CA2914071A1 - Methods and aparatus for the detection and reduction of health risks - Google Patents
Methods and aparatus for the detection and reduction of health risks Download PDFInfo
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- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
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- A61B5/00—Measuring for diagnostic purposes; Identification of persons
- A61B5/72—Signal processing specially adapted for physiological signals or for diagnostic purposes
- A61B5/7271—Specific aspects of physiological measurement analysis
- A61B5/7275—Determining trends in physiological measurement data; Predicting development of a medical condition based on physiological measurements, e.g. determining a risk factor
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- A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
- A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
- A61B5/00—Measuring for diagnostic purposes; Identification of persons
- A61B5/103—Detecting, measuring or recording devices for testing the shape, pattern, colour, size or movement of the body or parts thereof, for diagnostic purposes
- A61B5/11—Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb
- A61B5/1118—Determining activity level
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- G—PHYSICS
- G16—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR SPECIFIC APPLICATION FIELDS
- G16H—HEALTHCARE INFORMATICS, i.e. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE HANDLING OR PROCESSING OF MEDICAL OR HEALTHCARE DATA
- G16H40/00—ICT specially adapted for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities; ICT specially adapted for the management or operation of medical equipment or devices
- G16H40/60—ICT specially adapted for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities; ICT specially adapted for the management or operation of medical equipment or devices for the operation of medical equipment or devices
- G16H40/63—ICT specially adapted for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities; ICT specially adapted for the management or operation of medical equipment or devices for the operation of medical equipment or devices for local operation
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- G—PHYSICS
- G16—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR SPECIFIC APPLICATION FIELDS
- G16H—HEALTHCARE INFORMATICS, i.e. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE HANDLING OR PROCESSING OF MEDICAL OR HEALTHCARE DATA
- G16H50/00—ICT specially adapted for medical diagnosis, medical simulation or medical data mining; ICT specially adapted for detecting, monitoring or modelling epidemics or pandemics
- G16H50/30—ICT specially adapted for medical diagnosis, medical simulation or medical data mining; ICT specially adapted for detecting, monitoring or modelling epidemics or pandemics for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment
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- A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
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- A61B2560/00—Constructional details of operational features of apparatus; Accessories for medical measuring apparatus
- A61B2560/02—Operational features
- A61B2560/0204—Operational features of power management
- A61B2560/0214—Operational features of power management of power generation or supply
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- A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
- A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
- A61B2560/00—Constructional details of operational features of apparatus; Accessories for medical measuring apparatus
- A61B2560/02—Operational features
- A61B2560/0223—Operational features of calibration, e.g. protocols for calibrating sensors
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- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
- A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
- A61B2562/00—Details of sensors; Constructional details of sensor housings or probes; Accessories for sensors
- A61B2562/02—Details of sensors specially adapted for in-vivo measurements
- A61B2562/0219—Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
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- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
- A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
- A61B2562/00—Details of sensors; Constructional details of sensor housings or probes; Accessories for sensors
- A61B2562/02—Details of sensors specially adapted for in-vivo measurements
- A61B2562/0247—Pressure sensors
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- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
- A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
- A61B2562/00—Details of sensors; Constructional details of sensor housings or probes; Accessories for sensors
- A61B2562/02—Details of sensors specially adapted for in-vivo measurements
- A61B2562/0257—Proximity sensors
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- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
- A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
- A61B5/00—Measuring for diagnostic purposes; Identification of persons
- A61B5/01—Measuring temperature of body parts ; Diagnostic temperature sensing, e.g. for malignant or inflamed tissue
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- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
- A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
- A61B5/00—Measuring for diagnostic purposes; Identification of persons
- A61B5/103—Detecting, measuring or recording devices for testing the shape, pattern, colour, size or movement of the body or parts thereof, for diagnostic purposes
- A61B5/11—Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb
- A61B5/1116—Determining posture transitions
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- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
- A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
- A61B5/00—Measuring for diagnostic purposes; Identification of persons
- A61B5/68—Arrangements of detecting, measuring or recording means, e.g. sensors, in relation to patient
- A61B5/6801—Arrangements of detecting, measuring or recording means, e.g. sensors, in relation to patient specially adapted to be attached to or worn on the body surface
- A61B5/6802—Sensor mounted on worn items
- A61B5/681—Wristwatch-type devices
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- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
- A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
- A61B5/00—Measuring for diagnostic purposes; Identification of persons
- A61B5/68—Arrangements of detecting, measuring or recording means, e.g. sensors, in relation to patient
- A61B5/6801—Arrangements of detecting, measuring or recording means, e.g. sensors, in relation to patient specially adapted to be attached to or worn on the body surface
- A61B5/6813—Specially adapted to be attached to a specific body part
- A61B5/6823—Trunk, e.g., chest, back, abdomen, hip
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Abstract
Methods and apparatus for the detection and reduction of health risks are described. A method for the detection and reduction of health risks includes a central coordination system receiving requests to store data from a sensor badge unit that is being worn by end users. The request data may include raw sensor data and state information about the end user. Additionally the central coordination system receives requests from clients to access the data stored. The central coordination system applies aggregation policies based on the credentials of the requesting user. The central coordination unit additionally stores a list of challenges and rewards. The central coordination system sends a message to the user client device containing the challenges and confirmation of certain rewards when the activity of the end user reaches certain thresholds. These thresholds, the rewards, and the challenges may be added via the employer interface, or via the insurance company interface. These challenges may be pushed to clients, and clients may request challenges. Included are the apparatus to attach the sensor unit to the access badge of an end user, the apparatus to send the data to the central coordination system, and the methods to process and store the data.
