Motorola Lexicus and Visteon Corporation Announced Breakthrough in Recognizing Physicians’ Handwriting
ORLANDO, Fla. — March 1, 1996 — Motorola, Lexicus Division (NYSE:MOT) of Palo Alto, Calif. and Visteon Corporation of Maitland, Fla. have jointly announced a major breakthrough in handwriting recognition.
They have developed an application that does what many people have thought to be impossible: it allows a computer to recognize physicians' handwriting. The technology uses neural networks and dictionaries to recognize even messy handwriting.
This breakthrough enables a physician to write a prescription in his or her own handwriting, including drug name, quantities, dosage and other instructions that may be tied directly to a payor or healthcare organization-driven formulary. Visteon Corporation used Lexicus Longhand technology in its BIGVISION Prescription Pad which not only enables doctors to write in cursive handwriting, but can also send the completed prescription in printed and/or electronic form to the pharmacy.
Visteon Corporation announced that it plans to tie documentation of the order directly to the patient's clinical record in the company's BIGVISION Clinical Manager product — an electronic patient record designed for large group practices.
Visteon and Motorola applied several advanced neural network technologies to enable the physician to write in any writing style: cursive, print or mixed. Motorola Lexicus has incorporated these breakthroughs in their upcoming Software Developer's Kit (SDK). The computer's ability to read and translate the doctor's cursive notes has astonished many people to whom the illegibility of medical handwriting has become legendary. It probably comes as no surprise that Motorola is the same company that caused a stir in the computer world last November when it introduced software that recognizes cursive Chinese characters.
The BIGVISION Prescription Pad and Lexicus Longhand Professional recognition software will be shown to the healthcare technology community at the Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Conference in Atlanta, GA, March 4-7, in Visteon's exhibit booth No. 263. In describing the initial response, David Greenberg, CEO of Visteon Corporation, said, "Physicians who use Lexicus Longhand software in the BIGVISION Prescription Pad are absolutely amazed that a computer can read their cursive writing."
The new software brings computers one step closer to doing things the way humans naturally do, rather than requiring humans to adapt to the computer. For a busy physician, the Prescription Pad is only the beginning. As Dr. Ronjon Nag, Co-Founder and General Manager of Lexicus, puts it, "Imagine a doctor interacting with a patient in the exam room and writing notes directly into the patient's clinical record, not as simple images of writing, but as searchable, reportable data."
The BIGVISION Prescription Pad will ultimately be available from Visteon Corporation as a component of its BIGVISION Clinical Manager product. For more information, Visteon Corporation can be reached at 800-VISTEON. Lexicus Longhand Professional handwriting recognition software is available now from Motorola at 800-934-4721 for $ 149. The Software Developer's Kit for Lexicus Longhand technology will ship in May 1996 and will be available for $ 399. Software developers who would like more information about incorporating cursive handwriting into their C++ or Visual Basic programs can call 800-LEXICUS.
Founded in 1992, Lexicus was acquired by Motorola, Inc. in 1993 and is now part of Motorola's Messaging, Information and Media Sector. Motorola is one of the world's leading providers of wireless communications, semiconductors, and advanced electronic systems and services. Major equipment businesses include cellular telephone, two-way radio, paging and data communications, personal communications, automotive, defense and space electronics and computers. Motorola's 1995 sales were $ 27.0 billion.
Visteon Corporation is a Florida-based, healthcare software development company redefining practice management systems for large physician group practices working toward growing managed care revenues. Visteon delivers a complete suite of innovative practice solutions developed entirely on Microsoft enterprise platforms.
Note to Editors: Motorola and the Motorola logo are registered trademarks and Lexicus Longhand is a trademark of Motorola, Inc. BIGVISION and Visteon are trademarks of Visteon Corporation. Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. All other company and product names are trademarks of their respective companies.
CONTACT:
Motorola, Lexicus Division
Brenda Scariot, 415/833-8062
[email protected]
or
Visteon Corp.
Lilian Myers, 407/643-7669
[email protected]