Method and apparatus for testing sleepiness

• US 20060290884A1
• Filed: 09/01/2006
• Published: 12/28/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/24/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ResMed Pty Ltd. (ResMed Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Resmed Limited (ResMed Incorporated)
• Inventors: Abourizk, Mark A., Green, Paul A., Stewart, Clinton T.
• Granted Patent: US 7,783,347 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 351/209
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/112 for measuring diameter of pupils
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/163 by tracking eye movement, gaze, or pupil change
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/18 for vehicle drivers or machine operators
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/18 Eye characteristics, e.g. of the iris

Abstract

A method and apparatus are provided for authenticating a measure of sleepiness in a person in which a measure of the person'"'"'s sleepiness and an authentication step are performed substantially simultaneously on substantially the same physical attribute of the person. In one form, an eye of a person is scanned under infrared light and a unique identifying code is calculated from the iris as an authentication step. In one form, a measure of the person'"'"'s sleepiness is determined from changes in the pupil size with time.

Claims

1. A method of authenticating a measure of sleepiness in a person, the method comprising:

measuring a person'"'"'s sleepiness; and

performing an authentication step substantially simultaneously with measuring a person'"'"'s sleepiness, wherein the person'"'"'s sleepiness and the authentication step are performed on substantially the same physical attribute of the person.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the measuring of a person'"'"'s sleepiness is determined by pupillometry and the performing an authentication step is determined by iris scanning.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the physical attribute of the person is an eye of the person.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the physical attribute of the person is a finger of the person.

5. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the measuring of a person'"'"'s sleepiness and the performing of an authentication step are performed within 1/30th of a second of one another.

6. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein a result of the measuring of a person'"'"'s sleepiness and the performing of an authentication step is certified.

7. A method of authenticating a measure of sleepiness in a person, the method comprising:

illuminating an eye of the person by an infrared light;

measuring a person'"'"'s sleepiness by the eye; and

performing an authentication step by the eye.

8. An apparatus for authenticating sleepiness measurements, comprising:

a camera; and

a computer having a sleepiness measuring software module and an eye authentication software module.

9. The apparatus as claimed in claim 8, further comprising a frame adapted to mount the camera in front of an eye of a person.

10. The apparatus as claimed in claim 8, further comprising a hood defining a chamber, the hood adapted to seal the eye of a person against incident light exterior of the chamber from illuminating the eye.

11. The apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein the camera is adapted to scan the eye of a person and provide an image to the sleepiness measuring software module and to the eye identification software module.

12. The apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein the sleepiness measuring software module is programmed to measure a rate of change of a pupil diameter.

13. The apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein the sleepiness measuring software module is programmed to measure a blink rate of a person.

14. The apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein the eye authentication software module is programmed to scan an image of an iris of the eye and calculate an identifying code from the image of the iris.

15. An apparatus for authenticating sleepiness measurements, comprising:

a camera structured to scan an eye of a person;

a frame constructed and arranged to position the camera in front of the eye of the person in use;

a hood structured to shield the eye from illumination by an external source of light in use; and

at least one light structured to illuminate the eye of the person at at least one predetermined level of illumination in use,

wherein the camera is structured to provide an image of an iris of the eye of the person in a form suitable for calculating an identifying code of the iris.

16. The apparatus as claimed in claim 15, further comprising a diffuser positioned over the at least one light.

17. The apparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein the at least one light is an infrared light.

18. A method of authenticating a measure of sleepiness on an eye of a person, the method comprising:

performing a first scan of the eye;

identifying first features of the eye from the first scan;

calculating a first code based on the first features identified from the first scan;

measuring a first pupil size of the eye from the first scan;

performing a second scan of the eye;

identifying second features of the eye from the second scan;

calculating a second code based on the second features from the second scan;

measuring a second pupil size of the eye from the second scan; and

comparing the first and second codes to determine whether the eye used in the first and second scans are the same.

19. The method as claimed in claim 18, further comprising:

calculating a rate of change of pupil size between the first and second scans if the same eye has been confirmed to be used in both scans.

20. The method as claimed in claim 18, wherein identifying first and second features includes identifying an iris of the person.

21. The method as claimed in claim 18, further comprising determining a power of low frequency oscillations in pupil size.

22. A method of authenticating a measure of sleepiness in a person, the method comprising:

performing pupillometry on an eye of the person to determine an index of sleepiness;

performing iris scanning on the eye of the person to determine a code for authentication; and

certifying that the index of sleepiness is matched with the code for authentication.

23. The method as claimed in claim 22, wherein the performing pupillometry and the performing iris scanning are performed substantially simultaneously.