Method and apparatus for indicating the risk of an emerging ulcer
First Claim
1. A method of determining a risk of an ulcer emerging on at least one foot of a patient, the method comprising:
- providing one or more processors;
providing an open platform for receiving at least one foot, the open platform having a plurality of temperature sensors;
generating, using the plurality of temperature sensors, a plurality of discrete temperature data values after receipt of the at least one foot;
forming, by at least one of the one or more processors, at least one thermogram of a sole of each of the at least one foot from the discrete temperature data values, the at least one thermogram comprising a spatially continuous data set of two-dimensional temperature values across the sole of each of the at least one foot;
determining, by at least one of the one or more processors, at any location within the at least one thermogram of a sole of the at least one foot, whether the at least one thermogram presents at least one of a plurality of prescribed patterns; and
producing, by at least one of the one or more processors, output information indicating a risk of an ulcer emerging on the at least one foot, said producing being a function of whether the at least one thermogram is determined to present the at least one of the plurality of prescribed patterns.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method of monitoring at least one foot of a patient provides an open platform for receiving at least one foot. The open platform has at least one temperature sensor for generating a plurality of temperature data values after receipt of the at least one foot. The method also forms a thermogram of the sole of the at least one foot from the temperature data values, and determines whether the thermogram presents at least one of a plurality of prescribed patterns. Finally, the method produces output information indicating the risk of an ulcer emerging on the foot as a function of whether the thermogram is determined to present the at least one prescribed pattern.
61 Citations
44 Claims
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1. A method of determining a risk of an ulcer emerging on at least one foot of a patient, the method comprising:
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providing one or more processors; providing an open platform for receiving at least one foot, the open platform having a plurality of temperature sensors; generating, using the plurality of temperature sensors, a plurality of discrete temperature data values after receipt of the at least one foot; forming, by at least one of the one or more processors, at least one thermogram of a sole of each of the at least one foot from the discrete temperature data values, the at least one thermogram comprising a spatially continuous data set of two-dimensional temperature values across the sole of each of the at least one foot; determining, by at least one of the one or more processors, at any location within the at least one thermogram of a sole of the at least one foot, whether the at least one thermogram presents at least one of a plurality of prescribed patterns; and producing, by at least one of the one or more processors, output information indicating a risk of an ulcer emerging on the at least one foot, said producing being a function of whether the at least one thermogram is determined to present the at least one of the plurality of prescribed patterns. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method of determining a risk of an ulcer emerging on at least one foot of a patient, the method comprising:
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providing one or more processors; receiving a thermogram message through a network from an open platform for receiving at least one foot, the open platform having a plurality of temperature sensors; the plurality of temperature sensors having generated a plurality of discrete temperature data values after receipt of the at least one foot, the thermogram message including the discrete temperature data values; forming by at least one of the one or more processors, at least one thermogram of a sole of each of the at least one foot from the received temperature data values, the at least one thermogram comprising a spatially continuous data set of two-dimensional temperature values across the sole of each of the at least one foot; determining, by at least one of the one or more processors, at any location within the at least one thermogram of the sole of the at least one foot, whether the at least one thermogram presents at least one of a plurality of prescribed patterns, the at least one of the prescribed patterns being determined at least in part by a comparison of the temperature(s) at one or more of;
1) the same portion of the same foot at different times,
2) corresponding portions of the patient'"'"'s two feet, and
3) different portions of the same foot; andproducing, by at least one of the one or more processors, output information indicating a risk of an ulcer emerging on the at least one foot, said producing being a function of whether the at least one thermogram is determined to present the at least one of the plurality of prescribed patterns. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. An apparatus for determining a risk of an ulcer emerging on at least one foot of a patient, the apparatus comprising:
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an open platform having a plurality of temperature sensors configured to generate a plurality of discrete temperature data values after receipt of the at least one foot; a thermogram generator operatively coupled with the open platform, the thermogram generator having a processor configured to form at least one thermogram of a sole of each of the at least one foot from the received temperature data values, the at least one thermogram comprising a spatially continuous data set of two-dimensional temperature values across the sole of the at least one foot; a pattern recognition system operatively coupled with the thermogram generator, the pattern recognition system configured to determine, at any location within the at least one thermogram of the sole of the least one foot, whether the at least one thermogram presents at least one of a plurality of prescribed patterns; and an analyzer operatively coupled with the pattern recognition system, the analyzer being configured to produce output information indicating the risk of an ulcer emerging on the at least one foot as a function of whether the at least one thermogram is determined to present the at least one of the plurality of prescribed patterns. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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39. A computer program product for use on a computer system for determining a risk of an ulcer emerging on at least one foot of a patient, the computer program product comprising a tangible, non-transient computer usable medium having computer readable program code thereon, the computer readable program code comprising:
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program code for receiving a thermogram message through a network from an open platform for receiving at least one foot, the open platform having a plurality of temperature sensors;
the plurality of temperature sensors being configured to generate a plurality of discrete temperature data values after receipt of the at least one foot, the thermogram message including at least some of the plurality of discrete temperature data values;program code for forming at least one a thermogram of a sole a of each of the at least one foot from the received temperature data values, the at least one thermogram comprising a spatially continuous data set of two-dimensional temperature values across the sole of each of the at least one foot; program code for determining, at any location within the at least one thermogram of the sole of each of the at least one foot, whether the at least one thermogram presents at least one of a plurality of prescribed patterns, the at least one of the prescribed patterns being determined at least in part by a comparison of the temperature(s) at
1) the same portion of the same foot at different times,
2) corresponding portions of the patient'"'"'s two feet, and
3) different portions of the same foot; andprogram code for producing output information indicating the risk of an ulcer emerging on the at least one foot, said producing being a function of whether the at least one thermogram is determined to present the at least one of the plurality of prescribed patterns. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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Specification