Method and apparatus of monitoring foot inflammation

Inventors

Petersen, Brian • Bloom, Jonathan David • Linders, David Robert • Engler, Jeffrey Mark

Assignees

PODIMETRICS Inc

Abstract

A method and apparatus for evaluating foot inflammation each uses at least one temperature detection modality to form a first thermogram and a second thermogram of the sole of at least one foot. Each thermogram forms a substantially continuous set of two-dimensional temperature values across the sole of the (at least one) foot. The thermograms have features; namely, the first thermogram has first features and the second thermogram has second features. The method and apparatus thus control a device to apply at least one transformation to the first and second thermograms to align the first features with corresponding second features, and determine, at any thermogram location, if at least one of the thermograms presents one of a plurality of patterns indicative of inflammation. Finally, the method and apparatus each produce output information indicating the result of the determination of whether the thermograms present one of the plurality of patterns.

Core Innovation

The invention relates to predicting emergence of an ulcer on at least a right foot or a left foot of a patient, where each foot has a sole and an arch, by using an open platform that includes a substrate with an array of temperature sensors and a flexible material configured to conform the array substantially to the arch of at least one foot. The open platform generates discrete temperature data values of the soles of the feet, with a first plurality of discrete temperature data values representing a sole of the left foot and a second plurality representing a sole of the right foot.

A baseline temperature profile of at least one foot of the patient is received, the baseline being for a foot of the patient showing no ulcer. A pattern recognition system determines whether at least one of the first and second plurality of discrete temperature data values presents one of a plurality of patterns indicative of foot inflammation, and predictive emergence of an ulcer, by comparing at least one of the first and at least one of the second plurality of discrete temperature data values against the baseline temperature profile of the patient.

The determined result is used to produce output information predicting emergence of an ulcer, and the output information is displayed on a display. In further implementations, discrete temperature data is transformed to align patterns, including transforming features by aligning them to a common coordinate system, with the control performed by changing orientation relative to that system using X-axis and Y-axis translations and rotations, and Z-axis translation and Z-axis rotation.

Transformations may include affine transformations with components such as reflection, rotation, scaling, and translation, or non-affine transformations, and amplitude normalization may be applied against a common value prior to comparing.

Claims Coverage

The document includes two independent claims, a method and a system, that cover predicting emergence of an ulcer on a patient’s left and/or right foot using an open, arch-conforming temperature-sensor platform to generate discrete temperature data, compare pattern features to a baseline no-ulcer profile, and display prediction output. The claim set further specifies transformation, alignment, orientation, and amplitude normalization features.

Across the independent method and system claims, the core coverage is an open platform that conforms temperature sensor arrays to foot arches to generate discrete temperature data, a pattern recognition workflow that compares features to a no-ulcer baseline to detect patterns indicative of foot inflammation and ulcer emergence, and an analyzer that outputs and displays prediction results. Dependent features further specify transformation and alignment to a common coordinate system using orientation, affine or non-affine transformations, and amplitude normalization against a common value.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications