Connectivity infrastructure for a telehealth platform
Inventors
Hanrahan, Kevin • Schentrup, John • Kaira, Parixit • Pinter, Marco • Herzog, John Cody • Whitney, Blair • Southard, Jonathan
Assignees
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Publication Number
US-11636944-B2
Publication Date
2023-04-25
Expiration Date
Abstract
A secure, reliable telehealth delivery platform that also provides flexibility and scalability. The platform includes a plurality of geographically dispersed communication servers that facilitate communication sessions between remotely located patients and healthcare providers over a public communications network. The platform includes a connectivity server that manages access among users and locations. The platform also includes a monitoring server that monitors the health and usage of devices coupled to the network and proactively identifies issues requiring intervention before service interruptions occur.
Core Innovation
The invention is a telehealth system that uses a public communications network to interconnect provider access devices and patient access devices at geographically dispersed locations through local area networks and firewalls. Geographically dispersed communications servers coupled to the public communications network establish two-way audio/video communication sessions between a provider access device and a patient access device at a selected location, and at least one communications server receives and maintains a portion of a database of connectivity rules from a connectivity server.
The connectivity server includes a database of connectivity rules, where each connectivity rule identifies a healthcare provider and a location of a patient access device that the healthcare provider is authorized to access. The provider access device transmits the identification of the healthcare provider to the communications server, and receives a list of patient access device locations authorized for that healthcare provider along with a status of each patient access device at each received location.
The provider access device selects a patient access device location and communicates the selected location to an optimal one of the plurality of communications servers. The optimal communications server is chosen based on at least one of server proximity, server load, and network conditions, and then establishes the communication session between the provider access device and the patient access device at the selected location.
A monitoring server receives status information from the plurality of patient access devices, where the status information includes presence information indicating availability to participate in a communication session and device status of the patient access device. The monitoring server stores information regarding the established communication session in a reporting database.
Claims Coverage
Independent claim clm-00001 defines five main inventive aspects: server-based establishment of two-way audio/video sessions over a public communications network, a connectivity rules database mapping healthcare providers to authorized patient access device locations, provider-driven selection of an optimal communications server based on server proximity, server load, and network conditions, monitoring server collection of presence and device status, and storage of session information in a reporting database.
Server-based two-way audio/video telehealth over a public communications network
Geographically dispersed communications servers coupled to the public communications network are configured to establish a two-way audio/video communication session between one of the provider access devices and one of the patient access devices, and at least one communications server maintains at least a portion of the connectivity rules database.
Connectivity rules mapping healthcare providers to authorized patient locations
A connectivity server coupled to the public communications network includes a database of connectivity rules, each connectivity rule including an identification of a healthcare provider and a location of a patient access device the healthcare provider is authorized to access.
Provider selection of authorized locations and optimal communications server
The provider access device transmits the identification of a healthcare provider to the communications server and receives a list of patient access device locations authorized for that healthcare provider and a status of each patient access device at each of the received locations, then communicates the selected location to an optimal one of the plurality of communications servers chosen based on at least one of server proximity, server load, and network conditions.
Session establishment and reporting database storage
The optimal communications server establishes a communication session between the provider access device and the patient access device at the selected location, and the monitoring server stores information regarding the established communication session in a reporting database.
Monitoring server collection of presence and device status
A monitoring server coupled to the public communications network receives status information from the plurality of patient access devices, including presence information indicating availability to participate in a communication session and device status of the patient access device.
Overall, the claims center on a telehealth platform where communications servers establish two-way audio/video sessions using provider-to-location connectivity rules, with provider-driven selection of an optimal server based on server proximity, server load, and network conditions, while a monitoring server collects presence and device status and stores session information in a reporting database.
Stated Advantages
Not explicitly described in patent.
Documented Applications
Not explicitly described in patent.
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