BE1013941A3 - BIOMETRIC IDENTIFICATION TO PHARMACY. - Google Patents

Abstract

Computer readable method, system and instructions which conceally identify a client who purchases medical treatment and / or medication and who use up-to-date medical information and / or up-to-date mediation information to give the client a targeted promotion , in part on the basis of at least the up-to-date medical information and / or the up-to-date medication information. In an exemplary embodiment, the up-to-date medical information and / or the up-to-date medication information is a prescription for an updated medication for the client.

Description

BIOMETRIC IDENTIFICATION TO PHARMACY 'BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention aims at the use of medical information concerning a client to deliver a targeted promotion. More particularly, the present invention aims to automatically recognize a declared or undeclared client to identify medical treatment for the client and deliver a targeted promotion based on the medical treatment.

Background presentation

Predictive targeting is a marketing technique in which marketing efforts are directed to an individual or group of individuals who have characteristics that indicate the likelihood of certain behavior, such as a purchase. The characteristics examined usually include historical and / or demographic data. By targeting marketing efforts to an individual or group who may be interested in a product in accordance with a predictive profile, marketing costs can be reduced and even small groups of individuals interested in a product can receive information regarding the product at a low unit cost. A more complete description of predictive targeting and marketing is given for example in "The Direct Marketing Handbook", Edward L. Nash, ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, 1992, all of whose content is incorporated herein as and in U.S. patents 6,026,370, 5,974,399, 5,892,827, 5,832,457, 5,612,868, 5,173,851, 4,910,672, 6,014,634 and 6,055,573, all of which everyone's content is incorporated here for reference.

One of the limitations of traditional predictive targeting includes underuse and / or difficulty in using up-to-date information on circumstances and events that can lead to behavior or a purchase. These circumstances and events can often turn out to have a higher predictive value than a simple history record, but they are often difficult to record and / or obtain. Typical examples in which up-to-date information on circumstances and events is used to deliver a promotion include the issuance of a rebate on the purchase of a new car, to students completing university, of coupons for home repair products offered to home buyers and "ambulance hunters" who provide legal services regarding personal injury to persons involved in accidents. By predicting buying behavior based on an event or relevant circumstances such as graduation, home buying or accident, one can deliver product information at low cost even if the purchase of such a product is a rare event in the representative demographic population or when there is no historical record of such a purchase.

With the exception of large ticket issues, the benefits of predicting purchasing behavior based on a relevant event or circumstance are rarely justified in light of the cost of determining the existence of such event or relevant circumstances. In the examples given above, a marketing manager must for example contact a university to obtain a list of students who have just graduated, study published files to search for recent real estate transactions or drive ambulances out of a city. In other words, there is often too little incentive for a customer to provide information that relates to relevant events and / or circumstances concerning the customer. Thus, the data concerning the circumstances / events remains largely underused and / or difficult to use.

Information about a client's medical condition represents a special type of information about relevant and underused events / circumstances. For various ethical, medical, financial, privacy, social and legal reasons, customers and / or health care providers are reluctant to distribute medical information to marketers and / or sellers. As many diseases and disease states are rare, have little or no historical precedent and / or are distributed relatively evenly across different demographic groups, marketing and product information regarding medical products is often not available, because the cost of identifying sick individuals and distributing marketing promotions is too high.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a new method, new system and new computer readable instructions for efficiently issuing targeted promotions based on the medical condition of a customer (c (i.e. medical events and / or circumstances).

Another object of the present invention is to provide a new method, a new system and new computer-readable instructions in order to guarantee respect for the customer's privacy when the customer receives targeted promotions.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a new method, a new system and new computer-readable instructions in order to guarantee respect for the client's privacy when the client receives medication intended to treat an illness and / or a disease state present.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a new method, system and new computer readable instructions for speeding up the process of acquiring medication by a client.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a new method, a new system and new computer-readable instructions for ensuring the identification of a client who requires medication.

These and other objects of the invention are achieved by providing a new method, a new system and new computer readable instructions which identify a customer who purchases medical treatment and / or medication. In an exemplary embodiment, this identification is a secret biometric identification of the client. When the client has been identified, secretly or not, the client's current medical information and / or medication information is used to deliver the client a targeted promotion, at least in part on the basis of the medical information and / or information of current medication. In an exemplary embodiment, the current medical information and / or medication information is an updated prescription for client medication. Similarly, in an exemplary embodiment, the secret identification is used to indicate the presence of an anonymous individual wishing the medications and / or the medical equipment to a person or a group who will prepare the medications and / or the equipment. medical, preferably without explicitly identifying the individual.

In one embodiment, this indication will be an indication to a pharmacist that there is an unidentified individual who wishes a particular medication in a store and / or in a commercial area. In yet another embodiment, the targeted promotion is delivered in association with a brochure which provides more detailed information regarding the client's medical condition and / or medication.

When used here, the terms "secret customer", "secret identification" and "secretly identify" a customer relate to the identification of the customer by a system that is able to use that identification information to identify a medical treatment for the client and to bring about the preparation and / or delivery of this medical treatment without disclosing the name of the client to the persons carrying out the preparation and / or delivery.

When used here, the term "promotion" refers to any offer, advertisement, business letter, incentive, coupon, ad insert, recipe and / or communication to promote one or more goods and / or services.

