WO2002021419A1

WO2002021419A1 - Health management system by using network and operation method thereof

Info

Publication number: WO2002021419A1
Application number: PCT/KR2001/001497
Authority: WO
Inventors: Sam-Tae Kang; Wol-Sook Han
Original assignee: Kang Sam Tae; Han Wol Sook
Priority date: 2000-09-05
Filing date: 2001-09-05
Publication date: 2002-03-14
Also published as: KR20020019229A; AU2001286291A1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a network-based health management system and operation method. The present invention enables the membership to easily check their health conditions at the restaurants, sports centers, recreation centers and medical institutions and to receive data related to the diet program, type of sports, amount of daily exercise, control of amount of time for daily recreation activities and weight control in order for the users to effectively and systematically manage their health. And the present invention provides membership with accurate results on their medical examinations since all data related to the diet, exercise and recreation of the membership are accurately analyzed by its database system.

Description

HEALTH MANAGEMENT SYSTEM BY USING NETWORK AND OPERATION METHOD THEREOF

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a network-based health management system and operation method. More specifically, the present invention enables the users to effectively manage their health based on their medical data provided from the medical institutions, restaurants, sports centers and recreation centers and provides various value-added services to the users.

Description of the Prior Art

People around the world care about their health and have strong desire to live freely without diseases. In order for them to achieve these objectives, many people have to spend a lot of time to have medical checkup and to discover disease in early stage at the hospitals on a regular basis.

In most cases, people have to visit medical institutions for their medical checkups. Some people examine their blood pressure, hearts and other physical conditions in their homes on a regular basis. There are also people who check up themselves through the Internet medical portal sites that provide a variety of online medical service.

However, people who want to check their health have to visit the medical institutions regularly, and there are some cases that people cannot receive precise checkup or discover the diseases in early stage as the intervals of their medical checkups are a few weeks or a few months. People in modern societies don't move around or exercise as much as their forefathers did, mostly because of such convenient inventions as automobiles, mobile phones and other high-tech equipments so that they burn less calories than the required level. Moreover, the introduction of Internet enables people to work with just their fingers in front of their computers so that they are prone to biological imbalance and their biorhythms are unbalanced. Considering these, people cannot effectively or promptly receive accurate results from their medical checkups when they check up in every few months or years.

In cases people receive relevant medical information through the Internet and examine themselves with medical equipments without visiting the medical institutions, they are responsible for maintaining the data from the result of self-examination, but they cannot effectively manage them. Even although they want to manage their medical data and information by themselves, it is not easy for common people to understand the exact meaning of the data and what their exact physical conditions are according to their medical examinations. As such, the place for people to receive medical checkup services is restricted to the medical institutions or homes, and they cannot receive the medical services at the places or time they want.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a network-based health management system and operation method that; informs the status of the health of the membership registered on the health improvement system based on the accumulated medical data of the membership when the membership transmit their medical data and information through the online network on a regular or irregular basis; and provides data necessary for the maintenance and recovery of the health of membership. By connecting this system through the network with the medical institutions, restaurants, sports centers and other recreation centers where systems that transmit the data about the status of health of the membership are provided, this system promptly interchanges the health-related data with other systems and effectively manages the health of the membership.

Also, the present invention has a database system that sorts out the medical data of the membership according to the region, country, age, climate, sex and human race. By managing and analyzing the relevant statistical data, this database system enables the user to save marketing cost by applying it to the corporate management strategy planning and production and sales strategies.

Furthermore, the present invention enables the membership who underwent initial medical examinations to examine themselves disregard of place and time and check their health status according to the results of the data compared to their initial medical examinations. In order to achieve the above objectives, the present invention comprises a health improvement system, or HIS, which: carries out medical examination for membership registered according to specific requirements; connects medical institutions that forward the data resulted from the medical examination to the terminals through network-based online; receives the data related to the membership from the restaurants, sports centers and recreation centers through online that are provided with specific terminals and from membership homes to analyze, input and output the said data and to identify the membership; receives the data resulted from the medical examinations of the membership from the said medical institutions and analyze them through online when the said membership require relevant service from the above-mentioned restaurants, sports centers, recreation centers and medical institutions; and provides specific programs to the membership according to their physical and mental conditions.

The present invention selects proper programs and provides them to the membership when they receive various services at the restaurants, sports centers, recreation centers and their homes based on the medical examination data provided from the medical institutions. It also collects and manages individual data provided through the external information-collecting server. The present invention also contains; a main control module which controls overall operation of the system; a program management module which provides programs selected according to the health conditions of the membership; and a database which stores data related to the membership, users, type of foods and favorite foods the membership prefer.

