Neurofeedback eyeglasses

• US 10,130,299 B2
• Filed: 12/06/2017
• Issued: 11/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Facense Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Facense Ltd.
• Inventors: Tzvieli, Arie, Thieberger, Gil, Frank, Ari M
• Primary Examiner(s): Porta, David
• Assistant Examiner(s): BOOSALIS, FANI POLYZOS
• Application Number:
  US15/833,006
• Publication Number:
  US 20180103894A1
• Time in Patent Office: 349 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0242 adapted to measure environmental factors, e.g. temperature, pollution
• 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 5/0816 Measuring devices for examining respiratory frequency measuring frequency of electric signals G01R23/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/11 Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb for measuring pulse A61B5/02 ;A61B5/1038 takes precedence; motion detection to correct for motion artifacts in physiological signals A61B5/721
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/486 Bio-feedback A61B5/375 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6803 Head-worn items, e.g. helmets, masks, headphones or goggles
• 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: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems

Abstract

Thermal measurements of the forehead can be indicative of brain activity, and as such, may be useful for conducting brain-related treatments, such as neurofeedback. In one embodiment, a system for conducting a neurofeedback session includes an inward-facing head-mounted thermal camera (CAM) and a user interface. CAM takes thermal measurements of a region on the forehead (TH_F) of a user, and is located below the middle of the region. The user interface provides, based on TH_F, the neurofeedback session for the user. Optionally, a computer controls the neurofeedback session by providing the user feedback via the user interface. The computer may generate the feedback based on the similarity between a current TH_F pattern and a previous TH_F pattern of the user taken while the user was in a target state.

Claims

1. A system configured to provide a neurofeedback session, comprising:

an inward-facing head-mounted thermal camera (CAM) configured to take thermal measurements of a region on the forehead (TH_F) of a user;

wherein CAM is located below the middle of the region; and

a user interface configured to provide, based on TH_F, a neurofeedback session for the user.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein CAM comprises a multi-pixel sensor and a lens, and the sensor plane is tilted by more than 2°

relative to the lens plane according to the Scheimpflug principle in order to capture sharper images when CAM is worn by the user.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein TH_F comprises measurements of at least four non-collinear regions on the forehead, and further comprising a computer configured to control the neurofeedback session by providing the user a feedback via the user interface;

wherein the computer is further configured to;

calculate a value indicative of similarity between a current TH_F pattern and a previous TH_F pattern of the user taken while the user was in a target state, and generate the feedback based on the similarity.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein while the user was in the target state, one or more of the following were true:

the user was healthier compared to the state of the user while TH_F were taken (the present state), the user was more relaxed compared to the present state, a stress level of the user was below a threshold, the user'"'"'s pain level was below a threshold, the user had no headache, the user did not suffer from depression, and the user was more concentrated compared to the present state.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the system does not occlude the middle of the region on the user'"'"'s forehead, CAM is located less than 15 cm from the user'"'"'s face, and further comprising a wearable sensor and a computer;

the wearable sensor is configured to take measurements (m_conf) indicative of at least one of the following confounding factors;

touching the forehead, thermal radiation directed at the forehead, and direct airflow on the forehead;

whereby a confounding factor causes a change in TH_F that is not due to brain activity; and

the computer is configured to control the neurofeedback session based on T_F and m_conf.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the computer is further configured to generate feature values based on sets of TH_F and m_conf, and to utilize a machine learning-based model to detect, based on the feature values, whether a change in TH_F occurred responsive to brain activity or a confounding factor.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein, on average, neurofeedback sessions controlled based on TH_F and m_conf provide better results than neurofeedback sessions controlled based on TH_F without m_conf;

and wherein the computer is further configured to identify that at least one of the confounding factors reached a threshold, and to command the user interface to alert the user that the neurofeedback session is less accurate due to the at least one of the confounding factors reaching the threshold.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein the computer is further configured to identify that at least one of the confounding factors reached a threshold, and refrain from updating a feedback provided to the user as part of the neurofeedback session for at least one of:

0.2 sec from the moment of reaching the threshold, and until the at least one of the confounding factors gets below the threshold.

