System and method for selecting a respirator

• US 9,361,411 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2013
• Issued: 06/07/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Thiruvengada, Hari, Derby, Paul, Chen, Henry, Bai, Hao, Wang, Xiaoli, Sarkissian, Vicken, Zhang, Yajun-Edwin
• Primary Examiner(s): Negin, Russell S
• Application Number:
  US13/839,056
• Publication Number:
  US 20140278319A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,180 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A62B 27/00 Methods or devices for testing respiratory or breathing apparatus for high altitudesapparatus for testing gastightness in general G01M
• CPC Class Codes: A62B 7/02 with compressed oxygen or air
• CPC Class Codes: A62B 7/04 and lung-controlled oxygen or air valves
• CPC Class Codes: A62B 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2119/16 Equivalence checking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/00 Computer-aided design [CAD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/10 Geometric CAD
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/20 Design optimisation, verification or simulation optimisation, verification or simulation of circuit designs G06F30/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 17/20 Finite element generation, e.g. wire-frame surface description, tesselation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/006 Mixed reality object pose determination, tracking or camera calibration for mixed reality G06T7/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/20 Editing of 3D images, e.g. changing shapes or colours, aligning objects or positioning parts
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2200/04 involving 3D image data
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2200/08 involving all processing steps from image acquisition to 3D model generation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2200/24 involving graphical user interfaces [GUIs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2219/2004 Aligning objects, relative positioning of parts
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2219/2021 Shape modification
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/171 Local features and components; Facial parts eye characteristics G06V40/18; Occluding parts, e.g. glasses; Geometrical relationships
• CPC Class Codes: G16B 40/00 ICT specially adapted for biostatistics; ICT specially adapted for bioinformatics-related machine learning or data mining, e.g. knowledge discovery or pattern finding
• CPC Class Codes: G16B 5/00 ICT specially adapted for modelling or simulations in systems biology, e.g. gene-regulatory networks, protein interaction networks or metabolic networks

Abstract

Apparatus and associated methods may relate to a system for predicting a respirator fit by comparing a specific respirator model to a specific facial model in a dynamic position. In an illustrative example, one or more dynamic positions may be generated by actual user movement and/or simulated user movement. For example, a facial model may be generated by altering a static model in view of actual and/or simulated movements. In various implementations, a facial model may be compared against a variety of respirator models from a respirator model database. In some implementations, a 3D representation of the respirator model may be displayed upon a 3D representation of the facial model. In some implementations, a color-coded facial display may characterize areas of comfort and discomfort with respect to the respirator model. For example, areas of comfort and discomfort may be objectively determined in view of an applied pressure by the respirator.

Claims

1. A method of predictively fitting a respirator to a specific user, the method comprising:

retrieving respirator shape data representative of a shape of a respirator;

defining facial shape data representative of a facial shape of a facial area;

modeling said facial shape data in a plurality of facial positions, wherein each of said facial positions correspond to a different position of said facial area;

overlaying said respirator represented by said respirator shape data upon said facial area represented by said facial shape data, wherein said respirator is overlaid upon said facial area in said plurality of facial positions;

determining whether said respirator fits said facial area in said plurality of facial positions, wherein said determination is based on a determination of the deformation of the respirator shape data at each of said plurality of facial positions; and

generating a recommendation for display to a user based upon whether said respirator fit said facial area in said plurality of facial positions.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of capturing said facial shape data of a user using a three dimensional scanner.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising a step of generating said plurality of facial positions via one or more dynamic facial movements performed by said user.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising a step of extracting a three dimensional point cloud of a first facial position generated through said dynamic facial movements.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising a step of correlating said facial shape data in said three dimensional point cloud with a corresponding data point of a generic facial area of a generic model.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising a step of generating an individual facial model comprised of said generic facial area in said first facial position.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising a step of overlaying said respirator on said individual facial model in said first facial position.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of generating said plurality of facial positions via one or more simulated facial movements.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising a step of defining said simulated facial movements by a set of predetermined extreme facial movements.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising a step of arranging said facial shape data in a first facial position corresponding to one of said set of predetermined extreme facial movements.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising a step of generating a facial model having said facial shape data in said first facial position.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising a step of overlaying said respirator on said facial model in said first facial position.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of displaying said respirator overlaid upon said facial area to said user.

14. A system for predictively fitting a respirator to a specific user, the system comprising:

a processor for defining facial shape data corresponding to a facial shape of a facial area and respirator shape data corresponding to a respirator shape and size;

means for generating a plurality of facial positions with said facial shape data;

a comparator module for geometrically comparing said respirator shape data with said facial shape data in said plurality of facial positions, wherein said geometrical comparison is based on a determination of the deformation of the respirator shape data at each of said plurality of facial positions; and

a recommendation module for displaying to a user a result provided from said comparator module.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein said means for generating a plurality of facial positions comprises a static modeling module.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein said means for generating a plurality of facial positions comprises a dynamic modeling module.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein said recommendation module comprises a color-coded display for overlaying one or more colors indicative of a fit of said respirator on said facial area.