Cloud Based Corneal Surface Difference Mapping System and Method

Abstract

A method to perform automatic corneal topography or tomography difference mapping includes receiving one or more corneal topography or tomography data files and/or a corneal image for an examined patient from a corneal topography or tomography system; receiving personal identification parameters from captured user personal data communicated from the corneal topography or tomography system; and comparing received patient identification parameters to existing patient identification parameters in a database to identify if there are existing topography or tomography data files for a same patient in the database. The method may further include retrieving a prior topography or tomography data file for the patient from the database; and performing difference mapping by comparing the received topography or tomography data files to the prior topography or tomography data file retrieved from the database to generate a topography or tomography difference map.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method to perform automatic corneal topography or tomography difference mapping, comprising:
 computer-readable instructions stored in one or more memory devices of one or more cloud-based server devices;   one or more processors in the one or more cloud-based server devices configured with the computer-readable instructions to:   receive one or more corneal topography or tomography data files and/or a corneal image for an examined patient from a corneal topography or tomography system;   receive personal identification parameters from captured user personal data communicated from the corneal topography or tomography system;   compare received patient identification parameters to existing patient identification parameters in a database to identify if there are existing topography or tomography data files for a same patient in the database;   retrieve a prior topography or tomography data file for the patient from the database; and   perform difference mapping by comparing the received topography or tomography data files to the prior topography or tomography data file retrieved from the database to generate a topography or tomography difference map.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , the one or more processors in the one or more cloud-based server devices configured with the computer-readable instructions to: store the topography or tomography difference map in the database and associate the topography or tomography difference map with the user. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , the one or more processors in the one or more cloud-based server devices configured with the computer-readable instructions to:
 analyze the topography or tomography difference map to identify if a significant topographical change has occurred, and if the significant topographical change has occurred, communicate the topography difference map and/or an advisory message associated with the topography or tomography difference map to a provider computing device for display to the provider.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , the one or more processors in the one or more cloud-based server devices configured with the computer-readable instructions to:
 analyze the generated topography or tomography difference map to identify if a significant topographical change has occurred, and if the significant topographical change has occurred, communicating an email or electronic message to a provider computing device, the email or electronic message comprising a link to the generated topography or tomography difference map stored in the database.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , where the significant topographical change is a change of 0.25 Diopters from the prior topography or tomography data file, optionally within a change in the range of 0.20 to 0.30 Diopters from the prior topography or tomography data file, and optionally within a change in the range of 0.10 to 0.40 Diopters from the prior topography or tomography data file. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 3 , where the significant topographical change is a change of 0.50 Diopters from the prior topography or tomography data file, optionally within a change in the range of 0.40 to 0.60 Diopters from the prior topography or tomography data file, and optionally within a range of 0.25 to 0.75 Diopters from the prior topography or tomography data file. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the significant topographical change is associated with early keratoconus, form frust keratoconus, changes in shape of cornea relating to Lasik, stability loss after refractive surgery, or eye rubbing in combination with a thin cornea. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the database is a HIPAA compliant database. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , the one or more processors in the cloud-based server devices further configured with instructions to:
 determine that the performing of the difference mapping is being completed on a correct eye of the patient.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , the one or more processors in the cloud-based server devices further configured with instructions to:
 compare current date of examination to prior date of examination for patient's existing topography or tomography data files to confirm a correct timeframe has elapsed to perform difference mapping.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the personal identification parameters include phone number, first name and last name of patient, date of birth and email address of patient, and matching of any one of the personal identification parameters confirms a patient's record exists in the database. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , the one or more processors in the cloud-based server devices further configured with instructions to:
 receive a patient thumbnail image communicated from the corneal topography or tomography system;   compare the received patient thumbnail image to existing patient thumbnail images in a database to identify if there are existing topography or tomography data files for a same patient in the database.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , the one or more processors in the cloud-based server devices further configured with instructions to:
 receive a patient conjunctival capillary vessel architecture image communicated from the corneal topography or tomography system;   compare the received patient conjunctival capillary vessel architecture image to existing patient conjunctival capillary vessel architecture image in a database to identify if there are existing topography or tomography data files for a same patient in the database.   
     
     
         14 . A method to perform automatic corneal topography difference mapping, comprising:
 computer-readable instructions stored in one or more memory devices of one or more cloud-based server devices;   one or more processors in the one or more cloud-based server devices configured with the computer-readable instructions to:   receive one or more corneal topography or tomography data files and/or a corneal image for an examined patient from a corneal topography or tomography system;   receive personal identification parameters from captured user personal data communicated from the corneal topography or tomography system;   compare received patient identification parameters to existing patient identification parameters in a database to identify if there are existing topography or tomography data files for a same patient in the database;   if there are no existing topography or tomography data files for the same patient in the database, querying a provider database, a regional database, a national database, a multi-nation database, and/or other foreign nation databases to determine if any of the databases include personal identification parameters matching the received personal identification parameters; and   communicate a message to a provider computing device requesting the provider to verify that the located personal identification parameters correspond to the patient being examined if the received personal identification parameters match personal identification parameters in the provider database, the regional database, the national database, the multi-nation database and/or the other foreign nation databases;   retrieve a prior data file for the patient from the database where the match was found for the received personal identification parameters; and   perform difference mapping by comparing the received topography or tomography data files to the prior topography or tomography data file retrieved from the database where the match was found to generate a topography or tomography difference map.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein an end-user license agreement (EULA) authorizes the medical provider or the database provider to transfer patient personal identification parameters and/or retrieved patient topography or tomography datafiles to the database provider if the patient has moved from one jurisdiction to another. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the EULA authorizes the database provider to directly contact the patient. 
     
     
         17 . A method of receiving patient data for a patient database, comprising:
 reviewing and accepting an end-user license agreement (EULA) for a medical provider software application, the EULA identifying that the medical provider stores personal data of the user in the patient database and also stores user medical examination diagnostic data and images in the patient database;   downloading the medical provider software application to a user's mobile communication device, the medical provider software application including a personal data transfer software application;   receiving a user's personal data and storing the user's personal data in the personal data transfer software application, wherein the user's personal data includes one or more of a user's first name, a user's surname name, a user's cell phone number, a user's physical address, a user's email address, a contact method preference, and/or user's date of birth;   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , further comprising:
 initiating the personal data transfer software application on the user's mobile communication device;   placing the user's mobile communication device in proximity to a near field communication (NFC) transceiver on the medical diagnostic device;   in response to user input to the user's mobile communication device, initiating the personal data transfer software application to authorize transfer of the user's personal data;   transferring the user's personal data to the medical diagnostic device;   receiving, from the medical diagnostic device, the user's personal data transferred via the transfer software application and displaying the user personal data on a screen of the mobile communication device.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , further comprising:
 validating that the owner of the mobile communication is the user transferring the user's personal data by communicating with an identification verification system in the mobile communication device;   verifying the copy of the user personal data received by the medical diagnostic device is correct; and   performing a medical diagnostic procedure on the user;   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising:
 generating, by the medical diagnostic device, one or more medical diagnostic image files and/or one or more medical diagnostic data files;   encrypting, at the medical diagnostic device, the user personal data to create encrypted user personal data;   transferring, by the medical diagnostic device, the encrypted user personal data to a cloud-based server device; and   transferring, by the medical diagnostic device, the one or more medical diagnostic images files and/or the one or more medical diagnostic datafiles to the cloud-based server device; and   storing the encrypted user personal data, the one or more medical diagnostic image files and/or the one or more medical diagnostic datafiles in the patient database of the cloud-based server device.