WO2021112805A1

WO2021112805A1 - An antiseptic system

Info

Publication number: WO2021112805A1
Application number: PCT/TR2020/051208
Authority: WO
Inventors: Gökhan SİLAHTAROĞLU; Mesut YILMAZ
Original assignee: Istanbul Medipol Universitesi
Priority date: 2019-12-06
Filing date: 2020-12-02
Publication date: 2021-06-10
Also published as: TR201919445A2

Abstract

The invention is related to an antiseptic system (1) that recognizes each personnel by using the biometric parameters of their hands in places such as particularly hospitals, food production and service centers and thereby measures the hand hygiene frequency of personnel. The system (1) recognizes the person from his/her hand biometry, measures the frequency of disinfection carried out by the personnel, enables communication between dispensers (5) using wireless network technology, and monitors the personnel; enables to warn the personnel by means of the communication of dispensers (5) established with each other and the main recording center (3) and forms a reporting infrastructure by establishing a correlation between antiseptic usage and work load via a reporting module (4), reduces the risk of infection and contributes to hygiene.

Description

AN ANTISEPTIC SYSTEM

Technical Field

The invention is related to an antiseptic system that is used in places such as particularly hospitals, food production and service centers, which recognizes and identifies each personnel by using the biometric parameters of their hands, and thereby measures the hand hygiene frequency of personnel.

Prior Art

The usage of hand antiseptics is crucial in order to prevent the spreading of infections in food production centers, food service areas, open sea passenger ships and health institutions where asepsis or hygiene is very important. Providing the necessary precautions and motivation for antiseptic applications for the hands of the employees in organizations such as those mentioned above has always been a problem.

Managers try various methods in order to report the frequency of hand sanitization with antiseptics of personnel employed in health institutions, however such methods are time consuming, they need extra manpower and therefore they are expensive and they are labor- intensive solutions.

The most prevalent role used for antiseptic application to the hands of the personnel is to motivate the personnel by informing them or training them. However, the reporting and feedback of giving information is not available. Although measuring the usage amount of hand antiseptics is another measurement method, measuring usage by personnel is not possible as said antiseptics are used by people other than personnel in places that are open to public, such as health care centres.

Different methods have been tried such as observing the personnel in hospitals by open or unidentified secret observers and monitoirng the personnel through cameras with complete or partial sampling and keeping reports. These methods are time consuming, open to prejudice, difficult and expensive.

Due to all of these reasons, nowadays configurations are required to recognize each personnel by using the biometric parameters of their hands and thereby measure the frequency of hand hygiene carried out by the personnel. In the patent application document numbered US8742932B2 in literature, the same process can be performed that controls the antiseptic use of the personnel by face recognition. However, face recognition is not possible in jobs where people wear masks. At the same time, monitoring people who are not employees was deemed as invasion of their privacy or it may be perceived as such.

As a result, due to the disadvantages mentioned above, and due to the present solutions being insufficient, an improvement was required to be carried out in the related technical field.

Aims of the Invention

The invention aims to solve the disadvantages mentioned above by forming a system after being inspired by the present problems.

The aim of the invention is to enable recognition of each personnel by using the biometric parameters of their hands and thereby measuring the frequency of hand hygiene carried out by the personnel.

The structural and characteristic properties of the invention and all of its advantages shall be more clearly understood by means of the figures and the detailed description provided below by referring to said figures and therefore if an evaluation is to be carried out, it needs to be done so, by taking into consideration the attached figures and the detailed description.

Figures describing the invention

Figure 1 , is the schematic view of the system subject to the invention.

Description of the part references

1. Antiseptic system

2. RFID reader

3. Main recording center

4. Reporting module

5. Dispenser

6. Sensor

7. Camera

8. Tap

9. Hand recognition module

10. Control unit Detailed Description of the Invention

In this detailed description, the preferred embodiments of the antiseptic system (1) subject to the invention, have been described only to clarify the subject matter of the invention.

The invention is related to an antiseptic system (1) that recognizes each personnel by using the biometric parameters of their hands, in places such as particularly hospitals, food production and service centers and thereby measures the hand hygiene frequency of personnel.

