System and method for performing a diagnostic analysis of physiological information

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9408537-B2
Application number	US-27160008-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 14, 2008
Priority date	Nov 14, 2008
Publication date	Aug 9, 2016
Grant date	Aug 9, 2016

Abstract

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, an avatar engine having a controller to retrieve a user profile of a user, present the user an avatar having characteristics that correlate to the user profile, detect one or more responses of the user during a communication exchange between the user and the avatar, identify from the one or more responses a need to determine a medical status of the user, establish communications with a medical diagnostic system, receive physiological information associated with the user, submit the physiological information to the medical diagnostic system, receive from the medical diagnostic system a diagnostic analysis of the physiological information, and present the diagnostic analysis to at least one of the user and a medical agent of the user, wherein the user is presented the diagnostic analysis by way of the avatar. Other embodiments are disclosed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An avatar engine, comprising:
a memory that stores instructions; and
a processor coupled to the memory, wherein responsive to executing the instructions, the processor performs operations comprising:
retrieving a user profile of a user and an image of the user;
generating an avatar based on the image of the user and based on statistical modeling that utilizes a demographic profile of the user and historical media consumption behavior of the user;
providing interactive media services to the user via a communication exchange between the user and the avatar, wherein the interactive media services include non-medical services;
presenting medical questions to the user;
receiving responses from the user in response to the presenting of the medical questions;
requesting, by way of the avatar being presented, that the user perform physiological tests to generate physiological information from the physiological tests based on the responses;
receiving the physiological information;
submitting the physiological information and the responses to a medical diagnostic system;
receiving from the medical diagnostic system a diagnostic analysis of the physiological information and the responses;
accessing prior diagnostic results supplied by a medical diagnostic system;
comparing the diagnostic analysis with the prior diagnostic results as a comparison;
determining a health condition of the user that indicates an improvement or deterioration in health based on the comparison;
presenting the diagnostic analysis to equipment of a medical agent of the user, wherein the medical agent is presented the diagnostic analysis by way of the avatar;
receiving from the equipment of the medical agent a prognosis and prescription determined from the diagnostic analysis; and
presenting the user with the health condition, the prognosis and the prescription by way of the avatar.

2. The avatar engine of claim 1 , wherein the physiological information comprises one of a body temperature measurement of the user, a blood pressure measurement of the user, a heart rate measurement of the user, a height measurement of the user, a weight measurement of the user, or a body fat measurement of the user.

3. The avatar engine of claim 1 , wherein the physiological information is obtained by one of a plurality of selected physiological measuring devices, and
wherein the operations further comprise receiving the physiological information via wireless communication with the one of the plurality of physiological measuring devices.

4. The avatar engine of claim 1 , wherein the medical agent corresponds to one of a physician or a nurse,
wherein the avatar is generated prior to receiving the physiological information, and wherein the avatar engine comprises a set top box providing interactive television services.

5. The avatar engine of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise presenting to the user by way of the avatar the improvement or deterioration in the health condition of the user.

6. The avatar engine of claim 5 , wherein the avatar engine operates in a computing device communicatively coupled to an interactive media communication system comprising an internet protocol television communication system and an internet protocol multimedia subsystem communication system.

7. The avatar engine of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise presenting a prognosis and presenting an identification of prescribed medication by way of the avatar.

8. A method, comprising:
generating an avatar utilizing an image of a user, wherein the avatar is generated by a computing device executing computer instructions for an avatar engine;
presenting, by the computing device, the avatar;
analyzing, by the computing device, a communication exchange between the user and the avatar to determine a potential physiological change of the user;
requesting, by the avatar being presented, that the user perform physiological tests to generate physiological information from the physiological tests based on the potential physiological change of the user;
receiving, by the computing device, the physiological information;
submitting, by the computing device, the physiological information and the communication exchange to a medical system;
receiving, by the computing device, from the medical system a diagnostic analysis of the physiological information and the communication exchange;
accessing, by the computing device, prior diagnostic results supplied by the medical system;
comparing, by the computing device, the diagnostic analysis with the prior diagnostic results;
determining, by the computing device, whether a health condition of the user has improved or deteriorated based on the comparing, wherein the computing device provides interactive television services;
presenting, by the computing device, the diagnostic analysis to equipment of a medical agent of the user, wherein the medical agent is presented the diagnostic analysis by way of the avatar;
receiving, by the computing device, from the equipment of the medical agent a prognosis and prescription determined from the diagnostic analysis; and
presenting, by the computing device, the user with the health condition, the prognosis and the prescription by way of the avatar.

9. The method of claim 8 ,
wherein the generation of the avatar is based in part on statistical modeling that utilizes a demographic profile of the user and historical media consumption behavior of the user, wherein the avatar is generated prior to receiving the physiological information.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the medical agent corresponds to one of a physician or a nurse.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the physiological information comprises one of a body temperature measurement of the user, a blood pressure measurement of the user, a heart rate measurement of the user, a height measurement of the user, a weight measurement of the user, or a body fat measurement of the user.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the medical system is adapted to retrieve a physiological profile of the user to perform the diagnostic analysis of the physiological information.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the computing device is communicatively coupled to an interactive media communication system for providing the interactive television services.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the interactive media communication system comprises an internet protocol television communication system and an internet protocol multimedia subsystem communication system.

15. A non-transitory, machine-readable computer-readable storage medium, comprising instructions, wherein responsive to executing the instructions, a processor performs operations comprising:
conducting a communication exchange between a user and an avatar presented by a set top box, wherein the set top box is associated with the processor, wherein the communication exchange is associated with interactive media services for the user, wherein the interactive media services include non-medical services, wherein the avatar is generated based on an image of the user and based on statistical modeling that utilizes a demographic profile of the user and historical media consumption behavior of the user;
selecting a physiological measuring device from a group of physiological measuring devices as a selected physiological measuring device, wherein a potential physiological change is identified based on the communication exchange, and wherein the selected physiological measuring device collects physiological information associated with the user based on the co

Assignees

• Schroeter Horst
• Chang E-Lee
• Roberts Linda
• Khandelwal Madhur
• Clayton Darnell
• At & T Ip I Lp

Inventors

• Schroeter Horst
• Chang E-Lee
• Roberts Linda
• Khandelwal Madhur
• Clayton Darnell

Classifications

• G06F19/345

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06N3/006

  based on simulated virtual individual or collective life forms, e.g. social simulations or particle swarm optimisation [PSO] · CPC title

• A61B5/744 Primary

  Displaying an avatar, e.g. an animated cartoon character · CPC title

• A61B5/0022 Primary

  Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet · CPC title

• G06F19/3418

  Physics · mapped topic