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

• US 9,962,083 B2
• Filed: 07/02/2012
• Issued: 05/08/2018
• 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:
  US13/540,180
• Publication Number:
  US 20130012789A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,136 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/00 Measuring for diagnostic purposes radiation diagnosis A61B6/00; diagnosis by ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves A61B8/00; Identification of persons
• 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 5/0008 Temperature signals
• 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 5/02055 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 5/0537 Measuring body composition by impedance, e.g. tissue hydration or fat content
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/08 Detecting, measuring or recording devices for evaluating the respiratory organs A61B5/0205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1113 Local tracking of patients, e.g. in a hospital or private home
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1114 Tracking parts of the body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/145 Measuring characteristics of blood in vivo, e.g. gas concentration, pH value; Measuring characteristics of body fluids or tissues, e.g. interstitial fluid, cerebral tissuemeasuring of blood pressure or blood flow A61B5/02; non-radiation detecting or locating of foreign bodies in blood A61B5/06
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/40 Detecting, measuring or recording for evaluating the nervous system A61B5/4806, A61B5/4821, A61B5/4824 take precedence
• 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 5/6887 mounted on external non-worn devices, e.g. non-medical devices
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6891 Furniture
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6892 Mats
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6897 Computer input devices, e.g. mice or keyboards
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6898 Portable consumer electronic devices, e.g. music players, telephones, tablet computers
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/72 : Signal processing specially adapted for physiological signals or for diagnostic purposes character recognition, recognising digital ink, document-oriented image-based pattern recognition G06V30/00; recognition or understanding of postal images G06V30/424
• 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 5/7282 : 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 5/742 : using visual displays A61B5/339 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 15/00 : ICT specially adapted for medical reports, e.g. generation or transmission thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 : for remote operation

Abstract

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

Claims

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

the employee workstation comprising;

a chair;

a chair pad disposed on the chair;

a floor mat positioned on a floor of the employee workstation;

an employee computer comprising a display;

a computer mouse positioned on a work surface of the employee workstation; and

a plurality of biomechanical sensors disposed throughout the employee workstation, the plurality of biomechanical sensors configured to sense biomechanical characteristics of the employee seated in the chair and output corresponding biomechanical health data indicative of the biomechanical characteristics of the employee,

the plurality of biomechanical sensors comprising;

computer mouse sensors comprising;

one or more computer mouse location sensors integrated in the computer mouse and configured to sense movement of the computer mouse relative to the work surface of the employee workstation;

one or more computer mouse temperature sensors integrated in the computer mouse and configured to sense a body temperature of the employee by way of the employee contacting the computer mouse;

one or more computer mouse blood pressure sensors integrated in the computer mouse and configured to sense a blood pressure of the employee by way of the employee contacting the computer mouse; and

one or more computer mouse blood condition sensors integrated in the computer mouse and configured to sense a blood oxygen saturation of blood of the employee by way of the employee contacting the computer mouse,

wherein the biomechanical health data comprises computer mouse data comprising a location of the computer mouse sensed by the one or more computer mouse location sensors, 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;

chair pad sensors comprising;

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

one or more chair pad temperature sensors integrated in the chair pad and configured to sense a body temperature of the employee seated in the chair; and

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

wherein the biomechanical health data comprises chair pad data comprising a force sensed by the one or more chair pad force transducers, a body temperature of the employee sensed by the one or more chair pad temperature sensors, and a body fat of the employee sensed by the one or more chair pad body fat sensors;

floor mat sensors comprising;

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

one or more floor mat temperature sensors integrated in the floor mat and configured to sense a body temperature of the employee seated in the chair; and