In the present invention, the inventors have described a computer-readable method, device and instructions for delivering targeted promotions to a client based on updated information regarding a client's medical events / circumstances while respecting life. client's private life. This is particularly important when medical information is used to predict a client's behavior. In addition, this computer-readable method, device and instructions achieve these goals inexpensively and further save the customer time and public display when treating a medical condition. Finally, this process, this device and these instructions readable by computer must guarantee a more reliable identification of the client when the client seeks to acquire medication.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention and many of the advantages associated with it can easily be appreciated more fully by understanding it better with reference to the detailed description which follows, which will be examined in association with the appended drawings, in which: 1 is a schematic representation of an example of a network structure aimed at issuing promotions on the basis of input by a client; FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of a second example of a network structure intended to issue promotions based on input by a client; Figures 3a and 3b show examples of a data sheet structure; Figures 4a and 4b show other examples of data sheet structure; Figure 5 is a flow diagram of a process for issuing targeted promotions based on a client's medical condition; Figure 6 is a flow diagram of a second method for issuing targeted promotions based on a medical condition of a client; Figure 7 is a flow diagram of a third method for delivering targeted promotions based on a client's medical condition; Figure 8 is a flow diagram of a fourth method for issuing targeted promotions based on a medical condition of a client; and Figure 9 is a schematic representation of a computer system programmed to perform one or more of the special purpose functions of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

If we now refer to the drawings, in which identical reference numerals designate corresponding or identical parts in all the views, and more particularly in FIG. 1 thereof, which represents an example of a network structure aiming at issuing promotions based on entry by a client. This network structure will include at least one interaction site 630, 640 or 650 which, in the preferred embodiments, is connected by a network 620 to a central database system 610. In alternative embodiments, it is possible to completely or partially do without the 620 network, or an interaction site 630, 640 or 650 can be installed on a computer system, such as the central database system 610. Thus, the network 620 can be installed as a communication network conventional or as a telecommunications network, or as an electrical conductor, wire or bus in a computer.

The processor 611 of the central database system 610 is used to encode and decode data transmitted by the network 620, to control the reading and writing of the data in memory tables 612a-d and to analyze the data in the memory tables 612a-d. The processor 611 can be any processor configured to transmit data at high speed and to perform a significant number of mathematical calculations when processing communications (possibly as a web server), searches in a database and calculation algorithms. A conventional personal computer or workstation with sufficient memory and computing capacity can be configured to serve as a 611 processor. A PENTIUM III microprocessor such as the 1 GHz PENTIUM III for the SC 242 manufactured by Intel Inc., a Motorola MHz 500 POWER PC G4 processor and the Advanced Micro Devices 1 GHz AMD processor

ATHLON can all be used as a 611 processor. The 612a-d memory tables can be any type of processor accessible data medium, including but not limited to any type of disk, including floppy disks, optical disks , CD-Roms, magneto-optical discs, ROMs, RAMs, EPROMs, EEPROMs, flash memories, magnetic or optical cards or any type of medium suitable for storing electronic data.

The network 620 can be a local area network, a wide area network, a virtual private network and / or a connection by a public switched telephone network. In an exemplary embodiment, the network 620 includes a number of connection modalities, including a cable-modem connection, a connection to ADSL, a connection by telephone modem and / or other appropriate connection mechanisms.

The first type of interaction site, the kiosk interaction site 630, comprises a kiosk terminal 630a which, in an exemplary embodiment, will be located at the entrance to a store, a commercial area, 'a shopping center, department store or similar. The interaction site 630 may include a processor similar to the processor 611 but, in an exemplary embodiment, it is simply dedicated to receiving and transmitting data via the network 620 and to encoding and decoding these data when received from the input device 630c and delivered to the promotion delivery device 630b. The kiosk interaction site 630 is designed to be used by the customer and, in some embodiments, to allow secret customer identification. The simple fact of placing the interaction site in a kiosk 630 away from the place where medical treatment or medication is prepared adds additional protection of privacy and security to the identification operation. In addition, by the fact that the kiosk interaction site 630 is placed at the entrance of a seller or a group of sellers, the preparation of medical treatment or medication intended to be delivered to the individual can start immediately, saving the customer time. The kiosk interaction site 630 includes an ID input device 630c which receives identification information from a client and sends this information to a processor 611 where it is compared with an identification table 612a to deliver an unnamed and anonymous identification of the customer and an indication of the presence of the customer on the kiosk interaction site 630. The ID entry device 630c can be any one of a number of recognition devices which whether or not they require specific identification of the customer by name, or which simply allow the customer to identify himself secretly or not as being present on the interaction site in kiosk 630. Examples of modes of suitable implementations of ID 630c input devices include keyboards, touch screens, computer mice, barcode readers, magnetic readers (including pi readers) ste, disk and tape), smart card readers, pressure sensors, displacement sensors, fingerprint readers, iris recognition devices, genetic identification devices, electromagnetic receivers , voltmeters, heat detectors and other transducers capable of interfacing with a digital processor and which recognize passwords, patterns, keywords, sequences or other identifying information. The 630c input device must simply be able to receive an identification entered by a customer

In an exemplary embodiment, the ID 630c input device is biometric. In other words, the ID 630c input device uses information and / or biological parameters to identify the customer. A significant advantage of this approach includes the fact that, almost by definition, biological information is anonymous. In other words, the biological information used to identify the client will not allow third parties to unintentionally identify that individual. This adds yet another level of security to the identification operation. In addition, biometric identification remains relatively difficult to falsify and / or steal from an individual, which helps to ensure the delivery of medical treatment or medication to the correct individual.

