Systems, computer medium and computer-implemented methods for monitoring health of employees using mobile devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10108783-B2
Application number	US-201213540300-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 2, 2012
Priority date	Jul 5, 2011
Publication date	Oct 23, 2018
Grant date	Oct 23, 2018

Abstract

Provided are embodiments of systems, computer medium and computer-implemented methods for monitoring the health of an employee. The method including collecting health data from a set of one or more health sensors provided, on or near the employee while the employee is engaged in their work duties. The one or more health sensors configured to output health data corresponding to characteristics sensed by the sensor, the one or more health sensors comprising at least one or more biometric and biomechanic sensors configured to sense biometric and biomechanic characteristics of the employee with at least one of the one or more health sensors integrated within a mobile communications device. The health data collected being used to determine a health profile for the employee. The method including displaying, via the mobile communications device, a health report that includes the health profile for the employee.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system to monitor health of an employee in a work environment, the system comprising:
a communications network;
a health database connected to the communications network, the database storing health information for one or more employees;
a set of one or more health sensors configured to sense health characteristics of the employee, and to output health sensor data corresponding to the health characteristics sensed by the set of one or more health sensors, the set of one or more health sensors comprising
a pair of work gloves comprising:
hand force sensors comprising a right hand force sensor located in a right work glove of the pair of work gloves to be worn on a right hand of the employee and a left hand force sensor located in a left work glove of the pair of work gloves to be worn on a left hand of the employee, the right hand force sensor configured to sense a force at the right hand of the employee, the left hand force sensor configured to sense a force at the left hand of the employee, and the hand force sensors configured to output hand force data indicative of the force at the right hand of the employee sensed and the force at the left hand of the employee sensed; and
hand position sensors comprising a right hand position sensor located in the right work glove and a left hand position sensor located in the left work glove of the pair of work gloves, the right hand position sensor configured to sense a position of the right hand of the employee, the left hand position sensor configured to sense a position of the left hand of the employee, and the hand position sensors configured to output hand position data indicative of the position of the right hand of the employee sensed and the position of the left hand of the employee sensed; and

a pair of work footwear comprising:
foot force sensors comprising a right foot force sensor located in a right work footwear of the pair of work footwear to be worn on a right foot of the employee and a left foot force sensor located in a left footwear of the pair of work footwear to be worn on a left foot of the employee, the right foot force sensor configured to sense a force at the right foot of the employee, the left foot force sensor configured to sense a force at the left foot of the employee, and the foot force sensors configured to output foot force data indicative of the force at the right foot of the employee sensed and the force at the left foot of the employee sensed; and
foot position sensors comprising a right foot position sensor located in the right work footwear and a left foot position sensor located in the left work footwear of the pair of work footwear, the right foot position sensor configured to sense a position of the right foot of the employee, the left foot position sensor configured to sense a position of the left foot of the employee, and the foot position sensors configured to output foot position data indicative of the position of the right foot of the employee sensed and the position of the left foot of the employee sensed,

the health sensor data comprising:
force data indicating a force exerted by the employee, the force data comprising the hand force data and the foot force data; and
position data indicating a body position of the employee, the position data comprising the hand position data and the foot position data;

a mobile communications device connected to the communications network, the mobile communications device configured to collect the health sensor data from the set of one or more health sensors and to output health data corresponding to the health sensor data collected from the set of one or more health sensors, the mobile communications device comprising at least one of the one or more health sensors integrated therein to sense at least one biometric or biomechanic characteristic for the employee; and
a health server connected to the communications network, the health server configured to:
receive, from the mobile communications device via the communications network, the health data output by the mobile communications device;
determine, based on the health data received, that the employee engaged in a physical exertion defined by the force exerted by the employee and the body position of the employee;
compare the force exerted by the employee to a predefined threshold force to determine that the force exerted by the employee is above the predefined threshold force;
compare the body position of the employee to a predefined body position to determine that the body position of the employee deviates from the predefined body position;
determine a predicted physical injury based on the determination that the force exerted by the employee is above the predefined threshold force and the body position of the employee deviates from the predefined body position;
determine, based on the health data received, a health profile for the employee, the health profile comprising one or more predicted health issues and at least one of health characteristics, health conditions, health risks and health plans for the employee determined based on the health data received, wherein each of the one or more predicted health issues comprises a health issue that is determined, based on the health data, to be a potential health issue which is not being experienced by the employee at a current time, but is predicted, based on the health data, to escalate into an actual health issue which will be experienced by the employee at a future time, and wherein the one more predicted health issues comprise the predicted physical injury;
update the health information stored in the health database to reflect the health profile for the employee; and
serve, to the mobile communications device for display to the employee via a graphical display of the mobile communications device, health report content comprising at least one of the health characteristics, the health conditions, the health risks and the health plans of the health profile for the employee, and content indicative of the one or more predicted health issues;

the mobile communications device being further configured to display the health report content, including the content indicative of the one or more predicted health issues, such that the employee is alerted to the one or more predicted health issues via the graphical employee interface of the mobile communications device used to collect the health sensor data and is afforded an opportunity to address the one or more predicted health issues prior to the one or more predicted health issues escalating into an actual health issue.

2. A system according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one of the set of one or more health sensors integrated within the mobile communication device comprises a sensor pad comprising one or more conductive contacts configured to sense at least one biometric or biomechanic characteristic of the employee via physical contact between skin of the employee and the one or more conductive contacts.

3. A system according to claim 1 , wherein the mobile communication device comprises a handheld mobile communications device, wherein the at least one of the set of one or more health sensors integrated within the mobile communication device comprises a body fat sensor comprising a sensor pad, wherein the sensor pad comprises two conductive contacts physically integrated within a body of the mobile communication device and configured to be grasped by the employee's right and left hands during use, wherein the mobile communications device is configured to take a resistance measurement across the two conductive contacts while the two conductive contacts are grasped by the employee's right and left hands such that the resistance measurement is indicative of a body fat of the employee across the employee's right and left hands, and wherein the health sens

Assignees

• Horseman Samantha J
• Saudi Arabian Oil Co

Inventors

• Horseman Samantha J

Classifications

• A61B5/0022

  Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet · CPC title

• G06F19/3418 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• A61B5/1038

  Measuring plantar pressure during gait · CPC title

• A61B5/0002

  Remote monitoring of patients using telemetry, e.g. transmission of vital signals via a communication network (endoradiosondes A61B5/07) · CPC title

• G16H40/67 Primary

  for remote operation · CPC title