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

wherein the biomechanical health data comprises floor mat data comprising a force sensed by the one or more floor mat force transducers, a body temperature of the employee sensed by the one or more floor mat temperature sensors, and a body fat of the employee sensed by the one or more floor mat body fat sensors; and

a three-dimensional position sensor comprising;

a camera adapted to capture images of the employee seated in the chair, wherein the biomechanical health data comprises images of the employee seated in the chair captured by the camera; and

a biomechanical health monitoring server configured to;

continuously collect the biomechanical health data indicative of the biomechanical characteristics of the employee;

determine, in real time based on the biomechanical health data collected, the following;

a body temperature of the employee based on the body temperature of the employee sensed by the one or more computer mouse temperature sensors, the body temperature of the employee sensed by the one or more chair pad temperature sensors, and the body temperature of the employee sensed by the one or more floor mat temperature sensors;

a body position of the employee based on the location of the computer mouse sensed by the one or more computer mouse location sensors, the force sensed by the one or more chair pad force transducers, the force sensed by the one or more floor mat force transducers, and the images of the employee seated in the chair captured by the camera, the body position indicating a position and movement of an arm of the employee seated in the chair;

a body fat of the employee based on the body fat of the employee sensed by the one or more chair pad body fat sensors, and the body fat of the employee sensed by the one or more floor mat body fat sensors;

a blood pressure of the employee based on the blood pressure of the employee sensed by the one or more computer mouse blood pressure sensors;

blood oxygen saturation of blood of the employee based on the blood oxygen saturation of blood of the employee sensed by the one or more computer mouse blood condition sensors;

determine, based on the body position of the employee, a length of time that the arm of the employee has been extended to interact with the computer mouse;

determine, based on the length of time that the arm of the employee has been extended to interact with the computer mouse, a muscle tension of the employee;

determine, in real time, a biomechanical health profile for the employee based at least in part on the biomechanical health data collected, the biomechanical health profile for the employee comprising one or more of biomechanical health characteristics, biomechanical health conditions and biomechanical health risks for the employee, wherein the health profile comprises the following;

the body temperature of the employee;

the body position of the employee;

the body fat of the employee;

the blood pressure of the employee;

the blood oxygenation of the employee; and

the muscle tension of the employee;

generate, in real time, a health plan for the employee based at least in part on the biomechanical health profile for the employee determined; and

serve, in real time to the employee computer for display to the employee, health content comprising the biomechanical health profile for the employee and the health plan for the employee, wherein the health content includes an indication of the following;

the body temperature of the employee;

the body position of the employee;

the body fat of the employee;

the blood pressure of the employee;

the blood oxygenation of the employee; and

the muscle tension of the employee;

the employee computer configured to display, via the display of the employee computer, the health content comprising the indication of the body temperature of the employee, the body position of the employee, the body fat of the employee, the blood pressure of the employee, the blood oxygenation of the employee, and the muscle tension of the employee; and

serve, in real time to an employer workstation for display to an employer of the employee via a display of the employer workstation, a reviewer interface to enable the employer to review the biomechanical health profile for the employee and to select an employee group to review, the employee group characterized by a plurality of employees common to one or more of a facility, region, division, and team;

the employer workstation configured to display, via a display of the employer workstation, the reviewer interface, the display of the reviewer interface comprising display of a group health report for the selected group to enable the employer to determine whether the employee group is experiencing abnormal health conditions.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the biomechanical health profile for the employee comprises one or more predicted health issues determined based on the biomechanical health data collected, wherein the health plan comprises 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 the animated demonstration of the one or more exercises.

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

determine whether an alert condition exists based on the biomechanical 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.

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

determine whether an alert condition exists based on the biomechanical health data, wherein determining whether an alert condition exists based on the biomechanical health data comprises;

determining whether the biomechanical health profile comprises an abnormal health characteristic or health condition;

in response to determining that the biomechanical health profile for the employee comprises an abnormal health characteristic or health condition, assessing other characteristics or conditions of the biomechanical health profile for the employee 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, determining 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, determining 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.

