Patent Application
20090150440
The present invention generally relates to graphical tools for healthcare monitoring systems, and more particularly to graphical tools for emphasizing a selected data set from among a plurality of data sets presented on a display.
A variety of different medical treatments require monitoring of certain physiological parameters indicative of a patient's medical condition. Typically, the patient and/or a healthcare provider studies the monitored parameters and makes changes to the treatment as indicated by the analysis of the monitored parameters. As a general rule, the healthcare provider's ability to optimize the patient's treatment improves with increases in the amount of high quality data available for analysis. Larger quantities of data, however, become increasingly difficult to analyze and interpret, especially when relationships between different physiological parameters must be discerned to fully understand the patient's condition.
The treatment of diabetes, for example, involves a detailed analysis of a relatively large amount of data collected over a period of time. In addition to blood glucose (bG) measurements, the data may include information and measurements of A1c values, Albumin values, Albumin excretion values, body mass index values, blood pressure values, carbohydrate values, cholesterol values (total, HDL, LDL, ratio) creatinine values, fructosamine values, HbA1 values, height values, insulin dose values, insulin rate values, total daily insulin values, ketone values, microalbumin values, proteinuria values, heart rate values, temperature values, triglyceride values, and weight values, exercise, sleep, stress, etc. When considered together, relationships and trends between these various parameters emerge, and provide valuable insight to the healthcare provider for making adjustments to the patient's treatment regimen. It is, however, difficult to discern these relationships and trends by simply reviewing the raw data in, for example, tabular format.
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for displaying multiple sets of data related to a medical condition. In general, the invention provides a graphical representation of the multiple data sets such that two or more sets of data are presented on the same chart or graph. By default, one of the sets of data is more prominently displayed that the other set(s) of data. In this manner, the healthcare provider analyzing the data may simultaneously view data representing multiple physiological parameters to better understand the relationships between the data sets.
The invention further provides a “focus” feature which enables the user to select one of the multiple data sets and obtain a graphical display of the data sets wherein the selected data set is more prominently displayed relative to the other data sets. In one embodiment of the invention, the unselected data sets are de-emphasized relative to their normal display status. Using the focus feature, the user may toggle through each of the multiple sets of simultaneously displayed data and more clearly view the selected data set against the backdrop of the unselected data sets. In this manner, the user can more easily concentrate on a selected data set, yet still view the unselected data sets to identify relationships among the data sets.
The features of the present invention described above, as well as additional features, will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art upon reference to the following description and the accompanying drawings.
The embodiments described below are merely exemplary and are not intended to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Instead, the embodiments were selected for description to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to practice the invention.
It should be understood from the beginning that the subject matter of the present invention may readily be adapted to a variety of different applications. In general, where it is desirable to view more than one data set concurrently (i.e., overlaid graphically, perhaps having at least one common axis), the present invention may be utilized. Examples of such applications include data analysis in scientific pursuits, medical applications, social sciences, information technology, and business applications, to name a few. Each of these areas involve the act of analyzing multiple data sets with the aim of extracting information which may facilitate reaching conclusions about the underlying subject matter. Thus, each of these fields of endeavor may benefit from features of the present invention.
