CONSCIOUSNESS MONITORING

• US 20120161969A1
• Filed: 08/25/2010
• Published: 06/28/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Husen, Sri Andari, Feddes, Bastiaan, Falck, Thomas, Baggen, Constant Paul Marie Jozef, Johnson, Mark Thomas, Lambert, Nicolaas, Van Acht, Victor Martinus Gerardus, Barroso, Andre Melon
• Granted Patent: US 8,823,527 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/573.1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/11 Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb for measuring pulse A61B5/02 ;A61B5/1038 takes precedence; motion detection to correct for motion artifacts in physiological signals A61B5/721
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/16 Devices for psychotechnics using teaching or educational appliances G09B1/00 - G09B7/00; Testing reaction times ; Devices for evaluating the psychological state
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/06 indicating a condition of sleep, e.g. anti-dozing alarms

Abstract

A method for automatically monitoring consciousness of a person and triggering an alarm if the monitored person is not in a state of full consciousness is provided. The method comprises the steps: monitoring at least one aspect of the behavior of the person (S1); analyzing whether the monitored behavior of the person corresponds to an expected behavior for a state of full consciousness or not (S2, S2′); triggering an alarm if the analysis results in that the detected behavior does not correspond to the expected behavior (S3).

Claims

1. A method for automatically monitoring consciousness of a person and triggering an alarm if the monitored person is not in a state of full consciousness;

the method comprising the steps;

monitoring at least one aspect of the behavior of the person;

analyzing whether the monitored behavior of the person corresponds to an expected behavior for a state of full consciousness or not;

triggering an alarm if the analysis results in that the detected behavior does not correspond to the expected behavior.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of analyzing is performed to discern between exactly two states, namely a state of full consciousness and a state corresponding to not full consciousness.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method comprises detecting the response in the monitored behavior of the person to at least one stimulus.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method comprises detecting at least one environmental stimulus and monitoring whether the monitored behavior shows a response to the at least one environmental stimulus.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the person is not subjected to artificial intentional stimuli.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the person is subjected to at least one artificial intentional stimulus and the response of the person to the at least one intentional stimulus is measured.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the response times of responses to subsequent stimuli are analyzed and tracked over time.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the person is subjected to an artificial intentional stimulus if the monitored behavior of the person does not correspond to an expected behavior for a state of full consciousness.

9. A monitoring and alarming device for automatically monitoring consciousness of a person and outputting an alarm if the monitored person is not in a state of full consciousness, the device comprising:

at least one sensor adapted for sensing at least one aspect of the behavior of a person; and

a processing unit adapted for monitoring a signal from the at least one sensor and adapted to judge from the sensed behavior whether the person is in a state of full consciousness or not;

the processing unit being adapted to trigger an alarm if it is judged that the monitored person is not in the state of full consciousness.

10. The monitoring and alarming device according to claim 9, wherein the processing unit is adapted to discern between exactly two states, namely a state of full consciousness and a state corresponding to not full consciousness.

11. The monitoring and alarming device according to claim 9, comprising at least one stimulation device adapted for providing an artificial intentional stimulus to the person being monitored.

12. The monitoring and alarming device according to claim 9, comprising a detection unit for detecting at least one environmental stimulus and wherein the processing unit is adapted for analyzing whether the monitored behavior shows a response to the at least one environmental stimulus.

13. The monitoring and alarming device according to claim 9, wherein the processing unit is adapted to provide an artificial intentional stimulus to the person and analyze whether the person shows a response to the artificial intentional stimulus in the sensed behavior when it has been judged that the person is not in the state of full consciousness.

14. The monitoring and alarming device according to claim 11, wherein the at least one sensor comprises at least one motion sensor.

15. The monitoring and alarming device according to claim 14, wherein the device comprises a patient unit adapted to be attached to a patient comprising the at least one motion detector and a stimulation device.