US5025374A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Portable system for choosing pre-operative patient test
Assignee: Arch Development Corp
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Filing: 1987-12-09
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Granted: 1991-06-18
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Expires: 2007-12-09
Abstract
Abstract An interactive medical test selector for use by a patient is about the size of a book and has a screen for displaying questions to a patient, a limited number of keys by which the patient can enter answers, and a memory device for storing the patient's answers. The test selector is battery-powered for portability and uses a low-power liquid crystal display or the like to display instructions and medical questions to the patient. Only four keys are seen or used by the patient for answering the questions: YES, NO, NOT SURE, and NEXT QUESTION. Additional control keys used by the medical staff are hidden from the patient. The device is controlled by a pre-programmed microcomputer on a chip, and a ROM-based, removeable and replaceable control program which not only collects, but also analyzes the patient's answers and makes appropriate recommendations based on those answers, and drives a remote printer or computer terminal.
Inventors
- 👤 Michael Roizen
- 👤 II William E. Turcotte
- 👤 Richard E. Pfisterer
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-30 16:31
CPC Classifications
G; G09; G09B; G09B7/00; G09B7/02; G09B7/04; G06; G06F; G06F15/00; G06F15/02; G06F15/025; G16; G16H; G16H10/00; G16H10/20; G16H15/00; G16H40/00; G16H40/60; G16H40/63; G16H10/60; G16H40/40; Y; Y02; Y02A; Y02A90/00; Y02A90/10; Y10; Y10S; Y10S128/00; Y10S128/92
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 13
Claim 1
Independent Claim
162 words
A portable patient-operable pre-operative test selector especially for use by bed-ridden pre-operative patients, said selector comprising: power supply means for accepting a battery, electronic circuitry connected to derive operating power exclusively from a battery when installed in said power supply means, said electronic circuitry including data-storage means for storing a series of pre-operative questions directed to the determination of which pre-operative diagnostic tests should be undergone by a patient before surgery, reflective display means, programmable data-processing means, control program storage means for storing a program for controlling said data-processing means, a special-purpose control program stored therein, said control program being arranged for displaying said pre-operative questions serially on said display means, means operable by an unskilled patient to answer "yes" and "no" to each such question in turn, means for storing such answers, said control program being further arranged for analyzing said answers and determining therefrom which pre-operative diagnostic tests are indicated, and output means for revealing the results of such determination.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
162 words
A portable patient-operable pre-operative test selector especially for use by bed-ridden pre-operative patients, said selector comprising: power supply means for accepting a battery, electronic circuitry connected to derive operating power exclusively from a battery when installed in said power supply means, said electronic circuitry including data-storage means for storing a series of pre-operative questions directed to the determination of which pre-operative diagnostic tests should be undergone by a patient before surgery, reflective display means, programmable data-processing means, control program storage means for storing a program for controlling said data-processing means, a special-purpose control program stored therein, said control program being arranged for displaying said pre-operative questions serially on said display means, means operable by an unskilled patient to answer "yes" and "no" to each such question in turn, means for storing such answers, said control program being further arranged for analyzing said answers and determining therefrom which pre-operative diagnostic tests are indicated, and output means for revealing the results of such determination.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
200 words
A portable test selector for use by an untrained patient to complete a medical questionnaire, comprising: read-only memory means for storing (i) a series of preselected medical questions related to determining which tests among a set of preselected tests the patient should undergo, and (ii) a decision table indicating for each of the tests which answers to which questions should cause that test to be determined as one the patient should undergo; scratchpad memory means for storing data; means for reading said data from said scratchpad memory means display means for displaying information to the patient; interrogation means for causing the medical questions stored in said read-only memory means to be displayed to the patient by the display means; manual input means for enabling the patient to indicate an answer to a displayed question; and tabulating means for enabling the patient to indicate an answer to a displayed question; and tabulating means for causing the corresponding answer indicated by the patient via the manual input means to be stored as data in the scratchpad memory means; wherein the read-only memory means is easily removable from the test selector and replaceable to enable updating of the medical questions and decision table.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
200 words
A portable test selector for use by an untrained patient to complete a medical questionnaire, comprising: read-only memory means for storing (i) a series of preselected medical questions related to determining which tests among a set of preselected tests the patient should undergo, and (ii) a decision table indicating for each of the tests which answers to which questions should cause that test to be determined as one the patient should undergo; scratchpad memory means for storing data; means for reading said data from said scratchpad memory means display means for displaying information to the patient; interrogation means for causing the medical questions stored in said read-only memory means to be displayed to the patient by the display means; manual input means for enabling the patient to indicate an answer to a displayed question; and tabulating means for enabling the patient to indicate an answer to a displayed question; and tabulating means for causing the corresponding answer indicated by the patient via the manual input means to be stored as data in the scratchpad memory means; wherein the read-only memory means is easily removable from the test selector and replaceable to enable updating of the medical questions and decision table.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
195 words
A portable test selector for use by an untrained patient to complete a medical questionnaire, comprising: read-only memory means for storing (i) a series of preselected medical questions related to determining which test among a set of preselected test the patient should undergo, and (ii) a decision table indicating for each of the tests which answers to which questions should cause that test to be determined as one the patient should undergo; scratchpad memory means for storing data; means for reading said data from said scratchpad memory means display means for displaying information to the patient; interrogation means for causing the medical questions stored in said read-only memory means to be displayed to the patient by the display means; manual input means for enabling the patient to indicate an answer to a displayed question; and tabulating means for causing the corresponding answer indicated by the patient via the manual input means to be stored as data in the scratchpad memory means; wherein the medical questions are those requiring an answer of YES or NO or NOT SURE, and the manual input means enables the patient to indicate YES, NO, or NOT SURE as the answer.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
