, 23, and 24. The control unit 21 may be composed of a processor using a CPU, GPU, FPGA, etc., and may operate according to a program stored in memory (not shown) to control each part, or it may implement some or all of its functions with hardware electronic circuits. The communication unit 22 communicates with the communication unit 15 to exchange data between the control unit 11 and the control unit 21. The communication unit 23 communicates with the communication unit 31 of the recording unit 30, and the communication unit 24 communicates with the communication unit 52 of the knowledge database 50.

[0053] The control unit 21 includes a terminal display control unit 21a, a vital data distribution detection unit 21b, a vital trend determination unit 21c, a patient risk search unit 21d, and a family risk search unit 21e.

[0054] The communication unit 22 communicates with the communication unit 15 of the user terminal 10 to obtain information recorded in the recording unit 12 of the user terminal 10, that is, vital data of the user who owns the user terminal 10, excluding sensitive personal information. Although sensitive personal information is to be excluded from the vital data, sensitive personal information may be included due to communication standards or other factors. In this case, the server 20 may delete this part of the information, or instead of direct communication, an intermediary may be used to anonymize or remove sensitive information from the data. The server control may also include "sensitive personal information control," and this information may be used appropriately depending on the situation to enable effective information input into the knowledge base 50. Information communication of vital data may have rules such as protocols, content organization methods, and encryption determined by communication standards, and while complying with these standards, unnecessary information should not be transmitted by selecting or restricting data prior to communication. The communication unit 22 may also acquire vital data from all user terminals 10 equipped with the communication unit 15, for example, in a time-division multiplexing manner at a predetermined period. The control unit 21 provides the vital data acquired from each user terminal 10 to the recording unit 30 for recording, and also processes the received vital data.

[0055] The recording unit 30 is comprised of a recording device equipped with a predetermined recording medium. The recording unit 30 may also be comprised of a service provider offering cloud services over a network.

[0056] The control unit 21 determines which user terminal 10 the received vital data originated from based on the ID assigned to each user terminal 10. When recording in the recording unit 30, the control unit 21 records the data with, for example, the ID of the user terminal 10 so that it is clear which user terminal 10 the received vital data originated from. Note that in Figure 2, for the sake of simplicity, only the recording area for vital data from one user terminal 10 is shown, but the recording unit 30 has a recording area for vital data from all user terminals 10. For example, as shown in Figure 2, the recording unit 30 has recording areas for each vital data (Vital1, Vital2, ...) in the recording area of ​​each user terminal 10, and records the vital data acquired sequentially (acquisition timing 1, acquisition timing 2, ...) in each of these areas. In this way, vital data is accumulated in the recording unit 30 for each user terminal 10. The recording unit 30 also records health blog information provided by each user terminal 10.

[0057] The vital data distribution detection unit 21b of the control unit 21 determines the distribution of vital data collected from all user terminals 10 (vital data distribution) from the vital data collected from each user terminal 10 and the vital data recorded in the recording unit 30, and generates vital distribution information that shows the vital data distribution.

[0058] The vital trend determination unit 21c determines a vital trend, which indicates the trend of changes in vital data, from multiple time-sequentially consecutive vital data obtained from a specific user terminal 10 via the recording unit 30, and generates vital change information indicating the vital trend. The vital trend determination unit 21c obtains vital change information for all user terminals 10. The vital change information allows us to understand the vital trend of each individual possessing a user terminal 10.

[0059] The terminal display control unit 21a displays the vital data distribution on each user terminal 10 and generates display information to show each individual's vital trends on each user terminal 10 in accordance with the vital data distribution. The display information includes vital distribution information and vital change information, and the terminal display control unit 21a supplies the generated display information to the user terminal 10. The control unit 11 of the user terminal 10 receives this display information and can display the vital distribution in the first area of ​​the display screen of the display unit 14.

[0060] The patient risk search unit 21d receives the questionnaire response information from the risk assessment unit 11a and provides the questionnaire response information to the knowledge database 50 via the communication unit 24 in order to search for patient risks based on the questionnaire response information. The patient risk search unit 21d also provides the patient risk information supplied from the knowledge database 50 to the user terminal 10 via the communication unit 22.

[0061] The family risk search unit 21e receives the questionnaire response information from the risk assessment unit 11a and provides the questionnaire response information to the knowledge database 50 via the communication unit 24 in order to search for family risks based on the questionnaire response information. The family risk search unit 21e also provides the family risk information supplied from the knowledge database 50 to the user terminal 10 via the communication unit 22.

[0062] In other words, the server 20 relays the medical questionnaire response information from the user terminal 10 to the knowledge database 50, and also relays patient risk information and family risk information from the knowledge database 50 to the user terminal 10. Therefore, since the server 20 only relays information between the user terminal 10 and the knowledge database 50, it does not grasp the content of sensitive personal information that may be included in the medical questionnaire response information. As mentioned above, data may also be exchanged directly between the user terminal 10 and the knowledge database 50.

