US 5,722,418 · Granted 1998-03-03

The 1998 Patent That Invented Digital Behavior Coaching

Imagine a computer system that sends you personalized motivational messages and questions at just the right times to help you change a bad habit or reach a goal—like quitting smoking or improving work performance. An expert (like a doctor or counselor) sets up the system with your specific challenges, and the computer delivers the nudges automatically based on what stage of change you're in.

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The plain-English version

What it protects

The claim covers a computer-based system that stores client data and behavioral-change programs, then automatically sends customized motivational messages and questions to clients at scheduled times. What's protected here is the combination of: a database of client information, a program that maps messages to one of six stages of behavioral change, an expert who designs the messages, and a computer that delivers them through various transmission methods (phone, email, etc.) based on the client's current stage and the time of day.

Why it matters

This patent is an early blueprint for what became digital health coaching, telehealth behavioral interventions, and workplace wellness programs. Filed in 1994 and granted in 1998, it captures the moment when experts realized that computers could automate the delivery of psychological support and behavioral guidance—a foundation for modern apps that remind you to exercise, take medication, or track mental health. It's a structural patent on automated expert guidance at scale.

Real-world use

Every time a wellness app sends you a timed reminder to meditate or log your mood, or when your employer's health program texts you a motivational message about fitness goals, that interaction traces back to the logic this patent describes.

Original USPTO abstract

A method for mediating social and behavioral influence processes through an interactive telecommunications guidance system for use in medicine and business (10) that utilizes an expert (200) such as a physician, counselor, manager, supervisor, trainer, or peer in association with a computer (16) that produces and sends a series of motivational messages and/or questions to a client, patient or employee (50) for changing or reinforcing a specific behavioral problem and goal management. The system (10) consists of a client database (12) and a client program (14) that includes for each client unique motivational messages and/or questions based on a model such as the transtheoretical model of change comprising the six stages of behavioral change (100) and the 14 processes of change (114), as interwining, interacting variables in the modification of health, mental health, and work site behaviors of the client or employee (50). The client program (14) in association with the expert (200) utilizes the associated 14 processes of change (114) to move the client (50) through one of the six stages of behavioral change (100) when appropriate by using a plurality of transmission and receiving means. The database and program are operated by a computer (16) that at preselected time periods sends the messages and/or questions to the client (50) through use of a variety of transmission means and furthermore selects a platform of behavioral issues that is to be addressed based on a given behavioral stage or goal (100) at a given time of day.

Patent details

Publication number: US 5,722,418
Filing date: 1994-09-30
Grant date: 1998-03-03
Assignee: Bro; L. William
Inventor(s): BRO; L. WILLIAM
CPC class: G09B7/04

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