Appropriate types of biometric identification include fingerprint readers, voice and iris recognition devices, and genetic identification devices, including genetic chips. Fingerprint readers are described, for example, in US Patents 4,747,147, 5,109,427, 3,882,462, 5,631,971, the contents of all of which are incorporated herein by reference. Briefly, a reader serving as an ID 630c input device creates a digital image of a fingerprint by transducing the light pattern reflected by a finger. A 611 processor that uses fingerprint identification software (Fingerprint Identification -FID) can be used to analyze the pattern of reflected light by looking for two types of specific characteristics. A characteristic is the heart located in the center of the imprint. The other characteristics are specific points on which the ribs end or divide. The processor 611 thus describes a series of vectors which relate to the precise points. Even if a finger is off-center or turned during reading, the vectors that describe the relationships between specific points do not change significantly and are complex enough to be unique. Ribs and dots are used to perform one of two possible identifications, one-to-one identification or one-to-many identification. A one-to-one search takes place in an Identity Verification System (IVS) which is used for security purposes. IVS knows in advance who it is claimed to be and compares the pattern of dots in a fingerprint, the pattern of which has just been read on the ID 630c input device and which has been transmitted from the terminal . 630a from the kiosk to a processor 611 to a known record of the fingerprint kept in the table 612a for identifying the database. Since not all points can always be entered, due to injury or other aberrations, the best that the 611 processor can do is to determine a probability that the fingerprint matches another fingerprint in the identification table 612a. . When a known fingerprint present in the identification table 612a corresponds with an acceptable margin, the processor 611 "identifies" the individual. The best known example of one-to-many research is done by the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) used by law enforcement. Also called cold search, it is most commonly used to compare a fingerprint of an unknown person with those found in a database of people and known fingerprints, to determine if the person is already in the database of data. To decrease the number of fingerprints to which the unknown fingerprint should be compared, the IDF first counts the ribs in a direction from the center to the edge of the fingerprint. Although the count of the ribs is rapid, it is inherently imprecise. The number of ribs on the same finger can easily change from one imprint to another depending on the force under which the finger is pressed against the reader. Also, the range of ribs on all the fingers is not so variable and usually provides a count between 10 and 20. However, counting the ribs eliminates obvious mismatches. Processor 611 then examines the possible matches created by counting the ribs, looking for other similarities in the pattern of the dots.

Speech recognition is described in US Patents 6,640,490, 5,751,904 and 5,745,64, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference. Briefly, the voice recognition software which controls a processor 611 must first go through a recording of the candidate voices which must be recognized by the software, and store this recording information in an identification table 612a. To add their voice to the list of candidate voices, a person must dictate known text for an appropriate amount of time, which is usually 10 minutes to an hour. From this sampling, the software creates a voice reference table for many individuals in an identification table 612a, which references are the ways in which the pronunciation of phonemes by the person speaking varies with respect to speech patterns. After recording, the person speaking can then dictate the text they want so that the software compares it to the voice references of the candidate voices, and this in a microphone which serves as an input device for ID 630c, preferably a microphone that uses noise cancellation to eliminate background sounds. The quality of the microphone used as an ID 630c input device and the power of the computer's 611 processor are important for the quality of speech recognition. The person speaking can speak continuously, that is to say in a normal mode of expression, without pause between words. The analog signal created by the microphone which serves as an ID 630c input device is sampled at rates usually above 30 kHz but preferably above 50 kHz, by an analog-to-digital converter - ADC) in kiosk terminal 630a and converted using pattern recognition algorithms on a set of measures of several factors, which include pitch, volume, frequency, length of phonemes and rests. Measurements can be compressed for faster processing and the software's speech recognition engine makes adjustments to measurements, including for example background factors and acoustic characteristics of the microphone. The acoustic recognition device, for example a neural network algorithm controlling the processor 611, compares the corrected measurements coming from the kiosk terminal 630a to a database of previous measurements associated with the candidate individuals, compiled by prior sampling of the voice of these individuals and kept in an identification data sheet 612a. For each measurement, for example the tone, the recognition device finds in the identification table 612a the entries of the database which correspond most closely to this specific measurement. To further restrict the selection, the engine compares another measurement to the measurement of the only entries in the database of the identification table 612a which received a high rating in the example of height measurement. The process continues until processor 611 finds the candidate channel that most closely matches the voice sample across the range of measures.

An alternative embodiment of an ID 630c input device is based on DNA fingerprinting tests used to secretly identify the client. DNA fingerprinting tests are based on the genetic differences that exist between individuals and are described in the article "Automation of DNA Fingerprinting: a Muiti-Color Fluorophore Approach", published by Applied Biosystems. Other examples of approaches are those described in US Patents 5,831,065, 5,576,180, 4,880,750 and 6,077,668, the contents of all of which are incorporated herein by reference. Briefly, in one embodiment, currently, the most informative genetic markers for characterizing humans are the variable number of tandem repeat sites (VNTR). The VNTR alleles differ in size by the number of tandem repeat sequences. DNA can be isolated from blood or other cell or tissue samples, and DNA sequences from VNTR sites can be specifically amplified by PCR. When performing PCR by automatic DNA purification, automatic synthesis of blanks and automatic analysis of fragments by fluorescence, individuals can be identified biometrically. These procedures have been automated using commercially available equipment, the GENEPURE ™ 341 nucleic acid purification system, the PCR-MATE ™ 391 DNA synthesizer and the GENE SCANNER ™ 362 fluorescence fragment analyzer , available from Applied Biosystems.

To succinctly describe these steps, DNA can be purified using the GENEPUR 341 nucleic acid purification system from Applied Biosystems. This instrument is used for the automatic purification of nucleic acids from a wide range of types of samples. A procedure specifically designed to process small amounts of DNA on the GENEPUR system uses the phenol-chloroform chemistry of the system and the BASEBINDER resin. Whole blood samples (50 µL) can be diluted to 1.5 mL with Tris-buffered saline (TBS) and loaded directly into a GENEPURE reaction vessel containing 2X lysis buffer which has been previously delivered by the GENEPURE system, to then be heated to 60 ° C. The system can then deliver proteinase K and carry out a digestion for one hour with stirring. The system can then perform two extractions with a phenol / water / chloroform reagent and a chloroform extraction. BASEBINDER resin can be added to each reaction vessel and the system is used to deliver sodium acetate and isopropanol. Under these conditions, genomic DNA binds to the resin. The system can collect the resin / precipitate complex on a PRECIPITATE II filter and rinse it with ethanol to remove all traces of contaminant. DNA can then be eluted from the resin with water.

Before purification, blanks for oligonucleotides specific to three VNTR target sites can be synthesized on a DNA synthesizer PCR-MATE 391 using phosphoramidites for rapid deprotection of oligonucleotides (fast oligonucleotide deprotecting - FOD) and the standard cycle of 0.2 pmol scale synthesis. Common VNTR target sites are Apo B (1), pMCT118 (2) and pNZ22 (3). To allow the fixation of a fluorescent dye, an amine binder AMINOLINK 2 ™ can be added to the 5 'end of each of the blanks during the last addition of monomer using the standard synthesis cycle. After cleavage and deprotection of the oligonucleotides, an ester of fluorescent dye-NHS can be coupled to the blanks which must be labeled with the AMINOLINK 2 fraction.