The system (1) subject to the invention whose schematic view is illustrated in Figure 1 comprises,

¨ a RFID reader (2) that reads the RFID tag on the personnel cards,

¨ A main recording center (3) that records the hand records and names of the personnel in accordance with the RFID tag, that uses the SQL or NoSQL database, and that saves the hand disinfection processes of the personnel with a time stamp,

¨ a reporting module (4) that converts the information obtained at the main recording center (3) to summarized manager reports and thereby establishes relations between antiseptic usage and workload and creates a reporting infrastructure,

¨ a dispenser (5) that enables the usage of the hand antiseptic in order to prevent the spreading of infection,

¨ a sensor (6) that detects the hand that is placed below the dispenser (5) in order for the antiseptic to be poured thereon,

¨ a camera (7) that starts to receive images following the sensing carried out by the sensor (6),

¨ a tap (8) that pours the antiseptic onto the palm of the personnel as a result of the submission of an image receipt signal delivered from the camera (7),

¨ a hand recognition module (9) that receives the image from the camera (7), that maps out the hand shape of the person, using the dispenser (5), that compares the hand shape with the records located at the main recording center (3), that detects if the person using the dispenser (5) is one of the personnel or not following comparison and warns the dispenser (5) if the person using the dispenser (5) is a personnel or not, according to the detection results, and sends the detection results to the main recording center (3) to enable to keep the records of usage of the dispenser (5) by the personnel and

¨ a control unit (10) that enables the settings on the dispenser (5) to be made. The system (1) subject to the invention;

¨ Recognizes the person from their hand biometry,

¨ Measures the disinfection frequency of the personnel,

¨ Enables communication between the dispensers (5) through wireless technology and monitors the personnel,

¨ Ensures warning of the personnel by establishing communication between the smart antiseptic dispensers (5) and between said dispensers and the main recording center (3),

¨ Forms a reporting infrastructure by establishing a correlation between antiseptic usage and workload via a reporting module (4),

¨ Reduces the risk of infection and

¨ Contributes to hygiene.

A sensor (5) is available below the dispensers (5) that are located in the system (1). When a hand is placed under the dispenser (5), the sensor (6) detects that and it actuates the camera (7). When the camera (7) submits the signal of “receiving the image” the tap (8) is opened and antiseptic is discharged on the hand of the person.

The dispenser (5) has an antiseptic discharging setting and the person is warned by light or sounds in line with the information received from the RFID reader (2) and the hand recognition module (9).

The dispenser (5) is connected to the main recording center (3) and other dispensers (5) that are close-by by via a graph based connection.

The dispenser (5) has two types, on being a BEDSIDE dispenser and the other being STANDARD. The BEDSIDE dispenser (5), has a structure that determines if it needs to be used by the personnel, in addition to the properties of the STANDARD dispenser (5). This property operates depending on the messages received from the nearest dispenser (5) and the time that has lapsed following the last used dispenser (5). This time is entered by the user (for example 90 seconds). This property can be obtained by means of the control unit (10) that is mounted on the dispenser (5) and the automation located in the main recording center (3).

The camera (7) captures the hand image, and it sends the signal of “receipt of the image” to the dispenser (5) and the image to the hand recognition module (9). The RFID reader (2) reads the RFID label on the personnel cards and notifies the personnel to the closest BEDSIDE dispenser (5). The closest BEDSIDE dispenser (5) learns if the personnel have disinfected his/her hands from the main recording center (3) and it waits for the answer. Additionally, the dispenser (5) calculates the lapse of time. Following this, the dispenser (5) calculates if a reasonable amount of time has passed following the latest disinfection process. This time is entered by means of the control unit (10) that is mounted on the dispenser (5) and the automation located in the main recording center (3). After this time is completed, the dispenser (5) goes into warning mode.

In the system subject to the invention, the sensor (6) is responsible for the circuit on-off duty and the tap (8) is responsible for the discharging of the antiseptic onto the hands of the user.

The hand recognition module (9) first of all receives the images from the camera (7). The hand recognition module (9) applies a boundary tracing or contour tracing algorithm on the image and draws the hand shape of the person. The hand recognition module (9) determines that the palm is facing up or down and it draws two different images. In order to carry out this process the hand recognition module (9) uses the below mentioned parameters.

¨ If there are nails at the tips of the fingers or not

¨ Thumb position

¨ If there are palm lines on the hand

Following this the hand recognition module (9) uses the below given parameters and digitalizes the hand shape (Drawing a hand biometry).

¨ Angle between the fingers

¨ The ratio of the thickness of the little finger to the thickness of the thumb

¨ The ratio of the length of the ring finger to the length of the middle finger

¨ The ratio of the length of the index finger to the length of the middle finger

¨ The ratio of the width of the palm to the length of the middle finger

At the end of the processes the hand recognition module (9) normalizes all values. At the end of the normalization process, the hand recognition module (9) compares this hand with the other hands that are recorded at the main recording center (3) (uses similarity or Euclid distance).

At the end of these processes, the hand recognition module (9) determines if the hand belongs to recorded personnel.

