Field of the Invention
[0001] The present invention relates generally to the field of virtual medical consultation, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a system and a method for optimized connectivity and instantaneous real-time distribution of video calls between doctors and patients.
Background of the Invention
[0002] Modern healthcare services provide for remote medical consultation, also known as telemedicine, via real-time two-way communication between patient and doctors. Conventionally, telemedicine takes place via phone calls where patients seek doctor's advice on non-emergency medical problems that do not require doctors to examine patients physically. At present, real role of telemedicine lies in the convenience it offers to patients and practitioners by obviating the necessity for a physical visit to get medical advice or treatment.
[0003] It has been observed that despite increased access to telemedicine, patients often face long waits and substantial performance issues that may often be traced to inefficient load management in online healthcare systems. Typically, inefficient load management is due to lack of tools to efficiently allocate healthcare resources, such as doctors, nurses, equipment, and specialists to online patients requiring these services. As a result, conventional telemedicine healthcare systems are inefficient and fraught with inconveniences. Further, existing tele-medicine practices require patients to select doctors on the basis of degrees, experience and feedback of the doctors for a scheduled medical video consultation, which requires a certain level of research and expertise in using telemedicine based applications. A medically or technically ignorant patient or an elderly patient may find it difficult to choose the best doctor

and more so to even use telemedicine based applications efficiently.
[0004] In light of the above-mentioned drawbacks, there is a need for a system and a method which provides an instantaneous real-time connectivity between patients and doctors within a shortest period of time. Further, there is a need for a system and a method which provides for an optimized and efficient load distribution and management between patients and doctors during virtual medical consultation. Furthermore, there is a need for a system and method to provide a reliable instantaneous session between a patient and a most suitable doctor amongst a network of qualified doctors in real-time without the need of any prior appointment scheduling process. There is a need for a system and a method that automatically connects the patients to the best doctor without the need for patients to carry out research or having knowledge of use of complex steps of telemedicine based applications for medical consultation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] In various embodiments of the present invention a system for an optimized virtual medical consultation is provided. The system comprises a memory storing program instructions and a processor for executing program instructions stored in the memory. The system comprises a load distribution server executed by the processor and configured to identify a triggering event and establish an instantaneous connection between a user device and a particular client device of multiple client devices via a single click in real-time based. The instantaneous connection is established based on a pre-defined routing criteria within a predetermined time-period in a first instance. Further, a video connection established through the instantaneous connection is switched at run-time to a next best client device of the multiple client devices in a second instance. The switching is repeated iteratively until the connection is established.

[0006] In various embodiments of the present invention, a method for an optimized virtual medical consultation is provided. The method is implemented via a processor executing program instructions stored in the memory. The method comprises identifying a triggering event and establishing an instantaneous connection between a user device and a particular client device of multiple client devices via a single click in real-time based on a pre-defined routing criteria within a predetermined time-period in a first instance. The method comprises switching a video connection established through the instantaneous connection at run-time to a next best client device of the multiple client devices in a second instance, and iteratively repeating the step of switching until the connection is established.
Brief description of the accompanying drawings
[0007] The present invention is described by way of embodiments illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein:
[0008] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system for optimized virtual medical consultation, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;
[0009] Fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method for optimized virtual medical consultation, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and
[0010] FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary computer system in which various embodiments of the present invention may be implemented.
Detailed description of the invention
[0011] The disclosure is provided in order to enable a person having ordinary skill in the art to practice the invention. Exemplary embodiments herein are provided only for illustrative purposes and various modifications will be readily apparent to

persons skilled in the art. The general principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments and applications without departing from the scope of the invention. The terminology and phraseology used herein is for the purpose of describing exemplary embodiments and should not be considered limiting. Thus, the present invention is to be accorded the widest scope encompassing numerous alternatives, modifications and equivalents consistent with the principles and features disclosed herein. For purposes of clarity, details relating to technical material that is known in the technical fields related to the invention have been briefly described or omitted so as not to unnecessarily obscure the present invention.
[0012] The present invention would now be discussed in context of embodiments as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
[0013] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system 100 for optimized virtual medical consultation, in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention.
[0014] Referring to FIG. 1, in an embodiment of the present invention, the system 100 comprises a user device 102, a load distribution server 104 and client devices 114-114n. The user device 102, the load distribution server 104 and the client devices 114-114n communicate with each other over a communication channel. The communication channel may include, but is not limited to, a physical transmission medium, such as, a wire, or a logical connection over a multiplexed medium, such as, a radio channel in telecommunications and computer networking. Examples of radio channel in telecommunications and computer networking may include, but are not limited to, a Local Area Network (LAN), a Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) and a Wide Area Network (WAN). In an embodiment of the present invention, the load distribution server 104 is at a remote location with respect to the user device 102 and the client devices 114-114n. The client devices 114-114n communicate with the user device 102 via the load

