Patient video monitoring systems and methods for thermal detection of liquids
Inventors
Johnson, Steven Gail • del Carpio, Derek • Chapman, Kenneth W.
Assignees
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Publication Number
US-10217004-B2
Publication Date
2019-02-26
Expiration Date
Abstract
A system for monitoring a patient in a patient area having one or more detection zones, the system comprising one or more cameras, a user interface, and a computing system configured to receive a chronological series of frames from the one or more cameras, identify liquid candidates by comparing a current frame with a plurality of previous frames of the chronological series, determine locations of the liquid candidates, identify thermal signatures of the liquid candidates, determine types of liquids of the liquid candidates based on the locations and thermal signatures of the liquid candidates, and generate an alert with the user interface corresponding to the determined types of liquids.
Core Innovation
The invention relates to monitoring a patient in a patient area having one or more detection zones using one or more infrared thermography devices and one or more cameras together with a user interface and a computing system. The computing system receives a chronological series of frames from the one or more cameras and determines presence of liquids by determining a difference between at least one pixel characteristic in a current frame and the at least one pixel characteristic in a plurality of previous frames, and identifies groups of pixels corresponding to the determined presence of liquids.
The invention further identifies thermal signatures of the liquids using at least the one or more infrared thermography devices. Based on the thermal signatures of the groups of pixels, the system determines presence of intravenous (IV) liquids and bodily fluids, and ties liquid detection to infrared thermography-derived thermal signatures to support discrimination between IV liquids and bodily fluids.
From the detected presence of liquids and the thermal signatures of the liquids, the system identifies at least one patient event and generates an alert with the user interface corresponding to the at least one identified patient event. The dependent claim set describes additional bases for IV determination using distance from the patient, drip activity motion, pixels corresponding to an IV line, depletion of pixel groups, and a thermal signature constraint including a uniform temperature that is less than or equal to room temperature.
Claims Coverage
The document includes two independent claims that share the same overall claim architecture, supported by multiple dependent refinements. The core claimed inventive features are liquid presence detection from frame-to-frame pixel characteristic differences, thermal-signature identification from infrared thermography, determination of IV liquids and bodily fluids from the thermal signatures, patient event identification based on the liquids and thermal signatures, and generation of user interface alerts.
Chronological liquid detection from pixel characteristic differences
Determining presence of liquids by determining a difference between at least one pixel characteristic in a current frame as compared to the at least one pixel characteristic in a plurality of previous frames of the chronological series, and identifying groups of pixels corresponding to the determined presence of liquids.
Infrared-thermography thermal signature identification
Identifying thermal signatures of the liquids using at least the one or more infrared thermography devices.
IV liquids and bodily fluids determination from thermal signatures
Determining presence of intravenous (IV) liquids and bodily fluids based on thermal signatures of the groups of pixels.
Patient event identification from liquids and thermal signatures
Identifying at least one patient event based on the presence of liquids and the thermal signatures of the liquids.
User interface alert generation for identified patient events
Generating an alert with the user interface corresponding to the at least one identified patient event.
IV liquid detection refinements using IV-specific cues
Determining presence of IV liquids using at least one of: pixel-group distance from the patient, a thermal signature with uniform temperature less than or equal to room temperature, depletion of the groups of pixels, drip activity motion, and pixels corresponding to an IV line to the patient.
IV depletion time estimation from rate of change of IV liquids
Determining IV-liquid volumes in the current and prior frames, comparing them, determining a rate of change, and estimating when IV-liquid depletion will occur.
Overall, the claims cover a system and method that detect liquid presence by frame-to-frame differences in pixel characteristics, segment corresponding pixel groups, derive thermal signatures using infrared thermography, determine presence of IV liquids and bodily fluids from those thermal signatures, identify patient events based on the liquid presence and thermal signatures, and generate corresponding user interface alerts.
Stated Advantages
Not explicitly described in patent.
Documented Applications
Not explicitly described in patent.
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