METHOD AND DEVICE FOR DETERMINING VITAL PARAMETERS

• US 20150287187A1
• Filed: 11/08/2013
• Published: 10/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/11/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kenkou GmbH
• Original Assignee: Kenkou GmbH
• Inventors: Redtel, Holger
• Granted Patent: US 9,892,505 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0204 Acoustic sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0077 Devices for viewing the surface of the body, e.g. camera, magnifying lens
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0205 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/021 Measuring pressure in heart or blood vessels A61B5/0205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02125 of pulse wave propagation time
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6898 Portable consumer electronic devices, e.g. music players, telephones, tablet computers
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2200/04 involving 3D image data
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10012 Stereo images
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10024 Color image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20021 Dividing image into blocks, subimages or windows
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30076 Plethysmography
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30088 Skin; Dermal
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0012 Biomedical image inspection
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0016 involving temporal comparison
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/20 Analysis of motion motion estimation for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals H04N19/43, H04N19/51
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/70 Multimodal biometrics, e.g. combining information from different biometric modalities
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/40 for processing medical images, e.g. editing
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/56 : provided with illuminating means

Abstract

The Invention relates to a method for determining vital parameters of a human body by means of a device (10) with at least one optical recording unit (11) and a computing unit (12), said method comprising the following steps: recording a sequence of individual image data of a single limited area of the skin (30) of the human body by means of the optical recording unit (11); evaluating the image data, including determining a pulse wave transit time; and determining vital parameters of the human body from the image data by means of the computing unit (12). The invention further relates to a method for authenticating a person and to a method for identifying a reaction of a person.

Claims

1. :

A method for determining vital parameters of a human body by means of a device (10), in particular a smart device, said method comprising an optical recording (11) and a computing unit (12), said method comprising the following steps;

recording a sequence of individual image data of limited area of the skin (30) of the human body by means of the optical recording unit (11);

evaluating the image data, including determining a pulse wave transit time; and

determining one or more vital parameter(s) of the human body from the image data by means of the computing unit (12).

2. :

The method according to claim 1, wherein the pulse wave transit time is determined in the following steps;

subdividing into tiles (21) the area of the skin (30) reflected in the individual image data (20);

determining a color, brightness and/or volume in each of the tiles (21) of the individual image data (20);

comparing the color, brightness and/or volume of the tiles (21) in the consecutive image data (20) of the sequence;

determining a modification profile of the color, brightness and/or volume of each tile (21) in accordance with the sequence of image data (20), wherein the modification profile reflects a pulse wave propagating through the area of the skin (30); and

computing the pulse wave transit time from the modification profile.

3. :

The method according to claim 2, wherein at least one biometric feature is recognized in the image data (20), with the positions of the tiles (21) in relation to the at least one biometric feature being equivalent in the sequence of image data.

4. :

The method according to claim 1, wherein stereo image data are recorded by means of the recording unit (11).

5. :

The method according to claim 1, wherein for recording the sequence of individual image data the area of the skin (30) is exposed by means of an illumination unit (14), in particular within a certain spectral range.

6. :

The method according to claim 1, wherein the sequence of individual image data (20) is recorded by means of the recording unit (11) at a space from the area of the skin (30).

7. :

The method according to claim 1, wherein the sequence of individual image data (20) is recorded by means of the recording unit (11) in direct contact with the area of the skin (30).

8. :

The method according to claim 1, wherein the sequence of individual image data (20) is recorded by means of the recording unit (11) via a pressure-exerting medium (17) in contact with the area of the skin.

9. :

The method according to claim 1, wherein the motion data of the human body are recorded by means of at least one acceleration sensor (16).

10. :

The method according to claim 1, wherein audio data are recorded by means of a microphone (15) and allocated to the sequence of the individual image data (20).

11. :

The method according to claim 1, wherein the recorded image data, acceleration data, and audio data are marked with a time stamp and saved together with the time stamp on a memory unit (13) of the device for longterm evaluation.

12. :

The method according to claim 1, wherein the determination of vital parameters comprises the determination of blood pressure and/or pulse of a human body.

13. :

The method according to claim 1, wherein the determination of vital parameters comprises the determination of oxygen saturation of the blood of a human body.

14. :

The method according to claim 1, wherein the determination of vital parameters comprises the determination of a pulse wave variability.

15. :

The method according to claim 1, wherein the determination of vital parameters comprises the determination of a blood glucose value.

16. :

The method according to claim 1, wherein the determination of vital parameters comprises the determination of the rate of breathing.

17. :

The method according to claim 1, wherein the limited area of the skin (30) for recording of image data is located in the area of a human body'"'"'s face, forehead, hand, finger, palm, ankle, or inguen.

18. :

A device (10), in particular a smart device, for determining vital parameters of a human body, said device comprising at least;

an optical recording unit (11), suitable for recording a sequence of individual image data (20) of a limited area of the skin (30) of a human body; and

a computing unit (12), set-up for evaluating the image data, comprising a determination of a pulse wave transit time and set-up for determination of one or several vital parameter(s) of a human body from the image data.

19. :

The device (10) according to claim 18, wherein the recording unit (11) is configured as a three-dimensional recording unit for recording sterero-image data.

20. :

The device (10) according to claim 18, wherein the device (10) comprises an illumination unit (14) for exposing the area of the 15 skin (30), in particular with a certain spectral range.

21. :

The device (10) according to claim 18, wherein the recording unit (11) comprises a pressure-exerting medium (17) for contacting the area of the skin (30).

22. :

The device (10) according to claim 21, wherein the pressure-exerting medium (17) is configured as a transparent medium.

23. :

The device (10) according to claim 21, wherein the pressure-exerting medium (17) is configured as a ring-shaped medium with a central opening.

24. :

The device (10) according to claim 18, wherein a microphone (15) is provided for recording audio data.

25. :

The device (10) according to claim 18, wherein a motion sensor (16) is provided for recording motion data.

26. :

The device (10) according to claim 18, wherein a memory unit (13) is provided for saving image data, audio data and/or motion data.

27. :

A method for authenticating a person by means of a device (10), in particular a smart device, comprising at least one optical recording unit (11), one computing unit (12), and a memory unit (13), comprising the following steps;

recording a sequence of individual image data of a human body'"'"'s area of the skin (30), in particular of the face, by means of the optical recording unit (11);

evaluating the image data, comprising recognition of a pulse wave transit time by means of the computing unit (12);

comparing the image data with the profiles saved on the memory unit (13); and

issuing an authentication if image data match a saved profile.

28. :

A method for identifying a reaction of a person by means of a device, in particular a smart device, comprising at least an optical recording unit (11), a computing unit (12), and a memory unit (13), comprising the following steps;

recording a sequence of individual image data of an area of the skin (30) of a human body, in particular of a face, by means of the optical recording unit (11);

evaluating the image data, including a recognition of a pulse wave transit time by means of the computing unit (12);

comparing the image data with reaction patterns saved on the memory unit (13); and

issuing a reaction if image data match a saved reaction pattern.