Patent Issued for System and method of aggregating and interpreting data from connected devices (USPTO 11616825): Aetna Inc.

2023 APR 18 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Alexandria, Virginia, NewsRx journalists report that a patent by the inventors Ganesan, Sriram (North Wales, PA, US), Samuel, Robert (Blue Bell, PA, US), filed on December 15, 2016, was published online on March 28, 2023.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 11616825 is Aetna Inc. (Hartford, Connecticut, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Electronic devices have been used in various aspects to enhance human comfort and increase productivity. The electronic devices range from general purpose computers to application specific devices, e.g., medical devices. The trend for electronic devices shows reduction in physical device size while improving device functionality. For example, a mobile phone today may exhibit multi-core processors and multiple communication radios in a form factor that could not be realized ten years ago and is able to perform more functions than mobile phones of its size ten years ago. As the scaling trend continues with smaller form factors, wearable electronic devices for various purposes have become common. Wearable devices include fitness trackers that monitor steps taken, heart rate and/or sleep patterns. Even though these devices have become common, they possess a wealth of potential, currently not being realized. As standalone devices, wearable devices are very limited. Many wearable devices are connected to the internet either though a smartphone or with built in wireless technology. Such devices become part of the internet of things (IoT).”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “Embodiments of the disclosure provide a method for aggregating and providing health data records to an electronic device. The method is performed by a server that includes a processor and a non-transitory computer readable medium with processor-executable instructions stored thereon. When the instructions are executed by the processor, the server performs the method including: (a) receiving collected data from one or more client devices, the collected data comprising health related data including at least one of step count data, heart rate data, sleep sensor data; (b) extracting metadata from the collected data; © pseudonymizing the collected data; (d) categorizing the collected data using the extracted metadata and enterprise ontology of the server; and (e) storing the collected data.

“Embodiments of the disclosure also provide a server for aggregating and providing health data records to an electronic device. The server includes a processor and a non-transitory computer readable medium with processor-executable instructions stored thereon, such that when the instructions are executed by the processor, the server performs the method of: (a) receiving collected data from one or more client devices, the collected data comprising health related data including at least one of step count data, heart rate data, sleep sensor data; (b) extracting metadata from the collected data; © pseudonymizing the collected data; (d) categorizing the collected data using the extracted metadata and enterprise ontology of the server; and (e) storing the collected data.

“Embodiments of the disclosure further provide a non-transitory computer-readable medium for aggregating and providing health data records to an electronic device. The non-transitory computer-readable medium stores processor-executable instructions for performing the method of: (a) receiving collected data from one or more client devices, the collected data comprising health related data including at least one of step count data, heart rate data, sleep sensor data; (b) extracting metadata from the collected data; © pseudonymizing the collected data; (d) categorizing the collected data using the extracted metadata and enterprise ontology of the server; and (e) storing the collected data.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A method for aggregating and providing health data records to an electronic device, the method performed by a server comprising a processor and a non-transitory computer readable medium with processor-executable instructions stored thereon, such that when the instructions are executed by the processor, the server performs the method comprising: receiving collected data from one or more client devices, the collected data, associated with a plurality of member profiles, comprising health related data including at least one of step count data, heart rate data, or sleep sensor data; extracting metadata from the collected data to obtain extracted metadata; separating member-identifiable data and medical data in the collected data in response to protected health information and personal identifiable information being present in the collected data; pseudonymizing the collected data; categorizing the collected data by mapping the extracted metadata to an enterprise ontology of the server; determining whether the metadata contains a new semantic element; updating the enterprise ontology with a new node when the metadata contains a new semantic element; determining whether the type of collected data was previously stored for the associated member profile, wherein the type of collected data is a node in the enterprise ontology; when the type of collected data was previously stored for the associated member profile, removing an existing record containing the previously stored collected data; storing the collected data separately as the extracted metadata, the member-identifiable data, and the medical data, with the member-identifiable data decoupled from the medical data; authenticating the electronic device; receiving a request from the electronic device to access the collected data; determining whether the electronic device is a secondary party as defined a first member profile in the plurality of member profiles and whether the electronic device is a secondary party as defined in a second member profile in the plurality of member profiles; determining whether the secondary party has authorization to access only medical data when the electronic device is a secondary party as defined in the second member profile or has authorization to access a curated combination of member-identifiable data and medical data when the electronic device is a secondary party as defined in the first member profile; providing the curated combination of member-identifiable data and medical data associated with the first member profile to the electronic device, when the secondary party has authorization to access a curated combination of member-identifiable data and medical data; and providing only medical data associated with the second member profile to the electronic device when the secondary party has authorization to access only medical data.