distribution server 104. In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the user device 102 and the client devices 114-114n may include, but is not limited to, a smart phone, a computer, a tablet, a microcomputer or any other wired or wireless device having audio and video rendering and capturing capabilities.
[0015] In various embodiments of the present invention, the load distribution server 104 comprises multiple units which operate in conjunction with each other for optimizing virtual medical consultation. The various units of the load distribution server 104 are operated via a processor 110 specifically programmed to execute instructions stored in a memory 112 for executing respective functionality of the units of the load distribution server 104, in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention.
[0016] In an embodiment of the present invention, the user device 102 is operated by a patient who intends to connect with a doctor operating the client devices 114-114n for virtual medical consultation related to health issues via the load distribution server 104. The client devices 114-114n are remotely located and are operational via a pre-determined quality broadband internet access across different networks (3G, 4G, broadband etc.). In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the pre-determined quality broadband internet is a 1Mbps uplink and downlink for establishing video conferencing between the user device 102 and the client devices 114-114n.
[0017] In an embodiment of the present invention, the user device 102 comprises an optimized virtual medical consultation unit 102a. Upon invocation of the optimized virtual medical consultation unit 102a, user (i.e. patient) of the user device 102 is instantaneously connected to any one of the client devices 114-114n via a single click through the load distribution server 104 for consultation with a doctor in a first instance. In an

exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the doctor for consultation in the first instance is a general physician. In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the optimized virtual medical consultation unit 102a is invoked upon identification of a pre-determined event. The pre-determined event is triggered when the patient clicks on a button at a graphical user-interface of the optimized virtual medical consultation unit 102a.
[0018] In an embodiment of the present invention, the load distribution server 104 comprises a load distribution engine 106. The load distribution engine 106 identifies the triggering event and establishes connection between the patient of the user device 102 to a doctor of a particular client device amongst multiple client devices 114-114n in real-time on the basis of a pre¬defined routing criteria within a pre-determined time-period. In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the pre¬determined time period is from 10 seconds to 20 seconds. In various embodiments of the present invention, the load distribution engine 106 is an intelligent engine that identifies a suitable doctor (based on location, linguistic, and other parameters suitable for the patient) and instantaneously connects the patient to the client device from amongst the client devices
(114-114n) corresponding to the doctor.
[0019] In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the pre-defined routing criteria is determined based on a percentage of successful connections in the past with a particular client device amongst the client devices 114-114n. In another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the pre¬defined routing criteria is determined based on a session quality, a session duration and session interruptions while connecting the user device 102 to the client devices 114-114n. In an embodiment of the present invention, the session quality, session duration and session interruptions are determined using a rule-based mechanism. In an example, the session interruptions

are classified as a measure of a percentage of outage in successful connections between user device 102 and the client devices 114-114n. In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the pre-defined routing criteria may be classified into an acceptable or a non-acceptable category for connecting the user device (102) to the client devices (114-114n) . In yet another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the pre¬defined routing criteria is determined based on an average wait time for connecting the user device 102 to the client devices 114-114n. In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the pre-defined routing criteria is determined based on a feedback of consultation quality i.e. patient ratings and doctor ratings. In another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the pre-defined routing criteria is determined based on a wait time between video connections during handoff of doctors from one client device to another amongst the client devices 114-114n between shifts.
[0020] In another embodiment of the present invention, the pre-defined routing criteria is determined based on checking for availability of doctors during virtual medical consultation based on pre-determined availability characteristics. In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the availability characteristics may include checking which doctors are logged into an optimized virtual medical consultation unit (114a-114an) at the client devices 114-114n. In another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the availability characteristics include checking for the doctors at a client device who have made themselves available for consultation. In yet another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the availability characteristics include checking for the doctors who remain logged into a third party application that facilitate video conferencing at the client devices 114-114n. In another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the availability characteristics include checking for doctors who are not busy with another video connection with another patient. In another

exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the availability characteristics include checking for quality of internet connectivity at the client devices 114-114n. In another embodiment of the present invention, the availability characteristics are updated after every 5 seconds.
[0021] In an embodiment of the present invention, the load distribution engine 106 is configured to dynamically update the pre-defined routing criteria and availability characteristics taking into account an allocation of future video medical consultations. Further, the load distribution engine 106 is configured with the capability to adapt quickly to changes in conditions while dampening the effect of short-lived technical glitches. In various embodiment of the present invention, the load distribution engine 106 is a self-learning intelligent engine which updates the pre-defined routing criteria and availability characteristics at regular intervals based on predefined rules. In an embodiment of the present invention, the pre-defined rules are based on a historical data related to connections that occurred in the past between the user device 102 and a particular client device from amongst the client devices 114-114n. Based on the historical data, the load distribution engine 106 intelligently modifies a weightage of an individual routing criteria from amongst the pre-defined routing criteria for determining a successful connection. The weightage changes as per a predefined range in the predefined rules.
[0022] In an embodiment of the present invention, in the event a connection is established between the user device 102 and a particular client device of the client devices 114-114n based on the pre-defined routing criteria and availability characteristics and within the pre-determined time-period but the doctor operating the particular client device does not answer the video connection, the load distribution engine 106 reroutes the video connection to the next best client device amongst the client devices 114-114n within a predetermined time period in a second

instance. In an embodiment of the present invention, the next best client device is determined by the load distribution engine 106 based on a sorting mechanism. On the basis of the sorting mechanism, the client devices 114-114n are queued in a pre¬determined order in a queue such that the video connection switches at run-time to the next best client device. The load distribution engine 106 is configured to sort the client devices 114-114n in a descending order in the queue by determining an overall relevance and by combining a normalized weightage that is derived from session factors such as session duration, session interruption, availability of client device, etc. The sorting is iteratively updated based on real-time values of the session factors for each of the client devices 114-114n. In an embodiment of the present invention, a connection request is made to a first client device from the client devices 114-114n in the queue. In the event, a connection is not established between the user device 102 and the first client device within the pre-determined time period, then, the load distribution engine 106 iteratively switches to the next best client device in the queue. In an embodiment of the present invention, the sorting mechanism includes a rule-based mechanism based on the pre-defined routing criteria and the availability characteristics for queuing up client devices 114-114n in the pre-determined order such that the video connection switches at run-time to the next best client device. In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the sorting mechanism includes a qualified sort such that the lowest utilized doctors and with highest reliability in terms of video connection load are at the top of the queue. In various embodiments of the present invention, the load distribution engine 106 repeats the process iteratively until a video connection is established between the patient and doctor.
[0023] In an embodiment of the present invention, the load distribution engine 106 identifies any new client device included amongst the client devices 114-114n and adds a marker in the client device indicating the addition. In another embodiment of

the present invention, the graphical user-interface of the optimized virtual medical consultation unit 102a lists licensed medical practitioners by their specialization. The patient at the user device 102 may select the doctors as per specialization though the graphical user-interface and are connected to the corresponding client device of the client devices 114-114n via the load distribution server 104. In the event, the doctor is not available, the patient may choose to be notified via the graphical user interface for one-to-one connection with the doctor when they become available.
[0024] FIG. 2 is an exemplary flowchart illustrating a method for optimized virtual medical consultation, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
[0025] At step 202, a triggering event is identified and an instantaneous connection is established. In an embodiment of the present invention, upon invocation the user (i.e. patient) of the user device is instantaneously connected to any one of the client devices via a single click for consultation with a doctor in a first instance. In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the doctor for consultation in the first instance is a general physician. In particular, in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the invocation takes place upon identification of a pre-determined event. The pre-determined event is triggered when the patient clicks on a button at a graphical user-interface of the optimized virtual medical consultation unit. The load distribution engine identifies the triggering event and establishes connection between the patient of the user device to a doctor of a particular client device of multiple client devices in real-time on the basis of pre-defined routing criteria within a pre-determined time-period. In another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the pre-defined routing criteria is determined based on a session quality, a session duration and session interruptions while connecting the user device to the client devices. In an embodiment of the present

