Medical Situational Awareness System
First Claim
1. A method for monitoring a visual condition of an identified patient located in a health care facility, the method comprising the steps of:
- defining an authorized patient zone, the authorized patient zone being located within the health care facility, the authorized patient zone being an area where the identified patient presently is authorized to be located;
placing a video camera in a location to capture a visual image of the patient zone;
capturing with the video camera a time series of captured visual images of the patient zone;
defining a base visual image of the patient zone;
transmitting from the video camera across an internet protocol network to a remote monitoring station the time series of captured visual images;
at the remote monitoring station monitoring the time series of captured visual images;
identifying differences between a captured visual image and the base visual image; and
when differences between a captured visual image and the base visual image meet a threshold criteria, generating an alert.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The visual condition of a patient is monitored by defining a an authorized patient zone, placing a video camera in a location to capture a visual image of the patient zone, defining a base visual image of the patient zone, monitoring the visual image at a remote location, identifying any change in the captured image from the base visual image, and generating an alert in the event a change is detected. Certain changes in the zone may occur without generating an alert. Authorized personnel may enter and leave the zone without generating an alert. In a typical application the system for practicing the method is networked based for providing medical appliance data directly to key personnel at a standard computer station. The system also includes video monitoring in real-time or near real-time, providing visual as well as technical monitoring of the patient wherever he is located. In one aspect of the invention, the system is IP based, permitting access to the information anywhere on the World Wide Web.
154 Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A method for monitoring a visual condition of an identified patient located in a health care facility, the method comprising the steps of:
-
defining an authorized patient zone, the authorized patient zone being located within the health care facility, the authorized patient zone being an area where the identified patient presently is authorized to be located; placing a video camera in a location to capture a visual image of the patient zone; capturing with the video camera a time series of captured visual images of the patient zone; defining a base visual image of the patient zone; transmitting from the video camera across an internet protocol network to a remote monitoring station the time series of captured visual images; at the remote monitoring station monitoring the time series of captured visual images; identifying differences between a captured visual image and the base visual image; and when differences between a captured visual image and the base visual image meet a threshold criteria, generating an alert. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
-
-
19. A method for monitoring the visual condition of a certain patient located in a health care facility, the method comprising:
-
defining a patient zone, the patient zone being located within the health care facility, the patient zone including an area where the certain patient presently is located; defining a sub-zone within the patient zone, wherein the sub-zone is defined by at least one of; a color on a patient'"'"'s clothing; a pattern on the patient'"'"'s clothing; and a facial recognition of the patient; placing a video camera in a location to capture a visual image of the patient zone; defining a base visual image of the patient zone; capturing with the video camera a captured visual image of the patient zone; transmitting from the video camera across an internet protocol network to a remote monitoring station the captured visual image; at the remote monitoring station monitoring the captured visual image; and identifying differences between a captured visual image and the base visual image. - View Dependent Claims (20)
-
Specification