APPLIANCE, SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INFORMATION MANAGEMENT IN DENTISTRY

Abstract

A device comprising an orthodontic or dental appliance for use with a system for information management in dentistry, a system for storing and managing dentistry data such as information about an orthodontic or dental treatment of a person using a private network and a method for information management in dentistry are described.

Claims

1. A device, comprising: an orthodontic or dental appliance, and a, preferably machine-readable, code which is arranged on or in the appliance, wherein the code represents at least: a key to access a private network, preferably a permissioned distributed ledger network access to dentistry data to be stored in the private network.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the dentistry data to be stored in the private network is or comprises information as defined by at least one of the following groups: information specific to the appliance, information specific to a person for which the appliance is intended, information specific to a treatment history of a person for which the appliance is intended.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein at least one of the following groups is provided as carrier for the code: a chip, preferably an RFID-chip, and a code which is embedded inside of and/or formed by a material of the appliance, preferably in the form of a bar code or a two-dimensional code.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein a receiving device for receiving information and/or a sending device for sending information, and an electronic storage for storing information received by the receiving device and/or to be sent by the sending device are arranged on or in the appliance.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the receiving device is connected to or formed as a sensor to receive information about ambient conditions to which the at least one appliance is exposed.

6. The device of claim 4, wherein the receiving device and/or the sending device are or is connected to or formed as an antenna for wirelessly receiving and/or sending information.

7. A receptacle comprising at least: a cavity adapted to store a device of claim 1, and a communication device for sending information to and/or receiving information from the appliance.

8. An arrangement comprising at least: a receptacle according to claim 7, and a device of at least one of claim 1 to claim 6 stored in the cavity of the receptacle.

9. A system for storing and managing information about an orthodontic or dental treatment of a person, comprising: a private network, with at least one authorizing device which, upon receiving an access query, permits or refuses access to the private network based on a key provided with the access query, and an input device configured to read the code provided with at least one device of claim 1 and to make at least the key comprised in the code available to the at least one authorizing device.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein the private network comprises at least one centralized database.

11. The system according to claim 9, wherein the private network is a permissioned distributed ledger network, with a plurality of nodes and the at least one authorizing device is formed by at least one authorizing node which, upon receiving an access query, permits or refuses access to nodes of the distributed ledger network based on the key provided with the access query.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein the distributed ledger network comprises at least one plurality of nodes which are configured to implement a blockchain protocol and wherein, upon permission by the at least one authorizing node to access a node of the distributed ledger network, a block adding transaction is carried out by which a block is added as a subsequent block to a preceding block of a blockchain.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein the block which is added as a subsequent block comprises at least: a header comprising at least a block ID, a cryptographic representation of transaction data of the present block, and a cryptographic link to the preceding block 17, and transaction data of the present block in the form of the dentistry data.

14. A method for information management in dentistry, comprising at east the following steps: providing a private network for information management in dentistry, preferably a permissioned distributed ledger network providing a code which represents at least: a key to access the private network access to dentistry data to be stored in the private network manufacturing an orthodontic or dental appliance having the code arranged on or in the appliance, and using the key provided with the code to access the private network and to store the data for which access is provided with the code in the private network.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein a permissioned distributed ledger network is used as the private network.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein a blockchain protocol is used to store the dentistry data for which access is provided with the code in blocks of a blockchain.

17. A computer program which, when the program is executed by a computer, causes the computer to be configured as an authorizing device of a system according to claim 9.

18. A computer-readable, in particular non-transitory, medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to be configured as an authorizing device of a system according to claim 9.

19. A data carrier signal carrying the computer program of claim 17.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0086] Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed as an illustration only and not as a definition of the limits of the invention.

