US12603177B2 - Interactive Conversational Symptom Checker
Summary
The USPTO granted patent US12603177B2 to Walmart Apollo, LLC on April 14, 2026, covering an interactive conversational symptom checker system. The invention uses undirected graph-based subgraphs to map symptoms to connected diseases, calculates posterior probabilities, and iteratively refines hypothesis diagnoses through user dialogue before recommending provider appointments. Patent holders and technology developers in health informatics should monitor this IP landscape development.
What changed
The USPTO granted patent US12603177B2 to Walmart Apollo, LLC on April 14, 2026. The patent covers a system and method for an interactive conversational symptom checker that receives user text input, generates subgraphs from undirected graphs mapping symptoms to diseases, calculates posterior probabilities for connected diseases, and iteratively refines hypothesis diagnoses through targeted question-and-answer exchanges with the user before recommending scheduling a provider appointment.
This patent grant affects IP rights holders who should review their existing patent portfolios for potential overlap, technology companies developing health informatics solutions who face potential infringement risk, and healthcare providers considering AI-driven symptom triage tools who should evaluate licensing needs.
What to do next
- Monitor for potential licensing opportunities
- Review patent claims for infringement risk
- Track related USPTO health informatics patents
Archived snapshot
Apr 16, 2026GovPing captured this document from the original source. If the source has since changed or been removed, this is the text as it existed at that time.
Interactive conversational symptom checker
Grant US12603177B2 Kind: B2 Apr 14, 2026
Assignee
Walmart Apollo, LLC
Inventors
Phani Ram Sayapaneni, Navin Naidu, Venkata Naga Vamsi Krishna Nandanavanam, Shankara Bhargava
Abstract
A system including one or more processors and one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computing instructions that, when executed on the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform: receiving text from a user; generating, from an undirected graph, a subgraph mapping the one or more symptoms to connected diseases; calculating a respective posterior probability for each of the connected diseases using the subgraph and evidence to formulate a hypothesis diagnosis; iteratively: determining one or more questions to send the user based on a set of top symptoms for the hypothesis diagnosis; sending the one or more questions to the user; receiving one or more responses from the user; and updating the hypothesis diagnosis; and sending a recommendation to the user to schedule an appointment with a provider for the hypothesis diagnosis. Other embodiments are disclosed.
CPC Classifications
G16H 50/20 G16H 50/00 G16H 40/20 G06F 40/20 G06F 40/279
Filing Date
2023-01-24
Application No.
18100645
Claims
14
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