Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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COMPUTER ASSISTED AND/OR IMPLEMENTED PROCESS AND SYSTEM
FOR SEARCHING AND PRODUCING SOURCE-SPECIFIC SETS OF
SEARCH RESULTS AND A SITE SEARCH SUMMARY BOX
RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims priority to U.S.
Provisional Patent Application No. 60/364,743,
"Computer Implemented and/or Assisted Process and
System for MerckMedicus" filed March 18, 2002,
incorporated herein by reference.
This application is related to the following U.S.
Patent applications: Attorney docket numbers
105456.121, 105456.123, 105456.124, 105456.125, and
105456.127, to the same inventors, and all of which are
incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to computer
related and/or assisted systems, methods, and computer
program devices for searching and providing search
results far health care professionals. More
particularly, it relates to methods and systems for
searching and producing source-specific sets of search
results, and a search summary, for healthcare
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professional users, e.g., physicians and other
healthcare providers.
Description of the Related Art
In the healthcare field, healthcare professionals
conventionally may obtain information from medical
publishers, with most of this information being just in
print. On the other hand, academic institutions have
considerable libraries, which unfortunately are not
universally available to physicians. Hence, paper
resources with healthcare information may be
considerable but difficult to access.
In an attempt to provide information
electronically, early websites with limited information
were sponsored by a variety of commercial entities,
academic institutions, or medical associations. There
was, nevertheless, a lack of awareness among physicians
of the web as a resource for providing information
and/or other resources needed by physicians. Premium
resources might be provided on some of these sites,
nevertheless, there was limited exposure and/or access
to these premium resources for physicians and other
healthcare professionals.
These conventional means of providing information
and other healthcare professional resources resulted in
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an uneven playing field for healthcare providers. In
addition, there are a, number of other hurdles facing
office-based, rural and non-institutional healthcare
professionals .
Physicians and other healthcare providers are
presently adapted to the current situation. They are
unlikely to change their current habits. Although
there is a much greater degree of information
available, unfortunately it will not find its way into
the hands of physicians and healthcare providers, and
ultimately will not result in improved healthcare.
Nevertheless, the ability to save time and/or money is
one of the primary motivators for physicians or
healthcare professionals to change their habits.
Conventionally, the information and/or information
gathering process is difficult and awkward for
healthcare providers. The information might not be
provided in one convenient place. Moreover, the
information itself might be inconvenient. For example,
if the information is provided by subscription, it is
typically expensive to obtain multiple subscriptions.
On the other hand information in textbooks might nat be
up-to-date. Further, textbooks, journals and libraries
are not at all suited to physicians' nomadic working
style, which typically includes travel between an
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office and a hospital. Information that might be
provided over the web may be jumbled or confused, with
multiple places, passwords, formats, browsers and
search engines provided for a variety of information.
Ultimately, physicians and other providers have
entirely too many subscriptions, accounts, ID's and
passwords, making the information awkward.
With regard to utilizing the Internet, the
physicians might suspect the quality of information or
services provided online. Moreover, such information
and services might be biased, for example as a result
of a sponsor of a particular product, unbeknownst to
the users. Where information in sites is searchable,
the search engines that are provided might not retrieve
search results that are most relevant to the
physician's query.
In some situations, the access to information or
services might be tied to a specific license or
specialized access technology. For example, in order
to obtain certain information or services, the
physician might be required to use a specific computer
or install certain technology.
In addition, sites that are provided by
pharmaceutical companies do not tend to focus on
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physicians. These sites are product driven and patient
oriented. They fail to provide for the needs of the
physician as a customer. In short, it is difficult to
obtain information or services via conventional
methods.
One specific example of a website directed to
physicians is Medscape/WebMD. Unbeknownst to
physicians, however, Medscape/WebMD is commercially
sponsored and exhibits a bias. As another example,
this site gives physicians limited access to premium
resources, such as the best journals and text, because
there is no financial incentive to make this
information available. Moreover, typical of these
types of sites, Medscape/WebMD does not have access to
the premium resources sufficient to place them online.
Meanwhile, physicians are facing an increasing
number of pressures. These pressures on healthcare
practitioners include an increase in time pressures,
perhaps caused by busy practices and overwhelming
paperwork. At the same time, healthcare practitioners
face decreasing practice revenues. They also face
information overload, with a decreasing amount of time
to sort through the relevant information.
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The inventors have determined that physicians or
other healthcare professionals engage in a number of
online activities, including literature searches,
reading medical news in the professional press, reading
professional journals, finding patient educational
materials, using drug reference databases, researching
upcoming meetings, engaging in online continuing
medical education (CE), reading medical news in the lay
press, communicating with colleagues, finding out about
clinical trials, learning about medical devices,
reading medical text, and/or participating in MD chat
rooms
The inventors have determined that physicians
refer to medical information sites primarily to find
i5 news and reference materials. In one study by the
inventors in responding to a question about the three
most important factors a physician uses in determining
which medical information sites to use, the following
responses were provided:
Description Percent
Medline Literature Search 640
Medical News Updates and Alerts 530
Medical Journals 47%
Drug Reference Database 34a
Medical Textbooks 300
Continuing Education Online 29%
Courses
Patient Relationship Tnformation 20%
and Guides
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Clinical Trial Information arid 15%
Links
Listing of Medical Organizations 7%
and Meetings
Financial and World News 5%
Community and Messages Boards 4%
The inventors performed extensive research with
physicians about website features and functionality,
including advisory boards, one-on-ones and online user
ability testing. The above table highlights the
findings of the online usability test of X54 physician
respondents.
According to the Online Physician Market Dynamics
Study (ZIMENT), February/March 2001, (Q9), quality,
i0 credibility and ease of use are the most important
features to physicians in an online service.. The
following are attributes that are important to
specialists and primary care physicians:
~ Provides credible information
~ Provides quality information
~ Is easy to use*
Provides up-to-date health and medical information*
Enables effective research of usual cases or
conditions
~ Is comprehensive
Offers premium medical resources not easily
accessible elsewhere
Helps physicians communicate better with patients
Is available to doctors only and not general
consumers
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~ Offers ability to customize site based on
preferences or specialty
~ Has a professional look and feel
~ Is unique from other sites
(* These attributes are less important to specialists
than primary care physicians.)
Certain aspects of conventional systems for
providing healthcare information are illustrated by way
of example in Figure 1, also described in U.S. Patent
6,336,117, Massarani, incorparated herein by reference.
