Use of human input recognition to prevent contamination

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9361530-B2
Application number	US-201314372178-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 15, 2013
Priority date	Jan 20, 2012
Publication date	Jun 7, 2016
Grant date	Jun 7, 2016

Abstract

Embodiments of a system and method for processing and recognizing non-contact types of human input to prevent contamination are generally described herein. In example embodiments, human input is captured, recognized, and used to provide active input for control or data entry into a user interface. The human input may be provided in variety of forms detectable by recognition techniques such as speech recognition, gesture recognition, identification recognition, and facial recognition. In one example, the human input recognition techniques are used in connection with a device cleaning workflow used to obtain data and human input during cleaning procedures while minimizing cross-contamination between the contaminated device or person and other objects or persons. In another example, the human input recognition techniques are used in connection with a device tracking workflow used to obtain data and human input while tracking interactions with and locations of the contaminated or uncontaminated device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for preventing contamination with use of non-contact human input, comprising electronic operations performed by an input-controllable electronic system including:
tracking, with an electronic database, a contamination status of an object in a contamination-sensitive environment using an object handling workflow, the object handling workflow including a plurality of stages;
outputting a prompt, with an electronic display device, to a human user from the input-controllable electronic system at a stage of the object handling workflow, wherein the prompt is outputted to the human user to obtain a human input from the human user for use during the object handling workflow;
capturing the human input in the contamination-sensitive environment with an electronic sensor, the human input provided for control of the input-controllable electronic system, and the human input provided by a form of non-contact human input to the input-controllable electronic system in response to the prompt, wherein the human input is captured at the stage of the object handling workflow;
performing input recognition upon data produced from the capturing of the non-contact human input;
determining a command from the input recognition to perform in the input-controllable electronic system, wherein the command relates to an activity to be performed within the object handling workflow, wherein the activity is associated with the object; and
performing the command in the input-controllable electronic system, the command causing the activity to be performed within the object handling workflow.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the input-controllable electronic system includes a computing device configured to perform the input recognition, and wherein the input recognition comprises one or more of: speech recognition, gesture recognition, facial recognition, or identifier recognition.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the non-contact human input is provided in response to the prompt that is output from the computing device, and wherein determining the command includes matching a result of the input recognition to a selectable option in the prompt that is output from the computing device.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the object is a contaminated object, and wherein the prompt from the computing device is used to instruct the human user to provide a data value with the non-contact human input, the data value being specific to a status of a cleaning activity for the contaminated object in the contamination-sensitive environment.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
capturing additional non-contact human input in the contamination-sensitive environment with the electronic sensor at respective stages of the plurality of stages of the object handling workflow; and
performing input recognition upon data produced from the capturing of the additional non-contact human input during each of the respective stages of the plurality of stages of the object handling workflow, the additional non-contact human input providing additional data related to the object for use in the object handling workflow.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the non-contact human input is verbal input provided from the human user, and wherein performing input recognition upon the non-contact human input includes performing speech recognition on the data produced from the capturing of the verbal input.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the non-contact human input is gesture input provided from the human user, and wherein performing input recognition upon the non-contact human input includes performing gesture recognition on the data produced from the capturing of the gesture input.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the non-contact human input is a presentation of an identifier by the human user, and wherein performing input recognition upon the non-contact human input includes performing identifier recognition on the data produced from the capturing of the identifier.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the identifier is one of: a barcode, a radio-frequency identification (RFID) identifier, or a near field communication identifier.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the non-contact human input is facial detection input provided from the human user, and wherein performing input recognition upon the non-contact human input includes performing facial detection recognition on the data produced from the capturing of the facial detection input.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein outputting the prompt to the human user comprises outputting one or more audio or visual indications from the electronic system with the display device at the stage of the object handling workflow to prompt the human user to provide the non-contact human input to a user interface of the electronic system.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
attempting positive identification of the human user from the non-contact human input to identify the human user as an authorized user to perform the activity within the object handling workflow.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein attempting positive identification of the human user from the non-contact human input includes one or more of:
attempting voice recognition of an audio sample captured from the non-contact human input; or
attempting facial recognition of an image of the human captured from the non-contact human input.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the object is a medical device, and wherein the object handling workflow is a medical device tracking workflow used for tracking the contamination status of the medical device.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the object is a medical device, and wherein the object handling workflow is a medical device cleaning workflow used to decontaminate the medical device.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the medical device is an endoscope, and wherein the object handling workflow is an endoscope cleaning workflow used for cleaning and reprocessing of the endoscope to remove contamination of the endoscope responsive to an endoscopy procedure using the endoscope.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the input-controllable electronic system includes a computing device configured to perform the input recognition, the computing device comprising the electronic display device and the electronic sensor, wherein the input recognition comprises recognition of a gesture performed above the electronic sensor of the computing device, wherein the electronic sensor is associated with an output of the prompt on the electronic display device.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions which when executed by a computing system causes the computing system to perform operations that:
electronically track a contamination status of a medical device within a medical device handling workflow with an electronic database;
output a prompt, with an electronic display device, to a human user from the computing system at a stage of the medical device handling workflow, wherein the prompt is outputted to the human user to obtain a human input from the human user for use during the medical device handling workflow;
capture data for the human input at the stage of the medical device handling workflow with an electronic sensor, the human input provided for control of the computer system, and the human input provided by a form of non-contact human input to the computer system; and
perform input recognition upon the captured data for the non-contact human input provided by a human during the stage of the me

Assignees

• Medivators Inc

Inventors

• Sly Ward
• Lemmer Stacy
• Mistalski Terry
• Petersen Michael

Classifications

• G06F3/0304

  Detection arrangements using opto-electronic means (constructional details of pointing devices not related to the detection arrangement using opto-electronic means G06F3/033; optical digitisers G06F3/042) · CPC title

• G06F3/167

  Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback · CPC title

• A61B2090/701

  for flexible tubular instruments, e.g. endoscopes · CPC title

• G10L17/24

  the user being prompted to utter a password or a predefined phrase · CPC title

• G06F3/017

  Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures (interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883) · CPC title