[0063] In Figure 2, the hospital system 40 includes a reservation reception unit 41, a prescription unit 42, an accounting unit 43, and a record-keeping unit 44. The reservation reception unit 41 accepts reservations for medical consultations and manages the date and time of each patient's consultation. The prescription unit 42 manages prescriptions for each patient. The accounting unit 43 manages medical expenses for each patient. The information managed by the reservation reception unit 41, the prescription unit 42, and the accounting unit 43 is recorded in the record-keeping unit 44.

[0064] The recording unit 44 also records facility management information, physician information, medical record information, various AI model information, and patient information. Facility management information is information for managing facilities within the hospital. Physician information is information about multiple physicians working in the hospital, including, for example, physician IDs to identify physicians, skill information related to physicians, and physician schedule information (attendance information). Medical record information is information about each patient's medical record, including the presence and condition of lesions, treatment methods, and prescriptions. Various AI model information is information about models that build various AIs to assist physicians in diagnosis. Patient information includes patient IDs to identify patients, and various information about each patient, such as patient visit history, prescription history, attending physician, profile information, and appointment information. For example, medical record information also includes vital data for each patient acquired at the hospital. The hospital system 40 may also be able to acquire patient vital data from the recording unit 30, and this vital data is also included in the medical record information. Various data recorded in the recording unit 44 of the hospital system 40 are supplied to the knowledge database 50.

[0065] The knowledge database 50 is a database that holds medical knowledge and could be established, for example, in a public institution such as a national government or a university. The information held by the knowledge database 50 is medical diagnostic information that can be used for medical diagnosis. In Figure 2, the knowledge database 50 includes a control unit 51, a communication unit 52, a case database (DB) 53, a trend analysis unit 54, and a disease dictionary 55. The control unit 51 and the trend analysis unit 54 may be composed of a processor using a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or the like.

[0066] The control unit 51 operates in cooperation with external devices and manages the case database 53. The communication unit 52 communicates with the communication unit 24 via a predetermined transmission path to exchange data. The control unit 51 receives various information to be recorded in the case database 53 from the hospital system 40 and constructs the case database 53.

[0067] Case DB 53 stores information for each patient. Case DB 53 records various vital signs (Vital1, Vital2, ...), information related to medical history and diagnosis, age, sex, medical history, and other information such as medical records. Disease Dictionary 55 holds knowledge information based on the information in Case DB 53. Disease Dictionary 55 records information on disease-specific symptoms, medical history and treatment, etc., as knowledge information. For example, regarding symptoms, knowledge information for each disease is stored across a wide range of items, including fever, cough, sputum, shortness of breath, sore throat, runny nose, muscle pain / joint pain, chills / shivering, fatigue / lethargy, headache, diarrhea, taste / smell disorders, etc. Furthermore, by using the disease-specific questionnaires and treatment information recorded in the Disease Dictionary 55, medical institutions can be provided with information on what kind of questionnaires should be asked for each symptom, as well as medical diagnostic information regarding appropriate treatments for those symptoms.

[0068] In other words, the control unit 51 of the knowledge database 50 can respond to external sources via the communication unit 52 with medical diagnostic information in accordance with the information recorded in the disease dictionary 55. For example, when information such as the affected area, onset symptoms, subjective symptoms, and various causal information is received from a predetermined sender via the communication unit 52, the control unit 51 can transmit medical diagnostic information regarding treatment information, progress information, and representative patient cases to the information sender based on the information in the disease dictionary 55. Alternatively, when information on the affected area and subjective symptoms is received from the sender, the control unit 51 can also respond with medical diagnostic information regarding the corresponding onset symptoms and disease name. The control unit 51 may also be configured to transmit medical diagnostic information to the user terminal 10 in accordance with a request from the user terminal 10.

[0069] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the disease dictionary 55 is provided with a constraints and burdens database (DB). The constraints and burdens DB contains information on various constraints and burdens for each disease. These burdens include, for example, time burdens, physical burdens, mental burdens, and economic burdens. The constraints and burdens DB is constructed based on the results of analysis performed by the trend analysis unit 54.

[0070] Figure 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the information recorded in the constraints and burdens database. Figure 4 shows some of the items of registered information regarding constraints and burdens. As shown in Figure 4, each record contains information on items such as disease, stage, sex, age, estimated duration of hospital visits, estimated frequency of hospital visits, estimated treatment costs, 5-year survival rate, estimated life expectancy, and family risk. Age is divided into three categories: under 40, 50s and 60s, and 70s and over. The control unit 51 can determine the risk for each disease, stage, sex, and age by referring to the constraints and burdens database.