Description
METHODS AND APARATUS FOR THE DETECTION
AND REDUCTION OF HEALTH RISKS
ABSTRACT
Methods and apparatus for the detection and reduction of health risks are described. A method for the detection and reduction of health risks includes a central coordination system receiving requests to store data from a sensor badge unit that is being worn by end users. The request data may include raw sensor data and state information about the end user. Additionally the central coordination system receives requests from clients to access the data stored. The central coordination system applies aggregation policies based on the credentials of the requesting user. The central coordination unit additionally stores a list of challenges and rewards. The central coordination system sends a message to the user client device containing the challenges and confirmation of certain rewards when the activity of the end user reaches certain thresholds. These thresholds, the rewards, and the challenges may be added via the employer interface, or via the insurance company interface. These challenges may be pushed to clients, and clients may request challenges. Included are the apparatus to attach the sensor unit to the access badge of an end user, the apparatus to send the data to the central coordination system, and the methods to process and store the data.
THE INVENTION RELATES TO METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR DETECTION AND
REDUCTION OF HEALTH RISKS
The invention relates to methods and apparatus for the detection and reduction of health risks to the end users by recording transitions between sitting, standing, walking, running, biking, and other activities and aggregating the data to transmit to insurance companies, employers of end users and end users.
Example Embodiments of End User Clients t_ix)R) Insurance Company Sensor Badge Client V ____________________________________________________________________ Central Sensor Badge #11.111+
Coordination System +11114 Employer Company Client A ______________________________ Other Third Party Sensor Badge Client The invention consists of a sensor badge unit, which collects data from a combination of sensors that may include a gyroscope, an accelerometer, a proximity sensor, a heat sensor, and may include other sensors.
The sensor badge unit may additionally contain a processing unit, memory unit, a power source including a battery and charging circuitry, and Tx/Rx circuitry such as Bluetooth or Wi-Fl. The gyroscope and the accelerometer may provide information on the orientation, the movement and the activity level of the user. The proximity sensor and the heat sensor may be used to determine if the sensor badge unit is worn by the user. The memory unit may be used to store the raw or the processed data while waiting for synchronization. The Tx/Rx circuitry synchronizes the data to the end user client device for additional processing or longer term storage. The Tx/Rx circuitry may shut down after a certain duration of inactivity to save energy.
The sensor badge unit contains a battery and a charging circuity. The battery may be recharged using wired connection or wireless charging. It may contain energy harvesting circuitry such to gather energy over methods such as, but not limited to, movements, vibration, solar energy or RF signals such as IV, cellular network or Wi-Fi.
In one embodiment of the sensor badge unit, the processor collects data from all the sensors and performs calculation to determine the position and the activity level of the user, and send the resulting data to the central coordination system for processing. The processing may include the algorithms described in this document.
In another embodiment of the sensor badge unit it collects and packages the data and submits it to the end user client device for processing instead of doing it locally, or it collects data and submits the data to the user client device, who will subsequently pass the data to the central coordination system for processing.
The sensor badge unit sends a request to the central coordination system to store the sensor data. The request may be directly from the sensor badge unit, or it may use the end user client device as a proxy.
Sensing Badge Unit Heat Sensor I Accelerometer Gyroscope TX/TRX
Proximity Sensor --)10- Processor -4(-)r.
circuitry A
Memo Battery + Charging I Energy Harvesting ry Circuitry I Circuitry The invention consists of an end user client device, which may receive data from the sensor badge unit via a Tx/Rx unit. The Tx/Rx unit may be Bluetooth, Wi-Fl, Near Field Communication (NFC), Zigbee or other wireless communication technology. The end user client device should forward the data to the central coordination system. If there is no network available when the end user client device receives the data from the sensor badge unit, then it may store the data temporarily until a network connection to the central coordination system can be found. The end user client device, may be a smartphone or tablet, or smart watch, or similar wearable device. The end user client may consist of a processing unit, a memory unit, external peripherals such as a camera, microphone, speaker, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, an operating system such and Android, iOS or a similar mobile operating system.
