Pilot health monitoring and hypoxia prevention system and method

• US 9,826,941 B1
• Filed: 06/26/2015
• Issued: 11/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc. (Raytheon Technologies Corporation d/b/a RTX)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc. (Raytheon Technologies Corporation d/b/a RTX)
• Inventors: Serovy, Rick M., Sitter, Charles J.
• Primary Examiner(s): MANUEL, GEORGE C
• Application Number:
  US14/752,468
• Time in Patent Office: 886 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0242 adapted to measure environmental factors, e.g. temperature, pollution
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14552 Details of sensors specially adapted therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/18 for vehicle drivers or machine operators
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/486 Bio-feedback A61B5/375 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6801 specially adapted to be attached to or worn on the body surface
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7282 Event detection, e.g. detecting unique waveforms indicative of a medical condition A61B5/4094, A61B5/4818, A61B5/349, A61B5/0823 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7405 using sound
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/742 using visual displays A61B5/339 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7455 characterised by tactile indication, e.g. vibration or electrical stimulation
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/746 Alarms related to a physiological condition, e.g. details of setting alarm thresholds or avoiding false alarms alarms per se G08B
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/747 in case of emergency, i.e. alerting emergency services
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 80/00 ICT specially adapted for facilitating communication between medical practitioners or patients, e.g. for collaborative diagnosis, therapy or health monitoring

Abstract

A vehicular system includes a wearable device and a computing device. The wearable device is configured to be worn by an operator of a vehicle. The wearable device includes a sensor configured to measure a physiological state of the operator. The wearable device is configured to output physiological data indicative of the physiological state of the operator or operator health alert data indicative of a determined health problem associated with the operator. The computing device includes a processor configured to receive the physiological data associated with the operator or the operator health alert data from the wearable device and to determine whether the operator is experiencing a health problem based on the physiological data or the operator health alert data.

Claims

1. An aviation system, comprising:

a wearable device configured to be worn by a pilot of an aircraft, including;

at least one sensor configured to measure at least one physiological state of the pilot;

at least one wearable device processor coupled to the at least one sensor; and

a wearable device display coupled to the at least one wearable device processor;

wherein the wearable device is configured to output at least one of physiological data indicative of the at least one physiological state of the pilot or pilot health alert data indicative of a determined health problem associated with the pilot; and

at least one computing device implemented in the aircraft, including;

at least one processor configured to;

receive at least one of the physiological data associated with the pilot or the pilot health alert data from the wearable device;

determine whether the pilot is experiencing a health problem based on at least one of the physiological data or the pilot health alert data;

route at least a portion of at least one of the physiological data or the pilot health alert data to at least one control station;

receive an instruction from the at least one control station to engage an autopilot system of the aircraft after routing at least the portion of at least one of the physiological data or the pilot health alert data to the at least one control station; and

in response to receipt of the instruction from the at least one control station to engage the autopilot system of the aircraft, engage the autopilot system of the aircraft.

2. The aviation system of claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor includes an oximeter, and the physiological data includes oxygen level data.

3. The aviation system of claim 1, wherein the at least one wearable device processor is configured to determine whether the pilot is experiencing the health problem based on the physiological data.

4. The aviation system of claim 3, wherein the at least one sensor includes an oximeter configured to measure arterial oxygen saturation levels, the physiological data includes oxygen level data indicative of measured arterial oxygen saturation levels, and the at least one wearable device processor is configured to determine whether the pilot is experiencing hypoxia based on the oxygen level data.

5. The aviation system of claim 4, wherein the at least one sensor further includes a sensor configured to measure heart rate, the physiological data further includes heart rate data indicative of a measured heart rate, and the at least one wearable device processor is configured to determine whether the pilot is experiencing the health problem based at least on the heart rate data and the oxygen level data.

6. The aviation system of claim 3, wherein the at least one wearable device processor is configured to output the pilot health alert data to be routed to at least one output component onboard the aircraft to be issued as at least one of a visual alert, an aural alert, or a vibratory alert.

7. The aviation system of claim 3, wherein the at least one wearable device processor is configured to output the pilot health alert data to be routed to at least one output component onboard the aircraft to be issued as a vibratory alert configured to vibrate a seat of the pilot.

8. The aviation system of claim 3, wherein the wearable device is implemented as one of a wrist wearable device, a hand wearable device, a clothing wearable device, an adhesively-attached device, a helmet device, a goggle device, a visor device, or a glasses device.

9. The aviation system of claim 1, further comprising an onboard data recording system of the aircraft, wherein the onboard data recording system is configured to receive at least one of the pilot health alert data or at least some of the physiological data, and the onboard data recording system is configured to store at least one of received physiological data or received pilot health alert data.

10. The aviation system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor of the at least one computing device is configured to receive updated flight plan data from the at least one control station after routing at least the portion of at least one of the physiological data or the pilot health alert data to at least one control station, and the at least one processor of the at least one computing device is configured to update a flight plan based on the updated flight plan data.

11. The aviation system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor of the at least one computing device is configured to receive remote operation instructions from the at least one control station after routing at least the portion of at least one of the physiological data or the pilot health alert data to at least one control station, and the at least one processor of the at least one computing device is configured to operate the aircraft based at least on the remote operation instructions.

12. The aviation system of claim 1, wherein, in response to the determination that the pilot is experiencing the health problem, the at least one processor of the at least one computing device is configured to change a flight plan of the aircraft.

13. The aviation system of claim 1, wherein the wearable device is a wearable computing device.

14. The aviation system of claim 1, wherein the at least one wearable device processor is configured to output the pilot health alert data to an engine-indicating and crew-alerting system (EICAS).

15. A method, comprising:

receiving, by at least one processor of at least one computing device implemented in an aircraft and from a wearable device worn by a pilot of the aircraft, physiological data indicative of at least one physiological state of the pilot, wherein the wearable device includes at least one sensor including an oximeter, the physiological data includes oxygen level data, wherein the wearable device further includes at least one at least one wearable device processor coupled to the at least one sensor and a wearable device display coupled to the at least one wearable device processor;

determining, by the at least one processor of the at least one computing device, that the pilot is experiencing hypoxia based at least on the physiological data;

outputting, by the at least one processor of the at least one computing device, pilot health alert data upon a determination that the pilot is experiencing hypoxia;

routing, by the at least one processor of the at least one computing device, at least a portion of the pilot health alert data to at least one control station;

receiving, by the at least one processor of the at least one computing device, an instruction from the at least one control station to engage an autopilot system of the aircraft after routing at least the portion of the pilot health alert data to the at least one control station; and

in response to receipt of the instruction from the at least one control station to engage the autopilot system of the aircraft, engaging the autopilot system of the aircraft.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein outputting, by the at least one processor of the at least one computing device, pilot health alert data upon a determination that the pilot is experiencing hypoxia further comprises:

outputting, by the at least one processor of the at least one computing device, pilot health alert data to be routed to at least one output component onboard the aircraft to be issued as at least one of a visual alert, an aural alert, or a vibratory alert upon a determination that the pilot is experiencing hypoxia.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving, from the at least one control station, at least one of updated flight plan data or remote operation instructions after routing at least the portion of the pilot health alert data to the at least one control station.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

changing a flight plan of the aircraft in response to the determination that the pilot is experiencing hypoxia.

19. A vehicular system, comprising:

a wearable device configured to be worn by an operator of a vehicle, including;

at least one sensor configured to measure at least one physiological state of the operator;

at least one wearable device processor coupled to the at least one sensor; and

a wearable device display coupled to the at least one wearable device processor;

wherein the wearable device is configured to output at least one of physiological data indicative of the at least one physiological state of the operator or operator health alert data indicative of a determined health problem associated with the operator; and

at least one computing device implemented in the vehicle, including;

at least one processor configured to;

receive at least one of the physiological data associated with the operator or the operator health alert data from the wearable device;

determine whether the operator is experiencing a health problem based on at least one of the physiological data or the operator health alert data;

route at least a portion of at least one of the physiological data or the operator health alert data to at least one control station;

receive an instruction from the at least one control station to engage an autopilot system of the vehicle after routing at least the portion of at least one of the physiological data or the operator health alert data to the at least one control station; and

in response to receipt of the instruction from the at least one control station to engage the autopilot system of the vehicle, engage the autopilot system of the vehicle.