Hospital Room Voice Assistant for Multi-Step Patient Requests

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative Solutions
Generate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Existing business application platforms integrate voice control and virtual assistants superficially, limiting their functionality to simple tasks and failing to support complex multi-step processes.

Innovation Solution

A computer-implemented method that utilizes a virtual assistant to monitor patient diction in a hospital room, process communication requests, and establish cloud-based communication with remote locations for tasks such as ordering food, requesting medication, and controlling hospital equipment.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of operation

If voice control is integrated into business application platforms, then ease of operation is improved, but device complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvehands-free communication capabilityVSAvoidsystem integration complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces a virtual assistant as an intermediary layer between the patient and the hospital information system. This virtual assistant handles voice commands, processes requests, and coordinates with various hospital systems (medical records, nursing station, food service), thereby simplifying the user interface while managing the underlying system complexity through a dedicated intermediary component.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The virtual assistant is designed as a multi-functional platform that can handle diverse types of requests including medical information queries, nursing station communications, food service orders, and emergency alerts. By consolidating multiple functions into a single universal interface, the system improves ease of operation without requiring separate systems for each function.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

2Adaptability or versatility

If complex multi-step processes are enabled through voice control, then adaptability is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvemulti-step process capabilityVSAvoidvoice control difficulty
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary actions by pre-configuring common multi-step processes such as medication requests, food orders, and emergency protocols. When a patient uses voice commands to initiate these processes, the system has already prepared the necessary workflows, reducing the complexity of execution and making multi-step operations easier to perform through voice.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The virtual assistant incorporates feedback mechanisms that provide real-time confirmation and guidance during multi-step voice-controlled processes. The system listens for wake-up words, processes commands, and provides verbal feedback to ensure accurate execution, thereby maintaining ease of operation even when executing complex multi-step procedures.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

3Measurement precision

If cloud-based processing is used for voice commands, then measurement precision is improved, but loss of information increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvespeech recognition accuracyVSAvoiddata transmission risk
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSLoss of information

Solution Approach 1:

The virtual assistant acts as a secure intermediary that processes voice commands through cloud-based speech recognition services while maintaining data privacy. The system transmits only necessary audio data to the cloud for processing and implements robust security measures to protect patient information, thereby achieving high speech recognition accuracy without excessive information loss or security risks.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Data Source

PatentUS12633407B2Handsfree communication system and method
Publication Date: 2026.05.19 EDERA L3C
  • US12633407B2 patent drawing
  • US12633407B2 patent drawing
  • US12633407B2 patent drawing

AI summary

A method, computer program product, and computing system for monitoring the diction of a patient within a hospital room; processing at least a portion of the diction to identify at least one communication request within the hospital room; and if at least one communication request is detected, establishing communication between the hospital room and a remote location within the hospital.