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-12260954-B2
Publication Date
2025-03-25
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
A telehealth system uses a public communications network (PCN) to support two-way audio/video communication between provider access devices and patient access devices at different locations. The patient access devices are coupled to the PCN via local area networks (LANs) and firewalls, and their availability is represented through status information that includes presence information and device status.
Geographically dispersed communications servers are coupled to the PCN, and connectivity rules are maintained by a connectivity server. Each connectivity rule identifies a healthcare provider and a location of patient access device that the healthcare provider is authorized to access, and at least one communications server receives and maintains at least a portion of the database of connectivity rules from the connectivity server.
The provider access device transmits the identification of a healthcare provider to the communications server, receives a list of patient access device locations authorized for that provider, and receives a status of each patient access device at the received locations. The provider access device selects a patient access device location and communicates the selected location to an optimal one of the communications servers, where the optimal communications server establishes a communication session between the provider access device and the patient access device at the selected location.
The system further includes a monitoring server that receives status information from the patient access devices and stores information regarding established communication sessions in a reporting database. Device status information is used to support reporting and monitoring, including device health metrics and abnormal-condition detection with alerts and automated corrective actions.
Claims Coverage
The independent claim defines a complete telehealth system including connectivity rules, provider-to-patient authorization by location, optimal communications server selection, session establishment, and session reporting. The inventive features below are extracted from the independent claim language, focusing on the core elements that implement the system behavior.
Connectivity rules authorizing patient device locations per healthcare provider
A connectivity server includes a database of connectivity rules, each connectivity rule including an identification of a healthcare provider and a location of patient access device the healthcare provider is authorized to access.
Monitoring of patient access device presence and device status
A monitoring server receives status information from the plurality of patient access devices, wherein the status information includes presence information indicating the availability of the patient access device to participate in a communication session and device status of the patient access device.
Geographically dispersed communications servers establishing two-way audio/video sessions
A plurality of geographically dispersed communications servers coupled to the PCN, each communication server configured to establish a two-way audio/video communication session between one of the provider access devices and one of the patient access devices.
Mirroring connectivity rules at communications servers
At least one of the plurality of communications servers receives and maintains at least a portion of the database of connectivity rules from the connectivity server.
Firewall configuration allowing incoming communications from selected communications servers
The first communication firewall and the second communication firewall are configured to allow incoming communications from the network addresses of at least one of the plurality of communication servers.
Provider identity to obtain authorized patient locations and device status
The provider access device transmits the identification of a healthcare provider to the communications server and receives from the communications server a list of patient access device locations that the healthcare provider is authorized to access and a status of each patient access device at each of the received locations.
Selection of authorized patient location and use of an optimal communications server
The provider access device receives a selection of a patient access device location from the healthcare provider and communicates the selected location to an optimal one of the plurality of communications servers.
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.
The claim covers a telehealth system that authorizes patient access device locations per healthcare provider using connectivity rules, monitors patient device presence/status via a monitoring server, selects an optimal geographically dispersed communications server for a chosen authorized location, establishes the two-way audio/video session, and records session information in a reporting database.
Stated Advantages
Not explicitly described in patent.
Documented Applications
Not explicitly described in patent.
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