The terminal contained in the present invention comprises one of the following three membership data input units: a membership card input unit which reads the information in the membership cards to verify the membership; a fingerprint-input unit which verifies the membership through the fingerprints of the membership; or a membership number input unit which receives the membership numbers from the key pad unit when the membership data are inputted in it. The terminal further comprises a control unit which processes the data to verify the membership by transmitting the membership data processed by the said one of the data input units to the health improvement system through the data receiving and transmitting unit and comparing the data to the membership data previously inputted.

The said program management module comprises: a health management program module unit which provides specific program to the membership according to their health conditions to improve and maintain their health; a special management program module which is provided to the membership who require special management according to their health conditions; and a value-added program module which is additionally provided with a specific program according to the operation of the said health improvement system or to enable the system to collect and process the information related to the membership and users and types of foods and other items.

In order to achieve the above technical purposes, the present invention is operated according to the following procedures: many unspecified people connect the health improvement system through online; people agree to the membership registration policy and fill out provided forms; the registered membership receive initial medical examinations at the medical institutions specified by the said health improvement system; the data from the health examination are put into the database system; the said health examination data are interchanged with the restaurants, sport centers, recreation centers and medical institutions through the electronic data interchange, or "EDI"; membership receive relevant programs through online which are provided in the health management program module and special management program module when the membership use the service related to the food, favorite items, sports and recreation at the restaurants, sports centers, recreation centers and their homes; membership receive the data related to the food, favorite items, sports, amount of exercise, type of exercise, relieving of stress and reducing of weight; and the membership follow the instructions that are prepared according to the above data to improve their health.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Fig. 1 is a diagram which shows the overall view of the present invention according to its typical embodiment.

Fig. 2 shows the terminal provided to the users by means of interface. Fig. 3 shows a program-processing system (140) which is installed on the health equipments, recreation equipments and medical equipments that are in the service providers as depicted in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 shows the database system which stores and processes data and is operated by the program controlled by the program control module as in Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 shows the menu-selection module provided to the restaurants as in Fig. 1. Fig. 6a - 6c show the exercise equipments used by the sports center membership at the sports centers as in Fig. 1.

Fig. 7 shows the overall flow of the management method of the present invention, a network-based health management system.

Fig. 8a and 8b show the processes of receipt of relevant program and management of health of the membership upon their visit to the restaurants.

Fig. 9 shows the processes of receipt of relevant program and management of health of membership upon their visit to the sports centers.

Fig. 10 shows the processes of receipt of relevant program and management of health of membership upon their visit to the recreation centers. Fig. 11 shows the flow of the obesity management processes for membership by the obesity management program.

Fig. 12 shows the flow of the medical examination processes either through the self-examination by the membership or through the visit of medical service providers to memberships' homes upon request. Fig. 13 shows the processes of registration of the service providers to be designated service providers according to the requirements of the health improvement system.

Fig. 14 shows the flow of the analysis and process of data concerning the foods and other favorite foods produced by the manufacturers in Fig. 1 and the provision of the said data to the companies that support the health improvement system. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to the drawings, Fig. 1 is a diagram which shows the overall view of the present invention according to its typical embodiment. Fig. 2 shows the terminals provided through interface to the users in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 shows the program- processing system which is installed on the health equipments, recreation equipments and medical equipments in the service providers as in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 shows the database system which stores and processes data and is operated by the program controlled by the program control module as in Fig. 1

As depicted in Fig. 1, the present invention, network-based health management system, is connected through online to the medical institutions (100) which provide medical services to their registered membership and the data resulted from the medical examination to the various programs, which will be explained later. The present invention comprises a health improvement system, or HIS, (200) which analyzes the medical examination data received from the said medical institutions (100) through online and provides proper programs to the membership homes (118) and to the service providers (110) that include: restaurants (112); sports centers (114) and recreation centers (116) where terminals (112a-l 18 a) are provided to identify the membership and to input and output the data of the membership.

The said health improvement system (200) comprises a main control module (210) which controls overall operation of the system, a database (220) which stores and processes the data related to the said service providers (110) and a program management module (230) which stores and manages various types of programs to provide relevant programs to the membership through the service providers (110).

A terminal (100a) is also provided to the said medical institutions (100) to transmit the data and identify the membership. The said medical institutions (100), restaurants (112), sports centers (114) and recreation centers (116) are registered according to the verification procedures of the said health improvement system (200), and they interchange data and information one another through the electronic data interchange method which also enables them to interchange standardized forms and documents.

The said restaurants (112) prepare foods, other food supply and the system operated by the said health improvement system (200). For bars and other liquor-selling stores, breathalyzers are provided for the sobriety test. For the said sports centers (114), sports equipments containing the program system (refer to Fig. 3) which is operated by the said health improvement system (200) are provided. The sports equipments are connected to the computer system which will be explained later. Some specific systems that will check the level of stress of membership and amount of calories consumed by membership are provided to the said recreation centers (116).