invention, the session quality, session duration and session interruptions are determined using a rule-based mechanism. In an example, the session interruptions are classified as a measure of a percentage of outage in successful connections between user device and the client devices. In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the pre-defined routing criteria may be classified into an acceptable or a non-acceptable category for connecting the user device to the client devices. In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the pre-determined time period is from 10 seconds to 20 seconds. In various embodiments of the present invention, a suitable doctor is identified (based on location, linguistic, and other parameters suitable for the patient) and the patient is instantaneously connected to the client device corresponding to the doctor. In an embodiment of the present invention, the pre-defined routing criteria and availability characteristics are updated at regular intervals based on predefined rules. Further, the pre-defined rules are based on a historical data related to connections that occurred in the past between the user device and a particular client device from amongst multiple client device. Based on the historical data, a weightage of an individual routing criteria from amongst the pre-defined routing criteria is modified for determining a successful connection, where the weightage changes as per a predefined range in the predefined rules.
[0026] At step 204, a video connection established through the instantaneous connection is switched to a next best client device. In an embodiment of the present invention, in the event a connection is established between the user device and the particular client device based on the pre-defined routing criteria and availability characteristics and within the pre¬determined time-period, but the doctor operating the particular client device does not answer the video connection, the video connection is re-routed to the next best client device within a predetermined time period in a second instance. In an embodiment of the present invention, the next best client device is

determined based on a sorting mechanism. On the basis of the sorting mechanism, the client devices are queued in a pre¬determined order such that the video connection switches at run¬time to the next best client device. In an embodiment of the present invention, the sorting mechanism includes a rule-based mechanism based on the pre-defined routing criteria and the availability characteristics for queuing up client devices in the pre-determined order such that the video connection switches at run-time to the next best client device. In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the sorting mechanism includes a qualified sort such that the lowest utilized doctors and with highest reliability in terms of video connection load are at the top of the queue. Further, the client devices are sorted in a descending order in the queue by determining an overall relevance and by combining a normalized weightage that is derived from session factors such as session duration, session interruption, availability of client device, etc. The sorting is iteratively updated based on real-time values of the session factors for each of the client devices. In an embodiment of the present invention, a connection request is made to a first client device amongst the client devices in the queue. In the event, a connection is not established between the user device and the first client device within the pre-determined time period then the connection request is made to the next best client device in the queue.
[0027] At step 206, the step of switching is repeated until the connection is established. In an embodiment of the present invention, the process of switching from one client device to another amongst the multiple client device takes place iteratively until a video connection is established between the patient and doctor.
[0028] Advantageously, in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention, the present invention provides for instantaneously connecting patients with doctors via a single

click in the graphical user-interface. Further, the present invention provides an optimization mechanism to balance between even distribution of load on physicians, reducing physician fatigue, building new physician experience in tele-consultation, allowing for physician churn and reduced wait time for patients. Furthermore, the present invention provides for synchronous, real-time load distribution of virtual medical consultation between patients and doctors. The present invention provides for optimized workload distribution amongst the doctors to ensure timely and complete consultation by the least loaded and most responsive practitioners. Further, the present invention provides for a flexible scale up using cloud architecture in a linear fashion with load in the virtual medical consultation both in terms of server capacity as well as number of doctors.
[0029] FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary computer system in which various embodiments of the present invention may be implemented. The computer system 302 comprises a processor 304 and a memory 306. The processor 304 executes program instructions and is a real processor. The computer system 302 is not intended to suggest any limitation as to scope of use or functionality of described embodiments. For example, the computer system 302 may include, but not limited to, a programmed microprocessor, a micro-controller, a peripheral integrated circuit element, and other devices or arrangements of devices that are capable of implementing the steps that constitute the method of the present invention. In an embodiment of the present invention, the memory 30 6 may store software for implementing various embodiments of the present invention. The computer system 302 may have additional components. For example, the computer system 302 includes one or more communication channels 308, one or more input devices 310, one or more output devices 312 and storage 314. An interconnection mechanism (not shown) such as a bus, controller, or network, interconnects the components of the computer system 302. In various embodiments of the present invention, operating system software (not shown) provides an

