Biometric medical antifraud and consent system

Abstract

A specialized apparatus for recording medical transactions designed to protect patient privacy when necessary to record private biometric individual data. The mechanisms and proprietary methods scramble the biometric data within the recording device, unrecoverable when leaving recording device with high assurance, yet an audit copy can forward to outside permanent storage and systems.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented recording method within a dedicated device for recording a medical transaction declaration record in real-time where a patient's private information is encoded and encrypted to prevent forgery .Iadd.and .Iaddend.tampering, the dedicated device including at least two biometric readers, a camera, a display screen, and an encryption module for encoding and encrypting record data in accordance with a private encryption key unique to the recording of the medical transaction declaration record, the method comprising: receiving an input of an agreement document and providing a visual display of the agreement document on the display screen; prompting for an affirmative or negative response .Iadd.to the agreement document .Iaddend.from the patient through the display screen; activating the camera to capture a photograph of the patient; .Iadd.receiving personally identifiable information (PII) including a photograph of the patient;.Iaddend. activating the biometric readers to record biometric fingerprint signatures of the patient and a witness; .Iadd.acquiring a photographic image of the witness; sensing biometric fingerprint signatures of the patient and the witness; time-stamping the sensed biometric fingerprint signatures;.Iaddend. time-stamping and encoding the biometric fingerprint signatures into a machine-readable confirmation data set, and electronically determining that the biometric fingerprint signatures are recorded within .[.1000 ms (1 second).]. .Iadd.a predetermined time period, wherein electronically determining includes confirming that the time-stamped biometric fingerprint signatures were recorded within a preset time limit of each other.Iaddend.; .Iadd.determining a physical proximity of the patient and the witness based on the time-stamps of the biometric fingerprint signatures; encoding the confirmed biometric fingerprint signatures into a machine-readable confirmation data set;.Iaddend. merging the biometric fingerprint signatures from the patient and the witness to generate a signed agreement document.Iadd., wherein merging the biometric fingerprint signatures includes merging the received PII with the encoded biometric fingerprint signatures to generate a biometrically signed electronic document.Iaddend.; .[.and.]. outputting the signed agreement document to .Iadd.a .Iaddend.computing main board, certified with the biometric fingerprint signatures of the patient and the witness.Iadd., wherein outputting the signed agreement document includes outputting the biometrically signed electronic document.Iaddend..

.Iadd.2. The method of claim 1, wherein the preset time limit is about one second..Iaddend.

.Iadd.3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: acquiring a photographic image of the patient or the witness; and merging the received PII with the acquired photographic image and the encoded biometric fingerprint signatures to generate the biometrically signed electronic document..Iaddend.

.Iadd.4. The method of claim 3, further comprising performing a facial recognition scan on the acquired photographic image..Iaddend.

.Iadd.5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: acquiring a first visible-light image and a second non-visible light image of the patient; and merging the received PII with the acquired first and second images and the encoded biometric fingerprint signatures to generate the biometrically signed electronic document..Iaddend.

.Iadd.6. The method of claim 5, further comprising: combining the first image with the second image; and encoding the combined image..Iaddend.

.Iadd.7. The method of claim 5, wherein the non-visible light image comprises infrared imagery..Iaddend.

.Iadd.8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: prompting for a type of biometric reading; recording a response through an apparatus display with user-selectable response for affirmation of the electronic document; merging the recorded response and the biometric signatures from the patient and the witness into an electronic document to generate the signed electronic document..Iaddend.

.Iadd.9. The method of claim 8, wherein the PII includes the patient's surname, given name, date of birth, and identifying number, and wherein the response includes an affirmative response or a negative response for affirmation or disavowal of the electronic document, respectively..Iaddend.

.Iadd.10. The method of claim 1, further comprising: displaying countdown timer instructions for acquiring photographs, wherein the PII includes the photographs..Iaddend.

.Iadd.11. The method of claim 1, further comprising: temporarily storing the PII and biometric information prior to outputting the biometrically signed electronic document; and permanently deleting all temporarily stored information as it is used or output..Iaddend.

.Iadd.12. The method of claim 11, further comprising: capturing a plurality of photographic images; encoding the captured plurality of photographic images; temporarily storing the encoded plurality of photograph images; encrypting all data acquired including the PII, the encoded photograph data, and the biometric fingerprint signatures in accordance with a private encryption key unique to a session recording to generate an encrypted biometrically signed electronic document; and purging all temporarily stored unencrypted data before outputting the encrypted biometrically signed electronic document..Iaddend.

