Detecting febrile seizure with a thermal video camera

• US 9,521,335 B2
• Filed: 06/17/2014
• Issued: 12/13/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/2014
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Mestha, Lalit Keshav, Xu, Beilei, Kulkarni, Rakesh Suresh
• Primary Examiner(s): Kassa, Yosef
• Application Number:
  US14/306,817
• Publication Number:
  US 20150363928A1
• Time in Patent Office: 910 Days
• Field of Search: 382/128, 382/130, 382/131, 382/132, 382/190, 382/209, 128/922, 128/923
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0077 Devices for viewing the surface of the body, e.g. camera, magnifying lens
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/01 Measuring temperature of body parts ; Diagnostic temperature sensing, e.g. for malignant or inflamed tissue clinical contact thermometers G01K13/20
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/015 By temperature mapping of body part
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 2005/0077 Imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 5/0025 Living bodies ear thermometers G01J5/0011; detecting, measuring or recording for diagnostic purposes A61B5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 5/025 Interfacing a pyrometer to an external device or network; User interface
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 5/07 Arrangements for adjusting the solid angle of collected radiation, e.g. adjusting or orienting field of view, tracking position or encoding angular position optical collimating elements G01J5/0806
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 5/10 using electric radiation detectors
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10016 Video; Image sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10048 Infrared image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30076 Plethysmography
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30088 Skin; Dermal
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0016 involving temporal comparison
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/23 from thermal infrared radiation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/80 Camera processing pipelines; Components thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/30 Transforming light or analogous information into electric information scanning details H04N3/00; cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors, or control thereof H04N23/00; circuitry of solid-state image sensors [SSIS] or control thereof H04N25/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/33 Transforming infrared radiation cameras or camera modules for generating image signals from infrared radiation H04N23/20; circuitry of SSIS for transforming infrared radiation into image signals H04N25/20

Abstract

What is disclosed is a system and method for detecting febrile seizure using a thermal video camera. In one embodiment, a video is received comprising time-sequential thermal images of a subject. The video is acquired of the subject in real-time using a thermal video system. Each thermal image comprises a plurality of pixels with an intensity value of each pixel corresponding to a temperature. The thermal images are processed to determine an occurrence of a febrile seizure. The processing involves identifying a region of interest in the thermal image and determining a temperature for the region of interest based on values of the pixels isolated in that region of interest. Thereafter, a rate of change of temperatures is obtained for the subject in real-time on a per-frame basis. If the rate of change is determined to have exceeded a pre-defined threshold level, then the subject is having a febrile seizure.

Claims

1. A method for detecting febrile seizure using a thermal video device, the method comprising:

receiving a video comprising time-sequential frames of thermal images of a subject being monitored for febrile seizure, said video being acquired by a thermal video system, each thermal image comprising a plurality of pixels, an intensity value of each pixel corresponding to a surface temperature; and

processing thermal images to determine an occurrence of a febrile seizure, said processing comprising;

isolating pixels associated with at least one region of interest;

determining a temperature for the subject based on values of said pixels isolated in said region of interest;

determining a rate of change of said subject'"'"'s temperature; and

in response to said rate of change exceeding a threshold level, determining that said subject is having a febrile seizure.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said thermal video system is any of:

a single-band infrared video camera, a multi-band infrared video camera in the thermal range, and a multi-spectral infrared video camera in the thermal range.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein pixels are isolated in the regions of interest using any of:

pixel classification, color, texture, spatial features, spectral information, facial recognition, object identification, pattern recognition, and a user input.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a temperature for said subject comprises any of:

integrating pixel values over at least a portion of said region of interest; and

weighted averaging pixel values over at least a portion of said region of interest.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

weighting values of any of said isolated pixels;

averaging values of any of said isolated pixels;

normalizing values of any of said isolated pixels; and

discarding any pixels with intensity values below a level of acceptability.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said threshold is based on any of:

a rate of fever progression of patients who have had a febrile seizure; and

a user input.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said determination of febrile seizure further utilizes health vitals of said subject comprising any of:

cardiac pulse rate, blood pressure, respiration rate, muscle twitch, a signal from an electrocardiogram (ECG/EKG), and a signal from electroencephalogram (EEG).

