Transactional storage system for healthcare information

Abstract

Managing healthcare information data includes, on a computer, representing a state of a system based on the healthcare information, receiving a transaction representing a change to the system, changing the representation of the state of the system according to the transaction, and storing the transaction.

1 . A method of managing healthcare information data comprising
 on a computer, representing a state of a system based on the healthcare information,   receiving a transaction representing a change to the system,   changing the representation of the state of the system according to the transaction, and   storing the transaction.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  also comprising
 repeatedly,   receiving a new transaction representing a new change to the system,   changing the representation of the state of the system according to the new transaction, and   storing the new transaction with previous transactions in a set of transactions.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , in which representing the state of the system comprises
 representing a system with an empty state, and   repeatedly for each transaction in a set of transactions,   changing the representation of the state of the system according to the transaction.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  also comprising
 representing a state of the system corresponding to a point in time by   representing a system with an empty state, and   repeatedly for each transaction in a set of transactions corresponding to changes prior to the point in time,   changing the representation of the state of the system according to the transaction.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  also comprising
 representing a state of the system corresponding to a particular transaction by   representing a system with an empty state, and   repeatedly for each transaction in a set of transactions preceding and including the particular transaction,   changing the representation of the state of the system according to the transaction.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  also comprising
 representing a state of a subset of the system corresponding to a point in time by   representing a system with an empty state, and   repeatedly for each transaction in a set of transactions corresponding to changes to the subset of the system prior to the point in time,   changing the representation of the state of the system according to the transaction.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  in which representing the state of the system comprises
 storing in a memory a hierarchy of elements,   each element having one or more values,   each value comprising data or a representation of one or more additional elements.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 3  also comprising
 on a second computer,   representing a copy of the state of the system, and   whenever a transaction is added to the set of transactions,   changing the copy of the state of the system according to the transaction.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1  in which the transaction comprises a representation of the state of the system. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1  in which the transaction comprises
 a subset of elements comprising the representation of the state of the system, and   a set of values corresponding to one or more elements in the subset of elements.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1  in which storing the transaction comprises adding the transaction or a functional representation of the transaction to a sequence of transactions in a storage. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11  in which a storage comprises one or more of a disk, a flash memory, a network storage device, a virtual storage volume. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11  in which adding the transaction to a sequence of transactions comprises
 adding the transaction to a queue of transactions, and   moving transactions from the queue of transactions to a storage.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11  in which adding the transaction to a sequence of transactions comprises sending the transaction to a representation of a storage. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13  in which the transaction is sent to a representation of a storage in the same manner that data would be sent to a local storage. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1  in which the healthcare information corresponds to one or more of
 a clinical study, an epidemiological study, information about a healthcare product, medical records, or insurance information.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1  in which a transaction includes a binary file, and storing the transaction comprises
 storing the binary file in a temporary location,   assigning the binary file a unique identifier,   adding the unique identifier to the transaction,   storing the transaction in a storage, and   storing the binary file in the storage.   
     
     
         18 . An apparatus for managing healthcare information data comprising
 a computer configured to   represent a state of a system based on the healthcare information,   receive a transaction representing a change to the system,   change the representation of the state of the system according to the transaction, and   store the transaction.   
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 18  in which the computer is also configured to repeatedly,
 receive a new transaction representing a new change to the system,   change the representation of the state of the system according to the new transaction, and   store the transaction with previous transactions in a set of transactions.   
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 18  in which the computer is configured to represent the state of the system by
 representing a system with an empty state, and   repeatedly for each transaction in a set of transactions,   changing the representation of the system according to the transaction.   
     
     
         21 . A computer readable medium comprising instructions to cause a computer to
 represent a state of a system based on healthcare information,   receive a transaction representing a change to the system,   change the representation of the state of the system according to the transaction, and   store the transaction.   
     
     
         22 . The medium of  claim 21  in which the instructions also cause the computer to repeatedly,
 receive a new transaction representing a new change to the system,   change the representation of the state of the system according to the new transaction, and   store the transaction with previous transactions in a set of transactions.   
     
     
         23 . The medium of  claim 21  in which the instructions cause the computer to represent the state of the system by
 representing a system with an empty state, and   repeatedly for each transaction in a set of transactions,   changing the representation of the system according to the transaction.