U.S. patent application number 16/946660 was filed with the patent office on 2021-10-14 for machine learning community-based health assessment.
The applicant listed for this patent is salesforce.com, inc.. Invention is credited to Nadeem Ahmed, Zak Ahmed, Sameer K. Bhatia, Andrew M. Garner.
Application Number | 20210319882 16/946660 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 1000004941707 |
Filed Date | 2021-10-14 |
United States Patent
Application |
20210319882 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Ahmed; Nadeem ; et
al. |
October 14, 2021 |
MACHINE LEARNING COMMUNITY-BASED HEALTH ASSESSMENT
Abstract
Systems and methods for performing health assessment may include
a database system implemented using a server system, the database
system configurable to cause: obtaining, from a database, data
identifying a plurality of cancelled health-related appointments
for a plurality of patient records stored in the database, the
cancelled health-related appointments being associated with a
shared health event; identifying one or more treatments associated
with each cancelled health related appointment; for each cancelled
health related appointment, categorizing the identified one or more
treatments into any one of a plurality of risk categories ranging
from a lowest risk to a highest risk; storing or updating one or
more data objects in the database to identify the categorized one
or more treatments in association with the patient records;
assessing each patient record based on the risk category of the
associated categorized one or more treatments and based on medical
history data stored in the patient record; and communicating
assessment data identifying assessment of each patient record to an
appointment scheduling system implemented using a server system,
the appointment scheduling system configurable to engage the
plurality of patients for return appointments.
Inventors: |
Ahmed; Nadeem; (Mississauga,
CA) ; Garner; Andrew M.; (Orangeville, CA) ;
Ahmed; Zak; (Mississauga, CA) ; Bhatia; Sameer
K.; (Omaha, NE) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
salesforce.com, inc. |
San Francisco |
CA |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
1000004941707 |
Appl. No.: |
16/946660 |
Filed: |
June 30, 2020 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
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63007764 |
Apr 9, 2020 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G16H 10/60 20180101;
G16H 40/20 20180101; G16H 20/00 20180101; G16H 50/30 20180101 |
International
Class: |
G16H 40/20 20060101
G16H040/20; G16H 10/60 20060101 G16H010/60; G16H 50/30 20060101
G16H050/30; G16H 20/00 20060101 G16H020/00 |
Claims
1. A system comprising: a database system implemented using a
server system, the database system configurable to cause:
obtaining, from a database, data identifying a plurality of
cancelled health-related appointments for a plurality of patient
records stored in the database, the cancelled health-related
appointments being associated with a shared health event;
identifying one or more treatments associated with each cancelled
health related appointment; for each cancelled health related
appointment, categorizing the identified one or more treatments
into any one of a plurality of risk categories ranging from a
lowest risk to a highest risk; storing or updating one or more data
objects in the database to identify the categorized one or more
treatments in association with the patient records; assessing each
patient record based on the risk category of the associated
categorized one or more treatments and based on medical history
data stored in the patient record; and communicating assessment
data identifying assessment of each patient record to an
appointment scheduling system implemented using a server system,
the appointment scheduling system configurable to engage the
plurality of patients for return appointments.
2. The system of claim 1, further comprising obtaining, from the
database, data identifying a plurality of treatment information for
a plurality of treatments stored in the database, the treatment
information used to enable categorizing the identified one or more
treatments into any one of the plurality of risk categories.
3. The system of claim 2, further comprising obtaining, from the
database, data identifying a plurality of available resources
required for the plurality of treatments, the data identifying the
plurality of available resources used to enable the appointment
scheduling system to engage the plurality of patients for the
return appointments.
4. The system of claim 3, further comprising: obtaining, from the
database, characteristic information associated with each patient
record from the plurality of patient records; and correlating the
characteristic information associated with each patient record with
the assessment data identifying the assessment of each patient
record.
5. The system of claim 4, further comprising: forming a plurality
of patterns based on said correlating the characteristic
information associated with each patient record with the assessment
data identifying the assessment of each patient record; and
applying the plurality of patterns to allocate the available
resources required for the treatments to the plurality of
patients.
6. The system of claim 5, wherein the characteristic information is
used to form a plurality of population groups, and wherein the
plurality of patterns includes patterns for each of the plurality
of population groups.
7. The system of claim 6, wherein the available resources include
physical resources and human resources, and wherein the
characteristic information includes at least age information,
gender information and ethnic background information.
8. A computer program product for performing health assessment for
a plurality of patients associated with a shared health event
comprising computer-readable program code to be executed by one or
more processors when retrieved from a non-transitory
computer-readable medium, the program code including instructions
to: obtain, from a database associated with a database system
implemented using a server system, data identifying a plurality of
cancelled health-related appointments for a plurality of patient
records stored in the database, the cancelled health-related
appointments being associated with a shared health event; identify
one or more treatments associated with each cancelled health
related appointment; for each cancelled health related appointment,
categorize the identified one or more treatments into any one of a
plurality of risk categories ranging from a lowest risk to a
highest risk; store or update one or more data objects in the
database to identify the categorized one or more treatments in
association with the patient records; assess each patient record
based on the risk category of the associated categorized one or
more treatments and based on medical history data stored in the
patient record; and communicate assessment data identifying
assessment of each patient record to an appointment scheduling
system implemented using a server system, the appointment
scheduling system configurable to engage the plurality of patients
for return appointments.
9. The computer program product of claim 8, further comprising
instructions to obtain, from the database, data identifying a
plurality of treatment information for a plurality of treatments
stored in the database, the treatment information used to enable
categorizing the identified one or more treatments into any one of
the plurality of risk categories.
10. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising
instructions to obtain, from the database, data identifying a
plurality of available resources required for the plurality of
treatments, the data identifying the plurality of available
resources used to enable the appointment scheduling system to
engage the plurality of patients for the return appointments.
11. The computer program product of claim 10, further comprising
instructions to: obtain, from the database, characteristic
information associated with each patient record from the plurality
of patient records; and correlate the characteristic information
associated with each patient record with the assessment data
identifying the assessment of each patient record.
12. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising
instructions to: form a plurality of patterns based on correlating
the characteristic information associated with each patient record
with the assessment data identifying the assessment of each patient
record; and apply the plurality of patterns to allocate the
available resources required for the treatments to the plurality of
patients.
13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the
characteristic information is used to form a plurality of
population groups, and wherein the plurality of patterns includes
patterns for each of the plurality of population groups.
14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the available
resources include physical resources and human resources, and
wherein the characteristic information includes at least age
information, gender information and ethnic background
information.
15. A computer-implemented method for performing health assessment
for a plurality of patients related to a shared health event, the
method comprising: obtaining, from a database associated with a
database system implemented using a server system, data identifying
a plurality of cancelled health-related appointments for a
plurality of patient records stored in the database, the cancelled
health-related appointments being associated with a shared health
event; identifying one or more treatments associated with each
cancelled health related appointment; for each cancelled health
related appointment, categorizing the identified one or more
treatments into any one of a plurality of risk categories ranging
from a lowest risk to a highest risk; storing or updating one or
more data objects in the database to identify the categorized one
or more treatments in association with the patient records;
assessing each patient record based on the risk category of the
associated categorized one or more treatments and based on medical
history data stored in the patient record; and communicating
assessment data identifying assessment of each patient record to an
appointment scheduling system implemented using a server system,
the appointment scheduling system configurable to engage the
plurality of patients for return appointments.
16. The method of claim 15, further comprising obtaining, from the
database, data identifying a plurality of treatment information for
a plurality of treatments stored in the database, the treatment
information used to enable categorizing the identified one or more
treatments into any one of the plurality of risk categories.
17. The method of claim 16, further comprising obtaining, from the
database, data identifying a plurality of available resources
required for the plurality of treatments, the data identifying the
plurality of available resources used to enable the appointment
scheduling system to engage the plurality of patients for the
return appointments.
18. The method of claim 17, further comprising: obtaining, from the
database, characteristic information associated with each patient
record from the plurality of patient records; and correlating the
characteristic information associated with each patient record with
the assessment data identifying the assessment of each patient
record.
19. The method of claim 18, further comprising: forming a plurality
of patterns based on said correlating the characteristic
information associated with each patient record with the assessment
data identifying the assessment of each patient record; and
applying the plurality of patterns to allocate the available
resources required for the treatments to the plurality of
patients.
