Patent Document

[0001]    The present application claims benefit of priority to U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/343,559, filed on Apr. 30, 2010, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
     
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0002]    The present invention relates generally to the field of electronic appointment scheduling systems. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    Visits to a service provider&#39;s office or location, or a vendor&#39;s office or location, such as but not limited to health care provider&#39;s office or in particular physician&#39;s offices carry with them various risks for medical patients. One risk is potential exposure to viruses, bacterial and other hazards that can be transmitted from patient to patient in a waiting room environment. Moreover, the longer a patient is exposed to such conditions, the more likely it becomes that the patient will contract any number of these viruses and bacteria found in high-traffic waiting rooms. In addition to otherwise healthy patients, prolonged periods of time spent in waiting rooms creates a particularly increased risk to classes of high-risk patients such as the elderly or frail, newborn children, pregnant mothers, and immuno-compromised patients. 
         [0004]    Further still, office visit waiting times are hard for doctors and office staff to estimate or avoid due to medical emergencies requiring a physician&#39;s immediate attention, extended consultations with other patients, and various other occurrences. Thus, office-visit wait time can become quite long. This often leads to overcrowded waiting rooms and frustrated patients. Patients can begin to resent that their time is being wasted unproductively sitting in a waiting room, which can in turn cause them to become dissatisfied with their physician and the medical staff. Moreover, clinic managers do not like the lack of control caused by delays in the daily schedule and often become over-stressed. 
         [0005]    Besides increased exposure to viruses, bacteria and other illnesses, another disadvantage to overcrowded waiting rooms is that, because patients&#39; appointment times are delayed, doctors often sustain increased business administration costs because they have to rent office space with a large enough waiting room to accommodate a large number of patients. Accordingly, increased overhead costs necessarily increases the overall cost of health care. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0006]    The present invention recognizes the need for efficient scheduling means, methods and systems to address the inefficiencies in scheduling appointments with vendors or service providers in a wide range of settings, such as but not limited to, those relating to patient or client appointments in the medical fields. The present invention provides a variety of aspects to address these needs and provides related benefits as well. 
         [0007]    A first aspect of the present invention relates to a method for notifying clients of information pertaining to scheduled appointments including: a) entering at least one client information onto at least one tangible computer storage medium accessible to at least one client scheduling system computer; b) monitoring at least one scheduled appointment using said at least one client scheduling system computer; c) determining a time change in a first scheduled appointment at least in part based on at least one advance or delay in a second scheduled appointment, said second scheduled appointment being previous to said first scheduled appointment; and d) based at least in part on a time change, notifying a client associated with said first scheduled appointment by way of at least one personal electronic notification of an anticipated actual time of appointment. 
         [0008]    A second aspect of the present invention relates to a method for notifying clients of expected wait times for appointments, including: a) entering at least one client information into at least one computer-based client scheduling system having at least one tangible processor and at least one tangible computer readable storage medium; b) determining advances or delays in later client appointments based on advances or delays in previous client appointments; and c) notifying patients via personal electronic notification of an anticipated actual time of appointment based on the advances or delays, thereby allowing clients to avoid spending prolonged, substantial, unwanted or unexpected periods of time in waiting rooms. 
         [0009]    A third aspect of the present invention relates to a method in medical, para-medical and non-medical related settings, a method for notifying clients of expected wait times for professional appointments, including: a) entering at least one client information into at least one computer-based client scheduling system having at least one tangible processor and at least one tangible computer readable storage medium; b) determining advances or delays in later client appointments based on advances or delays in previous client appointments; and c) notifying clients via personal electronic notification of an anticipated actual time of appointment based on advances or delays in previous appointments, thereby allowing clients to avoid spending prolonged periods of time in waiting rooms or waiting for the professional to attend. 
         [0010]    A fourth aspect of the present invention relates to a method for notifying patients of time information pertaining to scheduled medical appointments, including: a) entering at least one patient information into at least one tangible computer storage medium accessible to at least one patient scheduling system computer; b) monitoring scheduled appointments using the patient scheduling system computer; c) determining a time change in a first scheduled appointment at least in part based on at least one advance or delay in a second scheduled appointment, the second scheduled appointment being previous to the first scheduled appointment; d) based at least in part on the time change, notifying a patient associated with the first scheduled appointment via personal electronic notification of an anticipated actual time of a modified appointment to replace the first scheduled appointment; and e) receiving from the patient an electronic signal indicating that the patient accepts, rejects, cancels, desires to reschedule the modified appointment, or a combination thereof. 