“2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the receiving collected data from the client devices comprises at least one of: receiving collected data in real-time from the client devices; receiving collected data in batch from an intermediary; receiving collected data after a data threshold has been surpassed; and receiving collected data after a certain amount of time has elapsed.

“3. The method according to claim 1, wherein member-identifiable data comprises protected health information and personal identifiable information, and medical data comprises doctor’s notes, clinical notes, diagnostic results, vital sign readings, or radiology images.

“4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the pseudonymizing the collected data comprises performing the following steps for each member profile in the plurality of member profiles: creating, for a respective member profile, a pseudonym using a cryptographic algorithm; encrypting the pseudonym; creating a map function to access member-identifiable data associated with the respective member profile through the pseudonym; linking medical data associated with the respective member profile with the pseudonym; generating a code to link the member-identifiable data associated with the respective member profile and the medical data associated with the respective member profile; and encrypting the code.

“5. The method according to claim 4, wherein storing the collected data comprises storing the collected data for each member profile in the plurality of member profiles by: storing, for a respective member profile, the map function and the member-identifiable data paired with the pseudonym in a database; storing, for the respective member profile, the medical data paired with the pseudonym in the database; and storing, for the respective member profile, the encrypted code paired with the pseudonym in the database.

“6. The method according to claim 1, wherein pseudonymizing the collected data comprises performing the following steps for each member profile in the plurality of member profiles: creating, for a respective member profile, a pseudonym using a cryptographic algorithm; encrypting the pseudonym; and creating a map function to access collected data associated with the respective member profile through the pseudonym.

“7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: determining that the electronic device is a primary device associated with a third member profile in the plurality of member profiles; re-identifying, in the pseudonymized collected data, only pseudonymized collected data associated with the third member profile to obtain a health data record associated with the third member profile, the health data record comprising both the member-identifiable data associated with the third member profile and the medical data associated with the third member profile; and providing the health data record associated with the third member profile to the electronic device.

“8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the re-identifying comprises: obtaining a pseudonym for the third member profile by decrypting a link code for the third member profile; accessing actual member-specific data associated with the third member profile by mapping the pseudonym with the member-identifiable data of the third member profile; and merging the member-identifiable data associated with the third member profile and the medical data associated with the third member profile to obtain the health data record associated with the third member profile.

“9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: de-identifying data in a health data record associated with the first member profile to obtain a de-identified health data record associated with the first member profile; and providing the de-identified health data record to the electronic device.

“10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the de-identifying comprises: stratifying direct member-identifiers, quasi-identifiers, and the medical data associated with the first member profile; obtaining the de-identified health data record associated with the first member profile by determining a type of direct member-identifier, quasi-identifier, and medical data and applying a de-identification algorithm based on the type of direct member-identifier, quasi-identifier, and medical data, wherein the de-identification algorithm obscures values related to the member-identifier, quasi-identifier and/or medical data.

“11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the de-identification algorithm is selected from the group consisting of: suppression; generalization; perturbation; longitudinal consistency; partial redaction; redaction; and swapping.”

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

For additional information on this patent, see: Ganesan, Sriram. System and method of aggregating and interpreting data from connected devices. U.S. Patent Number 11616825, filed December 15, 2016, and published online on March 28, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11616825)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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