Systems and methods for warning of a protruding body part of a wheelchair occupant

• US 10,271,772 B2
• Filed: 09/07/2017
• Issued: 04/30/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Hyde, Roderick A., Kare, Jordin T., Leuthardt, Eric C., Lord, Richard T., Lord, Robert W., Tegreene, Clarence T., Wood, Jr., Lowell L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Phung
• Application Number:
  US15/697,713
• Publication Number:
  US 20180020952A1
• Time in Patent Office: 600 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1114 Tracking parts of the body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1115 Monitoring leaving of a patient support, e.g. a bed or a wheelchair
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6894 Wheel chairs
• 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

Abstract

A system for warning of protruding body parts of a medical vehicle occupant includes a sensor, a feedback device, and a processing circuit. The sensor is configured to generate sensor data based on a position of the occupant, and the processing circuit is configured to determine a contour of the medical vehicle, detect a protruding extremity of the occupant based on the sensor data and the contour, and generate a warning using the feedback device, where the warning is based on the detected protruding extremity.

Claims

1. A system for updating a navigation system of a medical vehicle, comprising:

a sensor configured to generate sensor data based on a position of an occupant; and

a processing circuit configured to;

determine a contour of the medical vehicle;

detect a protruding extremity of the occupant of the medical vehicle, wherein detecting the protruding extremity is based on the sensor data and the contour; and

update the navigation system of the medical vehicle based on the protruding extremity,

wherein the processing circuit comprises a contour generation module in communication with the navigation system and configured to determine the contour.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the contour generation module of the processing circuit is further configured to generate an updated contour of the medical vehicle based on the protruding extremity.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein updating the navigation system of the medical vehicle based on the protruding extremity includes notifying the navigation system of the updated contour.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the updated contour includes at least one of an extended contour corresponding to overall medical vehicle dimensions, a localized contour corresponding to a particular portion of the medical vehicle, and a model of the protruding extremity.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the contour of the medical vehicle is determined based on at least one of the sensor data, a model of the medical vehicle, and a provided contour of the medical vehicle.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein detecting the protruding extremity is based on information related to skeletal anatomy, and wherein the skeletal anatomy is based on at least one of a model of the occupant and a model of an average human.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein detecting the protruding extremity comprises estimating the protruding extremity based on the skeletal anatomy and a non-protruding portion of the occupant.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor includes a GPS sensor, and wherein the GPS sensor is configured to provide geospatial information related to a location of the medical vehicle, and wherein detecting the protruding extremity of the occupant is further based on the location of the medical vehicle.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor is further configured to generate the sensor data based on a position of an object, and wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

detect a protruding object based on the sensor data and the contour; and

notify the navigation system of the medical vehicle of the protruding object.

10. A system for notifying a navigation system of a medical vehicle of a protruding object, comprising:

a sensor configured to generate sensor data based on a position of an object; and

a processing circuit configured to;

determine a contour of the medical vehicle;

detect the protruding object of the medical vehicle, wherein detecting the protruding object is based on the sensor data and the contour;

generate an updated contour of the medical vehicle based on the protruding object; and

notify the navigation system of the medical vehicle of the protruding object.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein notifying the navigation system of the medical vehicle of the protruding object includes notifying the navigation system of the updated contour.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the updated contour includes at least one of an extended contour corresponding to overall medical vehicle dimensions, a localized contour corresponding to a particular portion of the medical vehicle, and a model of the protruding object.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the sensor includes a camera.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the contour of the medical vehicle is determined based on at least one of the sensor data, a model of the medical vehicle, and a provided contour of the medical vehicle.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein detecting the protruding object comprises estimating the protruding object based on a model of the object and a non-protruding portion of the object.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein detecting the protruding object includes determining an amount of protrusion of the protruding object.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the amount of protrusion includes a percentage.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the sensor includes a radar sensor.

19. The system of claim 10, wherein the sensor includes an RFID sensor, and wherein at least one RFID tag is coupled to the object.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein detecting the protruding object is further based on a distance of the at least one RFID tag from the RFID sensor.

21. The system of claim 10, wherein the sensor includes an optical sensor system coupled to the medical vehicle, and wherein the optical sensor system is configured to generate information related to objects crossing an optical path of the optical sensor system, and wherein detecting the protruding object is further based on the information from the optical sensor system.

22. The system of claim 10, wherein the sensor includes a GPS sensor, and wherein the GPS sensor is configured to provide geospatial information related to a location of the medical vehicle, and wherein detecting the protruding object is further based on the location of the medical vehicle.

23. The system of claim 10, wherein the sensor is integrated into the medical vehicle.

24. The system of claim 10, wherein the sensor is integrated along a perimeter of the medical vehicle.

25. The system of claim 10, wherein the sensor is external to the medical vehicle.

26. A system for updating a navigation system of a medical vehicle, comprising:

a processing circuit configured to;

determine a contour of the medical vehicle;

detect a protruding object of the medical vehicle, wherein detecting the protruding object is based on the contour and data associated with a position of the protruding object;

update the navigation system of the medical vehicle based on the protruding object,

wherein the processing circuit comprises a contour generation module in communication with the navigation system and configured to determine the contour.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the contour generation module of the processing circuit is further configured to generate an updated contour of the medical vehicle based on the protruding object.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein updating the navigation system of the medical vehicle based on the protruding object includes notifying the navigation system of the updated contour.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the updated contour includes at least one of an extended contour corresponding to overall medical vehicle dimensions, a localized contour corresponding to a particular portion of the medical vehicle, and a model of the protruding object.

30. The system of claim 27, wherein the contour of the medical vehicle is determined based on at least one of the data, a model of the medical vehicle, and a provided contour of the medical vehicle.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein detecting the protruding object comprises estimating the protruding object based on a model of the object and a non-protruding portion of the object.

32. The system of claim 26, wherein detecting the protruding object includes determining an amount of protrusion of the protruding object.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the amount of protrusion includes a percentage.

34. The system of claim 26, further comprising a sensor, wherein the sensor includes a GPS sensor, and wherein the GPS sensor is configured to provide geospatial information related to a location of the medical vehicle, and wherein detecting the protruding object is further based on the location of the medical vehicle.