Patent Application
20210393148
The present disclosure relates generally to physiological state sensing, and, more particularly, to ambient physiological state sensing.
Airlines face significant customer confidence challenges with respect to contagious vectors, especially those spread by incidental contact or droplets. Passengers traveling via commercial airline need to be confident that they are not at greater than normal risk of infection when taking a flight. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide one or more systems for measurement of vital signs of one or more passengers. In this regard, it would be desirable to provide one or more systems that may alert aircraft crew, airline staff, and/or airport ground crew of vital signs of one or more passengers that may be indicative of one or more contagious infections so that adequate precautions (e.g., social distancing, denied boarding, aircraft diversion, medical attention, secondary screening, and the like) may be implemented.
A system for ambient physiological state screening of a subject is disclosed, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure. In one embodiment, the system for ambient physiological state screening of a subject may include a temperature sensor, a blood oxygen saturation sensor, a cardiorespiratory sensor unit, a communication circuitry, and one or more controllers having one or more processors communicatively coupled to the temperature sensor, the blood oxygen saturation sensor, and the cardiorespiratory sensor unit, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute a set of program instructions maintained in one or more memory units, wherein the set of program instructions is configured to cause the one or more processors to: receive one or more signals from at least one of the temperature sensor, the blood oxygen saturation sensor, or the cardiorespiratory sensor unit indicative of one or more physiological states of the subject; determine one or more physiological states of the subject based on the one or more signals indicative of one or more physiological states of the subject; determine one or more physiological interventions based on the one or more physiological states of the subject; and transmit one or more signals instructive of the one or more physiological interventions.
A method for ambient physiological state sensing is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method for ambient physiological state screening comprises: receiving one or more signals from at least one of the temperature sensor, the blood oxygen saturation sensor, or the cardiorespiratory sensor unit indicative of one or more physiological states of the subject; determining one or more physiological states of the subject based on the one or more signals indicative of one or more physiological states of the subject; determining one or more physiological interventions based on the one or more physiological states of the subject; and transmitting one or more signals instructive of the one or more physiological interventions.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not necessarily restrictive of the present disclosure. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the characteristic, illustrate subject matter of the disclosure. Together, the descriptions and the drawings serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.
Implementations of the inventive concepts disclosed herein may be better understood when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the included drawings, which are not necessarily to scale, and in which some features may be exaggerated and some features may be omitted or may be represented schematically in the interest of clarity. Like reference numerals in the drawings may represent and refer to the same or similar element, feature, or function. In the drawings:
Reference will now be made in detail to the subject matter disclosed, which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Before explaining at least one embodiment of the inventive concepts disclosed herein in detail, it is to be understood that the inventive concepts are not limited in their application to the details of construction and the arrangement of the components or steps or methodologies set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. In the following detailed description of embodiments of the instant inventive concepts, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the inventive concepts. However, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the instant disclosure that the inventive concepts disclosed herein may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known features may not be described in detail to avoid unnecessarily complicating the instant disclosure. The inventive concepts disclosed herein are capable of other embodiments or of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
As used herein a letter following a reference numeral is intended to reference an embodiment of the feature or element that may be similar, but not necessarily identical, to a previously described element or feature bearing the same reference numeral (e.g., 1, 1a, 1b). Such shorthand notations are used for purposes of convenience only and should not be construed to limit the inventive concepts disclosed herein in any way unless expressly stated to the contrary.
In addition, use of the “a” or “an” are employed to describe elements and components of embodiments of the instant inventive concepts. This is done merely for convenience and to give a general sense of the inventive concepts, and “a” and “an” are intended to include one or at least one and the singular also includes the plural unless it is obvious that it is meant otherwise.
Further, unless expressly stated to the contrary, “or” refers to an inclusive or and not to an exclusive or. For example, a condition A or B is satisfied by anyone of the following: A is true (or present) and B is false (or not present), A is false (or not present) and B is true (or present), and both A and B are true (or present).
Further, any arrangement of components to achieve a same functionality is effectively “associated” such that the desired functionality is achieved, such that any two components herein combined to achieve a particular functionality can be seen as “associated with” each other (irrespective of architectures or intermedial components). Any two components so associated can also be viewed as being “operably connected” or “operably coupled” to each other to achieve the desired functionality, and any two components capable of being so associated can also be viewed as being “operably couplable” to each other to achieve the desired functionality. Examples of operably couplable include, but are not limited to, physically mateable and/or physically interacting components, wirelessly interactable and/or wirelessly interacting components, logically interacting and/or logically interactable components, or the like.