The end user client device may receive raw data from the sensor badge unit. In this event the end user device may process the data. The processing may include the algorithms described in this document. It will then transmit the processed data to the central coordination system immediately, or it may store the data into internal memory before transmitting to the central processing unit after some time.
The end user client device may have some software that establishes a connection with the central coordination system and the sensor badge system and that may serve as a user interface. The software, such as a mobile app, or desktop software, or web script may display to the end user the gamification requests stored internally, or served to the end user.
Central Coordination Unit Data Gamification Reward Aggregation Engine Engine Engine ____________________ 44 El, _____ Data Science ziõ,..--......\
Logic Engine Engine -414--100- \--- --/ Database Management System /
API
Figure 1 Central Coordination System The invention consists of a central coordination unit. The central coordination unit receives a request to store data from an end user. The data may come directly from the sensor badge unit, or it may come via the end client user device as a proxy. The data may come processed or unprocessed. If the data comes unprocessed, then the logic engine should process the data. The data processing may include any of the algorithms in this document.
The central coordination unit contains a logic engine which decides what to do with the requests that it receives. It may decide to store the data in the central coordination unit's database management system, or it may send the data to the data science engine or the data aggregation engine for processing. Based on the request, the logic engine may send some data back to the client, including an aggregated subset of the data it has collected, or a challenge from the gamification engine.
The central coordination unit may process the data using the data science engine. The data science engine can be used to correlate behavior patterns between the data collected from the sensor badge unit and any other data stored in the database management system. This may include any data received from insurance companies, or data from employers or data from any other third party that is stored in the central coordination unit's database management system. It may also contain results of survey conducted by the employer or the insurance company on information such as, but no limited to, their general health, activity level, and how certain activities such as standing up at work makes them feel. The data science engine determines the match between particular behavior patterns with particular health profile. By wearing the sensor badge unit, if the user is proven to have a behavioral pattern that matches a good health profile, it can then be argued that the health insurance premium of this individual shall be lowered.
The data science engine may additionally have a fraud detection algorithm. The fraud detection algorithm after collecting data for some time may establish normal patterns of behavior.
If the results from a sensing badge device are too far from the normal behavior then the device will be flagged. The data science engine may additionally send a request to the sensing badge unit to request that the full! unprocessed data from a client be send to the central coordination unit, for further analysis by the data science engine. The sensing badge should comply with the request upon request.
The central coordination unit may filter the data to respond to a request from a client using the data aggregation engine. Clients may have access to the full data from the central coordination systems database management system, or a subset of the data, or the data must pass through an aggregation algorithm before any data is returned. The aggregation engine may have policies. These policies will respect the privacy settings of the end users with regards to access of their information.
Aggregated In su raceReal Time User Data ________ N>Aggregated Employer Data Data End User End User End User In one embodiment of the aggregation engine, the aggregation policy may be such that an end user client may get full access to the data submitted by his own device. The aggregation policy may allow the end user to receive the weekly and monthly average of the top 3 users in his company, and the weekly and monthly average of the top 3 users in the country.
In another embodiment of the aggregation engine, the aggregation policy may be such that an employer client may get access to the monthly scores of the employees who earned a reward, and no access to the data of the participants who did not score well enough to receive a reward from the reward calculation engine.
In another embodiment of the aggregation engine, the aggregation policy may be such that the insurance company client has access to the names and scores of all users who qualify for a reward based on the policy they submitted to the reward calculation engine.
In another embodiment of the aggregation engine, the end user can submit policy options that will affect the results of the aggregation engine. For example, the end user may send a request to the central coordination unit containing a policy value. When the employer client submits a request for the data, the end user's data may not be included in data that is returned to the employer client according to the policy value submitted by the end user.
The central coordination unit contains a gamification engine. The gamification engine contains a list of challenges that can be distributed to end user clients. When the central coordination unit receives data from a sensing badge unit, the gamification engine may be updated based on the state of the badge unit.
Based on the data stored in the central coordination unit's database, the gamification engine may push challenges to the end user client that the end user should complete.
Additionally, the gamification engine may notify the employer client or insurance client when a certain threshold of points has been reached.
The gamification engine may register events that are directly related to the measurements of the sensor badge unit. The gamification engine may also register events that are independent of the sensor unit badge.
In one embodiment of the gamification engine, the end user client may send a request to store an image that contains evidence of completing a mission. The gamification engine may wait for approval from some form of verification such as human verification or the results of a verification algorithm to confirm that the user has completed the mission. In one embodiment of the gamification engine, the end user client may send additional data points such as GPS coordinates, information collected via Bluetooth, or Wi-Fi, NFC, or any other peripheral sensor from the end user client device. These may apply to the gamification engine.
The central coordination unit contains a rewards engine. The rewards engine contains a list of rewards that the employers and the insurance companies are willing to give to people who complete a threshold of missions from the gamification engine, or whose risk is below a certain amount as calculated by the data science engine. The list of rewards can be stored in the database of the central coordination unit, and the control logic can initiate a notification to the end users, the employers and the insurance companies when a threshold has been reached and a reward is to be dispersed.