The menu selection module (280) is provided through the health diary program (270) to receive the data related to the types of food the membership prefer or the data related to other membership and designated customers.

As depicted in Fig. 2, the said terminals (100a and 110a) comprise: a membership data input unit (120) which is composed of the card input unit (120a) which reads the information of the membership cards to identify the membership, or a fingerprint input unit (120b) which reads the fingerprints of the membership to identify the membership, or a membership number input unit (120c) which receives the membership numbers from the key pad (120d); a data reading unit (122) which reads and processes the data transmitted to the said membership data input unit (120); and a control unit (124) which transmits the membership data processed by the data reading unit (122) to the health improvement system (200) through the data transmitting and receiving unit (126) and compares the said data to the membership data to identify the membership.

As depicted in Fig. 3, the program-processing system (140) installed inside the sports equipments in the sports centers (114) and interfaced with the computer system to receive and execute programs comprises: a data receiving and transmitting unit (142) which transmits specific programs to the said computer system; a fingerprint identifying unit (146) which identifies the membership through their fingerprints; a microprocessor (144) which controls the operation of the said program-processing system (140); a program management unit (148) which executes the said program under the control of the said microprocessor (144) after the membership are identified by the said fingerprint identifying unit (146); a display (150) which displays current status of exercise of membership and receives video signal or TV signal through external input terminal to display relevant information; and a headphone terminal (152) which provides the function of the headphones. As depicted in Fig. 4, the said program management module (230) comprises: a health management program module (240) which provides specific programs to the membership according to the conditions of their health; a special management program module (250) which is provided to the membership who require special health management; and a value-added program module (260) which is additionally provided according to the activation of the said health improvement system (200) or has a special program to collect the information related to the membership, service providers, food and other favorite things.

The said health management program module (240) comprises: a diet control program (242) which provides menus with proper amount of food and other favorite food to the membership according to the physical constitution and health condition of the membership; an exercise control program (244) which includes a muscular strengthening program (245) which provides proper types and amount of exercises to the membership according to their health condition; and a stress solution program (246) which allows the users to choose proper types of recreations in order for them to relieve their stress measured by the stress-measuring equipment.

The said special management program module (250) comprises: an obesity management program (252) which provides the said diet control program (242) and exercise control program (244) to the membership for a specific period of time who have problems related to the obesity to help them reduce their weight; a self-checkup program (254) which enables the membership to check their health by themselves at their homes with the home medical equipments; and a visit checkup program (256) which is used by the medical service providers when they visit the membership houses to check their health.

The said value-added program module (260) comprises: a customer relationship management program (262) which stores and manages the data related to the membership; a barcode reader program (264) which enables the said terminal (112a) to read the barcodes on the foods and other favorite foods; a total diet analysis program (266) which receives the barcodes read by the said barcode reader program (264) and the data about the customers to analyze and manage them according to the region, country, age, climate, race, sex and other categories; an anti-drinking and anti-smoking program (268) which receives data related to the drinking and smoking habit of membership and help them stop drinking and smoking; and a health diary program (270) which is provided to input the data related to the food and other favorite food the membership take. Data storing units (242a-270a) which store the data related to the health condition of the membership are provided to the programs that are supplied to the said program management module (230).

Fig. 5 illustrates the menu selection module (28) which is provided to the restaurants as in Fig. 1. As depicted in the figure, the said menu selection module (280) comprises: a data input unit (282) which is composed of a fingerprint identification unit (282a), or a membership card input unit (282b), or a membership number input unit (282c) to identify the membership; a control unit (284) which reads the data inputted by the said data input unit (282) and provides the diet menu; a menu-providing unit (286) which selects and provides specific diet menus to the membership based on the membership data stored in the said health improvement system (200) by the said control unit; a meal ticket-issuing unit (288) which issues diet menus selected by the said menu- providing unit (286) to the membership; and a counting unit (290) which summates the total amount on the said meal tickets upon the completion of issuing them. The said menu selection module (280) is connected through online to the restaurants which provide meals based on the said diet menus, receive the diet menu from the said menu- providing unit (286) and prepare and provide meals. If menu numbers are checked after meals are prepared, membership are served with the meals corresponding to the menu numbers.

The functions and structures of the present invention as depicted in the drawings are as follows:

People connect the network-based health improvement system (200) through the website and fill out the forms to become membership. The membership have to pass the membership identification process through fingerprint identifying unit or membership card input unit at the specific locations to receive health examination (steps 300 - 306). When the membership input the relevant data with their membership card or fingerprints or membership numbers through the terminal in Fig .2, the membership data processed by the data reading unit (122) are compared to the membership data retrieved from the database (220) controlled by the control unit (124) to identify the membership.