Further, one or more components may be referred to herein as “configured to,” “configurable to,” “operable/operative to,” “adapted/adaptable,” “able to,” “conformable/conformed to,” etc. Those skilled in the art will recognize that such terms (e.g., “configured to”) can generally encompass active-state components and/or inactive-state components and/or standby-state components, unless context requires otherwise.
Finally, as used herein any reference to “one embodiment,” or “some embodiments” means that a particular element, feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the inventive concepts disclosed herein. The appearances of the phrase “in some embodiments” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, and embodiments of the inventive concepts disclosed may include one or more of the features expressly described or inherently present herein, or any combination of sub-combination of two or more such features, along with any other features which may not necessarily be expressly described or inherently present in the instant disclosure.
The temperature sensor 102 may include any sensor type known in the art to be suitable for measuring or determining the bodily temperature of a human subject within an ambient environment. For example, the temperature sensor 102 may include, but is not limited to, one or more infrared sensors, including an infrared sensor configured to include one or more focal plane arrays, one or more hyperspectral sensor units, and/or one or more thermal emission scanning units. As used herein, the term “ambient environment” may refer to, but is not limited to, communal spaces where it is typical for human subjects to congregate, including, without limitation, one or more locations within airports, aircrafts, public transportation, and the like.
The temperature sensor 102 may be configured to measure and/or determine the core bodily temperature of a human subject within an ambient environment. For example, the temperature sensor 102 may be configured to generate one or more signals (e.g., radiometric infrared images) indicative of bodily temperature based on a skin temperature of one or more human subjects. The one or more controllers 110 may be configured to direct the temperature sensor 102 to generate one or more signals indicative of the bodily temperature of a particular region of interest of the human body (e.g., the face of a human subject).
The cardiorespiratory sensor unit 104 may include any sensor type known in the art to be suitable for measuring or determining one or more cardiorespiratory states (e.g., breathing rate, respiration pattern, and the like) of a human subject within an ambient environment. For example, the cardiorespiratory sensor unit 104 may include any device configured to transmit electromagnetic waves from a transmitter and to receive electromagnetic waves at a receiver. In another example, the cardiorespiratory sensor unit 104 may include a radar sensor unit, including, without limitation, a radar sensor unit configured to transmit electromagnetic radiation from a transmitter and to receive electromagnetic radiation at a receiver. By way of an additional example, the cardiorespiratory sensor unit 104 may include any low-cost radar device known to be suitable to measure or determine one or more cardiorespiratory states of a human subject. As used herein, the term “ambient environment” may refer to, but is not limited to, communal spaces where it is typical for human subjects to congregate, including, without limitation, one or more locations within airports, aircrafts, public transportation, and the like.
The cardiorespiratory sensor unit 104 may be configured to measure and/or determine one or more cardiorespiratory states of a human subject within an ambient environment. For example, the cardiorespiratory sensor unit 104 may be configured to transmit one or more electromagnetic waves within an ambient environment containing one or more human subjects. The cardiorespiratory sensor unit 104 may further be configured to receive one or more electromagnetic waves following one or more interactions of the one or more electromagnetic waves with one or more human subjects.
The one or more controllers 110 may be configured to determine one or more cardiorespiratory states of the one or more human subjects based on one or more signals generated by the cardiorespiratory sensor unit 104. For example, the one or more controllers 110 may process one or more signals from the cardiorespiratory sensor unit 104 to determine one or more phase changes of the one or more electromagnetic waves transmitted by the cardiorespiratory sensor unit 104. In this regard, the one or more controllers 110 may determine minor movements of one or more portions (e.g., a chest or a heart) of the one or more human subjects, where the minor movements may be indicative of one or more cardiorespiratory states of the one or more human subjects. By way of an additional example, the one or more controllers 110 may be configured to determine one or more distance differentials between the cardiorespiratory sensor unit 104 and the one or more human subjects. In this regard, the cardiorespiratory sensor unit 104 may be configured to measure one or more signals indicative of respiration rate by comparing the difference between a first measured distance between the cardiorespiratory sensor unit 104 and one or more human subjects and a second measured distance between the cardiorespiratory sensor unit 104 and the one or more human subjects. Put another way, the cardiorespiratory sensor unit 104 may measure the distance between the physiological state screening system 100 and one or more human subjects at a first point in time at which at least one of the one or more human subjects inhales and at a second point in time at which the at least one human subject exhales. Accordingly, the one or more controllers 110 may be configured to determine one or more physiological states of the one or more human subjects using the following formula, where Dexhaie represents the distance between the physiological state screening system 100 and a human subject at the point in time at which the human subject exhales, and where Dinhale represents the distance between the physiological state screening system 100 and the human subject at the point in time at which the human subject exhales:
ΔD=Dexhale−Dinhale
The one or more controllers 110 may be configured to generate one or more plots for display to a user via one or more user interfaces based on the one or more signals generated by at least one of the temperature sensor 102 or the cardiorespiratory unit 104 (see
It is noted that the embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to a cardiorespiratory sensor unit 104 or a temperature sensor 102, and that the physiological state screening system 100 may include any type of physiological sensing device known in the art. For example, the physiological state screening system 100 may include one or more sensors or devices configured to determine a blood oxygen saturation of one or more human subjects. In this regard, the one or more controllers 110 may be communicatively coupled to the physiological sensing device, and the physiological sensing device may perform one or more functions of the present disclosure via the one or more controllers 110.