         [0011]    A fifth aspect of the present invention relates to a system, including: a) means for monitoring scheduled appointments; b) means for determining a time change in a first scheduled appointment at least in part based on at least one advance or delay in a second scheduled appointment, the second scheduled appointment being previous to the first scheduled appointment; c) means for notifying a patient associated with the first scheduled appointment via personal electronic notification of an anticipated actual time of a modified appointment to replace the first scheduled appointment based at least in part on the time change; and d) means for receiving from the patient an electronic message indicating that the patient accepts, rejects, cancels, or desires to reschedule the modified appointment. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 
         [0012]      FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of a non-limiting implementation of the present system; 
           [0013]      FIG. 2  is a flow chart of a non-limiting example of the system that can be implemented by the present system to generate a patient notification message. 
           [0014]      FIG. 3  is a continuation of the flow chart displayed in  FIG. 2 . 
           [0015]      FIG. 4  is another flow chart of a non-limiting example of the system that can be implemented by the present system to generate a patient notification message. 
           [0016]      FIG. 5  is a continuation of the flow chart displayed in  FIG. 4 . 
           [0017]      FIG. 6  is a flow chart of a non-limiting example of the system that can be implemented by the present system to send a patient notification message 
           [0018]      FIG. 7  is a non-limiting exemplary schematic diagram of an implementation of the present system 
           [0019]      FIG. 8  is another non-limiting exemplary schematic diagram of an implementation of the present system 
           [0020]      FIG. 9  is another non-limiting exemplary schematic diagram of an implementation of the present system 
           [0021]      FIG. 10  is another non-limiting exemplary schematic diagram of an implementation of the present system 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0022]    The following description of the present invention focuses on one aspect of the present invention, which relates to patients, medical appointments, and a variety of medical service providers. However, the present invention is not limited to such an application and is applicable to any particular client, customer, type of appointment, type of scheduling, service provider, or vendor. 
         [0023]    The details of the present invention, both as to its structure and operation, can best be understood in reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals refer to like parts. 
         [0024]    Beginning initially with  FIG. 1 , a schematic diagram of a non-limiting implementation of the present system for a patient notification process is shown. A user computer  10  is shown. The computer  10  is understood to be used by medical office and clinic personnel when scheduling medical appointments. The computer  10  can include one or more input devices such as a keyboard  12  and mouse device  14 , as well as one or more output devices such as an electronic screen  16 . It is to be understood that the keyboard  12  and mouse device  14  can be manipulated by a person scheduling a medical appointment while the screen  16  can provide a visual display of the person&#39;s actions. Further, the computer  10  also has a processor  18  and a tangible computer storage medium  20 , the storage medium  20  understood to be capable of storing data including a software embodying system, which can further include all or part of the system discussed below. 
         [0025]    As shown in  FIG. 1 , the user computer  10  can communicate with a server  22 . The server  22  has a processor  24  and a storage medium  26 , the storage medium  26  understood to be capable of storing data including software embodying system, which can further include all or part of the system discussed below. It is to be understood that the computer  10  can communicate with the server  22  through any means known within the art, including communication through wireless telecommunication technology, the internet, wireless, cable, satellite, or physical electronic cable linkage, either alone or in combination. 
         [0026]    Thus, it can be appreciated that when medical office and clinic personnel enter scheduling information for a medical appointment, that information can be stored either on the user computer  10  or the server  22  in non-limiting embodiments, or both in still other non-limiting embodiments. Moreover, it is to be understood that the user computer  10  can be capable of accessing scheduling information regardless of whether it is stored on the computer  10  or server  22 . 
         [0027]    Still in reference to  FIG. 1 , a patient personal electronic device  28  is shown. The personal electronic device  28  can be a mobile telephone or a personal computer in non-limiting embodiments. However, the personal electronic device  28  can be any device capable of electronically communicating with other electronic devices. It is to be understood that such communication can occur in any number of ways known within the art, including wireless telecommunication technology, the internet and physical electronic cable linkage in non-limiting embodiments. 
