Smartphone having a communication subsystem that is operable in CDMA, a digital infrared sensor with ports that provide a digital signal representing a surface temperature, a microprocessor that receives from the ports the digital signal that is representative of the temperature and that generates a body core temperature from the digital signal that is representative of the temperature and a display device that displays the body core temperature

• US 9,881,369 B2
• Filed: 10/06/2015
• Issued: 01/30/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/04/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ARC Devices, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Arc Devices (Ni) Limited
• Inventors: Crawley, Martin, Smith, Michael G., Gross, Irwin, Khachaturian, Mark, Gerst, Steven, Barrett, John, Cronin, Michael, Turnbull, Derek
• Primary Examiner(s): Verbitsky, Gail Kaplan
• Application Number:
  US14/876,784
• Publication Number:
  US 20160022219A1
• Time in Patent Office: 847 Days
• Field of Search: 374120, 374121, 374141, 374163, 374170, 374178, 374 1, 374 2, 600549, 600474, 702135, 702130
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0214 of power generation or supply
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0475 Special features of memory means, e.g. removable memory cards
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2576/00 Medical imaging apparatus involving image processing or analysis A61B1/00009, A61B6/52 and A61B8/52 take precedence; image processing per se G06T; details of algorithms for analysing medical images G06T7/0012
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0008 Temperature signals
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0013 Medical image data A61B1/00011, A61B6/56, A61B8/56 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0059 using light, e.g. diagnosis by transillumination, diascopy, fluorescence A61B5/0093, A61B5/1455, A61B5/02416 and A61B5/0261 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0064 Body surface scanning
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0075 by spectroscopy, i.e. measuring spectra, e.g. Raman spectroscopy, infrared absorption spectroscopy A61B5/0071 takes precedence
• 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: A61B 5/02055 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular condition and temperature
• 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 5/02416 using photoplethysmograph signals, e.g. generated by infrared radiation A61B5/14552 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02433 for infrared radiation
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0261 using optical means, e.g. infrared light
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0816 Measuring devices for examining respiratory frequency measuring frequency of electric signals G01R23/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1455 using optical sensors, e.g. spectral photometrical oximeters
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14551 for measuring blood gases
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14552 : Details of sensors specially adapted therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/33 : specially adapted for cooperation with other devices
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/441 : Skin evaluation, e.g. for skin disorder diagnosis
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6898 : Portable consumer electronic devices, e.g. music players, telephones, tablet computers
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7225 : Details of analog processing, e.g. isolation amplifier, gain or sensitivity adjustment, filtering, baseline or drift compensation A61B5/30, A61B5/316 take precedence; transformers for specific applications H01F38/00; amplifiers H03F
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/725 : using specific filters therefor, e.g. Kalman or adaptive filters A61B5/316 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7257 : using Fourier transforms
• 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: A61B 5/7267 : involving training the classification device
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7275 : Determining trends in physiological measurement data; Predicting development of a medical condition based on physiological measurements, e.g. determining a risk factor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7278 : Artificial waveform generation or derivation, e.g. synthesising signals from measured signals A61B5/327 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/742 : using visual displays A61B5/339 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7425 : Displaying combinations of multiple images regardless of image source, e.g. displaying a reference anatomical image with a live image geometric transforms for image registration G06T3/14; enhancement using image fusion G06T5/50; algorithms for registration of images G06T7/30
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/743 : Displaying an image simultaneously with additional graphical information, e.g. symbols, charts, function plots
• 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 5/0893 : Arrangements to attach devices to a pyrometer, i.e. attaching an optical interface; Spatial relative arrangement of optical elements, e.g. folded beam path G01J5/049 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 5/30 : Electrical features thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 1/02 : Means for indicating or recording specially adapted for thermometers
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 13/223 : Infrared clinical thermometers, e.g. tympanic
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/23 : Clustering techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/042 : by opto-electronic means
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10004 : Still image; Photographic image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10016 : Video; Image sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10024 : Color image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10048 : Infrared image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20024 : Filtering details
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20076 : Probabilistic image processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20132 : Image cropping
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30004 : Biomedical image processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30088 : Skin; Dermal
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30104 : Vascular flow; Blood flow; Perfusion
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30201 : Face
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2210/22 : Cropping
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/40 : Scaling of whole images or parts thereof, e.g. expanding or contracting
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• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/20 : using local operators
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• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0016 : involving temporal comparison
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• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/90 : Determination of colour characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/40 : in video content extracting overlay text G06V20/62; video retrieval G06F16/70; processing of video elementary streams in video servers H04N21/234; processing of video elementary streams in video clients H04N21/44
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/413 : Classification of content, e.g. text, photographs or tables
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/16 : Human faces, e.g. facial parts, sketches or expressions
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• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/172 : Classification, e.g. identification
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/20 : for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 : for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/75 : Circuitry for providing, modifying or processing image signals from the pixel array
• 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

