APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR RECOGNIZING SYMPTOMS OF DEMENTIA AND PROVIDING DEMENTIA PATIENT MANAGEMENT SERVICE

• US 20170095193A1
• Filed: 09/19/2016
• Published: 04/06/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/05/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: NAM, Seung-Yoon, LEE, Seok-Hee, HAHM, Chan-Young, SHIN, Hyun-Soon
• Granted Patent: US 10,595,767 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1118 Determining activity level
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1123 Discriminating type of movement, e.g. walking or running A61B5/1116, A61B5/112 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1124 Determining motor skills
• 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: A61B 5/4088 Diagnosing of monitoring cognitive diseases, e.g. Alzheimer, prion diseases or dementia
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/486 Bio-feedback A61B5/375 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6813 Specially adapted to be attached to a specific body part A61B5/6802 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: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records

Abstract

Disclosed are an apparatus and method for detecting dementia and providing a dementia patient management service. A dementia symptom recognition apparatus includes a reception unit for receiving physiological signals of a dementia patient collected by sensors corresponding to a dementia detection device, an ambient environmental information signal, a location signal, a motion signal, an audio signal, and a video signal for the dementia patient, a determination unit for analyzing the signals, and determining features of the dementia patient, wherein the features include information about whether the dementia patient is in an unconscious state during generation of the physiological signals and whether the patient speaks words appropriate for a situation, and a symptom recognition unit for comparing features corresponding to respective dementia symptoms with features of the dementia patient, determining variations in cognitive ability, memory, and expressiveness based on a result of the comparison, and recognizing each dementia symptom.

Claims

1. An apparatus for recognizing dementia symptoms, comprising:

a reception unit for receiving physiological signals of a dementia patient collected by sensors corresponding to a dementia detection device, an ambient environmental information signal, a location signal, a motion signal, an audio signal, and a video signal corresponding to the dementia patient;

a determination unit for analyzing the signals, and determining features of the dementia patient, wherein the features include information about whether the dementia patient is in an unconscious state during generation of the physiological signals and whether the patient correctly speaks words appropriate for a situation; and

a symptom recognition unit for comparing features corresponding to respective dementia symptoms with features of the dementia patient, determining variations in cognitive ability, memory, and expressiveness based on a result of the comparison, and recognizing each dementia symptom based on the variations.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the symptom recognition unit set a level of each dementia symptom based on a result of recognizing the dementia symptom.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the symptom recognition unit analyzes an association between the environmental information signal and the dementia symptom and determines a frequency of occurrence of the dementia symptom and a rate of variation in the dementia symptom depending on the ambient environment based on the association.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the symptom recognition unit determines rates of variation in the dementia symptom for respective time spans, rates of variation in the dementia symptom for respective temperatures, and rates of variation in the dementia symptom for respective humidity values.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the determination unit is configured to determine whether a physiological phenomenon has occurred based on the physiological signals, and is configured to, when the physiological phenomenon has occurred, determine that the dementia patient has a physiological phenomenon in an unconscious state if a management service request signal is not received or if a temperature physiological signal value and a humidity physiological signal value, which are measured after lapse of a preset period of time, fall within a specific range.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein:

the determination unit is configured to determine based on the location signal whether the patient has deviated from a designated location, and to check based on the location signal whether the patient has safely returned to the designated location when the patient has deviated from the designated location, and

the symptom recognition unit is configured to recognize the dementia symptom based on a rate of increase in a number of unconscious deviations from the designated location when the rate of increase is equal to or greater than a specific value.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the symptom recognition unit receives family history information of the dementia patient, daily life information of the dementia patient, and medical examination information of the dementia patient, and recognizes the dementia symptom based on the received information and the variations in cognitive ability, memory, and expressiveness.

8. An apparatus for providing a dementia patient management service, comprising:

an analysis unit for receiving physiological signals of a dementia patient collected by sensors corresponding to a dementia detection device, an ambient environmental information signal, a location signal, a motion signal, an audio signal, and a video signal corresponding to the dementia patient, analyzing the signals, and analyzing a current condition of the dementia patient; and

a service provision unit for providing a warning service corresponding to a specific situation and a notification service to an acquaintance of the dementia patient if it is determined, based on a result of a comparison between a preset condition of the dementia patient and the current condition of the dementia patient, that the current condition of the dementia patient indicates the specific situation.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the service provision unit determines whether to provide the notification service based on a level of the dementia symptom.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the service provision unit is configured to:

provide both the warning service and the notification service when the level of the dementia symptom is any one of a high level and a middle level, and

provide only a warning service when the level of the dementia symptom is a low level.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the service provision unit is configured to determine a location of the dementia patient based on the location signal, and to provide the notification service to an acquaintance located closest to the dementia patient among registered acquaintances.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the service provision unit delivers a notification service including one or more of a physiological phenomenon and location information using a Short Message Service (SMS).

13. A method for recognizing dementia and providing a dementia patient management service, comprising:

receiving physiological signals of a dementia patient collected by sensors corresponding to a dementia detection device, an ambient environmental information signal, a location signal, a motion signal, an audio signal, and a video signal corresponding to the dementia patient, analyzing the signals, and determining features of the dementia patient, wherein the features include information about whether the dementia patient is in an unconscious state during generation of the physiological signals and whether the patient correctly speaks words appropriate for a situation;

analyzing features corresponding to respective dementia symptoms and the features of the dementia patient, determining variations in cognitive ability, memory, and expressiveness based on a result of analysis, and recognizing each dementia symptom based on the variations; and

providing a warning service corresponding to a specific situation and a notification service to an acquaintance of the dementia patient if it is determined, based on a result of a comparison between a preset condition of the dementia patient and a current condition of the dementia patient, that the current condition of the dementia patient indicates a specific situation.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein recognizing each dementia symptom is configured to set a level of each dementia symptom based on a result of recognizing the dementia symptom.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein providing the notification service is configured to determine whether to provide the notification service based on the level of the dementia symptom.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein providing the notification service comprises:

provide both the warning service and the notification service when the level of the dementia symptom is any one of a high level and a middle level, and

provide only the warning service when the level of the dementia symptom is a low level.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein providing the notification service is configured to deliver a notification service including one or more of a physiological phenomenon and location information using a Short Message Service (SMS).

18. The method of claim 14, wherein recognizing each dementia symptom is configured to analyze an association between the environmental information signal and the dementia symptom and determine a frequency of occurrence of the dementia symptom and a rate of variation in the dementia symptom depending on the ambient environment based on the association.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein recognizing each dementia symptom is configured to determine whether a physiological phenomenon has occurred based on the physiological signals, and is configured to, when the physiological phenomenon has occurred, determine that the dementia patient has a physiological phenomenon in an unconscious state if a management service request signal is not received or if a temperature physiological signal value and a humidity physiological signal value, which are measured after lapse of a preset period of time, fall within a specific range.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein recognizing each dementia symptom is configured to receive family history information, daily life information, and medical examination information of the dementia patient, and recognize the dementia symptom based on the received information and the variations in cognitive ability, memory, and expressiveness.