In an alternative embodiment, the physiological state screening system 100 may be communicatively coupled to one or more biometric sensor units 112 located in a remote location. For example, the physiological state screening system 100 may be connected via the communication circuitry 106 to one or more biometric sensor units 112 located at a user touch-point or interface.
The one or more processors of the one or more controllers 110 may include any one or more processing elements known in the art. In general, the term “processor” may be broadly defined to encompass any device having one or more processing elements, which execute program instructions from a non-transitory memory medium (i.e., memory). In one embodiment, the one or more processors may include any microprocessor-type computational device configured to execute software algorithms and/or instructions. In general, the processor may be broadly defined to encompass any device having data processing or logic capabilities. It should be recognized that the steps described throughout the present disclosure may be carried out by a single physiological state screening system 100 or by a plurality of physiological state screening systems 100.
The communication circuitry 106 may include any communication circuitry known in the art. The communication circuitry 106 may include one or more components that may be configured to transmit data in a manner that combines elements of any configuration of transmission known in the art. For instance, the communication circuitry 106 may include wireline-based communication circuitry (e.g., DSL-based interconnection, cable-based interconnection, T9-based interconnection, fiber-optic lines, and the like). In another instance, the communication circuitry 106 may include wireless-based communication circuitry, such as one or more of GSM, GPRS, CDMA, EV-DO, EDGE, WiMAX, 3G, 4G, LTE, 5G, 6G, Wi-Fi protocols, LoRa, customized RF protocol, and the like. The communication circuitry 106 may be configured to transmit one or more signals to a user interface
The memory unit 108 may include a memory unit or storage medium known in the art to be suitable for storing program instructions executable by the one or more processors of the one or more controllers 110. For example, the memory unit 108 may include a non-transitory memory medium. For instance, the memory unit 108 may include, but is not limited to, a read-only memory (ROM), a random-access memory (RAM), a magnetic or optical memory device, a magnetic tape, a solid-state drive, and the like. In another embodiment the memory unit 108 may be configured for storing one or more signals received from the temperature sensor 102 and/or the cardiorespiratory sensor unit 104. It is further noted that the memory unit 108 may be housed in a common housing with the one or more processors. In an alternative embodiment, the memory unit 108 may be located in a remote server. The memory unit 108 may maintain program instructions for causing the processor 114 to carry out various steps described in the present disclosure.
In this regard, the physiological state screening system 100 (e.g., via the one or more controllers 110) may be configured to determine minor movements of one or more portions (e.g., a chest or a heart) of the plurality of human subjects 206, where the minor movements may be indicative of one or more cardiorespiratory states of the plurality of human subjects 206. By way of an additional example, the one or more controllers 110 may be configured to determine one or more distance differentials between the cardiorespiratory sensor unit 104 and the plurality of human subjects 206. In this regard, the cardiorespiratory sensor unit 104 may be configured to measure one or more signals indicative of respiration rate by comparing the difference between the first distance 404 and the second distance 402.
As an additional example, the physiological state screening system 100 may be configured to determine one or more core bodily temperatures of the plurality of human subjects 206. For example, the physiological state screening system 100 may be configured to transmit one or more infrared waves toward the plurality of human subjects 206 receive one or more reflected infrared waves. The one or more reflected infrared waves may include (or may be processed to generate) signals indicative of one or more bodily temperatures of the plurality of human subjects 206.
It is noted that the physiological state screening system 100 may be configured to determine one or more correlations between one or more determined physiological states of the plurality of human subjects 206. For example, the physiological state screening system 100 may be configured to determine a location of one or more points of interest of the body of one of the plurality of human subjects 206, and to subsequently determine one or more physiological states of the one of the plurality of human subjects 206 at the one or more points of interest determined. By way of an additional example, the physiological state screening system 100 may be configured to determine the location of a head of a human subject (e.g., via a camera), and may determine the bodily temperature of the human subject at the human subject's head (e.g., via the temperature sensor 102).
