Patent Application Titled “Systems, Methods, And Graphical User Interfaces For Digitally Recreating Display States Of Diagnostic Test Results” Published Online (USPTO 20240028176): Patent Application

2024 FEB 14 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- According to news reporting originating from Washington, D.C., by NewsRx journalists, a patent application by the inventors Nienstedt, Zachary Carl (Wilton Manors, FL, US); Rodriguez, Igor Javier (Miami, FL, US), filed on June 20, 2023, was made available online on January 25, 2024.

No assignee for this patent application has been made.

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Remote or at-home healthcare testing and diagnostics can solve or alleviate some problems associated with in-person testing. For example, health insurance may not be required, travel to a testing site is avoided, and tests can be completed at a testing user’s convenience. However, remote or at-home testing introduces various additional logistical and technical issues, such as relying on a user’s interpretation of test results. The use of telehealth technologies can alleviate some of these issues by allowing for long distance patient and health provider contact, such as via a user or patient’s personal user device (e.g., a smartphone, tablet laptop, personal computer, or other device). For example, a user or patient can interact with a remotely located medical care provider using live video, audio, or text-based chat through the personal user device in order to receive guidance and/or oversight of the testing procedures remotely.

“However, it may not always be feasible to provide real-time, synchronous monitoring and guidance via live video or audio. For instance, those formats may make it overwhelming, time-consuming, and inefficient to monitor a large quantity of remote or at-home diagnostic testing being performed simultaneously. Also, such communication occurs over a network (e.g., a cellular or internet network), which can have poor signal quality. Alternatively, text-based chat may be poorly suited for accurately communicating and reviewing the results of remote or at-home diagnostic testing, especially when a visual component is involved.

“This can be especially problematic in some instances, such as when the results of diagnostic tests need to be determined but their interpretation is up to the user (e.g., cannot be interpreted by an online proctor or computer vision algorithm), and the user is normally a naive actor who is not trained in results interpretation. Furthermore, it can be problematic to extract and store the results of the diagnostic tests, since the aforementioned approaches may involve large data transmissions and/or large data records that contain a mountain of extraneous data.

“Thus, there exists a need to enable users of remote or at-home diagnostic tests to easily recreate and communicate the display states of their diagnostic test results for review, comparison, and storage.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent application, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent application: “For purposes of this summary, certain aspects, advantages, and novel features are described herein. It is to be understood that not necessarily all such advantages may be achieved in accordance with any particular embodiment. Thus, for example, those skilled in the art will recognize the disclosures herein may be embodied or carried out in a manner that achieves one or more advantages taught herein without necessarily achieving other advantages as may be taught or suggested herein.

“All of the embodiments described herein are intended to be within the scope of the present disclosure. These and other embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, having reference to the attached figures. The invention is not intended to be limited to any particular disclosed embodiment or embodiments.

“The embodiments of the disclosure generally relate to systems, methods, and graphical user interfaces for recreating the display states of diagnostic test results, such as the display states of the results window and the result indicators associated with a lateral flow test.

“For example, in some embodiments, a computer-implemented method is disclosed for digitally recreating a display state of a test result in a graphical user interface. The method may involve displaying a graphical user interface on a screen (e.g., on a user device), and the graphical user interface may comprise a plurality of non-overlapping bands (e.g., lines) that each have a display state selected from among a set of possible display states. These display states may differ on various attributes/dimensions, such as color, color intensity, and so forth. The display state of each band of the plurality of bands may be initially set to a default state selected from among the set of possible display states. The overall appearance of the graphical user interface may be configured to resemble a real-life diagnostic test, such as a results window of a lateral flow test.

“A user input associated with a particular band can be detected, and the displayed graphical user interface may be updated by changing the display state of that band to a different state selected from among the set of possible display states. The user can continue providing user inputs in this manner until the display states of all the bands in the graphical user interface are set to resemble the overall display state of their test result. The user can then provide additional user input to indicate that the display states of all the bands in the graphical user interface sufficiently resemble and recreate the display state of the test result.

“The display states of the bands in the graphical user interface can be converted into a machine-readable format for communication and storage. The converted display states can be used to generate a possible interpretation of the test result that can be used to provide suggestions or recommendations to the user. An image or snapshot of the test result can also be captured (e.g., via a camera). The image of the test result and the converted display states can be transmitted for remote comparison, verification, and storage. In some cases, a similar graphical user interface can be used to enable a supervising user to compare the image of the test result to the converted display states from the user submission, or even to recreate the display state of the test result on their own device.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computer-implemented method for digitally recreating a display state of a test result in a graphical user interface, the method comprising: displaying a graphical user interface on a screen, wherein the graphical user interface comprises a plurality of non-overlapping bands that each have a display state selected from among a set of possible display states, and wherein the display state of each band of the plurality of bands is initially set to a default state selected from among the set of possible display states; detecting a first user input associated with a first band of the plurality of bands; upon detecting the first user input, updating the displayed graphical user interface by changing the display state of the first band to a different state selected from among the set of possible display states; detecting a second user input indicating that the plurality of bands in the graphical user interface digitally recreates the display state of the test result; and upon detecting the second user input, converting the display states of the plurality of bands into a machine-readable format.

