Interactive symptomatic recording system and methods

Claim 1

A lay person interactive symptomatic recording device for standardizing and compiling symptoms of a product sensed by the lay person and generating a comprehensive standardized chart of symptoms for a service provider, the recording device comprising: a query generator; a presentation device that receives and presents an initial query generated by the query generator to the lay person, the presentation device also receives and presents at least one next query generated by the query generator; an input device allowing the lay person to respond to the queries presented on the presentation device; a compiler coupled to the input device to compile the received responses; and an output device coupled to the compiler to prepare a standardized chart of the symptoms of a product based on the compiled responses for use by a service provider, the standardized chart providing sufficient information so the lay person does not need to have direct communication with the service provider when leaving the product with the service provider; wherein the query generator is coupled to the presentation device to generate the initial query and send the initial query to the presentation device, the query generator is coupled to the input device to receive responses to the queries from the input device and generate at least one next query based on the received response, and at least one of the next queries is related to a symptom sensed by the lay person.

Claim 31

A method of allowing a lay person to record symptomatic problems to generate a comprehensive standardized chart of symptoms for a service provider; the method comprising the steps of: initially querying a lay person for information; receiving responses from the lay person related to the initial query; generating at least one next query based on the received response, at least one of the next queries relate to categories of symptoms sensed using at least one of the five human senses by the lay person for the product; receiving next responses from the lay person to the at least one next query; determining whether additional symptomatic information is necessary; repeating the generating at least one next query, receiving next responses, and determining whether additional symptomatic information is necessary based on the determination; compiling the symptomatic information received from the lay person; and outputting a standardized chart of the symptoms of the product based on the compiled information for use by a service provider, the outputted standardized chart having sufficient information so the lay person does not need to have direct communication with the service provider when leaving the product with the service provider.

Claim 32

A method of allowing a lay person to record symptomatic problems to generate a comprehensive standardized chart of symptoms for a service provider; the method comprising the steps of: initially querying a lay person for information; receiving responses from the lay person related to the initial query; generating at least one next query based on the received response, at least one of the next queries relate to categories of symptoms sensed using at least one of the five human senses by the lay person for the product; receiving next responses from the lay person to the at least one next query; determining whether additional symptomatic information is necessary; repeating the generating at least one next query, receiving next responses, and determining whether additional symptomatic information is necessary based on the determination; compiling the symptomatic information received from the lay person; and outputting a standardized chart of the symptoms of the product based on the compiled information for use by a service provider, the outputted standardized chart having sufficient information so the lay person does not need to have direct communication with the service provider when leaving the product with the service provider.