Position tracking and mobility assessment system

• US 8,810,388 B2
• Filed: 02/23/2012
• Issued: 08/19/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Oregon Health & Science University
• Original Assignee: Oregon Health & Science University
• Inventors: Jacobs, Peter G., Wan, Eric A., Paul, Anindya S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Phan, Hai
• Assistant Examiner(s): NWUGO, OJIAKO K
• Application Number:
  US13/403,647
• Publication Number:
  US 20130141233A1
• Time in Patent Office: 908 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 340/521
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 19/00 Alarms responsive to two or more different undesired or abnormal conditions, e.g. burglary and fire, abnormal temperature and abnormal rate of flow
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/043 detecting an emergency event, e.g. a fall
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0446 worn on the body to detect changes of posture, e.g. a fall, inclination, acceleration, gait
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0469 Presence detectors to detect unsafe condition, e.g. infrared sensor, microphone G08B21/0476 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0492 Sensor dual technology, i.e. two or more technologies collaborate to extract unsafe condition, e.g. video tracking and RFID tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/20 for electronic clinical trials or questionnaires
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 15/00 ICT specially adapted for medical reports, e.g. generation or transmission thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/00 ICT specially adapted for therapies or health-improving plans, e.g. for handling prescriptions, for steering therapy or for monitoring patient compliance
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/10 relating to drugs or medications, e.g. for ensuring correct administration to patients
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/40 relating to mechanical, radiation or invasive therapies, e.g. surgery, laser therapy, dialysis or acupuncture
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/70 for mining of medical data, e.g. analysing previous cases of other patients
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 80/00 ICT specially adapted for facilitating communication between medical practitioners or patients, e.g. for collaborative diagnosis, therapy or health monitoring

Abstract

The invention relates to a system and method for monitoring the location, movement and health of one or more individuals within an environment by a monitoring individual, such as a care giver. The system used includes optional monitoring devices including a wireless transceiver, access point devices including a wireless transceiver, a hub access point device including a wireless transceiver, and a local computing device. The system is programmed such that it has the capability to operate with or without the measure of time of flight value from the optional monitoring devices such that the system has the capability of monitoring the location, movement and health of an individual whether or not the individual is wearing the monitoring device.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring the location, movement and health of one or more individuals within an environment by a monitoring individual, the system comprising a plurality of access point devices in which each access point device includes at least one wireless transceiver, a central hub access point device including a wireless transceiver, a local computing device, and one or more optional monitoring devices including a wireless transceiver, the system having the capability of monitoring the location, movement and health of the one or more individuals with or without the monitoring devices being carried or worn upon the body of the individual, wherein:

the one or more optional monitoring devices are configured to be carried or worn upon the body of the individual, the wireless transceiver of the monitoring device being configured to measure a time of flight (TOF) value of a radio signal sent between the monitoring device and the at least one wireless transceiver located within at least one access point device, wherein the one or more optional monitoring devices comprise software programmed to use the measure of time of flight value to determine the distance between the monitoring device and the one or more access point devices and transmit a signal representing the distance that has been determined;

the plurality of access point devices being configured to be mounted in at least one room, the wireless transceiver of each access point device being configured to broadcast to and receive radio frequency signals from the one or more optional monitoring devices, other access point devices within the room and the central hub access point device, wherein the transceivers within the access point devices measure a time of flight value of a radio signal sent between the one or more optional monitoring devices and the one or more access point devices optionally comprise software to use the measure of time of flight value to determine the distance between the one or more optional monitoring devices and each access point device and transmit a signal representing the distance data, and wherein the one or more access points are configured to transmit and receive signals between access points and measure a change in one or more of signal strength, link quality, or TOF of the transmitted signals and transmit a signal representing the measured change in one or more of signal strength, link quality, or TOF, whereby the change in signal strength, link quality or TOF are caused by multipath reflections and absorptions of the radio frequency signal off of the individual being monitored;

the central hub access point device being in communication with the one or more optional monitoring devices, the plurality of access point devices and the local computing device and configured to transmit data to the local computing device, wherein the central hub access point device is configured to receive the measure of time of flight value or distance from the one or more optional monitoring devices and change in one or more of signal strength, link quality, or TOF from the plurality of access point devices and to transmit the data received; and

the local computing device is configured to be operated in the vicinity of the central hub access point device to receive from the central hub access point device the measure of time of flight value and change in one or more of signal strength, link quality, or TOF and is programmed with software configured to aggregate the data, optionally store the data on a storage medium, analyze the data using one or more algorithms programmed in the local computing device to track the individual'"'"'s 3-d position, velocity and acceleration and assess mobility, and determine if the individual is experiencing an emergency situation, and provide a notification if there is an emergency situation,

