Abstract:
Provided is a method to provide a medical service in a hospital based on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). The method includes the steps of: a) storing diverse data to provide the service; b) extracting personal identification (ID) using an RFID reader from a RFID tag in a predetermined range; c) receiving requests through an input/output interface; d) searching the requested data among data corresponding to the extracted personal ID; and e) providing the searched data.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The present invention relates to a method for providing a medical service in a hospital based on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID); more particularly, a method that provides a medical service based on RFID which easily checks diverse information in a hospital by making it easy for patients to access private medical information, e.g. personal information, medical records and reservations, and hospital guidance information, e.g. the location of the pharmacy, by using an RFID tag formatted medical card that contains their own personal identification (ID). Both information are stored in a database of a management center and processed through an RFID reader formatted interface which is located in several areas within the hospital, e.g. a lobby or hallway.  
       DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART  
       [0002]     In general, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a technology that uses electronic tags for recognizing, tracing and managing objects, animals and human beings. This is done by extracting or recording information from or onto the electronic tags that contain identification information using radio frequency without directly connecting to readers.  
         [0003]     The RFID system consists of several RFID tags attached to materials or animals (e.g. the electronic tag or Transponder) and a RFID reader that reads or writes information from or onto the RFID tag (e.g. an interrogator).  
         [0004]     RFID systems can be divided into a mutual inducing type and an electromagnetic wave type according to the mutual communication method between the RFID reader and tags. The RFID systems can also be divided into an active type and a passive type based on whether the RFID tag is operated with its own power source. Also, RFID systems can be divided into a long wave type, a medium wave type, a short wave type, a very high frequency type (VHF), and an ultra high frequency (UHF) type based on what frequency is used. Diverse kinds of standards are established based on the division.  
         [0005]     A conventional medical service is conducted as follows. When a patient first visits a hospital, the hospital staff receives personal information including name, gender, age, and resident registration number through a document then inputs the personal information into a computer and builds a database. The hospital then provides the patient with a magnetic formatted medical card that contains private information. Subsequently, when the patient visits the hospital, the hospital reads the personal information recorded in the magnetic medical card through the RFID reader and refers to the past medical record. Each hospital has diverse medical departments such as the surgery and internal medicine department where patients receive medical treatment diversely. Accordingly, hospitals adopt a unified management program for efficient/synthetic management.  
         [0006]     However, since conventional medical services use magnetic formatted medical cards, there is a problem where medical cards need to directly connect to the card reader when reading personal information.  
         [0007]     In addition, since only a hospital manager can access card readers, which are capable of reading the medical card, patients cannot easily use their own medical record accumulated in the database even though the personal medical card is given to the patients.  
         [0008]     A hospital related-service using the RFID based on the conventional technology is described as follows.  
         [0009]     U.S. Patent Publication No. 2002-0058110, published on Mar. 27, 2003, discloses a radio frequency patient identification and information system. In an emergency situation, the system provides a non-fatal medical service in the state that the patient is unconscious by providing personal information and medical history of the patient which is stored in the transponder that can be placed on a wrist, ankle, in a wallet as a card/label format or hung on the neck, or transplanted under the skin of the patient.  
         [0010]     That is, the conventional technology records all information including home address, work place address, relatives&#39; information, current family doctor, medical history, allergy and past/present prescription medicines in the transponder which is RFID tag format in order to properly cope with the condition of the patient when an urgent situation occurs.  
         [0011]     Since the conventional technology records diverse personal information and medical history in the transponder, there is a requirement that the memory be capable of reading/writing information of at least 2,000 bits.  
         [0012]     Also, the conventional technology is very important in an emergency situation, but does not suggest a method that the patient can efficiently access their own medical information in general.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0013]     Therefore, an objective of the present invention is to provide a method for providing a medical service based on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) to easily check diverse information in a hospital by making it easy for patients to access private medical information, e.g. personal information, medical record and reservations, hospital guidance information, e.g. the location of the pharmacy, by using an RFID tag formatted medical card which contains their own personal identification (ID). Both information are collected into a database of a management center and processed through an RFID reader formatted interface which is located in several areas within the hospital, e.g. a lobby or hallway.  
         [0014]     That is, the objective of the present invention is to provide a method for providing a medical service based on RFID which makes it easy for patients to access diverse information by a) reading their own personal ID from an RFID tag in a predetermined range using an RFID reader which is located in some areas of the hospital, b) searching for corresponding personal medical information and hospital guidance information that are stored in the database of a management center and c) providing personal medical information and hospital guidance information through an interface, e.g. a monitor.  
