WO2013144772A1

WO2013144772A1 - System for determining clutter

Info

Publication number: WO2013144772A1
Application number: PCT/IB2013/052159
Authority: WO
Inventors: Juergen Vogt; Tommaso Gritti; Murray Fulton Gillies; Cornelis Pauwel DATEMA; Gijs Antonius Franciscus Van Elswijk
Original assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
Priority date: 2012-03-27
Filing date: 2013-03-19
Publication date: 2013-10-03

Abstract

The invention relates to a monitoring system 100 for detecting the level of clutter present in a room. A sensing unit 101 such as a camera monitors the room and records room state data, e.g. image data, containing information about objects in the room. The room state data is analyzed in order to determine states of objects in the room, e.g. by identifying objects in an image. The states of objects, e.g. a presence of a non-allowed object, can be used for determining a level of clutter in the room. The level of clutter or other information relating to presence of undesired objects in the room may be communicated to personnel or recorded in a database for comparison with the personnel whom have used a room. In this way, by making a person aware that he or she has left the room in too high level of clutter it may be possible to change personnel habits and, thereby, reduce the level of clutter.

Description

System for determining clutter

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a system for determining clutter in a room, particularly to systems for determining clutter in hospital rooms. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Ambient healing environments use a variety of audio visual and dynamic lighting effects to provide distraction from the medical procedure. The presence of too many objects in a room containing the ambient healing environment causes a cluttered room which may have a negative effect on the distractive effect of the ambient healing environment. Accordingly, it may be policy to have little or no objects in the healing environment not needed for the medical procedure to be performed. However, the policy of a non-cluttered environment is easily lost during the every day's hectically schedule. As a result the potential beneficial effect of ambient healing environments may be reduced.

Accordingly, there is a need to avoid cluttering in hospital rooms as well as other rooms wherein it is policy to avoid too much cluttering.

US 5,653,064 discloses a clutter-eliminating head wall for a hospital bed which has two horizontally-spaced modules with services and service outlets mounted in the modules. The recess between the modules is covered by a removable panel. The modules are covered by sliding tambour doors that slide behind the center panel to provide access to the modules.

The inventor of the present invention has appreciated that improvements for reducing clutter in hospital rooms is of benefit, and has in consequence devised the present invention. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It would be desirable to enable a system to help in avoiding or reducing cluttering in rooms. In particular, it may be seen as an object of the present invention to provide a method that solves the above mentioned problems relating to cluttering in rooms, or other problems, of the prior art. To better address one or more of these concerns, in a first aspect of the invention a monitoring system for determining a degree of clutter in a room is presented that comprises

a sensing unit for monitoring the room and capable of generating room state data relating to objects of the room,

a processing unit for analysing the room state data for determining a state of the objects of the room, which state is indicative of the degree of clutter,

an output generating unit for making the determined state of objects available as an output signal.

By monitoring a room with the sensing unit, room state data are generated which can be analyzed to determine states of objects. States of objects may for example be in the form of a list of objects in the room, or a list of coordinates of locations of objects. States of objects could also be in the form of a level of non-uniformity of a surface of the room determined by analysing surface properties of room state data. Thus, the level of non- uniformity may be assessed as a level/degree of clutter. An output generating unit is provided for making the determined state of objects available as an output signal, e.g. for storage of the signal in a database or for other processing. The output signal may comprise data embedded in digital or analogue format. Thus, the monitoring system may be able to quantitatively determine a degree of clutter. This information could be directed to the personnel which appears to be responsible for the clutter, whereby the system may have a capability of changing peoples habits.

In an embodiment the room is a room in a care providing environment. The system is not limited to rooms in particular environment, but may be particularly beneficial e.g. for hospital rooms in order to help with reducing clutter in hospital rooms and, thereby, help with creating a more relaxing environment for patients.

In an embodiment the monitoring system further comprises a tidiness indicator capable of informing about the determined state of objects in dependence of the output signal.

The tidiness indicator may directly inform personnel or other persons about the degree of clutter. Thereby, the personnel may be informed to clean the room before leaving the room.

In an embodiment the processing unit is configured for determining the state of objects dependent on a state of the room. Since a room may be used for different purposes different degrees of clutter may be accepted in different uses. For example, an examination room in a hospital may be used for different examinations, where different examinations require use of different devices and, therefore, the state of objects may advantageously be dependent on the state of the room. For example, different reference lists with different allowed objects may be defined for different states of the room.

In an embodiment the processing unit is configured for determining the state of the objects in the room based on comparing the room state data with reference data.

