SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MONITORING THE COGNITIVE ABILITY OF A PERSON

• US 20090256710A1
• Filed: 04/15/2008
• Published: 10/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Cuddihy, Paul, Rajiv, Vrinda, Duckert, David, Beyerle, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 7,855,650 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/573.100
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2503/08 Elderly
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2505/07 Home care
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1118 Determining activity level
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1124 Determining motor skills
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1126 using a particular sensing technique
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/165 Evaluating the state of mind, e.g. depression, anxiety
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4088 Diagnosing of monitoring cognitive diseases, e.g. Alzheimer, prion diseases or dementia
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6887 mounted on external non-worn devices, e.g. non-medical devices
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7275 Determining trends in physiological measurement data; Predicting development of a medical condition based on physiological measurements, e.g. determining a risk factor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/747 in case of emergency, i.e. alerting emergency services
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0423 detecting deviation from an expected pattern of behaviour or schedule
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0469 Presence detectors to detect unsafe condition, e.g. infrared sensor, microphone G08B21/0476 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0484 Arrangements monitoring consumption of a utility or use of an appliance which consumes a utility to detect unsafe condition, e.g. metering of water, gas or electricity, use of taps, toilet flush, gas stove or electric kettle
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/30 for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment

Abstract

A system and method for monitoring the health of a remotely located person is disclosed herein. The system includes at least one electronic device. The electronic device includes a first sensor a processor and a transmitter. The system also includes a remote monitoring station that receives data from at least one electronic device and produces an evaluation of the person'"'"'s health.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring a remotely located person, the system comprising:

at least one electronic device, the electronic device including;

a first sensor associated with the electronic device to produce a first signal indicative of an interaction between the person and the electronic device;

a processor associated with the electronic device and connected to the first sensor to receive the first signal from the first sensor and produce data being indicative of the person'"'"'s use of the electronic device; and

a transmitter connected to the processor to receive the data from the processor and transmit a data signal encoded with the data;

a remote monitoring station that receives the data from the at least one electronic device, stores the data and analyzes the data to produce a health evaluation.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one electronic device is an electronic appliance located in a domicile of the person.

3. The system of claim 2 further comprising a communications relay associated with the domicile, the communications relay receiving the data signals from the at least one electronic appliance and producing a combined data signal comprising the data from each of the plurality of electronic appliances, the combined data signal being transmitted to the remote monitoring station.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the first sensor is associated with a preexisting user interface of the electronic device.

5. The system of claim 4 further comprising a second sensor associated with a workspace of the electronic device.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the second sensor produces a second signal indicative of an interaction between the person and the electronic device, wherein the processor receives the second signal from the second sensor and incorporates the second signal into the data the data being indicative of the person'"'"'s use of the electronic device.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the second signal is indicative of the actual use of the electronic device by the person.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the second sensor is a pressure transducer.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the health evaluation is an evaluation of the person'"'"'s cognitive abilities.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the remote monitoring station analyzes the data to produce an evaluation of the person'"'"'s cognitive abilities by comparing changes in the data over time.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the remote monitoring station analyzes the data with a technique selected from a list comprising:

the person'"'"'s actual use of the device, the person'"'"'s accuracy in operating the device, the temporal length of the person'"'"'s interactions with the device, and the frequency of the person'"'"'s interactions with the device.

12. A system for monitoring and evaluating the cognitive ability of a remotely located person, the system comprising:

a plurality of appliances distributed throughout the domicile of a person, each appliance including;

a first sensor that monitors the person'"'"'s interactions with a user interface of the appliance and produces a first signal indicative of these interactions;

a second sensor that monitors the person'"'"'s interactions with the operation of the appliance and produces a second signal indicative of these interactions;

a first processor that receives the first and second signals and produces data indicative of the person'"'"'s interactions with the appliance; and

a transmitter that receives the data from the first processor and transmits a data signal encoded with the data;

a communications relay that receives the data signals from each of the appliances and transmits a combined data signal comprising the data from each of the appliances; and

a remote monitoring station that receives the combined data signal, wherein a second processor of the remote monitoring station analyzes the combined data signal to produce an evaluation of the person'"'"'s cognitive ability.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the transmission of the combined data signal is in near real time and the second processor analyzes the combined data periodically to produce periodic evaluations of the person'"'"'s cognitive ability.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein the remote monitoring station includes a data storage unit for storing the evaluation of the person'"'"'s cognitive ability.

15. A method of monitoring and evaluating the cognitive ability of a person, the method comprising the steps:

distributing at least one appliance in the domicile of the person, the at least one appliance including circuitry for sensing the person'"'"'s interaction with the appliance and transmitting interaction data;

receiving the interaction data;

analyzing the interaction data to produce first statistics representative of the person'"'"'s interaction with the appliance; and

evaluating the person'"'"'s cognitive ability based on the first statistics.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising the steps of:

receiving updated interaction data;

analyzing the updated interaction data to produce second statistics representative of the person'"'"'s interaction with the appliance; and

evaluating the person'"'"'s cognitive ability based on the second statistics.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising the step of comparing the first statistics to the second statistics to evaluate any change in the person'"'"'s cognitive ability.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein the step of analyzing the interaction data includes analyzing the actual use of the appliance and the first statistics include a measure of rate at which the appliance is correctly loaded or unloaded.

19. The method of claim 15 wherein the step of analyzing the interaction data includes analyzing the order of the specific events in the person'"'"'s interaction with the appliance and the first statistics include a measure of the instances of incorrect interaction order.

20. The method of claim 15 wherein the step of analyzing the interaction data includes analyzing the timing of a person'"'"'s interaction with the appliance and the first statistics include the overall interaction duration and the time between specific events in the person'"'"'s interaction with the appliance.

21. The method of claim 15 wherein the step of analyzing the interaction data includes analyzing the frequency of the person'"'"'s interactions with the appliance and the first statistics include the a measure of the interaction frequency.