20. The method of claim 19, wherein the characteristic information
is used to form a plurality of population groups, and wherein the
plurality of patterns includes patterns for each of the plurality
of population groups.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional
Patent Application No. 63007764, filed Apr. 9, 2020 titled
"MANAGING AND PRIORITIZING HEALTHCARE CASES BASED ON AVAILABILITY
OF RESOURCES," which is incorporated by reference herein in its
entirety.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
[0002] A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains
material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright
owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of
the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the
Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise
reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0003] The present disclosure relates generally to data processing
and more specifically relates to processing patient record for
health assessment.
BACKGROUND
[0004] The subject matter discussed in the background section
should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its
mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned
in the background section or associated with the subject matter of
the background section should not be assumed to have been
previously recognized in the prior art.
[0005] The current situation with Covid-19 has caused many medical
appointments including elective surgeries to be cancelled. This
presents a major issue of how the medical care facilities will
handle re-scheduling a huge backlog of patients waiting to be
treated. The longer the situation with Covid-19 continues, the
larger the backlog will become. Traditional approaches of
rescheduling patients by calling each patient one-by-one will
probably take many months or even years to clear the backlog and
therefore will not be acceptable, especially to patients who are in
critical condition.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0006] The included drawings are for illustrative purposes and
serve only to provide examples of possible structures and process
operations for the disclosed techniques. These drawings in no way
limit any changes in form and detail that may be made to
implementations by one skilled in the art without departing from
the spirit and scope of the disclosure.
[0007] FIG. 1 shows a diagram of an example computing system that
may be used with some implementations.
[0008] FIG. 2 shows a diagram of an example network environment
that may be used with some implementations.
[0009] FIG. 3A shows an example healthcare system, in accordance
with some implementations.
[0010] FIG. 3B shows an example healthcare system and its health
assessment module, in accordance with some implementations.
[0011] FIG. 4A shows an example health assessment module with its
patient identification operation, in accordance with some
implementations.
[0012] FIG. 4B shows an example health assessment module with its
treatment need identification operation, in accordance with some
implementations.
[0013] FIG. 5A shows an example health assessment module with its
risk categorizing operations, in accordance with some
implementations.
[0014] FIG. 5B shows an example health assessment module with its
assessment score operations, in accordance with some
implementations.
[0015] FIG. 6A shows an example appointment scheduling system, in
accordance with some implementations.
[0016] FIG. 6B shows an example chart of risk categories, in
accordance with some implementations.
[0017] FIG. 7 is an example flow diagram of a process that may be
used to schedule a plurality of patients for return appointments,
in accordance with some implementations
[0018] FIG. 8A shows a system diagram illustrating architectural
components of an applicable environment, in accordance with some
implementations.
[0019] FIG. 8B shows a system diagram further illustrating
architectural components of an applicable environment, in
accordance with some implementations.
[0020] FIG. 9 shows a system diagram illustrating the architecture
of a multi-tenant database environment, in accordance with some
implementations.
[0021] FIG. 10 shows a system diagram further illustrating the
architecture of a multi-tenant database environment, in accordance
with some implementations.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0022] Some implementations may include systems and methods for
performing health assessment for a plurality of patients whose
appointments for treatments were cancelled due to a shared health
event. An example of a shared health event is a pandemic. The
systems and methods may include reviewing the treatments for the
patients and categorizing the treatments based on a range of risk
categories from a lowest risk category to a highest risk category.
Based on the review of each patient's health record and associated
risk category, an assessment may be determined whether and when a
patient is to be treated. The assessment may then be processed by a
scheduling system to schedule the patients for return appointments.
Assessment data may be evaluated to identify patterns that may be
useful in planning for resources based on different factors.
[0023] Examples of systems and methods associated with performing
health assessment for a plurality of patients will be described
with reference to some implementations. These examples are being
provided solely to add context and aid in the understanding of the
present disclosure. It will thus be apparent to one skilled in the
art that the techniques described herein may be practiced without
some or all of these specific details. In other instances, well
known process operations have not been described in detail in order
to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present disclosure. Other
applications are possible, such that the following examples should
not be taken as definitive or limiting either in scope or
setting.
[0024] In the following detailed description, references are made
to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of the description
and in which are shown, by way of illustration, some
implementations. Although these implementations are described in
sufficient detail to enable one skilled in the art to practice the
disclosure, it is understood that these examples are not limiting,
such that other implementations may be used and changes may be made
without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.
[0025] As used herein, the term "multi-tenant database system"
refers to those systems in which various elements of hardware and
software of the database system may be shared by one or more
customers. For example, a given application server may
simultaneously process requests for a great number of customers,
and a given database table may store rows for a potentially much
greater number of customers.
[0026] The described subject matter may be implemented in the
context of any computer-implemented system, such as a
software-based system, a database system, a multi-tenant
environment, or the like. Moreover, the described subject matter
may be implemented in connection with two or more separate and
distinct computer-implemented systems that cooperate and
communicate with one another. One or more examples may be
implemented in numerous ways, including as a process, an apparatus,
a system, a device, a method, a computer readable medium such as a
computer readable storage medium containing computer readable
instructions or computer program code, or as a computer program
product comprising a computer usable medium having a computer
readable program code embodied therein.
[0027] The disclosed implementations may include a
computer-implemented method to perform health assessment for a
plurality of patients and may include obtaining, from a database,
data identifying a plurality of cancelled health-related
appointments for a plurality of patient records stored in the
database, the cancelled health-related appointments being
associated with a shared health event; identifying one or more
treatments associated with each cancelled health related
appointment; for each cancelled health related appointment,
categorizing the identified one or more treatments into any one of
a plurality of risk categories ranging from a lowest risk to a
highest risk; storing or updating one or more data objects in the
database to identify the categorized one or more treatments in
association with the patient records; assessing each patient record
based on the risk category of the associated categorized one or
more treatments and based on medical history data stored in the
patient record; and communicating assessment data identifying the
assessment of each patient record to an appointment scheduling
system implemented using a server system, the appointment
scheduling system configurable to engage the plurality of patients
for return appointments.
[0028] The disclosed implementations may include a system for
performing health assessment for a plurality of patients and may
include a database system implemented using a server system, the
database system configurable to cause obtaining, from a database,
data identifying a plurality of cancelled health-related
appointments for a plurality of patient records stored in the
database, the cancelled health-related appointments being
associated with a shared health event; identifying one or more
treatments associated with each cancelled health related
appointment; for each cancelled health related appointment,
categorizing the identified one or more treatments into any one of
a plurality of risk categories ranging from a lowest-risk category
to a highest-risk category; storing or updating one or more data
objects in the database to identify the categorized one or more
treatments in association with the patient records; assessing each
patient record based on the risk category of the associated
categorized one or more treatments and based on medical history
data stored in the patient record; and communicating assessment
data identifying the assessment of each patient record to an
appointment scheduling system implemented using a server system,
the appointment scheduling system configurable to engage the
plurality of patients for return appointments.
[0029] The disclosed implementations may include a computer program
product comprising computer-readable program code to be executed by
one or more processors of a server computing system when retrieved
from a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the program code
including instructions to obtain, from a database, data identifying
a plurality of cancelled health-related appointments for a
plurality of patient records stored in the database, the cancelled
health-related appointments being associated with a shared health
event; identify one or more treatments associated with each
cancelled health related appointment; for each cancelled health
related appointment, categorize the identified one or more
treatments into any one of a plurality of risk categories ranging
from a lowest risk to a highest risk; store or update one or more
data objects in the database to identify the categorized one or
more treatments in association with the patient records; assess
each patient record based on the risk category of the associated
categorized one or more treatments and based on medical history
data stored in the patient record; and communicate assessment data
identifying the assessment of each patient record to an appointment
scheduling system implemented using a server system, the
appointment.
[0030] While one or more implementations and techniques are
described with reference to performing health assessment for a
plurality of patients implemented in a system having an application
server providing a front end for an on-demand database service
capable of supporting multiple tenants, the one or more
implementations and techniques are not limited to multi-tenant
databases nor deployment on application servers. Implementations
may be practiced using other database architectures, i.e.,
ORACLE.RTM., DB2.RTM. by IBM and the like without departing from
the scope of the claimed subject matter. Further, some
implementations may include using Hardware Security Module (HSM), a
physical computing device that safeguards and manages digital keys
for strong authentication, including, for example, the keys used to
encrypt secrets associated with the data elements stored in the
data stores. It may be noted that the term "data store" may refer
to source control systems, file storage, virtual file systems,
non-relational databases (such as NoSQL), etc.
