Apparatus and method for providing virtual treatment experience

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10417388-B2
Application number	US-201515302689-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 7, 2015
Priority date	Apr 7, 2014
Publication date	Sep 17, 2019
Grant date	Sep 17, 2019

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for providing a virtual treatment experience which can make a user to understand the necessity for treatment and learn how to counteract side effects of the treatment. The apparatus may include a patient information manager configured to acquire medical information including disease name and blood value of a patient and treatment information including treatment program information and prescription information, a virtual activity provider configured to proceed with a virtual activity according to a manipulation command from a user terminal of the patient and provide an additive score and a subtractive score according to a result of proceeding with the virtual activity, and a controller configured to calculate health value information by quantifying a current health condition of the patient based on the blood value of the patient, select a first display image of an avatar corresponding to the calculated health value information, recalculate the heath value information of the patient using health value information set according to the number of days for which the treatment program has been applied and the provided additive score and subtractive score, and change the first display image of the avatar to a second display image according to the recalculated health value information of the patient.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of providing a virtual treatment experience, the method comprising:
a first operation of acquiring medical information including disease name and blood value of a patient and treatment information including treatment program information and prescription information;
a second operation of calculating health value information by quantifying a current health condition of the patient based on the medical information of the patient, and selecting a display image of an avatar corresponding to the calculated health value information;
a third operation of proceeding with a virtual activity according to a manipulation command from a user terminal of the patient such that the user terminal displays the avatar performing the virtual activity, and inquiring an additive score and a subtractive score according to a result of proceeding with the virtual activity;
a fourth operation of calculating a heath value of the patient using health value information set according to a number of days for which the treatment program has been applied and the inquired additive score and subtractive score; and
a fifth operation of changing the display image of the avatar according to the calculated health value of the patient.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, before the first operation, setting health values according to numbers of days for which a treatment period of the treatment program has been elapsed, generating display images of the avatar to which physical side effects produced by progress of the treatment program have been applied in stages, and setting the generated display images of the avatar differently according to health value ranges.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second operation further includes setting a virtual treatment experience service period to be identical to a treatment period of the treatment program based on the treatment information of the patient, and then starting the treatment program.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the third operation further includes providing helping words describing effects of the virtual activity on treatment.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the virtual activity is one of taking a drug, cooking, walking, crop cultivation, exercising, shopping, and a community activity.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the prescription information includes information on a kind and dosing time of a drug actually prescribed at a hospital,
an alarm function is provided for the avatar to take the drug when a preset time arrives according to the dosing time information, and
when the avatar does not take the drug at the preset time, the health value of the patient is recalculated to change the display image of the avatar.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising operating in conjunction with another user terminal connected through a communication network, displaying an avatar of the other user terminal in a virtual space, and providing a community activity with the other user terminal.

8. An apparatus for providing a virtual treatment experience, the apparatus comprising:
a patient information manager configured to acquire medical information including disease name and blood value of a patient and treatment information including treatment program information and prescription information;
a virtual activity provider configured to proceed with a virtual activity according to a manipulation command from a user terminal of the patient such that the user terminal displays the avatar performing the virtual activity, and inquire an additive score and a subtractive score according to a result of proceeding with the virtual activity; and
a controller configured to calculate health value information by quantifying a current health condition of the patient based on the blood value of the patient, select a first display image of an avatar corresponding to the calculated health value information, recalculate the heath value information of the patient using health value information set according to a number of days for which the treatment program has been applied and the inquired additive score and subtractive score, and change the first display image of the avatar to a second display image according to the recalculated health value information of the patient.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , further comprising a database configured to store the acquired medical information and treatment information, the health value information set according to the number of days for which the treatment program has been applied, display images of the avatar generated by applying physical side effects produced by progress of the treatment program in stages, and matching information obtained by matching the generated display images of the avatar to health value ranges.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the virtual activity is one of taking a drug, cooking, walking, crop cultivation, exercising, shopping, and a community activity, and
the virtual activity provider separately provides additive scores when the avatar takes a drug, eats designated food helpful for treatment, goes for a walk, and does exercise.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the virtual activity provider operates in conjunction with another user terminal connected through a communication network, displays an avatar of the other user terminal in a virtual space, and provides a community activity with the other user terminal.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein, when providing the community activity, the virtual activity provider provides a message transmission function and a chatting function to the avatar of the other user terminal existing in the virtual space.

13. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the controller sets a virtual treatment experience service period to be identical to a treatment period of the treatment program based on the treatment information of the patient, and starts the treatment program and counts a number of days for which the treatment program has been applied upon selecting the first display image of the avatar.

14. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the prescription information includes information on a kind and dosing time of a drug actually prescribed at a hospital, and
the controller provides an alarm function for the avatar to take the drug when a preset time arrives according to the dosing time information, and recalculates the health value of the patient and changes the second display image of the avatar to a third display image when the avatar does not take the drug at the preset time.

Assignees

• Univ Chung Ang Ind Acad Coop Found

Inventors

• Han Doug Hyun
• Jang Joung Soon
• Hwang In Gyu
• Kim Hee Jun
• Choi Byung Doo
• Kim Jong Deok
• Cho Hyung Won

Classifications

• G16H20/10

  relating to drugs or medications, e.g. for ensuring correct administration to patients · CPC title

• G16H50/30

  for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment · CPC title

• G16H15/00

  ICT specially adapted for medical reports, e.g. generation or transmission thereof · CPC title

• G06Q50/22

  Social work or social welfare, e.g. community support activities or counselling services · CPC title

• G06Q10/10 Primary

  Office automation; Time management · CPC title