operating environment for various softwares executing in the computer system 302, and manages different functionalities of the components of the computer system 302.
[0030] The communication channel(s) 308 allow communication over a communication medium to various other computing entities. The communication medium provides information such as program instructions, or other data in a communication media. The communication media includes, but not limited to, wired or wireless methodologies implemented with an electrical, optical, RF, infrared, acoustic, microwave, Bluetooth or other transmission media.
[0031] The input device (s) 310 may include, but not limited to, a keyboard, mouse, pen, joystick, trackball, a voice device, a scanning device, touch screen or any another device that is capable of providing input to the computer system 302. In an embodiment of the present invention, the input device(s) 310 may be a sound card or similar device that accepts audio input in analog or digital form. The output device(s) 312 may include, but not limited to, a user interface on CRT or LCD, printer, speaker, CD/DVD writer, or any other device that provides output from the computer system 302.
[0032] The storage 314 may include, but not limited to, magnetic disks, magnetic tapes, CD-ROMs, CD-RWs, DVDs, flash drives or any other medium which can be used to store information and can be accessed by the computer system 302. In various embodiments of the present invention, the storage 314 contains program instructions for implementing the described embodiments.
[0033] The present invention may suitably be embodied as a computer program product for use with the computer system 302. The method described herein is typically implemented as a computer program product, comprising a set of program instructions which is executed by the computer system 302 or any

other similar device. The set of program instructions may be a series of computer readable codes stored on a tangible medium, such as a computer readable storage medium (storage 314), for example, diskette, CD-ROM, ROM, flash drives or hard disk, or transmittable to the computer system 302, via a modem or other interface device, over either a tangible medium, including but not limited to optical or analogue communications channel(s) 308. The implementation of the invention as a computer program product may be in an intangible form using wireless techniques, including but not limited to microwave, infrared, Bluetooth or other transmission techniques. These instructions can be preloaded into a system or recorded on a storage medium such as a CD-ROM, or made available for downloading over a network such as the internet or a mobile telephone network. The series of computer readable instructions may embody all or part of the functionality previously described herein.
[0034] The present invention may be implemented in numerous ways including as a system, a method, or a computer program product such as a computer readable storage medium or a computer network wherein programming instructions are communicated from a remote location.
[0035] While the exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described and illustrated herein, it will be appreciated that they are merely illustrative. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications in form and detail may be made therein without departing from or offending the scope of the invention.

We Claim:

1. A system (100) for an optimized virtual medical consultation,
the system comprising:
a memory (112) storing program instructions;
a processor (110) executing program instructions stored in the memory (112); and
a load distribution server (104) executed by the processor (110) and configured to identify a triggering event and establish an instantaneous connection between a user device (102) and a particular client device of multiple client devices (114-114n) via a single click in real-time based on a pre-defined routing criteria within a predetermined time-period in a first instance, wherein a video connection established through the instantaneous connection is switched at run-time to a next best client device of the multiple client devices (114-114n) in a second instance, and wherein the switching is repeated iteratively until the connection is established.
2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the pre-determined time period is from 10 seconds to 20 seconds.
3. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the predefined routing criteria is determined based on a percentage of successful connections between the user device (102) and the multiple client devices (114-114n) in the past.
4. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the pre-defined routing criteria is determined based on a session quality, a session duration and session interruptions while connecting the user device (102) to the client devices (114-114n).

5. The system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the session quality, the session duration and the session interruptions are determined using a rule-based mechanism.
6. The system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the session interruptions are classified as a percentage of outage in successful connections between the user device 102 and the client devices 114-114n.
7. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the pre-defined routing criteria is determined based on an average wait time for connecting the user device (102) to the client devices (114-114n).
8. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the pre-defined routing criteria is determined based on a wait time between connections during a handoff between one client device to another amongst the client devices (114-114n) between shifts.
9. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the load distribution server (104) comprises a load distribution engine (106) that identifies the triggering event generated via the single click of a button at a graphical user-interface of an optimized virtual medical consultation unit 102a in the user device (102) and establishes the instantaneous connection between the user device (102) and the particular client device of multiple client devices (114-114n), the load distribution engine (106) is a self-learning intelligent engine that updates the pre-defined routing criteria at regular intervals based on predefined rules.
10. The system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the pre-defined rules are based on a historical data related to connections that occurred in the past between the user device (102) and