[0031] Any of the above implementations may be used alone or
together with one another in any combination. The one or more
implementations encompassed within this specification may also
include examples that are only partially mentioned or alluded to or
are not mentioned or alluded to at all in this brief summary or in
the abstract. Although various implementations may have been
motivated by various deficiencies with the prior art, which may be
discussed or alluded to in one or more places in the specification,
the implementations do not necessarily address any of these
deficiencies. In other words, different implementations may address
different deficiencies that may be discussed in the specification.
Some implementations may only partially address some deficiencies
or just one deficiency that may be discussed in the specification,
and some implementations may not address any of these
deficiencies.
[0032] FIG. 1 is a diagram of an example computing system that may
be used with some implementations. In diagram 102, computing system
110 may be used by a user to establish a connection with a server
computing system. The computing system 110 is only one example of a
suitable computing system, such as a mobile computing system, and
is not intended to suggest any limitation as to the scope of use or
functionality of the design. Neither should the computing system
110 be interpreted as having any dependency or requirement relating
to any one or combination of components illustrated. The design is
operational with numerous other general-purpose or special-purpose
computing systems. Examples of well-known computing systems,
environments, and/or configurations that may be suitable for use
with the design include, but are not limited to, personal
computers, server computers, hand-held or laptop devices,
multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, set top
boxes, programmable consumer electronics, mini-computers, mainframe
computers, distributed computing environments that include any of
the above systems or devices, and the like. For example, the
computing system 110 may be implemented as a mobile computing
system such as one that is configured to run with an operating
system (e.g., iOS) developed by Apple Inc. of Cupertino, California
or an operating system (e.g., Android) that is developed by Google
Inc. of Mountain View, Calif.
[0033] Some implementations may be described in the general context
of computing system executable instructions, such as program
modules, being executed by a computer. Generally, program modules
include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures,
etc. that performs particular tasks or implement particular
abstract data types. Those skilled in the art can implement the
description and/or figures herein as computer-executable
instructions, which can be embodied on any form of computing
machine program product discussed below.
[0034] Some implementations may also be practiced in distributed
computing environments where tasks are performed by remote
processing devices that are linked through a communications
network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules
may be located in both local and remote computer storage media
including memory storage devices.
[0035] Referring to FIG. 1, the computing system 110 may include,
but are not limited to, a processing unit 120 having one or more
processing cores, a system memory 130, and a system bus 121 that
couples with various system components including the system memory
130 to the processing unit 120. The system bus 121 may be any of
several types of bus structures including a memory bus or memory
controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a
variety of bus architectures. By way of example, and not
limitation, such architectures include Industry Standard
Architecture (ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus,
Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, Video Electronics Standards Association
(VESA) locale bus, and Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus
also known as Mezzanine bus.
[0036] The computing system 110 typically includes a variety of
computer program product. Computer program product can be any
available media that can be accessed by computing system 110 and
includes both volatile and nonvolatile media, removable and
non-removable media. By way of example, and not limitation,
computer program product may store information such as computer
readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other
data. Computer storage media include, but are not limited to, RAM,
ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM,
digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage,
magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other
magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to
store the desired information and which can be accessed by
computing system 110. Communication media typically embodies
computer readable instructions, data structures, or program
modules.
[0037] The system memory 130 may include computer storage media in
the form of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory such as read only
memory (ROM) 131 and random access memory (RAM) 132. A basic
input/output system (BIOS) 133, containing the basic routines that
help to transfer information between elements within computing
system 110, such as during start-up, is typically stored in ROM
131. RAM 132 typically contains data and/or program modules that
are immediately accessible to and/or presently being operated on by
processing unit 120. By way of example, and not limitation, FIG. 1
also illustrates operating system 134, application programs 135,
other program modules 136, and program data 137.
[0038] The computing system 110 may also include other
removable/non-removable volatile/nonvolatile computer storage
media. By way of example only, FIG. 1 also illustrates a hard disk
drive 141 that reads from or writes to non-removable, nonvolatile
magnetic media, a magnetic disk drive 151 that reads from or writes
to a removable, nonvolatile magnetic disk 152, and an optical disk
drive 155 that reads from or writes to a removable, nonvolatile
optical disk 156 such as, for example, a CD ROM or other optical
media. Other removable/non-removable, volatile/nonvolatile computer
storage media that can be used in the exemplary operating
environment include, but are not limited to, USB drives and
devices, magnetic tape cassettes, flash memory cards, digital
versatile disks, digital video tape, solid state RAM, solid state
ROM, and the like. The hard disk drive 141 is typically connected
to the system bus 121 through a non-removable memory interface such
as interface 140, and magnetic disk drive 151 and optical disk
drive 155 are typically connected to the system bus 121 by a
removable memory interface, such as interface 150.
[0039] The drives and their associated computer storage media
discussed above and illustrated in FIG. 1, provide storage of
computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules
and other data for the computing system 110. In FIG. 1, for
example, hard disk drive 141 is illustrated as storing operating
system 144, application programs 145, other program modules 146,
and program data 147. Note that these components can either be the
same as or different from operating system 134, application
programs 135, other program modules 136, and program data 137. The
operating system 144, the application programs 145, the other
program modules 146, and the program data 147 are given different
numeric identification here to illustrate that, at a minimum, they
are different copies.
[0040] A user may enter commands and information into the computing
system 110 through input devices such as a keyboard 162, a
microphone 163, and a pointing device 161, such as a mouse,
trackball or touch pad or touch screen. Other input devices (not
shown) may include a joystick, game pad, scanner, or the like.
These and other input devices are often connected to the processing
unit 120 through a user input interface 160 that is coupled with
the system bus 121, but may be connected by other interface and bus
structures, such as a parallel port, game port or a universal
serial bus (USB). A monitor 191 or other type of display device is
also connected to the system bus 121 via an interface, such as a
video interface 190. In addition to the monitor, computers may also
include other peripheral output devices such as speakers 197 and
printer 196, which may be connected through an output peripheral
interface 190.
[0041] The computing system 110 may operate in a networked
environment using logical connections to one or more remote
computers, such as a remote computer 180. The remote computer 180
may be a personal computer, a hand-held device, a server, a router,
a network PC, a peer device or other common network node, and
typically includes many or all of the elements described above
relative to the computing system 110. The logical connections
depicted in FIG. 1 include a local area network (LAN) 171 and a
wide area network (WAN) 173 but may also include other networks.
Such networking environments are commonplace in offices,
enterprise-wide computer networks, intranets and the Internet.
[0042] FIG. 1 includes a local area network (LAN) 171 and a wide
area network (WAN) 173 but may also include other networks. Such
networking environments are commonplace in offices, enterprise-wide
computer networks, intranets and the Internet.
[0043] When used in a LAN networking environment, the computing
system 110 may be connected to the LAN 171 through a network
interface or adapter 170. When used in a WAN networking
environment, the computing system 110 typically includes a modem
172 or other means for establishing communications over the WAN
173, such as the Internet. The modem 172, which may be internal or
external, may be connected to the system bus 121 via the user-input
interface 160, or other appropriate mechanism. In a networked
environment, program modules depicted relative to the computing
system 110, or portions thereof, may be stored in a remote memory
storage device. By way of example, and not limitation, FIG. 1
illustrates remote application programs 185 as residing on remote
computer 180. It will be appreciated that the network connections
shown are exemplary and other means of establishing a
communications link between the computers may be used.
[0044] It should be noted that some implementations may be carried
out on a computing system such as that described with respect to
FIG. 1. However, some implementations may be carried out on a
server, a computer devoted to message handling, handheld devices,
or on a distributed system in which different portions of the
present design may be carried out on different parts of the
distributed computing system.
[0045] Another device that may be coupled with the system bus 121
is a power supply such as a battery or a Direct Current (DC) power
supply) and Alternating Current (AC) adapter circuit. The DC power
supply may be a battery, a fuel cell, or similar DC power source
needs to be recharged on a periodic basis. The communication module
(or modem) 172 may employ a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) to
establish a wireless communication channel. The communication
module 172 may implement a wireless networking standard such as
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11
standard, IEEE std. 802.11-1999, published by IEEE in 1999.
[0046] Examples of mobile computing systems may be a laptop
computer, a tablet computer, a Netbook, a smart phone, a personal
digital assistant, or other similar device with on board processing
power and wireless communications ability that is powered by a
Direct Current (DC) power source that supplies DC voltage to the
mobile computing system and that is solely within the mobile
computing system and needs to be recharged on a periodic basis,
such as a fuel cell or a battery.