whereby the system has the capability to operate with or without the measure of time of flight value from the one or more optional monitoring devices such that the system has the capability of monitoring the location, movement and health of an individual whether or not the individual is wearing the monitoring device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the access point devices and the central hub access point device are configured to broadcast to and receive radio signals from other access point devices for automatically self-calibrating one or both of the location of the access point devices relative to each other within the room(s), and a parameter used to modify the distance calculation.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the self calibration of the location of the access point devices and/or the parameter used to modify the distance calculation comprises one or both of a simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) algorithm and dual-Kalman filtering.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a remote computing device and a mobile computing device, wherein the local computing device is configured to transmit and the remote computing device is configured to receive data relating to one or more of the individual'"'"'s 3-d position, velocity, acceleration, mobility, health status, activities of daily living, and determination of the individual experiencing an emergency situation, and wherein the remote computing device is configured to one or both of transmit health status and emergency alerts to the mobile computing device.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein one or both of the remote computing device and the local computing device is programmed with software using an algorithm that uses the measure of time of flight value to compute one or more of the position, velocity and acceleration of the individual within the facility.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the algorithm used to estimate the position, velocity and acceleration of the individual within the environment is a sigma point Kalman filter, sigma-point Kalman smoother, sigma-point Kalman particle filter, or variant thereof.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the local computing device comprises an algorithm to distinguish between activities related to an emergency situation and a non-emergency situation and is programmed with software that uses the analyzed data from the local computing device to do one or both of:

cause alerts to be distributed to mobile computing devices of approved third-party entities when a probable emergency situation has occurred; and

analyze and prepare data for use in continuously updated dashboards or reports that display on mobile devices of approved third-party entities,

wherein the emergency and non-emergency events include one or more of falls, changes in gait, changes in average walking speed, changes in rooms visited during a period of time, and changes in activities of daily living including one or more of cooking, sleeping, sitting, eating, socializing, walking, entering or leaving a room, using a computer, going outside, going for a walk, going to the store, using the bathroom, going to a movie, or watching the television.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the local computing device includes software programmed to receive data representing a floor-plan of the rooms and optionally the position of objects within the rooms that represents a digital representation of the rooms and optionally the position of objects within the room.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the local computing device comprises software to control a procedure to calibrate position measurements with actual locations or way points within a room.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more optional monitoring devices include one or more of a 3-axis accelerometer, a 3-axis gyroscope, a barometric pressure sensor, a digital compass, and a global positioning system sensor for outdoor movement monitoring that are used for one or more of precise movement monitoring, walking speed, posture estimation, gait monitoring, and fall detection.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is configured to operate with the measures of time of flight between one or more optional monitoring devices and one or more access points such that the system monitors and tracks individuals using data from the monitoring devices.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is configured to operate without the measures of time of flight between one or more optional monitoring devices and one or more access points such that the system monitors and tracks individuals without using data from the monitoring devices.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the local computing device is configured to calibrate the system using data from the monitoring devices at a first time such that the system can be used without the individuals wearing the monitoring devices at a second, later time.

14. The system of claim 1 wherein movement of the individual within a range of transmission of the one or more access point devices causes changes in one or more of the signal strength, the time of flight (TOF) and the link quality of the radio signals received by the access point devices, wherein the system is programmed with software to process a change in one or more of signal strength, TOF and link quality to determine the location of an individual within the room based on multipath reflections and absorption of the radio signal as it hits the individual moving through the facility and wherein the signal strength, link, and/or the TOF information measured by the access point devices and broadcast to the central hub access point device are used by the local computing device as inputs to an algorithm to determine the location of the individual within the facility.

15. The system of claim 1 wherein the one or more transceivers use one or both of chirp spread spectrum (CSS) and ultra wideband (UWB) as the method for estimating TOF.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the local computing device is integrated into the central hub access point device.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the monitoring device further comprises an emergency button or user interface that can be activated to transmit a signal to the local computing device that an emergency has occurred.

18. A method for using a system to monitor the location, movement and health of one or more individuals within an environment by a monitoring individual, the system comprising a plurality of access point devices in which each access point device includes at least one wireless transceiver, a central hub access point device including a wireless transceiver, a local computing device, and one or more optional monitoring devices including a wireless transceiver, the system having the capability of monitoring the location, movement and health of the one or more individuals with or without the monitoring devices being carried or worn upon the body of the individual, the method comprising the steps of:

using the one or more optional monitoring devices carried or worn upon the body of the individual to measure a time of flight (TOF) value of a radio signal sent between the optional monitoring device and the at least one wireless transceiver located within each access point device;

using the plurality of access point devices mounted in at least one room to one or both of measure a time of flight value of a radio signal sent between the one or more optional monitoring devices and access point devices and measure a change in one or more of signal strength, link quality, or TOF of the transmitted signals between access point devices;