DNA samples can be amplified at VNTR sites using the GENEAMP PCR DNA amplification system from Perkin-Elmer Cetus Instruments and fluorescently labeled oligonucleotide blanks. The blanks are designed for a different staining marker for in situ labeling of PCR products, as follows: Apo B (blue FAL), pMCT118 (JOE green) and pYNZ22 (TAMRA yellow).

Portions of the fluorescently labeled PCR products can be combined with an internal band size standard, GENESCAN-1000, labeled with the "red" fluorophore, ROX. The samples can then be loaded into a 2% agarose gel on a GENE SCANNER and electrophored through a "well-reading" region of 4 cm at 4 volts / cm.

The GENE SCANNER system uses DNA sequencing technology based on fluorescence in several colors for underwater electrophoresis on agarose gel. The system incorporates a multiline argon ion laser which scans the gel to excite the fluorescence exerted by the dye-labeled PCR products which pass through the gel. The light emitted is filtered, collected and transformed into digital signals which are analyzed automatically by a computer to assign the lengths to the fragments and quantify the fluorescence. Next, the fluorescent pattern measured is compared to fluorescent patterns previously measured, in an identification table 612a which corresponds to a certain number of candidate individuals. This continues until a corresponding pattern associated with the specific individual is located.

Regardless of the nature of the ID input device 630c, once the identification data has been produced and / or digitized, it can be transferred from the kiosk terminal 630a to a processor 611 of the base 610 system. central data. It is obvious that this can be achieved by means of a network 620 or, as a variant, the processor 611 can be part of a kiosk interaction cycle 630 (not shown). However, the identification data is sent to the processor 611 where it is compared with tables kept in identification data recording cards 612a. An example of a data structure of form 612a for storing identification data is shown in the form of data sheet A 710 in FIG. 3a.

When identifying a match or near match record, processor 611 also accesses data storage cards 612b, 612c and 612d. Data sheet 612b for the storage of an individual client contains data concerning the individual client, for example the medical treatments and / or medications in use that the client is using or that he has been prescribed to use, and new medical treatments or new medications prescribed by. healthcare providers, demographic information, health information, allergy information and / or a history of past purchase history, an example of which is shown in data sheet C 730 from Figure 4a. When the processor 611 has identified the customer, the processor 611 accesses the individual table 612b of the customer and the data contained therein can be used for many purposes.

A first potential use of the client's individual table 612b consists in indicating to the client present at the kiosk terminal 630a the potential medical treatments and / or the potential medications available to the client. In one embodiment, this information can include, for example, cost information, insurance coverage information, a selection function by which the client selects from a number of potential medical treatments and / or potential medications. and / or information regarding the medical treatments and / or the medications themselves, for example side effects and / or drug interactions, which have been gathered from information stored in medical / medication information 612c.

Another potential use of the individual customer table 612b is to indicate to a seller, for example a pharmacist, that a customer is present or will be present in the seller's store, that this customer, possibly still unidentified, requires a medical treatment and / or a particular medication and that the seller should start to prepare a selected medical treatment and / or medication. This potential use saves the customer time and, if necessary, helps preserve the customer's identity. Thus, information identifying the medical treatment and / or medication that is required (with or without information concerning the client) can be sent by the network 620 to the seller interaction site 650 managed by the seller and which is assumed located at his home. On the seller's interaction site 650, information on medical treatment and / or medication is delivered to the seller using the medical information / medication delivery device 650b, so that the seller can start to prepare medical treatment and / or medication. The medical information / medication delivery device 650b can therefore be a computer screen, printers (on paper or otherwise), magnetic writing devices (including floppy disk drives, writing devices on magnetic strip, tape writing devices), bar code writing devices or any other delivery device capable of indicating to the seller the nature of the medical treatment and / or medication which have been selected. In an exemplary embodiment, another identification input device 650c is located at the interaction site 650, so that when the client receives the medical treatment and / or the medication which have been selected, the identification of the customer can be confirmed again. In an exemplary embodiment, the reception of the medical treatment and / or of the medication which have been selected is also anonymous. For example, the identification input device 650c will control access to a safe in which the medical treatment and / or medication which have been selected have been previously placed. The client can thus receive the medical treatment and / or medication that have been selected without coming into face-to-face contact with the seller or the pharmacist.

A first use of the individual client table 612b consists in determining an appropriate promotion which will be issued on the promotion delivery device 630b on the basis of the medical treatments and / or potential medications available or recommended for the client. This is done taking into account the information kept in sheet 612c for storing medical / medication data and in sheet 612d for storing data concerning the client and / or the product. The medical data / medication storage card 612c contains data relating to medical treatment and / or medication and is used both to ensure its safe administration and use, as well as to determine an appropriate promotion using the information provided by the fact that the individual client requested medical treatment and / or medication. An example of a data structure of cards 612c for storing medical / medication data is shown in the form of a data card B 720 in FIG. 3b. Customer and / or product data storage card 612d contains data relating to customers who have agreed to receive the targeted promotion in accordance with the present invention, as well as product information, and is used to determine a appropriate targeted promotion. An example of a data structure for cards 612c for storing customer and / or product data is illustrated in the form of a data card D 740 in FIG. 4b.