         [0028]    With the above structure in mind, operation of the system can now be understood in reference to the non-limiting flow-chart shown in  FIG. 2  and its continuation shown in  FIG. 3 , where a first example of the system that can be implemented by the present system to monitor scheduled patient appointments is shown. Beginning at block  30 , the system retrieves patient information from a patient queue for a patient having a scheduled appointment. The patient queue is understood to consist of patients with scheduled appointments, the patient queue being created by the Private Waiting Room (PWR) in accordance with present principles. It is to be further understood that the PWR patient queue can be created using scheduling information retrieved from any non-limiting patient scheduling system a physician&#39;s office can use to schedule patient appointments. 
         [0029]    Still in reference to  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 3 , the system determines whether patient information for a patient having a scheduled appointment has been retrieved from the patient queue at decision diamond  32 . If no information was retrieved because, for example, there are no patients in the patient queue, then the system reverts back to block  30  and the system can be repeated. However, if at diamond  32  the system determines that patient information has been retrieved from the patient queue, the system then moves to diamond  34  where it is determined whether the patient whose information was retrieved has been fully notified. 
         [0030]    If at diamond  34  the system determines that the patient has been fully notified, the system then moves to decision diamond  36 . It is to be understood that, in non-limiting embodiments such as the one shown in  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 3 , a patient queue removal time can be predetermined. Once a patient queue removal time has been predetermined, the system can subsequently use the predetermined time to retain patient information in the patient queue even after a patient&#39;s appointment time has passed or the patient has met with a physician or medical professional. Thus, at diamond  36 , the system determines whether a predetermined patient queue removal time has been exceeded. If the system determines that it has not, the system reverts back to block  30  and the process can be repeated. But if the system determines that the predetermined patient queue removal time has been exceeded, the system moves to block  38  where the patient information is removed from the patient queue and can be placed in an archive list. Thereafter, the system can either conclude or revert back to block  30  to repeat the process for other patients. 
         [0031]    Reverting back to diamond  34 , if the system determines that a patient has not been fully notified, the system instead moves to decision diamond  40 . At diamond  40 , the system determines whether a predetermined first reminder time has been reached. If the appropriate first reminder time has not been reached, the system reverts back to block  30  and the process can repeat. If, however, the appropriate time to send a first reminder has been reached, the system moves to decision diamond  42  where the system determines whether a first reminder message has been sent. 
         [0032]    If the system determines at diamond  42  that the first reminder message has not been sent, the system moves to block  44  where a reminder message is generated. It is to be understood that the reminder message can contain temporal information relating to when a patient&#39;s appointment with a physician is to occur. The system then moves to block  46 , where the reminder message is added to a message queue which can hold reminder messages generated by the PWR. After the reminder message has been added to the message queue at block  46 , the system can then move to  FIG. 6  for the system for the message sending process, which will be discussed later. 
         [0033]    However, reverting back to diamond  42 , if the system determines that a first reminder message has been sent, the system instead moves to diamond  48 . At diamond  48 , the system determines whether a predetermined second reminder time has been reached. If the second reminder time has not been reached, the system reverts back to block  30  and the process can repeat. If, however, the appropriate time to send a second reminder has been reached, the system moves to diamond  50 . 
         [0034]    At diamond  50 , the system determines whether a second reminder message has been sent. If the system determines at diamond  50  that the second reminder message has not been sent, the system moves to block  44  where a reminder message is generated. It is to be understood that the reminder message can contain temporal information relating to when a patient&#39;s appointment with a physician is to occur. The system then moves to block  46 , where the reminder message is added to a message queue which can hold reminder messages generated by the PWR. After the reminder message has been added to the message queue at block  46 , the system can then move to  FIG. 6 , which provides a non-limiting example of the message sending process. 
         [0035]    Still in reference to  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 3 , if the system determines at diamond  50  that a second reminder message has been sent, the system instead moves to diamond  52 . At diamond  52 , the system determines whether a predetermined third reminder time has been reached. If the third reminder time has not been reached, the system reverts back to block  30  and the process can repeat. If, however, the appropriate time to send a third reminder has been reached, the system moves to diamond  54 . 
         [0036]    At diamond  54 , the system determines whether a third reminder message has been sent. If the system determines at diamond  54  that the third reminder message has not been sent, the system moves to block  44  where a reminder message is generated. It is to be understood that the reminder message can contain temporal information relating to when a patient&#39;s appointment with a physician is to occur. The system then moves to block  46 , where the reminder message is added to a message queue which can hold reminder messages generated by the PWR. After the reminder message has been added to the message queue at block  46 , the system can then move to  FIG. 6  for the system for the message sending process, which will be discussed later. 
