Techniques for delivering coordination data for a shared facility

• US 20050060211A1
• Filed: 08/26/2004
• Published: 03/17/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: University of Maryland Baltimore County (University of Maryland)
• Original Assignee: University of Maryland Baltimore County (University of Maryland)
• Inventors: Xiao, Yan, MacKenzie, Colin F., Hu, Fu Ming "Peter", Seagull, F. Jacob
• Granted Patent: US 8,135,602 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/6
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/025 Coordination of plural reservations, e.g. plural trip segments, transportation combined with accommodation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/60 for the operation of medical equipment or devices

Abstract

Techniques for delivering data for coordinating multiple party use of a facility include producing conditions data by measuring without human intervention current condition of a facility that is used by multiple human parties. Availability data that indicates present or future availability for the facility is generated based at least in part on the conditions data. Coordination data based at least in part on the availability data is presented for the parties. These techniques allow rapid dynamic adaptation to changing status of a high-value facility while being less reliant on varied and subjective human motivations for reporting status changes. Undue exposure of sensitive information can be avoided by deriving less detailed views from high-resolution images of the facility and its users. Coordination data can be projected directly onto, and manual input can be derived from, a magnetic white board currently used for coordination at many facilities.

Claims

1. A method for delivering data for coordinating multiple party use of a facility, the method comprising the steps of:

producing conditions data by measuring without human intervention a current condition of a facility for which use is coordinated among a plurality of human parties;

generating availability data that indicates availability for the facility based at least in part on the conditions data; and

presenting for the plurality of parties coordination data based at least in part on the availability data.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein:

the facility is at least one of a trauma center operating room, a surgical operating room, emergency room suites and a cardiac catheterization laboratory; and

the plurality of parties include a plurality of medical doctors, nurses, medical technicians and orderlies.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the facility is an aircraft and the plurality of parties include aircraft preparation personnel including a mechanic, a baggage handler, a caterer, cleaning crew member and a flight crew member.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the facility is a collection of emergency response facilities and the plurality of parties include a plurality of emergency response workers.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein:

the method further comprises

determining a party who has access to the coordination data at a particular time, and

determining a particular level of privilege among a plurality of levels of privilege based on the party;

said step of generating availability data further comprises the steps of

generating sensitive data, and

generating a plurality of views with different levels of detail of the sensitive data; and

said step of presenting the facility coordination data further comprises omitting a particular view of the plurality of views based on the particular level of privilege.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein:

said step of determining a party who has access further comprises not detecting input from a party with a high level of privilege within a particular time interval; and

said step of presenting the facility coordination data further comprises omitting a view with a high level of detail of the sensitive data.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, said step of generating availability data further comprising the step of generating a value for a particular availability parameter and an estimate of accuracy for the value of the particular availability parameter.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, said step of generating availability data further comprising the step of predicting a particular future time for a particular subsequent stage of a sequence of stages for using the facility based at least in part on the conditions data.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, said step of producing conditions data further comprising collecting image data depicting at least a portion of the facility.

10. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein:

said step of generating availability data further comprises deriving from the image data a cartoon view comprising a solid filled shape to represent a feature apparent in the image data; and

said step of presenting the coordination data further comprises presenting the cartoon view instead of the image data.

11. The method as recited in claim 9, said step of generating availability data further comprising deriving from the image data a status value of a plurality of status values.

12. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the plurality of status values comprises:

an empty status value that indicates an operating room table is not occupied and is not prepared for a new occupant;

a ready status value that indicates the operating room table is not occupied and is prepared for new occupant;

a drapes-off status value that indicates the operating room table is occupied and the occupant is not covered with a surgical drape; and

a drapes-on status value that indicates the operating room table is occupied and the occupant is covered with a surgical drape.

13. The method as recited in claim 1, said step of measuring current condition further comprising collecting equipment operation data that indicates operation of equipment utilized in the facility.

14. The method as recited in claim 13, said step of generating availability data further comprising detecting whether a patient is connected to a heart monitor by performing signal processing on an output from the heart monitor.

15. The method as recited in claim 13, said step of generating availability data further comprising deriving from the equipment operation data a status value of a plurality of status values.

16. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein the plurality of status values comprises:

a vital-signs-off status value that indicates patient vital signs are not detected by a vital signs monitor;

a vital-signs-on status value that indicates patient vital signs vital are detected by the vital signs monitor;

a pre-incision status value that indicates a surgeon has not started an incision with an electric tool; and

a post-incision status value that indicates a surgeon has started an incision with an electric tool.

17. The method as recited in claim 13, said step of collecting equipment operation data further comprising collecting equipment monitoring data without modifying operation of the equipment and without modifying communications with the equipment.