[0047] FIG. 2 shows a diagram of an example network environment
that may be used with some implementations. Diagram 200 includes
computing systems 290 and 291. One or more of the computing systems
290 and 291 may be a mobile computing system. The computing systems
290 and 291 may be connected to the network 250 via a cellular
connection or via a Wi-Fi router (not shown). The network 250 may
be the Internet. The computing systems 290 and 291 may be coupled
with server computing systems 255 via the network 250. The server
computing system 255 may be coupled with database 270.
[0048] Each of the computing systems 290 and 291 may include an
application module such as module 208 or 214. For example, a user
may use the computing system 290 and the application module 208 to
connect to and communicate with the server computing system 255 and
log into application 257 (e.g., a Salesforce.com.RTM.
application).
[0049] For some implementations, one of the computing systems 290
and 291 may be used by an administrator to initiate the process of
performing the health assessment. The administrator may be
associated with a healthcare system 305 (shown in FIG. 3A). The
administrator may log into the healthcare system 305 via the
application 257. The administrator may then launch the application
260 (also referred to as health assessment module 260). The
application or health assessment module 260 may be coupled with
database 270 which may be configured to store patient health
records associated with a plurality of patients. The database 270
may span across multiple database systems and may include multiple
databases that may be used by the health assessment module 260 to
assess the plurality of patients. For some implementations, the
database 270 may be configured to store appointment information of
the plurality of patients. For some implementations, the
appointment information may include information about cancelled
appointments due to a shared-health event.
[0050] FIG. 3A shows an example healthcare system, in accordance
with some implementations. The healthcare system 305 in diagram 300
may be associated with a hospital, a medical group, a system of
hospitals or with any health care provider providing health care
related services to a plurality of patients. For example, the
healthcare system 305 may be implemented as a tenant in a
multi-tenant environment and may be associated with a system having
an application server providing a front end for an on-demand
database service capable of supporting multiple tenants. The
healthcare system 305 may be part of one system, or it may span
several systems across multiple geographical areas.
[0051] For some implementations, the healthcare system 305 may be
configured to cause performing operations related to managing
available physical resources such as equipments and beds 335. For
some implementations, the healthcare system 305 may be configured
to cause performing operations related to managing available human
resources such as treating specialists 325 and supporting staff
330. For some implementations, the healthcare system 305 may be
configured to cause performing operations related to patient
appointment scheduling 340 to schedule a plurality of patients 320
for treatment, and operations related to billing, finance or
insurance payment 310 to process billing and to collect payments
for treatments provided to the plurality of patients 320.
[0052] For some implementations, the healthcare system 305 may be
configured to cause accessing an electronic health record (EHR) 315
to access patient health records for the plurality of patients 320.
The EHR 315 may also be referred to as electronic medical record
(EMR). The EHR 315 may be configured to store patient health
records of patients associated with the healthcare system 305. For
example, a patient health record may include information about a
patient's most current health condition as well as information
about past health condition. For some implementations, a patient
health record may include information about past surgeries, type of
treatments received, immunization dates, allergies, radiology
images, laboratory and test results, hospital stay, past
appointments, and insurance coverage information when applicable.
For some implementations, a patient health record may also include
characteristic information about a patient including, for example,
age, racial background, education background, gender, employment
information and current contact information including mailing
address, telephone number and email address.
[0053] For some implementations, when there is a shared health
event such as, for example, a pandemic, the healthcare system 305
may be configured to cause receiving shared health event update 345
from one or more of local, national and international health
organization such as, for example, Center for Disease Control (CDC)
and World Health Organization (WHO). For example, the shared health
event update 345 may include information about the different
recovery phases associated with the shared health event.
[0054] FIG. 3B shows an example healthcare system and its health
assessment module, in accordance with some implementations. The
healthcare system 305 in diagram 350 may be configured to cause
performing health assessment of a plurality of patients within a
certain time frame so that the plurality of patients can receive
treatments delayed by a shared health event. For example, at or
near the end of the shared health event, the patients whose
treatments were delayed may need to be treated as soon as possible
if their condition fit certain criteria. The health assessment
operations may be performed by the health assessment module 260.
The health assessment module 260 may be configured to evaluate each
patient based on multiple factors such that an order may be
established to schedule the plurality of patients to return for the
treatments.
[0055] FIG. 4A shows an example health assessment module with its
patient identification operation, in accordance with some
implementations. As shown in diagram 400, the health assessment
module 260 may be configured to include a patient identification
module 410. For some implementations, when the treatments of the
plurality of patients are delayed by the shared health event, their
patient records in the EHR 315 may be updated. For some
implementations, the patient identification module 410 may be
configured to retrieve patient health records from the EHR 315 and
identify the patients whose health care appointments were cancelled
due to a shared health event. For example, the EHR 315 may include
information about the cancelled appointment and the type of
treatment associated with the cancelled appointment. It may be
possible that not every patient health record included in the EHR
315 is related to a cancelled appointment due to the shared health
event. As such, the patient identification module 410 may be
configured to evaluate each of the patient health records in the
EHR 315 to identify those patient health records that are related
to cancelled appointments. The information about these patients may
be stored as patients with cancelled appointments 420.
[0056] FIG. 4B shows an example health assessment module with its
treatment need identification operation, in accordance with some
implementations. As shown in diagram 450, the health assessment
module 260 may be configured to include a treatment need
identification module 455. The treatment needs associated with the
cancelled appointments may vary with each patient. For some
implementations, the treatment need identification module 455 may
be configured to evaluate the patient record of each of the
patients with the cancelled appointments 420 and determine the
treatment need associated with the cancelled appointments. For
example, one patient's cancelled appointment may be related to
removing kidney stones, while another patient's cancelled
appointment may be related to a colonoscopy. The result of the
operations may be stored in patient treatment need information
460.
[0057] FIG. 5A shows an example health assessment module with its
risk categorizing operations, in accordance with some
implementations. As shown in diagram 500, the health assessment
module 260 may be configured to include a risk categorization
module 505. The risk categorization module 505 may be configured to
receive the patient treatment need information 460 and treatment
information 510. For some implementations, the risk categorization
module 505 may be configured to use the treatment information 510
to categorize the treatment needs into different risk categories. A
risk category may be used to refer to the risk to the health of the
patient if treatment is delayed. For example, some patients may
need immediate attention because of the potential high risk
associated with their treatment needs, while some other patients
may need less immediate attention because of the potential low risk
associated with their treatment needs.
[0058] The treatment information 510 may be established based on
prior experience treating patients having similar treatment needs
or based on recommendation of experts in the same field. For
example, the treatment information 510 may include information
indicating a colonoscopy is a low-risk category and a chemotherapy
treatment is a high-risk category. Based on the patient treatment
need information 460 and the treatment information 510, the risk
categorization module 505 may assign a risk category to each
patient. There may be a range of many different risk categories
from a lowest risk to a highest risk. For example, there may be a
low risk, a medium risk and a high risk. The risk categories of the
patients may be stored in the patient risk category information
515.
[0059] FIG. 5B shows an example health assessment module with its
assessment score operations, in accordance with some
implementations. As shown in diagram 550, the health assessment
module 260 may be configured to include an assessment score module
560. The assessment score module 560 may be configured to receive
the patient risk category information 515 and patient health
history information 555. The patient health history information 555
may be accessed from the EHR 315 (shown in FIG. 3A). For some
implementations, the assessment score module 560 may be configured
to evaluate the patient health history information 555 for each
patient associated with the patient risk category information 515.
Evaluating the patient health history information 555 for a patient
may include evaluating the patient's prior treatments. For some
implementations, evaluating the patient health history information
555 for a patient may also include determining one or more of the
patient's age, ethnic background, gender and geographic location
where the patient is residing to determine an assessment score. For
example, a patient who is healthy and associated with a high-risk
category may be able to return for an appointment earlier than a
patient who is not health and associated with a low-risk category.
Based on the evaluation, the assessment score module 560 may assign
each patient an assessment score. For example, a patient assigned
with a higher assessment score may be able to return for an
appointment sooner than a patient with a patient assigned with a
lower assessment score.