a particular client device from amongst the client devices (114-114n).
11. The system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the load distribution engine (106) is configured to modify a weightage of an individual routing criteria from amongst the predetermined routing criteria for determining a successful connection.
12. The system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the weightage changes as per a predefined range in the predefined rules.
13. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein a load distribution engine (106) in the load distribution server (104) determines the next best client device based on a sorting mechanism and the client devices (114-114n) are queued in a pre-determined order based on the sorting mechanism such that the video connection switches at run-time to the next best client device.
14. The system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the load distribution engine (106) is configured to sort the client devices (114-114n) in a descending order in a queue by combining a normalized weightage that is derived from session factors such as session duration, session interruption and availability of client devices (114-114n).
15. The system as claimed in claim 14, wherein the sorting is iteratively updated based on real-time values of the session factors for each of the client devices (114-114n).
16. The system as claimed in claim 14, wherein a connection request is made to a first client device amongst the client devices (114-114n) in the queue and if a connection is not established between the user device (102) and the first

client device within the pre-determined time period then the load distribution engine (106) iteratively switches to the next best client device in the queue.
17. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the predefined routing criteria may include checking for availability of doctors during virtual medical consultation based on pre¬determined availability characteristics.
18. The system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the availability characteristics may include checking which doctors are logged into an optimized virtual medical consultation unit (114a-114an) at the client devices (114-114n).
19. The system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the availability characteristics include checking for the doctors at the client devices (114-114n) who have made themselves available for consultation.
20. The system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the availability characteristics include checking for the doctors who remain logged into a third party application that facilitate video conferencing at the client devices (114-114n).
21. The system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the availability characteristics include checking for doctors who are not busy with another video connection with another patient.
22. The system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the availability characteristics include checking for quality of internet connectivity at the client devices (114-114n).
23. The system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the availability characteristics are updated after every 5 seconds.

24. The system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the load distribution engine (106) is configured to dynamically update the pre-defined routing criteria and availability characteristics based on an allocation of future video medical consultations.
25. A method for an optimized virtual medical consultation, the method is implemented via a processor (110) executing program instructions stored in the memory (112), the method comprising:
identifying a triggering event and establishing an instantaneous connection between a user device (102) and a particular client device from amongst multiple client devices (114-114n) via a single click in real-time based on a pre-defined routing criteria within a predetermined time-period in a first instance;
switching a video connection established through the instantaneous connection at run-time to a next best client device of the multiple client devices (114-114n) in a second instance; and
iteratively repeating the step of switching until the connection is established.
26. The method as claimed in claim 25, wherein the pre-defined routing criteria is determined based on a session quality, a session duration and session interruptions while connecting the user device (102) to the client devices (114-114n), and wherein the session quality, the session duration and the session interruptions are determined using a rule-based mechanism.
27. The method as claimed in claim 26, wherein the pre-defined routing criteria may include an average wait time for connecting the user device (102) to the client devices (114-114n).

28. The method as claimed in claim 26, wherein the pre-defined routing criteria is determined based on a wait time between connections during a handoff between one client device to another amongst the client devices (114-114n) between shifts.
29. The method as claimed in claim 25, wherein the method comprises:
determining the next best client device based on a sorting mechanism; and
queuing the client devices (114-114n) in a pre¬determined order based on the sorting mechanism such that the video connection switches at run-time to the next best client device, wherein the sorting mechanism includes a qualified sort such that a client device amongst the client devices (114-114n) with a lowest utilized and a highest reliability is placed at the top of a queue.
30. The method as claimed in claim 25, wherein the method comprises sorting the client devices (114-114n) in a descending order in a queue by combining a normalized weightage that is derived from session factors such as a session duration, a session interruption, and an availability of client device.
31. The method as claimed in claim 30, wherein a connection request is made to a first client device in the queue and if a connection is not established between the user device and the first client device within the pre-determined time period then the method comprises switching to the next client device in the queue.
32. The method as claimed in claim 25, wherein the predefined routing criteria may include checking for availability of doctors during virtual medical consultation based on pre-

determined availability characteristics, wherein the availability characteristics may include:
checking which doctors are logged into the client devices (114-114n);
checking for the doctors at the client device (114-114n) who have made themselves available for consultation;
checking for the doctors who remain logged into a third party application that facilitate video conferencing at the client devices (114-114n);
checking for doctors who are not busy with another video connection with another patient; and
checking for quality of internet connectivity at the client devices (114-114n), wherein the availability characteristics are updated after every 5 seconds.