Massarani discloses a content-indexing search system
and method that provides search results consistent with
content filtering arid blocking policies. Figure 1 is a
block diagram of Massarani°s information retrieval
, system showing a content server having a database, a
caching engine implementing blocking policies, and an
external search engine. An information retrieval
system 100 includes client devices 102, 104 connected
through an internal or controlled network 107 to an
external information system 106 such as the Internet or
other distributed data network. A typical client is a
PC having a display 110, a keyboard 111, a CPU 112, a
memory 113 and a network connectivity I/O device 115.
A browser 116, such as thane sold under the trademark
Netscape Communicator, IBM Web Explorer, and the like,
is installed in the memory 113 along with a standard
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operating system 117 and application programs 118. The
browser 116 runs or executes in the client device 102,
104 for loading or downloading content from a content
server 120 via the Internet 106. Each content server
includes a database 122 for storing data responsive to
content requests from the clients 102, 104, etc. In
one form, data is stored as a collection of HTM~
documents containing text and other mufti-media
content. A gateway 124 is used to interface more than
one client or internal network segments 107 to the
Internet 106 as shown.
A proxy server that includes a cache and content
filtering engine 126 is inserted in the connection path
from the internal network 107 to the Internet 106, to
increase performance and control by implementing a
content blocking policy. The caching and blocking
proxy server may be, e.g., connected to the gateway or
have parallel direct connections to the internal 107
and external 106 networks. A client system 102, 104
running the web browser 116 requests content from the
content server 120 using a Hypertext Transfer Protocol
(HTTP) request and receiving the content in a HTTP
response. A user may generate a content request by
explicitly asking for content stored in the content
server or by selecting a hyperlink anchor which points
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to contents stored on content servers. Upon receipt,
the browser loads requested content using an HTTP
session. A user of a client system utilizing the web
browser 116 will often access a conventional search
engine server 130, 135 and databases 131, 136,
respectively, to locate Internet content by means of
keyword searches. These secured search engine servers
Can be external 130, or internal 135 to the controlled
network 107. As a result of a keyword search directed
at a search engine server 130 or 135, end users will
see displayed in the web browser 116 a list of matching
URLs and text excerpts displayed as hyperlink anchors
to the ultimate content. The user can then select and
follow the link to one or more Content matches using
the web browser 116.
Other aspects of conventional systems are
illustrated by way of example in Figure 2, also
described in U.S. Patent 6,505,196, Drucker et al.,
incorporated herein by reference. Drucker discloses a
typical search interface. When a search is performed
the user receives a display of the results with a list
210 of articles matching the search criteria specified
by the user. At the top of the results screen in this
example is a number of action buttons 200-203. Action
button 200 obtains a long reCOrd for all the documents
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recovered during the search; action button 201 allows
the user to download a document to disk; and action
button 202 allows the user to order documents; and
action button 203 returns the user to an initial search
screen. A list 210 contains citations that matched the
search query entered by the user. A short record 211-
214 represents a shortened version of each citation;
this example shows four short records 2,11-214 of the
five hundred and four retrieved. A full citation
button 21&, and a related articles button 217 are
provided. When the related articles button 217 is
depressed a new display of citations conceptually
related to the first one will appear. The user can go
several levels deep and by clicking the related
articles button 217 multiple times and can obtain
numerous lists of articles that are conceptually
related to one another. When the full citation button
216 is depressed, the long record for the adjacent
citation is displayed, and sometimes contains an
abstract that briefly summarizes the contents of each
article.
Still more aspects of traditional search systems
are illustrated by way of example in U.S. Patent
6,338,059, Fields et al., incorporated herein by
reference, shown in Figure 3. Fields discloses
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retrieval and presentation of data from a distributed
database such as the Internet. As illustrated in
Figure 3, a search word 361 is selected from a web page
363 at a hosting web server. The hosting web server,
acting as a proxy server to the requesting client
browser, makes the search request to a content provider
web server, e.g., an Internet commercial site. The
hosting server recasts the information to a native
format so that it appears as though the search results
originated at the hosting site. The hosting server
extracts the relevant set of content elements from the
web page from the web content provider site and plugs
the elements into a template having the format, font
and navigational elements of the hosting site to create
the recast page 365. Fields' system may be implemented
as proxy server with modifications to the client
browser.
Figures 4 and 5 provide examples of search results
returned from conventional search engines. Figure 4,
resulting from an InktomiT"' search for articles
containing the term "health", shows 4,774 located
references 401, of which the search engine has sorted
the top 500 according to its determination of
relevance. Figure 5, illustrating a ~oogl.eT°" search,
also for the term "health", located about 69,700,000
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references 401. Both search engines provide the search
results seriatim. A user may link to the located
reference, and may use the search engine to locate
similar pages. The Inktomi search engine also provides
a numerical ranking of relevance 403, e.g., 39 % in the
illustrated example.
The above prior art references, however, fail to
meet the needs of today's medical community. For
example; we have determined that physicians and
healthcare professionals would prefer a search provided
via a website with cutting edge tools and resources,
available in a single portal, as a key to the medical
Internet. We have determined that physicians and other
healthcare providers would prefer that such a site is
ethical, credible, insightful, unbranded and objective.
We have further determined that such a site should be
far physicians and healthcare professionals, and
provide access to premium medical resources.
None of the conventional systems specifically
provide various levels of search summaries and/or
search sources and categories to assist in preparation
and/or review of search results,, particularly where the
levels are intuitive to physicians, e.g., items in
search.results and/or requests grauped by source and/or
resource category. Furthermore, conventional systems
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do not accommodate premium medical resources, such as
those that are restricted. It current7.y is not
possible to include premium medical resources in search
results in a transparent manner. There remains a need
for such assistance for physicians and other healthcare
practitioners.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention alleviates the deficiencies
of conventional techniques and systems described above.
The invention enables information provision to
physicians and other healthcare providers that is more
targeted, more efficient arid may be permission-based.
The invention provides assistance to help physicians to
obtain timely and appropriate information to help them
practice better medicine. The system, according to one
or more aspects of the invention, provides the right
information in an intuitive and appropriate format. It
also provides for appropriate filtering of information.
The present invention fosters the best practice of
medicine, which creates simultaneous benefits for
physicians, and patients.
The invention provides a level of search summaries
appropriate and intuitive to physicians, to assist in
preparation and/or review of search results, e.g.,
searches and search results grouped by resource
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category. Furthermore, according to one or more
embodiments of the present invention, premium medical
sources in search results in a transparent manner, even
if the premium medical source requires a fee,
registration, login, and/or licensure verification.