[0071] The trend analysis unit 54 analyzes the potential constraints and burdens arising from changes in vital data based on the information in the case database 53. The trend analysis unit 54 records the analysis results for each case's diagnosis. Figure 2 shows only two examples, diagnosis C and D. For each diagnosis, the trend analysis unit 54 obtains information on the frequency of hospital visits, the number of hospital visits, the start date of high-frequency hospital visits, the changes in vital signs before the start of high-frequency hospital visits, and constraint / burden information. The trend analysis unit 54 analyzes the relationship between hospital visits and changes in vital signs from the diagnosis results for each patient. The frequency of hospital visits is information on the number of hospital visits in a predetermined period, such as one month, and the number of hospital visits is information on the number of hospital visits that started due to the onset of the disease. The start date of high-frequency hospital visits is the time of the first hospital visit when the frequency of hospital visits becomes higher than a predetermined threshold (hereinafter referred to as high-frequency hospital visits). The trend analysis unit 54 obtains vital sign changes leading up to hospital visits, vital sign changes after hospital visits, and vital sign changes before high-frequency hospital visits begin. The trend analysis unit 54 analyzes the relationship between vital sign changes and hospital visits, and the relationship between vital sign changes before frequent hospital visits and frequent hospital visits, and obtains information on patient constraints and burdens based on the analysis results. Based on this information, the constraints and burdens database of the disease dictionary 55 is constructed.

[0072] When the control unit 51 receives questionnaire response information from the user terminal 10, it refers to the constraint / burden DB of the disease dictionary 55 to generate various risk information such as patient risk and family risk, and outputs it from the communication unit 52. For example, based on the questionnaire response information, the control unit 51 can provide the user terminal 10 with patient risks such as the required hospitalization period and the severity of the disease. Also, for example, based on the questionnaire response information, the control unit 51 can provide the user terminal 10 with family risks such as the economic burden on the family. The user terminal 10 displays a detailed risk display based on this risk information.

[0073] (Inference Model) In the knowledge database 50, in order to create risk information for detailed risk display, the user needs to provide questionnaire response information that includes sensitive personal information. In this embodiment, with consideration for sensitive personal information, sensitive personal information is handled as much as possible within the user terminal 10, and a simplified risk display is performed as a risk display that does not use sensitive personal information before the detailed risk display is performed. By performing the inference for this simplified risk display in the application unit 16 of the user terminal 10, it is not necessary to output sensitive personal information to an external source. The inference model used for this inference may be created, for example, in the inference model creation unit 56 of the knowledge database 50.

[0074] The inference model creation unit 56 in Figure 1 creates an inference model for making risk judgments. The inference model created by the inference model creation unit 56 is used in the application unit 16 of the user terminal 10. For example, the inference model creation unit 56 learns by providing the network with training data obtained by annotating risk to a series of vital data. By performing training on the network with a large amount of training data, such as deep learning, the network design of the network is determined so that an output corresponding to the input is obtained. Through such learning, the network obtains a simple risk inference model that infers risk in response to changes in a series of vital data. The simple risk inference model created by the inference model creation unit 56 is used in the application unit 16 of the user terminal 10.

[0075] Figure 5 is a flowchart showing the flow of creating a simplified risk inference model. Figure 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of the relationship between changes in vital signs and the timing of starting hospital visits, with time on the horizontal axis and predetermined vital sign values ​​on the vertical axis.

[0076] In Figure 6, we assume body temperature as a vital sign. Figure 6 shows that body temperature gradually increases over time. The user becomes aware of a deterioration in their health due to the rise in body temperature. Based on this perceived symptom, the user decides to visit a medical institution for a diagnosis. In other words, the example in Figure 6 shows that changes in vital data can be used to infer whether or not it is advisable to visit a medical institution.

[0077] In the example shown in Figure 5, the inference model creation unit 56 estimates the risk that a patient will need to visit the hospital frequently due to a given disease, by using information on vital changes before the patient began to visit the hospital frequently. In S1 to S3, the inference model creation unit 56 searches for information on vital changes for similar symptoms or similar diagnoses (hereinafter, for simplicity, these may be referred to as similar symptoms) from the patient information recorded in the case database 53. Specifically, in S1, the inference model creation unit 56 selects patients who have visited the hospital twice a month or more for similar symptoms. Furthermore, from the selected patients, the inference model creation unit 56 selects patients who have visited the hospital for two months or more (high frequency visits) for similar symptoms (S2). For example, in a situation where a patient visits the hospital for two months or more, the burden (risk) on the patient's life is considered to be relatively large, so in Figure 5, high frequency visits are defined as visits for two months or more, but this is not the only definition. The inference model creation unit 56 searches for information on vital changes before the onset of similar symptoms from the case database 53 (S3).

[0078] The inference model creation unit 56 determines whether the amount of data from the search results is sufficient to create an inference model (S4). If it is not sufficient (NO in S4), the inference model creation unit 56 determines whether there are other disease candidates (other similar symptoms) (S5). If there are other disease candidates (YES in S5), the inference model creation unit 56 selects a group of patients with the other disease (S6) and returns to processing S1. If there are no other disease candidates (NO in S5), the inference model creation unit 56 terminates processing.