The membership after completion of the membership identification process are given medical examination at the medical institutions (100) (step 308). The data resulted from the medical examination are stored through the network in the said database (220) by the main control module (210) (step 310). The data resulted from the medical examination may be stored by categorizing them according to the sex, country, region, age and race of the membership. Other data related to the types of food, beverages, cigarettes and liquor are also inputted.

The said data stored in the said database (220) are transmitted and interchanged through the electronic data interchange method upon the request by the service providers (110) such as the restaurants (112), sports centers (114) and recreation centers (116) (step 312). Specific programs are provided according to the location and purpose of the use to monitor the current health condition of the membership (steps 314 and 316).

In explaining about the Fig. 8a - 14, the explanation in Fig. 8a substitutes for basic procedures such as the membership identification to avoid overlapped explanation. The membership already received medical examinations at the said medical institutions (100), and the data resulted from these are stored in the said database (220).

Fig. 8a - 10 show a series of procedures the membership can improve or maintain their health through the proper diet and exercise by applying the health management program module (240). As seen in Fig. 8a, membership visit the restaurants (112), connect to the health improvement system (200) through online by operating the menu selection module (280) as in Fig. 5 to receive menus that are prepared according to their physical conditions and health and pass the membership identification process through the fingerprint identification unit (282a) or membership card input unit (282b) or membership number input unit (282c) (steps 320 - 324).

After the membership pass the membership identification procedures, the said health improvement system (200) analyzes the data resulted from the health examination of the membership and presents diet control program (242) (step 328) to the membership. Then, the said diet control program (242) analyses the data resulted from the medical examination and the information about the membership such as physical condition, age and sex and suggests the most proper menus and other foods to the membership according to their current health conditions (steps 330 and 332).

The menu-providing unit (286) decides which food the membership should or should not eat and displays the most proper menus for the membership.

Accordingly, the said membership selects the menus they want to eat from the display by touching the buttons, and the selected menus are served to the membership through the meal ticket-issuing unit (288). The meal tickets are received through online and their numbers are displayed on the computer screen at the kitchen where food are prepared, and the membership who have the meal tickets receive the meals from the counter. As such, the membership can eat the food properly prepared according to their physical and health conditions at the designated membership restaurants or buy the food at the designated membership food manufacturers.

Each different food and other favorite foods suggested by the said diet control program (242) are provided to the membership according to the changes of the conditions of the membership health. If the membership want to use the said diet control program at their homes, diet menus are provided for every week or every 10 days.

The said restaurants (112) sell a variety of foods or liquor and cigarettes. As seen in Fig. 8, breathalyzers are provided to the liquor stores so that they can check the amount of alcohol the membership had taken. The liquor stores provide proper data related to the drinking of the membership after they receive the data resulted from the breathalyzer based on the data related to the dinking of the membership that are previously provided according to the alcoholic program (step 340 - 346).

As seen in Fig. 9, if the membership want to receive information related to the proper types and amount of exercise with the use of the exercise control program (244), the membership have to pass the membership identification process (step 350 - 354) and ask the data related to the proper types and amount of exercise to the said health improvement system (200). The membership can identify their membership through the terminal (114a) provided to the sports centers (114) as well as through the program- processing system (140).

After the completion of the membership identification process, the said health improvement system (200) retrieves the membership data from the database (220) and displays proper types and amount of the exercises to the membership through the exercise control program (244) on the display (15) (step 356 - 362). The purpose of this system is to provide effective exercise program and solve the problems that may occur when the membership select the types of exercises that are not suitable for them.

Accordingly, the membership are provided with the proper types and amount of exercise. When the membership exercise according to the data provided by the said exercise control program (244), the types and amount of exercise change after a certain period of time. The said health improvement system (200) manages the membership data to provide membership with changed types and amount of exercise (step 364).

The membership can also use the muscular strengthening program (245) to maintain the fitness of their bodies. When the. membership select the said muscular strengthening program (245) from the exercise control program (244), they can check the information related to the types and amount of exercise they have to choose through the program-processing system (140) installed on the health equipment and connected to the said health improvement system (200) based on the membership information (physical structure) provided by the said health improvement system (200).

As seen in Fig. 6a - 6c, the membership look at the relevant data arranged by the said muscular strengthening program (245) through the said program-processing system (140) and they can check the information related to the result from the exercise if they exercise according to the types and amount of exercise displayed on the screen. Accordingly, the membership can effectively build their bodies through the proper exercise by using effective health equipments.

The said program-processing system (140) in Fig .3 is installed on the health equipments depicted in Fig. 6a - 6c to perform membership identification and is provided with the said fingerprint identifying unit (146) or membership card input unit or membership number input unit. The said program-processing unit (140) enables the display (150) to display the current status of exercise of membership. The membership can also listen to the music through the headphone terminal (152) during their exercise.

