Remote physical therapy and assessment of patients

Inventors

Keeley, David W. • Dohrmann, Anthony • Wood, Robert

Assignees

Electronic Caregiver Inc

Abstract

Systems and methods for physical therapy and training delivery are presented herein. These technologies may comprise notifying a patient of a scheduled prescribed activity via an on-location at least one client device or console; identifying the patient with one or more sensors connected to or part of the at least one client device or console; confirming, via the at least one client device or console, the patient's acknowledgment of the notification; demonstrating, via a graphical interactive avatar displayed on the at least one client device or console, the prescribed activity to be carried out by the patient; confirming, via the at least one client device or console, that the patient is undertaking or will be undertaking the prescribed activity; capturing, via the one or more sensors, frames of the patient undertaking the prescribed activity; and processing frames of the patient undertaking the prescribed activity.

Core Innovation

The invention relates to remote physical therapy and assessment in which a patient is notified of a scheduled prescribed activity via an on-location at least one client device or console. The patient is identified with one or more sensors connected to or part of the at least one client device or console, and the patient's acknowledgment of the notification is confirmed via the at least one client device or console. A graphical interactive avatar displayed on the at least one client device or console demonstrates the prescribed activity to be carried out, and confirmation is obtained that the patient is undertaking or will be undertaking the prescribed activity.

The method and system capture frames of the patient undertaking the prescribed activity using one or more sensors, where capturing is undertaken by a left sensor and a right sensor. The captured frames are processed by an internal depth image processor, where the captured frames consist of pixel data of one or more captured scenes. Depth of each pixel is calculated to produce depth pixel values, the depth pixel values are processed to create a depth frame, and the depth frames are combined into a depth video stream.

A point cloud is applied over the depth video stream, and position and orientation of the patient's body joint centers are estimated. The processed results are transmitted to an AI virtual game engine or a backend system to analyze trends or changes in a movement of the patient, and the analyzed data is presented to the patient via a graphical user interface on the at least one client device or console. In some embodiments, a care circle is notified when acknowledgment is not confirmed or when it is not confirmed that the patient is undertaking or will be undertaking the prescribed activity.

Claims Coverage

The independent claims identified in the partial content are clm-00001, clm-00008, and clm-00017. Each independent claim centers on a remote therapy workflow that combines patient notification and confirmation with interactive avatar instruction and sensor-based depth processing to estimate body joint centers, with AI game engine or backend analysis presented back to the patient.

Across clm-00001, clm-00008, and clm-00017, the claim coverage is focused on on-location notification and patient confirmation using an interactive avatar, left/right sensor capture followed by internal depth image processing that forms a depth video stream, applying a point cloud and estimating position and orientation of body joint centers, and transmitting processed results to an AI virtual game engine or backend system for movement-trend or change analysis with presentation via a graphical user interface; additional claim refinements include care circle notification on confirmation failure and instructing the patient to get into a specific position or orientation.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications