Surgery – Diagnostic testing
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-09
2001-05-29
Winakur, Eric F. (Department: 3736)
Surgery
Diagnostic testing
C705S003000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06238337
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the detection and reporting of symptoms of illness in individuals and in a general population and more particularly to using a network of embedded devices equipped with sensors for detection and analysis of symptoms of illness.
2. Description of Prior Art
Presently illness detection occurs relatively late, usually when a large segment of the population is already affected by the illness and visits to doctors' offices and hospitals become necessary to relieve the symptoms. Sometimes, because of the number of infections, such visits to the medical professionals may come close to overwhelming the local health systems. Furthermore, because of this lateness of detection, not enough time can be allocated for preparation and distribution of preventive vaccine among the general population, or for formulation and distribution of a new vaccine where a new type of illness, such as flu, is developed.
Early detection may also provide much better chances of successful treatment of diseases such as skin cancer. Today, detection of diseases such as skin cancer, typically occurs during visits to the doctor's office. However, at best, such visits occur once a year. Furthermore, the educated examination of the skin condition even once a year is not satisfactory for early detection of the cancer symptoms.
Another common malady afflicting the general population is the backache problem. The backache problems are usually caused by such factors as the sitting posture. Ever increasing numbers of workers spend their work days in chairs behind desks and in front of computer screens, most do not use proper sitting posture thereby developing back problems. If the posture and back problems are not detected early, the treatment of those problems will become increasingly more difficult and expensive.
What is needed is a way to prevent the spread of various illnesses like the flu, some forms of cancer, backache, etc., through early detection. For example, early detection of flu symptoms in the general population will lead to the early distribution of the flu vaccine among the population with weak immune systems, such as children and senior citizens, thereby protecting the population at large.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is the detection and the reporting of illness symptoms in the general population for the purpose of prevention. The invention utilizes embedded devices equipped with sensors and having an ability to analyze captured data thereby detecting the emergence of illness, such as the flu, skin cancer, backache etc., among individuals and the general populations. The embedded devices may be equipped with communication interface ports for transmitting the captured data from the embedded devices to the local servers for data processing. The local servers may be further connected to the global servers and to the medical centers and individuals by a network which may be comprised of Internet, Intranet, LAN, infrared and wireless communication channels and any variety of a communications network allowing the interconnection of computing devices and the passage of the information.
The employed embedded devices transmitting the data may be installed in the commonly used appliances, such as digital video cameras, eyeglasses, wrist watches, television sets, fire warning systems etc. Those devices may be programmed to detect the common flu symptoms such as sneezing, coughing and nose blowing. The information and images of locally detected symptoms may be gathered at the central servers and processed to ascertain whether a new flu outbreak is at hand. If such an outbreak is diagnosed, the information may be used to advocate for distribution of a vaccine to the targeted segments of the population.
The photo and video cameras equipped with special sensors and embedded processors, specifically cameras used by tourists may be especially useful in the detection of certain types of illnesses. Those cameras may detect new contagion causing viruses and bacteria brought in from abroad. Conversely, these same cameras may detect enough symptoms of illness among the local population to enable the inventive system to the local officials.
Another example of the placement of the embedded devices may be a target individual's bathroom. A camera with an embedded device having a processor programmed to take daily images of the target individual's skin regions while the target individual is habitually following a toilet routine. The daily images of same skin regions are then compared to detect changes signaling skin cancer concerns. Furthermore, this locally embedded cancer detection system may pass gathered information to a central server for a more complex analysis of detected symptoms and for the purpose of collection of statistical data. The central server may have the ability to collect statistical data from many reporting locations thereby having an ability to associate cases of disease with possible regional and global environmental factors.
Another wide spread illness which may be detected and reported by the invention is the backache. The development of the backache problem may be prevented by installing embedded sensors near the sitting areas in offices and at home. These embedded sensors may send images to the embedded systems capable of analyzing whether the target's sitting posture will cause back problems. Again, similar to the discussion above, these embedded systems may be connected to local servers for performing more complicated analysis.
When the first signs of bad sitting posture are detected, a warning signal, to correct the sitting position, may be given, i.e., via a speaker or e-mail. Such a monitoring system may be especially useful for monitoring the children's posture while they are doing their homework, reading or watching television. The warning signal may be sent not only to the children but also to their parents or guardians. Similarly, other problems such as keeping the proper eye distance from a book while the children are reading, properly brushing their teeth, etc., may be addressed by the present invention.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5619991 (1997-04-01), Sloane
patent: 5911132 (1999-06-01), Sloane
patent: 5938594 (1999-08-01), Poon et al.
patent: 6032084 (2000-02-01), Anderson et al.
Kambhatla Nanda
Kanevsky Dimitri
Zadrozny Wlodek W.
Zlatsin Alexander
Astorino Michael
International Business Machines - Corporation
Morris, Esq. Daniel P.
Scully Scott Murphy & Presser
Winakur Eric F.
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