As seen in Fig. 10, when the membership visit the recreation centers (116), the data related to the level of the stress of the membership measured previously by the stress-measuring equipment (not seen in the drawings) in the said recreation centers (116) are inputted in the said health improvement system (200) through the network (steps 380 - 386). The main control module (210) of the said health improvement system (200) compares and analyzes the types of the recreations and the amount of time the membership need to relieve their stress (step 388). According to the results of this analysis, the data related to the proper types of recreations and amount of time the membership need to relieve their stress are provided to the membership (step 390). Accordingly, the membership can choose the types of recreations to relive their stress (step 392).

The said health improvement system (200) receives the data resulted from the medical examination from the medical institutions (100), and these data are provided to the restaurants (112), sports centers (114) and recreation centers (116) so that the membership may be provided with the most proper types of foods, exercise and recreations through the control program based on the data. Accordingly, the membership can manage their health with the most effective manner. When the membership require special health management, they can have special medical examinations through the special management program (250) as seen in Fig. 11 and 12.

As seen in Fig. 11, when the membership want to reduce their weight after the result from their medical examinations, the membership after the membership identification procedure activates the obesity management program (252) according to the control by the main control module (210) (steps 400 - 408).

Then, the said obesity management program (252) receives and analyzes the data related to the obesity of the membership and provides the data related how much weight the membership have to reduce through the obesity management program (252). For instance, when the membership want to reduce certain weight for a specific period of time, the said obesity management program provides accurate data to the membership by comparing the current status of the obesity of the membership to the standard weight of the people who do not have problems for obesity (step 410).

Based on the results of the above comparison, the diet control program (242) or exercise control program (242) provides membership with the data related to the diet control and amount of exercise to reduce their weight. When the weight of the membership changes, the data related to the targeted weight loss also change accordingly (steps 412 - 414).

The types of food which the membership take according to the said diet control program (242) are recorded in the health diary program (270) on a regular basis, and such data may be also utilized as the data that are analyzed and processed by the said total diet analysis program (266).

As seen in Fig. 12, the membership may check up them by themselves or medical doctors may visit their home for their medical examination. By using the said a self-checkup program (254), the membership, after they identified their membership, may undergo a long-term or short-term medical treatment through the said self-checkup program (254). In order for the membership to receive medical examination service through the said self-checkup program (254), they need to connect the home medial equipments such as the thermometer, sphygmomanometer and other medical equipments to check the heart beat, stress and osteoporosis to their computers with specific interfaces so that the relevant data may be interchanged between the membership computers and the said health improvement system (steps 420 - 426).

After the said home medical equipments are connected to the membership computers, the membership examine their bodies using the said medical equipments (step 428), and the data resulted from the examination are transferred to the said health improvement system (200). Then, the said health improvement system (200) analyzes the data resulted from the examination and delivers them to the membership so that they may check up their health conveniently (steps 430 and 432). However, if the membership cannot check up with the said self-checkup program (254), they may ask doctors to visit their homes through the visit checkup program (256) in order to receive the medial examination (If no, at the step 426). The results of the above medical examinations are transmitted to the said health improvement system (200) through the online network and are compared to the previous health examination data to provide medical examination data, or the doctors review the data and visit the membership homes to provide them to the membership (step 434 - 438).

As seen in Fig. 13, the said service providers (110) such as the medical institutions (100), restaurants (112), sports centers (114) and recreation centers shall be registered through the said health improvement system (200) in order for them to provide the above services to the membership

For this, the said medical institutions (100), restaurants (112), sports centers (114) and recreation centers shall connect to the said health improvement system (200) through online and input relevant data in the said health improvement system (200) (steps 450 - 454). Then, the said health improvement system (200) approves them when they satisfy the registration requirements (steps 456 and 458).

After the said service providers pass the registration procedure, they receive membership data from the membership and provide the relevant data to the membership when they provide relevant service through the said health improvement system (200) (step 460). The said service providers (110) interchange relevant data through the electronic data interchange method in order for them to effectively provide the said services to the membership (step 462).

The said sports centers (114) are provided with exercise equipments that are installed with the program-processing system (140), the said restaurants are provided with foods and other favorite foods approved by the said health improvement system (200) and the said recreation centers (116) are provided with the systems that may check the level of the stress of the membership and the amount of calories the membership consume.

A health diary program (270) records the data related to the types of foods and other favorite foods the membership take on a regular or irregular basis, and these data are categorized according to the region, country, age, climate, race and sex. Then, the said data are sorted out by the said total diet analysis program (266) according to the types of foods and other favorite foods that the membership take.

As seen in Fig. 14, barcodes are provided to the foods and other favorite foods, and the restaurants which sell the said foods and other favorite foods provide the data related to these and the membership (through the membership card input unit or fingerprint-identifying unit) to the said health improvement system (200) so that they may be sorted out according to each field of data (steps 480 - 486). The said restaurants (112) are provided with a barcode reader, terminals that can receive the membership data and a system that can transmit the inputted data to the said health improvement system (200).

