Method and Device for Monitoring a Baby and for Interaction

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016015277-A1
Application number	US-201514804873-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 21, 2015
Priority date	Jul 21, 2014
Publication date	Jan 21, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method for video evaluation of the heart rate and/or respiratory rate of a baby, in particular under dim or nocturnal conditions, in a device comprising a video camera and a source of infrared light, the method comprising the steps of:
A 1 —illuminating the baby with the infrared source,

A 2 —capturing video images of the baby,

B 1 —determining the position of the baby's head by finding an ellipse forming an outline of the head,

B 2 —identifying an area of interest centered on a selected ellipse,

C—evaluating, by plethysmographic analysis of the area of interest, the heart rate and/or respiratory rate of the baby,

and associated system.

First claim

1 . A method for video evaluation of the heart rate and/or respiratory rate of a baby in dim or nocturnal conditions, in a device comprising a video camera and a source of infrared light, the method comprising the steps of:
A 1 —illuminating the baby with the infrared source, A 2 —capturing video images of the baby, B 1 —determining the position of the baby's head by detecting edges forming portions of an ellipse substantially coinciding with the outline of the head, B 2 —identifying an area of interest centered on a selected ellipse, C—evaluating, by photoplethysmographic analysis of the area of interest, the heart rate and/or respiratory rate of the baby D—identifying a significant movement of the baby, in which case step C— of photoplethysmographic analysis is suspended, D 2 —identifying a return to a stable state where there is no significant movement by the baby, in which case steps B 1 -B 2 are executed once again, step C— of photoplethysmographic analysis being resumed with the new area of interest determined in step B 2 .

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the images are captured in color and the photoplethysmographic analysis is based on the red component of the video images.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein at step B 1 , a method of image convolution with statistical thresholding is used to find edges or edge segments in the image.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein at step B 1 , candidate ellipses are formed from the identified edge segments, and a selection filter is applied to the candidate ellipses to retain only one selected ellipse coinciding with a likely outline of the baby's head.

5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein in step C, a digital filter with passband of 0.75 Hz-3.5 Hz is applied to the light signal spatially averaged over the area of interest, to obtain a filtered signal.

6 . The method according to claim 5 , wherein a validity criterion concerning the relevance of the filtered signal is defined, for selectively validating or not validating the heart rate information, the validity criterion being based on the signal-to-noise ratio of the filtered signal.

7 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the captured images are each divided into an array of sub-images of identical size.

8 . The method according to claim 7 , wherein at step B 1 the sub-images having a neutral content, meaning with no significant variation in color or intensity within the area of the sub-image, are eliminated, and after step B 2 the sub-images located outside said ellipse are eliminated.

9 . A device for video evaluation of the heart rate and/or respiratory rate of a baby in dim or nocturnal conditions, comprising a video camera, a source of infrared light, and a computing unit,
wherein the infrared source is configured to illuminate the baby, the video camera is configured to capture video images of the baby, and the computing unit is configured to implement the method according to claim 1 .

10 . The device according to claim 9 , comprising a wireless communication interface for transmitting the heart rate and/or respiratory rate data of the baby to a remote entity.

Assignees

• Dumoulin Amaury
• Mathias Guillaume
• Carreei Eric
• Withings

Inventors

• Dumoulin Amaury
• Mathias Guillaume
• Carreei Eric

Classifications

• A61B5/02416 Primary

  using photoplethysmograph signals, e.g. generated by infrared radiation (A61B5/14552 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06V20/52

  Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects (recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69) · CPC title

• G06F2218/10

  by analysing the shape of a waveform, e.g. extracting parameters relating to peaks · CPC title

• G06V10/25

  Determination of region of interest [ROI] or a volume of interest [VOI] · CPC title

• A61B5/0205 Primary

  Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition · CPC title