         [0037]    Alternatively, if the system determines at diamond  54  that a third reminder message has already been sent, the system instead moves to block  56 . At block  56 , the patient is determined to be fully notified and can be removed from the patient queue. 
         [0038]    It is to be understood that while sending three reminder messages is described in  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 3 , any number of reminder messages can be sent. Particularly sending three reminder messages has been disclosed for illustration only. The language of  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 3  should not be construed to limit the present embodiment to a definite number of messages. 
         [0039]    Now in reference to  FIG. 4  and  FIG. 5 , a second example of the system that can be implemented by the present system is shown. Beginning at block  58 , the system retrieves patient information for a patient having a scheduled appointment from a patient queue. The patient queue is understood to consist of a list of patients with scheduled appointments, the patient queue being created by the PWR. It is to be further understood that PWR patient queue can be created using scheduling information retrieved from any non-limiting patient scheduling system a physician&#39;s office can use to schedule patient appointments. 
         [0040]    Still in reference to  FIG. 4  and  FIG. 5 , the system determines whether patient information for a patient having a scheduled appointment has been retrieved from the patient queue at decision diamond  60 . If no information was retrieved because, for example, there are no patients in the patient queue, then the system reverts back to block  58  and the system can be repeated. However, if at diamond  60  the system determines that patient information has been retrieved from the patient queue, the system then moves to diamond  62  where it is determined whether the patient whose information was retrieved has been fully notified. 
         [0041]    If at diamond  62  the system determines that the patient has been fully notified, the system then moves to decision diamond  64 . It is to be understood that, in non-limiting embodiments, a patient queue removal time can be predetermined. Once a patient queue removal time has been predetermined, the system can subsequently use this time to keep patient information in the patient queue even after a patient&#39;s appointment time has passed or the patient has met with a physician or medical professional. Thus, at diamond  64 , the system determines whether a predetermined patient queue removal time has been exceeded. If the system determines that is has not, the system reverts back to block  58  and the process can be repeated. But if the system determines that the predetermined patient queue removal time has been exceeded, the system moves to block  66  where the patient information is removed from the patient queue and can be placed in an archive list. Thereafter, the system can either conclude or revert back to block  58  to repeat the process for other patients. 
         [0042]    Reverting back to diamond  62 , if the system determines that a patient has not been fully notified, the system then moves to decision diamond  68 . At diamond  68 , the system determines whether there has been a schedule change in a previous appointment affecting later scheduled appointments, i.e. an advance or delay in a second appointment occurring temporally previous to a first appointment that will affect whether the first appointment will commence at the scheduled time. If at diamond  68  the system determines that there has been a change affecting the schedule of appointments, the system then moves to block  70 . At block  70 , the system estimates the length of an advance or delay in all scheduled appointments. Then the system moves to block  72  where all affected patient reminders are recalculated for the remaining patients on the schedule. The system can then revert back to block  58 . 
         [0043]    However, if at diamond  68  the system determines that there has not been a change affecting the schedule of appointments, the system instead moves to decision diamond  74 . At diamond  74 , the system determines whether a predetermined first reminder time has been reached. If the appropriate first reminder time has not been reached, the system reverts back to block  58  and the process can repeat. If, however, the appropriate time to send a first reminder has been reached, the system moves to decision diamond  78  where the system determines whether a first reminder message has been sent. 
         [0044]    If the system determines at diamond  78  that the first reminder message has not been sent, the system moves to block  80  where a reminder message is generated. It is to be understood that the reminder message can contain temporal information relating to when a patient&#39;s appointment with a physician is to occur. The system thereafter moves to block  82 , where the reminder message is added to a message queue which can hold reminder messages generated by the PWR. After the reminder message has been added to the message queue at block  82 , the system can then move to  FIG. 6 , which provides a non-limiting example of the message sending process. 
         [0045]    However, reverting back to diamond  78 , if the system determines that a first reminder message has been sent, the system instead moves to diamond  84 . At diamond  84 , the system determines whether a predetermined second reminder time has been reached. If the second reminder time has not been reached, the system reverts back to block  58  and the process can repeat. If, however, the appropriate time to send a second reminder has been reached, the system moves to diamond  86 . 