18. The method as recited in claim 17, said step of collecting equipment operation data further comprising capturing network data traffic from the equipment.

19. The method as recited in claim 17, said step of collecting equipment operation data further comprising measuring at least one of electromagnetic radiation from the equipment and vibration radiation from the equipment.

20. The method as recited in claim 13, said step of collecting equipment operation data further comprising collecting vital signs data from at least one of a heart monitor and a blood oxygen monitor.

21. The method as recited in claim 13, said step of collecting equipment operation data further comprising measuring electromagnetic radiation from a Bovie scalpel.

22. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein:

the method further comprises receiving schedule data that indicates a planned use for the facility; and

said step of presenting the coordination data further comprises presenting a display element that indicates a deviation from the planned use.

23. The method as recited in claim 22, said step of presenting a display element that indicates a deviation from the planned use further comprising the step of presenting a first progress bar for elapsed time based on the availability data, wherein the first progress bar overlaps and extends beyond a second bar that indicates time for the planned use.

24. The method as recited in claim 1, said step of presenting the coordination data further comprising integrating the coordination data with a tangible system for manually indicating current and planned use of the facility.

25. The method as recited in claim 24, said step of presenting the coordination data further comprises the steps of:

detecting user input for presentation of the coordination data on the tangible system; and

presenting display elements of the coordination data based on the user input.

26. The method as recited in claim 25, wherein the user input comprises a manually moveable token on the tangible system.

27. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the manually moveable token on the tangible system is a manual switch that indicates at least three states.

28. The method as recited in claim 24 wherein:

the method further comprises detecting user input for conditions data; and

said step of generating availability data further comprises generating availability data based at least in part on the user input.

29. The method as recited in claim 28, said step of detecting user input for conditions data further comprising detecting a manually moveable token on the tangible system.

30. The method as recited in claim 28, said step of detecting user input for conditions data further comprising processing an image of an element of the tangible system where human writing is allowed.

31. A method for reducing image detail to protect sensitive information comprising the steps of:

capturing an original image;

performing low pass spatial filtering on the image to produce a low-passed image;

mapping a first range of colors in the low passed image associated with a feature in the original image to a first single color; and

generating a low detail image with pixels of the first single color at each pixel location where a color of a pixel from the low passed image falls within the first range of colors.

32. A method for presenting data representing actual use of a facility comprising the steps of:

presenting a first bar that indicates time for planned use of a facility; and

presenting a second bar for elapsed time of actual use of the facility, wherein the second bar extends at least in part outside the first bar.

33. A method for inputting data to a computer connected to a video input comprising the steps of:

capturing a video image of a two dimensional surface including a manually positioned tangible token, wherein at least one of a location and an orientation of the tangible token indicates one state of a plurality of states greater than two states; and

determining a particular state of the plurality of states based on the video image.

34. A method for delivering data for coordinating multiple party use of a facility, the method comprising the steps of:

producing conditions data by measuring without human intervention a current condition of a facility for which use is coordinated among a plurality of human parties, including

collecting image data depicting at least a portion of the facility, and

collecting equipment operation data that indicates operation of equipment utilized in the facility without modifying operation of the equipment and without modifying communications with the equipment,

wherein the facility is at least one of a trauma center operating room, a surgical operating room, and a cardiac catheterization laboratory and the plurality of parties include a plurality of medical doctors, nurses, medical technicians and orderlies;

receiving schedule data that indicates a planned use for the facility;

generating availability data that indicates availability for the facility based at least in part on the conditions data, including

generating sensitive data,

generating a plurality of views with different levels of detail of the sensitive data, including deriving from the image data a cartoon view comprising a solid filled shape to represent a feature apparent in the image data,

deriving from the image data a status value of a first plurality of status values,

deriving from the equipment operation data a status value of a second plurality of status values, and

predicting a particular future time for a particular subsequent stage of a sequence of stages for using the facility based at least in part on the conditions data; and

determining a party who has access to coordination data at a particular time;

determining a particular level of privilege among a plurality of levels of privilege based on the party; and

presenting for the plurality of parties coordination data based at least in part on the availability data by

presenting the cartoon view instead of the image data or presenting the image data instead of the cartoon view based on the particular level of privilege,

presenting a display element that indicates a deviation from the planned use, and

presenting the particular future time for the particular subsequent stage of the sequence of stages for using the facility.