The employers and insurance companies may have limits as to how many rewards can be dispersed.
In this case the rewards engine will be responsible for maintaining a ledger of the stock of how many rewards remain and can be dispersed. These rewards provide incentives to the users to improve their behavior in terms of being more active, measured by increases in the amount of time spent running, walking, standing, and in reductions in the amount of time spent sitting.
There will be an insurance company interface whereby an insurance company can authenticate and communicate with the central coordination unit. The insurance company may send a request to the central coordination unit informing it that it has a reward available, and the conditions upon which the reward will be dispersed. Additionally the insurance company may send a request to the central coordination for information. In response to the request for information, the logic engine will initiate a query to the database for the requested information. The data aggregation engine will filter the data from the database based on its policies. The returned data may be an averaged set of data from all of the users, or a mixture of the complete data for some users and aggregated data over the full set of users.
There will be an employer interface whereby an employer can authenticate and communicate with the central coordination unit. The employer may send a request to the central coordination unit informing it that it has a reward available, and the conditions upon which the reward will be dispersed. Additionally the employer may send a request to the central coordination for information.
In response to the request for information, the logic engine will initiate a query to the database for the requested information. The data aggregation engine will filter the data from the database based on its policies. The returned data may be an averaged set of data from all of the users, or a mixture of the complete data for some users and aggregated data over the full set of users.
There will be an end user interface whereby an end user can authenticate and communicate with the central coordination unit. An end user may send a notification via the end user client to update his privacy settings, which will be logged in the data aggregation engine. He may also submit information via an update request that he has completed a certain mission, and may include proof of his completion of the mission. This information will be logged in the gamification engine. As a result of sending a notification that he has completed a mission he may be given a response message that he has earned a reward based on the policies in the rewards engine.
ALGORITHM
The invention contains a signal processing engine, which takes input from the sensors and outputs quantitative measures that can be used for the logic decision algorithm.
The signal processing flow diagram describes how signal is processed by different processing blocs before reaching the logic decision algorithm. The accelerometer and gyroscope measurements provides the raw data for of the signal processing blocs. The signal processing engine may also take the information from other sensors such as proximity or heat sensor as inputs of the processing blocks. The periodic signal detection bloc cross-correlates the acceleration signals with 1-2 Hz sinusoidal signal to detect the presence of periodic signal that resembles walking or running. The signal power calculation performs the sum of the square of the acceleration signals and gyroscope signal over a period of time using a sliding window. When the user is running, this value is high; when the user is walking, the value is medium-high;
when the user is standing, the value is average; when the user is sitting, the value is low. The value would reach zero when the sensor badge unit is not worn by anyone. The external force detection reacts to the transitions of acceleration and gyroscope measurements. When vertical and horizontal transition sensed matches what the sensors would measure when a person sits down and stands up, it adds to the likelihood in the detection of such a transition. The data fusion engine takes all the measurement and calculates an accurate estimate of the orientation of the sensor badge unit, expressed in Euler angles. It uses data fusion algorithms such as but not limited to Kalman filter to fuse the data together.
The sensor badge unit may contain parts or the whole of the signal processing flow diagram. The remaining parts may be found in the end user client device.
I Proximity Sensor Acceleration Gyroscope Heat Sensor Measurement I Measurement Measurement I Measruement = =
Periodic Signal Signal Power Calculation External Force Detection Data Fusion Engine Detection V V V
Presence of User's Presence of Vertical Signal Power Euler Angles Displacement transition = V =
Walking! Running State Active! Idle Sitti ng/Sta nd ing State Detection State Detection Detection Figure 2 Signal Processing Engine, Signal Flow Diagram The invention contains an algorithm of activity state detection logic. One possible embodiment of activity state detection logic is described below. When the sensor badge unit is first turned on, it goes into the "confused state" where the activity state is not yet determined. The sensor badge unit starts sensing and processing the signal. If the signal has a very low energy level, it is likely not worn by an user, and the state goes into "Resting State". In the case where the proximity or heat sensor is present, the measurements of these sensors would contribute to the decision of "Resting State"
detection.
If the signal is of high or very high level, and a low-frequency, 1-2 Hz of sinusoidal component is detected, the user is likely to be walking or running. The difference between walking and running is that when we run, each step produces a much higher impact acceleration that would be captured by the accelerometer.
The detection of sitting and standing rely first on the combination of whether upward or downward transition curve has been detected, second on the orientation of the sensor badge unit.
First, when the sensor badge unit is worn on the waist of the user, the act of sitting on an object or standing up would move the sensor badge unit following a particular curved trajectory traced by the user's hip. If the trajectory matches a pre-calibrated standing trajectory, then the state changes from sitting to standing, or vise versa. If the trajectory doesn't match, then the sensed transition is likely noise and not cause by sitting or standing.