Thus, when a medical treatment and / or medication are selected or identified using the individual client table 612b and possible feedback by the client at the kiosk terminal 630a, information concerning this medical treatment and / or this medication is extracted from the 612c medical data / medication storage cards. Relevant information to determine an appropriate promotion may include, for example, other or complementary therapies and / or symptoms of the diseases and / or disease states for which medical treatment and / or medication is usually prescribed and / or used. Thus, records 612c for storage of medical / medication data concerning an antibiotic cream for topical use, indicative of an open wound or inflammation, would understand the fact that these injuries or inflammations are usually bandaged in a certain way, while a prescription for a systemic antibiotic would include a list of common flu-like symptoms (fever, runny nose, headache, sore throat) that may be associated with such a prescription. When the symptoms and / or the other treatments or complementary treatments have been determined by the processor 611 using the files 612c for storage of medical / medication data, the sheet 612d for storage of customer and / or product data is sought to find the client's product (s) that correspond to the identified symptom or that serve as alternative and / or complementary treatments. Thus, in the case of an antibiotic cream for topical use described above, the file 612d for storing customer and / or product data will be studied until a customer is required requiring bandages, and an appropriate promotion for this client's bandages is identified. In the case of the systemic antibiotic, the file 612d for storing customer and / or product data will be studied until a customer has been located, for example requiring friction alcohol to reduce fever , a decongestant to clear a runny nose, a pain reliever to treat a headache and / or a throat lozenge to treat an irritated throat, and appropriate promotion is determined.

In an exemplary embodiment, the nature of the appropriate promotion is returned to the kiosk terminal 630a, whereupon the promotion is delivered using the promotion delivery device 630b. The promotion delivery device 630b may likewise consist of any of a number of different devices, including a computer screen, printers (on paper or otherwise), magnetic writing devices (including floppy disk drives, magnetic stripe writing devices, tape writing devices), barcode writing devices, television screens, radio broadcasts, data transmission over the Internet, advertisements printed in a newspaper or circular letter, or simply electronic promotions sent automatically to another device, for example a cash register or a credit card company, and therefore should not be located on the 630 site kiosk interaction shown in Figure 1.

In another alternative embodiment, the nature of the appropriate promotion is sent back to a care provider terminal 640a or to the interaction site 640 of a care provider on which the promotion is delivered using the delivery device 640b promotions. Many healthcare providers are currently recording prescribed and / or recommended medical treatment and / or medication using a network system similar to that shown. By delivering a promotion to the location where the health care provider is located (for example a doctor's office or a hospital), the promotion is therefore delivered as soon as possible and the health care provider receives the opportunity to '' explain the value of promotion to the individual. In addition, as the promotion will be offered at the health care provider, such promotion may receive more attention from a client.

The promotion delivered on the 630b and / or 640b promotion delivery devices may relate to any offer, advertisement, circular letter, incentive, coupon, advertising message, recipe and / or communication aimed at promoting one or more goods and / or services_In a mode embodiment, the promotion is delivered with a circular letter or in the latter, for example a circular letter on health resources, as described in US Pat. No. 6,067,524, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.

An alternative embodiment of the system described in Figure 1 is shown in Figure 2. The basic difference is that several processors 611, 611a and 611b accessing different database systems 610, 615 and 660 are available. This embodiment is envisaged if different sellers agree to manage the different database systems. For example, Smarttouch could manage the 660 identification database system described in 5,982,914, 5,838,812, 5,805,719 and 5,613,012, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

In addition, in Figure 2, the seller interaction site 650 showing the store terminal 650a has been eliminated. In this case, the kiosk interaction site 630 could be located anywhere in a store, but on the site where the medical treatment and / or medication that had been selected will be received. In this case, the savings in time and additional security obtained by welcoming the customer to the kiosk interaction site 630 at the entrance to a store or group of stores will not be achieved, but computer hardware costs can be minimized by eliminating redundant equipment.

Figures 3a and 3b show two different structures of data sheets 710 and 720 which can be used to store individual identification data and data relating to medical treatment or medication in data storage sheets. 612a and 612c of Figure 1 or alternatively 660a and 616a of Figure 2, respectively. The identification factors 71 Od, 710e and 71 Of are compared with the same parameter measured on the ID input device 630c or in a variant 650c. As soon as a suitable match or almost match is discovered, the associated name of the client (or other identifying information) 710c is extracted from record 710. Medication information 720d, 710e, 71 Of and 710g are associated with the name of a particular medication or other identifying information 720c and are used to select an appropriate product for the targeted promotion delivered on the promotion delivery devices 630b and 640b of figure 1 and 630b of the figure 2.

Figures 4a and 4b show two different data sheet structures 730 and 740 which can be used to store data relating to an individual customer and data relating to a customer's product and promotions available for that product in the storage cards 612b and 612d of Figure 1 and / or 612b and 616b of Figure 2, respectively. The customer name (or other identifying information) 710c can be used to identify a corresponding data sheet 730 using its element 730c. This allows a wide range of 730e, 730f, 730g and 730h customer information to be used regarding medical, demographic and / or customer history information when determining an appropriate targeted promotion. It is used in combination with the information available regarding the client's products in data sheet D 740. The elements 740d, 740e and 740f are compared to the medication information 720d, 710e, 71 Of and 710g which come from medical treatment and / or the medication that was selected based on client information 730e, 730f, 730g and 730h to determine if a promotion for this product can and should be targeted and sent to the client. Alternatively, this determination can be made in the absence of customer information 730e, 730f, 730g and 730h if desired.

Figure 5 is a flow diagram showing a possible embodiment of the present invention. In step 5100, the client is identified. This may include any of the identification mechanisms described above in connection with the identification input device 630c, or other similar identification mechanisms. In a preferred embodiment, the identification takes place on a secret basis. In other words, the name of the identified individual is hidden from a vendor such as a pharmacist who prepares or distributes medical treatment and / or medication. Thus, the name of the individual can be stored in a data field associated with this identification information of the individual, as represented in FIG. 3a, the data sheet A 710, provided that this name is not easily accessible to the seller or the preparer. The identification of step 5100 can take place in a public place, for example a kiosk in a food store, the checkout of a food store, or in a private place, for example a house using for example an Internet connection, interactive TV or other network device. It is only necessary that the individual be isolated from the seller so that the identification can be hidden and that the individual remains anonymous.

In step 5200, an appropriate targeted promotion can be selected on the basis of medical information determined previously and concerning this client. This medical information can be a medical file, a prescription, information concerning the state of an illness or other information that the client has provided. If the identification mechanism of step 5100 is hidden, the identity of the client will remain unknown to the supplier and / or the preparer of the medical treatment and / or of the medication, for example a pharmacist. In one embodiment, the promotion selection operation can take place taking into account other customer information such as demographic, historical or other medical information, but it is not necessary to have this additional information to deliver a targeted promotion according to the present invention.

