Systems, computer medium and computer-implemented methods for monitoring and improving health and productivity of employees

• US 9,462,977 B2
• Filed: 02/14/2014
• Issued: 10/11/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/05/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Government of Saudi Arabia)
• Original Assignee: Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Government of Saudi Arabia)
• Inventors: Horseman, Samantha J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jackson, Gary
• Assistant Examiner(s): PAHAKIS, MANOLIS Y
• Application Number:
  US14/180,978
• Publication Number:
  US 20140163335A1
• Time in Patent Office: 970 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 5/002 Monitoring the patient using a local or closed circuit, e.g. in a room or building A61B5/0017 takes precedence
• 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 5/0205 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/021 Measuring pressure in heart or blood vessels A61B5/0205 takes precedence
• 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 5/08 Detecting, measuring or recording devices for evaluating the respiratory organs A61B5/0205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14551 for measuring blood gases
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/163 by tracking eye movement, gaze, or pupil change
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/165 Evaluating the state of mind, e.g. depression, anxiety
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4872 Body fat
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6803 Head-worn items, e.g. helmets, masks, headphones or goggles
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6891 Furniture
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6892 Mats
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6894 Wheel chairs
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6897 Computer input devices, e.g. mice or keyboards
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/30 for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G16Z 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass

Abstract

Provided are embodiments of systems, computer medium and computer-implemented methods to monitor the health of an employee. A method for monitoring the health of an employee while the employee is located in an employee workstation including collecting, from a plurality of biometric and biomechanical sensors disposed throughout an employee workstation, health data indicative of biometric and biomechanical characteristics of the employee. The plurality of biometric and biomechanical sensors adapted to sense biometric and biomechanical characteristics of the employee and output corresponding health data indicative of the biometric and biomechanical characteristics of the employee. The method including determining an employee health profile based at least in part on the collected health data, generating a health plan for the employee based at least in part on the health profile, and displaying health content including the employee health profile and the health plan for the employee.

Claims

1. A system to monitor health parameters of an employee working at a workstation, the workstation including a workstation surface located above and parallel to a floor, a computer workstation with a display positioned on top of the workstation surface, and a chair located on the floor adjacent to the workstation surface, the chair having a seat portion and a back portion, the system comprising:

a floor mat positioned on the floor of the workstation;

a computer mouse positioned on the workstation surface;

the chair positioned at the workstation;

one or more cameras positioned on the computer workstation and configured to capture three-dimensional video data of the employee;

a set of health sensors located at the workstation for detecting biometric and biomechanical characteristics of the employee'"'"'s health, the health sensors comprising biometric and biomechanical sensors configured to collect health data via from at least four points of measurement including a first point of measurement located on the floor mat, a second point of measurement located on the computer mouse, a third point of measurement located on one or more of the seat portion and the back portion of the chair, and a fourth point of measurement located in the camera, the set of health sensors comprising;

a set of biometric sensors in communication with a communications network and comprising one or more temperature transducers, one or more force transducers, one or more pairs of conductive contacts, one or more blood pressure transducers, one or more respiration sensors, and one or more pulse oximeters, the set of biometric sensors configured to output biometric sensor data comprising of temperature data output by one or more of the temperature transducers that is indicative of a body temperature of the employee, force data output by one or more of the force transducers that is indicative of a body weight of the employee, resistance data output by one or more of the pairs of conductive contacts that is indicative of a body fat of the employee, pressure data output by one or more of the blood pressure transducers that is indicative of a blood pressure of the employee, respiration data output by the one or more respiration sensors indicative of a respiration rate of the employee, and blood oximetry data output by one or more of the pulse oximeters that is indicative of a blood oxygenation of the employee; and

a set of biomechanical sensors in communication with the communications network and comprising one or more temperature transducers, one or more force transducers and the one or more cameras, the set of biomechanical sensors configured to output biomechanical sensor data comprising of temperature data output by one or more of the temperature transducers that is indicative of a body position of the employee, force data output by one or more of the force transducers that is indicative of the body position of the employee, and image data output by the one or more cameras comprising three-dimensional images that are indicative of the body position and eye movement of the employee,

the floor mat comprising one of the one or more temperature transducers, one of the one or more force transducers, and one of the one or more pairs of conductive contacts,

the computer mouse comprising one of the one or more temperature transducers, one of the one or more blood pressure transducers, and one of the one or more pulse oximeters,

the chair comprising one of the one or more temperature transducers, one of the one or more force transducers, and one of the one or more pairs of conductive contacts located in at least one of the seat portion and the back portion of the chair, and

the one or more cameras positioned to capture three-dimensional video data of the employee;

a database in communication with the communications network and storing login credentials for employees and employee health information associated with one or more of the employees; and

a computer server in communication with the communication network and configured to serve, to the display of the computer workstation for display to the employee, health profile information for the employee, the computer server comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, an input/output (I/O) device interface and a processor, the I/O device interface connecting the computer server to the communications network, the non-transitory computer readable storage medium having a set of computer readable instructions stored thereon that are executable by the processor to configure the computer server to perform the steps of;

verifying login credentials provided by the employee;

collecting, via the communications network, the biometric sensor data output by the set of biometric sensors and the biomechanical data output by the set of biomechanical sensors;

determining an updated health profile for the employee based on the biometric sensor data and the biomechanical sensor data collected;

serving the updated health profile for the employee for display to the employee via the display of the computer workstation; and

updating the health information stored in the database to reflect the updated health profile for the employee,

collecting the biometric sensor data output by the set of biometric sensors and the biomechanical data output by the set of biomechanical sensors comprising the steps of;

activating the set of biometric sensors and the set of biometric sensors to conduct a health test of the employee; and

