Patent Issued for Apparatus for facilitating secure exchange of medical data pertaining to a user, system and method thereof (USPTO 11721419): S-Square Systems LLC

2023 AUG 29 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Alexandria, Virginia, NewsRx journalists report that a patent by the inventors Panchal, Darshana R. (Barrington, IL, US), Panchal, Rajendra A. (Barrington, IL, US), Sobti, Arun (Barrington, IL, US), filed on November 20, 2020, was published online on August 8, 2023.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 11721419 is S-Square Systems LLC (South Barrington, Illinois, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Background description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.

“The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), 1966 is a legislation that provides data protection in the health industry between a patient and a medical care provider. The regulations as provided by HIPAA govern the protocols to be established for exchange of medical and non-medical data pertaining to the patient such that the exchange is secure and is protected against fraudulent acquisition. An important protocol for exchange of electronic data is authentication of the identity of the patient and the medical care provider to initiate the exchange.

“Most devices designed for remote health applications are either bulky owing to the number of components required to make them HIPAA compliant or, they have achieved this compliance for video conferencing only through specialised applications on the mobile without being able to simultaneously deliver medical parameters from the remote patient’s bedside.

“The current state-of-the-art allows medical parameters to be entered either after the video conference. This form of a remote medical visit while acceptable under HIPAA standards is advised against by health medical care providers. Caregivers prefer to be in-charge of administering the vital sign devices similar to as they are accustomed to do in the doctor’s office for their own supervised quality assurance of the measurements. While every doctor’s preference may differ over time on a case by case basis and experience of the patient. The remote medical visit should ideally provide any required medical parameters in a caregiver administered ‘supervised’ manner, i.e., all medical measurements should either be conducted in view of a local nurse at the patient’s bedside, or by a remote nurse or doctor. This latter requirement of a remote nurse or doctor administering and observing the actual taking of measurements (to ensure that they are taken correctly) can, of course, be performed through elaborate apparatuses that treat the medical measurement system like the dedicated systems built singularly for this by remote applications solutions companies. Such systems are typically very expensive, and this limits the availability of such systems only to a small section of peoples who can afford them.

“Simple hand-held devices such as tablets and smart phones, which are enabled with audio-video communications applications would make a viable solution to the above-stated problem. The audio-video communications applications such as Facetime, Skype, Google duo, WhatsApp etc offer secure and encrypted channels of communication but the consumer versions do not provide the necessary authentication requirements for HIPAA.

“There is, therefore, a requirement in the art for a remote health applications system that has a small form factor, that is easily accessible and that complies with HIPAA standards. Further, the health applications system can use available hand-held devices such as smart phones and tablets together with other medical devices and environmental sensors to monitor activities of daily life behaviours.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The present disclosure relates generally to the field of telemedicine or remote health applications. In particular, the present disclosure relates to a system for secure exchange of health data between a patient and a medical care provider, the exchange adding a channel that is secure and controls access to authenticated members besides being compliant to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

“The present disclosure provides an apparatus for facilitating exchange of medical data pertaining to a user. The apparatus includes: one or more processors operatively coupled with a memory, the memory storing instructions executable by the one or more processors to: receive, from the user of the apparatus, a first data packet pertaining to identity of the user; receive, from a server operatively coupled to the apparatus, a second data packet pertaining to identities of registered users of the apparatus; compare the received first data packet and the received second data packet. The one or more processors are configured to generate a first signal on positive match of the identity of the user of apparatus with at least one of the identities of registered users of the apparatus, the first signal indicative of communications being allowed between the apparatus and the server. The apparatus includes: a first transceiver configured for communications between the apparatus and the server, operable by the one or more processors, on receipt of the first signal, for exchange of data packets of a first kind, and a second transceiver configured for communications between the apparatus and the server, operable by the one or more processors, on receipt of the first signal for exchange of data packets of a second kind.

