Medical Text Entry Mapping for Structured Clinical Data

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Solution Overview

Problem

Manual entry of unstructured medical data is time-consuming, laborious, and error-prone, leading to reduced reliability and difficulty in accessing and analyzing the data due to the lack of contextual mapping.

Innovation Solution

A system that maps unstructured text strings to a medical data category table, generating standardized expressions and predicting subsequent entries, thereby converting unstructured text into structured text for improved data entry and analysis.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of operation

If manual data entry is used for clinical trials, then flexibility and ease of operation are maintained, but data quality, accuracy, and productivity deteriorate due to high error rates and time-consuming processes

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveease of data entryVSAvoiddata accuracy
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSManufacturing precision

Solution Approach 1:

The system creates digital copies of case report forms and study protocols, allowing researchers to work with replicated digital versions rather than manual paper forms. This enables automated data capture and validation while maintaining the flexibility of digital editing and manipulation.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #26Copying

Solution Approach 2:

The patent replaces manual mechanical data entry processes with automated electronic systems. The web-based platform automatically captures, validates, and processes clinical trial data, eliminating the need for manual typing and paper-based workflows while improving both accuracy and efficiency.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

2Device complexity

If manual data entry is used for clinical trials, then device complexity is low, but productivity and time efficiency deteriorate due to lengthy data collection and cleaning processes

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesystem complexityVSAvoiddata entry productivity
Core Design Contradiction:
Device complexityVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The web-based system performs multiple functions within a single unified platform: data capture, validation, storage, and analysis. This multi-functional approach consolidates what would otherwise require separate manual processes, improving productivity without proportionally increasing complexity.

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

Solution Approach 2:

The system performs preliminary data validation and formatting automatically as data is entered, rather than requiring separate manual review steps later. This preliminary processing reduces the overall time required for data cleaning and preparation while maintaining manageable system complexity.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

3Ease of operation

If manual data entry is used for clinical trials, then ease of operation is maintained, but data security and reliability deteriorate due to vulnerabilities in manual handling and storage

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveease of data handlingVSAvoiddata security
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The web-based platform acts as an intermediary layer between researchers and the clinical trial data. This intermediate system provides automated security controls, access management, and data protection mechanisms while maintaining ease of access for authorized users, thereby improving security without sacrificing operational simplicity.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Data Source

PatentEP4128251B1Text entry assistance and conversion to structured medical data
Publication Date: 2026.05.20 F HOFFMANN LA ROCHE & CO AG
  • EP4128251B1 patent drawingFigure 1A
  • EP4128251B1 patent drawingFigure 1B
  • EP4128251B1 patent drawingFigure 2

AI summary

A computer-implemented method is provided. The method comprises: receiving, from a text field of a user interface, input text strings containing medical data; identifying, based on language semantics and grammatical structure, a keyword and one or more data values from the input text strings; providing the keyword as an input to a query of a medical data category database to obtain one or more categories associated with the keyword, the one or more categories including a first category; retrieving, from a template database, a first template associated with the first category, the first template including one or more fixed blocks and one or more variable blocks; inserting a data value corresponding to the keyword into a variable block of the first template to generate a replacement text string; and displaying the replacement text string in place of the input text strings in the text field.