If the hand belongs to recorded personnel, the positive warning sign is lit up on the dispenser (5) and the antiseptic is discharged from the tap (8). Moreover, the time stamp for those personnel is carried out at the main recording center (3) with the antiseptic number.

If the hand does not belong to some recorded personnel, the dispenser (5) lights up with a negative warning and either enables discharging of the antiseptic from the tap (8) in accordance with the predefined data or prevents said antiseptic from being discharged.

The main recording center (3) keeps the hand records and names of the personnel using an SQL or NoSQL database. The main recording center (3) additionally stores the hand disinfection processes of the personnel with a time stamp.

The reporting module (4) converts the information at the main recording centers (3) into summarized manager reports.

Claims

1. An antiseptic system (1) that recognizes each personnel by using the biometric parameters of their hands, in places such as particularly hospitals, food production and service centers and thereby measures the hand hygiene frequency of personnel, characterized by comprising;

¨ a RFID reader (2) that reads the RFID tag on the personnel cards,

¨ A main recording center (3) that records the hand records and names of the personnel conforming to the RFID tags, that uses the SQL or NoSQL database, and that saves the hand disinfection processes of the personnel with a time stamp,

¨ a dispenser (5) that enables the use of the hand antiseptic in order to prevent the spreading of infection,

¨ a hand recognition module (9) that receives the image from the camera (7), that maps out the hand shape of the person, that compares the hand shape with the records located at the main recording center (3), that detects if the person using the dispenser (5) is a personnel or not following comparison and warns the dispenser (5) if the person using the dispenser (5) is a personnel or not by sending the detection results to the dispenser (5), and sends the detection results to the main recording center (3) to enable to keep the records of usage of the dispenser (5) by the personnel and

¨ a control unit (10) that enables the settings on the dispenser (5).

2. A system (1) according to claim 1 , characterized in that it comprises a dispenser (5) submits a warning to the person by light or sounds in accordance with the information received from the RFID reader (2) and the hand recognition module (9).

3. A system (1) according to claim 1 , characterized in that it comprises a dispenser (5) that is connected to the main recording center (3) and other dispensers (5) that are close by, by means of a graph based connection.

4. A system (1) according to claim 1 , characterized in that it comprises two types of dispensers (5), on being a STANDARD dispenser and the other being a BEDSIDE dispenser, that determines if it needs to be used by the personnel or not, depending on the messages received from the closest dispenser (5) and the time that has elapsed following the last usage (5).

5. A system (1) according to claim 4, characterized in that it comprises a control unit (10) and a main recording center (3) that enables entering of the elapsed time since the last user that has used the dispenser (5).

6. A system (1) according to claim 1 , characterized in that it comprises a dispenser (5) that receives the read receipt of the RFID tag on the personnel cards from the RFID reader (2), that learns if the personnel has disinfected his/her hands from the main recording center (3) and that waits for this information, that calculates elapsed time and therefore that calculates if a reasonable amount of time has passed since the last disinfection process, that goes into warning mode after this time is completed, and that is closest to the RFID reader (2).

7. A system (1) according to claim 6, characterized in that it comprises a control unit (10) and a main recording center (3) that enables entering of the elapsed time since the last disinfection process.

8. A system (1) according to claim 1 , characterized in that it comprises a hand recognition module (9);

¨ that receives the images from the camera (7),

¨ that captures the shape of the hand by applying a border tracking algorithm to this image,

¨ that draws out two different images by using parameters such as the presence of nails at the fingertips or not, the position of the thumb and if there are palm lines or not,

¨ that digitalizes the shape of the hand using parameters such as, the angle between the fingers, the ratio of the thickness of the little finger to the thickness of the thumb, the ratio of the length of the ring finger to the length of the middle finger, the ratio of the length of the index finger to the length of the middle finger and the ratio of the width of the palm to the length of the middle finger (Drawing a Hand Biometry) ¨ that normalizes all values, and at the end of the normalization process, compares this hand with the other hands that are recorded at the main recording center (3) (uses similarity or Euclid distance) and

¨ determines if the hand belongs to recorded personnel or not.

9. A system (1) according to claim 8, characterized in that it comprises a dispenser (5) that lights up with a positive warning and enables discharging of the antiseptic from the tap (8) if the hand recognized by the hand recognition module (9) belongs to some recorded personnel and a main recording center (3) that enters information of said personnel with a time stamp antiseptic number.

10. A system (1) according to claim 8, characterized in that it comprises a dispenser (5) that lights up with a negative warning and either enables discharging of the antiseptic from the tap (8) in accordance with the predefined data or prevents said antiseptic from being discharged if the hand recognized by the hand recognition module (9) does not belong to some recorded personnel.