A smartphone that includes a microprocessor, a battery operably coupled to the microprocessor, a single button operably coupled to the microprocessor, a communication subsystem that receives messages from and sends messages to wireless networks in accordance with Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), a digital infrared sensor operably coupled to the microprocessor, the digital infrared sensor having ports that provide a digital signal representing a temperature, and a display device operably coupled to the microprocessor, wherein the microprocessor receives from the ports the digital signal that is representative of the temperature and the microprocessor generates a body core temperature from the digital signal that is representative of the temperature and the microprocessor also operably coupled to the display device displays the body core temperature.

Claims

1. A smartphone comprising:

a microprocessor;

a battery that is operably coupled to the microprocessor;

a single button that is operably coupled to the microprocessor;

a communication subsystem that is operably coupled to the microprocessor and that receives messages from and sends messages to wireless networks in accordance with Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA);

a digital infrared sensor that is operably coupled to the microprocessor, the digital infrared sensor having ports that provide a digital signal representing a temperature; and

a display device that is operably coupled to the microprocessor,

wherein the microprocessor receives from the ports the digital signal that is representative of the temperature and the microprocessor generates a body core temperature from the digital signal that is representative of the temperature and the microprocessor also operably coupled to the display device that displays the body core temperature,

wherein generating the body core temperature further comprises;

calculating the body core temperature as |f_stb(T_{surface temp}+f_ntc(T_ntc))+F4_body|,

where f_stb is a representation of a surface of a body,

where T_{surface temp} is a numerical representation of the digital signal that is representative of the temperature,

where f_ntc is mathematical formula of an ambient temperature reading,

where T_ntc is an ambient air temperature reading,

f_ntc(T_ntc) is a bias in consideration of a forehead temperature sensing mode, and

where F4_body is the representation of a factory calibration difference.

2. The smartphone of claim 1 further comprising:

no analog-to-digital converter operably coupled between the digital infrared sensor and the microprocessor.

3. The smartphone of claim 1 further comprising:

the digital infrared sensor having no analog sensor readout ports.

4. The smartphone of claim 1 further comprising:

a camera operably coupled to the microprocessor and providing images to the microprocessor;

the microprocessor further comprising;

a cropper that is operable to receive at least two images from the camera and operable to crop the images to exclude a border area of the images, generating at least two cropped images;

a temporal-variation-amplifier of at least two cropped images that is operable to generate a temporal variation;

a vital-sign generator that is operably coupled to the temporal-variation-amplifier that is operable to generate at least one vital sign from the temporal variation, wherein the temporal-variation-amplifier further comprises;

a first frequency filter that applies a frequency filter to the at least two cropped images;

a regional facial clusterial module that is operably coupled to the first frequency filter and that applies spatial clustering to output of the first frequency filter;

a second frequency filter that is operably coupled to the regional facial clusterial module and that is applied to output of the regional facial clusterial module;

a temporal-variation identifier that is operably coupled to the second frequency filter and that identifies temporal variation of the output of the second frequency filter.

5. The smartphone of claim 1, wherein

the digital infrared sensor includes digital ports that provide only digital readout signal.

6. The smartphone of claim 4, wherein the temporal-variation-amplifier further comprises:

a skin-pixel-identifier.

7. The smartphone of claim 4 further comprising:

a storage device that is operably coupled to the vital-sign generator and that is operable to store the at least one vital sign in a volatile memory.

8. The smartphone of claim 4 further comprising:

a storage device that is operably coupled to the vital-sign generator and that is operable to transmit the at least one vital sign to a second apparatus.

