Systems for collecting thermal measurements of the face

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10113913-B2
Application number	US-201615284528-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 3, 2016
Priority date	Oct 3, 2015
Publication date	Oct 30, 2018
Grant date	Oct 30, 2018

Abstract

This disclosure describes various systems for collecting thermal measurements of regions of a user's face. Each of the systems includes a frame configured to be worn on the user's head, and one or more lightweight thermal cameras that are coupled to the frame and configured to take thermal measurements of a region of interest on the user's face. Due to their coupling to the frame, the thermal cameras remain pointed at their respective regions of interest even when the user's head performs angular movements. The thermal measurements collected by some embodiments of the systems described herein may be utilized for a variety of applications that involve detecting different types of physiological responses or medical disorders.

First claim

We claim:

1. A system configured to take thermal measurements indicative of a physiological response, comprising:
a frame configured to be worn on a user's head;
first, second, third, and fourth thermal cameras, which are physically coupled to the frame; wherein the frame is configured to hold the first, second, third, and fourth thermal cameras less than 15 cm away from the user's face;
the first and third thermal cameras are located to the right of the vertical symmetry axis that divides the face; the second and fourth thermal cameras are located to the left of the vertical symmetry axis; and the third and fourth thermal cameras are located at least 1 cm below the first and second thermal cameras, respectively;
the first thermal camera is configured to take thermal measurements of a first region of interest (TH ROI1 ), wherein ROI 1 covers a portion of the right side of the user's forehead;
the second thermal camera is configured to take thermal measurements of a second ROI (TH ROI2 ), wherein ROI 2 covers a portion of the left side of the forehead;
the third thermal camera is configured to take thermal measurements of a third ROI (THR OI3 ), wherein ROI 3 covers a portion of the right side of the user's upper lip; and
the fourth thermal camera is configured to take thermal measurements of a fourth ROI (TH ROI4 ), wherein ROI 4 covers a portion of the left side of the user's upper lip.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the first, second, third, and fourth thermal cameras weighs below 5 g, and further comprising a processor configured to detect the physiological response based on TH ROI1 , TH ROI2 , TH ROI3 , and TH ROI4 .

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the physiological response is indicative of stress felt by the user.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the physiological response is indicative of an allergic reaction of the user.

5. The system of claim 2 , wherein the physiological response is indicative of a level of pain felt by the user.

6. The system of claim 2 , wherein the physiological response is indicative of an occurrence of at least one of the following emotional states of the user: fear, anxiety, guilt, pain, and sexual arousal.

7. The system of claim 2 , wherein the overlap between ROI 1 and ROI 2 is lower than 50% of the smallest area from among the areas of ROI 1 and ROI 2 , and the overlap between ROI 3 and ROI 4 is lower than 50% of the smallest area from among the areas of ROI 3 and ROI 4 .

8. The system of claim 2 , wherein there is no overlap between ROI 1 and ROI 2 , and there is no overlap between ROI 3 and ROI 4 .

9. The system of claim 2 , wherein the processor is further configured to compare one or more values derived from TH ROI1 , TH ROI2 , TH ROI3 , and TH ROI4 to a threshold, and to determine whether the threshold is reached; whereby the one or more values reaching the threshold is indicative that the user had the physiological response.

10. The system of claim 2 , wherein the processor is further configured to calculate a value indicative of a similarity between a reference time series corresponding to the physiological response and a time series based on TH ROI1 , TH ROI2 , TH ROI3 , and TH ROI4 ; whereby the similarity reaching a threshold is indicative that the user had the physiological response.

11. The system of claim 2 , wherein the processor is further configured to generate feature values based on TH ROI1 , TH ROI2 TH ROI3 , and TH ROI4 , and to utilize a machine learning-based model to calculate, based on the feature values, a value indicative of whether the user had the physiological response.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the third and fourth thermal cameras are located outside the exhale streams of the mouth and nostrils, and the first, second, third and fourth thermal cameras are located less than 5 cm away from the face.

13. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a fifth thermal camera coupled to the frame, pointed at a fifth ROI (ROI 5 ), wherein ROI 5 covers a portion of the user's nose.

14. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a fifth thermal camera coupled to the frame, pointed at a fifth ROI (ROI 5 ), wherein ROI 5 covers a portion of periorbital region of the face.

15. The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the first, second, third and fourth thermal cameras is based on a thermopile sensor or a microbolometer sensor, and remains pointed at its respective ROI when the head makes angular movements above 0.1 rad/sec.

16. A method for detecting a physiological response, comprising:
receiving, by a processor, thermal measurements from a system configured to be worn on a user's head; wherein the system comprises first, second, third, and fourth thermal cameras;
the first and third thermal cameras are located to the right of the vertical symmetry axis that divides the face; the second and fourth thermal cameras are located to the left of the vertical symmetry axis; and the third and fourth thermal cameras are located at least 1 cm below the first and second thermal cameras, respectively;
the first thermal camera is configured to take thermal measurements of a first region of interest (TH ROI1 ), wherein ROI 1 covers a portion of the right side of the user's forehead;
the second thermal camera is configured to take thermal measurements of a second ROI (TH ROI2 ), wherein ROI 2 covers a portion of the left side of the forehead;
the third thermal camera is configured to take thermal measurements of a third ROI (TH ROI3 ), wherein ROI 3 covers a portion of the right side of the user's upper lip;
the fourth thermal camera is configured to take thermal measurements of a fourth ROI (TH ROI4 ), wherein ROI 4 covers a portion of the left side of the user's upper lip;
generating feature values based on TH ROI1 , TH ROI2 , TH ROI3 , and TH ROI4 ; and
utilizing, by the processor, a machine learning-based model for calculating, based on the feature values, a value indicative of whether the user had the physiological response.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein calculating the value indicative of whether the user had the physiological response comprises calculating a value indicative of at least one of the following: stress felt by the user, allergic reaction of the user, pain felt by the user, fear felt by the user, anxiety felt by the user, and sexual arousal felt by the user.

18. A method for detecting a physiological response, comprising:
receiving, by a processor, thermal measurements from a system configured to be worn on a user's head; wherein the system comprises first, second, third, and fourth thermal cameras;
the first and third thermal cameras are located to the right of the vertical symmetry axis that divides the face; the second and fourth thermal cameras are located to the left of the vertical symmetry axis; and the third and fourth thermal cameras are located at least 1 cm below the first and second thermal cameras, respectively;
the first thermal camera is configured to take thermal measurements of a first region of interest (TH ROI1 ), wherein ROI 1 covers a portion of the right side of the user's forehead;
the second thermal camera is configured to take thermal measurements of a second ROI (TH ROI2 ), wherein ROI 2 covers a portion of the left side of the forehead;
the third thermal camera is configured to take thermal measurements of a third ROI (TH ROI3 ), wherein ROI 3 covers a portion of the right side of the user's upper lip;
the fourth thermal camera is configured to take thermal measurements of a fourth ROI (TH ROI4 ), wherein ROI

Assignees

• Facense Ltd

Inventors

• Tzvieli Arie
• Frank Ari M
• Thieberger Gil

Classifications

• G16H50/70

  for mining of medical data, e.g. analysing previous cases of other patients · CPC title

• A61B5/165

  Evaluating the state of mind, e.g. depression, anxiety · CPC title

• A61B5/0077

  Devices for viewing the surface of the body, e.g. camera, magnifying lens · CPC title

• G01J5/12 Primary

  using thermoelectric elements, e.g. thermocouples · CPC title

• A61B5/4824

  Touch or pain perception evaluation (A61B5/4821 takes precedence) · CPC title