Concepts described below may be further explained in one of more of the co-filed patent applications entitled HELP UTILITY FUNCTIONALITY AND ARCHITECTURE (Atty Docket: ROCHE-P0033), METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR GRAPHICALLY INDICATING MULTIPLE DATA VALUES (Atty Docket: ROCHE-P0039), SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DATABASE INTEGRITY CHECKING (Atty Docket: ROCHE-P0056), METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DATA SOURCE AND MODIFICATION TRACKING (Atty Docket: ROCHE-P0037), PATIENT-CENTRIC HEALTHCARE INFORMATION MAINTENANCE (Atty Docket: ROCHE-P0043), EXPORT FILE FORMAT WITH MANIFEST FOR ENHANCED DATA TRANSFER (Atty Docket: ROCHE-P0044), GRAPHIC ZOOM FUNCTIONALITY FOR A CUSTOM REPORT (Atty Docket: ROCHE-P0048), METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SELECTIVE MERGING OF PATIENT DATA (Atty Docket: ROCHE-P0065), METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PERSONAL MEDICAL DATA DATABASE MERGING (Atty Docket: ROCHE-P0066), METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR WIRELESS DEVICE COMMUNICATION (Atty Docket: ROCHE-P0034), METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SETTING TIME BLOCKS (Atty Docket: ROCHE-P0054), METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ENHANCED DATA TRANSFER (Atty Docket: ROCHE-P0042), COMMON EXTENSIBLE DATA EXCHANGE FORMAT (Atty Docket: ROCHE-P0036), METHOD OF CLONING SERVER INSTALLATION TO A NETWORK CLIENT (Atty Docket: ROCHE-P0035), METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR QUERYING A DATABASE (Atty Docket: ROCHE-P0049), METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR EVENT BASED DATA COMPARISON (Atty Docket: ROCHE-P0050), DYNAMIC COMMUNICATION STACK (Atty Docket: ROCHE-P0051), SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REPORTING MEDICAL INFORMATION (Atty Docket: ROCHE-P0045), METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MERGING EXTENSIBLE DATA INTO A DATABASE USING GLOBALLY UNIQUE IDENTIFIERS (Atty Docket: ROCHE-0052), METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ACTIVATING FEATURES AND FUNCTIONS OF A CONSOLIDATED SOFTWARE APPLICATION (Atty Docket: ROCHE-P0057), METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CONFIGURING A CONSOLIDATED SOFTWARE APPLICATION (Atty Docket: ROCHE-P0058), METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ASSOCIATING DATABASE CONTENT FOR SECURITY ENHANCEMENT (Atty Docket: ROCHE-P0041), METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CREATING REPORTS (Atty Docket: ROCHE-P0046), METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CREATING USER-DEFINED OUTPUTS (Atty Docket: ROCHE-P0047), DATA DRIVEN COMMUNICATION PROTOCOL GRAMMAR (Atty Docket: ROCHE-P0055), HEALTHCARE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM HAVING IMPROVED PRINTING OF DISPLAY SCREEN INFORMATION (Atty Docket: ROCHE-P0031), and METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MULTI-DEVICE COMMUNICATION (Atty Docket: ROCHE-P0064), the entire disclosures of which are hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference. It should be understood that the concepts described below may relate to diabetes management software systems for tracking and analyzing health data, such as, for example, the A
Also, reference is made in the following description to storage of data in a database. The actual physical implementation of a database on a general purpose computer may take several forms, from complete individual records storing the substantive information with several key indexes for locating a particular record, to a plurality of tables interrelated by relational operations, to a matrix of cross-linked data records, to various combinations and hybrids of these general types. In particular physical devices, a database may be structured and arranged to accommodate the restrictions of the physical device but, when transferred to a general purpose computer, be able to be stored in a variety of formats. Thus, while certain types of information may be described as being stored in a “database” from a conceptual standpoint, generally such information may be electronically stored in a variety of structures with a variety of encoding techniques.
Although the following description details operations in terms of a graphic user interface using display objects, the present invention may be practiced with text based interfaces, or even with voice or visually activated interfaces.
Before delving into the various embodiments of the system and method according to the invention, general healthcare management system concepts will be described. A general healthcare management system receives medical data from a plurality of sources and displays the data to facilitate diagnosis and treatment of patients. Medical data is stored in fields within records in a database. Each record may contain a plurality of data fields. Data originating in devices external to the computing device, whether originated in a laboratory, a medical device, or generated manually in another computing device, must be transferred into the computing device before it may be managed by the system. Data transfer mechanisms include downloading and merging. Downloading occurs when a device transmits data to the system. Specifically, downloading occurs when a medical device is accessible to the system and transfers data directly to the system. Downloading also occurs when data is first transferred to computer storage media before it is transferred from the computer storage media to the system. Merging, on the other hand, occurs when a computing device selectively transfers data from a source database, whether resident on the device or remote from it, to the system, or destination, database.