Second, when the sensor badge unit is worn on the waist of the user, the act of sitting down would make the sensor badge unit change orientation because when sitting, the user's thighs are folded at the hip.
This change of orientation would be able to further confirm the sitting and standing state.
To further reduce faulty detection of the activity's state, the sensor badge unit may incorporate calibration routines, where the user performs a few times of standing, sitting, running and walking activities. The calibration routine will be able to provide a set of precise detection threshold for each activity state detection.
OFF
Turn on, go into confused state.
Start Sensing 4( __________________________ No the signals have low ener: . Yes-1 Resting State ¨
No Are there small sinusoida Yes _____________________________ 11 Walking State H
vibrations No Are there large sinusoidal ____________________________ Yes ___ Running State ¨
vibrations with impacts No Standing Transition Detected? Yes _____________ 1 Standing State (Hard) ¨
No I as a sitting transition ____________________________ Yes __ 11 Sitting (Hard) detected?
No -111211 Yes ________________ 11 Standing (Soft) I---' No Sitting State (Soft) APPARATUS
The invention contains the apparatus used to attach the sensor badge unit to common variations of access badges. The invention contains apparatus that may be used in the following four common ways in which a user may wear an access badge. These four common ways are illustrated in the following figure:
I 11) Figure 3 - Common Variations of Access Badge Use In the preceding figure, from left to right, the variations are as follows: An access badge attached to a user near the belt region, attached on the wrist of a person, attached on a lanyard around the neck of a person, clipped onto the garments of a person such as near their chest.
In one embodiment, the sensor badge unit may be placed in a custom sleeve unit that encases the sensor badge unit. The sleeve unit will have the same holes that allow the clip, or lanyard attachment to attach to the sleeve. The sleeve will house the sensor badge unit in addition to the access badge card.
In another embodiment, the sensor badge unit will have a flat side to it. On the flat side of the sensor badge unit an adhesive will be placed such that the sensor badge unit can attached to the existing plastic sleeve of access badges, or it could be attached using an adhesive to the access card itself.
Figure 4 - The sensor badge unit attached using an adhesive In another embodiment, the sensor badge unit can be attached to the sleeve of the sensor badge unit using an external shell. The access badge and existing sleeve will be pressed onto the external shell. The external shell will be dimensioned such that doing so will allow the badge to click into place such that the external shell and the access badge will be held together. The following figure shows an example of the front and back of this embodiment:
AND REDUCTION OF HEALTH RISKS
ABSTRACT
Methods and apparatus for the detection and reduction of health risks are described. A method for the detection and reduction of health risks includes a central coordination system receiving requests to store data from a sensor badge unit that is being worn by end users. The request data may include raw sensor data and state information about the end user. Additionally the central coordination system receives requests from clients to access the data stored. The central coordination system applies aggregation policies based on the credentials of the requesting user. The central coordination unit additionally stores a list of challenges and rewards. The central coordination system sends a message to the user client device containing the challenges and confirmation of certain rewards when the activity of the end user reaches certain thresholds. These thresholds, the rewards, and the challenges may be added via the employer interface, or via the insurance company interface. These challenges may be pushed to clients, and clients may request challenges. Included are the apparatus to attach the sensor unit to the access badge of an end user, the apparatus to send the data to the central coordination system, and the methods to process and store the data.
THE INVENTION RELATES TO METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR DETECTION AND
REDUCTION OF HEALTH RISKS
The invention relates to methods and apparatus for the detection and reduction of health risks to the end users by recording transitions between sitting, standing, walking, running, biking, and other activities and aggregating the data to transmit to insurance companies, employers of end users and end users.
Example Embodiments of End User Clients t_ix)R) Insurance Company Sensor Badge Client V ____________________________________________________________________ Central Sensor Badge #11.111+
Coordination System +11114 Employer Company Client A ______________________________ Other Third Party Sensor Badge Client The invention consists of a sensor badge unit, which collects data from a combination of sensors that may include a gyroscope, an accelerometer, a proximity sensor, a heat sensor, and may include other sensors.
The sensor badge unit may additionally contain a processing unit, memory unit, a power source including a battery and charging circuitry, and Tx/Rx circuitry such as Bluetooth or Wi-Fl. The gyroscope and the accelerometer may provide information on the orientation, the movement and the activity level of the user. The proximity sensor and the heat sensor may be used to determine if the sensor badge unit is worn by the user. The memory unit may be used to store the raw or the processed data while waiting for synchronization. The Tx/Rx circuitry synchronizes the data to the end user client device for additional processing or longer term storage. The Tx/Rx circuitry may shut down after a certain duration of inactivity to save energy.
