Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
  • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
  • G06Q10/10—Office automation; Time management
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F3/00—Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
  • G06F3/01—Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer
  • G06F3/048—Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
  • G06F3/0484—Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI] for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
  • G06F3/04842—Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G16—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR SPECIFIC APPLICATION FIELDS
  • G16H—HEALTHCARE INFORMATICS, i.e. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE HANDLING OR PROCESSING OF MEDICAL OR HEALTHCARE DATA
  • G16H40/00—ICT specially adapted for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities; ICT specially adapted for the management or operation of medical equipment or devices
  • G16H40/20—ICT specially adapted for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities; ICT specially adapted for the management or operation of medical equipment or devices for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a user interface for an appointment scheduling system.
• Appointment scheduling systems can be applied in medical institutions, where appointments need to be scheduled for patients, taking into account a multitude of constraints such as the availability of personnel and equipment, and of the patient himself.
• One of the items a user is interested in is to have a visual display of all appointment solutions for a particular scheduling task within a period of time such as a day.
• the user is typically confronted with the following problems: he has to be able to communicate easily and directly to the - patient which are the possible solutions, while being exhaustive as much as possible - he has to be able to answer typical question such as what is the earliest solution (occasionally with constraints such as 'within the morning', ⁇ in the afternoon'), what is the latest solution for that day (in the morning, in the afternoon) when a certain start time is satisfactory, he has to be able to switch easily from one resource to another if an alternative resource is available, in case of combined appointments, being multiple exams booked simultaneously with specific interval requirements, he has to see all solutions in a similar way
• agenda days of a certain resource or resource combination - agenda days are typically linear timelines, being shown vertically or horizontally.
• appointment durations can be 5 to 10 minutes. This means that a high resolution on the agenda is needed to be able to select well on the offered solutions.
• the system provides a two-dimensional day-view, which is compact and avoids scrolling, but on the other hand is not intuitive .
• US 2005/004815 Al generally discloses an appointment scheduling system using time segmented propositions.
• the application does not disclose a user interface of the kind disclosed by the present invention.
• US 5 860 067 discloses a user interface displaying a scale for scheduling a resource, allowing to input a time segment by pointing with the input unit a segment having a position and a length to indicate hours or days; in response to an inputted segment, available solutions are displayed.
• the interface features scale enlargements in a supplementary, separate window to display the time scale with more details.
• the scale of timeline may be changed.
• the selected fields and times are highlighted up to the current finest-resolved selected time. Finer scales and units are dim, in comparison.
• a user interface In a user interface according to the present invention possible solutions for scheduling an appointment within a preset period of time (such as a day or a part of the day - morning, afternoon, a number of consecutive hours) are displayed on a first time line.
• a preset period of time such as a day or a part of the day - morning, afternoon, a number of consecutive hours
• a period surrounding the selected possible solution is blown up and displayed on a second time line.
• This second time line is preferably parallel with the first time line.
• a solution is considered a 'possible solution' when it expresses a time or time slot on which all preset constraints are met and on which the required resources (radiology room, examination equipment, doctors, operators) are available (the time or time slot is 'free') so that scheduling of an event on such a time or time slot is allowable.
• the appointment scheduling system creates a so-called solution space, which is a collection of all solutions that are applicable for a given resource taking into account a given set of constraints.
• Figure 1 shows an embodiment (a double time line) according to the present invention
• Figure 2 is another example of a double time line according to the present invention
• Figure 3 shows a double time line in which a specified period is zoomed to a 5 minutes resolution
• Figure 4 shows a double time line in which a specified period is zoomed to a 10 minutes resolution
• Figure 5 is a screen shot showing an overview of resource combinations for a certain period of the day
• Figure 6 is a screen shot showing each resource combination for a particular choice made on the overview illustrated by the screen shot of figure 5,
• Figure 7 describes a set of actions related to resources and connected by comprising, relational and sequential links,-
• Figure 8 describes a reduced set of actions that is left after working out the relational links according to a preferred embodiment
• Figure 9 describes a reduced set of actions that is left after working out the relational and comprising links according to a preferred embodiment
• Figure 10 describes a reduced set of actions that is left over after working out the relational, comprising and sequential links according to a preferred embodiment
• Figure 11 describes a set of time windows associated with actions
• Figure 12 demonstrates the processing of a relational link according to a preferred embodiment
• Figure 13 demonstrates the processing of a comprising link according to a preferred embodiment
• Figure 14 demonstrates the processing of a sequential link with a preceding action according to a preferred embodiment
• Figure 15 demonstrates the processing of a sequential link with a following action according to a preferred embodiment
• Figure 16 demonstrates the processing of a sequential link with a following action, taking into account slack time according to a preferred embodiment
• Figure 17 shows an example of processing a relational link according to a preferred embodiment
• Figure 18 shows another example of processing a relational link according to a preferred embodiment
• Figure 19 shows three examples of processing a comprising link according to a preferred embodiment
• Figure 20 shows an example of the processing of time windows according to a preferred embodiment
• Figure 21 shows an example of using deductive logic
• Figure 22 shows an example of using inductive logic
• Figure 23 shows a data processing system according to a preferred embodiment of the current invention.