The present invention makes possible a useful
search of a vast collection of resources available to
physicians. The invention provides search summaries of
a content library unmatched in its breadth. It
provides a search engine appropriate for perusing a
wide array of medical content, e.g., Harrison's Online,
Cecil's Textbook of Medicine, Praxis.md, the Merck
Manual and many others. The invention may include a
search of sources provided on the system coordinating
the search, e.g., a comprehensive professional
development content collection; a patient resource
content collection, with, e.g., a collection of what
patients are seeing in the media, color illustrations,
descriptions for medical procedures, and content
resources to help locate clinical trials for gatients;
content collection of clinical workflow tools, e.g.,
clinical calculators, an ICD-9 search engine, drug
interaction checking, and expert systems that assist
with antibiotic choices (TheraDocT~) arid difficult
differential diagnoses (DxplainT~); a content collection
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of electronic assistants, with e.g., quick links to
relevant news and journals, career information and
clinical decision support tools that may optionally be
downloaded to a physician's handheld computer. A
number of unique and powerful features may be provided,
such as transparent access to subscription sites (e. g.,
Harrison's Online, Praxis.md, MD Consult).
The invention provides a method, system, and
computer program device for searching medical resources
and providing source specific sets of search results
and a site search summary to a user, e.g., a physician
and/or a healthcare provider. One or mare embodiments
of the present invention include generating, responsive
to a search request received from the user, one or more
search queries. The search query includes one or more
search terms and a scope of sources to be searched.
The sources correspond to one of the categories; and
electronic resources correspond to each of the sources;
Optionally, the categories include, e.g., at least one
of medical news, medical library, and medical
profession, or similar.
Also included is performing, responsive to the one
or more search queries, a search for the one search
terms) in the electronic resources corresponding to
the scope of sources. Further, the invention includes
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returning one or more sets of search results, with a
first indication of resources responsive to the search
queries. Moreover, the invention includes displaying,
responsive to the sets) of search results returned,
the sets) of search results to the user, including a
first display of the sets) of search results by
category; and a second display of a site search
summary, including data representative of each source
for the sources searched, and data representing the
category corresponding to each source of the sources
searched.
The invention further includes displaying,
responsive to a first selection of the category in the
first display and/or the second display, the one or
more sets of search results corresponding to the
category. Also included is displaying, responsive to a
second selection of at least one of the sources
searched, in the first display andjor the second
display, the one or more sets of search results in the
sources. Also included is displaying, responsive to a
third selection of one of the electronic resources in
one or more sets of search results, content
corresponding to the electronic resource(s).
Optionally, the invention includes checking
registration data for the user to ensure that the user
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is permitted access to a source that is restricted and
that corresponds to one of the responsive electronic
resources, and if the user is not permitted access,
excluding the source from at least one of the displays.
Optionally, the invention includes using one or
more search indexes for the search engine. The search
engine is instructed to update the one or more search
indexes directed to the set of sources by categories.
Further, the invention optionally provides that at
least one set of search results has, for each of its
returned electronic resources, a second indication of
at least one of: category, source, location, title and
summary.
Further, optionally according to the invention,
data representing the category in said second display
includes an icon representing the category. The first
selection is of at least one of the category and the
icon representing the category.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the
more important features of the invention in order that
the detailed description thereof that follows may be
better understood, and in order that the present
contribution to the art may be better appreciated.
There are, of course, additional features of the
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invention that will be described hereinafter and which
will form the subject matter of the claims appended
hereto.
In this respect, before explaining at least one
embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be
understood that the invention is not limited in its
application to the details of construction and to the
arrangements of the components set forth in the
following description or illustrated in the drawings.
The invention is capable of other embodiments and of
being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also,
it is to be understood that the phraseology and
terminology employed herein are for the purpose of
description and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate
that the conception, upon which this disclosure is
based, may readily be utilized as a basis for the
designing of other structures, methods and systems for
carrying out the several purposes of the present
invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims
be regarded as including such equivalent constructions
insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope
of the present invention.
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Further, the purpose of the foregoing abstract is
to enable the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the
public generally, and especially the scientists,
engineers and practitioners in the art who are not
familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to
determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature
and essence of the technical disclosure of the
application. The abstract is neither intended to define
the invention of the application, which is measured by
the claims, nor is it intended to be limiting as to the
scope of the invention in any way. These together with
other objects of the invention, along with the various
features of novelty that characterize the invention,
are pointed out with particularity in the Claims
annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For
a better understanding of the invention, its operating
advantages and the specific objects attained by its
uses, reference should be had to the accompanying
drawings and descriptive matter in which there is
illustrated preferred embodiments of the invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE
DRAWINGS)
The above-mentioned and other advantages and
features of the present invention will be better
understood from the following detailed description of
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the invention with reference to the accompanying
drawings, in which:
Figure 1 is a block diagram of a prior art
information retrieval system including a content server
and a search engine.
Figure 2 is an example of a first prior art user
interface for search results_
Figure 3 is a block diagram of a prior art user
search engine searching for a search word and providing
search results.
Figure 4 is another example of a second prior art
user interface showing search results.
Figure 5 is still another example of a third prior
art user interface showing search results.
Figure 6 is an exemplary user interface
illustrating an example of search results and an
example site search summary, according to one or more
embodiments of the present invention.
Figure 7 is an exemplary user interface
illustrating in more detail another example of search
results and an example site search summary, according
to one or more embodiments of the present invention.
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Figure 8 is an exemplary user interface
illustrating two advanced searches for conducting a
search, according to one or more embodiments of the
present invention.
Figure 9 is an exemplary user interface
illustrating an example of search results after
utilizing the site search summary to access a further
level of detail in a category.
Figure 10 is another exemplary user interface
illustrating an example of .search results after
utilizing the site search summary to access a further
level of detail in another category.
Figure 11 is an exemplary user interface
illustrating a search result to which the user
interface according to one or more embodiments of the
present invention.
Figure 12 is a functional block diagram
illustrating a search data flow according to one or
more embodiments of the present invention.
Figure 13 is a flow chart illustrating an example
of searching and displaying search results, according
to one or more embodiments of the present invention.
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Figure 14 is a flow chart illustrating an example
of searching according to a glossary, custom or basic
search, and grouping search results, according to one
or more embodiments of the present invention.