.Iadd.13. The method of claim 1, further comprising: displaying a proposed agreement document; prompting the patient to acknowledge and accept the proposed agreement document with the patient's respective affirmative biometric fingerprint signature; capturing a visible light image and a non-visible light image of the patient when sensing the affirmative biometric fingerprint signature of the patient; time-stamping and privacy-encoding the captured images and the affirmative biometric fingerprint signatures of the patient and the witness into a machine-readable confirmation data set; and merging the proposed agreement document with the time-stamped privacy-encoded images and affirmative biometric fingerprint signatures to generate a signed agreement document memorialized or certified with the images and affirmative biometric fingerprint signatures..Iaddend.

.Iadd.14. An apparatus for recording an electronic document including personally identifiable information (PII), comprising: an input device for receiving PII from a person; a sensor device for sensing affirmative biometric fingerprint signatures of the person and a witness; a clock device for time-stamping the sensed biometric fingerprint signatures; a validation device for confirming that the time-stamped biometric fingerprint signatures were recorded within a preset time limit of each other; a proximity measuring device for determining a physical proximity of the person and the witness based on the time-stamps of the affirmative biometric fingerprint signatures; an encoder for encoding the confirmed biometric fingerprint signatures into a machine-readable confirmation data set; a collecting device for merging the received PII with the encoded biometric fingerprint signatures to generate a biometrically signed electronic document; and an output device for outputting the biometrically signed electronic document..Iaddend.

.Iadd.15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the apparatus is a dedicated device for recording the electronic document comprising a medical transaction declaration record in real-time, the person is a patient, and the PII includes the patient's private medical information, the apparatus further comprising: an encryption device for encrypting the biometrically signed electronic document to prevent forgery, tampering, or accidental disclosure..Iaddend.

.Iadd.16. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising: a plurality of biometric fingerprint readers; at least one camera; a display screen; and an encryption module for encoding and encrypting the electronic document in accordance with a private encryption key unique to the biometrically signed electronic document..Iaddend.

.Iadd.17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the electronic document is a proposed agreement document between the person and the witness, the apparatus further comprising: a display unit for providing a visual display of the proposed agreement document; an acceptance device for receiving an affirmative or negative response from each of the person and the witness responsive to the display means as to acceptance of the proposed agreement document..Iaddend.

.Iadd.18. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the preset time limit is about one second..Iaddend.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1—Physical characteristics of preferred embodiment.

(2) FIG. 2—Hardware mechanisms in recording apparatus.

(3) FIG. 3—Alternate embodiment functionality that records a real-time transaction for audit purpose.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION

(4) Present invention is one highly-specific, specialized apparatus designed to protect patient privacy while recording some highly private and personal data about an individual. This is a challenging solution considering the high-level government and insurance industry goals, in a systematic way, demand collecting biometric information (i.e. fingerprints, photographs, other data based upon personal characteristics of an individual).

(5) Present invention acknowledges necessity of positive identification readers which can improve safety and help audit the financial fraud abuses in a complex, multi-billion dollar industry.

(6) Preceding technologies cited in the marketplace are fingerprint reader devices, biometric lock devices, access-authorization-auditing electronic system access controls, and numerous healthcare data processing systems and databases. Listing below includes general state of the prior art related to this subject: IBM thinkpad laptop integrated fingerprint readers.

(7) Fingerprint reader hardware in law enforcement and customs identification, various.

(8) Biometric door locks, various.

(9) Systematic face scan, various.

(10) Financial industry transaction systems, various.

(11) NSA Type I, Type II hardware encryption, various.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

(12) FIG. 1

(13) (1) Sealed enclosure with filtered vents

(14) (2) Exhaust vent screen

(15) (3) Intake vent filter, necessary to remove particulate matter and improve reliability of device in imperfect and hot field conditions.

(16) (4) Instructions display screen, 4×4 or various, displays written instructions provided to the patient.

(17) (5) Metal heat-sink casing for camera heat.

(18) (6) Camera module, normal visible light; and second Camera module, thermal, infrared or non-visible-light spectrum.

(19) (7) Fingerprint bar reader, with multiple-finger scanning.

(20) (8) Thumbprint reader, single-finger scanning.

(21) FIG. 2

(22) This diagram indicates the relationship and order of hardware mechanisms in the recorder device. The data flow begins at the top with an acquisition hardware, where raw biometric data is input. This unprotected data is encoded by hardware before delivery to temporary storage on an encryption chip mechanism. Device utilizes a private encryption key which is known only to the device. The hardware encryption mechanism is marked Privacy Chip to illustrate this final step.

(23) FIG. 3

(24) Alternate embodiment: This example chart demonstrates how a private biometric signature can be used to confirm a real-time medical transaction. For medical fraud prevention, these steps demonstrate how a patient can review a document and then certify with a witness, using a real-time apparatus, with hardware encryption.