Systems, computer medium and computer-implemented methods for monitoring and improving health and productivity of employees

• US 9,526,455 B2
• Filed: 07/02/2012
• Issued: 12/27/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/05/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Government of Saudi Arabia)
• Original Assignee: Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Government of Saudi Arabia)
• Inventors: Horseman, Samantha J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jackson, Gary
• Assistant Examiner(s): PAHAKIS, MANOLIS Y
• Application Number:
  US13/540,262
• Publication Number:
  US 20130012790A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,639 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0002 Remote monitoring of patients using telemetry, e.g. transmission of vital signals via a communication network A61B5/07 takes precedence; transmission systems for measured values G08C; transmission H04B; transmission of digital information H04L; wireless communication networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/002 Monitoring the patient using a local or closed circuit, e.g. in a room or building A61B5/0017 takes precedence
• 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 5/0205 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/021 Measuring pressure in heart or blood vessels A61B5/0205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/024 Detecting, measuring or recording pulse rate or heart rate A61B5/0205, A61B5/021 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/08 Detecting, measuring or recording devices for evaluating the respiratory organs A61B5/0205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14551 for measuring blood gases
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/163 by tracking eye movement, gaze, or pupil change
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/165 Evaluating the state of mind, e.g. depression, anxiety
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4872 Body fat
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6803 Head-worn items, e.g. helmets, masks, headphones or goggles
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6891 Furniture
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6892 Mats
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6894 Wheel chairs
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6897 Computer input devices, e.g. mice or keyboards
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/30 for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G16Z 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass

Abstract

Provided are embodiments of systems, computer medium and computer-implemented methods to monitor the health of an employee. A method for monitoring the health of an employee while the employee is located in an employee workstation including collecting, from a plurality of biometric and biomechanical sensors disposed throughout an employee workstation, health data indicative of biometric and biomechanical characteristics of the employee. The plurality of biometric and biomechanical sensors adapted to sense biometric and biomechanical characteristics of the employee and output corresponding health data indicative of the biometric and biomechanical characteristics of the employee. The method including determining an employee health profile based at least in part on the collected health data, generating a health plan for the employee based at least in part on the health profile, and displaying health content including the employee health profile and the health plan for the employee.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring the health of an employee seated in an employee workstation, the system comprising:

the employee workstation comprising;

an employee computer with a display;

a chair disposed on a floor of the employee workstation, the chair including a chair pad;

a floor mat disposed on the floor, the floor mat comprising one or more floor mat force transducers configured to sense a force applied to the floor mat by the employee seated in the chair, and the floor mat configured to output floor mat data corresponding to the force sensed by the one or more floor mat force transducers;

the chair pad comprising;

one or more chair pad force transducers configured to sense a force applied to the chair pad by the employee seated in the chair; and

one or more chair pad body fat sensors configured to sense a body fat of the employee seated in the chair,

the chair pad configured to output chair pad data corresponding to the force sensed by the one or more chair pad force transducers and the body fat of the employee sensed by the one or more chair pad body fat sensors;

a computer mouse disposed on a work surface of the employee workstation, the computer mouse comprising;

one or more computer mouse temperature sensors configured to sense a body temperature of the employee by contact with the computer mouse;

one or more computer mouse blood pressure sensors configured to sense a blood pressure of the employee by contact with the computer mouse; and

one or more computer mouse blood condition sensors configured to sense a blood oxygen saturation of blood of the employee while the employee is in contact with the computer mouse,

the computer mouse configured to output computer mouse data corresponding to a body temperature of the employee sensed by the one or more one or more computer mouse temperature sensors, a blood pressure of the employee sensed by the one or more computer mouse blood pressure sensors, and a blood oxygen saturation of blood of the employee sensed by the one or more computer mouse blood condition sensors; and

a camera disposed in the employee workstation, the camera configured to capture three-dimensional images of the employee'"'"'s sitting posture, and the camera configured to output camera data corresponding to the sitting posture of the employee;

and

a health monitoring server configured to;

continuously collect health data indicative of biometric and biomechanical characteristics of the employee, the health data including the floor mat data, the chair pad data, the computer mouse data, and the camera data;

determine, in real time, an employee health profile for the employee based on the health data collected,

generate, in real time, a health plan for the employee based on the employee health profile determined;

serve, in real time, to the employee computer health content comprising the employee health profile and the health plan for the employee; and

serve, to an employer computer associated with an employer of the employee for display via the employer computer, a reviewer interface including the health profile for the employee and a group report for a plurality of employees common to one or more of a facility, region, division, and team;

the employee computer being configured to display the health content via the display.