         [0046]    At diamond  86 , the system determines whether a second reminder message has been sent. If the system determines at diamond  86  that the second reminder message has not been sent, the system moves to block  80  where a reminder message is generated. It is to be understood that the reminder message can contain temporal information relating to when a patient&#39;s appointment with a physician is to occur. The system then moves to block  82 , where the reminder message is added to a message queue which can hold reminder messages generated by the PWR. After the reminder message has been added to the message queue at block  82 , the system can then move to  FIG. 6  for the system for the message sending process, which will be discussed later. 
         [0047]    Still in reference to  FIG. 4  and  FIG. 5 , if the system determines at diamond  86  that a second reminder message has been sent, the system instead moves to diamond  88 . At diamond  88 , the system determines whether a predetermined third reminder time has been reached. If the third reminder time has not been reached, the system reverts back to block  58  and the process can repeat. If, however, the appropriate time to send a third reminder has been reached, the system moves to diamond  90 . 
         [0048]    At diamond  90 , the system determines whether a third reminder message has been sent. If the system determines at diamond  90  that the third reminder message has not been sent, the system moves to block  80  where a reminder message is generated. It is to be understood that the reminder message can contain temporal information relating to when a patient&#39;s appointment with a physician is to occur. The system then moves to block  82 , where the reminder message is added to a message queue which can hold reminder messages generated by the PWR. After the reminder message has been added to the message queue at block  82 , the system can then move to  FIG. 6  for the system for the message sending process, which will be discussed below. 
         [0049]    Alternatively, if the system determines at diamond  90  that a third reminder message has already been sent, the system instead moves to block  92 . At block  92 , the patient is determined to be fully notified and can be removed from the queue. 
         [0050]    It is to be understood that while sending three reminder messages are described in  FIG. 4  and  FIG. 5 , any number of reminder messages can be sent. Particularly sending three reminder messages has been disclosed for illustration only. The language of  FIG. 4  and  FIG. 5  should not be construed to limit the present embodiment to a definite number of messages. 
         [0051]    Moving to  FIG. 6 , the system process for sending a message from the message queue once it has been received as described in  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 3  and as described in  FIG. 4  and  FIG. 5  is shown. Beginning at block  94 , a message is received into the message queue. The system then moves to block  96  where a personal electronic notification message is created from the reminder message received by the queue at block  94 . This personal electronic notification message can be generated using any acceptable electronic communication format as is known in the art and described herein. One such format is the Short Message Service (SMS) format, but it is to be understood that the SMS format is only a suggested, non-limiting format and that other formats appropriate within the art can also be used, such as, but not limited to mobile phone software applications, including but not limited to the Apple iOS™ applications and the Android™ applications. 
         [0052]    Still in reference to  FIG. 6 , the system then moves from block  96  to block  98  where a personal electronic notification message is sent to the patient who is to receive notification information on a scheduled appointment. This message can be sent to the patient through any non-limiting electronic means which include, but are not limited to, sending a message to a cellular telephone or email address. After sending the message, the system then moves to decision diamond  100  where the system determines if the message was successfully sent to the patient. If at diamond  100  the system determines that the message was not successfully sent, the system reverts to block  98  and the message is sent again. If, however, at diamond  100  the system determines the message was successfully sent, the system then moves to block  102 , where the system enters the status of the notification, i.e. that a reminder message has been sent, into the PWR (Private Waiting Room) system. 
         [0053]    Though not shown in  FIG. 6 , it is to be understood that once the message is sent at block  98  and successfully received by the patient as determined at diamond  100 , in non-limiting embodiments the patient can electronically respond to the PWR message. Particularly, this response can pertain to the patient being notified of a change to the scheduled appointment time. Thus, a patient&#39;s response can include information on whether the patient accepts, rejects or wishes to reschedule the medical appointment which the patient notification message has indicated would be temporally altered. 
         [0054]    Now in reference to  FIG. 7 , a non-limiting exemplary schematic diagram of an implementation of the present system is shown. A front-end computer  104  (e.g. user computer such as a medical office computer used by medical personnel) is shown. The computer  104  has PWR software  106 . In the implementation shown in  FIG. 7 , patient scheduling information can be manually entered into the PWR software  106  by medical office personnel. The PWR software  106  can then generate a patient notification message to be sent to a patient. 