195 words
A portable test selector for use by an untrained patient to complete a medical questionnaire, comprising: read-only memory means for storing (i) a series of preselected medical questions related to determining which test among a set of preselected test the patient should undergo, and (ii) a decision table indicating for each of the tests which answers to which questions should cause that test to be determined as one the patient should undergo; scratchpad memory means for storing data; means for reading said data from said scratchpad memory means display means for displaying information to the patient; interrogation means for causing the medical questions stored in said read-only memory means to be displayed to the patient by the display means; manual input means for enabling the patient to indicate an answer to a displayed question; and tabulating means for causing the corresponding answer indicated by the patient via the manual input means to be stored as data in the scratchpad memory means; wherein the medical questions are those requiring an answer of YES or NO or NOT SURE, and the manual input means enables the patient to indicate YES, NO, or NOT SURE as the answer.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
209 words
A portable test selector for use by an untrained patient to complete a medical questionnaire, comprising: read-only memory means for storing (i) a series of preselected medical questions related to determining which tests among a set of preselected tests the patient should undergo, and (ii) a decision table indicating for each of the test which answers to which questions should cause that test to be determined as one the patient should undergo; scratchpad memory means for storing data; means for reading said data from said scratchpad memory means display means for displaying information to the patient; interrogation means for causing the medical questions stored in said read-only memory means to be displayed to the patient by the display means; manual input means for enabling the patient to indicate an answer to a displayed question; tabulating means for causing the corresponding answer indicated by the patient via the manual input means to be stored as data in the scratchpad memory means; and reporting means responsive to the answers stored in the scratchpad memory and the decision table stored in the read-only memory means for determining for each test if the patient's answers to one or more questions should cause that test to be determined as one the patient should undergo.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
209 words
A portable test selector for use by an untrained patient to complete a medical questionnaire, comprising: read-only memory means for storing (i) a series of preselected medical questions related to determining which tests among a set of preselected tests the patient should undergo, and (ii) a decision table indicating for each of the test which answers to which questions should cause that test to be determined as one the patient should undergo; scratchpad memory means for storing data; means for reading said data from said scratchpad memory means display means for displaying information to the patient; interrogation means for causing the medical questions stored in said read-only memory means to be displayed to the patient by the display means; manual input means for enabling the patient to indicate an answer to a displayed question; tabulating means for causing the corresponding answer indicated by the patient via the manual input means to be stored as data in the scratchpad memory means; and reporting means responsive to the answers stored in the scratchpad memory and the decision table stored in the read-only memory means for determining for each test if the patient's answers to one or more questions should cause that test to be determined as one the patient should undergo.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
58 words
The device of claim 4 and further including printer interface means to which a data input line to a printer can be coupled; and report generator means, responsive to the reporting means, for sending as output to the printer interface a list of only the tests which the reporting means has determined are ones the patient should undergo.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
200 words
A portable test selector for use by an untrained patient to complete a medical questionnaire, comprising: read-only memory means for storing (i) a series of preselected medical questions related to determining which tests among a set of preselected tests the patient should undergo, and (ii) a decision table indicating for each of the tests which answers to which questions should cause that test to be determined as one the patient should undergo; scratchpad memory means for storing data; means for reading said data from said scratchpad memory means display means for displaying information to the patient; interrogation means for causing the medical questions stored in said read-only memory means to be displayed to the patient by the display means; manual input means for enabling the patient to indicate an answer to a displayed question; tabulating means for causing the corresponding answer indicated by the patient via the manual input means to be stored as data in the scratchpad memory means; and questionnaire printout preparation means responsive to the medical questions stored in the read-only memory means and the answers stored in the scratchpad memory means for determining, for each possible patient answer, to which questions the patient gave that answer.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
200 words
A portable test selector for use by an untrained patient to complete a medical questionnaire, comprising: read-only memory means for storing (i) a series of preselected medical questions related to determining which tests among a set of preselected tests the patient should undergo, and (ii) a decision table indicating for each of the tests which answers to which questions should cause that test to be determined as one the patient should undergo; scratchpad memory means for storing data; means for reading said data from said scratchpad memory means display means for displaying information to the patient; interrogation means for causing the medical questions stored in said read-only memory means to be displayed to the patient by the display means; manual input means for enabling the patient to indicate an answer to a displayed question; tabulating means for causing the corresponding answer indicated by the patient via the manual input means to be stored as data in the scratchpad memory means; and questionnaire printout preparation means responsive to the medical questions stored in the read-only memory means and the answers stored in the scratchpad memory means for determining, for each possible patient answer, to which questions the patient gave that answer.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
51 words
The device of claim 6 and further including printer interface means to which the data input line to a printer can be coupled; and list generator means, responsive to the questionnaire printout preparation means, for sending as output to the printer interface a list of the questions and the patient's answers.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
39 words
The device of claim 7 wherein the list generator means is arranged for sending the questions and the patient's answers to the printer interface with each question sorted according to the answer given to that question by the patient.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1994-06-17 | 1994-12-17 | 1995-06-18 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1998-06-17 | 1998-12-17 | 1999-06-18 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2002-06-17 | 2002-12-17 | 2003-06-18 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |