Fitness for duty testing device and method

• US 6,245,014 B1
• Filed: 11/18/1999
• Issued: 06/12/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Atlantis Limited Partnership
• Original Assignee: Atlantis Limited Partnership
• Inventors: Brainard, Edward C. II
• Primary Examiner(s): Winakur, Eric F.
• Assistant Examiner(s): ASTORINO, MICHAEL C
• Application Number:
  US09/442,468
• Time in Patent Office: 572 Days
• Field of Search: 600/300-301, 600/587, 600/595, 128/897, 128/898, 128/903, 128/905, 345/156, 345/501, 345/37, 345/949, 345/977, 345/978
• US Class Current: 600/300
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/00 Measuring for diagnostic purposes radiation diagnosis A61B6/00; diagnosis by ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves A61B8/00; Identification of persons
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/16 Devices for psychotechnics using teaching or educational appliances G09B1/00 - G09B7/00; Testing reaction times ; Devices for evaluating the psychological state
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4023 Evaluating sense of balance
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/978 Audio interaction as part of an operator interface

Abstract

A fitness for duty (FFD) testing device and method for determining fitness for duty using a testing unit that is held in two hands by a human test subject. Two handles are provided for holding the unit which includes a video screen with an image of a moving shape on a surface. The position of the shape on the screen is determined by the orientation of the hand-held unit. Tilting the unit by the test subject results in the shape moving on the screen. The device computes a score which can be compared to historical results for the test subject, and to results from a larger population base. The FFD device may be programmed to present increasing levels of difficulty as test subject learning occurs, and can receive and provide data to external computing, printing, display, network, or storage devices.

Claims

1. A testing device for testing fitness for duty of a human test subject, the device comprising:

a hand-held, freely-moveable enclosure having a top, at least one exterior side surface, and at least two handles attached to said at least one exterior side surface of said enclosure,

an accelerometer in said enclosure and having at least two outputs, said at least two outputs each being representative of acceleration along a different one of at least two orthogonal axes, and said at least two outputs providing data indicative of an orientation of said enclosure;

a processor within said enclosure receiving and analyzing said data and providing fitness for duty test results based on said data; and

a visual display on said top of said enclosure connected to said processor and providing a visual indication to a human test subject of the orientation of said enclosure.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein said accelerometer has three of said orthogonal axes and three of said outputs, each of said three outputs being representative of acceleration along a different one of said three orthogonal axes.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein said accelerometer is one of potentiometric, reluctive, strain-gage, servo, piezoelectric, mechanical gyro, fiber-optic gyro, and ring-laser gyro type.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein said at least two handles are movably attached.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein said visual display comprises a screen on said top of said enclosure, said screen displaying an image of a shape on a surface bounded by a peripheral boundary wall, a position of said shape on said screen being determined by the orientation of said enclosure.

6. The device of claim 5, wherein said screen is one of liquid crystal, thin-film electroluminescent, cathode ray tube, plasma, and gas panel type.

7. The device of claim 5, wherein said processor comprises a microprocessor receiving said data from said at least two outputs and computing an average distance over time of said shape from a target position on said screen.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein said shape is a ball.

9. The device of claim 7, wherein said microprocessor further conducts frequency-domain analysis of said at least two outputs.

10. The device of claim 9, wherein said frequency-domain analysis of said at least two outputs comprises a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT).

11. The device of claim 5, further comprising an initialization unit establishing initial test conditions and dynamic test parameters for the device, said initial test conditions being at least one of test duration, elasticity of said shape, size of said shape, shape of said surface, shape of said peripheral boundary wall, reflection characteristics of said peripheral boundary wall, and friction between said shape and said surface, and said dynamic test parameters being one of random transient changes in position of said shape, a change in a simulated gravitational constant, and periodic changes in position of said shape.

12. The device of claim 1, further comprising an initialization unit uniquely identifying the human test subject.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein said initialization unit further comprises at least one of a magnetic identification card swipe device, and a keyboard for entry of at least one of human test subject identification data and a password.

14. The device of claim 11, wherein said processor is arranged and constructed to modify dynamic test parameters to account for learning by the human test subject.

15. A system for testing fitness for duty of a human test subject, the system comprising:

a hand-held enclosure having an exterior surface and two handles attached to said exterior surface, said enclosure being freely moveable by a human test subject;

a level-sensing unit enclosed within said enclosure and having at least two perpendicular axes for measuring an orientation of the enclosure and providing level-sensing information representative of said orientation;

a visual display on top of said enclosure having a screen displaying a shape that is moveable on a surface, wherein a position of said shape on said surface is determined by said orientation of said enclosure and said orientation is determined by the human test subject, and wherein said visual display provides visual feedback to aid the human test subject in attempting to maintain said shape at a target position;

an analysis unit enclosed within said enclosure for analyzing said level-sensing information from said level-sensing unit, determining the position of said shape on said surface in response to said orientation, measuring movement of said shape relative to said target position, and computing a fitness for duty test score based on said movement measurement;

a storage unit enclosed within said enclosure and connected to said analysis unit for storing said level-sensing information; and

a communication port on said exterior surface of said enclosure being connected to said processor for at least one of receiving an input and providing an output.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein said level-sensing unit is one of mechanical gyroscope, fiber-optic gyroscope, ring-laser gyroscope, liquid potentiometer, and electric output spirit-level type.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein said communication port is one of RS-232 serial, parallel, infra-red (IR), radio frequency (RF), universal series bus (USB), and small computer systems interface (SCSI) type.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein said level-sensing unit has three perpendicular axes for determining said orientation.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein said two handles are movably attached.

20. The system of claim 15, further comprising an initialization unit connected to said analysis unit for uniquely identifying a human test subject.

21. The device of claim 15, further comprising an initialization unit connected to said analysis unit for establishing initial test conditions and dynamic test parameters,

said initial test conditions being at least one of test duration, elasticity of said shape, size of said shape, shape of said surface, said target position of said shape, and friction effects between said shape and said surface, and

said dynamic test parameters being at least one of introduction of changes in the position of said shape at random time intervals, changes in a gravitational constant, and introduction of changes in the position of said shape at user-specified time intervals.

22. The system of claim 15, further comprising an auxiliary test support unit apart from said enclosure and connected to said analysis unit via said communication port.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein said auxiliary test support unit is a computer providing input to, and receiving output from said analysis unit.

24. The system of claim 15, wherein said analysis unit compares current fitness for duty test results to historical fitness for duty test results of the human test subject.

25. The device of claim 21, wherein said initialization unit further establishes a difficulty of the test, and adjusts said test difficulty in response to learning by the human test subject, said test difficulty being determined at least by said desired initial test conditions and said desired dynamic test parameters.

26. The device of claim 15, further comprising a proximity detector located on said exterior surface, said proximity detector detecting contact of the test device with the human test subject at locations other than said two handles.

27. A method for testing a human test subject'"'"'s fitness for duty, comprising the steps of:

initializing a hand-held fitness for duty testing device with user-defined test conditions to establish test difficulty, wherein the user-defined test conditions include at least one of a test duration, a contour of a computer-generated surface on a display, target position of a computer-generated shape on the display, elasticity of the shape, size of the shape, roughness of the surface, a simulated gravitational constant, friction effects between the shape and the surface, random changes in position of the shape, and changes in position of the shape at a predetermined time interval;

positioning the device in the hands of a human test subject;

displaying the shape on the display, wherein a position of the shape on the display is determined by an orientation of the device;

providing visual feedback to the human test subject so that the human test subject may attempt to maintain the shape at the target position for a period of time;

providing test performance data to at least one of a computer, a video display, printer, plotter, memory device, disk drive, and database; and

providing a test score based on the test performance data.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising the step of adapting the test difficulty to the human test subject'"'"'s skill level as learning occurs during conduct of the test.

29. The method of claim 27, further comprising the steps of:

storing at least one of the test score, the human subject'"'"'s historical test scores, and the historical test scores of a larger population of test subjects; and

comparing the test score to historical test scores of the human test subject and to historical test scores of a larger population of test subjects.

30. The method of claim 27, wherein the test performance data comprises an average distance of the shape from the target position.

31. The method of claim 27, wherein the step of determining the test score from the test performance data comprises calculating frequency-domain analysis results, the frequency-domain analysis results comprising at least one of spectral density and cross-spectral density of the test performance data.