[0060] For some implementations, the healthcare system 305 may be
configured to correlate the characteristic information about the
patients, their treatment needs and their assessment scores stored
in the EHR 315 to derive at treatment plans or resource allocation
plans that may be applicable to different communities or different
population groups in a community. As more data is collected,
patterns may be established from the outcome of the correlation
operations. The patterns may be analyzed to learn about coping with
changes in the community with respect to a certain health condition
and population groups. For example, using the characteristic
information, the correlation may be performed based on one or more
of gender, ethnicity, race, age group and geographical areas. When
available, other characteristic information may also be used
including, for example, education background, income, etc. An
example of a population group may be all male patients between the
age of 45 and 65. An example of a pattern may be males of European
origin are more likely to have high blood pressure if they live on
the West coast of the United States. The correlation may be
performed on a continuous basis based on existing data as well as
data collected on new patients added to the EHR 315. This may be
useful to organizations (e.g., hospitals) associated with the
healthcare system 305 in terms of managing available resources to
provide more efficient services to the patients. This may also be
useful in driving operational efficiency in both hospital and
surgical facilities.
[0061] FIG. 6A shows an example appointment scheduling system, in
accordance with some implementations. The appointment scheduling
system 615 shown in diagram 600 may be coupled with the health
assessment module 260 shown in FIG. 3B. The appointment scheduling
system 615 may be part of the healthcare system 305 (shown in FIG.
3A and FIG. 3B), or it may be separate from the healthcare system
305. For some implementations, the appointment scheduling system
615 may be configured to communicate with a plurality of patents
and schedule the plurality of patients for return appointments. For
some implementations, the appointment scheduling system 615 may be
configured to receive the assessment scores 575 (also shown in FIG.
5B) and schedule the return appoints based on the assessment scores
575. For example, a patient with a high assessment score may be
scheduled for a return appointment prior to a patient with a lower
assessment score. For some implementations, the appointment
scheduling system 615 may be configured to receive resource
availability information 605 and may take into consideration of the
resource availability when scheduling a patient for a return
appointment. For example, a surgery that requires a patient to stay
in the hospital for two days post-surgery may not be scheduled when
the hospital does not have a bed to accommodate the patient. As
another example, a surgery that requires a heart specialist at one
hospital may not be scheduled when the heart specialist is already
scheduled to be at another hospital. When the appointments are
confirmed and scheduled with the patients, the appointment
scheduling system 615 may then generate an appointment report 620
that includes all the return appointments. Using the operations of
the health assessment module 260 and the appointment scheduling
system 615 may enable the healthcare system 305 to quickly and
efficiently schedule a plurality of patients for return
appointments as related to a shared health event.
[0062] For some implementations, the appointment scheduling system
615 may be configured to evaluate the risk of patients not showing
up for appointments. For example, this may be determined based on
past activities of the patients as related to missing appointments.
For some implementations, the appointment scheduling system 615 may
be configured to perform reminder operations to remind the patients
who have past histories of missing appointments. This may help
reducing costs associated with missing appointments and a timely
confirmation of a potential missing appointment may enable the
appointment scheduling system 615 to find a replacement patient
from the patients with cancelled appointments 420.
[0063] FIG. 6B shows an example chart of risk categories, in
accordance with some implementations. The chart 680 includes
several columns with column 681 showing the risk or tier
categories, columns 682 and 684 showing different types of
treatment needs and treatment examples, column 685 showing action
to be taken, and column 683 showing location options where the
different treatments can be provided to the patients. As shown in
column 681, the risk categories may be implemented as tiers such as
tier 690 (tiers 1A and 1B) corresponding to a low-risk category,
tier 694 (tiers 2A and 2B) corresponding to a medium-risk category,
and tier 698 (tiers 3A and 3B) corresponding to a high-risk
category. As shown in column 682 and 684, a tier 1A category may
correspond to low acuity treatment such as colonoscopy, and a tier
3A category may correspond to high acuity treatment such as most
cancer treatments.
[0064] The chart 680 also shows a mapping between a category
(column 681) and an action to be performed (column 685) as related
to scheduling a patient for a return appointment. For example, the
action may include postponing a surgery (colonoscopy) and not
postponing a surgery (high risk cancer). The chart 680 may also be
used to map a category (column 681) to a location (column 683)
where a treatment may be provided. For example, the location may be
an ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) or a Hospital Outpatient
Department (HOPD). Treatments provided to patients at an ASC may be
less costly than treatments provided inside a hospital setting, and
treatments provided at a HOPD may be more costly than treatment
provided at a doctor office due to the HOPD having more access to
resources and more capabilities.
[0065] It may be noted that although the chart 680 shows the
different risk categories, it does not show the operations that may
be performed to determine the risk categories (shown in FIG. 5A) or
the operations that may be performed to determine the assessment
score (shown in FIG. 5B). Further, the chart 680 may not show the
operations that associate the risk categories to a plurality of
patients whose appointments were cancelled because of a
share-health event (shown in FIGS. 4B and 5A) or the operations
that associate an appointment scheduling system with the assessment
scores of the patients (as shown in FIG. 6A).
[0066] FIG. 7 is an example flow diagram of a process that may be
used to schedule a plurality of patients for return appointments,
in accordance with some implementations. The process may be
performed by a healthcare system and its associated modules. The
plurality of patients may include those whose appointments were
canceled because of the shared health event such as, for example, a
pandemic. For some implementations, the process may be performed
for all of these patients independent of the type of treatments
they may need. For example, a patient who needs a minor surgery may
be evaluated using the same approach as a patient who needs a major
surgery.
[0067] At block 705, the patients whose healthcare appointments
were cancelled because of a shared health event may be identified.
This may require accessing an EHR such as the EHR 315 described in
FIG. 3A. At block 710, the treatment need associated with each
patient may be identified. For example, a treatment need may be a
colonoscopy. At block 715, a risk category may be associated with a
patient based on the patient's treatment need and treatment
information. For example, a colonoscopy may be considered a
low-risk operation, while a cancer-related surgery may be
considered a high-risk operation. At block 720, an assessment score
may be assigned to a patient based on the patient's associated risk
category and based on the patient's health history. At block 725,
the assessment scores of all the patients may be communicated to a
scheduling system to schedule the patients for their return
appointments.
[0068] FIG. 8A shows a system diagram 800 illustrating
architectural components of an on-demand service environment, in
accordance with some implementations. A client machine located in
the cloud 804 (or Internet) may communicate with the on-demand
service environment via one or more edge routers 808 and 812. The
edge routers may communicate with one or more core switches 820 and
824 via firewall 816. The core switches may communicate with a load
balancer 828, which may distribute server load over different pods,
such as the pods 840 and 844. The pods 840 and 844, which may each
include one or more servers and/or other computing resources, may
perform data processing and other operations used to provide
on-demand Services. Communication with the pods may be conducted
via pod switches 832 and 836. Components of the on-demand service
environment may communicate with a database storage system 856 via
a database firewall 848 and a database switch 852.
[0069] As shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B, accessing an on-demand service
environment may involve communications transmitted among a variety
of different hardware and/or software components. Further, the
on-demand service environment 800 is a simplified representation of
an actual on-demand service environment. For example, while only
one or two devices of each type are shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B, some
implementations of an on-demand service environment may include
anywhere from one to many devices of each type. Also, the on-demand
service environment need not include each device shown in FIGS. 8A
and 8B or may include additional devices not shown in FIGS. 8A and
8B.
[0070] Moreover, one or more of the devices in the on-demand
service environment 800 may be implemented on the same physical
device or on different hardware. Some devices may be implemented
using hardware or a combination of hardware and software. Thus,
terms such as "data processing apparatus," "machine," "server" and
"device" as used herein are not limited to a single hardware
device, but rather include any hardware and software configured to
provide the described functionality.
[0071] The cloud 804 is intended to refer to a data network or
plurality of data networks, often including the Internet. Client
machines located in the cloud 804 may communicate with the
on-demand service environment to access services provided by the
on-demand service environment. For example, client machines may
access the on-demand service environment to retrieve, store, edit,
and/or process information.
[0072] In some implementations, the edge routers 808 and 812 route
packets between the cloud 804 and other components of the on-demand
service environment 800. The edge routers 808 and 812 may employ
the Border Gateway Protocol (B GP). The B GP is the core routing
protocol of the Internet. The edge routers 808 and 812 may maintain
a table of IP networks or `prefixes` which designate network
reachability among autonomous systems on the Internet.
[0073] In one or more implementations, the firewall 816 may protect
the inner components of the on-demand service environment 800 from
Internet traffic. The firewall 816 may block, permit, or deny
access to the inner components of the on-demand service environment
800 based upon a set of rules and other criteria. The firewall 816
may act as one or more of a packet filter, an application gateway,
a stateful filter, a proxy server, or any other type of
firewall.