[0079] If the inference model creation unit 56 determines that there is a sufficient amount of data (YES in S4), it uses the data set to create vital sign change information for candidate patients with frequent hospital visits, categorized by symptom and diagnosis (S7). The inference model creation unit 56 annotates the vital sign changes of candidate patients with frequent hospital visits with symptoms or diagnostic results to create training data (S8). The inference model creation unit 56 performs training using the created training data. The inference model created by the inference model creation unit 56 estimates the risk of frequent hospital visits due to vital sign changes for each predetermined symptom (disease).

[0080] The inference model creation unit 56 determines whether reliable learning has been achieved through learning using the accumulated training data (S9). If the inference model creation unit 56 determines that reliable learning has not been achieved (NO in S9), it determines whether or not the training data can be selected (S10), and if not, it terminates the process. If the inference model creation unit 56 determines that the training data can be selected (YES in S10), it selects the data and returns the process to S7.

[0081] If the inference model creation unit 56 determines in S9 that it has achieved highly reliable learning, it creates an inference model based on the network design obtained through learning. This inference model (simplified risk inference model) infers the risk (high frequency of hospital visits) for vital changes for each similar symptom. After the inference model creation unit 56 converts guide information about vital changes highly associated with the disease into text (S14), it terminates processing. This text conversion makes it easier for the user to recognize the risks associated with vital changes. For example, if influenza is suspected as the disease based on the vital changes, the guide information can present the risks, such as the need for several days of rest, in text format.

[0082] The knowledge database 50 also includes an image inference unit 57. Images may be included in the medical questionnaire response information from the user terminal 10. The image inference unit 57 infers the risk for displaying a detailed risk indicator for the images included in the medical questionnaire response information. For example, the image inference unit 57 learns by providing the network with training data obtained by annotating the risk of the images included in the medical questionnaire response information. The network design is determined so that the network can obtain an output corresponding to the input by performing training on a large amount of training data, such as deep learning. Through such learning, the network obtains a risk inference model that infers the risk according to the input image. The image inference unit 57 infers the risk of the images included in the medical questionnaire response information using the created risk inference model. This inference result is provided to the user terminal 10 by the control unit 51.

[0083] (Operation) Next, the operation of the embodiment configured as described above will be explained with reference to Figures 7 to 9. Figures 7 and 8 are explanatory diagrams showing an example of display on the user terminal 10. Figure 9 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the data flow in the embodiment, and Figure 10 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the embodiment. Note that the example in Figure 10 shows an example in which the user terminal 10 and the server 20 cooperate to create data for display on the display screen of the display unit 14 of the user terminal 10, but the user terminal 10 or the server 20 may create the data for display by themselves.

[0084] In this embodiment, the user terminal 10 automatically acquires vital data of the user of the user terminal 10 (hereinafter referred to as the terminal user) and displays a vital distribution display based on the vital data of many users and the vital data of the terminal user. This vital distribution display is performed in S20 and S21 of Figure 10. As shown in Figure 9, the recording unit 12 of the user terminal 10 has an information sharing area 12a and a personal management area 12b. The information sharing area 12a may be configured to record vital data excluding sensitive personal information, but sensitive personal information may be included due to communication standards or other factors. In this case, the server 20 or the recording unit 30 may delete the information in this part, or an intermediary may be brought in to perform anonymization or data processing to remove sensitive information. The control unit 11 of the user terminal 10 reads the selected vital data excluding sensitive personal information from the information sharing area 12a for the vital distribution display and outputs it to the server 20. The user terminal 10 outputs vital data at predetermined intervals, but may also output vital data in accordance with requests from the server 20.

[0085] Vital data output from the user terminal 10 is transmitted to the recording unit 30 via the server 20 and recorded. The server 20 reads the vital data from the user terminal 10 and the vital data recorded in the recording unit 30 to generate vital distribution information and vital change information. The vital data distribution detection unit 21b and vital trend determination unit 21c of the server 20 determine the distribution and vital trend of each terminal user by considering the type of data, using the latest data (including the current state) as needed, from the group of vital data obtained from each terminal within a specific time range. The terminal display control unit 21a graphs the determined vital distribution and vital trend.

[0086] For example, the terminal display control unit 21a generates display information to overlay a display showing the vital trends of the terminal user onto a graph display showing the distribution of vital data acquired from all user terminals 10, and outputs this information to the user terminal 10. The server 20 may output the display information at predetermined intervals, such as every morning or once a week. The application unit 16 of the user terminal 10 displays the vital distribution display based on the vital distribution information and vital change information provided by the server 20 in the first area of ​​the display screen of the display unit 14.