The data sorted out according to the barcodes may be provided to the manufacturers of the said service providers (110) through the said health improvement system (200), or they may be used as the base data utilized for the corporate management, production, and sales strategies (step 488). The said health improvement system (200) provides the said health diary program (270) to the membership without charge. When the data related to the types of foods and other favorite foods are inputted in the said health diary program (270), the said health improvement system (200) analyzes the said data and provides diet programs to the membership through the said diet control program (242).

The said health improvement system (200) also provides other value-added services to the membership who use the said health diary program (270).

Use of the Present Invention for Commercial Purpose As described on the above, the present invention is a network-based health management system and the operation method that enable the membership, who registered in the health improvement system, to have medical checkup at the restaurants, medical institutions, sports centers, recreation centers or at their homes. According to the membership data related to the health condition and physical condition, the present invention provides diet control program and other data and information related to the types and amount of exercise the membership need and types of recreation programs and weight loss programs through differentiated programs so that they can effectively and systematically manage their health.

The data related to the eating habit of membership, the types of recreations that the membership prefer and the amount of exercise the membership practice are sorted in the database so that the membership can have accurate results from their first medical examinations, improving and maintaining their health more effectively compared to other means of medical services currently available from medical institutions or other medical service providers. Also, the membership data such as the types of foods and other favorite foods the membership prefer can be analyzed according to the region, country, age, climate, race and sex. And, such data may be used as the base data utilized for the corporate management, production and sales strategies, contributing to the reduction of the marketing cost and the increase of the sales. The data may be also used as the statistical data that may be used by relevant institutions as the basic data to improve the public health.

Another differentiated function of the present invention is that it enables the membership to receive medical service not only at the restricted places such as the hospitals but also at the restaurants, sports centers, recreation centers and even at the membership homes .

Claims

1. A network-based health management system comprising: a health improvement system, or HIS, (200) that: carries out medical examination for membership registered according to specific requirements; connects medical institutions (100) that forward the data resulted from the medical examination to the terminal (100a) through network- based online; receives and analyzes the data related to the membership from the restaurants (112), sports centers (114) and recreation centers (116) that are provided through online by specific terminals (112a,l 14a,l 16a,l 18a and 110a) and from individuals membership homes (118) to input and output the said data and to identify the membership; and receives and analyzes the data resulted from the medical examination from the said medical institutions (100) through online when the said membership require relevant services from the above-mentioned restaurants, sports centers, recreation centers and medical institutions.

2. A network-based health management system which comprise a health improvement system, or HIS, (200) in Claim 1, wherein the said health improvement system (200) comprises: a main control module (210) which selects relevant programs and provides them to the membership of the restaurants (112), sports centers (114), recreation centers (116) and membership homes based on the medical examinations from the medical institutions (100) and collects and manages membership data provided through the menu selection module (280); a program management module (230) which stores and manages various types of programs to provide relevant programs to the membership according to the control by the said main control module (210); and a database (220) which stores and processes the data related to the said service providers (110) and membership.

3. A network-based health management system which comprise a health improvement system in Claim 1, wherein the said terminals (100a and 110a) comprise: a membership data input unit (120) which is composed of the card input unit (120a) which reads the information of the membership cards to identify the membership, or a fingerprint input unit (120b) which reads the fingerprints of the membership to identify the membership, or a membership number input unit (120c) which receives the membership numbers from the key pad (120d); a data reading unit (122) which reads and processes the data transmitted to the said membership data input unit (120); and a control unit (124) which transmits the membership data processed by the data reading unit (122) to the health improvement system (200) through the data transmitting and receiving unit (126) and compares the said data to the membership data to identify the membership.

4. A network-based health management system which comprise a health improvement system in Claim 1, wherein the said program management module (230) comprises: a health management program module (240) which provides specific programs to the membership according to the conditions of their health; a special management program (250) module which is provided to the membership who require special health management; and a value-added program module (260) which is additionally provided according to the activation of the said health improvement system (200) or has a special program to collect the information related to the membership, service providers (112), foods and other favorite things.

5. A network-based health management system which comprise a health improvement system in Claim 4, wherein the said health management program module (240) comprises: a diet control program (242) which provides menus with proper amount of food and other favorite food to the membership according to the physical constitution and health condition of the membership; an exercise control program (244) which includes a muscular strengthening program (245) that provides types and amount of exercises to the membership according to their health condition; and a stress solution program (246) which allows the said service providers (112) to choose types of recreations in order for the membership to relieve their stress measured by the stress measuring equipment.