Accordingly, a reference image, a reference smoothness surface level, a reference number for a number allowed objects, a reference list of allowed objects or other suitable references may be used for comparing with the determined room state data. For example, the reference image used as reference data could be an image (based on a physical image) from the monitored room, an image from another room or an image created via a computer aided design program.

In an embodiment the monitoring system is configured for determining the reference data from a reference state of the objects of a room, e.g. in a state where only allowed objects are present somewhere in the room or present at allowed locations. The room where the reference is determined from need not be the same room as the room which is monitored for determining the degree of cluttering, but could be a room which is similar or identical to the room which is monitored.

In an embodiment the monitoring system is further configured to identify objects by comparing the room state data with the reference data. Thus, in addition to determine the state of objects by comparing room state data with reference data, objects may be identified. The identification of an object may enable giving names to non-allowed objects or showing pictures of non-allowed objects to ease personnel to clean up the room.

In an embodiment the monitoring system is configured to generate information presenting the identified objects for example by presenting the name of identified objects, their location on a room image or images of objects.

In an embodiment the monitoring system is configured to generate a control signal for a room lighting system for controlling the room lighting in dependence of the identified objects. The lighting system may be used for high-lighting identified objects e.g. by increasing light intensity or hiding identified objects e.g. by dimming light at locations where unwanted objects are located.

In an embodiment the monitoring system is further configured to determine presence of humans in the room, and the control signal for the room lighting system is dependent on the determined presence of humans. This embodiment may advantageously be used for dimming light to hide objects when a patient is present in the room or highlighting cluttering when only personnel are present.

In an embodiment the monitoring system is configured for determining the reference data in dependence of a period of time of presence of any of the identified objects in the room. Thus, if an object has been present for a long time this object may be accepted as belonging to the room and included in a reference.

In an embodiment the monitoring system is configured to enable storage of the determined states of the objects of the room and times during a day at which the states have been determined in a database connectable with the monitoring system. In this way a determination of a given level of clutter can be compared with a list of persons which have used the room at different times of the day to determine which person is responsible for a cluttered room.

A second aspect of the invention relates to an ambient lighting system for controlling room lighting comprising,

- a control system for controlling lights of the room,

a monitoring system according to the first aspect which is connectable with the control system for controlling the room lighting in dependence of the determined state of the objects of the room.

A third aspect of the invention relates to a method for determining a degree of clutter in a room comprising

generating room state data relating to objects in the room by monitoring the room using a sensing unit,

analysing the room state data for determining a state of the objects of the room, which state is indicative of the degree of clutter,

- making the determined state of objects available as an output signal.

In summary the invention relates to a monitoring system for detecting the level of clutter present in a room. A sensing unit such as a camera monitors the room and records room state data, e.g. image data, containing information about objects in the room. The room state data is analyzed in order to determine states of objects in the room, e.g. by identifying objects in an image. The states of objects, e.g. a presence of a non-allowed object, can be used for determining a level of clutter in the room. The level of clutter or other information relating to the presence of undesired objects in the room may be communicated to personnel or recorded in a database for comparison with the personnel whom have used a room. In this way, by making a person aware that he or she has left the room in too high level of clutter it may be possible to change personnel habits and, thereby, reduce the level of clutter.

In general the various aspects of the invention may be combined and coupled in any way possible within the scope of the invention. These and other aspects, features and/or advantages of the invention will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the invention will be described, by way of example only, with reference to the drawings, in which

Fig. 1 schematically shows monitoring system 100 for determining a degree of clutter in a room, and

Fig. 2 schematically illustrates a method of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Fig. 1 shows a monitoring system 100 for determining a degree of clutter in a room, for example a room in a private house, a room in an office building, a room in a care providing environment such as a hospital room.

The monitoring system comprises a sensing unit 101 for monitoring the room. The sensing unit 101 may be an imaging device such as a camera, an optical or ultrasonic beam scanner capable of determining distances to surfaces in the room and surface locations, an ultra sound scanning device capable of generating ultra sound images of the room, a radar or other suitable sensor capable of generating room state data relating to objects of the room, e.g. object surfaces, differences in object surfaces, object colors, object shapes or other objects or room characteristics.

Room state data should be understood to include raw data from the sensing unit 101 or processed data from the sensing unit 101. Thus, raw data from a camera contains information about objects in the room since the raw data can be processed by image analysis methods to identify objects and, therefore, raw camera data can be considered as room state data. Data from the sensing unit 101 data could be surface properties, e.g. smoothness data, obtained in unprocessed form from a beam scanner or in processed form from a camera. Such surface data, as well as data containing information about colors, shapes and other room characteristics, is also indicative of presence of objects and, therefore is considered at room state data. The monitoring system further comprises a processing unit 102 for analysing the room state data for determining a state of the objects of the room, which state is directly or indirectly indicative of the degree of clutter. For example, the state of objects could be a list of identified objects, coordinates of objects in a 2D image of the room, data of surface properties as a function of locations (e.g. 2D or 3D coordinates) in the room, surface properties such as smoothness as a function of location in the room, feature level as a function of coordinates in a 2D image of the room, or other data such as data relating to object-shapes which can indicate room changes on an object level so as to indicate changes in position or number of objects in the room.