[0074] In some implementations, the core switches 820 and 824 are
high-capacity switches that transfer packets within the on-demand
service environment 800. The core switches 820 and 824 may be
configured as network bridges that quickly route data between
different components within the on-demand service environment. In
some implementations, the use of two or more core switches 820 and
824 may provide redundancy and/or reduced latency.
[0075] In some implementations, the pods 840 and 844 may perform
the core data processing and service functions provided by the
on-demand service environment. Each pod may include various types
of hardware and/or software computing resources. An example of the
pod architecture is discussed in greater detail with reference to
FIG. 8B.
[0076] In some implementations, communication between the pods 840
and 844 may be conducted via the pod switches 832 and 836. The pod
switches 832 and 836 may facilitate communication between the pods
840 and 844 and client machines located in the cloud 804, for
example via core switches 820 and 824. Also, the pod switches 832
and 836 may facilitate communication between the pods 840 and 844
and the database storage 856.
[0077] In some implementations, the load balancer 828 may
distribute workload between the pods 840 and 844. Balancing the
on-demand service requests between the pods may assist in improving
the use of resources, increasing throughput, reducing response
times, and/or reducing overhead. The load balancer 828 may include
multilayer switches to analyze and forward traffic.
[0078] In some implementations, access to the database storage 856
may be guarded by a database firewall 848. The database firewall
848 may act as a computer application firewall operating at the
database application layer of a protocol stack. The database
firewall 848 may protect the database storage 856 from application
attacks such as structure query language (SQL) injection, database
rootkits, and unauthorized information disclosure.
[0079] In some implementations, the database firewall 848 may
include a host using one or more forms of reverse proxy services to
proxy traffic before passing it to a gateway router. The database
firewall 848 may inspect the contents of database traffic and block
certain content or database requests. The database firewall 848 may
work on the SQL application level atop the TCP/IP stack, managing
applications' connection to the database or SQL management
interfaces as well as intercepting and enforcing packets traveling
to or from a database network or application interface.
[0080] In some implementations, communication with the database
storage system 856 may be conducted via the database switch 852.
The multi-tenant database system 856 may include more than one
hardware and/or software components for handling database queries.
Accordingly, the database switch 852 may direct database queries
transmitted by other components of the on-demand service
environment (e.g., the pods 840 and 844) to the correct components
within the database storage system 856.In some implementations, the
database storage system 856 is an on-demand database system shared
by many different organizations. The on-demand database system may
employ a multi-tenant approach, a virtualized approach, or any
other type of database approach. An on-demand database system is
discussed in greater detail with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10.
[0081] FIG. 8B shows a system diagram illustrating the architecture
of the pod 844, in accordance with one implementation. The pod 844
may be used to render services to a user of the on-demand service
environment 800. In some implementations, each pod may include a
variety of servers and/or other systems. The pod 844 includes one
or more content batch servers 864, content search servers 868,
query servers 882, Fileforce servers 886, access control system
(ACS) servers 880, batch servers 884, and app servers 888. Also,
the pod 844 includes database instances 890, quick file systems
(QFS) 892, and indexers 894. In one or more implementations, some
or all communication between the servers in the pod 844 may be
transmitted via the switch 836.
[0082] In some implementations, the application servers 888 may
include a hardware and/or software framework dedicated to the
execution of procedures (e.g., programs, routines, scripts) for
supporting the construction of applications provided by the
on-demand service environment 800 via the pod 844. Some such
procedures may include operations for providing the services
described herein. The content batch servers 864 may request
internal to the pod. These requests may be long-running and/or not
tied to a particular customer. For example, the content batch
servers 864 may handle requests related to log mining, cleanup
work, and maintenance tasks.
[0083] The content search servers 868 may provide query and indexer
functions. For example, the functions provided by the content
search servers 868 may allow users to search through content stored
in the on-demand service environment. The Fileforce servers 886 may
manage requests information stored in the Fileforce storage 898.
The Fileforce storage 898 may store information such as documents,
images, and basic large objects (BLOBs). By managing requests for
information using the Fileforce servers 886, the image footprint on
the database may be reduced.
[0084] The query servers 882 may be used to retrieve information
from one or more file systems. For example, the query system 872
may receive requests for information from the app servers 888 and
then transmit information queries to the NFS 896 located outside
the pod. The pod 844 may share a database instance 890 configured
as a multi-tenant environment in which different organizations
share access to the same database. Additionally, services rendered
by the pod 844 may require various hardware and/or software
resources. In some implementations, the ACS servers 880 may control
access to data, hardware resources, or software resources.
[0085] In some implementations, the batch servers 884 may process
batch jobs, which are used to run tasks at specified times. Thus,
the batch servers 884 may transmit instructions to other servers,
such as the app servers 888, to trigger the batch jobs. For some
implementations, the QFS 892 may be an open source file system
available from Sun Microsystems.RTM. of Santa Clara, California.
The QFS may serve as a rapid-access file system for storing and
accessing information available within the pod 844. The QFS 892 may
support some volume management capabilities, allowing many disks to
be grouped together into a file system. File system metadata can be
kept on a separate set of disks, which may be useful for streaming
applications where long disk seeks cannot be tolerated. Thus, the
QFS system may communicate with one or more content search servers
868 and/or indexers 894 to identify, retrieve, move, and/or update
data stored in the network file systems 896 and/or other storage
systems.
[0086] In some implementations, one or more query servers 882 may
communicate with the NFS 896 to retrieve and/or update information
stored outside of the pod 844. The NFS 896 may allow servers
located in the pod 844 to access information to access files over a
network in a manner similar to how local storage is accessed. In
some implementations, queries from the query servers 882 may be
transmitted to the NFS 896 via the load balancer 820, which may
distribute resource requests over various resources available in
the on-demand service environment. The NFS 896 may also communicate
with the QFS 892 to update the information stored on the NFS 896
and/or to provide information to the QFS 892 for use by servers
located within the pod 844.
[0087] In some implementations, the pod may include one or more
database instances 890. The database instance 890 may transmit
information to the QFS 892. When information is transmitted to the
QFS, it may be available for use by servers within the pod 844
without requiring an additional database call. In some
implementations, database information may be transmitted to the
indexer 894. Indexer 894 may provide an index of information
available in the database 890 and/or QFS 892. The index information
may be provided to Fileforce servers 886 and/or the QFS 892.
[0088] FIG. 9 shows a block diagram of an environment 910 wherein
an on-demand database service might be used, in accordance with
some implementations. Environment 910 includes an on-demand
database service 916. User system 912 may be any machine or system
that is used by a user to access a database user system. For
example, any of user systems 912 can be a handheld computing
system, a mobile phone, a laptop computer, a workstation, and/or a
network of computing systems. As illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 10,
user systems 912 might interact via a network 914 with the
on-demand database service 916.
[0089] An on-demand database service, such as system 916, is a
database system that is made available to outside users that do not
need to necessarily be concerned with building and/or maintaining
the database system, but instead may be available for their use
when the users need the database system (e.g., on the demand of the
users). Some on-demand database services may store information from
one or more tenants stored into tables of a common database image
to form a multi-tenant database system (MTS). Accordingly,
"on-demand database service 916" and "system 916" will be used
interchangeably herein. A database image may include one or more
database objects. A relational database management system (RDBMS)
or the equivalent may execute storage and retrieval of information
against the database object(s). Application platform 918 may be a
framework that allows the applications of system 916 to run, such
as the hardware and/or software, e.g., the operating system. In an
implementation, on-demand database service 916 may include an
application platform 918 that enables creation, managing and
executing one or more applications developed by the provider of the
on-demand database service, users accessing the on-demand database
service via user systems 912, or third party application developers
accessing the on-demand database service via user systems 912.
[0090] One arrangement for elements of system 916 is shown in FIG.
9, including a network interface 920, application platform 918,
tenant data storage 922 for tenant data 923, system data storage
924 for system data 925 accessible to system 916 and possibly
multiple tenants, program code 926 for implementing various
functions of system 916, and a process space 928 for executing MTS
system processes and tenant-specific processes, such as running
applications as part of an application hosting service. Additional
processes that may execute on system 916 include database indexing
processes.
[0091] The users of user systems 912 may differ in their respective
capacities, and the capacity of a particular user system 912 might
be entirely determined by permissions (permission levels) for the
current user. For example, where a call center agent is using a
particular user system 912 to interact with system 916, the user
system 912 has the capacities allotted to that call center agent.