         [0055]    Still in reference to  FIG. 7 , the PWR software  106  can send the patient notification message to a message scheduling system  108 . The message scheduling system  108  is understood to be capable of electronically communicating with a commercial SMS system  110  to send an electronic message to a user using any appropriate messaging system known in the art and as described herein. Thus, a message that is designated for sending to a patient at a designated time by the scheduling system  108  is then sent to the SMS system  110 . Once a message is received by the SMS system  110 , the SMS system  110  can then send the generated message to one or more patient electronic devices. Patient mobile device  112 , mobile device  114  and mobile device  116  are electronic devices which can receive a message. The plural mobile devices  112 ,  114  and  116  can receive different scheduling messages or they can all receive the same scheduling message in non-limiting embodiments. 
         [0056]    Now in reference to  FIG. 8 , another non-limiting exemplary schematic diagram of an implementation of the present system is shown. A front end computer  118 , e.g. user client scheduling system computer which can be used by medical personnel, is shown. The computer  118  has a patient scheduling system  120 . The scheduling system  120  is understood to be any non-limiting patient scheduling system a physician&#39;s office can use to schedule patient appointments. Thus, a person such as a medical office assistant can enter patient information into the scheduling system  120  through the computer  118 . 
         [0057]    Once the patient information has been received by the scheduling system  120 , the information can be sent through an HL7 (Health Level 7) messaging standard  122  to be received by the PWR software  124 . HL7 messaging is a standard known within the art which includes a means for patient information to be exchanged between medical software applications. However, it is to be understood that there are multiple alternative appropriate ways to automatically exchange patient information that can be used in accordance with present principles, such as storing patient information in an electronic folder that can be shared by multiple software applications. However, HL7 messaging is used in the current, non-limiting example shown in  FIG. 8 . 
         [0058]    Thus, the HL7 messaging standard  122  facilitates the exchange of patient information between the patient scheduling system  120  and the PWR software  124 . Once patient information has been received by the Private Waiting Room software  124  via the HL7 messaging standard  122 , the Private Waiting Room software  124  can generate an electronic patient notification message, which the Private Waiting Room software can then send to a message scheduling system  126 . The message scheduling system  126  is understood to be capable of electronically communicating with a commercial SMS system  128  to send an electronic message to a user. Thus, a message that is designated for sending to a patient at a designated time by the scheduling system  126  is then sent to the SMS system  128 . Once a message is received by the SMS system  128 , the SMS system  128  can then send the generated message to one or more patient electronic devices. Patient mobile device  130 , mobile device  132  and mobile device  134  are three electronic devices which can receive a message. The plural mobile devices  130 ,  132  and  134  can receive different scheduling messages or they can all receive the same scheduling message in non-limiting embodiments. 
         [0059]    Moving now to  FIG. 9 , yet another non-limiting exemplary schematic diagram of an implementation of the present system is shown. A front end computer  136 , e.g. user client scheduling system computer which can be used by medical personnel, is shown. The computer  136  has a patient scheduling system  138 . The scheduling system  138  is understood to be any non-limiting patient scheduling system a physician&#39;s office can use to schedule patient appointments. Thus, a person such as a medical office assistant can enter patient information into the scheduling system  138  through the computer  136 . 
         [0060]    Once the patient information has been received by the scheduling system  138 , the information can be sent through an HL7 (Health Level 7) messaging standard  140  to be received by the PWR software  142 . The HL7 messaging standard  140  is understood to be substantially similar in function and configuration to the HL7 messaging standard  122  in  FIG. 8 . However, it is to be further understood that there are multiple alternative appropriate ways to automatically exchange patient information that can be used in accordance with present principles, as described in reference to  FIG. 8 . However, HL7 messaging is used in the current, non-limiting example shown in  FIG. 9 . 
         [0061]    Thus, the HL7 messaging standard  140  facilitates the exchange of patient information between the patient scheduling system  138  and the PWR software  142 . Once patient information has been received by the PWR software  142  via the HL7 messaging standard  140 , the PWR software  142  can then generate a patient notification message and send it to a subscription accounting system  146  on a back-end server  144 . The communication between the PWR software  142  on the computer  136  and the subscription accounting system  146  on the server  144  can be done through any electronic communication means known within the art. 
         [0062]    Once patient information has been received by the subscription accounting system  146 , the accounting system  146  can then electronically record that medical office personnel are notifying a patient of scheduling-related information. Thus, it is the role of the accounting system  146  to track messages sent from medical offices so that those offices can compensate the proprietors of the PWR software for sent messages. 
