The disclosed concept pertains to data collection for patient interface device selection, creation, or customization, and, in particular, to data collection systems and method for patient interface device selection, creation, or customization that retain private and proprietary information.
Many individuals suffer from disordered breathing during sleep. Sleep apnea is a common example of such sleep disordered breathing suffered by millions of people throughout the world. One type of sleep apnea is obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), which is a condition in which sleep is repeatedly interrupted by an inability to breathe due to an obstruction of the airway; typically the upper airway or pharyngeal area. Obstruction of the airway is generally believed to be due, at least in part, to a general relaxation of the muscles which stabilize the upper airway segment, thereby allowing the tissues to collapse the airway. Another type of sleep apnea syndrome is a central apnea, which is a cessation of respiration due to the absence of respiratory signals from the brain's respiratory center. An apnea condition, whether OSA, central, or mixed, which is a combination of OSA and central, is defined as the complete or near cessation of breathing, for example a 90% or greater reduction in peak respiratory air-flow.
Those afflicted with sleep apnea experience sleep fragmentation and complete or nearly complete cessation of ventilation intermittently during sleep with potentially severe degrees of oxyhemoglobin desaturation. These symptoms may be translated clinically into extreme daytime sleepiness, cardiac arrhythmias, pulmonary-artery hypertension, congestive heart failure and/or cognitive dysfunction. Other consequences of sleep apnea include right ventricular dysfunction, carbon dioxide retention during wakefulness, as well as during sleep, and continuous reduced arterial oxygen tension. Sleep apnea sufferers may be at risk for excessive mortality from these factors as well as by an elevated risk for accidents while driving and/or operating potentially dangerous equipment.
Even if a patient does not suffer from a complete or nearly complete obstruction of the airway, it is also known that adverse effects, such as arousals from sleep, can occur where there is only a partial obstruction of the airway. Partial obstruction of the airway typically results in shallow breathing referred to as a hypopnea. A hypopnea is typically defined as a 50% or greater reduction in the peak respiratory air-flow followed by oxyhemoglobin desaturation and/or a cortical arousal. Other types of sleep disordered breathing include, without limitation, upper airway resistance syndrome (UARS) and vibration of the airway, such as vibration of the pharyngeal wall, commonly referred to as snoring.
It is well known to treat sleep disordered breathing by applying a positive airway pressure (PAP) to the patient's airway using an airway pressure support system that typically includes a mask, a pressure generating device, and a conduit to deliver positive pressure breathing gas from the pressure generating device to the patient through the mask. This positive pressure effectively “splints” the airway, thereby maintaining an open passage to the lungs. In one type of PAP therapy, known as continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), the pressure of gas delivered to the patient is constant throughout the patient's breathing cycle. It is also known to provide a positive pressure therapy in which the pressure of gas delivered to the patient varies with the patient's breathing cycle, or varies with the patient's effort, to increase the comfort to the patient. This pressure support technique is referred to as bi-level pressure support, in which the inspiratory positive airway pressure (IPAP) delivered to the patient is higher than the expiratory positive airway pressure (EPAP). It is further known to provide a positive pressure therapy in which the pressure is automatically adjusted based on the detected conditions of the patient, such as whether the patient is experiencing an apnea and/or hypopnea. This pressure support technique is referred to as an auto-titration type of pressure support, because the pressure support device seeks to provide a pressure to the patient that is only as high as necessary to treat the disordered breathing.
Pressure support therapies as just described involve the placement of a patient interface device including a mask component having a soft, flexible sealing cushion on the face of the patient. The mask component may be, without limitation, a nasal mask that covers the patient's nose, a nasal/oral mask that covers the patient's nose and mouth, or a full face mask that covers the patient's face. Such patient interface devices may also employ other patient contacting components, such as forehead supports, cheek pads and chin pads. The patient interface device is typically secured to the patient's head by a headgear component. The patient interface device is connected to a gas delivery tube or conduit and interfaces the pressure support device with the airway of the patient, so that a flow of breathing gas can be delivered from the pressure/flow generating device to the airway of the patient.