“In an embodiment, the apparatus is configured to register a user to itself on initialisation of the apparatus, wherein the one or more processors are configured to: operatively couple, upon initialisation of the apparatus, with the server; receive, from an initially unregistered user, a request for registration of the apparatus, the request comprising identity attributes of the user, identity attributes of the apparatus and purpose of use of apparatus; receive, from the initially unregistered user, an address of the user for communication of information from the server to the user; request generation of a registration data packet at the server, comprising a registration parameter; request transmission of the registration packet from the server to the address of the user; request the initially unregistered user to input the registration parameter value into the apparatus; and compare the input parameter value with the parameter value of the generated registration data packet. The one or more processors, upon positive match of the input parameter value and the parameter value of the registration data packet, are configured to register the initially unregistered user as a newly registered user of the apparatus; and transmit information pertaining to the newly registered user of the apparatus to the server.

“In another embodiment, the apparatus can be operatively coupled with one or more input devices, the input devices configured for exchange of information pertaining to health attributes of the user of the device, wherein the input devices can be any or a combination of camera, microphone, implanted sensors and explanted sensors, and wherein the apparatus can be operatively coupled to the input devices by any or a combination of wired and wireless means.

“In another embodiment, the apparatus can include one or more one or more ports adapted for wired coupling between the apparatus and the input devices.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. An apparatus for facilitating exchange of medical data pertaining to a user, comprising: one or more processors operatively coupled with a memory, the memory storing instructions executable by the one or more processors to: receive, from the user of the apparatus, a first data packet pertaining to identity of the user; receive, from a server operatively coupled to the apparatus, a second data packet pertaining to identities of registered users of the apparatus; and compare the received first data packet and the received second data packet, wherein, the one or more processors are configured to generate a first signal on positive match of the identity of the user of apparatus with at least one of the identities of registered users of the apparatus, the first signal indicative of communications being allowed between the apparatus and the server, and wherein the apparatus comprises: a first transceiver configured for communications between the apparatus and the server, operable by the one or more processors, on receipt of the first signal, for exchange of data packets of a first kind, and a second transceiver configured for communications between the apparatus and the server, operable by the one or more processors, on receipt of the first signal for exchange of data packets of a second kind.

“2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the apparatus is configured to register a user to itself on initialisation of the apparatus, wherein the one or more processors are configured to: operatively couple, upon initialisation of the apparatus, with the server; receive, from an initially unregistered user, a request for registration of the apparatus, the request comprising identity attributes of the user, identity attributes of the apparatus and purpose of use of apparatus; receive, from the initially unregistered user, an address of the user for communication of information from the server to the user; request generation of a registration data packet at the server, comprising a registration parameter; request transmission of the registration packet from the server to the address of the user; request the initially unregistered user to input the registration parameter value into the apparatus; and compare the input parameter value with the parameter value of the generated registration data packet, wherein the one or more processors, upon positive match of the input parameter value and the parameter value of the registration data packet, are configured to register the initially unregistered user as a newly registered user of the apparatus; and transmit information pertaining to the newly registered user of the apparatus to the server.

“3. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the apparatus is operatively coupled with one or more input devices, the input devices configured for exchange of information pertaining to health attributes of the user of the device, wherein the input devices are any or a combination of camera, microphone, implanted sensors and explanted sensors, and wherein the apparatus is operatively coupled to the input devices by any or a combination of wired and wireless means.

“4. The apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein the apparatus comprises one or more one or more ports adapted for wired coupling between the apparatus and the input devices.

“5. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the apparatus is provided with a battery adapted to power the apparatus.

“6. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the apparatus is provided with an interface device operatively coupled to it, and wherein the one or more processors of the apparatus is configured to operate the an interface device to facilitate communications between the user and the apparatus.

“7. The apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the apparatus comprises a movable receptacle fixed at a top surface of the apparatus, the receptacle adapted to hold, rotate and tilt the interface device within a pre-defined range.

“8. The apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the apparatus is operable in any or a combination of tilt mode and pan mode; wherein the tilt mode facilitates tilting of the interface device in order to track the user; and the pan mode facilitates panning, through the interface device, to obtain a clear view of the user.