6. A network-based health management system which comprise a health improvement system in Claim 4, wherein the said special management program module (250) comprises: an obesity management program (252) which provides the said diet control program (242) and exercise control program (244) to the membership who have problems related to the obesity for a specific period of time to help them reduce their weight; a self-checkup program (254) which enables the membership to check their health by themselves at their homes with the home medical equipments; and a visit checkup program (256) which is used by the medical service providers when they visit the membership homes to check their health.

7. A network-based health management system which comprise a health improvement system in Claim 4, wherein the said value-added program module (260) comprises: a customer relationship management program (262) which stores and manages the data related to the membership; a barcode reader program (264) which enables the said terminal (112) to read the barcodes printed by the manufacturers (120) on the foods and other favorite foods; a total diet analysis program (266) which receives the barcodes that are read by the said barcode reader program (264) and the data about the customers to analyze and manage them according to the region, country, age, climate, race, sex and other categories; an anti-drinking and anti-smoking program (268) which receives data related to the drinking and smoking of membership and help them stop drinking and smoking; and a health diary program (270) which is provided to input the data related to the foods and other favorite foods the membership take.

8. A network-based health management system which comprise a health improvement system (200) in Claim 5 and claim 7, wherein: the said programs (242-270) comprise the databases (242a-270a) which store the data related to the health condition of the membership.

9. A network-based health management system which comprise a health improvement system in Claim 1, wherein the said menu selection module (280) provided in the restaurants (112) comprises: a data input unit (282) which is composed of a fingerprint identification unit (282a), or a membership card input unit (282b), or a membership number input unit (282c) to identify the membership; a control unit (284) which reads the data inputted by the said data input unit (282) and provides the diet menu; a menu- providing unit (286) which selects and provides specific diet menus to the membership based on the membership data stored in the said health improvement system (200) by the said control unit; a meal ticket-issuing unit (288) which issues diet menus selected by the said menu-providing unit (286) to the membership; and a counting unit (290) which summates the total amount on the said meal tickets upon the completion of issuing them.

10. A network-based health management system which comprise a health improvement system in Claim 9, wherein the said menu selection module (280); is connected through online to the restaurants in order for the said restaurants to prepare and serve meals to the membership based on the diet menus provided by the said menu- providing unit (286); and enables the membership to be served with the meals that correspond to the menu numbers displayed on the display.

11. A network-based health management system which comprise a health improvement system in Claim 1, wherein: the said program-processing system (140) is installed inside the sports equipments in the sports centers (114) and interfaced with the computer system to receive and execute relevant programs.

12. A network-based health management system which comprise a health improvement system in Claim 11, wherein the said program-processing system (140) comprises: a data receiving and transmitting unit (142) which transmits specific programs to the said computer system; a fingerprint identifying unit (146) which identifies the membership through their fingerprints; a microprocessor (144) which controls the operation of the said program-processing system (140); a program management unit (148) which executes the said program under the control of the said microprocessor (1 4) after the membership are identified by the said fingerprint identifying unit (146); a display (150) which displays current status of exercise of membership; and a headphone terminal (152) which provides the function of the headphones.

13. A network-based health management system which comprise a health improvement system in Claim 12, wherein: the said display (150) receives video signal or TV signal through external input terminal to display relevant information.

14. A network-based health management system which comprise a health improvement system in Claim 1, wherein: an electronic data interchange method is provided in order for the medical institutions (100), restaurants (112), sports centers (114) and recreation centers (116) to interchange the relevant data one another.

15. A network-based health management system which comprise a health improvement system in Claim 1, wherein the said medical institutions (100), restaurants (112), sports centers (114), recreation centers (116) and manufacturers (120) are registered according to the verification procedures of the said health improvement system (200), and they are provided with food, other food supply, breathalyzers, sports equipments installed with the said program-processing system (140), some specific systems that check the level of stress and amount of calories consumed according to the requirements by the said health improvement system (200).

16. A network-based health management system which comprise a health improvement system in Claim 1, wherein: the said manufacturers (120) which manufacture and provide foods and other favorite foods to the said restaurants (112) are added; and the said restaurants (112) are provided with a barcode readers, terminals that can receive the membership data and a system that can transmit the inputted data to the said health improvement system (200).

17. A network-based health management system which comprise a health improvement system in Claim 3, wherein: the said membership cards are provided with the function as bank credit cards.

18. A network-based health management system operation method which comprises the following procedures: many unspecified people connect the said health improvement system (200) through online; the said people agree to the membership registration policy and register as membership by filling out provided forms; the registered membership receive initial medical examinations at the medical institutions specified by the said health improvement system (200); the data resulted from the health examination are put into the database system; the said health examination data are interchanged among the said restaurants (112), sport centers (114), recreation centers (116) and medical institutions (100) through the electronic data interchange method, or "EDI"; membership receive relevant programs through online which are provided by the health management program module (240) and special management program module (250) when the membership receive the services related to the foods, favorite items, sports and recreation at the restaurants, sports centers, recreation centers and their homes; membership receive the data related to the foods, favorite items, sports, amount of exercise, type of exercise, relieving of stress and reducing of weight; and the membership follow the instructions that are prepared according to the above data to improve their health.