The sensor badge unit contains a battery and a charging circuity. The battery may be recharged using wired connection or wireless charging. It may contain energy harvesting circuitry such to gather energy over methods such as, but not limited to, movements, vibration, solar energy or RF signals such as IV, cellular network or Wi-Fi.
In one embodiment of the sensor badge unit, the processor collects data from all the sensors and performs calculation to determine the position and the activity level of the user, and send the resulting data to the central coordination system for processing. The processing may include the algorithms described in this document.
In another embodiment of the sensor badge unit it collects and packages the data and submits it to the end user client device for processing instead of doing it locally, or it collects data and submits the data to the user client device, who will subsequently pass the data to the central coordination system for processing.
The sensor badge unit sends a request to the central coordination system to store the sensor data. The request may be directly from the sensor badge unit, or it may use the end user client device as a proxy.
Sensing Badge Unit Heat Sensor I Accelerometer Gyroscope TX/TRX
Proximity Sensor --)10- Processor -4(-)r.
circuitry A
Memo Battery + Charging I Energy Harvesting ry Circuitry I Circuitry The invention consists of an end user client device, which may receive data from the sensor badge unit via a Tx/Rx unit. The Tx/Rx unit may be Bluetooth, Wi-Fl, Near Field Communication (NFC), Zigbee or other wireless communication technology. The end user client device should forward the data to the central coordination system. If there is no network available when the end user client device receives the data from the sensor badge unit, then it may store the data temporarily until a network connection to the central coordination system can be found. The end user client device, may be a smartphone or tablet, or smart watch, or similar wearable device. The end user client may consist of a processing unit, a memory unit, external peripherals such as a camera, microphone, speaker, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, an operating system such and Android, iOS or a similar mobile operating system.
The end user client device may receive raw data from the sensor badge unit. In this event the end user device may process the data. The processing may include the algorithms described in this document. It will then transmit the processed data to the central coordination system immediately, or it may store the data into internal memory before transmitting to the central processing unit after some time.
The end user client device may have some software that establishes a connection with the central coordination system and the sensor badge system and that may serve as a user interface. The software, such as a mobile app, or desktop software, or web script may display to the end user the gamification requests stored internally, or served to the end user.
Central Coordination Unit Data Gamification Reward Aggregation Engine Engine Engine ____________________ 44 El, _____ Data Science ziõ,..--......\
Logic Engine Engine -414--100- \--- --/ Database Management System /
API
Figure 1 Central Coordination System The invention consists of a central coordination unit. The central coordination unit receives a request to store data from an end user. The data may come directly from the sensor badge unit, or it may come via the end client user device as a proxy. The data may come processed or unprocessed. If the data comes unprocessed, then the logic engine should process the data. The data processing may include any of the algorithms in this document.
The central coordination unit contains a logic engine which decides what to do with the requests that it receives. It may decide to store the data in the central coordination unit's database management system, or it may send the data to the data science engine or the data aggregation engine for processing. Based on the request, the logic engine may send some data back to the client, including an aggregated subset of the data it has collected, or a challenge from the gamification engine.
The central coordination unit may process the data using the data science engine. The data science engine can be used to correlate behavior patterns between the data collected from the sensor badge unit and any other data stored in the database management system. This may include any data received from insurance companies, or data from employers or data from any other third party that is stored in the central coordination unit's database management system. It may also contain results of survey conducted by the employer or the insurance company on information such as, but no limited to, their general health, activity level, and how certain activities such as standing up at work makes them feel. The data science engine determines the match between particular behavior patterns with particular health profile. By wearing the sensor badge unit, if the user is proven to have a behavioral pattern that matches a good health profile, it can then be argued that the health insurance premium of this individual shall be lowered.
The data science engine may additionally have a fraud detection algorithm. The fraud detection algorithm after collecting data for some time may establish normal patterns of behavior.
If the results from a sensing badge device are too far from the normal behavior then the device will be flagged. The data science engine may additionally send a request to the sensing badge unit to request that the full! unprocessed data from a client be send to the central coordination unit, for further analysis by the data science engine. The sensing badge should comply with the request upon request.
The central coordination unit may filter the data to respond to a request from a client using the data aggregation engine. Clients may have access to the full data from the central coordination systems database management system, or a subset of the data, or the data must pass through an aggregation algorithm before any data is returned. The aggregation engine may have policies. These policies will respect the privacy settings of the end users with regards to access of their information.
Aggregated In su raceReal Time User Data ________ N>Aggregated Employer Data Data End User End User End User In one embodiment of the aggregation engine, the aggregation policy may be such that an end user client may get full access to the data submitted by his own device. The aggregation policy may allow the end user to receive the weekly and monthly average of the top 3 users in his company, and the weekly and monthly average of the top 3 users in the country.
In another embodiment of the aggregation engine, the aggregation policy may be such that an employer client may get access to the monthly scores of the employees who earned a reward, and no access to the data of the participants who did not score well enough to receive a reward from the reward calculation engine.