monitoring the set of biometric sensors and the set of biometric sensors to collect the biometric sensor data and the biomechanical sensor data;

determining an updated health profile for the employee based on the biometric sensor data and the biomechanical sensor data collected comprising the steps of;

determining body temperature, body weight, body fat, heart rate, blood pressure, respiration rate, and blood oxygenation for the employee using the biometric sensor data collected;

determining a posture analysis comprising the employee'"'"'s posture deviation from a predetermined chair sitting posture of one or more of the head, torso, arms, and feet of the employee, and an eye fatigue analysis comprising a level of eye fatigue based on one or more of a focal point, a blink rate, and a pupil dilation of the eye using the biomechanical sensor data collected; and

determining a health plan for the employee based on one or more of the body temperature, the body weight, the body fat, the heart rate, the blood pressure, the respiration rate, the blood oxygenation, the posture analysis and the eye fatigue analysis determined for the employee;

the updated employee health profile comprising the body temperature, the body weight, the body fat, the heart rate, the blood pressure, the respiration rate, the blood oxygenation, the posture analysis, the eye fatigue analysis and the health plan determined for the employee.

2. A system according to claim 1, wherein the computer readable instructions are executable by the processor to further cause the computer server to perform the steps of:

comparing one or more of one or more of the body temperature, the body weight, the body fat, the heart rate, the blood pressure, the respiration rate, the blood oxygenation, the posture analysis and the eye fatigue analysis determined for the employee to a corresponding predetermined threshold range for one or more of body temperature, body weight, body fat, heart rate, blood pressure, respiration rate, blood oxygen saturation, posture and eye fatigue;

determining, based on the comparison, that at least one of the one or more of the body temperature, the body weight, the body fat, the heart rate, the blood pressure, the respiration rate, the blood oxygenation, the posture analysis and the eye fatigue analysis determined for the employee are outside of the corresponding predetermined threshold range for one or more of body temperature, body weight, body fat, heart rate, blood pressure, respiration rate, blood oxygen saturation, posture and eye fatigue; and

in response to determining that at least one of the one or more of the body temperature, the body weight, the body fat, the heart rate, the blood pressure, the respiration rate, the blood oxygenation, the posture analysis and the eye fatigue analysis determined for the employee are outside of the corresponding predetermined threshold range for one or more of body temperature, body weight, body fat, heart rate, blood pressure, respiration rate, blood oxygen saturation, posture and eye fatigue, alerting emergency response personnel regarding the one of the one or more of the body temperature, the body weight, the body fat, the heart rate, the blood pressure, the respiration rate, the blood oxygenation, the posture analysis and the eye fatigue analysis determined to be outside of the corresponding predetermined threshold range for one or more of body temperature, body weight, body fat, heart rate, blood pressure, respiration rate, blood oxygen saturation, posture and eye fatigue.

3. A system according to claim 1, wherein collecting the biometric sensor data output by the set of biometric sensors and the biomechanical data output by the set of biomechanical sensors comprises the steps of:

identifying a need to initiate a health test using a predetermined test schedule that specifies times at which the biometric sensor data and the biomechanical sensor data needs to be collected from the health sensors;

in response to identifying a need to initiate a health test using a predetermined test schedule that specifies times at which the biometric sensor data and the biomechanical sensor data needs to be collected from the health sensors, querying the computer workstation for the biometric sensor data and the biomechanical sensor data corresponding to the health test, the computer workstation being configured to collect the biometric sensor data and the biomechanical sensor data from the set of health sensors located at the workstation; and

receiving, from the computer workstation and via the communications network, the biometric sensor data and the biomechanical sensor data corresponding to the health test.

4. A system according to claim 1, wherein the computer readable instructions are executable by the processor to further cause the computer server to perform the steps of:

receiving an employee initiated request to initiate a health test,

wherein the collecting the biometric sensor data output by the set of biometric sensors and the biomechanical data output by the set of biomechanical sensors is conducted in response to the employee request to initiate a health test.

5. A system according to claim 1, wherein serving the updated health profile for display to the employee via the computer workstation comprises serving an interactive health dashboard for display to the employee via a desktop of the computer workstation, wherein the interactive health dashboard enables the employee to review and edit health information associated with the employee.

6. A system according to claim 1, wherein serving the updated health profile for display to the employee via the computer workstation comprises serving a health status widget for display to the employee via a desktop of the computer workstation, the health status widget comprising a graphical display indicative of the current health of the employee, and the health status widget being viewable while the employee is working with other applications on the computer workstation.

7. A system according to claim 1, wherein the computer readable instructions are executable by the processor to further cause the computer server to perform the steps of:

determining one or more of body mass index, body composition, fitness level, resting heart rate, maximum heart rate, threshold heart rate, muscle tension, stress level, and injury for the employee using the biometric sensor data and the biomechanical sensor data collected.

8. A system according to claim 1, wherein the computer readable instructions are executable by the processor to further cause the computer server to perform the steps of:

determining one or more of a risk for obesity, injury, diabetes, infection, inflammation, circulation problems, cardio vascular disease, cardio vascular accidents, illness, asthma, allergies, bronchitis, back injury, neck injury, musculoskeletal syndrome, carpal tunnel syndrome, epicondylitis, rotator cuff injury, and eye disease for the employee using the biometric sensor data and the biomechanical sensor data collected.

9. A system according to claim 1, wherein determining an updated health profile for the employee comprises predicting one or more health issues using the biometric sensor data and the biomechanical sensor data collected, and serving the updated health profile for the employee for display to the employee via the computer workstation comprises serving content indicative of the one more health issues predicted such that the employee is alerted to the one or more predicted health issues and is afforded an opportunity to address the one or more predicted health issues prior to the one or more predicted health issues escalating into an actual health issue.