9. The system of claim 5, further comprising a frame configured to be worn on the user'"'"'s head;

wherein CAM is physically coupled to the frame; and

further comprising an additional sensor configured to detect at least one of the following additional confounding factors;

a movement of the frame relative to the head while the frame is still worn, a change in the user'"'"'s position, a change in the user'"'"'s body temperature, a change in environmental temperature, and a change in environmental humidity;

wherein the computer is further configured to control the neurofeedback session also based on the at least one of the additional confounding factors.

10. The system of claim 5, wherein TH_F comprises measurements of at least six areas on the user'"'"'s forehead, and the computer is further configured to:

utilize TH_F to calculate a weighted temperature variability across the region on the forehead, and provide to the user a feedback indicative of increasing positive progress as the weighted temperature variability decreases.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein at least one of the at least six areas covers the Fpz point, which is located around 10% of the distance from the Nasion to the Inion;

and the neurofeedback session is intended to treat at least one of;

anger, headache, depression, and anxiety.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the computer is further configured to terminate the neurofeedback session when the temperature variability decreases below a first threshold or when the temperature variability increases above a second threshold.

13. The system of claim 5, wherein TH_F comprises measurements of at least six areas on the user'"'"'s forehead, and the computer is further configured to:

utilize previous TH_F to learn a typical TH_F pattern for the user, provide a feedback indicative of increasing positive progress when a TH_F pattern measured during the session becomes similar to the typical TH_F pattern, and provide a feedback indicative of decreasing positive progress when the TH_F pattern measured during the session becomes less similar to the typical TH_F pattern.

14. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a second inward-facing head-mounted thermal camera configured to take thermal measurements of a region below the nostrils (TH_N), which is indicative of the user'"'"'s breathing; and

a computer configured to control the neurofeedback session based on TH_F and TH_N.

15. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a second inward-facing head-mounted thermal camera configured to take thermal measurements of a region below the nostrils (TH_N), which is indicative of the user'"'"'s breathing; and

a computer configured to calculate the user'"'"'s breathing rate based on TH_N, and to guide the user to breathe at the user'"'"'s resonant frequency, which maximizes the amplitude of respiratory sinus arrhythmia and is in the range of 4.5 to 7.0 breaths/min.

16. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

second and third inward-facing head-mounted thermal cameras, configured to take thermal measurements of regions on a periorbital area and the nose (TH_ROI2 and TH_ROI3, respectively); and

a computer configured to control the neurofeedback session based on TH_F, TH_ROI2, and TH_ROI3.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein CAM is located to the right of the vertical symmetry axis that divides the user'"'"'s face, and the region is on the right side of the forehead;

and further comprising;

a second inward-facing head-mounted thermal camera, located to the left of the vertical symmetry axis, and configured to take thermal measurements of a second region on the left side of the forehead (TH_F2); and

a computer configured to provide to the user a feedback indicative of increasing positive progress as temperature asymmetry between TH_F and TH_F2 decreases.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the computer is further configured to terminate the neurofeedback session when the temperature asymmetry decreases below a first threshold or when the temperature asymmetry increases above a second threshold.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein CAM is physically coupled to a frame configured to be worn on the user'"'"'s head;

and further comprising a clip-on configured to be attached and detached from the frame multiple times;

wherein the clip-on comprises a cover configured to occlude the region on the user'"'"'s forehead when the clip-on is attached to the frame.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein CAM is used for both (i) detecting a thermal pattern of the forehead that indicates a necessity of a neurofeedback session, while the clip-on does not cover the region on the forehead, and (ii) taking TH_F required for the neurofeedback session while the clip-on covers the region on the forehead.

21. A method for conducting a neurofeedback session, comprising:

taking thermal measurements of a region on the forehead (TH_F) of a user using an inward-facing head-mounted thermal camera that is located below the middle of the region and less than 10 cm from the user'"'"'s head; and

taking measurements (m_conf) indicative of at least one of the following confounding factors;

touching the forehead, thermal radiation directed at the forehead, and direct airflow on the forehead;

whereby a confounding factor causes a change in TH_F that is not due to brain activity; and

conducting a neurofeedback session for the user based on TH_F and m_conf.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising generating feature values based on TH_F and m_conf, and utilizing a machine learning-based model to control the neurofeedback session based on the feature values;

wherein the machine learning-based model was trained on samples generated based on (i) previous TH_F and m_conf of the user, and (ii) previous TH_F and m_conf of other users.