It is important that the patient interface device fits the patient. An improper fit can lead to a patient interface device that does not properly seal against the patient's face, which can cause to leaks that are detrimental to the patient's pressure support therapy. Additionally, a properly fitting patient interface device should be comfortable for the patient to wear. A patient interface device that does not fit properly could cause discomfort due to being too tight, rubbing against certain points on the patient's face, or other uncomfortable symptoms of an improper fit. The discomfort can lead to the patient choosing to discontinue pressure support therapy.
Some methods that assist with selection of a properly fitting patient interface device include performing a 3D scan of the patient's face, and subsequent geometric analysis of the 3D scan to assist with selection of a properly fitting patient interface device. The 3D scan is often conducted by a party different than that analyzing the 3D scan, thus necessitating transmittal of the 3D scan. The 3D scan contains personal information that the patient would prefer to remain private and not be transmitted to different parties. Thus, there remains room for improvement in data collection associated with patient interface device selection.
In accordance with an aspect of the disclosed concept, a 3D data collection method with privacy protection comprises: obtaining a 3D scan of at least a portion of a patient at a local site; receiving an avatar template and control point registration data from an external site; identifying control points on the 3D scan based on the control point registration data; adjusting the avatar template to coincide control points on the avatar template with control points on the 3D scan; and transmitting the adjusted avatar template to the external site.
In accordance with an aspect of the disclosed concept, a system for data collection with privacy comprises: a scanning unit structured to obtain a 3D scan of at least a portion of a patient at a local site; a memory structured to store one or more routines; a processing unit structured to execute the one or more routines, wherein execution of the one or more routines causes the processor to: receive an avatar template and control point registration data from an external site; identify control points on the 3D scan based on the control point registration data; adjust the avatar template to coincide control points on the avatar template with control points on the 3D scan; and transmit the adjusted avatar template to the external site.
In accordance with an aspect of the disclosed concept, a non-transitory computer readable medium storing one or more programs, including instructions, which when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform a method of 3D data collection with privacy protection. The method comprises: obtaining a 3D scan of at least a portion of a patient at a local site; receiving an avatar template and control point registration data from an external site; identifying control points on the 3D scan based on the control point registration data; adjusting the avatar template to coincide control points on the avatar template with control points on the 3D scan; and transmitting the adjusted avatar template to the external site.
As used herein, the singular form of “a”, “an”, and “the” include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.
The disclosed concept relates to systems and methods for data collection that protect privacy and proprietary information. Example embodiments of the disclosed concept will be described with respect to data collection for the purposes of selecting or customizing a patient interface device (e.g., a mask) for respiratory therapy. However, it will be appreciated that the disclosed concept is also pertinent to other applications where private data is collected and potentially transmitted to other parties.
In one embodiment, an avatar template (e.g., a blurred 3D average head) and control points are transmitted from a provider to a data collection site. At the data collection site, a 3D scan of a patient is obtained and control points on the 3D scan are identified. The avatar template is adjusted to coincide control points on the avatar template with control point on the 3D scan of the patient. The adjusted avatar template is then transmitted back to the provider where the adjusted control points are retrieved. The provider may use the adjusted control points to select or customize a patient interface device for the patient, or retain the adjusted control points for general development of better fitting patient interface devices or other purposes. From the adjusted avatar template, it is not reasonably possible to identify the patient. Additionally, from the adjusted avatar template, it is not reasonably possible to discern any proprietary data or algorithms the provider may use for determining patient interface device selection or customization. Some example embodiments of the disclosed concept will be described in more detail herein.