“2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising generating a possible interpretation of the test result based on the converted display states of the plurality of bands.

“3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein each band of the plurality of bands comprises an interactable region, and wherein the first user input comprises an interaction with the interactable region of the first band.

“4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the test result is a diagnostic test result of a lateral flow test.

“5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface further comprises: a plurality of labels corresponding to the plurality of bands, wherein each label uniquely identifies a corresponding band of the plurality of bands; and a border enclosing the plurality of bands.

“6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the screen is a touchscreen, and wherein the first user input involves touching the first band on the screen.

“7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein each display state in the set of possible display states differs on color intensity.

“8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the machine-readable format for the converted display states of the plurality of bands comprises an alphanumeric value for each band of the plurality of bands, wherein the alphanumeric value corresponds to the display state of that band.

“9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: updating the graphical user interface to request an image of the test result; capturing the image of the test result via a camera on a user device; and transmitting, to a server, the image of the test result and the converted display states.

“10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: updating the graphical user interface to request an image of the test result; capturing the image of the test result via a camera on a user device; and transmitting, to a supervising user device, the image of the test result and the converted display states.

“11. A computer readable, non-transitory storage medium having a computer program stored thereon for causing a suitably programmed computer system to process by one or more processors computer-program code to perform a method for digitally recreating a display state of a test result in a graphical user interface, the method comprising: displaying a graphical user interface on a screen, wherein the graphical user interface comprises a plurality of non-overlapping bands that each have a display state selected from among a set of possible display states, and wherein the display state of each band of the plurality of bands is initially set to a default state selected from among the set of possible display states; detecting a first user input associated with a first band of the plurality of bands; upon detecting the first user input, updating the displayed graphical user interface by changing the display state of the first band to a different state selected from among the set of possible display states; detecting a second user input indicating that the plurality of bands in the graphical user interface digitally recreates the display state of the test result; and upon detecting the second user input, converting the display states of the plurality of bands into a machine-readable format.

“12. The computer readable, non-transitory storage medium of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises generating a possible interpretation of the test result based on the converted display states of the plurality of bands.

“13. The computer readable, non-transitory storage medium of claim 11, wherein the screen is a touchscreen, and wherein the first user input involves touching the first band on the screen.

“14. The computer readable, non-transitory storage medium of claim 11, wherein each display state in the set of possible display states differs on color intensity.

“15. A computer-implemented method for digitally recreating a display state of a test result in a graphical user interface, the method comprising: generating data for displaying a graphical user interface on a screen of a user device, wherein the graphical user interface comprises a plurality of non-overlapping bands that each have a display state selected from among a set of possible display states, and wherein the display state of each band of the plurality of bands is initially set to a default state selected from among the set of possible display states; transmitting the graphical user interface data to the user device; receiving, from the user device, a first user input associated with a first band of the plurality of bands; upon receiving the first user input, transmitting first update data to the user device for updating the displayed graphical user interface by changing the display state of the first band to a different state selected from among the set of possible display states; and receiving, from the user device, the display states of the plurality of bands converted into a machine-readable format.

“16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, further comprising: generating a possible interpretation of the test result based on the received display states of the plurality of bands; transmitting second update data to the user device for updating the display graphical user interface to indicate the possible interpretation of the test result.

“17. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, further comprising: receiving, from user device, an image of the test result captured via a camera on the user device; and transmitting, to a supervising user device, the image of the test result and the converted display states of the plurality of bands.

“18. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the machine-readable format for the converted display states of the plurality of bands comprises an alphanumeric value for each band of the plurality of bands, wherein the alphanumeric value corresponds to the display state of that band.

“19. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein each display state in the set of possible display states differs on color intensity.

“20. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the test result is a diagnostic test result of a lateral flow test.”

For more information, see this patent application: Nienstedt, Zachary Carl; Rodriguez, Igor Javier. Systems, Methods, And Graphical User Interfaces For Digitally Recreating Display States Of Diagnostic Test Results. U.S. Patent Application Number 20240028176, filed June 20, 2023 and posted January 25, 2024. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(20240028176)&db=US-PGPUB&type=ids

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