receiving at the central hub access point device the measure of time of flight value from the one or more optional monitoring devices and change in one or more of signal strength, link quality, or TOF from the plurality of access point devices and transmitting the data received by the central hub access point device to the local computing device; and

using the local computing device to receive from the central hub access point device the optional measure of time of flight value and the change in one or more of signal strength, link quality, or TOF and aggregate the data, optionally store the data on a storage medium, analyze the data using one or more algorithms programmed in the local computing device to track the individual'"'"'s 3-d position, velocity and acceleration and assess mobility, and determine if the individual is experiencing an emergency situation, and provide a notification if there is an emergency situation,

whereby the change in signal strength, link quality or TOF are caused by multipath reflections and absorptions of the radio frequency signal off of the individual being monitored; and

whereby the system may be used with or without the measure of time of flight value from the one or more optional monitoring devices and whether or not the individual is wearing the monitoring device.

19. A system for monitoring the location, movement and health of one or more individuals within an environment by a monitoring individual, the system comprising a plurality of access point devices in which each access point device includes at least one wireless transceiver, a central hub access point device including a wireless transceiver, and a local computing device, wherein:

the plurality of access point devices being configured to be mounted in at least one room, the wireless transceiver of each access point device being configured to broadcast to and receive radio frequency signals from the other access points within the room and the central hub access point device, wherein the transceivers within the access point devices are configured to transmit and receive signals between access point devices and measure a change in one or more of signal strength, link quality, or TOF of the transmitted signals and transmit a signal representing the measured change in one or more of signal strength, link quality, or TOF, whereby the change in signal strength, link quality or TOF are caused by multipath reflections and absorptions of the radio frequency signal off of the individual being monitored;

the central hub access point device being in communication with the plurality of access point devices and the local computing device and configured to transmit data to the local computing device, wherein the central hub access point device is configured to receive the measure of change in one or more of signal strength, link quality, or TOF from the plurality of access point devices and to transmit the data received; and

the local computing device being configured to be operated in the vicinity of the central hub access point device to receive from the central hub access point device the measure of change in one or more of signal strength, link quality, or TOF and is programmed with software configured to aggregate the data, optionally store the data on a storage medium, analyze the data using one or more algorithms programmed in the local computing device to track the individual'"'"'s 3-d position, velocity and acceleration and assess mobility, and determine if the individual is experiencing an emergency situation, and provide a notification if there is an emergency situation.

20. A system for monitoring the location, movement and health of one or more individuals within an environment by a monitoring individual, the system comprising one or more monitoring devices including a wireless transceiver, a plurality of access point devices in which each access point device includes at least one wireless transceiver, a central hub access point device including a wireless transceiver, and a local computing device, wherein:

the one or more monitoring devices are configured to be carried or worn upon the body of the individual, the wireless transceiver of the monitoring device being configured to measure a time of flight value of a radio signal sent between the monitoring device and the at least one wireless transceiver located within at least one access point device, wherein the monitoring device comprises software programmed to use the measure of time of flight value to determine the distance between the monitoring device and the one or more access point devices and transmit a signal representing the distance that has been determined;

the one or more access point devices being configured to be mounted in at least one room, the wireless transceiver of each access point device being configured to broadcast to and receive radio frequency signals from the one or more monitoring devices, other access points within the room and the central hub access point device, wherein the transceivers within the access point devices that measure a time of flight value of a radio signal sent between the one or more monitoring devices and the one or more access point devices optionally comprise software to use the measure of time of flight value to determine the distance between the one or more monitoring devices and each access point device and to transmit a signal representing the distance data;

the central hub access point device being in communication with the one or more monitoring devices, the one or more access point devices and the local computing device and configured to transmit data to the local computing device, wherein the central hub access point device is configured to receive the measure of time of flight value from the one or more monitoring devices and to transmit the data received; and

the local computing device is configured to be operated in the vicinity of the central hub access point device to receive from the central hub access point device the measure of time of flight value and is programmed with software configured to aggregate the data, optionally store the data on a storage medium, analyze the data using one or more algorithms programmed in the local computing device to track the individual'"'"'s 3-d position, velocity and acceleration and assess mobility, and determine if the individual is experiencing an emergency situation, and provide a notification if there is an emergency situation,

whereby the change in TOF are caused by multipath reflections and absorptions of the radio frequency signal off of the individual being monitored; and

wherein the software of the local computing device is programmed with one or more of a sigma point Kalman filter algorithm, sigma-point Kalman smoother, sigma-point Kalman particle filter, or variant thereof that uses the measure of time of flight value measured between the monitoring device and the access points to compute one or both of the position, velocity and acceleration of the individual within the facility.