• Figures 1 and 2 are displays pertaining to an embodiment of a user interface according to the present invention.
• a day view was constructed, showing only appointment start times as solutions. Sliding through the day is provided by means of "previous", "next" arrows. When a certain time of day contains at least one solution, it is highlighted (or put in bold) , otherwise it remains in regular font style .
• the upper line gives an overview of all solutions, by means of the highlighted appointment start time. It is possible to select such a solution.
• This upper view is typically constructed as to show the borders of the solution space, namely : the first and last solution of the morning and the first and last solution of the afternoon (tackling typical patient demands - see above)
• a zoom light moves with and indicates on a bottom time line the start- times around the clicked area, possible solutions again being highlighted or displayed in bold.
• the zooming resolution can be initialised/modified by pressing on the zoom in or zoom out functions : Zoomed to 5 minutes resolution : see figure 3. Zoomed to 10 minutes resolution : see figure 4.
• the user interface according to the present invention solution allows the user to switch between possible resource combinations for that time of day. This is done by a right mouse click on the particular time of day.
• each resource combination is shown for the particular choice, and the user can switch combinations, (still on that particular timeslot)
• an appointment needs to be scheduled to examine a patient by means of a scanner.
• the patient needs to undress before and to dress again after the scan.
• the exam itself takes 2 hours. Both for undressing and dressing one hour is provided. After the patient has undressed, he does not want to wait for the exam. When the exam is finished, he accepts that he may have to wait up to one hour before he can dress again.
• Figure 7 describes the actions that are part of the appointment and the relations between them.
• the appointment (100) action comprises three other actions: the undressing (110) action, the actual exam (120) action and the dressing (130) action. This comprising relationship is represented by three comprising links (190, 191, 192) between the individual actions (110, 120, 130) and the appointment (100) action.
• the appointment (100) action is called a parent relative to the undressing (110), the actual exam (120) and dressing (130) actions which are called children. Because of the parent-child relationship of a comprising link (190, 191, 192), it is not symmetrical .
• An action is defined as being "atomic" when it does not comprise other actions. For example, the undress (110) action is atomic, but the appointment (100) action is not.
• the exam (120) can only be carried out when the scanner (140) is available. This kind of relationship is represented by a relational link (183) .
• a relational link (184) also exists between the exam and the operator (150) .
• a relational link between two actions indicates that both actions can only be carried out at the same time. From this follows that such a link is by nature symmetrical and transitive. The transitivity is expressed in Fig. 7 by the dotted line (185) between the scanner and operator action,
• a procedure or exam is preceded by a pre-op action and followed by a post-op action.
• an action refers to an activity related to a resource.
• a resource can be a patient, a physician, a nurse, an operator a diagnostic or treatment apparatus, a examination or treatment room, or any other kind of resource with which an activity can be associated.
• the resource can or can not be related to the domain of healthcare.
• the activity can be the use of equipment, the presence of a person, the occupation of a facility or any other activity that refers to the use or availability of any resource.
• any topology of any number of actions related by comprising, relational or sequential links is possible.
• Figure 11 shows how with each action (100, 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170) in Figure 7 a corresponding time window (501-507) is associated.
• a time window consists of a linked list of non contiguous time segments, each segment having a beginning and an ending time. For example, for the patient (160) action, the linked list consists of the time segments (510, 511, 512) .
• a time window can represent the range of time when an action can potentially occur. However, a time window can also represent a range of time when the action can start or when it can end.
• the time windows (500-503) of the patient (150), the dressing room (170), the scanner (140) and the operator (150) are part of the problem definition data. These time windows represent constraints imposed by the corresponding resources.
• the time windows (504-507) of the undressing (110), exam (120) and dressing (130) actions and of the appointment (100) as a whole, however, are initially undetermined, as they are the subject of the solution that has to be calculated for the scheduling problem.