Referring now to
Processor 14 may include any of a variety of different digital electronic components configured to interpret program instructions and process data. Typically, processor 14 may include a semi-conducting integrated circuit which functions as a central processing unit for a larger set of electronics that provide functionality to system 10. Among its various functions depending upon the specific application, processor 14 is configured to provide commands and data to electronics associated with display 18 to cause data to be presented to a user on display 18 in the manner described in further detail below.
Display 18 may employ any of a variety of different display technologies such as vacuum fluorescent, electroluminescent, plasma, liquid crystal, light emitting diode, and any other technology suitable for presenting information to a user in graphical form. As will be understood by persons of ordinary skill in the art, display 18 includes a variety of electronic devices in addition to the visual output device viewed by the user which are necessary to enable the visual output device to perform its function.
System 10 may be a stand-alone system or part of a network of other devices. For example, system 10 may be an integrated part of or attachment to a handheld device such as a PDA, a bG meter, a cellular telephone, or other device. Alternatively, system 10 may be a conventional computing device in the form of a palm top, notebook, laptop or desk top computer. In any of the above forms, system 10 may be connected via wired or wireless technology to other systems and/or devices, or even distributed in terms of its functionality across a network of devices. For example, the data for display by system 10 may be stored and served using a remote serving device coupled to a network such as the Internet. In such an embodiment, at least part of the functionality of processor 14 is performed by the remote server, and input device 12 for system 10 may be coupled to a device that is entirely separate from the device including display 18.
Referring now to
Data settings area 26 includes a data select dropdown menu 40, which when selected by the user permits selection of any of a variety of different data sets stored in memory 16 of system 10. It should be understood that the data sets available for selection using dropdown menu 40 may include some or all of the data sets maintained in memory 16 for a selected patient. The data sets maintained in memory 16 may be predefined by software 15 or defined by a user. Data selection options 42, 44, 46 are also presented depending upon the selection of data select dropdown menu 40. Finally, data settings area 26 also includes a secondary data select dropdown menu 50, which is shown in
Graph area 24 also includes a time period select dropdown menu 62, which when selected by the user permits selection from a list of predefined time periods such as, for example, the past 30 days, the past 2 days, all data corresponding to the selected patient, or a custom defined date range. A portion of the data sets selected in the manner described above corresponding to the selected time period will be displayed in graph area 24. As an alternative to the predefined time period options provided by time period select dropdown menu 62, graph area 24 further includes a calendar time select icon 64, which when selected presents the user with a calendar from which the user may select start and stop dates for the selected data sets. The selected start and stop dates are then displayed to the user in date box 66.
Data select dropdown menu 40 may provide data set options of bG data, insulin, carbs, weight data, exercise, etc. In screenshot 20, bG data has been selected. As shown, bG data is presented in units of milligram per deciliter along the y-axis of the plot in graph area 24. The x-axis corresponds to the time period selected using time period select dropdown menu 62. As the data selection option 44 is selected, the average bG data is provided as line 68. The individual bG measurements are shown as “X” icons numbered 69.
Additionally, when a secondary data set is selected for comparison, focus selection buttons 58, 60 are provided in data settings area 26. As should be apparent from the foregoing, focus selection buttons 58, 60 correspond to the data sets selected using data select dropdown menus 40, 50, respectively. In one embodiment of the invention, one of focus selection buttons 58, 60 is activated by default. When focus selection button 58 is selected as shown in
By simply clicking on focus selection buttons 58, 60, the user may toggle the display emphasis between the displayed data sets to more easily evaluate the relationships between the data sets. In
While this invention has been described as having an exemplary design, the present invention may be further modified within the spirit and scope of this disclosure. This application is therefore intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the invention using its general principles. Further, this application is intended to cover such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice in the art to which this invention pertains.