In another embodiment of the aggregation engine, the aggregation policy may be such that the insurance company client has access to the names and scores of all users who qualify for a reward based on the policy they submitted to the reward calculation engine.
In another embodiment of the aggregation engine, the end user can submit policy options that will affect the results of the aggregation engine. For example, the end user may send a request to the central coordination unit containing a policy value. When the employer client submits a request for the data, the end user's data may not be included in data that is returned to the employer client according to the policy value submitted by the end user.
The central coordination unit contains a gamification engine. The gamification engine contains a list of challenges that can be distributed to end user clients. When the central coordination unit receives data from a sensing badge unit, the gamification engine may be updated based on the state of the badge unit.
Based on the data stored in the central coordination unit's database, the gamification engine may push challenges to the end user client that the end user should complete.
Additionally, the gamification engine may notify the employer client or insurance client when a certain threshold of points has been reached.
The gamification engine may register events that are directly related to the measurements of the sensor badge unit. The gamification engine may also register events that are independent of the sensor unit badge.
In one embodiment of the gamification engine, the end user client may send a request to store an image that contains evidence of completing a mission. The gamification engine may wait for approval from some form of verification such as human verification or the results of a verification algorithm to confirm that the user has completed the mission. In one embodiment of the gamification engine, the end user client may send additional data points such as GPS coordinates, information collected via Bluetooth, or Wi-Fi, NFC, or any other peripheral sensor from the end user client device. These may apply to the gamification engine.
The central coordination unit contains a rewards engine. The rewards engine contains a list of rewards that the employers and the insurance companies are willing to give to people who complete a threshold of missions from the gamification engine, or whose risk is below a certain amount as calculated by the data science engine. The list of rewards can be stored in the database of the central coordination unit, and the control logic can initiate a notification to the end users, the employers and the insurance companies when a threshold has been reached and a reward is to be dispersed.
The employers and insurance companies may have limits as to how many rewards can be dispersed.
In this case the rewards engine will be responsible for maintaining a ledger of the stock of how many rewards remain and can be dispersed. These rewards provide incentives to the users to improve their behavior in terms of being more active, measured by increases in the amount of time spent running, walking, standing, and in reductions in the amount of time spent sitting.
There will be an insurance company interface whereby an insurance company can authenticate and communicate with the central coordination unit. The insurance company may send a request to the central coordination unit informing it that it has a reward available, and the conditions upon which the reward will be dispersed. Additionally the insurance company may send a request to the central coordination for information. In response to the request for information, the logic engine will initiate a query to the database for the requested information. The data aggregation engine will filter the data from the database based on its policies. The returned data may be an averaged set of data from all of the users, or a mixture of the complete data for some users and aggregated data over the full set of users.
There will be an employer interface whereby an employer can authenticate and communicate with the central coordination unit. The employer may send a request to the central coordination unit informing it that it has a reward available, and the conditions upon which the reward will be dispersed. Additionally the employer may send a request to the central coordination for information.
In response to the request for information, the logic engine will initiate a query to the database for the requested information. The data aggregation engine will filter the data from the database based on its policies. The returned data may be an averaged set of data from all of the users, or a mixture of the complete data for some users and aggregated data over the full set of users.
There will be an end user interface whereby an end user can authenticate and communicate with the central coordination unit. An end user may send a notification via the end user client to update his privacy settings, which will be logged in the data aggregation engine. He may also submit information via an update request that he has completed a certain mission, and may include proof of his completion of the mission. This information will be logged in the gamification engine. As a result of sending a notification that he has completed a mission he may be given a response message that he has earned a reward based on the policies in the rewards engine.
ALGORITHM
The invention contains a signal processing engine, which takes input from the sensors and outputs quantitative measures that can be used for the logic decision algorithm.
The signal processing flow diagram describes how signal is processed by different processing blocs before reaching the logic decision algorithm. The accelerometer and gyroscope measurements provides the raw data for of the signal processing blocs. The signal processing engine may also take the information from other sensors such as proximity or heat sensor as inputs of the processing blocks. The periodic signal detection bloc cross-correlates the acceleration signals with 1-2 Hz sinusoidal signal to detect the presence of periodic signal that resembles walking or running. The signal power calculation performs the sum of the square of the acceleration signals and gyroscope signal over a period of time using a sliding window. When the user is running, this value is high; when the user is walking, the value is medium-high;
when the user is standing, the value is average; when the user is sitting, the value is low. The value would reach zero when the sensor badge unit is not worn by anyone. The external force detection reacts to the transitions of acceleration and gyroscope measurements. When vertical and horizontal transition sensed matches what the sensors would measure when a person sits down and stands up, it adds to the likelihood in the detection of such a transition. The data fusion engine takes all the measurement and calculates an accurate estimate of the orientation of the sensor badge unit, expressed in Euler angles. It uses data fusion algorithms such as but not limited to Kalman filter to fuse the data together.