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

determine, based on the biomechanical health data collected, the group health report for the employee group; and

determine that a user associated with the employer workstation is the employer of the employee and has permission to review employee health information,

wherein the operation of serve a reviewer interface to enable the employer to review the biomechanical health profile for the employee and to select an employee group to review comprises;

in response to determining that the user is the employer of the employee and has permission to review employee health information, serve, to the employer workstation, reviewer interface content for display to the user via the employer workstation, the reviewer interface content comprising;

an employee selection element configured to provide for selection of individual employees of a plurality of employees, wherein selection of the employee via the interactive employee selection element is configured to cause display of the biomechanical health profile for the employee via the employer workstation; and

an employee group selection element configured to provide for selection of individual employee groups of a plurality of employee groups, wherein each of the employee groups is characterized by a plurality of employees common to one or more of a facility, a region, a division and a team, and wherein selection of the employee group via the employee group selection element is configured to cause display of the group health report for the employee group via the employer workstation.

6. A method for monitoring health of an employee seated in an employee workstation, the method comprising:

disposing a plurality of biomechanical sensors throughout an employee workstation comprising a chair, a chair pad disposed on the chair, a floor mat positioned on a floor of the employee workstation, an employee computer comprising a display, and a computer mouse positioned on a work surface of the employee workstation, the plurality of biomechanical sensors configured to sense the biomechanical characteristics of the employee seated in the chair and output corresponding biomechanical health data indicative of the biomechanical characteristics of the employee, the plurality of biomechanical sensors comprising;

computer mouse sensors comprising;

one or more computer mouse location sensors integrated in the computer mouse and configured to sense movement of the computer mouse relative to the work surface of the employee workstation;

one or more computer mouse temperature sensors integrated in the computer mouse and configured to sense a body temperature of the employee by way of the employee contacting the computer mouse;

one or more computer mouse blood pressure sensors integrated in the computer mouse and configured to sense a blood pressure of the employee by way of the employee contacting the computer mouse; and

one or more computer mouse blood condition sensors integrated in the computer mouse and configured to sense a blood oxygen saturation of blood of the employee by way of the employee contacting the computer mouse,

wherein the biomechanical health data comprises computer mouse data comprising a location of the computer mouse sensed by the one or more computer mouse location sensors, 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;

chair pad sensors comprising;

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

one or more chair pad temperature sensors integrated in the chair pad and configured to sense a body temperature of the employee seated in the chair; and

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

wherein the biomechanical health data comprises chair pad data comprising a force sensed by the one or more chair pad force transducers, a body temperature of the employee sensed by the one or more chair pad temperature sensors, and a body fat of the employee sensed by the one or more chair pad body fat sensors;

floor mat sensors comprising;

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

one or more floor mat temperature sensors integrated in the floor mat and configured to sense a body temperature of the employee seated in the chair; and

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

wherein the biomechanical health data comprises floor mat data comprising a force sensed by the one or more floor mat force transducers, a body temperature of the employee sensed by the one or more floor mat temperature sensors, and a body fat of the employee sensed by the one or more floor mat body fat sensors; and

a three-dimensional position sensor comprising;

a camera adapted to capture images of the employee seated in the chair,

wherein the biomechanical health data comprises images of the employee seated in the chair captured by the camera;

continuously collecting, by a biomechanical health monitoring server and from the plurality of biomechanical sensors disposed throughout the employee workstation, the biomechanical health data indicative of biomechanical characteristics of the employee;

determining, in real time by the biomechanical health monitoring server based on the biomechanical health data collected, the following;

a body temperature of the employee based on the body temperature of the employee sensed by the one or more computer mouse temperature sensors, the body temperature of the employee sensed by the one or more chair pad temperature sensors, and the body temperature of the employee sensed by the one or more floor mat temperature sensors;

a body position of the employee based on the location of the computer mouse sensed by the one or more computer mouse location sensors, the force sensed by the one or more chair pad force transducers, the force sensed by the one or more floor mat force transducers, and the images of the employee seated in the chair captured by the camera, the body position indicating a position and movement of an arm of the employee seated in the chair;

a body fat of the employee based on the body fat of the employee sensed by the one or more chair pad body fat sensors, and the body fat of the employee sensed by the one or more floor mat body fat sensors;