[0087] (Terminal Display) In the display example shown in Figure 7, the display screen 14a of the display unit 14 of the user terminal 10 includes a display area R1 for displaying vital distribution, a display area R2 for displaying medical history, and a display area R3 for displaying simplified risk information and detailed risk information. In Figure 7, for the sake of simplicity, the display area R1 shows the extent to which the data from the data source is scattered. However, as mentioned above, vital distribution information may be more useful if the density of the data source is also displayed, and the display method may be changed depending on the situation or the user and service settings. The first area, display area R1, occupies a relatively large area of ​​the display screen 14a because it displays a vital distribution display that shows the vital distribution in graph form. In the example in Figure 7, the display area R1 displays a distribution display H1 (shaded area) that shows the distribution of vital data of steps and sleep time obtained from all user terminals 10, with the number of steps on the horizontal axis and sleep time on the vertical axis. The three circles in the distribution display H1 plot the vital values ​​of the user's step count and sleep time on the user terminal 10, and the arrows connecting the circles indicate the order in which the vital values ​​change. In other words, in the example in Figure 7, the vital values ​​of the user's step count and sleep time change to the positions of the blank circle, the diagonal circle, and the filled circle (latest data). That is, the vital values ​​of this user gradually deviate from the normal range defined by the rectangular frame, and move from the center to the edges of the distribution display H1 for many users.

[0088] The application unit 16, which displays the distribution, can process information so that statistical information can be visualized on the screen in the form of a heat map, bar graph, 3D display graph, etc., when numerical values ​​(in this case, vital data) are entered into the input area corresponding to each item according to the defined rules. This information processing makes it possible to see at a glance, for example, which values ​​are high or low, the trend of change, where large groups are located, where each value is positioned relative to them, the overall trend, the position of individual values ​​within that trend, and how far they are from the central value.

[0089] Step count and sleep duration are not only easy data to acquire, but they are also difficult to use to identify individuals based on this data alone or in combination with other data. This makes them information that many users are comfortable using and easy to collect. Furthermore, examples of lifestyle patterns in people prone to cancer include lack of exercise and lack of sleep. Stress is also said to be a cause, and changes in step count and sleep duration data can sometimes reflect lack of exercise, lack of sleep, stress, etc. Thus, for lifestyle-related diseases and cancer, where early detection is crucial, this embodiment can be said to analyze important factors and present individual differences compared to the overall picture. Therefore, this embodiment provides technology for early detection and encouraging medical consultations. When people of the same generation are diagnosed with cancer, they can obtain information from the display of the app unit 16 to determine their position among their peers, making it easier to pique their interest in information that may prompt them to undergo early health checkups such as ultrasound, X-ray, and endoscopic examinations.

[0090] In other words, by referring to the vital distribution display in display area R1, terminal users can visually and intuitively recognize that their vital data is deviating from normal values ​​and changing in a direction that falls outside the distribution range of many users. This makes it easier for terminal users to become aware of their own health status. Note that the number of steps and sleep time in the example in Figure 7 are just examples of vital data, and two or more other vital data may be used.

[0091] Next, in S22, it is determined whether the vital data changes of a specific terminal are similar to the vital changes that occur before frequent hospital visits (vital changes before frequent hospital visits), or whether the vital changes are clearly outside or about to outside the distribution display H1. This determination is performed, for example, by the application unit 16. For example, if a simplified risk inference model for simplified risk display is constructed in the knowledge database 50 according to the flow in Figure 5, this simplified risk inference model is provided from the knowledge database 50 to the application unit 16 of each user terminal 10 via the server 20. This allows the application unit 16 to determine whether the vital changes of the terminal user are similar to the vital changes before frequent hospital visits. The server 20 may also perform inference using the simplified risk inference model and supply the inference results to the user terminal 10.

[0092] If the determination in S22 in the application unit 16 is NO, the process returns to S20, and steps S20 to S22 are repeated. If the determination in S22 is YES, the application unit 16 displays the possible burden risks (patient and family). The application unit 16 may also display further burden risks using information input from the terminal user. In the example in Figure 7, the burden risks are shown in the third area, display area R3, using a simplified risk display.

[0093] In the example in Figure 7, display area R3 shows "Patient Burden Risk" and "Family Burden Risk." Patient burden risk refers to the risks to the terminal user themselves, such as time burden, physical burden, mental burden, and financial burden. In the simplified risk display, patient burden risk may be displayed in stages, and in the example in Figure 7, it shows the possibility of a B risk, which is the second heaviest of the four stages A, B, C, and D. Family burden risk refers to the risks to the terminal user's family, such as time burden, physical burden, mental burden, and financial burden. In the simplified risk display in Figure 7, it shows the possibility of a A risk, which is the heaviest of the four stages A, B, C, and D.

[0094] The risk assessment unit 11a may display a message recommending that the user visit a medical institution, depending on the inference results of the application unit 16. For example, if the application unit 16 infers that the terminal user's vital changes are similar to the vital changes before frequent hospital visits, the risk assessment unit 11a may display a message such as, "You may develop symptoms of XX. We recommend that you visit a medical institution." The risk assessment unit 11a may also display a message recommending that the user visit a medical institution if the terminal user's vital changes are clearly outside or about to outside the distribution display H1.