The sensor badge unit may contain parts or the whole of the signal processing flow diagram. The remaining parts may be found in the end user client device.
I Proximity Sensor Acceleration Gyroscope Heat Sensor Measurement I Measurement Measurement I Measruement = =
Periodic Signal Signal Power Calculation External Force Detection Data Fusion Engine Detection V V V
Presence of User's Presence of Vertical Signal Power Euler Angles Displacement transition = V =
Walking! Running State Active! Idle Sitti ng/Sta nd ing State Detection State Detection Detection Figure 2 Signal Processing Engine, Signal Flow Diagram The invention contains an algorithm of activity state detection logic. One possible embodiment of activity state detection logic is described below. When the sensor badge unit is first turned on, it goes into the "confused state" where the activity state is not yet determined. The sensor badge unit starts sensing and processing the signal. If the signal has a very low energy level, it is likely not worn by an user, and the state goes into "Resting State". In the case where the proximity or heat sensor is present, the measurements of these sensors would contribute to the decision of "Resting State"
detection.
If the signal is of high or very high level, and a low-frequency, 1-2 Hz of sinusoidal component is detected, the user is likely to be walking or running. The difference between walking and running is that when we run, each step produces a much higher impact acceleration that would be captured by the accelerometer.
The detection of sitting and standing rely first on the combination of whether upward or downward transition curve has been detected, second on the orientation of the sensor badge unit.
First, when the sensor badge unit is worn on the waist of the user, the act of sitting on an object or standing up would move the sensor badge unit following a particular curved trajectory traced by the user's hip. If the trajectory matches a pre-calibrated standing trajectory, then the state changes from sitting to standing, or vise versa. If the trajectory doesn't match, then the sensed transition is likely noise and not cause by sitting or standing.
Second, when the sensor badge unit is worn on the waist of the user, the act of sitting down would make the sensor badge unit change orientation because when sitting, the user's thighs are folded at the hip.
This change of orientation would be able to further confirm the sitting and standing state.
To further reduce faulty detection of the activity's state, the sensor badge unit may incorporate calibration routines, where the user performs a few times of standing, sitting, running and walking activities. The calibration routine will be able to provide a set of precise detection threshold for each activity state detection.
OFF
Turn on, go into confused state.
Start Sensing 4( __________________________ No the signals have low ener: . Yes-1 Resting State ¨
No Are there small sinusoida Yes _____________________________ 11 Walking State H
vibrations No Are there large sinusoidal ____________________________ Yes ___ Running State ¨
vibrations with impacts No Standing Transition Detected? Yes _____________ 1 Standing State (Hard) ¨
No I as a sitting transition ____________________________ Yes __ 11 Sitting (Hard) detected?
No -111211 Yes ________________ 11 Standing (Soft) I---' No Sitting State (Soft) APPARATUS
The invention contains the apparatus used to attach the sensor badge unit to common variations of access badges. The invention contains apparatus that may be used in the following four common ways in which a user may wear an access badge. These four common ways are illustrated in the following figure:
I 11) Figure 3 - Common Variations of Access Badge Use In the preceding figure, from left to right, the variations are as follows: An access badge attached to a user near the belt region, attached on the wrist of a person, attached on a lanyard around the neck of a person, clipped onto the garments of a person such as near their chest.
In one embodiment, the sensor badge unit may be placed in a custom sleeve unit that encases the sensor badge unit. The sleeve unit will have the same holes that allow the clip, or lanyard attachment to attach to the sleeve. The sleeve will house the sensor badge unit in addition to the access badge card.
In another embodiment, the sensor badge unit will have a flat side to it. On the flat side of the sensor badge unit an adhesive will be placed such that the sensor badge unit can attached to the existing plastic sleeve of access badges, or it could be attached using an adhesive to the access card itself.
Figure 4 - The sensor badge unit attached using an adhesive In another embodiment, the sensor badge unit can be attached to the sleeve of the sensor badge unit using an external shell. The access badge and existing sleeve will be pressed onto the external shell. The external shell will be dimensioned such that doing so will allow the badge to click into place such that the external shell and the access badge will be held together. The following figure shows an example of the front and back of this embodiment:
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA2914071A CA2914071A1 (en) | 2015-12-07 | 2015-12-07 | Methods and aparatus for the detection and reduction of health risks |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA2914071A CA2914071A1 (en) | 2015-12-07 | 2015-12-07 | Methods and aparatus for the detection and reduction of health risks |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2914071A1 true CA2914071A1 (en) | 2017-06-07 |
Family
ID=59011379
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| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA2914071A Abandoned CA2914071A1 (en) | 2015-12-07 | 2015-12-07 | Methods and aparatus for the detection and reduction of health risks |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA2914071A1 (en) |
-
2015
- 2015-12-07 CA CA2914071A patent/CA2914071A1/en not_active Abandoned
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