“9. The apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein the apparatus facilitates a user to select, through any of an input device and the interface device, any or a combination of the tilt mode and pan mode, to operate the interface device.

“10. The apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein the apparatus comprises implanted sensors configured to sense motion of the user, and wherein in response to the sensed motion, any or a combination of the tilt mode and pan mode is automatically selected.

“11. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the apparatus is provided with an interactive voice assistant to facilitate communications between the apparatus and the user through an interface device of the user.

“12. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the data packets of the first kind pertain to information pertaining to the user that is not protected by a security protocol.

“13. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the data packets of the second kind pertain to information pertaining to the user that is protected by security protocol, and wherein the security protocol is Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

“14. A method to operate an apparatus for facilitating exchange of medical data pertaining to a user, comprising: receiving, at a processor configured on the apparatus from the user of the apparatus, a first data packet pertaining to identity of the user; receiving, at the processor from a server operatively coupled to the apparatus, a second data packet pertaining to identities of registered users of the apparatus; comparing, at the processor, the received first data packet and the received second data packet; and generating, at the processor, a first signal on positive match of the identity of the user of apparatus with at least one of the identities of registered users of the apparatus, the first signal indicative of communications being allowed between the apparatus and the server, wherein, on generation of the first signal, a first transceiver provided on the apparatus and configured for communications between the apparatus and the server is operable by the processor for exchange of data packets of a first kind, and wherein, on generation of the first signal, a second transceiver provided on the apparatus and configured for communications between the apparatus and the server is operable by the processor for exchange of data packets of a second kind.

“15. A system for facilitating exchange of medical data pertaining to a user, comprising: a first apparatus for remote health monitoring registered to the user; a second apparatus for remote health monitoring registered to a medical care provider; and a server operatively coupled with the first apparatus and the second apparatus, comprising one or more processors operatively coupled with a memory, the memory storing instructions executable by the one or more processors to: receive, from the first apparatus, a third data packet pertaining to a request for exchange of data packets with the medical care provider, wherein the first data packet comprises an identification attribute of the user and the first apparatus; receive, from a second apparatus for remote health application, a fourth data packet pertaining to identity of registered users allowed to communicate with the medical care provider; compare the received third data packet and the fourth data packet, wherein, the one or more processors is configured to generate a second signal on positive match of the identity of the user with at least one of the identities of registered users allowed to communicate with the medical care provider, the second signal indicative of communications being allowed between the user and the medical care provider, wherein the one or more processors are configured to allow exchange of data packets of a first kind between a first transceiver provided on each of the first apparatus and the second apparatus, and wherein the one or more processors are configured to allow exchange of data packets of a second kind between a second transceiver provided on each of the first apparatus and the second apparatus.

“16. The system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the server is configured to register a user to an apparatus for remote health applications on initialisation of the apparatus, wherein the one or more processors are configured to: receive, from an initially unregistered user, a request for registration of the apparatus to the user, the request comprising identity attributes of the user, identity attributes of the apparatus and purpose of use of apparatus by the user; receive, from the initially unregistered user, an address of the user for communication of information from the server to the user; generate a registration data packet comprising a registration parameter; transmit the registration packet to the address of the user; request, at the apparatus, the initially unregistered user to input the registration parameter value into the apparatus; and compare the input parameter value with the parameter value of the generated registration data packet, wherein the one or more processors, upon positive match of the input parameter value and the parameter value of the registration data packet, are configured to register the initially unregistered user as a newly registered user of the apparatus.

“17. The system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the server is operatively coupled to any or both of the first apparatus and the second apparatus through a mobile computing device operatively coupled correspondingly with the first apparatus and the second apparatus.”

There are additional claims. Please visit full patent to read further.

For additional information on this patent, see: Panchal, Darshana R. Apparatus for facilitating secure exchange of medical data pertaining to a user, system and method thereof. U.S. Patent Number 11721419, filed November 20, 2020, and published online on August 8, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11721419)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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