[0095] In the example shown in Figure 7, the risk assessment unit 11a displays the questionnaire in the second area, which is the display area R2. In Figure 7, the questionnaire displays "Age," "Dependents," "Should I conduct a questionnaire?", and "Take a reference photo." "Age" is a question about the terminal user's age, "Dependents" is a question about whether the terminal user has dependents and how many, "Should I conduct a questionnaire?" is a question about whether to conduct a more detailed questionnaire, and "Take a reference photo" is a question about whether to take and send a photo during the detailed questionnaire.

[0096] Thus, the first area of ​​the display screen 14a displays information based on vital sign distribution and information based on changes in the terminal user's vital signs. The first area allows users to get a general sense of their own health based on changes in their lifestyle, etc. In particular, the vital sign distribution display uses a two-dimensional space to enable a sensory representation, making it easier for terminal users to become aware of the importance of paying attention to their own health.

[0097] In S20-S23, the first area displays vital information that is publicly available to the terminal user, excluding sensitive personal information. In the third area, a simplified risk indication is displayed using vital data, excluding sensitive personal information. In other words, the terminal user can easily understand their own health status and various risks using vital data, excluding sensitive personal information, which is acquired without the terminal user having to consider any sensitive information themselves.

[0098] Considering the protection of terminal users' privacy, it is preferable to use sensitive personal information within the user terminal 10 without outputting it externally. Even in this case, in this embodiment, vital data that does not contain sensitive personal information is used to provide awareness of the terminal user's health status, thereby reducing various future burdens. To this end, the application unit 16 displays a simple risk indicator using vital data that does not contain sensitive personal information.

[0099] However, with only a simplified risk display, terminal users may not be able to fully understand their health condition and may hesitate to seek medical attention. Therefore, in this embodiment, the risk assessment unit 11a recommends visiting a medical institution and further recommends that the user input (answer) a detailed questionnaire in order to refer to the knowledge database 50 according to the symptoms and diagnosis (S24).

[0100] In other words, as described above, the second area displays questions (medical interviews) to obtain detailed assessment results of risks such as disease risk. In the second area, the terminal user can input sensitive personal information at their own discretion, and this input enables the display of more detailed risks.

[0101] Inputting information into the questionnaire display in the second area enables a more detailed assessment of disease risks, etc., using sensitive personal information. For example, smoking habits may be entered. The risk obtained from this questionnaire (detailed risk) is displayed in the display area R3, which is the third area of ​​the display screen 14a. In the third area, a detailed risk display is provided, enabling the terminal user to make a more detailed judgment about whether or not they should visit a medical institution. The detailed risk display makes it easier for the terminal user to decide whether or not to visit a medical institution. In addition, as described later, a touch keyboard may be displayed in the third area for answering the questionnaire.

[0102] Furthermore, as shown in Figure 9, sensitive personal information is transferred between the personal management area 12b and the knowledge database 50, so sensitive personal information stored on each user terminal 10 will not be made public.

[0103] Specifically, when the terminal user performs an operation indicating that they want to take the medical interview in response to the question "Do you want to take the medical interview?" in Figure 7, and provides answers to the medical interview, a risk assessment is performed using the knowledge database 50. Since the answers to this medical interview may contain sensitive personal information, the risk assessment unit 11a may display a message on the display screen 14a indicating that sensitive personal information is included.

[0104] Although the risk assessment unit 11a is described as displaying the contents of a detailed medical interview based on vital data, it may also transmit vital data to the knowledge database 50, receive the contents of the medical interview from the knowledge database 50, and display them on the display screen 14a.

[0105] The risk assessment unit 11a determines whether there is an input indicating that a medical interview should be conducted and whether there is an answer to the question "Should we conduct a medical interview?" (S25). If there is an input indicating that a medical interview should be conducted and an answer to the medical interview, the risk assessment unit 11a sends the vital data and medical interview answer information to the knowledge database 50 and queries the knowledge database 50 to see if there are any candidates for future diagnostic results for the terminal user.

[0106] If there is no input indicating that a medical interview should be conducted, or if the knowledge database 50 notifies that there are no future diagnostic results (NO in S25), the risk assessment unit 11a waits for a predetermined time to elapse in S26. If there is still no input after the predetermined time has elapsed, the display of the medical interview input recommendation is cleared (S27), and the process proceeds to S33.

[0107] The control unit 51 of the knowledge database 50 determines the database corresponding to the candidate future diagnosis from the constraints and burdens DB of the disease dictionary 55 if there are candidates for future diagnosis results (S28). In S29 and S30, the control unit 51 searches for the patient's constraints and burdens from the medical interview results, and searches for the family's constraints and burdens from the medical interview results. These search results are supplied from the knowledge database 50 to the user terminal 10 and displayed as a detailed risk display in the third area of ​​the display screen 14a by the risk determination unit 11a. For example, the detailed risk display includes predictions of the duration and cost of outpatient visits and hospitalization if the disease were to develop, and predictions of what kind of burden the family would be forced to bear.

