ACTIVITY ANALYSIS, FALL DETECTION AND RISK ASSESSMENT SYSTEMS AND METHODS

• US 20140148733A1
• Filed: 01/31/2014
• Published: 05/29/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Curators of the University of Missouri (University of Missouri)
• Original Assignee: Curators of the University of Missouri (University of Missouri)
• Inventors: Stone, Erik Edward, Skubic, Marjorie, Popescu, Mihail, Rantz, Marilyn
• Granted Patent: US 9,597,016 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/595
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0013 Medical image data A61B1/00011, A61B6/56, A61B8/56 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/004 adapted for image acquisition of a particular organ or body part A61B5/0082 takes precedence; arrangements for optical scanning A61B5/0062
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0077 Devices for viewing the surface of the body, e.g. camera, magnifying lens
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1113 Local tracking of patients, e.g. in a hospital or private home
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1117 Fall detection
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/112 Gait analysis
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1128 using image analysis A61B5/1127 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/742 using visual displays A61B5/339 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/746 Alarms related to a physiological condition, e.g. details of setting alarm thresholds or avoiding false alarms alarms per se G08B
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10028 Range image; Depth image; 3D point clouds
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30196 Human being; Person
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30241 Trajectory
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/194 involving foreground-background segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/215 Motion-based segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/285 using a sequence of stereo image pairs
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/23 Recognition of whole body movements, e.g. for sport training
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/30 for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G16Z 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass

Abstract

A method for performing health risk assessments for a patient in a home or medical facility is provided. In various embodiments, the method comprises compiling depth image data from at least one depth camera associated with a particular patient, and generating at least one three-dimensional object based on the depth image data. The method additionally includes identifying a walking sequence from the at least one three-dimensional object, analyzing the walking sequence to generate one or more parameters, and performing at least one health risk assessment based on the one or more parameters to determine a health risk assessment score. The method further comprises sending an alert message to at least one caregiver when the at least one health risk assessment indicates the occurrence of an incident (i.e., the recorded depth image data) denoting that the patient has fallen or that there exists a high risk of the patient falling.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at at least one processor, depth image data from at least one depth camera associated with a particular patient;

generating, at the at least one processor, at least one three-dimensional object based on the depth image data;

identifying, at the at least one processor, a walking sequence from the at least one three-dimensional object;

analyzing, at the at least one processor, the walking sequence to generate one or more parameters;

performing, at the at least one processor, at least one health risk assessment based on the one or more parameters to determine a health risk assessment score; and

sending an alert message to at least one caregiver when the at least one health risk assessment indicates occurrence of an incident of at least one of;

the patient has fallen, and

a high risk of the patient falling is present.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the alert message comprises sending the alert message to at least one of:

a smart phone of the caregiver,

a laptop computer of the caregiver,

a desktop computer of the caregiver,

a computer tablet of the caregiver, and

a television of the caregiver.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein sending the alert message comprises sending the alert message in the form of a visual alert message.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein sending the alert message comprises sending the alert message in the form of an audible alert message.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein sending the alert message comprising sending the alert message in the form of a tactile alert message.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the alert message comprises sending the alert message including at least one of:

confidence of detection information, time of incident occurrence information, location of incident occurrence information, and presence of another person at the time of incident occurrence information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the alert message comprises sending the alert message including a hyperlink to video data containing the depth imagery data of the detected incident.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the video data can be viewed using media player software and can be rewound, replayed and fast forwarded via the media player software.

9. A system comprising:

at least one processor configured to;

receive depth image data from at least one depth camera associated with a particular patient;

generate at least one three-dimensional object based on the depth image data;

identify a walking sequence from the at least one three-dimensional object;

analyze the walking sequence to generate one or more parameters;

perform at least one health risk assessment to generate a health risk assessment score based on the one or more parameters;

provide the results of the health risk assessment for display; and

send an alert message to at least one caregiver when the at least one health risk assessment indicates occurrence of an incident of at least one of;

the patient has fallen, and

a high risk of the patient falling is present.

10. A system comprising:

at least one processor configured to execute an image analysis application executable by at least one processor, the image analysis application including modules comprising;

a receiving module to receive depth image data from at least one depth camera associated with a particular patient;

a computation module to generate at least one three-dimensional object based on the depth image data;

a sequence identification module to;

identify a walking sequence from the at least one three-dimensional object; and

analyze the walking sequence to generate one or more parameters;

an output module to;

perform at least one health risk assessment to generate a health risk assessment score based on the one or more parameters; and

provide the results of the health risk assessment for display; and

an alert module to send an alert message to at least one caregiver when the at least one health risk assessment indicates occurrence of an incident of at least one of;

the patient has fallen, and

a high risk of the patient falling is present.