The physiological state screening system 100 may be configured to determine one or more physiological states of the plurality of human subjects 206 at different points in time and at different locations in space. For example, the physiological state screening system 100 may be configured to determine one or more physiological states of one or more of the plurality of human subjects 206 as the one or more of the plurality of human subjects moves about an ambient space. By way of an additional example, the physiological state screening system 100 may be configured to affect the transmission of the one or more sensing signals 202 about an area to reach a human subject (e.g., via electronic radar steering, mechanical manipulation, and the like).
The one or more controllers 110 may make each of the foregoing determinations by comparing one or more received signals to known physiological patterns and algorithms (e.g., algorithms designed to identify inhalation patterns, exhalation patterns, heartbeat patterns, etc., based on previously collected and known physiological phenomena) stored in memory.
In Step 402, one or more signals indicative of one or more physiological states are measured. For example, at least one of the temperature sensor 102 or the cardiorespiratory sensor unit 104 may transmit one or more sensing signals 202 toward the plurality of human subjects 206. By way of an additional example, the physiological state screening system 100 may receive one or more reflected signals 204 reflected from one or more of the human subjects 206.
In Step 404, one or more physiological states are determined based on the one or more reflected signals 204. For example, the one or more controllers 110 may determine one or more physiological states based on the one or more reflected signals 204. By way of another example, the one or more controllers 110 may determine the difference between the first distance 404 and the second distance 402. In this regard, physiological state screening system 100 may determine one or more physiological states, including, without limitation, a respiration pattern of the plurality of human subjects 206. As an additional example, the one or more controllers 110 may determine one or more phase changes of at least one of the sensing signals 202 or the reflected signals 204. In this regard, the one or more controllers 110 may determine a cardiorespiratory pattern of the plurality of human subjects 206. As an additional example, the one or more controllers 110 may determine one or more bodily temperatures of the plurality of human subjects 206 based on one or more sensing signals 202 transmitted by the temperature sensor 102.
In Step 406, one or more physiological interventions are determined based on the one or more physiological states of the plurality of human subjects 206. For example, the one or more controllers 110 may determine one or more precautionary actions (e.g., self-isolation, social distancing, aircraft diversion) based on the one or more physiological states of the plurality of human subjects 206. The one or more physiological interventions may include any appropriate act or series of acts intended to reduce the spread of a contagious vector among passengers and crewmembers of an aircraft.
In Step 408, one or more signals instructive of the one or more physiological interventions are transmitted. For example, the one or more controllers 110 (e.g., via the communication circuitry 106 or a user interface) may transmit the one or more signals based on the one or more determined physiological interventions to a user or remote location. In this regard, physiological state screening system 100 may be configured to alert a user (e.g., an aircraft crew member, airline staff person, and/or airport ground crew member) of the determined physiological intervention so that appropriate steps may be taken, including, for example, denied boarding, aircraft diversion for medical attention, or consultation with one or more ground-based medical professionals. By way of an additional example, the one or more controllers 110 may be configured to transmit one or more signals indicative of the one or more physiological interventions to a network or a remote server.
It is to be understood that embodiments of the methods in accordance with the inventive concepts disclosed herein may include one or more of the steps described herein. Further, such steps may be carried out in any desired order and two or more of the steps may be carried out simultaneously with one another. Two or more of the steps disclosed herein may be combined in a single step, and in some embodiments., one or more of the steps may be carried out as two or more sub-steps. Further, other steps or sub-steps may be carried in addition to, or as substitutes to one or more of the steps disclosed herein.
From the above description, it is clear that the inventive concepts disclosed herein are well adapted to carry out the objects and to attain the advantages mentioned herein as well as those inherent in the inventive concepts disclosed herein. While presently preferred embodiments of the inventive concepts disclosed herein have been described for purposes of this disclosure, it will be understood that numerous changes may be made which will readily suggest themselves to those skilled in the art and which are accomplished within the broad scope and coverage of the inventive concepts disclosed and claimed herein.
The present application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 63/040,988, filed Jun. 18, 2020, entitled PHYSIOLOGICAL STATE SCREENING SYSTEM, naming Anthony Chapman, Piyush Agrawal, and Geoffrey Shapiro as inventors, which is incorporated herein by reference in the entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63040988 | Jun 2020 | US |
