Method and system for ergonomic assessment and reduction of workplace injuries

• US 6,931,387 B1
• Filed: 11/10/2000
• Issued: 08/16/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/12/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Ergonomic Technologies Corporation
• Original Assignee: Ergonomic Technologies Corporation
• Inventors: Roth, Cynthia L., Cassar, Thomas J., Wong, Robert P.
• Primary Examiner(s): STARKS, WILBERT L
• Application Number:
  US09/710,488
• Time in Patent Office: 1,740 Days
• Field of Search: 706/50, 706/55, 706/46, 706/40, 706/45
• US Class Current: 706/50
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/04 Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 90/00 Systems or methods specially adapted for administrative, commercial, financial, managerial or supervisory purposes, not involving significant data processing

Abstract

A method and system for facilitating resolution of engineering and business issues is provided which comprises an issue component for identifying the issues to be resolved, an inquiry component for facilitating collection of client information relevant to the issue component to facilitate definition of the issue component, a knowledge base comprising data and information for facilitating assessment of the client information; and a solution base for compiling assessments and recommendations from the knowledge base and for reporting the assessments and recommendations to a client. In addition, the system can include a network for communicating the client information to the knowledge base and for communicating the assessments and recommendations to the client. The knowledge base comprises an artificial intelligence engine for assessing the client information, wherein the artificial intelligence engine is configured for comparing the new issue with an existing issue within a database to determine if similar, and thus provide a recommendation associated with the existing issue, and for breaking down the new issue into smaller components for further comparison if the existing issue is not similar to the new issue to thus provide a suggestion associated with said smaller components. As a result, an optimal set of suggestions and recommendations can be provided for a given engineering or business issue or problem. In addition, in accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the above method can be further broken down into smaller elements and sub-elements to provide a more detailed analysis. In addition, the method and system can be suitably utilized to resolve various ergonomic engineering issues.

Claims

1. An ergonomic solution system for facilitating reduction of ergonomic injuries in a workplace, said system comprising:

a computerized issue component for identifying ergonomic risk issues to be resolved;

a computerized inquiry component for facilitating collection of workplace information relevant to said computerized issue component to facilitate definition of said computerized issue component;

a knowledge database comprising ergonomic data and information for facilitating assessment of said workplace information;

a solution database for compiling ergonomic assessments and recommendations from said knowledge database and for reporting said assessments and said recommendations to the workplace; and

a communications network for communicating said workplace information to said knowledge database and for communicating said ergonomic assessments and recommendations to the workplace for implementation.

2. An ergonomic solution system according to claim 1, wherein said knowledge database comprises an artificial intelligence engine for assessing said workplace information, said artificial intelligence engine configured for comparing a current ergonomic issue with an existing ergonomic issue within a said knowledge database to determine if similar, and thus provide a recommendation consistent with said existing ergonomic issue, and for breaking down said current ergonomic issue into smaller ergonomic components for further comparison if said existing ergonomic issue is not similar to said current ergonomic issue to thus provide a suggestion associated with said smaller ergonomic components.

3. An automated method for reducing ergonomic injuries in the workplace, said automated method comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

identifying an ergonomic issue occurring at a client workplace, said ergonomic issue being provided by a client through a computerized client interface;

collecting client information from the client through the computerized client interface, said information relevant to said ergonomic issue and configured to further define said ergonomic issue;

assessing said client information with a computerized artificial intelligence engine by comparison of said client information to previous client information from previous ergonomic issues stored within a knowledge database;

selecting recommendations stored within a solution database for resolving said ergonomic issue, said recommendations based on previous ergonomic issues having similarity to said client information; and

providing said recommendations through a communications network to the client, through said client interface.

4. An automated method according to claim 3, said data processing method further comprising the computer-implemented step of:

prioritizing ergonomic risks determined from said steps of collecting information and assessing said information.

5. An automated method according to claim 3, said step of collecting client information comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

identifying a plurality of tasks comprising a corresponding job provided by the client through said client interface;

scheduling said plurality of tasks into a time framework to identify repetitive tasks;

defining technical actions of any repetitive tasks as determined by said time framework configured with said plurality of tasks;

identifying a perceived exertion value associated with said repetitive tasks; and

analyzing said technical actions by capturing movement and positioning data associated with said repetitive tasks.

6. An automated method according to claim 3, wherein said step of assessing comprises the computer-implemented steps of:

defining an issue statement corresponding to said client information to facilitate assessment by said computerized artificial intelligence engine; and

assessing said issue statement with said computerized artificial intelligence engine by comparison of said issue statement to said previous ergonomic issues stored within said knowledge database to identify at least one previous ergonomic issue substantially similar to said issue statement;

providing said recommendation for said ergonomic issue corresponding to a previous recommendation to said at least one previous issue in the event that said at least one previous issue has information substantially similar to said ergonomic issue; and

redeveloping said issue statement to further break down said issue statement into detailed elements to facilitate identification of previous detailed elements of said previous ergonomic issues stored within said knowledge database and being similar to said detailed elements of said issue statement in the event that said at least one previous issue is not substantially similar to said ergonomic issue; and

providing a new recommendation with said computerized artificial intelligence engine based on said previous detailed elements of a plurality of said previous ergonomic issues to define a new ergonomic issues having substantial similarity to said ergonomic issue.

