HUMAN-STATE ESTIMATING METHOD AND HUMAN-STATE ESTIMATING SYSTEM

• US 20160374606A1
• Filed: 06/16/2016
• Published: 12/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: SHIKII, SHINICHI, KUSUKAME, KOICHI
• Granted Patent: US 11,141,090 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0077 Devices for viewing the surface of the body, e.g. camera, magnifying lens
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/015 By temperature mapping of body part
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02055 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular condition and temperature
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/165 Evaluating the state of mind, e.g. depression, anxiety
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/18 for vehicle drivers or machine operators
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4005 for evaluating the sensory system A61B5/12, A61B5/4058 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6893 Cars
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7278 Artificial waveform generation or derivation, e.g. synthesising signals from measured signals A61B5/327 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2040/0818 Inactivity or incapacity of driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2040/0827 due to sleepiness
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2040/0872 Driver physiology
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/08 related to drivers or passengers
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/06 indicating a condition of sleep, e.g. anti-dozing alarms

Abstract

A human-state estimating method includes: obtaining a thermal sensation index obtained by indexing, in a specified range, an estimated thermal sensation of a person; determining whether or not the obtained thermal sensation index is in a predetermined range in the specified range; and estimating a human state, which is a state of the person, based on a physiological amount in which an activity of an autonomic nervous system of the person is reflected, the physiological amount being obtained when it is determined that the obtained thermal sensation index is in the predetermined range.

Claims

1. A human-state estimating method comprising:

obtaining a thermal sensation index obtained by indexing, in a specified range, an estimated thermal sensation of a person;

determining whether or not the obtained thermal sensation index is in a predetermined range in the specified range; and

estimating a human state, which is a state of the person, based on a physiological amount in which an activity of an autonomic nervous system of the person is reflected, the physiological amount being obtained when it is determined that the obtained thermal sensation index is in the predetermined range.

2. The human-state estimating method according to claim 1,

wherein the predetermined range is a partial range of the specified range, the partial range including a thermoneutral point for thermal sensation.

3. The human-state estimating method according to claim 1,

wherein the predetermined range is a partial range of the specified range, the partial range not including a point indicating being hottest as the thermal sensation and a point indicating being coldest as the thermal sensation.

4. The human-state estimating method according to claim 1,

wherein the physiological amount comprises a nasal skin temperature of the person, and

the human state comprises a degree of sleepiness of the person.

5. The human-state estimating method according to claim 4,

wherein the thermal sensation index and the nasal skin temperature are obtained;

in the determining, a determination is made as to whether or not the obtained thermal sensation index is in the predetermined range; and

in the estimating of the human state, the degree of sleepiness of the person is estimated based on a range of an increase in the obtained nasal skin temperatures over time.

6. The human-state estimating method according to claim 1,

wherein the physiological amount comprises a heartbeat interval of the person;

and

the human state is estimated based on a variation in the heartbeat interval as the obtained physiological amount.

7. The human-state estimating method according to claim 6,

wherein the physiological amount comprises a respiration waveform of the person;

and

the human state is estimated based on the respiration waveform as the obtained physiological amount.

8. The human-state estimating method according to claim 1,

wherein a skin temperature of an earlobe part of the person is obtained;

in the obtaining of the thermal sensation index, a correlation between a skin temperature of an earlobe part and the thermal sensation index is used to obtain the thermal sensation index estimated based on the obtained skin temperature of the earlobe part;

the physiological amount comprises a pulse wave measured from the earlobe part of the person; and

in the estimating of the human state, the human state is estimated based on frequency analysis of the obtained pulse wave.

9. The human-state estimating method according to claim 1,

wherein in the obtaining of the thermal sensation index, the thermal sensation index estimated based on a predicted mean vote (PMV) is obtained.

10. The human-state estimating method according to claim 9,

wherein the specified range is represented by a seven-step evaluation scale for the PMV;

and

the predetermined range is a range in which a PMV value is −

2 or more and is +2 or less in the specified range.

11. The human-state estimating method according to claim 1,

wherein the physiological amount comprises a nasal skin temperature of the person;

the human state comprises a degree of stress of the person;

the thermal sensation index and the nasal skin temperature are obtained;

in the determining, a determination is made as to whether or not the obtained thermal sensation index is in the predetermined range; and

in the estimating of the human state, the degree of stress of the person is estimated based on a range of a decrease in the obtained nasal skin temperatures over time.

12. The human-state estimating method according to claim 1,

wherein the physiological amount comprises a skin blood flow, a blood pressure, or a pulse-wave propagation time of the person;

and

the human state comprises a degree of sleepiness of the person.

13. The human-state estimating method according to claim 1,

wherein at least one of the obtaining, the determining, and the estimating is performed using a processor.

14. A human-state estimating system comprising:

a thermal sensation estimator that obtains a thermal sensation index obtained by indexing, in a specified range, an estimated thermal sensation of a person;

a determiner that determines whether or not the obtained thermal sensation index is in a predetermined range in the specified range; and

a human state estimator that estimates a human state, which is a state of the person, based on a physiological amount in which an activity of an autonomic nervous system of the person is reflected, the physiological amount being obtained when it is determined that the obtained thermal sensation index is in the predetermined range.

15. The human-state estimating system according to claim 14,

wherein at least one of the thermal sensation estimator, the determiner, and the human state estimator comprises a processor.

16. A non-transitory recording medium storing a program causing a computer to execute operations comprising:

obtaining a thermal sensation index obtained by indexing, in a specified range, an estimated thermal sensation of a person;

determining whether or not the obtained thermal sensation index is in a predetermined range in the specified range; and

estimating a human state, which is a state of the person, based on a physiological amount in which an activity of an autonomic nervous system of the person is reflected, the physiological amount being obtained when it is determined that the obtained thermal sensation index is in the predetermined range.