Figure 15 is a functional block diagram
illustrating data flow between a web server, visitor,
and a search engine.
Figure 16 is a black diagram of a computer used
for implementing one or more embodiments of the medical
information portal system, in accordance with a
computer implemented embodiment of the present
invention.
Figure 17 illustrates a block diagram of the
internal hardware of the computer of Figure 16.
Figure 18 illustrates a block diagram of an
alternative computer of a type suitable for. carrying
out the present invention.
Figure 19 is a functional block diagram
illustrating an example of a computer system for use in
connection with searching and producing resource
specific sets of search results and a site search
summary, suitable for carrying out the invention.
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The following detailed description includes many
specific details. The inclusion of such details is for
the purpose of illustration only and should not be
understood to limit the invention. Throughout this
discussion, similar elements are referred to by similar
numbers in the various figures for ease of reference.
In addition, features in one embodiment may be combined
with features in other embodiments of the invention.
According to one or more embodiments of the
present invention, a system is provided including an
embedded search. The search provides a.n easy-to-
navigate user interface that is also intuitive for
healthcare professianals, for specifying the search
request, and for displaying the search results together
with a site search summary. In order to specify the
search request, the user enters the keyword or phrase
of interest and chooses one or more categories of
resources in which to search, where the categories
correspond to physician-intuitive groupings of types of
sources. Optionally, the sources have previously been
indexed by a search engine. A search specific results
page including a site search summary and a list of
search results within category is returned, both of
which thereby provide a number of possibilities for
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drill down. In this way, the search results may be
provided in top levels divided into resource
categories; search results returned may be provided for
a particular resource category; search results returned
may be provided from a single source, listed in order
by a predefined preference (e. g., relevance); an item
returned in the search results may be reviewed; and/or
the sources searched may be listed, e.g., in a site
search summary box.
The present invention provides a system and method
for bringing together the vast array of resources
available to physicians. Hence, according to one or
more embodiments, the invention provides access to a
content library unmatched in its breadth. It provides
a search engine appropriate for perusing content, such
as, Harrison's Online, Cecil°s Textbook of Medicine,
Praxis.md, the Merck Manual and many others. In
addition, it provides one or more links to searches
such as MD Consult that offer their own extremely
2~ comprehensive library. All told, these many resources
made accessible via one or more embodiments of the
invention covers primary care and/or any specialty. An
optional folder feature allows physicians to, for
example, document their visits with extensive
bookmarking to track their progress (e. g., previously
CA 02422540 2003-03-18
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conducted searches, research links). The invention
optionally includes a comprehensive professional
development area, e.g., with board review questions; an
optional medical meeting calendar with access to
content from many meetings; and optionally the ability
to earn/access CME credit through a partner site. The
optional patient resource area exceeds that of most
physician web portals, and optionally includes access
to an immense collection of patient handouts that
physicians may easily print. Other searchable
resources include coverage of what patients are seeing
in the media, color illustrations and easy-to-read
descriptions for numerous medical procedures, arid
resources to help locate clinical trials for patients.
Searchable linical workflow tools optionally include
clinical calculators, an ICD-9 search engine, drug
interaction checking, and one or more expert systems
that assist with antibiotic choices (TheraDoc~") and
difficult differential diagnoses (Dxplainr"") .
Optionally, a searchable electronic assistant provides
quick links to relevant news and journals, career
information and clinical decision support tools that
are optionally downloaded to a physician's handheld
computer or PDA. A number of unique and powerful
features are provided, such as free access to
subscription sites (e. g., Harrison's Online, Praxis.md,
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MD Consult). Another searchable source is a lectures
and presentations builder, allowing users to prepare
custom slides for incorporation into, e.g., PowerPoint
documents, and including, e.g., public speaking advice.
One or more aspects of the invention provide
access to healthcare and medical resources. The term
"resources" used herein is intended to encompass, e.g.,
information, services, content, applications, and
anything else available electronically. According to
one or more embodiments of the present invention,
medical information resources include, for example, one
or more of reference books and/or databases several
outstanding and/or definitive medical information
resources may be accessed electronically, including:
~ National Library of Medicine databases: MEDLINE,
AIDSLINE, Bioethics Line, CANCERLIT,
~ Harrison's Principles of Medicine,
~ Dorland's Medical Dictionary,
~ Physicians' Desk Reference (PDR) and PDR Drug
Interaction Database,
Mosby's GenRx, Patient GenRx and Drug Master Plus
(drug interaction database),
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~ Merck Manual Online,
~ Merck Manual Home Edition,
~ Cecil Textbook of Medicine, and/or
Best Practice of Medicine by PraxisMD
One or more embodiments of the present invention
provides users with the ability to search some of these
resources individually or use a search engine to
retrieve relevant content from the collection of
resources. Simple and/or advanced search capabilities
1~ are provided.
Another medical information resource is MD
Consult, a collection of medical information resources
serving the clinical content needs of physicians and
other healthcare providers. This is an example of a
resource normally available to physicians by
subscription only, but are provided to registered users
of the present invention.
According to one or more embodiments of the
present invention, resources include news, such as
available from headlines, abstracts, full journal
articles from medical journals, e.g., JAMA, NEJM,
Lancet, Annals of Internal Medicine, and BMJ. Other
news resources may be provided from a newswire service
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of breaking news stories about medicine, e.g., those
that could impact a physician's practice. Resources
also include medical, specialty and/or consumer news.
Such articles cover the business of healthcare,
consumer medical news; and other health-related news
items, and may be obtained from professional and/or lay
press resources, e.g., Reuters, FaxWatch, and NewsRX.
Optionally, the news directed to the user may be
restricted to items of interest to the user, such as
matching user registration information.
Another example of medical information resources
includes professional development resources and tools,
e.g., continuing medical education (CME) information,
online CME, a medical meeting calendar with a list of
at least major professional conferences, information
and/or review modules regarding board review for
various therapeutic areas for Board certification and
re-certification, links to professional societies,
links to government web sites, links to medical
schools, and/or access to clinical trials information.
Another type of resource relates to patients,
e.g., patient education materials such as leaflets,
optionally editable/customizable; patient sheets, e.g.,
printable articles intended for patients to help them
better understand their disease and treatment; patient
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health news, e.g., an archive of health-related news
articles in the popular lay press (off line, online,
and/or in print); clinical trial information, e.g., a
searchable database of clinical trials such as
sponsored by NIH and/or industry; links to support
groups serving patients, such as in various disease
states; and/or a best health guide, having patient
education materials and consumer medical news, that may
be customizable, printable, and/or e-mailable.
