Patent Issued for Precision health monitoring with digital devices (USPTO 11314492): VigNet Incorporated

2022 MAY 17 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- According to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx journalists, a patent by the inventors Cao, Yue (Vienna, VA, US), Jain, Neeta (Fairfax, VA, US), Jain, Praduman (Fairfax, VA, US), Klein, Dave (Oakton, VA, US), filed on April 13, 2020, was published online on April 26, 2022.

The assignee for this patent, patent number 11314492, is VigNet Incorporated (Fairfax, Virginia, United States).

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “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.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent, NewsRx editors 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 performed by one or more computers, the method comprising: providing, by the one or more computers, an interface for receiving input for creating a customized module configured to provide a customized set of interactions through an application, wherein the application includes a first set of application functionality that includes existing features that are not initially enabled when the application is installed; receiving, by the one or more computers, data indicating user input through the interface, the user input indicating desired functionality to be provided by the application after receiving the customized module; based on the user input, identifying, by the one or more computers, (i) one or more elements from a repository of elements and (ii) a particular set of the existing features that includes one or more of the existing features in the first set of application functionality; generating, by the one or more computers, the customized module to cause the application to provide the desired functionality indicated by the user input, the customized module being configured to add the identified one or more elements to the application after the application has been installed and to cause the application to enable the particular set of the existing features after the application has been installed; and providing, by the one or more computers, the customized module to a client device that has the application installed, wherein the customized module (i) adds the identified one or more elements to the installed application and (ii) causes the installed application to enable the particular set of the existing features in the first set of application functionality to be used in interactions of the installed application with a user of the client device.

“2. The method of claim 1, wherein the customized module customizes data collection performed by the application.

“3. The method of claim 1, wherein the customized module provides application content or a layout of a user interface of the installed application on the client device to customize interactions of the installed application with the user of the client device.

“4. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified one or more elements comprise one or more software modules.

“5. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified one or more elements comprise at least one of interactive elements or media.

“6. The method of claim 1, wherein the customized module customizes how the installed application on the client device performs one or more of: accessing sensor data, providing user interface elements, interacting with an operating system or another application, or communicating over a network.

“7. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the interface comprises providing data for a user interface enabling a user to select elements from the repository to add to the first set of application functionality.

“8. The method of claim 1, wherein the customized module is configured to integrate the one or more elements with the first set of application functionality.

“9. The method of claim 1, wherein the user input is used to select one or more elements configured to cause the application to collect sensor data from a device that receives the customized module after having the application installed.

“10. The method of claim 1, wherein the application that includes the first set of functionality is provided through an application store by a first server system.

“11. The method of claim 10, wherein the customized module is a program module provided outside the application store by a second server system that is different from the first server system.

“12. The method of claim 1, wherein the application is a mobile application, and wherein the client device is a mobile device.

“13. The method of claim 1, wherein the customized module is configured to cause the installed application on the client device to (i) initiate one or more measurements using a sensor of the client device that receives the customized module, (ii) process measurement data from the one or more measurements, and (iii) provide an output to a server system based on processing the measurement data.

“14. The method of claim 1, wherein the customized module causing the installed application to enable the particular set of the existing features comprises causing the installed application on the client device to expose to the user of the client device at least one existing feature in the particular set of the existing features.

“15. A system comprising: one or more computers; and one or more computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more computers, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising: providing, by the one or more computers, an interface for receiving input for creating a customized module configured to provide a customized set of interactions through an application, wherein the application includes a first set of application functionality that includes existing features that are not initially enabled when the application is installed; receiving, by the one or more computers, data indicating user input through the interface, the user input indicating desired functionality to be provided by the application after receiving the customized module; based on the user input, identifying, by the one or more computers, (i) one or more elements from a repository of elements and (ii) a particular set of the existing features that includes one or more of the existing features in the first set of application functionality; generating, by the one or more computers, the customized module to cause the application to provide the desired functionality indicated by the user input, the customized module being configured to add the identified one or more elements to the application after the application has been installed and to cause the application to enable the particular set of the existing features after the application has been installed; and providing, by the one or more computers, the customized module to a client device that has the application installed, wherein the customized module (i) adds the identified one or more elements to the installed application and (ii) causes the installed application to enable the particular set of the existing features in the first set of application functionality to be used in interactions of the installed application with a user of the client device.

“16. The system of claim 15, wherein the customized module customizes data collection performed by the installed application on the client device.

“17. The system of claim 15, wherein the customized module provides application content or a layout of a user interface of the installed application on the client device.

“18. The system of claim 15, wherein the identified one or more elements comprise one or more software modules.

“19. The system of claim 15, wherein the identified one or more elements comprise at least one of interactive elements or media.

“20. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more computers, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising: providing, by the one or more computers, an interface for receiving input for creating a customized module configured to provide a customized set of interactions through an application, wherein the application includes a first set of application functionality that includes existing features that are not initially enabled when the application is installed; receiving, by the one or more computers, data indicating user input through the interface, the user input indicating desired functionality to be provided by the application after receiving the customized module; based on the user input, identifying, by the one or more computers, (i) one or more elements from a repository of elements and (ii) a particular set of the existing features that includes one or more of the existing features in the first set of application functionality; generating, by the one or more computers, the customized module to cause the application to provide the desired functionality indicated by the user input, the customized module being configured to add the identified one or more elements to the application after the application has been installed and to cause the application to enable the particular set of the existing features after the application has been installed; and providing, by the one or more computers, the customized module to a client device that has the application installed, wherein the customized module (i) adds the identified one or more elements to the installed application and (ii) causes the installed application to enable the particular set of the existing features in the first set of application functionality to be used in interactions of the installed application with a user of the client device.”

For more information, see this patent: Cao, Yue. Precision health monitoring with digital devices. U.S. Patent Number 11314492, filed April 13, 2020, and published online on April 26, 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=11314492.PN.&OS=PN/11314492RS=PN/11314492

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