Method and apparatus for monitoring infection risk during an epidemic and pandemic

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021259643-A1
Application number	US-202117317177-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 11, 2021
Priority date	Oct 10, 2013
Publication date	Aug 26, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method, system, and/or apparatus for automatically monitoring for possible infection or other physical health concerns, such as from Covid-19. The method or implementing software application uses or relies upon location information available on the mobile device from any source, such as cell phone usage and/or other device applications. The method and system automatically uses and/or learns user location and activity patterns and determines and infection risk that can be communicated as a warning to community members.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of determining infection risks for individuals during an epidemic or pandemic, such as Covid-19, the method executed by a computer system and comprising:
automatically determining positional destinations of a user using a first mobile electronic device of the user; automatically determining context information about each of the positional destinations without input by the user; automatically deducing as user information a location type and/or user activity of each of the positional destinations from the context information; assigning a user risk assessment to the user according to locations and/or activities of the user during a predetermined timeframe; and providing the user risk assessment to a community member via a community member electronic device.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing the user risk assessment to a community member before an in-person meeting with the user.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the user risk assessment is automatically displayed to the community member upon an electronic meeting request and/or the meeting being entered into an electronic calendar.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined timeframe is at least a predetermined incubation or latency period of a contagion or pathogen.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the user risk assessment is a compilation of a plurality of risk metrics determined for the locations and/or activities during the predetermined time period.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a risk metric for each of the locations and/or activities for the user, to provide a plurality of risk metrics during the predetermined timeframe; and computing the user risk assessment from the plurality of risk metrics.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the risk metric is determined from a predetermined assessment score for each of the location and any activity performed at the location, as a function of time at the location and/or performing the activity.

8 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
determining a corresponding user participation time for the each of the locations and/or activities; and scaling the risk metric for the each of the locations and/or activities according to the corresponding user participation time.

9 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the determining the risk metric for the each of the locations and/or activities comprises comparing a location and/or an activity to a predetermined risk scale.

10 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising increasing a risk metric of the user risk assessment upon an in-person contact at the locations and/or activities with a person having a negative risk assessment.

11 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining any in-person contact of the user for the each of the locations and/or activities; obtaining a contact person risk assessment for the in-person contact; and adjusting the user risk assessment as a function of the contact person risk assessment.

12 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
automatically associating the user with a second user at the positional destination, wherein a second user location and/or second user activity is determined; automatically inferring the location type and/or user activity from the second user location and/or activity; and adjusting the user risk assessment due to in-person contact with the second user.

13 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising for each of the locations, determining the assessment score by normalizing the number of infected people in an area around the location.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the user risk assessment is a summation of a risk metric for each of a location, an activity, and a duration of the activity and/or at the location.

15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the computer system comprises the first user electronic device in wireless communication with a server computer, and the computer system comprises more than one non-transitory recordable medium collectively including a series of preprogrammed instructions that, when executed by the first user electronic device and the server computer, cause the computer system to perform the method.

16 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
automatically monitoring destinations and user activities performed at the positional destinations of the user via the first mobile electronic device, wherein the user activities comprise an eating activity or an exercise activity, each at a location or with one or more community members; wherein the predetermined timeframe is at least a predetermined incubation or latency period of a contagion or pathogen; and providing the user risk assessment to the community member via the community member electronic device before an in-person meeting with the user, wherein the user risk assessment is automatically displayed to the community member upon an electronic meeting request and/or the in-person meeting being entered into an electronic calendar.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the user risk assessment is a compilation of a plurality of risk metrics determined for locations and/or activities during the predetermined time period, and each of the risk metrics is determined from a predetermined assessment score for each of the locations and any activity performed thereat, as a function of time spent at the location and/or performing the activity.

18 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising:
determining a risk metric for each of the locations and/or activities for the user, to provide the plurality of risk metrics during the predetermined timeframe, wherein the determining the risk metric for the each of the locations and/or activities comprises comparing a location and/or an activity to a predetermined risk scale; determining a corresponding user participation time for the each of the locations and/or activities; scaling the risk metric for the each of the locations and/or activities according to the corresponding user participation time; increasing any risk metric of the user risk assessment upon an in-person contact at the each of the locations and/or activities with a person having a negative risk assessment; and computing the user risk assessment from the plurality of risk metrics.

19 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
automatically determining a first user visit of a user at a first positional destination via a first user electronic device; automatically determining a location of the first positional destination via the first mobile electronic device; receiving a user activity at the location through the first mobile electronic device, wherein the user activity comprises an eating activity or an exercise activity, at a location or with one or more community members; automatically determining a first context for the first user visit and user activity; automatically tagging the location with the user activity and the context information determined from the first context, and storing the tagged location in a location database; automatically determining a second user visit at the positional destination via the first user electronic device; automatically delivering via the first user electronic device a request for manual confirmation of the user activity being performed for the second user visit; automatically determining a second context for the second user visit at the positional destination; automatically updating the context information of the tagged location

Assignees

• Aura Home Inc

Inventors

• Frieder Ophir
• Chowdhury Abdur
• Jensen Eric

Classifications

• H04L51/58

  Message adaptation for wireless communication · CPC title

• H04L51/52

  for supporting social networking services · CPC title

• H04L51/222

  using geographical location information, e.g. messages transmitted or received in proximity of a certain spot or area · CPC title

• H04L67/535

  Tracking the activity of the user (network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34) · CPC title

• H04L67/52

  specially adapted for the location of the user terminal · CPC title