         [0015]     Other objectives and advantages of the invention will be understood by the following description and will become more apparent from the embodiments in accordance with the present invention, which are set forth hereinafter. It will be also apparent that objectives and advantages of the invention can be embodied easily by the means defined in claims and combinations thereof.  
         [0016]     In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, there is a method for providing a medical service in a hospital based on RFID, the method including the following steps of: a) storing diverse data for providing a service; b) extracting personal ID using an RFID reader from a RFID tag in a predetermined range; c) receiving requests through an input/output interface; d) searching the requested data among data corresponding to the extracted personal ID; and e) providing the searched data.  
         [0017]     The present invention issues an RFID formatted medical card to the patient, performs a process that identifies each person with the RFID reader that is located in some areas of the hospital, checks the medical information collected in the database of the hospital through an interface, e.g., a monitor, to provide necessary information to the patient, thereby raising a level of service. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0018]     The above and other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments given in conjunction with the accompanied drawings, in which:  
         [0019]      FIG. 1  is a medical service providing system used in a hospital where the present invention is applied; and  
         [0020]      FIG. 2  is a flowchart describing a method for providing a medical service in a hospital based on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0021]     Other objectives and advantages of the present invention will become apparent using the following description of the embodiments with reference to the accompanied drawings. Therefore, those skilled in the art of the present invention can embody the technological concept and scope of the invention easily. In addition, if it is considered that the detailed description on a related art is obscure the points of the present invention, the detailed description will not be provided herein. The preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail hereinafter with reference to the attached drawings.  
         [0022]      FIG. 1  is a medical service providing system used in a hospital where the present invention is applied.  
         [0023]     The medical service providing system where the present invention is applied, includes a medical office computer system  10 , a management center  20 , and a computer system  30  for a patient.  
         [0024]     The medical office computer system  10  provides an input/output interface to store diverse personal medical information such as a medical record including a diagnosis result, prescription/medication, checkup/medical treatment reservations in a database (not shown) of the management center  20  and checks the collected personal medical information.  
         [0025]     The management center  20  synthetically manages medical information of each patient by receiving the medical information inputted by each medical office computer system  10  through a local area network (LAN), storing the medical information in the database, searching the medical information requested by the medical office computer system  10  from the database and responding to the medical office computer system  10 .  
         [0026]     The computer system  30  for the patient checks personal medical information pre-stored in the database of the management center  20 , e.g., personal information, medical records and reservations, and hospital guidance information, e.g., the location of the pharmacy, upon request of the patient inputted through an RFID reader  50 . General information such as hospital guidance information is also stored in the database of the management center  20 .  
         [0027]     Each medical office computer system  10  is located in diverse medical offices such as the surgery, internal medicine, and pediatrics. The computer system  30  uses the RFID reader  50  as an input device. It is located in a proper area of the hospital such as the hallway or lobby. Accordingly, the patient can easily check the personal medical information and the hospital guidance information accumulated in the database of the hospital. Each medical office computer system  10  and each computer system  30  are connected to the management center  20  through a LAN and a unified management program is stationed in the medical office computer system  10 .  
         [0028]     An RFID tag  40  provided to the patient as a medical card is read by the RFID reader  50  located in some areas of the hospital and used to check a patient&#39;s identity. That is, the RFID tag  40  stores personal identification (ID) for the patient. The RFID tag  40  can also store other personal information such as name, age, gender distinction, and resident registration number.  
         [0029]     The RFID reader  50  operates as an input device of the computer system  30  located in some areas of the hospital, e.g., the hallway or lobby. That is, the RFID reader  50  reads personal ID that is stored in the RFID tag  40  in a predetermined range and transmits the personal ID to the computer system  30 . Accordingly, the computer system  30  can identify the patient and perform a next operating procedure.  
         [0030]     The computer system  30  receives a predetermined personal ID from the connected RFID reader  50  and provides an interface such as a keyboard or a touch screen to input security information pre-registered according to each person. Herein, security information of each person means diverse information required for a personal certification process such as a password or a finger print.  
         [0031]     The computer system  30  requests security information corresponding to the personal ID that is pre-inputted using the RFID reader  50  to the management center  20  and receives the security information. Subsequently, the computer system  30  determines whether the security information corresponding to the personal ID is the same as personal security information inputted from the outside such as the password or finger print.  