Yet another type of resource relates to practice
technology, including for example, health technology
news, including news articles and features about
technology issues affecting the practice of medicine;
evaluations of health technology vendors, e.g.,
review/comparison of the latest office technology fox
physician practices, such as billing and scheduling
systems and electronic medical records management;
interactive technology services, e.g., e-mail questions
and answers, as well as FAQs, from a healthcare
technology professor; a technology glossary, e.g., a
searchable list of technology terms; and/or a practice
technology assessment services, to assess a level of
technological sophistication in a doctor's practice.
A further type of resource relates to diagnostic
assistance, including for example, disease
CA 02422540 2003-03-18
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explanations, to help doctors correctly diagnose, based
on physician input of clinical information, and
providing possible diagnoses, justifications,
suggestions for additional clinical information to
obtain, and/or list specific signs/symptoms for a
specific disease; practice guidelines providing
evidence-based clinical practice guidelines; and/or
disease modules, providing overviews of many diseases,
e.g., major and/or common disease, including e.g.,
epidemiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and
treatment.
Other types of resources include hospital
offerings that address the needs of hospital-based
audiences (residents, house staff, hospital
physicians). Such resources include, e.g., medical
calculators/information, including medical and non-
medical information, calculators and content from
various sources that are targeted to the needs of
residents and medical students; an organizer for
medical contents and tables on a PDA to assist users
while they work with quick, problem-based solutions to
medical questions/clinical issues. Resources intended
for hospital physicians include, e.g., reference texts,
e.g., culled from core site content as most appropriate
for hospital physicians, PDA-downloadable content
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culled from the core site and customizable by the user;
a programmable medical calculator for important
clinical calculations.
Other resources include, for example, clinical
support tools that provide evidence based therapies and
treatments, dosage recommendations, based on patient-
specific data; an online ICD-9 Code reference for
patient education; PDA software; a web-enabled version
of well-respected texts, e.g., Brunwald's Atlas of
Internal Medicine, including disease images, charts,
and tables, which are optionally downloadable for
incorporation into, e.g., medical lectures; and a
meeting reporter having news, analysis, posters, and
lecture summaries from major medical meetings.
Reference is now made to Figure 6, providing an
example of a user interface for providing search
results and a site search summary box in the system of
the present invention. The user interface 600 provides
a search results list 602, and a site search summary
601. The search results list 602 includes items listed
by resource category 611. Each items list by resource
category specifies the resource category, and lists the
item 609 returned in the search results within that
resource category. According to one or more
embodiments of the present invention, the resource
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categories are implemented as buckets. The number of
items displayed in the search results rr~ay be limited
to, e.g., a maximum of two items per category, so that
the display fits in a user screen. An item 609
displayed in the search results may include, for
example, a title that optionally is hot-linked to the
article (or other resource content), a short abstract
of the article, and the URL optionally hot-linked to
the article (or other resource content). The site
search summary 601 is displayed in a visually separate
manner, e_g. within a box. The site search summary 601
provides a summary of sites that were searched to
obtain the search results. In this example, the site
search summary provides a listing of source sites 605
(e. g., "The-Merck Manual 17"' Edition," "Mosby's Drug
Reference," etc.); far each source site, optionally
includes an icon 603 corresponding to one of the search
categories; and for each source site, optionally
indicates the number of search results located within
that source. The items provided in the search results
are grouped, e.g., by source, with sources and results
listed in, e.g., alphabetical order. The results
included on the display (where the display is limited)
may be determined, e.g., by source and date, and may be
ranked according to relevance to the resource category
per source.
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The user may specify the term or terms to search,
and optionally may specify the scope of the search. In
the present example, the user interface includes a
Location to specify a search term 613, and a location
to indicate the scope of the search (e.g.r entire site,
or specific category). The user interface for the
search, which is a bask search in this example, may
include an advanced search link 617 to one or more
advanced searches.
Figure 7 illustrates in more detail another
example of search results and an example site search
summary, in this case an embedded box. In this
example, a search was run on the term "asthma,"
resulting in the example display. The search results
are divided into categories, optionally implemented as
buckets, which were previously selected based on a
physician's intuitive categorization of medical
literature. In this case, there are four categories'
News 701, Medical Library 703, Patient Resources 705,
and educational materials 707. The News category
encompasses sources of medical news, e.g., "Medical
News by Micromedex," "News for I~ealthcare," "MD Alerts
(Praxis),'° "Journal Scan (Praxis)," and/or other
sources as desired. The Medical Library category
encompasses more traditional medical sources, e.g.,
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"The Merck Manual," "Cecil Textboak of Medicine," "Best
Practice of Medicine by Praxis.MD," "Dorlands
Illustrated Medical Dictionary," "Mosby's GenRx,"
"Harrison's Online,°' °'New England Journal of Medicine,"
other reference manuals, medical journals, and/or other
sources as desired. The Patient Resources category
encompasses healthcare sources that are directed to
non-professionals, e.g., '°The Merck Manual-Home
Edition," patient guides, "Best Health Guide by
Praxis.MD," and/or other sources as desired. The
educational materials category encompasses sources that
are intended to educate, or to assist in educating,
professionals, e.g., disease modules with training on
diseases, slide image bank with PowerPoint'~ images and
lecture notes, etc. Categories and/or sources therein
may be added, omitted, and/or combined, if desired, in
other embodiments of the invention.
Each list of search results by category also lists
the number of results 709 for that category. The
listing may be expanded, e.g., by clicking on the
"More" button 711. The user may select to run the
search on an alternate search engine, e.g., Ovid 713.
According to one or more embodiments of the
present invention, one or more "advanced" searches are
included. For example, Figure ~ is a user interface
CA 02422540 2003-03-18
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illustrating twa advanced searches for conducting a
search. The optional searches in this example include
a search for limiting the selection of sources 807
normally included in the search according to the
invention, and a search for specifying other external
sources 809, e.g., those not normally included in the
search.
The search with limited source selection 803
includes entry of keywords) 811, and a more advanced
search definition 813, e.g., all terms, any term, etc.
The limited source selection search 803 also includes a
specification of the sources to search 815r
advantageously, the sources can be listed in a
checklist. In the present example, the sources are
grouped by resource category 819, and each category
includes its associated category icon 603. Once the
user has defined the desired search, the user may
initiate the search, e.g., by clicking the "Go" button
817. The search results for the advanced search may be
delivered in the same format as the results for the
previously described basic search and/or in other
standard formats.