[0087] In the drawings,

[0088] FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of a device according to an embodiment of the invention;

[0089] FIG. 2 shows a schematic view of a chip for use with a device according to an embodiment of the invention;

[0090] FIG. 3 shows a schematic view of an interaction of an interface with a chip;

[0091] FIG. 4 shows a schematic view of a presentation of information using interfaces;

[0092] FIGS. 5A-5C show schematic views of a receptacle with a device according to an embodiment of the invention;

[0093] FIG. 6 shows a first embodiment of a system according to the invention;

[0094] FIG. 7 shows a schematic view of a second embodiment of a system according to the invention; and

[0095] FIG. 8 shows a schematic view of details regarding the second embodiment of the system according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0096] FIG. 1 shows a device 1 comprising: [0097] an (orthodontic) appliance 2, in this example an aligner [0098] a machine-readable code 3 which is carried by a chip 4 which is arranged on the appliance 2, wherein the code 3 represents: [0099] a key to access a private network [0100] information specific to the appliance 2 and to a person for which the appliance 2 is intended and to a treatment history of a person for which the appliance 2 is intended.

[0101] FIG. 2 shows an example of the chip 4 in more detail (but in a schematic way—the components shown need not be present as distinct physical elements but could be present by way of a single or several integrated circuit(s)). The chip 4, in this example, has a receiving device 5, a sending device 6, an electronic storage 7, a sensor 8, and an antenna 9.

[0102] FIG. 3 shows an interface 22 (here in the form of an app loaded onto a smartphone) which can be used to communicate with the chip 4 (the appliance 2 on or in which the chip 4 is placed is not shown).

[0103] FIG. 4 shows that the interface 22 shown in FIG. 3 can be used to present different kinds of information.

[0104] FIGS. 5A-5C show an arrangement with a receptacle 10 comprising: [0105] a cavity 11 adapted to store the device 1 shown in FIG. 1 [0106] a communication device 12 for sending information to and/or receiving information from the appliance 2 of the device 1.

[0107] FIG. 6 shows a first embodiment of the system in which the private network comprises at least one centralized database 13 which can be accessed via interfaces 22 which provide the code 3 stored on the chip 4 of the device 1 as key to an authorizing device (e.g., any kind of interface) of the database 13.

[0108] FIG. 7 shows a second embodiment of the system in which the private network is a permissioned distributed ledger network, with a plurality of nodes 15 and at least one authorizing device which is formed by at least one authorizing node 14 which, upon receiving an access query carrying the code 3 (which incorporates a key for the system), permits access to the nodes 15 of the distributed ledger etwork.

[0109] FIG. 8 shows a detail of the system of FIG. 7 in which the distributed ledger network comprises at least one plurality of nodes 15 which are configured to implement a blockchain protocol

[0110] Upon permission by the at least one authorizing node 14 to access a node 15 of the distributed ledger network, a block adding transaction is carried out by which a block 17 is added as a subsequent block 17 to a preceding block 17 of a blockchain 16.

[0111] The block 17 which is added as a subsequent block 17 comprises at least: [0112] a header 20 comprising at least a block ID, a cryptographic representation of transaction data of the present block 17, such as a Merkle root 21 of the transaction data and a cryptographic link 18 to the preceding block 17 (here: hash value 23 of header 20 of preceding block 17), and, possibly, further parameters as known in the art, such as a timestamp, and [0113] transaction data of the present block 17 in the form of the information 19 specific to the appliance 2 and/or to a person for which the appliance 2 is intended and/or to a treatment history of a person for which the appliance 2 is intended, which information was provided with the at least one appliance 2.

[0114] Although only a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it is to be understood that many changes and modifications may be made thereunto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST

[0115] 1 device [0116] 2 appliance [0117] 3 code [0118] 4 chip [0119] 5 receiving device [0120] 6 sending device [0121] 7 electronic storage [0122] 8 sensor [0123] 9 antenna [0124] 10 receptacle [0125] 11 cavity [0126] 12 communication device of receptacle [0127] 13 database [0128] 14 authorizing node [0129] 15 nodes of private network [0130] 16 blockchain [0131] 17 block of blockchain [0132] 18 cryptographic link [0133] 19 information [0134] 20 header [0135] 21 Merkle root [0136] 22 interface [0137] 23 hash value of previous block