Researchers Submit Patent Application, “Beacon Based Check-In for Health Rewards Program”, for Approval (USPTO 20180053202)

Managed Care Weekly Digest

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Managed Care Weekly Digest -- From Washington, D.C., NewsRx journalists report that a patent application by the inventors Slutzky, Stuart (Deerfield, IL); Gonzalez, Agustin (Chicago, IL), filed on August 22, 2016, was made available online on March 1, 2018 (see also Patent Application).

No assignee for this patent application has been made.

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: "The present invention is directed to a beacon based check-in system and method for a health rewards program. The present invention allows members to check-in to predetermined locations or events to earn points and rewards for use in health rewards programs. The member may use the points or rewards to purchase gift cards, merchandise or health related services.

"Health insurance companies often provide wellness and rewards programs to incentivize their members to maintain healthy lifestyles. These programs benefit members and insurers by lowering health care costs for insured members. These health rewards programs are designed to reward members for making healthier choices (e.g., exercise and diet) and achieving personal health goals. These programs reward members by providing them points that can be used to redeem gifts or rewards such as gift cards from retailers, health products, or travel perks such as flights or hotel stays."

As a supplement to the background information on this patent application, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors' summary information for this patent application: "The present invention relates to a beacon based check-in system for tracking member attendance at healthy locations or events such as gyms, health clubs, health food stores, and blood bank drives. The electronic system uses wireless radio frequency beacons to automatically track member attendance at health events or member participation in healthy activities. The present invention automatically tracks member attendance and participation in real-time and provides reward points to members that can be tracked and updated via a member's mobile application.

"The present invention is designed to incentivize people to lead healthier lives by providing rewards to members who attend the gym or other health related events. The system may be implemented by a health insurance company in partnership with a retail health club or other retail partners.

"In one embodiment of the invention, the system is comprised of: a beacon-based check-in and rewards system for incentivizing people to maintain healthy lifestyles by awarding rewards to a member user comprising: a mobile application; a beacon placed at a predetermined location; the beacon comprised of a processing system and storage configured with a beacon identifier and adapted to store an event identifier; the processing system of the beacon programmed with one or more software routines to: 1) wirelessly transmit the beacon identifier and event identifier to the mobile application of the user; 2) receive programming input for editing the event identifier stored in the beacon based on event type; a remote processing system located remotely from the beacon; the remote processing system programmed with one or more software routines executing on the remote processing system to: 1) receive the beacon identifier, the event identifier, and user identifier transmitted from the mobile application; 2) determine the amount of health rewards to award the user based on the received beacon identifier, the event identifier, and user identifier; 3) transmit the amount of health rewards to the mobile application; wherein the mobile application is programmed with one or more software routines executing on the mobile application to: 1) receive the beacon identifier and the event identifier from the beacon; 2) transmit the beacon identifier, the event identifier, the user identifier, and a time and date stamp to the remote processing system; 3) receive the amount of health rewards from the mobile application; 4) store the amount of health rewards earned by the user for a current period of time; 5) provide the amount of health rewards earned by the user for the current period of time to the user.

"The foregoing and other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following more detailed description of the particular embodiments, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings."

For additional information on this patent application, see: Slutzky, Stuart; Gonzalez, Agustin. Beacon Based Check-In for Health Rewards Program. Filed August 22, 2016 and posted March 1, 2018. Patent URL: http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220180053202%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20180053202&RS=DN/20180053202

Keywords for this news article include: Software, Health Insurance, Patent Application, Health and Medicine.