• An undetermined time window is represented as one contiguous time segment with the length of the time window. For example, 508 is the initial time window associated with the exam action (120) .
• the number of segments of an undetermined time window may change and the beginning and end times of the remaining time segments may become increasingly more focused, until they represent a situation that is consistent with all the constraints imposed by the resources.
• the result of processing a link involves adjusting the time segments in the time windows corresponding to the linked actions in a way that they become consistent with the constraints imposed by the corresponding resources .
• Figure 12 illustrates a number of situations for actions connected through relational links, of which the time segments occur in different relative positions (overlapping and non-overlapping) .
• the interpretation of the time windows (620-623) is that the represent the time during which the action (600-603) can take place. Since the meaning of a relational link is that the two actions (600,601) can only take place simultaneously, the effect of working out the link is that each time window (620,621) should be replaced by a time window (622,623) that consists of time segments (612,613) that are the cross sections of the time segments (610,611) in the original time windows.
• Figure 13 illustrates a number of situations for actions connected through comprising links, of which the time segments occur in different relative positions (overlapping and non-overlapping) .
• the interpretation of the time windows (700-702) is that the represent the time during which the action can take place.
• the meaning of a comprising link is that the time segments (711) of a child action (701) have to occur within the time segments (710) of the time window (720) of the parent action (700) . This is achieved by replacing the time segments (711) of the time window (721) of the child action (701) by the cross section (712) of themselves (711) with the time segments (710) of the time window (720) of the parent action (700) .
• time window of an action linked list of time segments describing when an action can take place.
• - time window of start times of an action linked list of time segments describing when said action can start;
• - time window of end times of an action linked list of time segments describing when said action can end;
• the time window of an action, the time window of start times of the same action and the time window of end times of that same action are interrelated.
• a time window (921) representing start times (911) of an action is calculated from a corresponding time window (920) representing said action, by subtracting from the end times of the time segments (910) in the latter time window (920) the duration (930) of said action.
• a time window (821) representing end times is of an action is calculated from a corresponding time window (820) representing said action, by adding to the start times of the time segments (810) in the latter time window (820) the duration (830) of the action.
• time windows representing start times and end times of an action are also interrelated by shifting the start and end times in the time segments by the duration of the action.
• a first restriction involves the start times of a following action in order to achieve that that the start times of a following action can never be earlier than the earliest end time of any of the preceding actions.
• this effect is achieved by replacing the time segments (813) of the start times (823) of the following action (802) by the cross section (814) between themselves (813) and the time segments (811) of the end times (821) of the preceding action (800) .
• a second restriction involves the end times of the preceding action in order to achieve that the end times of a preceding action can never be later than the latest start times of any of the following actions.
• this effect is achieved by replacing the time segments (913) of the end times (923) of the preceding action (902) by a cross section (914) between themselves (913) and the time segments (911) of the start times (921) of the following action (900) .
• the end times of the time segments of the preceding action are preferably extended by the maximum allowed slack time, prior to applying said first restriction.
• the time window (1020) of the preceding action (1000) is used to calculate the time window (1021) of the end times (1001) of the preceding action (1000) by shifting the start times of the time segments (1010) forward by the duration (1030) of the preceding action (1000) .
• the segments (1011) of the time window (1021) of the end times (1001) of the preceding action are extended by the maximum slack time (1040) to yield the time segments (1012) of the time window (1022) of the end times (1002) of the preceding action plus the slack time.
• the end times of the segments (1013) of the time window (1023) of the following action (1003) are shifted backwards by the duration (1050) of the following action (1003) .
• the segments (1015) of the time window (1025) of the start times of the following action (1005) are obtained by making the cross section between the time segments (1012) and the time segments (1014) .
• the problem that has to be resolved is finding the time window representing the start time(s) for the exam.
• a first step consists of working out the relational links in Figure 7.
• relational links can be worked out between the exam, the operator and the scanner.
• the graph in Figure 7 can be reduced to the one in Figure 8, with the notion that he time windows associated with the appointment and the exam actions are not the original ones, but the ones that were obtained from the previous step .
• a second step consists of working out the comprising links in the graph in Figure 8. According to the current invention, this is achieved by processing the time segments in the time windows of the undress, exam and dress actions so that they fall within the time segments of the time window of the appointment action. This is demonstrated in Figure 19A, 19B and 19C using the general principles of the current invention that were earlier explained by means of Figure 13.
• the third step consists of working out the constraints imposed by the sequential links.
• the exam action is preceded and followed by another action. According to one aspect of the current invention, this has implications on start and end times of the time segments of the corresponding time windows.
