Methods and systems for improving infection control in a facility

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11626004-B2
Application number	US-202217696129-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 16, 2022
Priority date	Sep 5, 2018
Publication date	Apr 11, 2023
Grant date	Apr 11, 2023

Abstract

Methods and systems for monitoring procedural compliance of staff in a facility. A system may include a plurality of sensors positioned adjacent a hand washing station. Each of the plurality of sensors may be configured to provide a corresponding sensor output signal that is indicative of whether a person is washing their hands at the hand washing station or not. A controller may be configured to fuse the sensor output signals from each of two or more of the plurality of sensors and to determine using the fused sensor output signals whether the person has washed their hands at the hand washing station in compliance with one or more predetermined criteria or not. The controller may be further configured to output a notification when the controller has determined that the person has washed their hands at the hand washing station in compliance with the one or more predetermined criteria.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for monitoring compliance with a predetermined hand-hygiene procedure, comprising:
a plurality of sensors positioned adjacent a hand washing station, wherein each of the plurality of sensors is free from imaging pixels that form a visually perceptible image, each of the plurality of sensors is configured to provide a corresponding sensor output signal that is indicative of whether one or more predetermined actions associated with the predetermined hand-hygiene procedure has been performed or not;
a controller configured to fuse the sensor output signals from each of two or more of the plurality of sensors to produce a fused sensor output, and to determine using the fused sensor output whether at least one of the predetermined actions associated with the predetermined hand-hygiene procedure has been performed in compliance with one or more compliance criteria; and
the controller further configured to output a notification when the controller has determined that one or more of the predetermined actions associated with the predetermined hand-hygiene procedure has not been performed in compliance with one or more corresponding compliance criteria and/or when the controller has determined that one or more of the predetermined actions associated with the predetermined hand-hygiene procedure has been performed in compliance with one or more corresponding compliance criteria.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined hand-hygiene procedure includes a hand washing procedure and the one or more predetermined actions includes hand scrubbing for at least a dwell time.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the one or more predetermined actions includes dispensing soap from a soap dispenser.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the one or more predetermined actions includes having water flow at the hand washing station.

5. The system of claim 2 , wherein the one or more predetermined actions includes hand drying.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein fusing the sensor output signals from each of two or more of the plurality of sensors comprises assigning different weights to at least two of the sensor output signals from each of two or more of the plurality of sensors.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the different weights are assigned by a machine learning model.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to obtain an identity of a person at the hand washing station, and to set one or more of the compliance criteria based at least in part on the identity of the person.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of sensors comprise an accelerometer and/or a microphone.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of sensors comprise a plurality of thermal imaging sensors.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of sensors comprises one or more accelerometers and/or one or more microphones, and one or more of a light sensor, a radar sensor, a humidity sensor, a temperature sensor, a motion detector, and/or a magnetometer.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of sensors comprise an accelerometer and a microphone, and wherein the controller fuses the sensor output signals from the accelerometer and the microphone to result in the fused sensor output.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of sensors comprise a radar.

14. A method for monitoring hand-hygiene, the method comprising:
determining whether a person has performed a predetermined hand-hygiene procedure in compliance with one or more compliance criteria using two or more sensor outputs from two or more sensors, wherein each of the plurality of sensors is configured to provide a corresponding sensor output that is indicative of whether one or more actions associated with the predetermined hand-hygiene procedure has been performed;
fusing two or more of the sensor outputs from two or more of the sensors to produce a fused sensor output, and using the fused sensor output to determine whether the person has performed at least one of the actions associated with the predetermined hand-hygiene procedure in compliance with one or more of the compliance criteria; and
reporting whether the person has performed the predetermined hand-hygiene procedure in compliance with the one or more compliance criteria.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the predetermined hand-hygiene procedure includes a plurality of actions, wherein the method further comprises:
determining whether each of the plurality of actions associated with the predetermined hand-hygiene procedure have been performed in compliance with one or more compliance criteria; and
reporting which of the plurality of actions associated with the predetermined hand-hygiene procedure have not been performed in compliance with one or more compliance criteria and/or which of the plurality of actions associated with the predetermined hand-hygiene procedure have been performed in compliance with one or more compliance criteria.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the one or more actions associated with the predetermined hand-hygiene procedure comprises hand scrubbing for at least a dwell time.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein the one or more actions includes dispensing soap from a soap dispenser.

18. A method for monitoring hand-hygiene, the method comprising:
obtaining an identity of a person at a hand washing station;
setting one or more compliance criteria based at least in part on the identity of the person;
determining whether the person has performed a predetermined hand-hygiene procedure in compliance with the one or more compliance criteria set for the person using two or more sensor outputs from two or more sensors, wherein each of the plurality of sensors is configured to provide a corresponding sensor output that is indicative of whether one or more actions associated with the predetermined hand-hygiene procedure has been performed;
fusing two or more of the sensor outputs from two or more of the sensors to produce a fused sensor output, and using the fused sensor output to determine whether the person has performed at least one of the actions associated with the predetermined hand-hygiene procedure in compliance with one or more of the compliance criteria set for the person; and
reporting whether the person has performed the predetermined hand-hygiene procedure in compliance with the one or more compliance criteria.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the predetermined hand-hygiene procedure includes a plurality of actions, wherein the method further comprises:
determining whether each of the plurality of actions associated with the predetermined hand-hygiene procedure have been performed by the person in compliance with one or more of the compliance criteria set for the person; and
reporting which of the plurality of actions associated with the predetermined hand-hygiene procedure have not been performed by the person in compliance with the one or more compliance criteria set for the person and/or which of the plurality of actions associated with the predetermined hand-hygiene procedure have been performed by the person in compliance with the one or more compliance criteria set for the person.

20. The method of claim 18 , wherein the one or more actions associated with the predetermined hand-hygiene procedure comprises one or more of:
hand scrubbing for at least a dwell time; and
dispensing soap from a soap dispenser.

Assignees

• Honeywell Int Inc

Inventors

• Kolavennu Soumitri
• Pai Ramdas
• Mahasenan Arun Vijayakumari
• Padmanabhan Aravind
• Nie Rongbao

Classifications

• G08B21/0438

  Sensor means for detecting · CPC title

• G08B21/245 Primary

  Reminder of hygiene compliance policies, e.g. of washing hands · CPC title

• G06V40/28

  Recognition of hand or arm movements, e.g. recognition of deaf sign language (static hand signs G06V40/113) · CPC title

• Y02A90/10

  Information and communication technologies [ICT] supporting adaptation to climate change, e.g. for weather forecasting or climate simulation · CPC title

• G08B29/188

  Data fusion; cooperative systems, e.g. voting among different detectors · CPC title