35. A system for delivering data for coordinating multiple party use of a facility, comprising:

a sensor for producing conditions data that indicates without human intervention current condition of a facility that is used by a plurality of human parties;

a display surface for accepting at least one of human writing and a tangible token manually positioned by at least one party of the plurality of human parties;

a projector for projecting coordination data onto the display surface;

at least one processor; and

a computer readable medium including one or more sequences of instructions, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by the processor causes the at least one processor to perform the steps of

receiving conditions data from the sensor,

generating availability data that indicates availability for the facility based at least in part on the conditions data, and

sending to the projector coordination data based at least in part on the availability data.

36. The system as recited in claim 35, wherein:

the system further comprises a video camera directed onto the display surface for capturing a coordination board image of at least one of the human writing and the tangible token;

execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by the at least one processor causes the at least one processor to further perform the step of determining input data from at least one party of the plurality of parties based on the coordination board image; and

said step of sending to the projector coordination data is further based at least in part on the input data.

37. The system as recited in claim 36, wherein:

the system further comprises

a communication link to a remote site, and

a remote display device at the remote site for displaying a remote display image; and

execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by the at least one processor causes the at least one processor to further perform the steps of

forming the remote display image based at least in part on the coordination board image and the coordination data, and

sending the remote display image to the remote display device over the communication link.

38. A system for delivering data for coordinating multiple party use of a facility, comprising:

means for producing conditions data that indicates without human intervention current condition of a facility that is used by a plurality of human parties;

means for accepting on a display surface at least one of human writing and a tangible token manually positioned by at least one party of the plurality of human parties;

means for projecting coordination data onto the display surface;

means for receiving conditions data;

means for generating availability data that indicates availability for the facility based at least in part on the conditions data; and

means for selecting coordination data based at least in part on the availability data.

39. A computer-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for coordinating multiple party use of a facility, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

receiving conditions data measured without human intervention, wherein the conditions data indicates current condition of a facility that is used by a plurality of human parties;

generating availability data that indicates availability for the facility based at least in part on the conditions data; and

presenting for the plurality of parties coordination data based at least in part on the availability data.

40. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 39, wherein:

the facility is at least one of a trauma center operating room, a surgical operating room, and a cardiac catheterization laboratory; and

the plurality of parties include a plurality of medical doctors, nurses, medical technicians and orderlies.

41. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 39, wherein the facility is an aircraft and the plurality of parties include aircraft preparation personnel including a mechanic, a baggage handler, a caterer, cleaning crew member and a flight crew member.

42. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 39, wherein the facility is a collection of emergency response facilities and the plurality of parties include a plurality of emergency response workers.

43. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 39, wherein:

execution of the one or more sequences of instructions further causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of

determining a party who has access to the coordination data at a particular time, and

determining a particular level of privilege among a plurality of levels of privilege based on the party;

said step of generating availability data further comprises the steps of

generating sensitive data, and

generating a plurality of views with different levels of detail of the sensitive data; and

said step of presenting the facility coordination data further comprises omitting a particular view of the plurality of views based on the particular level of privilege.

44. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 43, wherein:

said step of determining a party who has access further comprises not detecting input from a party with a high level of privilege within a particular time interval; and

said step of presenting the facility coordination data further comprises omitting a view with a high level of detail of the sensitive data.

45. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 39, said step of generating availability data further comprising the step of generating a value for a particular availability parameter and an estimate of accuracy for the value of the particular availability parameter.

46. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 39, said step of generating availability data further comprising the step of predicting a particular future time for a particular subsequent stage of a sequence of stages for using the facility based at least in part on the conditions data.

47. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 39, said step of producing conditions data further comprising collecting image data depicting at least a portion of the facility.

48. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 47, wherein:

said step of generating availability data further comprises deriving from the image data a cartoon view comprising a solid filled shape to represent a feature apparent in the image data; and

said step of presenting the coordination data further comprises presenting the cartoon view instead of the image data.

49. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 47, said step of generating availability data further comprising deriving from the image data a status value of a plurality of status values.

50. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 49, wherein the plurality of status values comprises:

an empty status value that indicates an operating room table is not occupied and is not prepared for a new occupant;

a ready status value that indicates the operating room table is not occupied and is prepared for new occupant;

a drapes-off status value that indicates the operating room table is occupied and the occupant is not covered with a surgical drape; and

a drapes-on status value that indicates the operating room table is occupied and the occupant is covered with a surgical drape.

51. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 39, said step of measuring current condition further comprising collecting equipment operation data that indicates operation of equipment utilized in the facility.

52. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 51, said step of generating availability data further comprising detecting whether a patient is connected to a heart monitor by performing signal processing on an output from the heart monitor.

53. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 51, said step of generating availability data further comprising deriving from the equipment operation data a status value of a plurality of status values.

54. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 53, wherein the plurality of status values comprises:

a vital-signs-off status value that indicates patient vital signs are not detected by a vital signs monitor;

a vital-signs-on status value that indicates patient vital signs vital are detected by the vital signs monitor;

a pre-incision status value that indicates a surgeon has not started an incision with an electric tool; and

a post-incision status value that indicates a surgeon has started an incision with an electric tool.

55. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 51, said step of collecting equipment operation data further comprising collecting equipment monitoring data without modifying operation of the equipment and without modifying communications with the equipment.

56. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 55, said step of collecting equipment operation data further comprising capturing network data traffic from the equipment.

57. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 55, said step of collecting equipment operation data further comprising measuring at least one of electromagnetic radiation from the equipment and vibration radiation from the equipment.

58. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 51, said step of collecting equipment operation data further comprising collecting vital signs data from at least one of a heart monitor and a blood oxygen monitor.

59. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 51, said step of collecting equipment operation data further comprising measuring electromagnetic radiation from a Bovie scalpel.

60. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 39, wherein:

execution of the one or more sequences of instructions further causes the one or more processors to perform the step of receiving schedule data that indicates a planned use for the facility; and

said step of presenting the coordination data further comprises presenting a display element that indicates a deviation from the planned use.

61. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 60, said step of presenting a display element that indicates a deviation from the planned use further comprising the step of presenting a first progress bar for elapsed time based on the availability data, wherein the first progress bar overlaps and extends beyond a second bar that indicates time for the planned use.

62. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 39, said step of presenting the coordination data further comprising integrating the coordination data with a tangible system for manually indicating current and planned use of the facility.

63. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 62, said step of presenting the coordination data further comprises the steps of:

detecting user input for presentation of the coordination data on the tangible system; and

presenting display elements of the coordination data based on the user input.

64. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 63, wherein the user input comprises a manually moveable token on the tangible system.

65. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 39, wherein the manually moveable token on the tangible system is a manual switch that indicates at least three states.

66. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 62 wherein:

execution of the one or more sequences of instructions further causes the one or more processors to perform the step of detecting user input for conditions data; and

said step of generating availability data further comprises generating availability data based at least in part on the user input.

67. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 66, said step of detecting user input for conditions data further comprising detecting a manually moveable token on the tangible system.

68. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 66, said step of detecting user input for conditions data further comprising processing an image of an element of the tangible system where human writing is allowed.

69. A computer-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for reducing image detail to protect sensitive information, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

capturing an original image;

performing low pass spatial filtering on the image to produce a low-passed image;

mapping a first range of colors in the low passed image associated with a feature in the original image to a first single color; and

generating a low detail image with pixels of the first single color at each pixel location where a color of a pixel from the low passed image falls within the first range of colors.

70. A computer-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for presenting data representing actual use of a facility, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

presenting a first bar that indicates time for planned use of a facility; and

presenting a second bar for elapsed time of actual use of the facility, wherein the second bar extends at least in part outside the first bar.

71. A computer-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for inputting data to a computer connected to a video input, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

capturing a video image of a two dimensional surface including a manually positioned tangible token, wherein at least one of a location and an orientation of the tangible token indicates one state of a plurality of states greater than two states; and

determining a particular state of the plurality of states based on the video image.

72. A computer-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for coordinating multiple party use of a facility, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

producing conditions data by measuring without human intervention a current condition of a facility for which use is coordinated among a plurality of human parties, including

collecting image data depicting at least a portion of the facility, and

collecting equipment operation data that indicates operation of equipment utilized in the facility without modifying operation of the equipment and without modifying communications with the equipment,

wherein the facility is at least one of a trauma center operating room, a surgical operating room, and a cardiac catheterization laboratory and the plurality of parties include a plurality of medical doctors, nurses, medical technicians and orderlies;

receiving schedule data that indicates a planned use for the facility;

generating availability data that indicates availability for the facility based at least in part on the conditions data, including

generating sensitive data,

generating a plurality of views with different levels of detail of the sensitive data, including deriving from the image data a cartoon view comprising a solid filled shape to represent a feature apparent in the image data,

deriving from the image data a status value of a first plurality of status values,

deriving from the equipment operation data a status value of a second plurality of status values, and

predicting a particular future time for a particular subsequent stage of a sequence of stages for using the facility based at least in part on the conditions data; and

determining a party who has access to coordination data at a particular time;

determining a particular level of privilege among a plurality of levels of privilege based on the party;

presenting for the plurality of parties coordination data based at least in part on the availability data by

presenting the cartoon view instead of the image data or presenting the image data instead of the cartoon view based on the particular level of privilege,

presenting a display element that indicates a deviation from the planned use, and

presenting the particular future time for the particular subsequent stage of the sequence of stages for using the facility.