LIVING BODY DETERMINATION DEVICES AND METHODS

• US 20160150986A1
• Filed: 05/15/2015
• Published: 06/02/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: MediaTek, Inc.
• Original Assignee: MediaTek, Inc.
• Inventors: CHEN, Tung-Chien, Chen, Yu-Ting
• Granted Patent: US 10,004,411 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0475 Special features of memory means, e.g. removable memory cards
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0013 Medical image data A61B1/00011, A61B6/56, A61B8/56 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0037 Performing a preliminary scan, e.g. a prescan for identifying a region of interest
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02416 using photoplethysmograph signals, e.g. generated by infrared radiation A61B5/14552 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02427 Details of sensor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02444 Details of sensor A61B5/02427 takes precedence
• 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 5/748 Selection of a region of interest, e.g. using a graphics tablet
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10016 Video; Image sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30048 Heart; Cardiac
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/70 Denoising; Smoothing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0012 Biomedical image inspection
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0016 involving temporal comparison
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/90 Determination of colour characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/45 Detection of the body part being alive

Abstract

A measurement apparatus and method for measuring a vital sign of a subject are provided. A plurality of frames showing a subject is captured. A region of interest (ROI) on the subject is detected. A vital-sign signal is generated according to the sensing signals related to the ROI. A quality index of the vital-sign signal is evaluated. Whether the subject is a living body is determined according to the quality index. A determination result of determining whether the subject is the living body is used to control a heart-rate measurement operation.

Claims

1. A determination device for determining whether a subject shown in a plurality of frames captured by an image sensor has a vital-sign feature:

a detection module to detect a region of interest (ROI) on the subject;

a generation module to receive a plurality of sensing signals related to the ROI and generate a vital-sign signal;

an evaluation module to receive the vital-sign signal and evaluate a quality index of the vital-sign signal; and

a determination module to determine whether the vital-sign signal is valid according to the quality index to determine whether the subject has the vital-sign feature.

2. The determination device as claimed in claim 1, wherein when the determination module determines that the vital-sign signal is valid, the subject has the vital-sign feature.

3. The determination device as claimed in claim 1, wherein when the determination module determines that the vital-sign signal is not valid, the subject does not have the vital-sign feature.

4. The determination device as claimed in claim 1, wherein a result of determining whether the subject has the vital-sign feature indicates that the subject is a living body or not.

5. The determination device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the evaluation module detects a peak value of energy of the vital-sign signal in a frequency domain, calculates a first sum of the energy of the vital-sign signal in a first frequency range which contains a frequency value corresponding to the peak value, calculates a second sum of the energy of the vital-sign signal in a second frequency range which contains the first frequency range, calculates a first ratio of the first sum and the second sum, and evaluates the quality index according to the first ratio.

6. The determination device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the evaluation module further detects a maximum amplitude of the vital-sign signal, calculates an average amplitude of the vital-sign signal, calculates a second ratio of the maximum amplitude and the average amplitude, and evaluates the quality index according to the first ratio and the second ratio.

7. A measurement apparatus for measuring a heart rate of a subject:

an image sensor to capture a plurality of frames to generate a plurality of sensing signals, wherein a subject is shown in the plurality of frames;

a processor to detect a region of interest (ROI) on the subject, generate a vital-sign signal according to the sensing signals related to the ROI, evaluate a quality index of the vital-sign signal, and determine whether the subject is a living body according to the quality index to generate a determination signal; and

a heart-rate measurement device to receive the determination signal and operate according to the determination signal.

8. The measurement apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein the heart-rate measurement device comprises:

a calculator to receive the vital-sign signal and calculate a heart-rate value according to the vital-sign signal; and

a displayer coupled to the calculator to receive the heart-rate value and controlled by the determination signal,

wherein when the processor determines that the subject is the living body, the displayer is controlled by the determination signal to show the heart-rate value.

10. The measurement apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein the heart-rate measurement device comprises:

a calculator, controlled by determination signal, to receive the vital-sign signal, calculate a heart-rate value according to the vital-sign signal, and perform a heart-rate statistics operation; and

wherein when the processor determines that the subject is the living body, the calculator is controlled by the determination signal to apply the heart-rate value in the heart-rate statistics operation.

12. The measurement apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein the heart-rate measurement device comprises:

a calculator to receive the vital-sign signal and calculate a heart-rate value according to the vital-sign signal;

a transmitter, coupled to the calculator, to receive the heart-rate value and controlled by the determination signal,

wherein when the processor determines that the subject is the living body, the transmitter is controlled by the determination signal to transmit the heart-rate value to a memory.

13. The measurement apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein when the processor determines that the subject is not the living body, the transmitter is controlled by the determination signal not to transmit the heart-rate value to the memory.

14. The measurement apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein the transmitter transmits the heart-rate to the memory through wireless communication.

15. The measurement apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein the memory is implemented by a cloud storage.

16. The measurement apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein the heart-rate measurement device comprises:

a calculator controlled by the determination signal,

wherein when the processor determines that the subject is the living body, the calculator is controlled by the determination signal to perform a heart-rate calculation operation on the vital-sign signal for obtaining a heart-rate value.

17. The measurement apparatus as claimed in claim 16, wherein when the processor determines that the subject is not the living body, the calculator is controlled by the determination signal not to perform the heart-rate calculation operation on the vital-sign signal.

18. The measurement apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein the processor detects a peak value of energy of the vital-sign signal in a frequency domain, calculates a first sum of the energy of the vital-sign signal in a first frequency range which contains a frequency value corresponding to the peak value, calculates a second sum of the energy of the vital-sign signal in a second frequency range which contains the first frequency range, calculates a first ratio of the first sum and the second sum, and evaluates the quality index according to the first ratio.

19. The measurement apparatus as claimed in claim 18, wherein the processor detects a maximum amplitude of the vital-sign signal, calculates an average amplitude of the vital-sign signal, calculates a second ratio of the maximum amplitude and the average amplitude, and evaluates the quality index according to the first ratio and the second ratio.

9. (canceled)

11. (canceled)

20. A measurement method:

capturing a plurality of frames, wherein a subject is shown in the plurality of frames;

detecting a region of interest (ROI) on the subject;

generating a vital-sign signal according to the sensing signals related to the ROI;

evaluating a quality index of the vital-sign signal; and

determining whether the subject is a living body according to the quality index,

wherein a determination result of determining whether the subject is the living body is used to control a heart-rate measurement operation.

29. The measurement method as claimed in claim 20, in the step of evaluating the quality index of the vital-sign signal, a peak value of energy of the vital-sign signal in a frequency domain within a time-interval in which the plurality of frames occur is detected, a first sum of the energy of the vital-sign signal in a first frequency range which contains a frequency value corresponding to the peak value within the time-interval is calculated, a second sum of the energy of the vital-sign signal in a second frequency range which contains the first frequency range is calculated, a first ratio of the first sum and the second sum is calculated, and the quality index according to the first ratio is evaluated.

30. The measurement method as claimed in claim 29, wherein in the step of evaluating the quality index of the vital-sign signal, a maximum amplitude of the vital-sign signal within the time-interval is detected, an average amplitude of the vital-sign signal within the time-interval is calculated, a second ratio of the maximum amplitude and the average amplitude is calculated, and the quality index according to the first ratio and the second ratio is evaluated.

21-28. -28. (canceled)