Encryptions were used to ensure patient privacy and for data transmission. The Web connection between a user client and the server was encrypted using the hypertext transfer protocol secure (HTTPS) protocol, and data transmission between the glucometers and the server was enciphered with advanced encryption standard (AES) encryption. Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (Ajax) and JQuery JavaScript were used to validate the format of the data input and to cooperate with different browsers.
Asynchronous text messages were provided in the online diabetes self-management system; patients and caregivers could communicate through the online diabetes self-management system internal message service or short message service (SMS) text messaging. Application programming interfaces (API) from the Internet were used to send and retrieve information such as weather and pollution standard indexes. The online diabetes self-management system exchanged data with the hospital information system (HIS) using a service-oriented architecture (SOA) mechanism. The Health Level 7 (HL7) embedded Extensible Markup Language (XML) formatted data were used in the framework for data exchange. Patients were able to see their blood test results from the online diabetes self-management system.