The other external source search 805 includes a
specification of search term, terms or phrase 811, and
a selection of an external source to search 821. Once
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the user has defined the desired search, the user may
initiate the search, e.g., by clicking the "Go" button
817. Again, the search results for this advanced
search may be delivered in the same format as for the
basic search_
Reference is now made to Figure 7, illustrating
example search results, and Figure 9, illustrating
example search results after utilizing the search
summary box to drill down to further detail in a
category. The drill down example of Figure 9 resulted
from the user obtaining search results, e.g., those
illustrated in Figure 7, including a site search
CA 02422540 2003-03-18
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results in any category by selecting the icon for that
category; upon selecting the icon for the category, the
user is presented with the search results for that
category. In this way, the search results may be
provided by category, within the Category listed in
order by a predefined preference (e. g., relevance);
search results may be provided for a particular
category; search results returned may be provided from
a single source, listed in order by a predefined
preference (e.g., relevance); an item returned in the
search results may be reviewed; and/or the sources
returning results and/or searched for results may be
listed, e.g., in the site search summary box.
Figure 10 illustrates an alternative screen, where
the user selected to drill down to the resource
"Medical News by Micromedex." Here, the resource
category 701 is "News".
Reference is made to Figure 11, illustrating an
example user interface after the user selected an
advanced search of external sources. The search
parameters entered by the user are passed to the search
engine for the external source, and the search results
are displayed. Here, the site for the external source
includes a search engine and the user is linked 'to the
external source's search results page 1101. The
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external source search results include a listing of
returned search items 1103.
Reference is now made to Figure 12, illustrating
site search summary flow. The user 1201 has navigated
to the site, e.g., the home page 1203, and has selected
to utilize the search according to the invention. The
user has typed in the search term within the search box
1205, including one or more of the resource categories
in which to search. Upon submitting the search,
actions are taken to produce the user's request search
specific results page including the site search
summary. A search controller 1207 creates the
appropriate one or more search requests, e.g.,
including search term and specifying search sources
within the resource category. For example, a search
request, one for each category, may be created
encompassing sources in each category. The search
controller 1207 submits the one or more search requests
to a search engine 1211. One example of an appropriate
search engine is UltraSearchTM by Ultrasearch Inc. The
search engine performs the requested searches of
specified sources, and returns category specific sets
of search results, which are listed in the user display
1215 by category. The user display 1215 includes the
optional site search summary 1216. The site search
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summary quantifies the number of unique document
results per each available source based on the keyword
or phrase entered by the user. Every source containing
at least one hit is displayed in the site search
summary. Optionally, if the source is restricted to
certain authenticated users, block 121, the system
checks whether the user is registered, block 1219, and
if not, requests the user to login, block 1223. Some
sources, for example, may be restricted. to state
licensed medical professionals residing' in the United
States. If the source is restricted and the user is
appropriately registered, or if the source is
unrestricted, the user may access the content 1221 of
the resource. Optionally, the site search summary does
not count source, and/or does not display information
on sources, that the user cannot access due to
restrictions.
Although specific resource content may be made
available for searching against, some sources may be
restricted to defined authentication levels. Far
example, restrictions may be assigned by the purveyor
of the source and/or dictated by a license for the
source. An appropriate time for determining user
authentication is at the time of result page creation;
the URL link for any specific result may be created at
CA 02422540 2003-03-18
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that time if the authentication level is appropriate.
In the medical field, there are typically three
authentication levels based an the type of
professional, corresponding to conceptual levels of
access to various. sources: (1) registered health care
professional, (2) MD or DO, and (3) non-registered
health care professional. The user may be assigned an
authentication level during a registration process at
which time the user indicates their type of profession.
During the registration process, the system optionally
queries the user far licensure information, which it
then verifies. As illustrated in Figure 13, when the
user enters the search terms and initiates the search,
block 1301, the search engine is requested to perform
custom searches of all selected content within the site
for the search term, block 1303. The items returned in
the custom search results are displayed under the
categories, in this example, four categories, block
1305. As part of displaying the search results, if a
search term exists in a content resource, block 1307,
e.g., a textbook or a journal series, then at block
1309 the system displays the summary. If the user
selects one of the items in the search results, block
1311, to view the content, then the level of
restriction of the content is determined, block 131.
If the content is restricted and the user does not have
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appropriate authentication 1317, an alert message is
displayed, e.g., stating the nature of the userYs
authentication status within the site at that t~_me. At
block 1319, the user is then redirected to a
login/registration page and subsequent verification of
authentication. If the authentication status is
appropriate to the content restriction, block 1313,
then access is granted and the content the user wishes
to view is displayed, block 1315. Other sequences
and/or combinations of blocks may be utilized and/or
performed in accordance with the present invention.
Optionally, the invention allows users to submit
simple and advanced searches. In the example shown in
Figure 14, one or more embodiments of the invention
allows the user to perform search via a glossary of
search terms, a custom search, or a basic search. The
simple search may be a text-only type-in box and
dropdown-box allowing a user to specify the search term
and optionally search scope. The advanced search may,
24 for example, provide the user with ways of specifying
not only search terms, but also selections of the
resources to search. Optionally, the search may submit
and retrieve search results from other Internet search
applications where possible. Optionally, the search
may accommodate Boolean operators. At block 1401, the
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user enters the desired search term. Depending on the
type of search, block 1403, the system will submit and
retrieve results for a custom search, a glossary
search, or a basic search. If a glossary search was
requested, and if there are results, block 1405, the
system displays that result set, block 1409. If the
user selects one of the items returned from the search,
the system links to the selected glossary term, block
1407. If the user takes some other search action,
block 1415, the system proceeds accordingly to either
the customization search interface, block 1411, or to
the basic search result set, block 1419.
For a custom search, the system displays the
customization interface, block 1411. If there are no
search results, the system displays the search tips
page, block 1423. Otherwise, if there are results, the
system displays the basic result set page, block 1419.
Likewise, if the user submitted a basic search request,
and if there are search results, block 1413, the basic
result set page, block 1419, is displayed.
From the basic result set page, block 1419, the
system determines whether the user has taken some
action, block 1425. If the action is a link, then at
block 1429, the user is linked to the selected linked
page. If the action taken is to show more results,
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then the system groups the results by category, block
1427; the user may then select a link and connect or
link to the selected page 1431. Other sequences and/or
combinations of blocks may be utilized and/or performed
in accordance with the present invention.