a blood pressure of the employee based on the blood pressure of the employee sensed by the one or more computer mouse blood pressure sensors;

blood oxygen saturation of blood of the employee based on the blood oxygen saturation of blood of the employee sensed by the one or more computer mouse blood condition sensors;

determining, in real time by the biomechanical health monitoring server based on the body position of the employee, a length of time that the arm of the employee has been extended to interact with the computer mouse;

determining, in real time by the biomechanical health monitoring server based on the length of time that the arm of the employee has been extended to interact with the computer mouse, a muscle tension of the employee;

determining, in real time by the biomechanical health monitoring server, a biomechanical health profile for the employee based on the biomechanical health data collected, the biomechanical health profile for the employee comprising one or more of biomechanical health characteristics, biomechanical health conditions and biomechanical health risks for the employee, wherein the health profile comprises the following;

the body temperature of the employee;

the body position of the employee;

the body fat of the employee;

the blood pressure of the employee;

the blood oxygenation of the employee; and

the muscle tension of the employee;

generating, in real time by the biomechanical health monitoring server, a health plan for the employee based at least in part on the biomechanical health profile for the employee determined; and

serving, in real time by the biomechanical health monitoring server and to the employee computer of the employee workstation for display to the employee, health content comprising the employee biomechanical health profile and the health plan for the employee, wherein the health content includes an indication of the following;

the body temperature of the employee;

the body position of the employee;

the body fat of the employee;

the blood pressure of the employee;

the blood oxygenation of the employee; and

the muscle tension of the employee;

the employee computer displaying the health content comprising the indication of the body temperature of the employee, the body position of the employee, the body fat of the employee, the blood pressure of the employee, the blood oxygenation of the employee, and the muscle tension of the employee; and

serving, in real time by the biomechanical health monitoring server and to an employer workstation for display to an employer of the employee, a reviewer interface to enable the employer to review the biomechanical health profile for the employee and to select an employee group to review, the employee group characterized by a plurality of employees common to one or more of a facility, region, division, and team;

the employer workstation displaying, via a display of the employer workstation, the reviewer interface, the display of the reviewer interface comprising display of a group health report for the selected group to enable the employer to determine whether the employee group is experiencing abnormal health conditions.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the biomechanical health profile for the employee comprises one or more predicted health issues determined based on the biomechanical health data collected, wherein the health plan comprises 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 the animated demonstration of the one or more exercises.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

determining whether an alert condition exists based on the biomechanical health data;

in response to determining that an alert condition exists, prompting 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 sending the alert to the entity to be alerted.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

determining whether an alert condition exists based on the biomechanical health data, wherein determining whether an alert condition exists based on the biomechanical health data comprises;

determining whether the biomechanical health profile for the employee comprises an abnormal health characteristic or health condition;

in response to determining that the biomechanical health profile for the employee comprises an abnormal health characteristic or health condition, assessing other characteristics or conditions of the biomechanical health profile for the employee 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, determining that an alert condition exists; and

in response to determining that an alert condition exists;

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

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

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

determining, by the biomechanical health monitoring server based on the biomechanical health data collected, the group health report for the employee group; and

determining, by the biomechanical health monitoring server, that a user is the employer of the employee and has permission to review employee health information,

wherein the step of serving a reviewer interface to enable the employer to review the biomechanical health profile for the employee comprises;

in response to determining that the user is the employer of the employee and has permission to review employee health information, serve, by the biomechanical health monitoring server to the employer workstation, reviewer interface content for display to the user via the employer workstation, the reviewer interface content comprising;

an employee selection element configured to provide for selection of individual employees of a plurality of employees, wherein selection of the employee via the interactive employee selection element is configured to cause display of the biomechanical health profile for the employee via the employer workstation; and

an employee group selection element configured to provide for selection of individual employee groups of a plurality of employee groups, wherein each of the employee groups is characterized by a plurality of employees common to one or more of a facility, a region, a division and a team, and wherein selection of the employee group via the employee group selection element is configured to cause display of the group health report for the employee group via the employer workstation.