2. A system according to claim 1, wherein the chair pad comprises:

a seat-pad configured to be disposed on a seating surface of the chair;

a back-pad coupled to the seat-pad and configured to be disposed on a back surface of the chair,

wherein the one or more chair pad force transducers comprise one or more forces transducers disposed in the seat-pad.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the chair pad comprises one or more chair pad temperature sensors configured to sense a body temperature the employee seated in the chair, and wherein the chair pad data output by the chair pad corresponds to a temperature sensed by the one or more chair pad body fat sensors.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the chair pad comprises one or more chair pad neural sensors configured to sense brain activity of the employee seated in the chair, and wherein the chair pad data output by the chair pad corresponds to brain activity sensed by the one or more chair pad neural sensors.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the floor mat comprises one or more floor mat body fat sensors configured to sense a body fat of the employee seated in the chair, and wherein the floor mat data output by the floor mat corresponds to a body fat sensed by the one or more floor mat body fat sensors.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the health monitoring server is further configured to:

determine that a user associated with the employer computer is an employer having permission to review employee health information, and

serve the reviewer interface to the employer computer in response to determining that the user associated with the employer computer is an employer having permission to review employee health information.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein the employee health profile comprises one or more predicted health issues,

wherein the health monitoring server is further configured to identify a health plan comprising one or more exercises for alleviating the one or more predicted health issues, and

wherein the health content served to the employee computer comprises a coaching avatar comprising an animated demonstration of the one or more exercises, and

wherein the employee computer is configured to display the coaching avatar comprising an animated demonstration of the one or more exercises.

8. The system according to claim 1, wherein the health monitoring server is further configured to:

determine whether an alert condition exists based on the health data;

in response to determining that an alert condition exists, prompt the employee to select to override sending an alert indicative of the alert condition to an entity to be alerted;

in response to receiving a selection to override sending the alert, not send the alert to the entity to be alerted; and

in response to not receiving a selection to override sending the alert, send the alert to the entity to be alerted.

9. The system according to claim 1, wherein the health monitoring server is further configured to:

determine whether the health profile comprises an abnormal health characteristic or health condition;

in response to determining that the health profile comprises an abnormal health characteristic or health condition, assess other characteristics or conditions of the health profile to determine whether the abnormal health characteristic or health condition is consistent with an alert condition;

in response to determining that the abnormal health characteristic or health condition is consistent with an alert condition, determine that an alert condition exists; and

in response to determining that the abnormal health characteristic or health condition is not consistent with an alert condition, determine that an alert condition does not exists; and

in response to determining that an alert condition exists;

provide an alert to the employee computer for presentation to the employee; and

provide an alert to an entity to be notified of the alert condition.

10. A computer-implemented method for monitoring the health of an employee, the method comprising:

collecting, by an employee, computer from a floor mat disposed on a floor of an employee workstation, floor mat data, the floor mat comprising one or more floor mat force transducers configured to sense a force applied to the floor mat by an employee seated in a chair of the employee workstation, and the floor mat data corresponding to force sensed by the one or more floor mat force transducers;

collecting, by the employee computer, from a chair pad of the chair, chair pad data, the chair pad comprising;

one or more chair pad force transducers configured to sense a force applied to the chair pad by the employee seated in the chair; and

one or more chair pad body fat sensors configured to sense a body fat of the employee seated in the chair, and

the chair pad data corresponding to the force sensed by the one or more chair pad force transducers and the body fat of the employee sensed by the one or more chair pad body fat sensors;

collecting, by the employee computer, from a computer mouse disposed on a work surface of the employee workstation, computer mouse data, the computer mouse comprising;

one or more computer mouse temperature sensors configured to sense a body temperature of the employee by contact with the computer mouse;

one or more computer mouse blood pressure sensors configured to sense a blood pressure of the employee by contact with the computer mouse; and

