Samsung Seoul Hospital announced Thursday that it has registered a domestic patent for an "operating room allocation device and method based on time-slot utilization rates" using artificial intelligence (AI).
The patent is based on the hospital's "predictive management platform" known as DOCC, which was built on digital twin technology.
DOCC is a system that replicates all available hospital resources — from patient rooms and operating rooms to examination equipment and medical staff — into a virtual world, runs simulations, and supports actual hospital operations. The hospital was recognized for its technology that allocates operating rooms most efficiently based on actual time-slot utilization rates. Moving beyond conventional intuition-based management, the system precisely predicts surgical duration through data and manages available slots in real time. The key is ensuring punctuality in operating room operations, a core hospital resource, while minimizing resource waste.
With this registration, Samsung Seoul Hospital has secured its third patent related to digital twin technology, following earlier patents for methods to predict examination wait times and outpatient volumes.
The patent is also drawing strong interest overseas. According to the hospital, when the technology was presented at HIMSS 2026, the world's largest health IT exhibition held in Las Vegas on June 10, attendees responded with positive reviews. Domestically, Seol Ho-jun, deputy director of clinical operations and professor of neurosurgery, is scheduled to present the technology at the 17th Korea Healthcare Congress 2026 on July 10.
Son Tae-sung, deputy chief of clinical affairs and professor of gastrointestinal surgery, said, "Beyond simply adopting technology, a platform where medical and operational staff communicate and make decisions based on real-time data is now within reach." He added, "This means a truly advanced intelligent hospital of the future has begun."