In a simplest embodiment, a number of medication fields 720d, 720e, 720f and 720g of the medical treatment and / or medication B 720 data sheet are simply compared to targeting information fields 740d, 740e and 740f from the customer / product data sheet D 740 until a match is found between them and the product (s) with the corresponding targeting information fields 740d, 740e and 740f are selected. In the alternative embodiment, one or more of the products having the corresponding targeting information fields 740d, 740e and 740f are examined further to take account for example of demographic, historical and medical information fields of 730g, 730h and 730e. from the individual customer data sheet C 730.

When the customer has been identified (hidden or open) and an appropriate targeted promotion has been selected, the targeted promotion can be delivered to the customer in step 5300, The delivery of the targeted promotion can take place in a number any of different locations, for example on interaction sites 630 or 640 such as those represented in FIG. 1, at the customer's house, at the cash desk when the customer makes a purchase, in a circular letter, an advertising message , a mailing, a newspaper article, an advertisement on a website, a radio program or any other places where a targeted promotion can be delivered. Thus, the promotion must not be received voluntarily by the customer. In other words, it could be delivered automatically after triggering by a specific act of the client, for example his registration on a website, the purchase of a product, the receipt of a medical circular letter, the opening of '' a mailbox, the use of a credit card, the use of a customer card, assistance with a television program and / or listening to a radio program, for example. The promotion of step 5200 can constitute, for example, an offer, an advertisement, an incentive, a coupon, a commercial message, a recipe and a communication aiming to promote one or more products and / or services.

Figure 6 is a flow diagram which includes a new step 6200 in which the client's medical treatment and / or medication are identified. This can be done automatically, for example by the processor 611 of FIG. 1 using the data sheets stored in the individual table of the client 612b, or in association with the client located for example on the interaction site 630. The customer assistance is particularly required when a number of medical treatments and / or medications are available to the customer. In this case, the client can optionally opt to receive only one of the medical treatments and / or only one of the available medications.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram which includes a new step 7500 in which the medical treatment and / or the medication which have been identified are delivered to the client. In this step, a seller will select the medical treatment (s) and / or medication identified from a number of medical treatments and / or medications available and will deliver to the client the medical treatment (s) and / or medication that have been identified. Selection could therefore include removing an appropriate medication from a shelf and placing an appropriate dose in a container, or preparing the appropriate medical equipment for use on the client. Delivery can be by any of a number of different mechanisms which include the anonymous chest mechanism discussed earlier, as well as any other method of delivering and / or providing medical treatment and / or medication that has been identified to the client, including surgical procedures.

FIG. 8 explicitly represents one of the advantages of the present invention, namely the several steps which can take place at least partly simultaneously, as represented by steps 8400 and 8500 which take place in parallel. So while the targeted promotion is being prepared in step 8500, the medical treatment and / or medication that you want can be prepared in step 8400. This saves the client time and gives the client a another reason to share this medical data with a marketing manager. Naturally, both the promotion and the desired medical treatment could be delivered to the client as shown in the respective steps 8600 and 8700. The order of these two steps is arbitrary. For example, the medical production could be delivered first at a step 8400 and the promotion delivered at step 8600 at a later date. This order is particularly useful in the case of chronic diseases or illnesses or in the case where a customer product is not available from the seller where the medical treatment or medication which have been identified are available. For example, an individual receiving medication for certain forms of arthritis from a pharmacist could receive targeted promotion by mail at a hydrothermal center at a later date.

FIG. 9 shows a computer system 801 which can form several different units in an embodiment of the present invention. For example, the computer system 801 can alternatively form the central database system 610 or interaction sites 630, 640 or 650 of FIG. 1. For this reason, the computer system 801 will be described using numerical references. unique. When a part of the computer system 801 which is analogous to a part of another figure is described, this will be explicitly stated in the text. The computer system 801 includes a bus 803 or other communication mechanism for communicating information, and a processor 805 coupled to the bus 803 for processing information. The processor 805 can form the processor 611 of FIG. 1. The computer system 801 also comprises a main memory 807, for example a random access memory (RAM) or another dynamic storage device (for example a dynamic RAM (DRAM) , static RAM (SRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), flash RAM)) coupled to bus 803 to store information and instructions which must be executed by processor 805. In addition, main memory 807 can be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during the execution of instructions which must be executed by the processor 805. The computer system 801 furthermore comprises a read-only memory (ROM) 809 or another static storage device (for example example a programmable ROM (PROM), an erasable PROM (EPROM) and an electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM)) coupled to bus 803 to store static information and instructions for processor 805. A storage device 811, for example a magnetic disk or an optical disk is provided and coupled to the bus 803 to store information and instructions. The storage device 811 can contain the data storage cards 612a, 612b, 612c and 612d of FIG. 1.

Computer system 801 can also include special purpose logic devices (e.g. application-specific integrated circuits - application specifies integrated circuits (ASIC)) or configurable logic devices (e.g. generic logic lattice - generic array of logic ( GAL)) or programmable door trellis with reprogrammable field - field programmable spoiler arrays (FPGA)). Other removable media devices (e.g., compact disc, tape or removable magneto-optical media) or fixed, high density media players, can be added to the computer system 801 using an appropriate device bus ( for example, a small computer system interface (SCSI) bus, an integrated device electronics (IDE) electronic bus, or a direct memory access (DMA) bus. These removable and fixed media devices, these high density media readers can also contain the data storage cards 612a, 612b, 612c and 612d of FIG. 1. The computer system 801 can also include a compact disc player, a CD reader / writer or CD jukebox, each of which can be connected to the same device bus or to another device bus f.