7. An automated method according to claim 6, wherein said steps of collecting information relevant to said ergonomic issue and assessing said information collected to provide recommendations comprise communicating said information and said recommendations over a network.

8. An automated method for providing recommendations to engineering and business cases, said method comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

collecting data through a client interface relating to at least one case of a client;

determining through a computerized artificial intelligence engine whether an existing case in a knowledge database is substantially similar to said at least one case, and providing a solution corresponding to at least one existing case if said case in said database is substantially similar to said at least one case;

breaking down said at least one case into multiple problems if at least one said existing case in said knowledge database is not substantially similar to said at least one case of the client; and

assessing through said computerized artificial intelligence engine at least one of said multiple problems to determine whether an existing problem within said knowledge database is substantially similar to said at least one of said multiple problems, and providing a recommendation corresponding to said existing problem if said existing problem in said knowledge database is substantially similar to said at least one of said multiple problems.

9. An automated method according to claim 8, wherein said method further comprises the computer-implemented step of assessing through a computerized artificial intelligence engine each of said multiple problems to determine whether at least one existing problem in said knowledge database is substantially similar to any of said multiple problems, and providing a recommendation corresponding to any existing problems that are substantially similar to any of said multiple problems.

10. An automated method according to claim 8, wherein said step of determining whether an existing case in said knowledge database is substantially similar to said at least one case comprises the computer-implemented step of assessing with said computerized artificial intelligence engine whether said existing case within said knowledge database is similar to said at least one case within a margin of error.

11. An automated method according to claim 10, wherein said margin of error is widened by said computerized artificial intelligence engine to a new range if said case in said knowledge database is not similar to said at least one case within an original range of said margin of error.

12. An automated method according to claim 10, wherein said margin of error is reduced by said computerized artificial intelligence engine as additional cases are stored within said knowledge database and additional solutions are provided.

13. An automated method according to claim 8, wherein said step of assessing at least one of said multiple problems comprises the computer-implemented step of assessing whether at least one of said existing problems in said knowledge database is similar within a margin of error to said at least one of said multiple problems.

14. An automated method according to claim 9, wherein said method further comprises the computer-implemented steps of:

breaking down said at least one of said multiple problems into multiple elements if any of said existing problems in said knowledge database are not similar to said at least one of said multiple problems; and

assessing at least one of said multiple elements to determine whether an existing element in said knowledge database is substantially similar to said at least one of said multiple elements, and providing a recommendation corresponding to said existing element if said existing element in said knowledge database is substantially similar to said at least one of said multiple elements.

15. An automated method according to claim 8, wherein said method further comprises the computer-implemented step of:

constructing a new case and solution set from said recommendation corresponding to said at least one of said multiple problems.

16. An ergonomic assessment system for facilitating automated assessment and solutions for reducing ergonomic issues, said ergonomic assessment system comprising:

a documented issue statement completed by a client through a computerized client interface, said documented issue statement configured for identifying problems to be resolved;

an inquiry component for facilitating collection of client information provided by the client through said client interface, said client information utilized with said documented issue statement to facilitate further definition of said documented issue statement;

a knowledge database comprising data and information relating to previous issues provided by clients, said knowledge database configured for facilitating assessment of said client information by comparison to said previous issues provided by clients;

a solution database comprising previous recommendations associated with said previous issues, said solution configured for compiling assessments from said knowledge base and for providing a new recommendation based on comparison conducted by said knowledge database; and

an electronic communications network for communicating said client information from said inquiry component to said knowledge database, and for communicating said new recommendation from said solution database to the client through said client interface.

17. A system according to claim 16, wherein said knowledge database comprises a computerized artificial intelligence engine for assessing said client information, said computerized artificial intelligence engine configured for comparing client information defining said documented issue statement with previous client information relating to said previous issues to determine similarity, and thus provide said recommendation being associated with sufficiently similar previous issues, and for breaking down said issue statement into smaller components for further comparison if said previous issues are not sufficiently similar to said documented issue statement, and then provide a new recommendation associated with said smaller components sufficiently similar to said previous issues.

18. An ergonomic assessment system according to claim 17, wherein said computerized artificial intelligence engine assesses whether a said documented issue statement is similar to a previous documented issue statement within said knowledge database within a margin of error.

19. The ergonomic assessment system according to claim 18, wherein said margin of error is widened by said computerized artificial intelligence engine to a new range if said previous documented issue statement and said knowledge database is not similar within an original range of said margin of error.

20. The ergonomic assessment system according to claim 18, wherein said computerized artificial intelligence engine breaks down said client information into multiple problems for comparison to previous recommendations from said solution database to determine if similar, and further breaking down said multiple problems into multiple elements if said recommendations are not similar to at least one of said multiple problems.