Verified Illness Reporting via Disparate Data Correlation

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Current systems for reporting illness states are limited in capturing unreported illnesses and lack granularity, particularly for consumer use in purchasing over-the-counter medications, as they rely on aggregated healthcare records and social media data with ambiguity in symptom reporting.

Innovation Solution

A system and method for correlating disparate datasets, such as healthcare provider data and social media content, to verify illness reports through geographic matching and severity threshold validation, providing a verified illness state correlation system (VISCS) and reporting system (VISRS) for displaying verified illness reports on a geographical map.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Quantity of substance

If aggregated healthcare records and social media data are used for illness reporting, then the quantity of illness data is increased, but the measurement precision and reliability of illness states deteriorate due to ambiguity in symptom reporting

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvequantity of illness dataVSAvoidprecision of illness state

Core Design Contradiction:

Quantity of substanceVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The patent merges two disparate data sources: aggregated healthcare records (with standardized codes but limited granularity) and social media data (with fine symptom granularity but ambiguity). By combining these complementary sources and applying verification logic, the system achieves both quantity and precision of illness data simultaneously, resolving the contradiction between data volume and measurement accuracy.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Solution Approach 2:

The system implements a verification mechanism where healthcare record data serves as feedback to validate social media symptom reports. When a social media report matches standardized healthcare codes within the same geographic region and time period, it receives verification status. This feedback loop enables the system to maintain high measurement precision while processing large quantities of diverse illness data.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

2Manufacturing precision

If social media content is used to extract illness information, then the granularity of symptom reporting is improved, but the reliability of illness states deteriorates due to unverified user complaints

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvegranularity of symptom reportingVSAvoidreliability of illness state

Core Design Contradiction:

Manufacturing precisionVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces a verification mechanism as an intermediary between social media symptom reports and the final illness state database. This intermediary layer cross-references social media data against standardized healthcare records, adding a validation step that preserves the fine granularity of social media symptom reporting while filtering for reliability through medical record corroboration.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The system uses healthcare record data as feedback to verify the authenticity of social media symptom reports. Reports that align with medical record data receive verification status, while unverified reports are either flagged or excluded. This feedback mechanism maintains high symptom granularity from social media while ensuring reliability through medical validation.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

3Ease of operation

If illness data is aggregated on a regional basis, then the ease of operation for tracking purposes is improved, but the measurement precision of location-specific illness states deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveease of tracking illnessVSAvoidprecision of location-specific illness

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the data aggregation hierarchy into multiple levels: individual location-specific reports, regional aggregations, and national summaries. Each level serves different purposes—individual reports maintain high location precision, regional aggregations provide ease of tracking for public health officials, and the verification layer connects them. This segmentation allows the system to simultaneously provide easy regional tracking and precise location-specific data when needed.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Data Source

PatentUS20220020504A1System and method for verified reporting of illness states using disparate datasets

Publication Date: 2022.01.20 KENVUE BRANDS LLC

AI summary

Illness states are reported to create disparate data sets associated with illness reports. The illness reports are verified by comparing and correlating information in the data sets. Illness reports are indicated by location-specific markers displayed on a map of a particular geographical region of interest by a computing device having a display screen. Illness reports having associated data in both data sets are considered to be verified, and thus to have a higher level of relevance as more reliable, more persuasive, more severe, and/or more accurate. Verification indicators are displayed on the display screen in association with each marker for which the associated illness report has been verified. Accordingly, reported illnesses are displayed on a geographically-relevant basis in differentiated fashion to provide a visual indication of verified and unverified reported illnesses.