The monitoring system also comprises an output generating unit 103 for making the determined state of objects available as a signal or data for other systems or devices. For example, the output may be an analogue or digital electrical output electronic circuit of the processing unit 102.

The processing unit 102 may be a digital processor system, e.g. a computer, capable of running processor instructions, i.e. a computer program, for processing data from the sensing unit 101 into a state of objects in the room. Alternatively, the processing unit could be other digital or analogue electronic circuits capable of processing data or signals from the sensing unit 101.

As an example, the analysing of the room state data may comprise comparing the room state data with reference data such as reference room state data. For example, an image from the sensing unit 101 may be compared with a reference image and differences in image data may show objects which can be assessed as allowed or not allowed. A sensed image may be compared with a reference image by comparing pixels or blocks of the images, or objects may initially be determined from the sensed image by image analysis (e.g. analysis of shapes, surfaces, color or other characteristics) before being compared with a reference. For example, surface data from the sensing unit 101, e.g. smoothness data, may be compared with e.g. a smoothness threshold value in order to find a difference being a state of the objects. The difference may be compared with one or more threshold smoothness values in order to quantitatively determine a degree of clutter.

The monitoring system may further be configured to identify objects, e.g. which are unwanted in the room or at a given location, by comparing the room state data with the reference data. Thus, analysis of room state data could also imply determining a number of objects in a sensed image or types of objects in the image. For example, image analysis could determine presence of different predefined objects, e.g. sheets of paper, in a sensed image, or determine that something is present at a location which should be empty. The determined objects could be compared with a reference list of allowed objects in order to determine a possible presence of non-allowed objects. Thus, determination of presence of predefined objects or non-allowed objects is an example of a state of objects determined by the processing unit 102. A state of objects in the form of a list of objects determined by the monitoring system may be compared with a reference list of objects in order to determine a list of allowed or non-allowed objects.

The reference data such as a reference image could be determined by the monitoring system 100, i.e. by use of the sensing unit 101, from a reference state of the objects of the room. For example, an image may be recorded as a reference image in a situation where there is no clutter in the room. Alternatively, the reference data could be determined as a list of allowed objects and possibly non-allowed objects. The list could be determined manually, e.g. by entering objects into the system 100 via a user interface, or allowed objects could be determined automatically by determining objects in a reference image. Accordingly, the monitoring system may have a calibration mode for determining reference data.

Generally the reference data may be determined on basis of data from a sensing unit 101 from the monitored room or another room, e.g. data in the form of an image, a measured smoothness level, a measure value of intensity variances in an image or other suitable values. The reference data may also be determined manually, e.g. by entering a list of allowed objects or the reference data could be determined e.g. from a computer generated image of the room or a computer generated smoothness level.

Since a room such as an examination room in a hospital may be used for different types of examinations, different degrees of clutter may be allowed or presence of different objects may be allowed in different uses of the room. Therefore, the determination of the state of objects may be dependent on the use, i.e. the state, of the room. For example, the reference (reference list or reference image) may be dependent on the state of the room so that different references may be used for different uses of the room. The state of the room could be determined from scheduled uses of the room.

The monitoring system 100 may comprise a tidiness indicator 104 capable of informing about the determined state of objects. Thus, the determined state of objects may be supplied to the tidiness indicator 104 via the output generating unit 103. The tidiness indicator could be an indicator on a user interface or a room information screen. The determined state of objects could also be supplied to a general data system such as a hospital control system for making statistical analysis of the clutter degree of different room, and possibly make one or more persons responsible for clutter.

In order to support such statistical analysis, in an embodiment the monitoring system is configured to enable storage of the determined states of the objects and times during a day at which the states of the objects have been determined in a database

connectable with the monitoring system. The stored data may be compared with data defining which persons have been using the room at different times so that specific personnel can be made responsible for clutter in a room.

In addition to identifying objects, the monitoring system 100 may also be configured to generate information, e.g. an image, a location, a list or other data which presents or shows the identified one or more objects. The monitoring system may be connectable with a display for displaying an image, name or location of the identified one or more objects.

