Patent Issued for Creating customized applications for health monitoring (USPTO 11474800): VigNet Incorporated

2022 NOV 09 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- VigNet Incorporated (Fairfax, Virginia, United States) has been issued patent number 11474800, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Cao, Yue (Vienna, VA, US), Jain, Neeta (Fairfax, VA, US), Jain, Praduman (Fairfax, VA, US), Klein, Dave (Oakton, VA, US).

This patent was filed on July 30, 2020 and was published online on October 18, 2022.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “Applications for computers, mobile devices, and other devices can provide useful functionality to users. However, it can be very costly and time consuming to create, distribute, and maintain an application.

“Typically, it is very difficult for organizations to create and distribute mobile applications and other solutions that can meet the needs of their members. Different organizations have widely varying health policies. For example, different organizations may have different insurance options and health goals for their members. Similarly, individuals have widely varying healthcare needs.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “In some implementations, a system provides a platform that allows efficient creation and distribution of customized program modules to users. Individual users can download a single application from a server for an application store or marketplace. Separately, a publishing system provides modules for the application that define different sets of functionality and different user experiences. Various organizations can use the publishing system to quickly create and customize a program module to meet their needs, based on predetermined templates offered by the publishing system. For example, the publishing system allows an organization to customize the module templates to use the organization’s own name, logo, media, and other branding assets. Organizations can also select which aspects of the application will be made available to the user and in what manner. By creating a custom module, an organization can define a unique, branded user experience for an application, e.g., for a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet computer, without requiring the organization to invest the time and effort to code, test, publish, and maintain an application.

“When a user downloads and installs the application associated with the publishing system, the user can select and download an appropriate customized module. The module can include a variety of elements that adjust the user’s experience. For example, a module can include custom content from the organization that customized it, as well as interactive elements, media, and features from the template used to generate the module. After downloading the module, the application may reconfigure its interface as directed by the module, as if the organization that customized the module had provided the user a customized, stand-alone application.

“In some implementations, organizations may use the publishing system to customize modules that enhance the wellbeing of users. For example, an organization may provide various modules that support health initiatives of a company. Using the publishing system, the employer may select module templates for various aspects of wellbeing, such as general fitness, weight loss, diabetes management, and so on. The module templates may include clinically validated information and recommendations tailored for a specific medical condition or health goal. This template information provides the employer effective, validated techniques to improve a user’s health, without requiring the employer to invest in research to identify appropriate user experiences supporting health. The employer may customize the template, for example, specifying additional goals or incentives specific to the employer, as well as health insurance information that is applicable for the employer. Additionally, the employer may include the employer’s name, logo, and other content, so that once the module is downloaded and incorporated into the application, the application may appear as if it were a fully customized application from the employer. In a similar manner, health insurance companies, doctors and hospitals, government entities, and other organizations may all create their own respective customized modules to be published.

“In some implementations, customized health management modules can be used to provide organization-specific information on user interfaces of mobile applications from a third-party application store. The customized health management modules can be published by a publishing system that supports data collection and monitoring processes associated with health management programs provided by multiple healthcare providers. The customized health management modules can be used to integrate various types of information from different entities associated with healthcare services such as insurance companies, providers, pharmacies, and patients into a common platform with limited costs of implementation for organizations that provide modules through the publishing system.

“In one general aspect, a computer-implemented method includes: providing, by a server system, a user interface for designing a health management module, the user interface identifying a plurality of health management module templates; receiving, by the server system, data indicating a user input received through the user interface that selects of one of the plurality of module templates; receiving, by the server system, customization parameters that customize the selected module template for a particular organization; generating, by the server system, a customized health management module for the particular organization based on the selected template and the customization parameters; and publishing, by the server system, the customized health management module for the particular organization, the customized health management module including instructions that configures an application provided by a third-party application store.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A method comprising: receiving, by an electronic device having an application installed, a module for the application over a communication network, the module being configured to adjust a configuration of the application to alter collection of data about a user of the electronic device, the module specifying (i) a particular type of data to collect about the user using one or more sensors, (ii) a condition or context to trigger a measurement using the one or more sensors, and (iii) an action to perform based on the collected data about the user, wherein the action comprises providing a notification or sending collected data to a remote computer system; adjusting, by the electronic device, the configuration of the application based on the received module to alter data collection performed by the application; based on the adjusted configuration of the application, collecting, by the electronic device, data about the user of the particular type of data specified by the module using the one or more sensors, wherein the collecting data about the user comprises: detecting, by the electronic device, the condition or context specified by the module; and performing, by the electronic device, a measurement using the one or more sensors in response to detecting the condition or context specified by the module; and based on the collected data, performing, by the electronic device, the action specified by the module, wherein the action comprises providing a notification to the user through the electronic device or sending the collected data to a remote computer system.

“2. The method of claim 1, wherein the module specifies a rule for analyzing data of the particular type of data specified by the module, and wherein the module specifies that the action is performed conditionally based on the analysis; wherein the method further comprises analyzing the collected data using the rule specified by the module; and wherein the action is performed based on the analysis of the collected data.

