Operating ability monitoring system

• US 8,560,473 B2
• Filed: 07/07/2011
• Issued: 10/15/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Biotronik SE & Company KG
• Original Assignee: Biotronik SE & Company KG
• Inventors: Doerr, Thomas, Diebold, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Chaki, Kakali
• Assistant Examiner(s): Zidanic, Michael
• Application Number:
  US13/178,379
• Publication Number:
  US 20120023049A1
• Time in Patent Office: 831 Days
• Field of Search: 706/20
• US Class Current: 706/20
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2010/0009 Testing for drug or alcohol abuse
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0031 Implanted circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/18 for vehicle drivers or machine operators
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7264 Classification of physiological signals or data, e.g. using neural networks, statistical classifiers, expert systems or fuzzy systems neural networks per se G06N3/00; expert systems per se G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 28/06 responsive to incapacity of driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/45 External transmission of data to or from the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems

Abstract

An operating ability monitoring system that includes a person-dependent acceleration sensor, a telemetry unit, and an evaluation unit, wherein the person-dependent acceleration sensor and the telemetry unit may be worn by and/or implanted in a machine operator and connected to the evaluation unit, and wherein the evaluation unit is configured to receive acceleration values originating from the person-dependent acceleration sensor and sensor values originating from a further sensor that reflects the movements and/or acceleration of a vehicle or moving machine and to evaluate them by comparing the acceleration values from the person-dependent acceleration sensor to the sensor values associated with the vehicle or moving machine.

Claims

1. An operating ability monitoring system comprising:

a person-dependent acceleration sensor configured to couple with a machine operator;

a telemetry unit coupled with said person-dependent acceleration sensor;

a second sensor coupled with a vehicle or moving machine operated by said machine operator;

an evaluation unit configured to

receive acceleration values from the person-dependent acceleration sensor and,

receive movement values from the second sensor coupled with said vehicle or said moving machine which represent acceleration of said vehicle or said moving machine and,

compare the acceleration values from the person-dependent acceleration sensor to the acceleration values from the second sensor coupled with the vehicle or the moving machine and,

derive a classification of a current operating ability state based on said compare;

a machine monitoring system;

wherein the evaluation unit is further configured to make a result of the classification of the current operating ability state available to the machine monitoring system;

wherein the evaluation unit is further configured to trigger a response test in the event that the current operating ability state is classified as impaired, wherein the evaluation unit is further configured, depending on the response test, to confirm or repeal the classification of the current operating ability state; and

wherein said response test is a plausibility check enabling said driver to respond to said response test within a defined period to detect a reduction in the driving ability such that if a response from the driver does not take place, the machine monitoring system assumes driving inability and initiates a corresponding response of intervening in a course of travel associated with the driver.

2. The operating ability monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the person-dependent acceleration sensor and the telemetry unit are configured to be worn by and/or implanted in said machine operator.

3. The operating ability monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the person-dependent acceleration sensor, the telemetry unit, and the evaluation unit are elements of a medical device associated with said machine operator, wherein the telemetry unit is configured to receive acceleration values from said second sensor, and wherein said second sensor is associated with said machine monitoring system.

4. The operating ability monitoring system according to claim 3, wherein the operating ability monitoring system further comprises a relay station configured to wirelessly communicate between said machine monitoring system and the telemetry unit of the medical device, wherein the relay station ensures, even in the event of a fault, that the functioning of the medical device is free from interference from the machine monitoring system.

5. The operating ability monitoring system according to claim 4, wherein the evaluation unit is an element of the relay station and is configured to receive the acceleration values wirelessly from the person-dependent accelerator sensor via the telemetry unit connected thereto and to receive the movement values that represent the acceleration of the vehicle from the machine monitoring system.

6. The operating ability monitoring system according to claim 3, wherein the evaluation unit is an element of the machine monitoring system.

7. The operating ability monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein said compare comprises a cross-correlation, variance analysis or analysis of covariance.

8. The operating ability monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein said compare utilizes a neural network.

9. The operating ability monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein said compare is implemented in both time and frequency domains.

10. An operating ability monitoring system comprising:

an evaluation unit configured to

receive acceleration values from a person-dependent acceleration sensor and

receive movement values from a second sensor coupled with a vehicle or a moving machine which represent acceleration of said vehicle or said moving machine and

compare the acceleration values from the person-dependent acceleration sensor to the acceleration values from the second sensor coupled with the vehicle or the moving machine and

derive a classification of a current operating ability state based on said compare; and

a machine monitoring system;

wherein the evaluation unit is further configured to make a result of the classification of the current operating ability state available to the machine monitoring system;

wherein the evaluation unit is further configured to trigger a response test in the event that the current operating ability state is classified as impaired, wherein the evaluation unit is further configured, depending on the response test, to confirm or repeal the classification of the current operating ability state; and

wherein said response test is a plausibility check enabling said driver to respond to said response test within a defined period to detect a reduction in the driving ability such that if a response from the driver does not take place the machine monitoring system assumes driving inability and initiates a corresponding response of intervening in a course of travel associated with the driver.

11. The operating ability monitoring system according to claim 10, wherein the evaluation unit is further configured to supply the operating ability classification result that represents a reduced operating ability when said compare of the acceleration values to the movement values indicates that the acceleration values and the movement values differ to an extent that exceeds a predetermined threshold value.

12. The operating ability monitoring system according to claim 10, wherein said compare comprises cross-correlation, covariance analysis, variance analysis, and/or pattern matching.

13. The operating ability monitoring system according to claim 10, wherein said compare comprises utilizing a neural network.

14. The operating ability monitoring system according to claim 10, further comprising a medical device wherein said evaluation unit is implemented in said medical device.

15. The operating ability monitoring system according to claim 10, wherein said evaluation unit is implemented in said machine monitoring system.

16. The operating ability monitoring system according to claim 10, further comprising a relay station wherein said evaluation unit is implemented in said relay station.

17. A method for classifying the operating ability of a machine operator of a moving machine, comprising:

receiving acceleration values from a person-dependent acceleration sensor;

receiving movement values from a second sensor coupled with a vehicle or a moving machine which represent acceleration of said vehicle or said moving machine;

comparing the acceleration values from the person-dependent acceleration sensor to the acceleration values from the second sensor coupled with the vehicle or the moving machine;

deriving a classification of a current operating ability state based on said comparing;

supplying the result of the classification of the current operating ability state;

triggering a response test in the event that the current operating ability state is classified as impaired, wherein depending on the response test, confirming or repealing classification of the current operating ability state; and

wherein said response test is a plausibility check enabling a driver to respond to said response test within a defined period to detect a reduction in the driving ability, and

wherein when a response from the driver does not take place, assuming driving inability and initiating a corresponding response of intervening in a course of travel associated with the driver.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein said comparing of the acceleration values and sensor values that are temporally associated with each other includes cross-correlation, covariance analysis, variance analysis and/or pattern matching or utilizing a neural network.