Alternatively or additionally the monitoring system 100 may also be configured to generate a control signal for a room lighting control system 190 installed in the room so that the control signal is capable of controlling the room lighting in dependence of the identified objects. In this way the room lighting system may be used for hiding objects which contribute to cluttering by dimming lights in a zone or different zones of the room.

The monitoring system may further be configured with a camera, ID card systems (e.g. RFID based ID systems) or other systems to determine presence of humans in the room. Information about presence of humans may be used to make the determination of the control signal for the room lighting control system 190 dependent on the determined presence of humans. In this way objects which are unwanted can be highlighted when personnel are detected as alone in the room in order to motivate the personnel to clean up the room. Since highlighting is only performed in the absence of patients, patients are not unnecessarily stressed by the highlighting. On the other hand unwanted objects can be hidden by dimming light in case that also patients are detected in the room.

In an embodiment the reference data for comparing with room state data is determined in dependence of a period of time of presence of any of the identified objects. Thus, if an identified object continues to be present in the room and possibly at the same location then, after some period such as a week, the identified object may be regarded as an object which belongs to the room and which therefore should be treated as an allowed object and included into e.g. a reference list of allowed objects. The determination of such reference data in dependence of a period of time of presence of an object may be performed automatically, i.e. so that the monitoring system 100 automatically includes an identified object in a reference list, or may be performed manually by a notification generated by the monitoring system 100 in dependence of a period of time of presence of an identified object which enables a user of the system to manually include an object determined by the monitoring system 100 in a reference list.

The monitoring system 100 may be part of a an ambient lighting system 199 configured for controlling room lighting, where the ambient lighting system 199 in addition to the monitoring system 100 also comprises a room lighting control system 190 for controlling lights of the room. The monitoring system 100 is connected with the control system 190 for controlling the room lighting in dependence of the determined state of the objects of the room.

Fig. 2 illustrates a method of the invention including the steps:

Step 201 : generating room state data relating to objects of the room by monitoring the room using a sensing unit 101,

Step 202: analysing the room state data for determining a state of the objects of the room, which state is indicative of the degree of clutter,

Step 203: making the determined state of objects available.

While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, such illustration and description are to be considered illustrative or exemplary and not restrictive; the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. Other variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art in practicing the claimed invention, from a study of the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims. In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article "a" or "an" does not exclude a plurality. A single processor or other unit may fulfill the functions of several objects recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage. Any reference signs in the claims should not be construed as limiting the scope.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A monitoring system (100) for determining a degree of clutter in a room, comprising:

a sensing unit (101) for monitoring the room and capable of generating room state data relating to objects in the room,

- a processing unit (102) for analysing the room state data for determining a state of the objects of the room, which state is indicative of the degree of clutter,

an output generating unit (103) for making the determined state of objects available as an output signal.

2. A monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the room is a room in a care providing environment.

3. A monitoring system according to claim 1, which further comprises a tidiness indicator (104) capable of informing about the determined state of objects in dependence of the output signal.

4. A monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit is configured for determining the state of objects dependent on a state of the room.

5. A monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit is configured for determining the state of the objects in the room based on comparing the room state data with reference data.

6. A monitoring system according to claim 5, wherein the monitoring system is configured for determining the the reference data from a reference state of the objects of a room.

7. A monitoring system according to claim 5, wherein the monitoring system is further configured to identify objects by comparing the room state data with the reference data.

8. A monitoring system according to claim 7, wherein the monitoring system is configured to generate information presenting the identified objects.

9. A monitoring system according to claim 7, wherein the monitoring system is configured to generate a control signal for a room lighting control system (190) for controlling the room lighting in dependence of the identified objects.

10. A monitoring system according to claim 9, wherein the monitoring system is further configured to determine presence of humans in the room, and where the control signal for the room lighting system is dependent on the determined presence of humans.

11. A monitoring system according to claim 7, wherein the monitoring system is configured for determining the reference data in dependence of a period of time of presence of any of the identified objects in the room.

12. A monitoring system according to claim 1, where the monitoring system is configured to enable storage of the determined states of the objects of the room and times during a day at which the states have been determined in a database connectable with the monitoring system.

13. An ambient lighting system (199) for controlling room lighting comprising:

a room lighting control system (190) for controlling lights of the room, a monitoring system (100) according to claim 1 which is connectable with the room lighting control system (190) for controlling the room lighting in dependence of the determined state of the objects of the room.

14. A method for determining a degree of clutter in a roomcomprising

generating room state data relating to objects in the room by monitoring the room using a sensing unit (101), analysing the room state data for determining a state of the objects of the room, which state is indicative of the degree of clutter,

making the determined state of objects available as an output signal.