• the start times (1310) of the exam should never be earlier than the earliest end times (1307) of the undress action, and the end times (1303) of the exam including slack time should never be later than the latest start times (1301) of the dressing action, according to the general principles that were earlier explained by means of Figure 14, 15 and 16.
• an inductive logic method is used to control the processing of the time windows as opposed to deductive logic.
• deductive logic starts with variables of which the values are known (called “the hypotheses”) and deduces step by step according to a predefined flow the value of the variable for which a solution is sought (called the “final conclusion”) .
• This processing occurs through the calculation of the value of intermediate values (called “intermediate conclusions”).
• deductive logic In deductive logic, the information processing flow itself is the subject of the programming and as a result, once it has been programmed, it is fixed. Therefore, deductive logic programming is efficient for those problems of which the taxonomy of relations between variables is fixed, and only the values of the hypotheses are subject to change.
• Hl, H2 and H3 are the basic hypotheses. Processing (151) the hypothesis H2 results in the intermediate conclusion Cl. Processing (152) the conclusion Cl and the hypothesis Hl results in the intermediate conclusion C2. Processing (153) the conclusion C2 and the hypothesis H3 then leads to the final conclusion C3.
• the entry point for an inductive logic method according to the current invention is the final conclusion itself of which the value is initially unknown.
• An inductive step to calculate an (intermediate) conclusion comprises determining what other variables are needed to calculate said (intermediate) conclusion.
• the subject of the programming in an inductive logic method is not a deductive information processing flow, but a rule set that manages the inductive steps.
• Developing a rule set for an inductive method involves determining:
• the problem definition now not only states the values of the hypothesis, but also the taxonomy of the relations between the variables. This allows for far greater flexibility when solving problems that have different taxonomies of relations between variables.
• FIG. 23 An example of using an inductive logic method is presented in Figure 23.
• the entry point is a call to calculate the value of the variable C3.
• the rule set dictates that the variable C3 requires the processing of two other variables being H3 , of which the value is known since it is a hypothesis, and the intermediate conclusion C2 , of which the value at this point is unknown. The latter causes a new inductive step to calculate the unknown variable C2.
• the rule set dictates that the variable C2 requires the processing of two other variables Hl, of which the value is known since it is a hypothesis, and of the intermediate conclusion Cl, of which the value at this point is unknown.
• the latter causes a new inductive step to calculate Cl.
• the rule set dictates that the variable Cl requires the processing of the variable H2 , of which the value is known. This results in the processing of H2 to obtain Cl. Now that Cl is known, this results in the processing of Cl and Hl to calculate C2. Now that C2 is known, this results in the processing of C2 and H3 to calculate
• the solution of the scheduling problem stated in the above example is preferably carried out by using an inductive logic method.
• the following classes or variables are used for managing resources : - time window related to an action time window related to the start times of an action time window related to the end times of an action
• the inductive logic is managed by a set of three rules: a first rule dictates that obtaining the value of a variable of the type "start times of an action” requires the processing of the value of the "end times of that action” and the value of “the previous action” . a second rule dictates that obtaining the value of a variable of the type “action” requires the processing of the values of the "parent actions” and the “related actions” . a third rule dictates that obtaining the value of a variable of the type "end times of an action” requires the processing of that same “action” , the “slack time” and “the following action” .
• the method according to the current invention processes time windows and results in a time window that generally comprises a plurality of time segments, each one indicating a single solution of when the corresponding action can take place (or start) .
• the method hence produces not just one solution for the scheduling problem, as in the prior art, but a complete set of solutions.
• the method according to the current invention can be used for any resource scheduling and management problem that can be modelled as a set of actions corresponding to resources that are related by a combination of comprising, relating and sequential links and slack time.
• IS2 first one
• IS3 second one
• a computer comprises a network connection means (1750, a central processing unit (1760) and memory means (1770) which are all connected through a computer bus (1790) .
• the computer typically also has a computer human interface for inputting data (1710, 1720) and a computer human interface for outputting data (1730) .
• the computer program code is stored on a computer readable medium such as a mass storage device (1740) or a portable data carrier (1790) which is read by means of a portable data carrier reading means (1780) .

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• 2006
  • 2006-02-17 EP EP06708329A patent/EP1859397A2/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 2006-02-17 WO PCT/EP2006/060038 patent/WO2006094884A2/en not_active Ceased
  • 2006-02-17 US US11/817,637 patent/US20080163117A1/en not_active Abandoned
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