Systems and methods for user interface and identification in a medical device

• US 7,698,002 B2
• Filed: 09/29/2006
• Issued: 04/13/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Covidien LP (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: Nellcor Puritan Bennett LLC (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: Eghbal, Darius, Vargas, Steve, Music, Doug
• Primary Examiner(s): Hartman, Jr.; Ronald D
• Application Number:
  US11/540,016
• Publication Number:
  US 20080114226A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,292 Days
• Field of Search: 700/17, 700/83, 715/700, 715/863
• US Class Current: 700/17
• 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 5/14551 for measuring blood gases
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7475 User input or interface means, e.g. keyboard, pointing device, joystick
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/65 stored on portable record carriers, e.g. on smartcards, RFID tags or CD
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation

Abstract

There are provided systems and methods for user interface and identification in a medical device. More specifically, in one embodiment, there is provided a method for controlling a medical device, the method comprising receiving a gesture, processing the received gesture, comparing the processed gesture to a gesture database comprising a plurality of gestures and a plurality of commands for the medical device corresponding to each of the plurality of gestures, identifying one of the plurality of commands from the gesture database corresponding to the received gesture, and executing the command.

Claims

1. A method for controlling a medical device, wherein the medical device comprises a pulse oximeter, the method comprising:

using the medical device comprising the pulse oximeter;

receiving a gesture;

processing the received gesture;

comparing the processed gesture to a gesture database comprising a plurality of gestures and a plurality of commands for the medical device corresponding to each of the plurality of gestures;

identifying one of the plurality of commands from the gesture database corresponding to the received gesture; and

executing the command.

2. The method, as set forth in claim 1, wherein receiving the gesture comprises receiving a hand gesture.

3. The method, as set forth in claim 1, wherein receiving the gesture comprises receiving an image of a caregiver.

4. The method, as set forth in claim 3, wherein receiving the image of the caregiver comprises receiving the image from a camera coupled to the medical device.

5. The method, as set forth in claim 4, wherein receiving the image of the caregiver comprises receiving the image from a camera mounted to the medical device.

6. The method, as set forth in claim 1, wherein receiving the gesture comprises receiving a signal from a tracking glove.

7. The method, as set forth in claim 6, wherein receiving the signal from the tracking glove comprises wirelessly receiving the signal from the tracking glove.

8. The method, as set forth in claim 1, wherein processing the received gesture comprises extracting one or more features from an image of the gesture.

9. The method, as set forth in claim 1, wherein processing the received gesture comprises normalizing an image of the gesture.

10. A medical device comprising:

a pulse oximeter, comprising;

a camera configured to create one or more images of a physical gesture;

a gesture processing system configured to;

identify a gesture based on the one or more images;

compare the identified gesture to a database of gestures, wherein the gestures in the database of gestures are associated with one or more medical device commands; and

execute the command associated with the identified gesture.

11. The medical device, as set forth in claim 10, wherein the camera is mounted to a case of the medical device.

12. The medical device, as set forth in claim 10, wherein the camera is external to a case of the medical device.

13. The medical device, as set forth in claim 10, wherein the camera is configured to create one or more images a caregiver'"'"'s hand.

14. The medical device, as set forth in claim 10, wherein the database of gestures comprises a plurality of pulse oximeter commands.

15. The medical device, as set forth in claim 10, wherein the gesture processing system is configured to extract one or more features from the one or more images to identify the gesture.

16. A medical device comprising:

a pulse oximeter, comprising;

a gesture processing system configured to;

receive a signal comprising gesture related information;

identify a gesture based on the received signal;

compare the identified gesture to a database of gestures, wherein of the gesture in the database of gestures is associated with a medical device command; and

execute the command associated with the identified gesture.

17. The medical device, as set forth in claim 16, comprising a tracking glove configured to record a gesture and to transmit the gesture to the gesture processing system.

18. The medical device, as set forth in claim 17, wherein the tracking glove is configured to wirelessly transmit the gesture related information to the gesture processing system.