“3. The method of claim 1, wherein the module specifies that the action is conditional on the collected data satisfying a predetermined condition indicated by the module; wherein the module specifies (i) a first type of data to collect using one or more sensors, and (ii) a second type of data to collect through user input to the electronic device; wherein collecting the data comprises: collecting data of the first type of data using one or more sensors; providing for display a form requesting input of the second type of data; and receiving user input to the form providing data of the second type of data; wherein performing the action is based on determining, based on at least the collected data of the first type or the collected data of the second type, that the predetermined condition is satisfied.

“4. The method of claim 1, wherein the particular type of data to collect is activity data indicating activity of a user of the electronic device; and wherein the action comprises sending the collected data to a server over the communication network.

“5. The method of claim 1, wherein the action comprises performing an analysis of the collected data by the electronic device.

“6. The method of claim 1, wherein the action comprises providing a notification to a user of the electronic device regarding the collected data.

“7. The method of claim 1, wherein the module is configured to cause the application to obtain one or more physiological measurements; and wherein collecting the data of the particular type of data specified by the module comprises obtaining a physiological measurement of a type specified by the module.

“8. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting a pattern based on the collected data; and wherein performing the action specified by the module comprises initiating a transmission in response to detecting the pattern.

“9. The method of claim 1, wherein the module specifies processing analyze characteristics of collected data specifies that the action is conditional on characteristics of the collected data.

“10. The method of claim 1, wherein the module specifies a frequency for data collection; and wherein adjusting the configuration of the application comprises configuring the application to collect the data of the particular type of data specified by the module at the frequency specified by the module.

“11. The method of claim 1, wherein the module is configured to cause the application to detect a condition representing a health risk based on data of the particular type of data specified by the module; and wherein the action is performed in response to detecting the condition.

“12. The method of claim 1, further comprising: displaying, by the electronic device, a set of modules that are available for the application; receiving, by the electronic device, user input selecting one of modules in the set; and providing, by the electronic device, data indicating the selected module to a server system; and wherein the module is received in response to providing the data indicating the selected module to the server system.

“13. The method of claim 1, further comprising: downloading the application to the electronic device over a computer network from an application store provided by a first server system; and installing the downloaded application at the electronic device; wherein receiving the module comprises downloading the module from a second server system that is independent of the application store.

“14. The method of claim 1, wherein the application specifies at least one of an interaction flow, a survey, or a game to be provided by the application.

“15. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more sensors are one or more sensors of the electronic device.

“16. An electronic device comprising: one or more processors; and one or more computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the electronic device to perform operations comprising: receiving, by the electronic device, a module over a communication network for an application installed at the electronic device, the module being configured to adjust a configuration of the application to alter collection of data about a user of the electronic device, the module specifying (i) a particular type of data to collect about the user using one or more sensors, (ii) a condition or context to trigger a measurement using the one or more sensors, and (iii) an action to perform based on the collected data about the user, wherein the action comprises providing a notification or sending collected data to a remote computer system; adjusting, by the electronic device, the configuration of the application based on the received module to alter data collection performed by the application; based on the adjusted configuration of the application, collecting, by the electronic device, data about the user of the particular type of data specified by the module using the one or more sensors, wherein the collecting data about the user comprises: detecting, by the electronic device, the condition or context specified by the module; and performing, by the electronic device, a measurement using the one or more sensors in response to detecting the condition or context specified by the module; and based on the collected data, performing, by the electronic device, the action specified by the module, wherein the action comprises providing a notification to the user through the electronic device or sending the collected data to a remote computer system.

“17. The electronic device of claim 16, wherein the module specifies a rule for analyzing data of the particular type of data specified by the module, and wherein the module specifies that the action is performed conditionally based on the analysis; wherein the operations further comprise analyzing the collected data using the rule specified by the module; and wherein the action is performed based on the analysis of the collected data.

“18. The electronic device of claim 16, wherein the one or more sensors are one or more sensors of the electronic device.

“19. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform operations comprising: receiving, by the electronic device, a module over a communication network for an application installed at the electronic device, the module being configured to adjust a configuration of the application to alter collection of data about a user of the electronic device, the module specifying (i) a particular type of data to collect about the user using one or more sensors, (ii) a condition or context to trigger a measurement using the one or more sensors, and (iii) an action to perform based on the collected data about the user, wherein the action comprises providing a notification or sending collected data to a remote computer system; adjusting, by the electronic device, the configuration of the application based on the received module to alter data collection performed by the application; based on the adjusted configuration of the application, collecting, by the electronic device, data about the user of the particular type of data specified by the module using the one or more sensors, wherein the collecting data about the user comprises: detecting, by the electronic device, the condition or context specified by the module; and performing, by the electronic device, a measurement using the one or more sensors in response to detecting the condition or context specified by the module; and based on the collected data, performing, by the electronic device, the action specified by the module, wherein the action comprises providing a notification to the user through the electronic device or sending the collected data to a remote computer system.”

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

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Cao, Yue. Creating customized applications for health monitoring. U.S. Patent Number 11474800, filed July 30, 2020, and published online on October 18, 2022. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=11474800.PN.&OS=PN/11474800RS=PN/11474800

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