[0108] Furthermore, the risk assessment unit 11a may, if necessary, share information with the terminals of family members of the terminal user who possesses the user terminal 10 (S31). This can be achieved without burdening memory or computation, as it only requires adding recipients for information transmission. In addition, the risk assessment unit 11a may display information such as the experiences of other users with possible diseases (S32). The risk assessment unit 11a may also allow users to record information they wish to share with other users as a health blog (S33). The input field for this health blog may be provided in the display area R3. This information is recorded as a health blog in the recording unit 30. For example, information about the contents of other users' examinations, subsequent progress, and burdens is extremely useful, and obtaining such information from the health blog can help terminal users decide to visit a medical institution in the future. The risk assessment unit 11a may also perform a search of the health blog in the recording unit 30 according to the instructions of the terminal user, and read and display relevant blogs.

[0109] Furthermore, the risk assessment unit 11a may display a touch keyboard in the display area R3 to facilitate user input of questionnaire responses and health blog entries. Figure 8 shows an example of this display. As shown in Figure 8, the touch keyboard is displayed in the display area R3 so as not to overlap with the questionnaire display in the display area R2, and the terminal user can input text by touching the touch keyboard.

[0110] In this embodiment, the user terminal collects vital data from each terminal user while respecting sensitive personal information, and displays a vital distribution display showing the distribution of vital data for all users and the changes in the vitals of each terminal user in the first area of ​​the user terminal's display screen. Furthermore, a simplified risk display is shown in the third area of ​​the display screen. These displays allow terminal users to become aware of their own health condition and various burdens, making it easier for them to consider visiting a medical institution. In addition, a medical questionnaire is displayed in the second area, and by supplying the questionnaire response information, including sensitive personal information, to the knowledge database, a more detailed risk display can be shown in the third area. The detailed risk display makes it easier for terminal users to make a more reliable decision on whether or not they should visit a medical institution. Thus, according to this embodiment, it is possible to raise awareness of the necessity of undergoing health checkups and the necessity of seeing a doctor at a hospital.

[0111] As explained above, the block diagrams of each function, such as the hardware in each embodiment of this application, and the flowcharts explaining how algorithms are controlled in cooperation with their respective functions, are designed to improve the user experience as a whole, providing a user-friendly, easy-to-understand, and convincing guide. These improvements are brought about or produced by the technical features. In other words, these demonstrate examples of how hardware processing speed can be increased, computational efficiency and execution effectiveness can be improved, power consumption can be reduced, and the overall cost performance of the system can be enhanced. For example, the use of appropriate and easily obtainable data in this application, or data appropriately selected from a wealth of data, and the efficient coordination of each function that processes this data, aim to improve the efficiency of various judgments, branching and calculations, as well as correct and desirable analysis and information input / output. This helps reduce the amount of data to be stored and retained, and also improves the computational efficiency and execution effectiveness of the hardware.

[0112] The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and the components can be modified and implemented in practice without departing from the spirit of the invention. Furthermore, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining the multiple components disclosed in the embodiments described above. For example, some components of all the components shown in the embodiments may be deleted. Moreover, components from different embodiments may be appropriately combined.

[0113] Furthermore, many of the controls and functions described here, primarily those explained in flowcharts, can be configured by program, and these controls and functions can be realized by a computer reading and executing the program. The program can be recorded or stored in whole or in part as a computer program product on portable media such as flexible disks, CD-ROMs, and non-volatile memory, or on storage media such as hard disks and volatile memory, and can be distributed or provided at the time of product shipment or via portable media or communication lines. Users can easily implement the medical consultation recommendation support device, medical consultation recommendation support system, medical support device operation method, and medical support program of this embodiment by downloading and installing the program on a computer via a communication network, or by installing it on a computer from a recording medium.

Claims

1. A medical consultation recommendation support device comprising: a plurality of user terminals having a sensor unit for acquiring the user's vital data; a collection unit for collecting vital data that does not constitute sensitive personal information from the plurality of users acquired by each of the plurality of user terminals; a vital data distribution detection unit for determining the distribution of the collected vital data of the plurality of users; and a display control unit for displaying the distribution of the vital data in a first area of ​​the display screen of each of the user terminals, and displaying on the distribution display a display indicating the vital data collected from each user terminal.

2. The medical consultation recommendation support device according to claim 1, wherein the display showing the above vital data is a display showing the trend of change in the above vital data collected from each of the above user terminals.

3. The medical consultation recommendation support device according to claim 1, further comprising a risk determination unit that displays a medical questionnaire necessary for displaying a detailed risk indication in a second area different from the first area described above.