19. A network-based health management system operation method in claim 18, wherein the following procedures are included: membership visit the said restaurants (112), connect to the health improvement system (200) through online by the said terminal (112a) and pass the membership identification procedure, the said health improvement system (200) analyzes the data resulted from the health examination of the membership and presents diet control program (242) to the membership. The said diet control program (242) analyzes the data resulted from the medical examination and the information about the membership such as physical condition, age and sex and suggests the most proper menus and other foods to the membership according to their current health conditions. Accordingly, the said membership select the menus they want to eat according to the above said data.

20. A network-based health management system operation method in claim 18, wherein the following procedures are included: membership visit the said sports centers (114), connect to the health improvement system (200) through online by the said terminal (114a) and pass the membership identification procedure, the said health improvement system (200) analyzes the data resulted from the health examination of the membership and presents the said exercise control program (244) which is inside the said health management program module (240) to the membership. The said exercise control program (244) analyzes the data resulted from the medical examination and the information about the membership such as physical condition, age and sex and suggests the most proper exercise programs and amount of the exercise to the membership according to their current health conditions. Accordingly, the said membership select the most proper exercise programs and amount of exercise.

21. A network-based health management system operation method in claim 18, wherein the following procedures are included: membership visit the said recreation centers (116), connect to the health improvement system (200) through online by the said terminal (116a) and pass the membership identification procedure, the data related to the level of stress of the membership measured by the stress-measuring equipments are transmitted to the said health improvement system (200). The said health improvement system (200) analyzes the said data related to the level of stress of the membership and calculates the most proper level of stress and amount of calories the membership have to consume through the said stress solution program (246). Accordingly, the most proper types of recreation and the amount of time the membership need to spare for the recreation activities are suggested according to the level of stress and amount of calories the membership consume.

22. A network-based health management operation system method in claim 18, wherein the following procedures are included: the said membership connect to the health improvement system (200) through online at the business premises of the said service providers (110), pass the membership identification procedure and activates the obesity management program (252). The membership are provided with the diet data and the exercise data resulted from the said diet control program (242) and exercise control program (244).

23. A network-based health management operation system method in claim 18, wherein the following procedures are included: the said membership connect to the health improvement system (200) through online and pass the membership identification procedure. The membership check up them by themselves through the self-checkup program (254) with the use of the home medical equipments in their homes. The data resulted from the examination are transmitted to the said health improvement system (200) through online, the said data are analyzed and the final data after the analysis are provided to the membership.

24. A network-based health management operation system method in claim 23, wherein the following procedures are included: the said membership ask doctors to visit their homes to check up the membership through the visit checkup program (256) if the membership cannot check up their health with the said self-checkup program (254). The results of the medical examinations are provided to the membership.

25. A network-based health management operation system method in claim 18, wherein the following procedures are included: the said medical institutions (100), restaurants (112), sports centers (114), recreation centers (116) and manufacturers (120) fill out the registration forms according to the registration procedures provided by the said health improvement system (200), and only those who satisfy the requirements are registered as the membership service providers in the said health improvement system (200).

26. A network-based health management operation system method in claim 25, wherein the following procedures are included: the data related to the service providers (110) are collected and the barcodes on the foods are scanned and the final data are sorted out according to the region, country, age, climate, human race and sex. And, such data may be provided to the said manufacturers (120) and other companies which may use them as the base data to utilize the corporate management, production and sales strategies, contributing to the reduction of the marketing cost and the increase of the sales. The data may be also used as the statistical data that may be used by the relevant institutions as the basic data to improve the public health and national welfare.

27. A network-based health management operation system method in claim 18, wherein the following procedures are included: the said membership send the data related to the types of foods and other favorite foods through the said health diary program (270) to the said health improvement system (200); the said health improvement system (200) provides diet control programs (242) to the membership through the said diet control program (242); and the said health improvement system (200) also provides other value-added service to the membership based on how often they use the said health diary program (270).

28. A network-based health management operation system method in claim 25, wherein the following are included: the said registered recreation centers (116) have capabilities to measure the level of the stress relieved and the amount of calories consumed.

29. A network-based health management operation system method in claim 25, wherein the following are included: the said registered restaurants (112) provide the most proper diet menus to the membership based on the data resulted from the medical examinations and stored in the said health improvement system (200) through the said menu selection module.

30. A network-based health management operation system method in claim 18, wherein the following procedure and characteristic are included: the transactions occurred among the said medical institutions (100), restaurants (112), sports centers (114), recreation centers and health improvement system (200) are based on the electronic fund transfer method.