Systems and methods for context-aware anxiety interventions

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12488671-B2
Application number	US-202318241133-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 31, 2023
Priority date	Aug 31, 2022
Publication date	Dec 2, 2025
Grant date	Dec 2, 2025

Abstract

An anxiety microdose intervention delivery system receives, from a plurality of biomarker sensors, a positional parameter associated with a user's position, a social parameter associated with a user's social interaction, and a set of physiological parameters associated with a user's physiological state. The system can determine, using a recommendation algorithm, that a user is in a possible state of anxiety. The system can generate, based at least in part on the determination that the user is in the possible state of anxiety, data for displaying microdose intervention content on the user device. The microdose intervention content can be configured to better manage the anxiety. The system can receive user interaction with the microdose intervention content and transmit a report of the user interaction with the intervention content.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A computer-implemented method for using a physiological biomarker sensor to generate data for displaying intervention content at a specified time on a user device, the method comprising:
receiving, from a physiological biomarker sensor, a physiological biomarker associated with a user's physiology; determining that the physiological biomarker exceeds a physiological threshold, wherein the physiological biomarker exceeding the physiological threshold is at least partially indicative of a health-related condition related to anxiety associated with the user; transmitting, based at least in part on the determination that the physiological biomarker exceeds the physiological threshold, an intervention notification to the user device; receiving, via the user device, a user response to the intervention notification and a specified time associated with displaying intervention content; generating, in response to the user response to the intervention notification, data for displaying the intervention content at the specified time on the user device, wherein the intervention content is configured to treat the health-related condition related to anxiety; transmitting, at the specified time, the data configured to treat the health-related condition related to anxiety to the user device; receiving, via the user device, user interaction with the intervention content; and transmitting, to a remote computing device, a report of the user interaction with the intervention content.

2 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, from a biomarker sensor different from the physiological biomarker sensor, a biomarker associated with at least one of: a user's state of motion, a user's location, an audio feature of sound near the user, a heart rate of the user, an electrical conductance of a user's skin, or a temperature of a user's skin; and determining, based on the biomarker and at least partially on the determination that the physiological biomarker exceeds the physiological threshold, that the biomarker is at least partially indicative of the health-related condition related to anxiety; wherein transmitting the intervention notification to the user device is further based on the determination that the biomarker is at least partially indicative of the health-related condition related to anxiety.

3 . The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the biomarker sensor comprises at least one of: an accelerometer, a GPS tracker, a microphone, an optical sensor, an electrical resistance sensor, an electrical conductance sensor, or a thermometer.

4 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, from the physiological biomarker sensor, a second physiological biomarker associated with a user's physiology; determining that the second physiological biomarker does not exceed the physiological threshold; and generating an indication of an efficacy of the intervention content.

5 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the physiological biomarker comprises at least one of: a heart rate of the user, an electrical conductance of a user's skin, or a temperature of the user's skin.

6 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein generating the data for displaying the intervention content comprises generating images and associated audio messages.

7 . The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein the audio messages comprise incomplete audio messages that are missing one or more letters or words.

8 . The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein receiving the user interaction with the intervention content comprises receiving user selection of the missing one or more letters or words.

9 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving, via a recommendation system, a recommendation of the specified time and a type of intervention content.

10 . A microdose intervention content delivery system comprising:
a user interface configured to receive user interaction; a plurality of biomarker sensors comprising a physical biomarker sensor, a social biomarker sensor, and a physiological biomarker sensor; a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith and a recommendation algorithm; and one or more hardware processors in communication with the computer readable storage medium, and configured to execute the computer executable instructions to cause the computer system to:
receive, from the physical biomarker sensor, a physical biomarker associated with a user's location;
receive, from the social biomarker sensor, a social biomarker associated with a user's social interaction;
receive, from the physiological biomarker sensor, a physiological biomarker associated with a user's physiological state;
determine, using the recommendation algorithm and based on the physical biomarker, the social biomarker, and the physiological biomarker, that a user is in a possible state of anxiety;
generate, based at least in part on the determination that the user is in the possible state of anxiety, data for displaying microdose intervention content on the user interface, wherein the microdose intervention content is configured to treat the anxiety;
receive, via the user interface, user interaction with the microdose intervention content; and
transmit, to a remote computing device, a report of the user interaction with the microdose intervention content.

11 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more hardware processors are further configured to cause the computer system to:
receive a specified time associated with displaying the microdose intervention content.

12 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more hardware processors are further configured to cause the computer system to:
receive, from at least one of the plurality of biomarker sensors, a biomarker associated with at least one of: the user's state of motion, a user's location, an audio feature of sound near the user, a heart rate of the user, an electrical conductance of a user's skin, or a temperature of the user's skin.

13 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of biomarker sensors comprises at least one of: an accelerometer, a GPS tracker, a microphone, an optical sensor, an electrical resistance sensor, an electrical conductance sensor, or a thermometer.

14 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more hardware processors are further configured to cause the computer system to:
receiving, from the plurality of physiological sensor after transmitting the report of the user interaction with the microdose intervention content, an updated biomarker associated with the user; determining that the updated biomarker does not exceed a biomarker threshold; and generating an indication of an efficacy of the microdose intervention content.

15 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the physiological biomarker comprises at least one of: a heart rate of the user, an electrical conductance of a user's skin, or a temperature of the user's skin.

16 . The system of claim 10 , wherein generating the data for displaying the microdose intervention content comprises generating images and associated audio messages.

17 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the audio messages comprise incomplete audio messages that are missing one or more letters or words.

18 . The system of claim 17 , wherein receiving the

Assignees

• The Univ Of Virginia Patent Foundation
• Univ Virginia Patent Foundation

Inventors

• Teachman Bethany A
• Barnes Laura E
• Boukhechba Mehdi

Classifications

• A61B5/165 Primary

  Evaluating the state of mind, e.g. depression, anxiety · CPC title

• A61B5/02055

  Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular condition and temperature · CPC title

• G16H50/70

  for mining of medical data, e.g. analysing previous cases of other patients · CPC title

• G16H50/20

  for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems · CPC title

• G16H15/00

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