Information recording device and information recording method

• US 7,183,909 B2
• Filed: 09/15/2004
• Issued: 02/27/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Miyajima, Yasushi
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Hung
• Application Number:
  US10/941,515
• Publication Number:
  US 20050088297A1
• Time in Patent Office: 895 Days
• Field of Search: 340/539.12, 340/539.1, 340/539.11, 340/539.13, 340/539.19, 340/825.36, 340/825.49, 340/825.69, 340/407.1, 600/300, 600/301, 600/322, 128/903, 128/920
• US Class Current: 340/539.12
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0242 adapted to measure environmental factors, e.g. temperature, pollution
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0295 adapted for recording user messages or annotations
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0002 Remote monitoring of patients using telemetry, e.g. transmission of vital signals via a communication network A61B5/07 takes precedence; transmission systems for measured values G08C; transmission H04B; transmission of digital information H04L; wireless communication networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/01 Measuring temperature of body parts ; Diagnostic temperature sensing, e.g. for malignant or inflamed tissue clinical contact thermometers G01K13/20
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/024 Detecting, measuring or recording pulse rate or heart rate A61B5/0205, A61B5/021 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/441 Skin evaluation, e.g. for skin disorder diagnosis
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6887 mounted on external non-worn devices, e.g. non-medical devices
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/20 for electronic clinical trials or questionnaires
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation

Abstract

An information recording device and a method of recording the information, in which the state around a user may be recorded efficiently includes a change sensor that maps three sorts of bio-information, as measured by a bio-information sensor, namely the number of heart beats, GSR (galvanic skin response), and the skin temperature difference, in a three-dimensional feature space, as observed values, and generates classes on the three-dimensional feature space. The change sensor compares a class to which a newly measured observed value belongs to a class to which belong the values measured in the past in order to detect a change in the user when the classes differ from each other. On detection of the changes by the change sensor, a controller actuates a video camera, a still camera, and a microphone to record the image and the sound around the user.

Claims

1. An information recording device comprising

acquisition means for acquiring information;

measurement means for measuring bio-information of a person and/or environmental information around said person;

change detection means for detecting changes in said bio-information and/or said environmental information measured by said measurement means;

recording means; and

recording controlling means for causing said recording means to record the information acquired by said acquisition means, when said change detection means detects changes in said bio-information and/or said environmental information,

said change detection means being operable to form classes in a feature space having values of said bio-information and/or the environmental information as observed values, and to detect changes in said bio-information and/or said environmental information when the class to which the bio-information or the environmental information currently measured belongs and the class to which the measured bio-information or the environmental information belongs in the past differ from each other.

2. The information recording device according to claim 1 further comprising time-keeping means,

wherein said recording controlling means causes said recording means to record the time when the bio-information and/or the environmental information has changed.

3. The information recording device according to claim 1 further comprising

position measurement means for measuring a position of said person, wherein

said recording controlling means causes said recording means to record the position of said person at a time when the bio-information and/or the environmental information has changed.

4. The information recording device according to claim 1 further comprising

private information storage means for storing the private information of a user;

storage means for storing identification information of a particular person;

specifying means for specifying a person around the user; and

transmitting means for transmitting the private information of the user to an information communication terminal owned by a person specified to be in a near-by site of the user by said specifying means when said person is a person stored in said storage means.

5. A recording method comprising:

a measurement step of measuring bio-information of a person and/or environmental information around said person;

a change detection step of detecting changes in said bio-information and/or said environmental information; and

a recording step of recording the bio-information and/or the environmental information when said change detection step detects changes in said bio-information and/or said environmental information,

said change detection step forms classes in a feature space having values of said bio-information or the environmental information as observed values, and verifies the classes to which the bio-information or the environmental information as measured in said measurement step belong to detect changes in said bio-information and/or the environmental information when the classes to which the bio-information or the environmental information, as measured at different time points, belong differ from each other.

6. The information recording method according to claim 5 further comprising:

a time-keeping step; and

a step of recording a time when the change is detected in said change detection step.

7. The information recording method according to claim 5 further comprising

a position measurement step for measuring a position of a person;

and

a step of recording the position of the person when the change in the bio-information and/or the environmental information is detected in said change detection step.

8. The information recording method according to claim 5 further comprising

a specifying step of specifying a person around a user;

and

a transmitting step of transmitting private information of the user to an information communication terminal owned by a person specified to be in a near-by site of the user in said specifying step.

9. An information recording device comprising:

means for measuring bio-information of a person and/or environmental information around said person;

change detection means for detecting changes in said bio-information and/or said environmental information measured by the measuring means;

recording means for recording said bio-information and/or said environmental information; and

recording controlling means for controlling said recording means,

said change detection means being operable to detect changes in said bio-information and/or said environmental information by use of pattern recognition which includes classifying a number of subjects into a number of classes, and mapping an observed value of said bio-information and/or said environmental information into a class in a feature space.

10. The information recording device according to claim 9, in which said change detection means is further operable to learn from a previous observed value or values so as to form a class or classes.

11. The information recording device according to claim 9, in which said change detection means is further operable to generate the feature space from learning involving a respective observed value or values and a respective class or classes associated therewith.

12. A information recording method comprising:

a step of measuring bio-information of a person and/or environmental information around said person;

a step of detecting changes in said bio-information and/or said environmental information measured by the measuring step;

a step of recording said bio-information and/or said environmental information; and

a step of controlling the recording step,

the step of detecting change includes detecting changes in said bio-information and/or said environmental information by use of pattern recognition which includes classifying a number of subjects into a number of classes, and mapping an observed value of said bio-information and/or said environmental information into a class in a feature space.

13. The information recording method according to claim 12, in which the step of detecting change further includes learning from a previous observed value or values so as to form a class or classes.

14. The information recording method according to claim 12, in which the step of detecting change further includes generating the feature space from learning involving a respective observed value or values and a respective class or classes associated therewith.