The computer system 801 can be coupled by the bus 803 to a screen 813, for example a cathode ray tube (cathode ray tube - CRT) to present the information to the user of a computer. The screen 813 can form a device for delivering promotions 630b, 640b or 650b of FIG. 1, in particular when the promotion is a recipe or an advertisement. The screen 813 can be controlled by a screen card or a graphics card. The computer system includes input devices, for example a keyboard 815 and a cursor control 817 for communicating information and controlling selections to processor 805. The keyboard 815 and a cursor control 817 can form an input device 640c or be used to accept a password as identification, as an ID input device 630c or 650c in FIG. 1. The cursor control 817 is for example a mouse, a tracer ball or orientation keys the cursor for communicating orientation information and command selections to the processor 805 and for controlling the movement of the cursor on the screen 813. In addition, a printer (not shown) can provide a device for delivering promotions 630b or 640b or a medical information / medication delivery device 650b of FIG. 1, in particular when the promotion is a coupon.

The computer system 801 executes part or all of the processing steps according to the invention in response to the processor 805 which executes one or more sequences of one or more instructions contained in a memory, for example the main memory 807. These instructions can be read into main memory 807 from another computer readable medium, for example a storage device 811. One or more processors of a multiprocessor arrangement can also be used to execute the instruction sequences contained in the memory main 807. In alternative embodiments, a wired circuit may be used instead of or in combination with software instructions. Thus, the embodiments are not limited to any specific combination of hardware and software circuits.

As indicated above, the system 801 comprises at least one computer-readable medium or a memory programmed in accordance with the teachings of the invention for storing data structures, tables, files or other data described there. Examples of computer-readable media are compact discs, hard drives, floppy disks, tapes, magneto-optical discs, PROMs (EPROM, EEPROM, EPROM Flash), DRAM, SRAM, SDRAM, etc. Stored on any one or on a combination of computer-readable media, the present invention comprises software for controlling the computer system 801 and for piloting a device or devices making it possible to implement the invention, which puts the computer system 801 able to interact with a human user. Such software can include, but is not limited to, device drivers, management systems, development tools, and application software. Such computer-readable medium further comprises the computer program product according to the present invention for executing all or part (if the processing is distributed) of the processing executed during the implementation of the invention.

The computer coding devices according to the present invention can be any coding mechanism interpreted or executable, including, but not limited to, scripts, interpreters, dynamic link libraries, Java classes, and complete executable programs. In addition, parts of the processing of the present invention can be distributed to improve performance, reliability and / or costs.

When used herein the term "computer readable medium" refers to any medium which helps to provide instructions to the processor 805 to be executed. Computer readable media can take many forms, including, but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media. Non-volatile media include, for example optical discs, magnetic discs and magneto-optical discs, such as storage device 811. Volatile media includes dynamic memories, such as main memory 807. Transmission media include coaxial cables, copper wires and optical fibers, including wires which include the 803 bus. Transmission media can also take the form of acoustic or light waves, for example those created during data communication by radio waves and infrared.

Typical forms of computer-readable media include, for example, hard disks, floppy disks, tapes, magneto-optical disks, PROMs (EPROM, EEPROM, EPROM Flash), DRAMs, SRAMs, SDRAMs, or other magnetic media, compact discs (CD-ROMs) or any other optical media, punch cards, paper ribbons or other physical media with hole patterns, a carrier wave (described later) or any other medium on which a computer can read.

Different forms of computer-readable media may be involved in the execution of one or more sequences of one or more instructions sent to the processor 805 for execution. For example, the instructions may be initially carried on a magnetic disk of a remote computer. The remote computer can load the instructions for implementing all or part of the present invention remotely into a dynamic memory and send instructions over a telephone line using a modem. A local computer system modem 801 can receive data over the telephone line and use an infrared transceiver to convert the data into an infrared signal. An infrared detector coupled to the bus 803 can receive the data transported on the infrared signal and place the data on the bus 803. The bus 803 transports the data to the main memory 807, from which the processor 805 withdraws the instructions to execute them. . Before or after their execution by the processor 805, the instructions received by the main memory 807 can optionally be stored on a storage device 811.

The computer system 801 also includes a communication interface 819 coupled to the bus 803. As described above, the communication interface 819 can itself form a promotion delivery device 630b, 640b or 650b in which an electronic promotion is transmitted electronically to a remote system. Such electronic promotions may include, for example, electronic coupons automatically transmitted to a seller's cash register, an electronic order placed directly with a seller at the request of the customer, or credits allocated to a customer's account upon purchase. or ordering a product. The communication interface 819 provides bidirectional data communication coupled to a network link 821 which is connected to a local network 823. For example, the communication interface 819 can be a network interface card connected to a local network (local area network - LAN) packet switching. As another example, the communication interface 819 can be an asymmetrical digital subscriber line (ADSL), an integrated services digital network (ISDN) card or a modem. , to provide a data communication connection to a corresponding type of telephone line. Wireless links may also be used. In any of these uses, the communication interface 819 sends and receives electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals which carry digital data streams representing different types of information.

Network link 821 typically allows data communication with other data devices through one or more networks. For example, the connection to the network 821 can allow a connection to a computer 825 via a local network 823 (for example a LAN) or via equipment managed by a service provider which delivers communication services via a communication network 827. The communication network 827 can form the network 620 of FIG. 1. In one embodiment, the computer 825 is one of the interaction sites 630 , 640 or 650 while the computer 601 is the central database system 610 of Figure 1. In some embodiments, the local area network 823 and the communication network 827 use. preferably electrical, electromagnetic, or optical signals that carry digital data streams. The signals which pass through the various networks and the signals on the network link 821 which pass through the communication interface 819 and which transport the digital data to and from the computer system 801 are examples of carrier waveforms transporting the information. The computer system 801 can transmit notifications and receive data, including program codes, via the network (s), the network link 821 and the communication interface 819.

Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. It should therefore be understood that without departing from the scope of the appended claims, the invention can be put into practice in ways different from those specifically described here.