9. The smartphone of claim 4 further comprising:

a skin-pixel-identifier that is operably coupled to the first frequency filter that identifies pixel values that are representative of skin in the at least two images.

10. The smartphone of claim 9, wherein the skin-pixel-identifier further comprises:

an automatic seed point based clustering apparatus.

11. The smartphone of claim 4, wherein the regional facial clusterial module further comprises:

a fuzzy clusterer.

12. The smartphone of claim 4, wherein the regional facial clusterial module further comprises:

a K-clusterer.

13. The smartphone of claim 4, wherein the regional facial clusterial module further comprises:

an expectation-maximizer.

14. The smartphone of claim 4, wherein the regional facial clusterial module further comprises:

a seed point based clustering apparatus.

15. The smartphone of claim 4, wherein the first frequency filter further comprises:

a one-dimensional spatial Fourier Transformation apparatus.

16. The smartphone of claim 4, wherein the first frequency filter further comprises:

a high pass filter.

17. The smartphone of claim 4, wherein the first frequency filter further comprises:

a low pass filter.

18. A device comprising:

a microprocessor;

a battery operably coupled to the microprocessor;

a single button operably coupled to the microprocessor;

a communication subsystem that receives messages from and sends messages to a wireless network;

a camera operably coupled to the microprocessor and providing at least two images to the microprocessor;

a digital infrared sensor operably coupled to the microprocessor, the digital infrared sensor having ports that provide a digital signal representing a temperature; and

a display device operably coupled to the microprocessor,

wherein the microprocessor is operable to receive from the ports the digital signal that is representative of a temperature and the microprocessor is operable to determine a body core temperature from the digital signal that is representative of the temperature and the microprocessor including a cropper that is operable to receive at least two images from the camera and operable to crop the images to exclude a border area of the images, generating at least two cropped images, the microprocessor also including a temporal-variation-amplifier of at least two cropped images that is operable to generate a temporal variation, the microprocessor also including a vital-sign generator that is operably coupled to the temporal-variation-amplifier that is operable to generate at least one vital sign from the temporal variation and the microprocessor also operably coupled to the display device that is operable to display the at least one vital sign, wherein determining the body core temperature further comprises;

calculating the body core temperature as |f_stb(T_{surface temp}+f_ntc(T_ntc))+F4_body|,

where f_stb is a representation of a surface of a body,

where T_{surface temp} is a numerical representation of the digital signal that is representative of the temperature,

where f_ntc is mathematical formula of an ambient temperature reading,

where T_ntc is an ambient air temperature reading,

f_ntc(T_ntc) is a bias in consideration of a forehead temperature sensing mode, and

where F4_body is the representation of a factory calibration difference,

wherein the temporal-variation-amplifier further comprises;

a first frequency filter that applies a frequency filter to the at least two cropped images;

a regional facial clusterial module that is operably coupled to the first frequency filter and that applies spatial clustering to output of the first frequency filter;

a second frequency filter that is operably regional facial clusterial module and that is applied to output of the regional facial clusterial module; and

a temporal-variation identifier that is operably coupled to the second frequency filter and that identifies temporal variation of the output of the second frequency filter,

wherein the regional facial clusterial module further comprises a fuzzy clusterer.

19. A device comprising:

a microprocessor;

a battery operably coupled to the microprocessor; and

a digital infrared sensor operably coupled to the microprocessor, the digital infrared sensor having ports that provide a digital signal representing a temperature,

wherein the microprocessor is operable to receive from the ports the digital signal that is representative of a temperature and the microprocessor is operable to determine a body core temperature from the digital signal that is representative of the temperature,

wherein the digital infrared sensor is factory-calibrated without a need of recalibration with a black body,

wherein determining the body core temperature further comprises;

calculating the body core temperature as |f_stb(T_{surface temp}+f_ntc(T_ntc))+F4_body|,

where f_stb is a representation of a surface of a body,

where T_{surface temp} is a numerical representation of the digital signal that is representative of the temperature,

where f_ntc is mathematical formula of an ambient temperature reading,

where T_ntc is an ambient air temperature reading,

f_ntc(T_ntc) is a bias in consideration of a forehead temperature sensing mode, and

where F4_body is the representation of a factory calibration difference.