Researchers Submit Patent Application, “Request Processing System That Maps Errors to Corresponding Data Sources”, for Approval (USPTO 20160321124)
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No assignee for this patent application has been made.
News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: "Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to computer processes for mapping data to specified standards or conventions, and for performing or facilitating error correction in connection with such data mappings.
"Government legislated data standards are used for many different types of transactions. For example, data associated with requests for payment between banking institutions must typically adhere to a particular legislated standard. This prevents the confusion that may arise when payers and/or payees use different non-standard formats. Similarly, health care providers (e.g., a doctor) may submit data requesting a payment from a health insurance provider for medical services. In order to be processed by the health insurance provider, the data received from the providers typically must adhere to a specified standard format. For example, the X12 standard is currently used by health insurance providers and other payers for processing claims and payment requests.
"However, these standards are often complex, and many entities that make requests (e.g., medical office staff members) may not be familiar with them. When there are errors associated with received requests, it may often be difficult for requesting entities to determine the nature of the error or how it can be corrected, due to unfamiliarity with the data standards.
"In addition, legislative changes may cause the formats of these standards to change over time, necessitating upgrades of the applications used to process received requests. These changes may also require frequent updating of client applications, which may be tedious and time-consuming."
As a supplement to the background information on this patent application, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors' summary information for this patent application: "In many industries, in order for transaction requests, such as requests for payments, to be processed, the data associated with the request must be in a standard format. However, as the standards may often change, many client applications may not be configured to use the standard format, or may be configured to use older, out-of-date versions of the standard.
"In some embodiments, a user (e.g., a medical service provider) inputs data associated with a request (e.g., a claim or payment request for medical services) into a user interface generated by a client application to be sent to a request processing module maintained by a payer or intermediary (e.g., a health insurance provider).
"However, before the data is processed, it is first sent to a mapper module provided between the client application and the request processing module, which maps the source data received from the client application to the standard format, forming mapped data which may then be processed by the request processing module.
"Thus, the client application does not need to be aware of the standard used by the request processing module. This makes it so that the client application does not need to be updated as the standard changes, so long as the actual raw data elements required remain the same. Instead, only the mapping module and the request processing application need to be updated to reflected changed standards.
"If an error occurs during mapping or processing of the request, one or more data elements of the mapped data associated with the error may be identified. The mappings may then be used to identify which particular data elements of the original source data entered by the user that are associated with the error. This error information may be sent back to and displayed to the user by the client application. In addition, the error information may be used by the client application to allow the user to modify the original source data elements associated with the error. For instance, in response to the user clicking on a returned error message, the user may be presented with an interface that enables the user to input or edit data corresponding to the data elements associated with the error.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
"The following drawings and the associated descriptions are provided to illustrate embodiments of the present disclosure and do not limit the scope of the claims. Aspects and many of the attendant advantages of this disclosure will become more readily appreciated as the same become better understood by reference to the following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
"FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram illustrating an example request processing and error correction system in accordance with some embodiments.
"FIG. 2A illustrates a block diagram of a client application in accordance with some embodiments.
"FIG. 2B illustrates a block diagram of a mapper module in accordance with some embodiments.
"FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart of a process for processing requests and performing error correction, in accordance with some embodiments.
"FIG. 4 illustrates a table showing a mapping between received data and the X12 standard in accordance with some embodiments.
"FIG. 5 illustrates an interface at a client application containing a table showing one or more errors returned by the request processing application.
"FIG. 6 illustrates an interface that may be displayed to a user in response to the user clicking on a hyperlink associated with a particular error."
For additional information on this patent application, see:
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