         [0032]     When the security information corresponding to the personal ID is not identical to the personal security information inputted from the outside, the computer system  30  prohibits access to the personal medical information. The computer system  30  can be realized to permit the access to general information such as hospital guidance information, e.g., a guide map for each place of the hospital such as the location of the pharmacy.  
         [0033]     When the security information corresponding to the personal ID is identical to the personal security information inputted from the outside, the computer system  30  receives items requiring search and check through an interface. Subsequently, the computer system  30  requests corresponding data to the management center  20 , receives the data and outputs the data to the outside.  
         [0034]      FIG. 2  is a flowchart describing a method for providing a medical service in a hospital based on RFID in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0035]     The personal medical information and the hospital guidance information of each patient are stored in the database of the management center  20 . That is, the management center  20  stores diverse medical records which are inputted through the medical office computer system  10  in the database. The management center  20  also stores the information inputted through a reception desk (not shown), e.g., the personal ID given to the patient at first visit.  
         [0036]     When the RFID tag  40  enters a predetermined range at step S 201 , the RFID reader  50  of the computer system  30  communicates with the RFID tag  40  and extracts the personal ID of the patient at step S 202 .  
         [0037]     That is, the RFID reader  50  detects the RFID tag  40  in a predetermined radius at a regular time interval. When the RFID tag  40  is present, the RFID reader  50  receives personal ID from the RFID tag  40 .  
         [0038]     The computer system  30  receives personal security information from an outpatient through an input/output interface at step S 203 . That is, the computer system  30  receives a password from the patient through a keyboard or a touch screen. The finger print can be used as the security information.  
         [0039]     The computer system  30  receives security information corresponding to the personal ID extracted as a result of the request to the management center  20  at step S 204 , and determines at step S 205  whether the received security information is identical to the inputted personal security information. That is, the computer system  30  determines whether the password pre-registered in the database is the same as the password directly inputted from the patient. It is a person&#39;s identity check procedure to prevent outflow of personal information.  
         [0040]     When the received security information is not identical to the inputted personal security information, the computer system  30  prohibits access to the personal medical information at step S 206 . The computer system  30  can permit access to general information such as hospital guidance information, e.g., a guide map. Also, the computer system  30  can go back to the security information inputting procedure of step S 203 .  
         [0041]     When the received security information is identical to the inputted personal security information, the computer system  30  receives items requiring search and checks through an input/output interface at step S 207 . The computer system  30  requests corresponding data to the management center  20 , receives the data and outputs the data to the outside through a monitor at step S 208 .  
         [0042]     That is, the computer system  30  searches the database of the management center  20  and provides the requested medical record of the patient, e.g., a diagnosis result, prescription/medication, checkup/medical treatment reservations, and hospital guidance information.  
         [0043]     For example, when the patient selects a prescription item through the touch screen, the computer system  30  displays the location, i.e., an outline map of the pharmacy so that the patient can easily find the pharmacy. The current location and the pharmacy&#39;s location can be checked by allowing an ID code to the RFID reader. Each place can be identified by allowing the ID code to each place of the hospital included in the guide map.  
         [0044]     When a service connected to internal institutes and external institutes is provided, the computer system  30  can select the service through the touch screen. For example, when an external pharmacy compounds a medicine, the patient selects the service item and the prescription is automatically transmitted to the pre-registered and designated pharmacy.  
         [0045]     A second example can be, when the patient selects a checkup item through the touch screen, the location, e.g., an outline map of the lab and the checkup available time are displayed.  
         [0046]     Also, when the patient selects a reservation item through the touch screen, a reservation receipt date and the medical departments are displayed.  
         [0047]     The patient can easily check personal medical information and hospital guidance information through a predetermined input/output interface by approaching the RFID tag formatted medical card to the RFID reader located in some areas of the hospital through the present invention. Accordingly, the present invention can improve the quality of the hospital service.  
         [0048]     As described above, the technology of the present invention can be realized as a program and stored in a computer-readable recording medium, such as CD-ROM, RAM, ROM, floppy disk, hard disk or magneto-optical disk. Since the process can be easily implemented by those skilled in the art of the present invention, further description will not be provided herein.  
         [0049]     The present application contains subject matter related to Korean patent application No. 2005-0121168, filed with the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Dec. 9, 2005, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.  
         [0050]     While the present invention has been described with respect to certain preferred embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.