Mining social media for ultraviolet light exposure analysis

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9554744-B2
Application number	US-201314133799-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 19, 2013
Priority date	Dec 19, 2013
Publication date	Jan 31, 2017
Grant date	Jan 31, 2017

Abstract

Social media databases are minded for data related to a subject person. The data in indicative of a level of ultraviolet light exposure of the subject person. An ultraviolet violet exposure profile for the subject person is generated based upon the data and a health assessment report provided. The data may include timestamped images of the subject person and other related persons. The skin characteristics within images are analyzed to determine an ultraviolet light exposure level for the subject person from each image. The skin characteristics may include skin color, freckling and blemishing. The ultraviolet light exposure profile may be developed over an extended interval based upon the image timestamps. The health report may be used to mitigate risks, such as skin cancer, associated with exposure to ultraviolet light.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving a multiplicity of images from an at least one remote database;
analysing, by a digital processing machine, the multiplicity of images to determine an ultraviolet light exposure profile of a subject person; and
generating a health assessment report for the subject person based upon the ultraviolet light exposure profile;
wherein the subject has a skin characteristic that varies based upon exposure to ultraviolet light, and
the receiving further receives metadata associated with the multiplicity of images, the metadata including a timestamp associated with each of the multiplicity of images indicative of a time of image recording, and
the analysing further includes
determining a presence of the subject person within a plurality of images of the multiplicity of images, and
determining the skin characteristic of the subject person in each of the plurality of images in which the subject person is present, and
the generating generates the health assessment report based upon the skin characteristic and the timestamp from each of the plurality of images in which the subject person is present;

wherein a related person having a relationship with the subject person has a related skin characteristic that varies based upon exposure to ultraviolet light, and
the analysing further includes:
determining a presence of the related person within the multiplicity of images;
determining the related skin characteristic of the related person for each of the multiplicity of images; and
determining an ultraviolet light exposure level for the related person, and

 the determining the ultraviolet profile of the subject person further includes determining the ultraviolet profile of the subject person based upon the ultraviolet light exposure level of the related person.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the receiving further includes
receiving a first plurality of the multiplicity of images from a first remote database including a first social media database; and
receiving a second plurality of the multiplicity of images from a second remote database including a second social media database different from the first social media database.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein the skin characteristic includes at least one of skin colour, skin freckling, skin blemishes and skin lesions.

4. The method according to claim 1 wherein the skin characteristic includes skin colour and the analysing determines the ultraviolet profile based upon at least one individual attribute associated with the subject person and the skin colour, the at least one individual attribute indicative of a relationship between skin colour and exposure to ultraviolet light of the subject person, the individual attribute including at least one of age, gender, hair colour, eye colour, skin type, and geographic origin.

5. The method according to claim 1 wherein the skin characteristic includes skin colour and the multiplicity of images includes an image of the subject person having an exposed area of skin having exposure to ultraviolet light and an unexposed area of skin having less exposure to ultraviolet light than the exposed area of skin and
the analysing further includes
determining a first skin colour of the exposed area of skin,
determining a second skin colour of the unexposed area of skin, and
determining the ultraviolet profile includes determining the ultraviolet profile based upon the first skin colour and the second skin colour.

6. The method according to claim 1 wherein the subject person has a hair colour that varies based upon exposure to ultraviolet light, and
the analysing further includes determining the hair colour of the subject person for each of the plurality of images in which the subject person is present, and
the generating generates the health assessment report further based upon the hair colour and the timestamp of each of the plurality of images in which the subject person is present.

7. The method according to claim 1 wherein the generating further generates the health assessment report based upon at least one additional factor including moles, freckling, hair colour, family history of melanoma, personal history of melanoma, age, gender, xeroderma pigmentosum, history of indoor tanning, and eye colour of the subject person.

8. The method according to claim 1 wherein the metadata includes information indicative of a behavior of the subject person, the behavior of the subject person is indicative of exposure to ultraviolet light and the analysing further analyses the metadata to determine the behavior of the subject person in determining the ultraviolet light exposure profile of the subject person.

9. The method according to claim 8 wherein the behavior of the subject person includes at least one of a vacation location, participation in an outdoor sport, an ultraviolet tanning salon visit, and a chemical spray tanning salon visit.

10. The method according to claim 1 wherein the skin characteristic varies on a seasonal basis with a potential for an increased ultraviolet light exposure during a first season and a decreased ultraviolet light exposure during a second season and further wherein the analysing determines the ultraviolet light exposure profile based upon seasonal variation of the skin characteristic.

11. The method according to claim 1 wherein the health assessment report includes determining a risk level of a skin cancer, the skin cancer including at least one of melanoma, basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma.

12. The method according to claim 11 further comprising the step of generating an alert based upon the risk level exceeding a threshold.

13. A non-transitory computer storage program product comprising:
a storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit configured to perform a method comprising:
receiving a multiplicity of images from an at least one remote database;
analysing the multiplicity of images to determine an ultraviolet light exposure profile of a subject person; and

generating a health assessment report for the subject person based upon the ultraviolet light exposure profile
wherein the subject has a skin characteristic that varies based upon exposure to ultraviolet light, and
the receiving further receives metadata associated with the multiplicity of images, the metadata including a timestamp associated with each of the multiplicity of images indicative of a time of image recording, and
the analysing further includes
determining a presence of the subject person within a plurality of images of the multiplicity of images, and
determining the skin characteristic of the subject person in each of the plurality of images in which the subject person is present, and
the generating generates the health assessment report based upon the skin characteristic and the timestamp from in each of the plurality of images in which the subject person is present
wherein a related person having a relationship with the subject person has a related skin characteristic that varies based upon exposure to ultraviolet light, and

the analysing further includes:
determining a presence of the related person within the multiplicity of images;
determining the related skin characteristic of the related person for each of the multiplicity of images; and
determining an ultraviolet light exposure level for the related person, and
determining the ultraviolet profile of the subject person further includes determining the ultraviolet profile of the subject person based upon the ultraviole

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Garnavi Rahil
• Lynar Timothy M
• Pandey Suraj
• Wang Ziyuan
• Wagner John M

Classifications

• G06Q10/40

  Business processes related to social networking or social networking services · CPC title

• G06T7/0012

  Biomedical image inspection · CPC title

• G16H50/30

  for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment · CPC title

• A61B5/746

  Alarms related to a physiological condition, e.g. details of setting alarm thresholds or avoiding false alarms · CPC title

• A61B5/444 Primary

  Evaluating skin marks, e.g. mole, nevi, tumour, scar · CPC title