one or more computer mouse blood condition sensors configured to sense a blood oxygen saturation of blood of the employee by contact with the computer mouse,

the computer mouse data computer mouse data corresponding to a body temperature of the employee sensed by the one or more one or more computer mouse temperature sensors, a blood pressure of the employee sensed by the one or more computer mouse blood pressure sensors, and a blood oxygen saturation of blood of the employee sensed by the one or more computer mouse blood condition sensors;

collecting, by the employee computer, from a camera disposed in the employee workstation, camera data, the camera configured to capture three dimensional images of the employee'"'"'s sitting posture, and the camera data corresponding to the sitting posture of the employee;

collecting, from the employee computer and by a health monitoring server, health data corresponding to the floor mat data, the chair pad data, the computer mouse data, and the camera data;

determining, by the health monitoring server and based on the health data collected, an employee health profile;

generating, by the health monitoring server, a health plan for the employee based on the health profile;

serving, by the health monitoring server to the employee computer, health content comprising the employee health profile and health plan;

serving, by the health monitoring server to an employer computer associated with an employer of the employee for display via the employer computer, a reviewer interface including the health profile for the employee and a group report for a plurality of employees common to one or more of a facility, region, division, and team;

displaying, by the employee computer, the health content comprising the employee health profile and health plan.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the chair pad comprises:

a seat-pad configured to be disposed on a seating surface of the chair;

a back-pad coupled to the seat-pad and configured to be disposed on a back surface of the chair,

wherein the one or more chair pad force transducers comprise one or more forces transducers disposed in the seat-pad.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein the chair pad comprises one or more chair pad temperature sensors configured to sense a body temperature the employee seated in the chair, and wherein the chair pad data corresponds to a temperature sensed by the one or more chair pad body fat sensors.

13. The method according to claim 10, wherein the chair pad comprises one or more chair pad neural sensors configured to sense brain activity of the employee seated in the chair, and wherein the chair pad data corresponds to brain activity sensed by the one or more chair pad neural sensors.

14. The method according to claim 10, wherein the floor mat comprises one or more floor mat body fat sensors configured to sense a body fat of the employee seated in the chair, and wherein the floor mat data corresponds to a body fat sensed by the one or more floor mat body fat sensors.

15. The method according to claim 10, further comprising:

determining, by the health monitoring server, that a user associated with the employer computer is an employer having permission to review employee health information, and

serving, by the health monitoring server to the employer computer in response to determining that the user associated with the employer computer is an employer having permission to review employee health information, the reviewer interface.

16. The method according to claim 10, wherein the employee health profile comprises one or more predicted health issues, the method further comprising:

identifying, by the health monitoring server, a health plan comprising one or more exercises for alleviating the one or more predicted health issues,

wherein the health content served to the employee computer comprises a coaching avatar comprising an animated demonstration of the one or more exercises, and

wherein the employee computer is configured to display the coaching avatar comprising an animated demonstration of the one or more exercises.

17. The method according to claim 10, further comprising:

determining, by the health monitoring server and based on the health data, whether an alert condition exists;

prompting, by the health monitoring server and in response to determining that an alert condition exists, the employee to select to override sending an alert indicative of the alert condition to an entity to be alerted;

not sending, by the health monitoring server and in response to receiving a selection to override sending the alert, the alert to the entity to be alerted; and

sending, by the health monitoring server and in response to not receiving a selection to override sending the alert, the alert to the entity to be alerted.

18. The method according to claim 10, further comprising:

determining, by the health monitoring server, whether the health profile comprises an abnormal health characteristic or health condition;

assessing, by the health monitoring server and in response to determining that the health profile comprises an abnormal health characteristic or health condition, other characteristics or conditions of the health profile to determine whether the abnormal health characteristic or health condition is consistent with an alert condition;

determining, by the health monitoring server and in response to determining that the abnormal health characteristic or health condition is consistent with an alert condition, that an alert condition exists; and

determining, by the health monitoring server and in response to determining that the abnormal health characteristic or health condition is not consistent with an alert condition, that an alert condition does not exists; and

in response to determining that an alert condition exists;

providing, by the health monitoring server, an alert to the employee computer for presentation to the employee; and

providing, by the health monitoring server, an alert to an entity to be notified of the alert condition.