         [0063]    After the subscription accounting system  146  has recorded the appropriate information, the patient message that was generated by the PWR software  142  can then be sent to a message scheduling system  148 , which designates the patient notification message for sending at the appropriate time. It is to be understood that the message scheduling system  148  is capable of electronically communicating with a commercial SMS system  150  to send an electronic message to a user. 
         [0064]    Accordingly, the message can be sent to the SMS system  150  by the message scheduling system  148  so that the patient notification message can be sent to a patient by the SMS system  150  at a designated time. Thus, once a message is indeed received by the SMS system  150 , the SMS system  150  can then send the generated message to one or more patient electronic devices. Patient mobile device  152 , mobile device  154  and mobile device  156  are electronic devices which can receive a message. The plural mobile devices  152 ,  154  and  156  can receive different scheduling messages or they can all receive the same scheduling message in non-limiting embodiments. 
         [0065]    Concluding with  FIG. 10 , one more non-limiting exemplary schematic diagram of an implementation of the present system is shown. A front end computer  158  (e.g. user client scheduling system computer which can be used by medical personnel) is shown. The computer  158  has a patient scheduling system  160 . The scheduling system  160  is understood to be any non-limiting patient scheduling system a physician&#39;s office can use to schedule patient appointments. Thus, a person such as a medical office assistant can enter patient information into the scheduling system  160  through the computer  158 . 
         [0066]    Once the patient information has been received by the scheduling system  160 , the information can be sent through an HL7 (Health Level 7) messaging standard  162  to be received by the PWR software  164 . The HL7 messaging standard  162  is understood to be substantially similar in function and configuration to the HL7 messaging standard  122  in  FIG. 8 . However, it is to be further understood that there are multiple alternative appropriate ways to automatically exchange patient information that can be used in accordance with present principles, as described in reference to  FIG. 8 . However, HL7 messaging is used in the current, non-limiting example shown in  FIG. 10 . 
         [0067]    Thus, the HL7 messaging standard  162  facilitates the exchange of patient information between the patient scheduling system  160  and the PWR software  164 . Once patient information has been received by the PWR software  164  via the HL7 messaging standard  162 , the PWR software  164  can then generate a patient notification message and send it to a subscription accounting system  168  on a back-end server  166 . The communication between the PWR software  164  on the computer  158  and the subscription accounting system  168  on the server  166  can be done through any electronic communication means known within the art. 
         [0068]    Once patient information has been received by the subscription accounting system  168 , the accounting system  168  can then electronically record that medical office personnel are notifying a patient of scheduling-related information. Thus, it is the role of the accounting system  168  to track messages sent from medical offices so that those offices can compensate the proprietors of the PWR software for sent messages. 
         [0069]    After the subscription accounting system  168  has recorded the appropriate information, the patient message that was generated by the Private Waiting Room software  164  can then be sent to a message scheduling system  170 , which designates the patient notification message for sending at the appropriate time. Differing from  FIG. 9 , it is to be understood that in  FIG. 10 , the message scheduling system  170  is capable of electronically communicating with an SMS system  172  located on the server  166  to send an electronic message rather than using a commercial SMS system to send an electronic message as shown in  FIG. 7 ,  FIG. 8  and  FIG. 9 . 
         [0070]    Accordingly, the message can be sent to the SMS system  172  by the message scheduling system  170  so that the patient notification message can be sent to a patient by the SMS system  172  at a designated time. Thus, once a message is received by the SMS system  172 , the SMS system  172  can then send the generated message to one or more patient electronic devices. Patient mobile device  174 , mobile device  176  and mobile device  178  are electronic devices which can receive a message. The plural mobile devices  174 ,  176  and  178  can receive different scheduling messages or they can all receive the same scheduling message in non-limiting embodiments. 
         [0071]    In reference to  FIG. 1  through  FIG. 10 , it is to be understood that while the patient notification process described above was described in the context of medical appointments, it is to be understood that the present invention can be used in many other appointment contexts not disclosed herein. For example, it could be used for legal appointments, automotive appointments, employment appointments, etc. 
         [0072]    All publications, including patent documents and scientific or other articles, referred to in this application are incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes to the same extent as if each individual publication were individually incorporated by reference. 
         [0073]    All headings are for the convenience of the reader and should not be used to limit the meaning of the text that follows the heading, unless so specified. 
         [0074]    Absent express definitions herein and claim terms are to be given all ordinary and accustomed meanings. When the singular is referred to, the plural is intended to be included. Likewise, when the plural is referred to, the singular is intended to be included.

Technology Category: g