However, while an administrator is using that user system to
interact with system 916, that user system has the capacities
allotted to that administrator. In systems with a hierarchical role
model, users at one permission level may have access to
applications, data, and database information accessible by a lower
permission level user, but may not have access to certain
applications, database information, and data accessible by a user
at a higher permission level. Thus, different users may have
different capabilities with regard to accessing and modifying
application and database information, depending on a user's
security or permission level.
[0092] Network 914 is any network or combination of networks of
devices that communicate with one another. For example, network 914
can be any one or any combination of a LAN (local area network),
WAN (wide area network), telephone network, wireless network,
point-to-point network, star network, token ring network, hub
network, or other appropriate configuration. As the most common
type of computer network in current use is a TCP/IP (Transfer
Control Protocol and Internet Protocol) network (e.g., the
Internet), that network will be used in many of the examples
herein. However, it should be understood that the networks used in
some implementations are not so limited, although TCP/IP is a
frequently implemented protocol.
[0093] User systems 912 might communicate with system 916 using
TCP/IP and, at a higher network level, use other common Internet
protocols to communicate, such as HTTP, FTP, AFS, WAP, etc. In an
example where HTTP is used, user system 912 might include an HTTP
client commonly referred to as a "browser" for sending and
receiving HTTP messages to and from an HTTP server at system 916.
Such an HTTP server might be implemented as the sole network
interface between system 916 and network 914, but other techniques
might be used as well or instead. In some implementations, the
interface between system 916 and network 914 includes load sharing
functionality, such as round-robin HTTP request distributors to
balance loads and distribute incoming HTTP requests evenly over a
plurality of servers. At least as for the users that are accessing
that server, each of the plurality of servers has access to the
MTS' data; however, other alternative configurations may be used
instead.
[0094] In some implementations, system 916, shown in FIG. 9,
implements a web-based customer relationship management (CRM)
system. For example, in some implementations, system 916 includes
application servers configured to implement and execute CRM
software applications as well as provide related data, code, forms,
web pages and other information to and from user systems 912 and to
store to, and retrieve from, a database system related data,
objects, and Webpage content. With a multi-tenant system, data for
multiple tenants may be stored in the same physical database
object, however, tenant data typically is arranged so that data of
one tenant is kept logically separate from that of other tenants so
that one tenant does not have access to another tenant's data,
unless such data is expressly shared. In certain implementations,
system 916 implements applications other than, or in addition to, a
CRM application. For example, system 916 may provide tenant access
to multiple hosted (standard and custom) applications. User (or
third party developer) applications, which may or may not include
CRM, may be supported by the application platform 918, which
manages creation, storage of the applications into one or more
database objects and executing of the applications in a virtual
machine in the process space of the system 916.
[0095] Each user system 912 could include a desktop personal
computer, workstation, laptop, PDA, cell phone, or any wireless
access protocol (WAP) enabled device or any other computing system
capable of interfacing directly or indirectly to the Internet or
other network connection. User system 912 typically runs an HTTP
client, e.g., a browsing program, such as Microsoft's Internet
Explorer.RTM. browser, Mozilla's Firefox.RTM. browser, Opera's
browser, or a WAP-enabled browser in the case of a cell phone, PDA
or other wireless device, or the like, allowing a user (e.g.,
subscriber of the multi-tenant database system) of user system 912
to access, process and view information, pages and applications
available to it from system 916 over network 914.
[0096] Each user system 912 also typically includes one or more
user interface devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, trackball,
touch pad, touch screen, pen or the like, for interacting with a
graphical user interface (GUI) provided by the browser on a display
(e.g., a monitor screen, LCD display, etc.) in conjunction with
pages, forms, applications and other information provided by system
916 or other systems or servers. For example, the user interface
device can be used to access data and applications hosted by system
916, and to perform searches on stored data, and otherwise allow a
user to interact with various GUI pages that may be presented to a
user. As discussed above, implementations are suitable for use with
the Internet, which refers to a specific global internetwork of
networks. However, it should be understood that other networks can
be used instead of the Internet, such as an intranet, an extranet,
a virtual private network (VPN), a non-TCP/IP based network, any
LAN or WAN or the like.
[0097] According to some implementations, each user system 912 and
all of its components are operator configurable using applications,
such as a browser, including computer code run using a central
processing unit such as an Intel Pentium.RTM. processor or the
like. Similarly, system 916 (and additional instances of an MTS,
where more than one is present) and all of their components might
be operator configurable using application(s) including computer
code to run using a central processing unit such as processor
system 917, which may include an Intel Pentium.RTM. processor or
the like, and/or multiple processor units.
[0098] A computer program product implementation includes a
machine-readable storage medium (media) having instructions stored
thereon/in which can be used to program a computer to perform any
of the processes of the implementations described herein. Computer
code for operating and configuring system 916 to intercommunicate
and to process web pages, applications and other data and media
content as described herein are preferably downloaded and stored on
a hard disk, but the entire program code, or portions thereof, may
also be stored in any other volatile or non-volatile memory medium
or device, such as a ROM or RAM, or provided on any media capable
of storing program code, such as any type of rotating media
including floppy disks, optical discs, digital versatile disk
(DVD), compact disk (CD), microdrive, and magneto-optical disks,
and magnetic or optical cards, nanosystems (including molecular
memory ICs), or any type of media or device suitable for storing
instructions and/or data. Additionally, the entire program code, or
portions thereof, may be transmitted and downloaded from a software
source over a transmission medium, e.g., over the Internet, or from
another server, or transmitted over any other conventional network
connection (e.g., extranet, VPN, LAN, etc.) using any communication
medium and protocols (e.g., TCP/IP, HTTP, HTTPS, Ethernet, etc.).
It will also be appreciated that computer code for carrying out
disclosed operations can be implemented in any programming language
that can be executed on a client system and/or server or server
system such as, for example, C, C++, HTML, any other markup
language, Java.TM., JavaScript.RTM., ActiveX.RTM., any other
scripting language, such as VBScript, and many other programming
languages as are well known may be used. (Java.TM. is a trademark
of Sun Microsystems.RTM., Inc.).
[0099] According to some implementations, each system 916 is
configured to provide web pages, forms, applications, data and
media content to user (client) systems 912 to support the access by
user systems 912 as tenants of system 916. As such, system 916
provides security mechanisms to keep each tenant's data separate
unless the data is shared. If more than one MTS is used, they may
be located in close proximity to one another (e.g., in a server
farm located in a single building or campus), or they may be
distributed at locations remote from one another (e.g., one or more
servers located in city A and one or more servers located in city
B). As used herein, each MTS could include logically and/or
physically connected servers distributed locally or across one or
more geographic locations. Additionally, the term "server" is meant
to include a computing system, including processing hardware and
process space(s), and an associated storage system and database
application (e.g., OODBMS or RDBMS) as is well known in the
art.
[0100] It should also be understood that "server system" and
"server" are often used interchangeably herein. Similarly, the
database object described herein can be implemented as single
databases, a distributed database, a collection of distributed
databases, a database with redundant online or offline backups or
other redundancies, etc., and might include a distributed database
or storage network and associated processing intelligence.
[0101] FIG. 10 also shows a block diagram of environment 910
further illustrating system 916 and various interconnections, in
accordance with some implementations. FIG. 10 shows that user
system 912 may include processor system 912A, memory system 912B,
input system 912C, and output system 912D. FIG.10 shows network 914
and system 916. FIG.10 also shows that system 916 may include
tenant data storage 922, tenant data 923, system data storage 924,
system data 925, User Interface (UI) 1030, Application Program
Interface (API) 1032, PL/SOQL 1034, save routines 1036, application
setup mechanism 1038, applications servers 10001-1000N, system
process space 1002, tenant process spaces 1004, tenant management
process space 1010, tenant storage area 1012, user storage 1014,
and application metadata 1016. In other implementations,
environment 910 may not have the same elements as those listed
above and/or may have other elements instead of, or in addition to,
those listed above.
[0102] User system 912, network 914, system 916, tenant data
storage 922, and system data storage 924 were discussed above in
FIG. 9. Regarding user system 912, processor system 912A may be any
combination of processors. Memory system 912B may be any
combination of one or more memory devices, short term, and/or long
term memory. Input system 912C may be any combination of input
devices, such as keyboards, mice, trackballs, scanners, cameras,
and/or interfaces to networks. Output system 912D may be any
combination of output devices, such as monitors, printers, and/or
interfaces to networks. As shown by FIG. 10, system 916 may include
a network interface 920 (of FIG. 9) implemented as a set of HTTP
application servers 1000, an application platform 918, tenant data
storage 922, and system data storage 924. Also shown is system
process space 1002, including individual tenant process spaces 1004
and a tenant management process space 1010. Each application server
1000 may be configured to tenant data storage 922 and the tenant
data 923 therein, and system data storage 924 and the system data
925 therein to serve requests of user systems 912. The tenant data
923 might be divided into individual tenant storage areas 1012,
which can be either a physical arrangement and/or a logical
arrangement of data. Within each tenant storage area 1012, user
storage 1014 and application metadata 1016 might be similarly
allocated for each user. For example, a copy of a user's most
recently used (MRU) items might be stored to user storage 1014.
