SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MONITORING A FALL STATE OF A PATIENT WHILE MINIMIZING FALSE ALARMS

• US 20140092247A1
• Filed: 09/27/2013
• Published: 04/03/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Careview Communications Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Careview Communications Incorporated
• Inventors: Clark, Matt, del Carpio, Derek
• Granted Patent: US 9,866,797 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/143
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19652 Systems using zones in a single scene defined for different treatment, e.g. outer zone gives pre-alarm, inner zone gives alarm
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/043 detecting an emergency event, e.g. a fall
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0476 Cameras to detect unsafe condition, e.g. video cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources

Abstract

Various embodiments concern a system for monitoring a patient in a bed, the system comprising a camera, a user interface comprising a screen, and a computing system. The computing system can be configured to monitor, with the camera, for motion within each of a plurality of zones, the plurality of zones comprising a one or more inner zones extending adjacent along the bed, one or more outer zones extending adjacent along the one or more inner zones, and one or more end zones. Motion within the inner zones can trigger a fall alert while motion within the outer or end zones can suspend one or more functions to prevent the fall alert from being issued. The end zones can comprise a bottom zone and one or more top zones.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring a patient on an elevated patient support surface, the system comprising:

a camera configured to output a plurality of frames of the elevated patient support surface; and

a computing system configured to;

receive the plurality of frames from the camera;

define a plurality of zones, the plurality of zones comprising a left inner zone that extends adjacently along a left side of the elevated patient support surface, a left outer zone that extends adjacently along a left side of the left inner zone, a right inner zone that extends adjacently along a right side of the elevated patient support surface, a right outer zone that extends adjacently along a right side of the right inner zone, and at least one end zone, each end zone extends along a respective top or bottom side of the elevated patient support surface;

monitor for motion within each of the plurality of zones based on at least some of the plurality of frames;

issue an alert with the user interface based on motion being detected in one or both of the left inner zone and the right inner zone; and

initiate a deactivation timer if motion is detected in any of the at least one left outer zone, the right outer zone, and the at least one end zone, the deactivation timer counting for a predetermined duration and one or more functions of the computing system being suspended for the duration of the counting to prevent the issuing of the alert.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing system is configured to:

output an image of a bed for display on a screen of a user interface based on at least one of the plurality of frames; and

receive an indication of at least one location associated with the bed from an input of the user interface, wherein the plurality of zones are defined based on the indication of the at least one location.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the indication of the at least one location designates four corners of the elevated patient support surface.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the elevated patient support surface is a bed.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one end zone comprise a bottom zone that extends adjacently along the bottom side of the elevated patient support surface and a top zone on the top side of the elevated patient support surface.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein one of the at least one end zone extends to the left of the left inner zone and to the right of the right inner zone.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing system is further configured to extend or restart the counting of the deactivation timer based on motion being detected in one or more of any of the left outer zone, the right outer zone, and the at least one end zone during the counting of the deactivation timer.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one end zone is defined to share a first boundary with the left inner zone and a second boundary with the right inner zone.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the at least one end comprises a bottom zone, the bottom zone is defined such that a buffer area exists immediately between a bottom side of the bed and a top of the bottom zone, the buffer area separating the bottom side of the bed from the top of the bottom zone by a predetermined number of pixels, and the computing system does not one or both of monitor for motion within the buffer area or take any action based on motion within the buffer area.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing system is configured to issue the alert to indicate a heightened patient risk state by generating one or both of a sound with a speaker of the user interface and a visible notification with a light or a screen.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the suspending of the one or more functions by the computing system comprises suspending the monitoring for motion within at least the left inner zone and the right inner zone.

12. A method for monitoring a patient in a patient support surface, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of frames of an elevated patient support surface at a computing system from a camera;

defining a plurality of zones, the plurality of zones defined at least in part by the computing system, the plurality of zones comprising a left inner zone that extends along a left side of the elevated patient support surface, a left outer zone that extends along a left side of the left inner zone, a right inner zone that extends along a right side of the elevated patient support surface, a right outer zone that extends along a right side of the right inner zone, and at least one end zone, each end zone extending along a respective top or bottom side of the elevated patient support surface;

monitoring for motion within each of the plurality of zones based on at least some of the plurality of frames, the monitoring performed by the computing system;

issuing an alert based on motion being detected in one or both of the left inner zone and the right inner zone, the alert issued at least in part by the computing system; and

initiating a deactivation timer of the computing system based on motion being detected in any of the at least one left outer zone, the right outer zone, and the at least one end zone, the deactivation timer counting for a predetermined duration and one or more functions of the computing system being suspended for the duration of the counting to prevent the issuing of the alert.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising receiving an indication of at least one location associated with the bed at the computing system from a user interface, wherein defining the plurality of zones comprises defining the plurality of zones based on the indication of the at least one location.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the indication of the at least one location designates four corners of the elevated patient support surface.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the elevated patient support surface is a bed.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one end zone comprise a bottom zone that extends along the bottom side of the elevated patient support surface and a top zone that extends along the top side of the elevated patient support surface.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein one of the at least one end zone extends to the left of the left inner zone and to the right of the right inner zone.

18. The method of claim 12, further comprising extending or restarting the counting of the deactivation timer based on motion being detected in any of the left outer zone, the right outer zone, and the at least one end zone during the counting of the deactivation timer.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one end zone is defined to share a first boundary with the left inner zone and a second boundary with the right inner zone.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein:

the at least one end comprises a bottom zone, the bottom zone is defined such that a buffer area exists immediately between a bottom side of the bed and a top of the bottom zone, the buffer area separating the bottom side of the bed from the top of the bottom zone by a predetermined number of pixels, and one or both of the buffer area is not monitored for motion or no action is taken based on motion within the buffer area.

21. The method of claim 12, wherein issuing the alert comprises generating one or both of a sound with a speaker indicating a heightened patient risk state or a visible notification with a light or a screen indicating the heightened patient risk state.

22. The method of claim 12, wherein the suspending of the one or more functions comprises suspending the monitoring for motion within at least the left inner zone and the right inner zone.

23. A computing system for monitoring a patient in a patient area, the computing system comprising memory and a processor, the computing system configured to:

receive the plurality of frames from a camera showing a patient area;

monitor for motion within each of a plurality of zones based on the plurality of frames, the plurality of zones comprising a left inner zone that extends adjacently along a left side of the patient area, a left outer zone that extends adjacently along a left side of the left inner zone, a right inner zone that extends adjacently along a right side of the patient area, a right outer zone that extends adjacently along a right side of the right inner zone, and an end zone that extends along a top or bottom side of the patient area;

issue an alert indicative of a heightened patient risk state based on motion being detected in one or both of the left inner zone and the right inner zone; and

initiate a deactivation timer if motion is detected in any of the at least one left outer zone, the right outer zone, and the at least one end zone, the deactivation timer counting for a predetermined duration and one or more functions of the computing system being suspended for the duration of the counting to prevent the issuing of the alert.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the at least one end zone comprise a bottom zone that extends adjacently along the bottom side of the patient area.