Claims (44)

1. A method comprising the steps of: identifying a customer using identification information; determining recommended medical treatment for said client using said identifying information; select a targeted promotion based on at least part of said medical treatment of said client; and deliver said targeted promotion to said customer. 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of: preparing said medical treatment for said client; and delivering said medical treatment to said client. The method according to claim 2, wherein said step of delivering said medical treatment comprises: re-receiving said identification information from said client; a new identification of said customer using said identification information. _ · 4. The method of claim 3, wherein said new reception of the identification information and said new identification are carried out in a location different from that of said reception of the identification information and said identification. 5. The method of claim 2, wherein said delivery of said medical treatment further comprises: placing said medical treatment in a safe. 6. The method of claim 2, wherein said preparation of said medical treatment comprises the preparation of prescription medication. 7. The method of claim 1, wherein said medical treatment is prescription medication. 8. The method of claim 1, wherein said receiving the identification information comprises measuring a biological parameter of said client. 9. The method of claim 8, wherein said identification of said client comprises comparing said biological parameter to a plurality of biological parameters previously measured on a plurality of candidate clients. 10. The method of claim 8, wherein said measurement of a biological parameter comprises reading a fingerprint of said client. 11. The method of claim 8, wherein said measurement of a biological parameter comprises recording a voice of said client. 12. The method of claim 8, wherein said measurement of a biological parameter comprises determining the fingerprint of a nucleotide base of said client. 13. The method of claim 1, wherein said reception of the identification information is carried out at least at the entrance of a store or at the entrance of a group of stores. 14. The method of claim 13, wherein said store is a pharmacy. 15. The method of claim 1, wherein determining medical treatment comprises the steps of: providing said client with a list of a plurality of possible medical treatments; and receiving a medical treatment selected from said plurality of possible medical treatments. 16. The method of claim 15, wherein said plurality of possible medical treatments is a plurality of medications for which said client has a plurality of prescriptions. 17. The method of claim 1, wherein the selection of a targeted promotion comprises: the association of said medical treatment with complementary treatment; the search, on a list of a plurality of possible products for the client, of a client-oriented product corresponding to said complementary treatment of said medical treatment; and the selection of said customer-oriented product. 18. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting a targeted promotion comprises: associating said medical treatment with a symptom; searching, on a list of a plurality of client products, comprising a symptom capable of being treated by each of said plurality of client products; and the selection of a product targeted to the client from a relationship between said symptom capable of being treated by said client-oriented product and said symptom of said medical treatment. 19. The method of claim 1, wherein said identification comprises secret identification of said client so that an identity of said client is hidden from a person preparing said medical treatment. A system comprising: a medical treatment identification system configured to identify medical treatment for a client and to deliver information corresponding to said medical treatment; a processor configured to receive said medical treatment information for said client and to select for said client a targeted promotion based on at least a portion of said medical treatment information; a promotion delivery device configured to deliver said targeted promotion to said customer. 21. The system of claim 20, wherein said medical treatment identification system comprises: a client database comprising a first field configured to store a plurality of information on candidate medical treatments, in which said information of medical treatments are selected from said medical treatment information of said plurality of client candidates. 22. The system of claim 21, wherein said medical processing identification system further includes: a client identification device configured to gather identification information of said client; and an identification database configured to store a plurality of candidate client identification information, among which are closely matched client identification information which closely matches said collected identification information. 23. The system of claim 22, wherein said client identification device comprises a fingerprint scanner. 24. The system of claim 22, wherein said client identification device comprises a microphone. 25. The system of claim 22, wherein said client identification device comprises a nucleic acid analysis system. 26. The system of claim 22, wherein said client identification device comprises a card reading device. 27. The system of claim 22, wherein said client identification device comprises a device for reading magnetic stripes. 28. The system of claim 20, wherein said medical treatment comprises medication. 29. The system of claim 28, wherein said medication comprises prescription medication. 30. The system of claim 20, wherein the promotion delivery device comprises a coupon printer. 31. The system of claim 20, wherein the promotion delivery device comprises a newsletter. 32. The system of claim 20, wherein said promotion delivery device is located in a store. 33. The system of claim 20, wherein said promotion delivery device is located at a health care provider. 34. The system of claim 20, wherein said medical treatment identification system is located in a store. 35. A system comprising: a customer identification device configured to enter customer identification information; a customer identification database configured to provide identification information of a plurality of customer candidates; a customer database configured to deliver information on a plurality of candidate customers; a product database configured to deliver information on a plurality of candidate products; a medical database configured to deliver information on a plurality of medical treatments; a processor configured to select closely matched customer identification information from said identification information of a plurality of customer candidates, to select corresponding customer information from said information on the plurality of customer candidates based on said information identification of customers in close correspondence, to select information on a medical treatment selected in said information on the plurality of medical treatments at least in part, on the basis of said corresponding customer information, and targeted information concerning the products among said information on the plurality of product candidates at least in part on the basis of said information concerning a selected medical treatment; and a promotion delivery device configured to receive from said processor said information about a targeted product and to deliver a targeted promotion to said customer. 36. A system comprising: means for identifying medical treatment for a client; means for delivering a targeted promotion based on said identified medical treatment. 37. A medium capable of being read by computer, containing program instructions intended to be executed on a computer system and which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer system to implement the method described in claim 1 . 38. Support capable of being read by computer, containing program instructions intended to be executed on a computer system and which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer system to implement the method described in claim 1 . 39. Support capable of being read by computer, containing program instructions intended to be executed on a computer system and which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer system to implement the method described in claim 2 . 40. A medium capable of being read by computer, containing program instructions intended to be executed on a computer system and which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer system to implement the method described in the claim. 3. 41. Support capable of being read by computer, containing program instructions intended to be executed on a computer system and which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer system to implement the method described in claim 8 . 42. A medium capable of being read by computer, containing program instructions intended to be executed on a computer system and which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer system to implement the method described in claim 15 . 43. A medium capable of being read by computer, containing program instructions intended to be executed on a computer system and which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer system to implement the method described in claim 17 . 44. Support capable of being read by computer, containing program instructions intended to be executed on a computer system and which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer system to implement the method described in claim 18 .