COGNITIVE BIOMETRIC SYSTEMS TO MONITOR EMOTIONS AND STRESS

• US 20130281798A1
• Filed: 04/22/2013
• Published: 10/24/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sackett Solutions & Innovations LLC
• Original Assignee: Sackett Solutions & Innovations LLC
• Inventors: Inguva, Ramarao, RAU, NEMOY, Rau, Hans, Baskaran, Visveshwar, Story, Rick
• Granted Patent: US 10,617,351 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/301
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/113 for determining or recording eye movement
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0205 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition
• 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 5/1116 Determining posture transitions
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/165 Evaluating the state of mind, e.g. depression, anxiety
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/167 Personality evaluation
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/24 Detecting, measuring or recording bioelectric or biomagnetic signals of the body or parts thereof
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/318 Heart-related electrical modalities, e.g. electrocardiography [ECG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/369 Electroencephalography [EEG] devices for psychotechnics A61B5/16
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/389 Electromyography [EMG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/442 Evaluating skin mechanical properties, e.g. elasticity, hardness, texture, wrinkle assessment
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4803 Speech analysis specially adapted for diagnostic purposes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4848 Monitoring or testing the effects of treatment, e.g. of medication
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4884 inducing physiological or psychological stress, e.g. applications for stress testing
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems
• CPC Class Codes: G16Z 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass

Abstract

The present invention provides methods and systems to periodically monitor the emotional state of a subject comprising the steps of: exposing the subject to a plurality of stimuli during a session; acquiring objective data from a plurality of monitoring sensors, wherein at least one sensor measures a physiological parameter; transferring the data to a database; and processing the data to extract objective information about the emotional state of the subject.

Claims

1. A method to periodically monitor the emotional state of a subject comprising the steps of:

exposing the subject to a plurality of stimuli during a session;

acquiring objective data from a plurality of monitoring sensors, wherein at least one sensor measures a physiological parameter;

transferring the data to a database; and

processing the data to extract objective information about the emotional state of the subject.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the emotional state is an anxiety disorder, mood disorder, or depression.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the emotional state is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorder, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder eating disorder, or schizophrenia.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of stimuli are emotion-inducing stimuli.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the emotion-inducing stimuli are selected from three categories:

measurement sessions and metrics, calming and relaxation, and mitigate and desensitize.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the stimuli are presented through visual, oral, aural, kinesthetic, or written methods.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the session is a treatment, assessment, or tracking session.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of monitoring sensors measure autonomic physiological parameters selected from:

blood pressure, pulse rate, respiratory rate, facial galvanic conductance, facial skin tone, changes in pupil size, pupil movement tracking, changes and frequency of eyelid fluttering, changes in sitting postures or bodily movements, unusual gestures or motions, movement of the leg or hand muscles, changes in voice pitch or tone, changes in facial muscles or expressions, brain electrical activity, skeletal muscle electrical activity and heart electrical activity.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the database comprises:

results of oral or written questionnaires;

numerical objective data related to physiological parameters;

facial images;

video clips;

speech wave form data; and

electrical activity data related to skin conductance, brain electrical activity, skeletal muscle activity, or heart electrical activity.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the database comprises a computer network.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the objective data comprises a large variety, volume, velocity and veracity of data.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing of data comprises iterative processing until inferences from the autonomous physiological parameters are obtained.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing of data comprises reduction of large volumes of data acquired into a smaller set of features.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing of data comprises time cataloging the data with the corresponding stimuli.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing of data comprises comparing the acquired data in the current session with corresponding data from previous recorded sessions and computing the deviations thereof.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the processing of data comprises comparing the acquired data in the current session with corresponding data from other subjects within the database.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the processing of data comprises comparing the emotional state inferred from the current session with previous recorded sessions.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the processing of data comprises comparing the emotional state of the current session with the corresponding emotional states of other subjects within the database.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing of data includes tracking the totality of emotional state, the dependent risk classifications and their changes from session to session.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the risk classification includes classification of the subject into low, medium, or high risk treatment plan categories.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the risk classification includes the classification of the stress severity level of the subject.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the objective information is related to the subject'"'"'s responses to the stimuli.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the objective information comprises a baseline or set of normal values.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the objective information comprises an objective measurement of the subject'"'"'s resilience in responses to the stimuli.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein the objective information comprises an objective measurement of the subject'"'"'s coping skills in responses to the stimuli.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein processing of data comprises linking and integrating additional background information derived from the subject'"'"'s metal health, physical health, or sleep records to infer changes in emotional state.

27. The method of claim 22, wherein the objective information comprises identified information sets related to malingerer cases.

28. The method of claim 22, wherein the objective information comprises an assessment of the subject'"'"'s emotional state progression in response to prescribed treatment plans.

29. The method of claim 22, wherein the objective information comprises identified sets of autonomous physiological parameters related to tendencies of suicidal ideation, homicide, or other life-threatening activities.

30. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing of data comprises comparing and developing inferences for changes in autonomic physiological parameters output and their relationship to specific disorders.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the inferences comprise specific diagnostic markers for anxiety disorders, mood disorders, or depression.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the markers may include integrating as necessary with additional sources of information such as family, social, and genetic information.