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether a movement occurred during video acquisition which is likely to adversely impact said temperature determination, comprising any of:

analyzing pixels in said thermal image;

performing facial recognition on said thermal image;

performing object tracking on said thermal image;

performing pattern recognition on said thermal image;

using a motion detector; and

visually observing said subject.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein, in response to said determination, further comprising any of:

adjusting a position of said thermal video system;

adjusting a position of said subject;

changing a frame rate of said thermal video system;

swapping said thermal video system for another thermal video system;

ignoring video image frames captured during movement;

initiating an alert that movement has occurred; and

stopping video acquisition altogether.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating said rate of change to any of:

a display device, a storage device, a smartphone, a laptop, tablet-PC, a workstation, and a remote device over a network.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein, in response to said subject having a febrile seizure, initiating a notification comprising any of:

an audio message, a text message, an email, a voicemail message, a phone call, a video, an image, and an alert signal.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said video is a streaming video and febrile seizure determination occurs in real-time.

13. A thermal video system for detecting febrile seizure using a thermal video device, the system comprising:

a video camera a video comprising time-sequential frames of thermal images, each thermal image comprising a plurality of pixels, an intensity value of each pixel corresponding to a surface temperature; and

a processor in communication with a memory, said processor executing machine readable instructions for performing;

receiving thermal images of a subject being monitored for febrile seizure;

isolating pixels associated with at least one region of interest;

determining a temperature for said subject based on values associated with said isolated pixels;

determining a rate of change of said subject'"'"'s temperature; and

in response to said rate of change exceeding a threshold, determining that said subject is having a febrile seizure.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein said thermal video system is any of:

a single-band infrared video camera, a multi-band infrared video camera in the thermal range, and a multi-spectral infrared video camera in the thermal range.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein pixels are isolated in the regions of interest using any of:

pixel classification, color, texture, spatial features, spectral information, facial recognition, object identification, pattern recognition, and a user input.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein determining a temperature for said subject comprises any of:

integrating pixel values over at least a portion of said region of interest; and

weighted averaging pixel values over at least a portion of said region of interest.

17. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

weighting values of any of said isolated pixels;

averaging values of any of said isolated pixels;

normalizing values of any of said isolated pixels; and

discarding any pixels with intensity values below a level of acceptability.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein said threshold is based on any of:

a rate of fever progression of patients who have had a febrile seizure; and

a user input.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein said determination of febrile seizure further utilizes health vitals of said subject comprising any of:

cardiac pulse rate, blood pressure, respiration rate, muscle twitch, a signal from an electrocardiogram (ECG/EKG), and a signal from an electroencephalogram (EEG).

20. The system of claim 13, further comprising determining whether a movement occurred during video acquisition which is likely to adversely impact said temperature determination, comprising any of:

analyzing pixels in said thermal image;

performing facial recognition on said thermal image;

performing object tracking on said thermal image;

performing pattern recognition on said thermal image;

using a motion detector; and

visually observing said subject.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein, in response to said determination, further comprising any of:

adjusting a position of said thermal video system;

adjusting a position of said subject;

changing a frame rate of said thermal video system;

swapping said thermal video system for another thermal video system;

ignoring video image frames captured during movement;

initiating an alert that movement has occurred; and

stopping video acquisition altogether.

22. The system of claim 13, further comprising communicating said rate of change to any of:

a display device, a storage device, a smartphone, a laptop, tablet-PC, a workstation, and a remote device over a network.

23. The system of claim 13, wherein, in response to said subject having a febrile seizure, initiating a notification comprising any of:

an audio message, a text message, an email, a voicemail message, a phone call, a video, an image, and an alert signal.

24. The system of claim 13, wherein said video is a streaming video and febrile seizure determination occurs in real-time.