Reference is now made to Figure 15 illustrating
one or more embodiments of a basic arc~.itecture for the
search according to the present invention, including a
web server 1501, a computer for a visitor to the web
site 1505, and a search engine 1503, e.g., UltraseekTM,
including optional paths for HTML and XML. The visitor
1505 submits a search request to the web server 1501.
An application running on the web server makes the
appropriate requests to the search engine, e.g., by
invoking the search engine. The search engine may be
running on the same or a different web site. The
search engine 1503 returns XML search responses to the
web server 1501, which forwards the responses to the
visitor 1505; whereas the search engine 1503 returns
HTML search results back to the visitor 1505. The
search responses advantageously are segmented to
correspond directly to the categories displayed in the
user interface, with each grouping identifying the
total number of matches, ranking, and relevancy score.
The sources and/or categories may default to all
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available sources and/or categories; may be specific to
user, e.g., based on user registration informat5.on; may
be customized by a registered user to default settings;
and/or may be specific to other user information, e.g.,
licensure status.
Where a search engine such as Ultraseek~ is
utilized, the network may be spidered (vs. scanning the
filesystem). Original XML content may, if desired, be
rendered as HTML pages for the spider, so that much of
the synthetic metadata information may be harvested in
the usual fashion from the rendered HTNIL documents
themselves. The system may have previously requested
the search engine to index the collections of resources
that are searched; it is advantageous for the available
resources to correspond to collections of resources
indexed by the search engine.
When creating search indices, there are two groups
of information:
(1) Tnformation (relationships) to support query
operations, e.g.,
Terms
~ Phrases and/or
Metadata (support far fielded search operators)
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(2) Information to be presented in search results
(e. g., an Ultraseek'~ title record), e.g.,
Title
~ URL
~ Summary
~ Last-modified date
~ Size and/or
~ "Publisher°°
Spidering has the advantage that it supports a
wide variety of content types, e.g., HTML, XML, plain
text, Microsoft~° Office", Lotus' SmartSuiteT"",
PostScriptT"", AdobeT"" Acrobat T"" (e , g . , PDF) , FrameNfakerT"",
etc.; most of which can be retrieved via a URL, e.g.,
via e.g., HTTP, FTP or HTTPS. An HTML page for a
natural metadata retrieval arid subsequent fielded
search might be, for example,
<meta name=nscopen content"hcp">
After indexing, the example page can be retrieved
via the query scope:hcp. The metadata/field
relationship thus roughly incorporates the concepts of
"scope" (e. g., HCP vs. CNS) and "source" (unified
collection of related resources, e.g., a web site, PDR
Online, NEJM). For search purposes, the "scope" may be
required based upon the user's profile information; the
profile information could be submitted within the query
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by the initial search form. The "source" information
may be accumulated (e. g., one, several or all sources)
also based upon passed information originating in the
user's profile. If scope and source meta tags are not
included explicitly within the rendered HTML documents
but may be programmatically determined with available
metadata, the indexer may be employed to synthetically
develop the desired metadata and field relationships at
index time.
Within the document body content, it may be useful
to employ the stop/start index tag pairs, which may
have the advantage of focusing the indexer's attention
on unique document Content and avoiding' redundant
indexing of common wrapper content, e.g., Copyright
information. An example FAQ is:
http://wwvv.ultraseek.com/support/d.ocs/~ags/~aq052.
htm
Tn accordance with one or more optional
embodiments, the indexed content may be placed in a
single comprehensive collection. The advantage is that
this reduces the amount of Complexity to be managed,
and keeping a common, universal set of root URLs,
filters, network setting, tuning parameters, etc. may
be easily done within a single collection. Multiple
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collections, however, permit the setting of alternative
tuning parameters, e.g., the periodicity of spider
visits to dynamically generated content in a particular
source.
A query result may be retrieved via, e.g., an HTTP
GET request. The type of search results, e.g., HTML or
XML, may be determined by the search form. A typical
HTML result URL might be, for example
https//[Ultraseekhost:port]/guery.html?qt=(queryte
rm] &qp= Cqueryprefix] &nh= Cof hits]
A typical XML results URL might be, for example
https//[Ultraseekhost:port]/sqauery.xml?qt=[queryt
erm] &qp= (queryprefix] &nh= [# of hits]
The '°qp'° form variable may be used to establish
"scope'° and "source" parameters for a search:
...&qp=%2Bscope%3Ahep&qp=source%3Aprmducts&qp=source
a3Apdronline...
where "o3a" is an escaped colon (:? character for
use with the scope and source field search operators,
and "%2B" is an escaped plus (+) character, the
'°requirement operator" within the implied Boolean
search operator set. One or more embodiments of the
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present invention may provide for additional "qp"
operators for specific search zones, and unique "nh°°
values for each zone.
It should be understood that the invention is
described in connection with logical groupings of
functions or resources. One or more of these logical
groupings may be omitted from one or more embodiments,
and still remain within the scope of the present
invention. Likewise, functions may be grouped
differently, combined, or augmented without parting
from the scope of the invention. Similarly the present
description may describe various databases or
collections of data and information. One or more
groupings of the data or information may be omitted,
distributed, combined, or augmented, or provided
locally and/or remotely without departing from the
scope of the invention.
The user may be a physician, other healthcare
professional and/or student in the medical field. Same
of these users may be licensed for a specific practice,
and the licensure may be verifiable. The system may
provide the user with expanded online access to high
quality healthcare resources. The system may respond
to the shifting needs of healthcare professionals, who
are constrained to find practical ways to access
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information and services relevant to their practices,
despite their~business schedules and geographic
constraints. Further, the present invention is
intended to provide seamless access to such
information.
Figure 16 is an illustration of a computer 58 used
for implementing the computer processing in accordance
with a computer-implemented embodiment of the present
invention. The procedures described above may be
~0 presented in terms of program procedures executed on,
for example, a computer or network of computers.
Viewed externally in Figure 16, computer 58 has a
central processing unit (CPU) 68 having disk drives 69,
70. Disk drives 69, 70 are merely symbolic of a number
of disk drives that might be accommodated by computer
58. Typically, these might be one or more of the
following: a floppy disk drive 69, a hard disk drive
(not shown), and a CD ROM or digital video disk, as
indicated by the slot at 70. The number and type of
drives varies, typically with different computer
configurations. Disk drives 69, 70 are, in fact,
options, and for space considerations, may be omitted
from the computer system used in conjunction with the
processes described herein.