Similarly, a copy of MRU items for an entire organization that is a
tenant might be stored to tenant storage area 1012. A UI 1030
provides a user interface and an API 1032 provides an application
programmer interface to system 916 resident processes to users
and/or developers at user systems 912. The tenant data and the
system data may be stored in various databases, such as Oracle.TM.
databases.
[0103] Application platform 918 includes an application setup
mechanism 1038 that supports application developers' creation and
management of applications, which may be saved as metadata into
tenant data storage 922 by save routines 1036 for execution by
subscribers as tenant process spaces 1004 managed by tenant
management process 1010 for example. Invocations to such
applications may be coded using PL/SOQL 34 that provides a
programming language style interface extension to API 1032. A
detailed description of some PL/SOQL language implementations is
discussed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 7,730,478, titled
METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ALLOWING ACCESS TO DEVELOPED APPLICATIONS VIA
A MULTI-TENANT ON-DEMAND DATABASE SERVICE, by Craig Weissman, filed
Sep. 21, 2007, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its
entirety and for all purposes. Invocations to applications may be
detected by system processes, which manage retrieving application
metadata 1016 for the subscriber making the invocation and
executing the metadata as an application in a virtual machine.
[0104] Each application server 1000 may be communicably coupled to
database systems, e.g., having access to system data 925 and tenant
data 923, via a different network connection. For example, one
application server 10001 might be coupled via the network 914
(e.g., the Internet), another application server 1000N-1 might be
coupled via a direct network link, and another application server
1000N might be coupled by yet a different network connection.
Transfer Control Protocol and Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) are
typical protocols for communicating between application servers
1000 and the database system. However, other transport protocols
may be used to optimize the system depending on the network
interconnect used.
[0105] In certain implementations, each application server 1000 is
configured to handle requests for any user associated with any
organization that is a tenant. Because it is desirable to be able
to add and remove application servers from the server pool at any
time for any reason, there is preferably no server affinity for a
user and/or organization to a specific application server 1000. In
some implementations, therefore, an interface system implementing a
load balancing function (e.g., an F5 Big-IP load balancer) is
communicably coupled between the application servers 1000 and the
user systems 912 to distribute requests to the application servers
1000. In some implementations, the load balancer uses a least
connections algorithm to route user requests to the application
servers 1000. Other examples of load balancing algorithms, such as
round robin and observed response time, also can be used. For
example, in certain implementations, three consecutive requests
from the same user could hit three different application servers
1000, and three requests from different users could hit the same
application server 1000. In this manner, system 916 is
multi-tenant, wherein system 916 handles storage of, and access to,
different objects, data and applications across disparate users and
organizations.
[0106] As an example of storage, one tenant might be a company that
employs a sales force where each call center agent uses system 916
to manage their sales process. Thus, a user might maintain contact
data, leads data, customer follow-up data, performance data, goals
and progress data, etc., all applicable to that user's personal
sales process (e.g., in tenant data storage 922). In an example of
a MTS arrangement, since all of the data and the applications to
access, view, modify, report, transmit, calculate, etc., can be
maintained and accessed by a user system having nothing more than
network access, the user can manage his or her sales efforts and
cycles from any of many different user systems. For example, if a
call center agent is visiting a customer and the customer has
Internet access in their lobby, the call center agent can obtain
critical updates as to that customer while waiting for the customer
to arrive in the lobby.
[0107] While each user's data might be separate from other users'
data regardless of the employers of each user, some data might be
organization-wide data shared or accessible by a plurality of users
or all of the users for a given organization that is a tenant.
Thus, there might be some data structures managed by system 916
that are allocated at the tenant level while other data structures
might be managed at the user level. Because an MTS might support
multiple tenants including possible competitors, the MTS should
have security protocols that keep data, applications, and
application use separate. Also, because many tenants may opt for
access to an MTS rather than maintain their own system, redundancy,
up-time, and backup are additional functions that may be
implemented in the MTS. In addition to user-specific data and
tenant specific data, system 916 might also maintain system level
data usable by multiple tenants or other data. Such system level
data might include industry reports, news, postings, and the like
that are sharable among tenants.
[0108] In certain implementations, user systems 912 (which may be
client machines/systems) communicate with application servers 1000
to request and update system-level and tenant-level data from
system 916 that may require sending one or more queries to tenant
data storage 922 and/or system data storage 924. System 916 (e.g.,
an application server 1000 in system 916) automatically generates
one or more SQL statements (e.g., SQL queries) that are designed to
access the desired information. System data storage 924 may
generate query plans to access the requested data from the
database.
[0109] Each database can generally be viewed as a collection of
objects, such as a set of logical tables, containing data fitted
into predefined categories. A "table" is one representation of a
data object and may be used herein to simplify the conceptual
description of objects and custom objects according to some
implementations. It should be understood that "table" and "object"
may be used interchangeably herein. Each table generally contains
one or more data categories logically arranged as columns or fields
in a viewable schema. Each row or record of a table contains an
instance of data for each category defined by the fields. For
example, a CRM database may include a table that describes a
customer with fields for basic contact information such as name,
address, phone number, fax number, etc. Another table might
describe a purchase order, including fields for information such as
customer, product, sale price, date, etc. In some multi-tenant
database systems, standard entity tables might be provided for use
by all tenants. For CRM database applications, such standard
entities might include tables for account, contact, lead, and
opportunity data, each containing pre-defined fields. It should be
understood that the word "entity" may also be used interchangeably
herein with "object" and "table".
[0110] In some multi-tenant database systems, tenants may be
allowed to create and store custom objects, or they may be allowed
to customize standard entities or objects, for example by creating
custom fields for standard objects, including custom index fields.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,779,039, titled CUSTOM ENTITIES AND FIELDS IN A
MULTI-TENANT DATABASE SYSTEM, by Weissman, et al., and which is
hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety and for all
purposes, teaches systems and methods for creating custom objects
as well as customizing standard objects in a multi-tenant database
system. In some implementations, for example, all custom entity
data rows are stored in a single multi-tenant physical table, which
may contain multiple logical tables per organization. In some
implementations, multiple "tables" for a single customer may
actually be stored in one large table and/or in the same table as
the data of other customers.
[0111] These and other aspects of the disclosure may be implemented
by various types of hardware, software, firmware, etc. For example,
some features of the disclosure may be implemented, at least in
part, by machine-program product that include program instructions,
state information, etc., for performing various operations
described herein. Examples of program instructions include both
machine code, such as produced by a compiler, and files containing
higher-level code that may be executed by the computer using an
interpreter. Examples of machine-program product include, but are
not limited to, magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks,
and magnetic tape; optical media such as CD-ROM disks;
magneto-optical media; and hardware devices that are specially
configured to store and perform program instructions, such as
read-only memory devices ("ROM") and random access memory
("RAM").
[0112] While one or more implementations and techniques are
described with reference to an implementation in which a service
cloud console is implemented in a system having an application
server providing a front end for an on-demand database service
capable of supporting multiple tenants, the one or more
implementations and techniques are not limited to multi-tenant
databases nor deployment on application servers. Implementations
may be practiced using other database architectures, i.e.,
ORACLE.RTM., DB2.RTM. by IBM and the like without departing from
the scope of the implementations claimed.
[0113] Any of the above implementations may be used alone or
together with one another in any combination. Although various
implementations may have been motivated by various deficiencies
with the prior art, which may be discussed or alluded to in one or
more places in the specification, the implementations do not
necessarily address any of these deficiencies. In other words,
different implementations may address different deficiencies that
may be discussed in the specification. Some implementations may
only partially address some deficiencies or just one deficiency
that may be discussed in the specification, and some
implementations may not address any of these deficiencies.
[0114] While various implementations have been described herein, it
should be understood that they have been presented by way of
example only, and not limitation. Thus, the breadth and scope of
the present application should not be limited by any of the
implementations described herein but should be defined only in
accordance with the following and later-submitted claims and their
equivalents.
* * * * *