At 104, the average 3D head template is blurred into an avatar template. The avatar template is an excessively smoothed average of the average 3D head template so that when the avatar template is subsequently adjusted based on the 3D scan of a patient, no facial detail from the patient's 3D scan will appear on the adjusted avatar template. The avatar template may be generated, for example, using the local averaging kernel applied to a regular average 3D head template, followed by surface reparameterization. The surface reparameterization creates an efficient technical barrier for the non-authorized analysis of adjusted avatar templates by a third party in the case that an unauthorized third party were to obtain an adjusted avatar template. The reparameterization may be implemented as a random vertex displacement followed by a quadric edge collapse decimation.
At 106, the avatar template and control point registration data (e.g., the sparse registration matrix) is transmitted to, for example, a data collection site. In an embodiment, the transfer is performed is encrypted, as the control point registration data may be considered proprietary by the provider.
After the avatar template and control point registration data is transmitted to the data collection site, the data collection site will generate an adjusted avatar template in which the control points on the avatar template are adjusted to coincide with control points of a 3D scan of the patient, as will be described in more detail with respect to
Referring to
At 204, the avatar template and control points registration data are received from the provider. As described above, the avatar template and control points registration data were transmitted at 106 in
At 206, control points are identified in the 3D scan of the patient. To identify the control point in the 3D scan of the patient, in one embodiment, a two part process may be performed. As the first part, the avatar template is morphed to fit the 3D scan of the patient. For example, landmarks (e.g., defining features such as the tip of the nose, edges of the mouth, etc.) may be used to roughly morph the avatar template to the 3D scan of the patient. This morphing primarily aligns the avatar template with the 3D scan of the patient and does not result in identifiable characteristics of the 3D scan of the patient transferring to the avatar template. As a second part of the process, the control points of the avatar template are projected onto the 3D scan of the patient, thus identifying the control points on the 3D scan of the patient.
At 208, the avatar template is adjusted such that the control points on the avatar template coincide with the control points on the 3D scan of the patient. In an embodiment, the avatar template is morphed such that the control points on the avatar template coincide with the control points on the 3D scan of the patient. That is, the control points on the adjusted avatar template with generate the same contours as the control points on the 3D scan of the patient. In an embodiment, Laplacian mesh editing, such as that described in O. Sorkine et al. Laplacian mesh editing. Eurographics Symposium on Geometry Processing (2004), which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, may be used to morph the avatar template. However, it will be appreciated that other processes may be used without departing from the scope of the disclosed concept.
At 210, the adjusted avatar template is transmitted to the provider. The adjusted avatar template may be transmitted in an open manner as the adjusted avatar template does not include any information that would identify the patient, nor does it include any proprietary information. In some embodiments, the adjusted avatar template may be shown to the patient, and the patient may provide confirmation of permission to transmit the adjusted avatar template to the provider. As discussed above with respect to
Referring to
It is contemplated that aspects of the disclosed concept can be embodied as computer readable codes on a tangible computer readable recording medium. The computer readable recording medium is any data storage device that can store data which can be thereafter read by a computer system. Examples of the computer readable recording medium include read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), CD-ROMs, magnetic tapes, floppy disks, and optical data storage devices.
In the claims, any reference signs placed between parentheses shall not be construed as limiting the claim. The word “comprising” or “including” does not exclude the presence of elements or steps other than those listed in a claim. In a device claim enumerating several means, several of these means may be embodied by one and the same item of hardware. The word “a” or “an” preceding an element does not exclude the presence of a plurality of such elements. In any device claim enumerating several means, several of these means may be embodied by one and the same item of hardware. The mere fact that certain elements are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that these elements cannot be used in combination.
Although the invention has been described in detail for the purpose of illustration based on what is currently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that such detail is solely for that purpose and that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover modifications and equivalent arrangements that are within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. For example, it is to be understood that the present invention contemplates that, to the extent possible, one or more features of any embodiment can be combined with one or more features of any other embodiment.
This patent application claims the priority benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/356,647, filed on Jun. 29, 2022, the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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63356647 | Jun 2022 | US |