Patent ID: 6438533
Filing Date: 2002-08-20
Classification: G06Q,G16H,Y02A

Abstract:
An apparatus for retrieving electronic records from a database of medical records, comprising:a database of medical records; a knowledge base having a data structure set forth in a description language, said knowledge base including a plurality of classes having a plurality of concepts, each of said classes comprising a nomenclature for medical terminology, each of said concepts in a first class being vertically linked to another of said concepts in said first class by a hierarchical relationship, each of said concepts in a second class being vertically linked to another of said concepts in said second class by a hierarchical relationship, each of said concepts in a third class being vertically linked to another of said concepts in said third class by a hierarchical relationship; said hierarchical relationships including parent relationships, child relationships, â€œis-aâ€  relationships and â€œpart-ofâ€  relationships; said nomenclature for said classes being selected from one or more of the group of: (a) diseases/diagnoses, (b) morphology, (c) living organisms, (d) physical agents, activities and forces, (e) chemicals, drugs, and biological products, (f) social context, (g) topography, h) human bodily function, (i) treatment procedures, (j) etiology, (k) spatial relationships, and (l) occupations; a plurality of said concepts in said first class being horizontally linked to a plurality of said concepts in said second class by non-hierarchical relationships, a plurality of said concepts in said first class being horizontally linked to a plurality of said concepts in said third class by non-hierarchical relationships; each of said non-hierarchical relationships further comprises a role relationship; a query manager that receives a user query and translates said query into a description language; and a records analyzer coupled to said query manager, said database and said knowledge base; said records analyzer analyzing said records in said database based on said user query and said classes and said hierarchical and said non-hierarchical relationships in said knowledge base.