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Computer 58 also has a display 71 upon which
information may be displayed. The display is optional
for the computer used in conjunction with the system
described herein. A keyboard 72 and/or a pointing
device 73, such as a mouse 73, may be provided as input
devices to interface with central processing unit 68.
To increase input efficiency, keyboard 72 may be
supplemented or replaced with a scanner, card reader,
or other data input device. The pointing device 73 may
be a mouse, touch pad control device, track ball
device, or any other type of pointing device.
Alternatively, referring to Figure 18, computer 58
may also include a CD ROM reader 95 and CD recorder 96,
which are interconnected by a bus 97 along with other
peripheral devices 98 supported by the bus structure
and protocol. Bus 97 serves as the main information
highway interconnecting other components of the
computer. It is connected via an interface 99 to the
computer 58.
Figure 17 illustrates a block diagram of the
internal hardware of the computer of Figure 16. CPU 75
is the central processing unit of the system,
performing calculations and logic operations required
to execute a program. Read only memory (ROM) 76 and
random access memory (RAM) 77 constitute the main
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CA 02422540 2003-03-18
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memory of the computer. Disk controller 78 interfaces
one or more disk drives to the system bus 74. These
disk drives may be floppy disk drives such as 79, or CD
ROM or DVD (digital video/versatile disk} drives, as at
80, or internal or external hard drives 81. As
previously indicated these various disk drives and disk
controllers are optional devices.
A display interface 82 permits information from
bus 74 to be displayed on the display 83. Again, as
indicated, the display 83 is an optional accessory for
a central or remote computer in the communication
network, as are infrared receiver 88 and transmitter
89. Communication with external devices occurs using
communications port 84.
In addition to the standard components of the
computer, the computer may also include an interface
85, which allows for data input through the keyboard 86
or pointing device, such as a mouse 87.
Reference is now made to Figure 19, illustrating
one example of a network for use in connection with the
search system and/or method for providing source
specific sets of search results and a site search
summary, according to the present invention. The user
1201 wishing to search various resources, including
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external resources 1903 and internal resources 1909 rnay
access the computer 1901 on which the search system-
operates, for example via the Internet 1907. The
user's search request is submitted to the computer
1901; where it is transmitted to the search engine 1211
in an appropriate form including, e.g., search terms)
and scope of sources) to be searched in accordance
with the categories. The search engine 1211 searches
for resource content in the specified scope including
the specified search terms, optionally within the
search index 1905. If using the search index 1905, the
computer 1901 has previously instructed the search
engine 1211 to periodically build and/or update an
appropriate search index 1905 directed to sets of
external and internal sources 1903, 1909 by categories.
The search results are returned (in this example) from
the search engine 1211 to the computer 1901, including
sets of search results by category. The computer 1901
transmits the search results to the user 1201,
including sets of search results by category arid the
site search summary_ The computer 1901 optionally
checks the user registration data 1911 for the user to
ensure that the user is permitted to access any sources
that are restricted and that are referenced in the
search results.
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The foregoing detailed description includes many
specific details. The inclusion of such detail is for
the purpose of illustration only and should not be
understood to limit the invention. In addition,
features in one embodiment may be combined with
features in other embodiments of the invention.
Various changes may be made without departing from the
scope of the invention as defined in the following
claims.
70 As one example, the system according to the,
invention may include a general purpose computer, or a
specially programmed special purpose computer. The
user may interact with the system via e.g., a personal
computer or over PDA, e.g.,. the Internet an Intranet,
etc. Either of these may be implemented as a
distributed computer system rather than a single
computer. Similarly, the communications link may be a
dedicated link, a modem over a POTS line, and/or any
other method of communicating between computers and/or
users. Moreover, the processing could be controlled by
a software program on one or more computer systems or
processors, or could even be partially or wholly
implemented in hardware.
The user interfaces may be developed in connection
with an HTML display format. Although HTML is utilized
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in the illustrated examples, it is possible to utilize
alternative technology for displaying information,
obtaining user instructions and for providing user
interfaces. The invention has been discussed in
connection. with particular examples. However, the
principles apply equally to other examples and/or
realizations. Naturally, the relevant data may differ,
as appropriate.
Further, this invention has been discussed in
certain examples as if it is made available to a single
user. The invention may be used by numerous users, if
preferred. The system used in connection with the
invention may rely on the integration of various
components including, as appropriate and/or if desired,
hardware and software servers, database engines, and/or
other content providers. The configuration may be,
preferably, network-based and uses the Internet as a
primary interface with the user.
The system according to one or more embodiments of
the invention may store collected information and/or
indexes of information in a database: An appropriate
database may be on a standard server, for example, a
small SunT°" SparcT~' or other remote location. The
information may, for example, optionally be stored on a
platform that may, for example, be UNIX-based. The
CA 02422540 2003-03-18
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various databases maybe in, for example, a UNIX format,
but other standard data formats may be used.
Although the computer system is discussed as
having a single computer, the system according to one
or more embodiments of the invention is optionally
suitably equipped with a multitude or combination of
processors or storage devices. For example, the
computer may be replaced by, or combined with, any
suitable processing system operative in accordance with
the principles of embodiments of the present invention,
including sophisticated calculators, hand held,
laptop/notebook, mini, mainframe and super computers,
as well as processing system network combinations of
the same. Further, portions of the system may be
provided in any appropriate electronic format,
including, for example, provided over a communication
line as electronic signals, provided on floppy disk,
provided on CD Rom, provided on optical disk memory,
etc.
Any presently available or future developed
computer software language and/or hardware components
can be employed in such embodiments of the present
invention. For example, at least some of the
functionality mentioned above could be implemented
using Visual Basic, C, C++ or any assembly language
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appropriate in view of the processor being used. It
could also be written in an interpretive environment
such as Java and transported to multiple destinations
to various users.
The many features and advantages of the
embodiments of the present invention are apparent from
the detail specification, and thus, it is intended by
the appended claims to cover all such features and
advantages of the invention that fall within the true
spirit and scope of the invention. Further, since
numerous modifications and variations were readily
occurred to those skilled in the art, it is not desired
to limit the invention to the exact construction and
operation illustrated and described, and accordingly,
all suitable modifications and equivalents maybe
resorted to, falling within the scope of the inventian.
57