4. The medical consultation recommendation support device according to claim 3, wherein the risk determination unit displays the detailed risk display in a third region different from the first and second regions.

5. The medical consultation recommendation support device according to claim 4, further comprising: an inference unit that infers a risk based on the trend of changes in the above vital data and displays a simplified risk display showing the result of the inference in the third area.

6. The medical consultation recommendation support device according to claim 5, wherein the first area has an area for displaying the distribution of the graphed vital data, and the second and third areas have areas for displaying the medical interview display, simplified risk display, or detailed risk display in text.

7. The medical consultation recommendation support device according to claim 3, wherein the risk assessment unit transmits information including sensitive personal information about the user to a knowledge database for the purpose of displaying the detailed risk information.

8. The display control unit displays information obtained based on vital data excluding sensitive personal information in the first area, and displays information obtained based on information including sensitive personal information in the third area, the medical consultation recommendation support device according to claim 4.

9. The above-mentioned simplified risk display and detailed risk display indicate at least one of the following burdens for the user or the user's family: a time burden, a physical burden, a mental burden, or an economic burden, as described in claim 5.

10. The medical consultation recommendation support device according to claim 4, wherein the risk assessment unit displays a touch keyboard for answering the medical questionnaire displayed in the second area in a third area that does not overlap with the first and second areas.

11. A medical consultation recommendation support system comprising: a plurality of user terminals having sensor units for acquiring user vital data; a collection unit for collecting vital data from multiple users acquired by each of the plurality of user terminals, excluding sensitive personal information; a recording unit for recording the vital data collected by the collection unit; a vital data distribution detection unit for determining the distribution of the collected vital data of the plurality of users; a vital trend determination unit for determining the trend of change in the vital data for each user collected from each of the user terminals; a display control unit for displaying the distribution of the vital data in a first area of ​​the display screen of each of the user terminals, and displaying a display showing the trend of change in the vital data collected from each user terminal on the display of the distribution; and a knowledge database for determining the risk based on the trend of change in the vital data.

12. The above-mentioned knowledge database is a medical consultation support system according to claim 11, which seeks the above-mentioned risks by receiving information containing sensitive personal information about the above-mentioned user.

13. A method for operating a medical support device, comprising: acquiring vital data of multiple users using multiple user terminals; collecting vital data from the multiple users acquired by each of the multiple user terminals, excluding sensitive personal information; determining the distribution of the collected vital data of the multiple users; determining the trend of change in the vital data for each user collected from each of the user terminals; displaying the distribution of the vital data in the first area of ​​the display screen of each of the user terminals, and displaying a display showing the trend of change in the vital data collected from each user terminal on the display of the distribution.

14. A medical support program that causes a computer to perform the following steps: acquire vital data of multiple users using multiple user terminals; collect vital data from the multiple users acquired by each of the multiple user terminals, excluding sensitive personal information; determine the distribution of the collected vital data of the multiple users; determine the trend of change in the vital data for each user collected from each of the user terminals; display the distribution of the vital data in the first area of ​​the display screen of each of the user terminals, and also display a display showing the trend of change in the vital data collected from each user terminal on the display of the distribution.

15. A method for operating a medical support device comprising: a first display step of displaying the temporal distribution of vital data of multiple users in a first area of ​​a display screen; a second display step of displaying the temporal trend of change in the vital data of a specific user on the above distribution display so that it can be confirmed; and a step of determining disease risk based on the trend of change in the vital data of the specific user and displaying a questionnaire display in a second area of ​​the display screen different from the first area for obtaining questionnaire response information related to the disease.

16. The method of operating the medical support device according to claim 15, wherein the first area is a display area that graphs and displays the distribution of the vital data, and the second area is a display area that displays the medical interview information as text.

17. A method for operating a medical support device according to claim 15, further comprising the steps of: determining the disease risk by searching a database in which restrictions on daily life and financial burdens for each disease are registered in accordance with the above-mentioned questionnaire response information, and displaying the determined disease risk in a third area different from the first and second areas.

18. The method of operating the medical support device according to claim 15, wherein the disease risk described above includes the risk to the specified user and the family of the specified user.

19. A method for operating a medical support device, comprising: acquiring vital data of multiple users using multiple user terminals; performing information processing using the collected vital data of the multiple users so that it can be visualized on a display screen including statistical information; displaying the information processing results that visualize the distribution of users corresponding to the vital data on the display screen of each user terminal; and displaying the changes in the vital data for each user collected from each user terminal on the visualized information processing result display.

20. A method for operating a medical support device, which involves displaying a statistical two-axis graph using vital data of two types of items that do not constitute sensitive personal information for multiple users other than the user in question, selecting data for items corresponding to the two types of vital data mentioned above from the vital data of the user in question recorded on the user's personal terminal, and superimposing points on the two-axis graph that represent the vital data of the selected individual user for the two types of items mentioned above.

Images