Systems and Methods for Active Listening/Observing and Event Detection

• US 20080255428A1
• Filed: 04/10/2007
• Published: 10/16/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/10/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Sharda, Pallav, Linthicum, Steven Eric
• Granted Patent: US 8,348,839 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/300
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/00 Speaker identification or verification techniques
• 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 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/70 for mining of medical data, e.g. analysing previous cases of other patients

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method of monitoring an environment comprising: monitoring at least one data stream wherein the data stream is a data stream in the environment; detecting a specified event from the data stream; and triggering a response to the specified event. Embodiments of the present invention provide a system for monitoring an environment comprising: a receiver adapted to receive at least one input data stream wherein the input data stream is a data stream in the environment; an active listener/observer system adapted to monitor the data stream; and an interface adapted to express at least one output stream. Embodiments of the present invention provide a computer-readable medium having instructions comprising: an active listener/observer routine configured to monitor at least one data stream; a detection routine configured to find specified events in the data stream; and an output routine configured to express a response event.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring a healthcare environment for purposes of early event detection comprising:

automatically monitoring a plurality of data streams wherein the data streams are related to patient events in the healthcare environment;

processing said plurality of data streams to detect a specified event in the data streams; and

triggering a response in the healthcare environment to the specified event.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the steps are performed sequentially.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one of the data streams includes a conversation or statement.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein speech recognition equipment is used to process said plurality of data streams.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the speech recognition equipment differentiates between speakers in said plurality of data streams.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one data stream is input through an electronic data interchange.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of monitoring further comprises monitoring using an active listener/observer.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the data streams include background data streams.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the response includes an alert.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the response includes an automated event log.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the response includes an enterprise event.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein multiple responses are triggered.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the data streams includes a caregiver conversation or statement.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the data streams includes information from a physiological monitoring device.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the data streams includes information from a healthcare information technology system.

3. (canceled)

14. (canceled)

18. A system for monitoring a healthcare environment for purposes of early event detection comprising:

a receiver adapted to receive a plurality of input data streams wherein the input data streams are related to patient events in the healthcare environment;

an active listener/observer system adapted to automatically monitor the data streams and detect a specified event in the plurality of input data streams; and

an interface adapted to express at least one output stream in the environment in response to the specified event.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the active listener/observer system and the interface are combined.

21. The system of claim 18 wherein at least one of the input data streams includes information from a physiological monitoring device.

22. The system of claim 18 wherein at least one of the input data streams includes information from a healthcare information technology system.

23. The system of claim 18 wherein speech recognition equipment is used to monitor the input data streams.

20. A computer-readable medium having a set of instructions for execution by a computer, the set of instructions comprising:

an active listener/observer routine configured to automatically monitor a plurality of data streams related to patient events in a healthcare environment;

a detection routine configured to find specified events in the data streams and

an output routine configured to express a response event in the environment when a specified event is detected in one of the data streams.