Education and demonstration – Psychology
Reexamination Certificate
2001-08-10
2004-06-01
Rovnak, John Edmund (Department: 3714)
Education and demonstration
Psychology
C434S219000, C340S005810, C340S005820, C340S005830, C340S005840, C382S115000, C382S116000, C382S117000, C382S118000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06743022
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a system and method for automated self-measurement of alertness, equilibrium and coordination.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
An individual's alertness before many operations may be critical to the efficiency and safety of the requirements. This is especially important in performing tasks, such as driving, flying an airplane, and sensitive or dangerous tasks. In addition, it is useful for employees carrying normal and relatively safe work and in other situations where an individual's alertness should be evaluated.
Employees under the influence of alcohol and drugs directly and indirectly cause damages to workplaces. In the USA it is estimated that the damages are in excess of $150 billion a year. Research has shown that when an employer carries out drugs and alcohol testing, then drug and alcohol usage is reduced to one fifth.
Currently there is a lack of automated systems that can simplify the process of detecting drugs and alcohol abuse. Furthermore, currently there is no simple way of detecting drugs and alcohol abuse without continuous and consistent testing.
Other examples where early detection is useful include prior to participating in sports, the detection of tiredness of drivers prior to long-distance journey and the detection of students whose behavior and lack of alertness indicates alcohol or drug abuse.
In many organizations, personnel are required to take tests, such as hearing and visual acuity tests, in order to meet certain regulations. In addition, these personnel are required to be tutored for safety regulations (e.g. fire regulations) or quality control regulations imposed by quality control standards, such as the ISO standard.
These assignments typically require enormous human resources in order to manage the summoning, testing, tutoring, analysis of the test results and re-summoning of the personnel in accordance with specific regulations.
One way to reduce the human resources required for these assignments is to conduct testing such that the person taking the test is self tested without additional human attendance. Such self testing systems are known in the art. For example, when performing vision tests, a testing apparatus is used which is operated by an operator who identifies the tested person, explains how to use the apparatus, administers the test, and records the test results. This procedure is time consuming, requires highly trained operators and is therefore expensive.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,740,072 to Griffin et al describes a vision testing apparatus which is operated by an operator for administering a variety of visual performance tests to a test subject. The operator of the vision testing apparatus manually operates various buttons and levers on the testing apparatus and to present a series of test slides to the test subject. The operator also has to ask the test subject various questions and to manually record the answers either on an appropriate form or alternatively initiate storage of the test results on a computer connected to the vision testing apparatus. Thus, even with computerized data storage of the test results, a qualified, trained operator must perform a substantial amount of manual operations and must verbally instruct the test subject, which is time consuming and expensive.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In a related PCT application WO98/02083 to the present inventors and incorporated herein by reference, a method and a system for automatic management of summoning, identifying, self-testing and/or self tutoring of subjects is disclosed. The method of self-tutoring can include video units, multi-media software, remote control tutoring as in telemedicine. This self-tutoring prior to self testing is applicable, for example, to visual acuity tests, intraoccular pressure visual fields, pregnancy follow-ups, spirometry, Blood pressure ECG,” self-blood tests and response time. A medical condition sensing system, detailing some of the sensors, such as virtual reality glasses for visual acuity, twelve-lead ECG and spirometry are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/428,430 assigned to the present applicants, and incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention describes a system for automated self-measurement of alertness, equilibrium and coordination. The system includes an alert meter which can be used for self-tutoring and testing of various parameters, as described above.
The system using the alert meter checks individual's response speed, coordination, and the equilibrium as parameters of alertness. Alertness can be influenced by various causes: extreme tiredness, life crisis, toxic substance, alcohol, drugs (opiates) or medication. People who are not alert can fail or err in performing various tasks. The system can detect these individuals before performing the tasks and if necessary, indicate that further evaluation (i.e. alcohol levels in blood or exhale air, drug level in blood or urine) be undertaken.
The system of the present invention instructs and guides the individual, performs a series of tests, interprets the results, files and exports the results at will. The system has an option to automatically summon and/or identify the individual.
There is therefore provided, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a system and method for self-tutoring and testing a person. The system includes an identifying unit for identifying the person to be tested, at least one self-tutoring unit for instructing the person in at least one test to be performed, at least one testing unit for performing each of the at least one tests and an interpretation unit for evaluating the results of each of the at least one tests.
There is also provided, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a system and method for identifying a person being tested. The system includes an identifying unit for identifying the person to be tested, at least one testing unit for performing at least one identification test, an interpretation unit for evaluating the results of the at least one test, a storage unit for storing the results and a comparison unit for comparing the results from the interpretation unit with results previously stored in the storage unit.
In addition, there is provided, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a method for continuously verifying the identity of a person performing a task. The method includes the steps of:
creating and storing an initial profile of personal characteristics associated with the person, prior to performing the task;
continuously performing at least one identification test at random intervals while the person performs the task;
storing the results of each of the randomly performed at least one identification test; and
comparing the results of each of the randomly performed at least one identification test with the initial profile and with the previous randomly performed tests after each randomly performed at least one identification test.
Furthermore, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the test comprises one of a group of tests including a person's alertness, steadiness, co-ordination and response time.
Furthermore, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, if the results of the automatic comparison match the identification test with the initial profile, the method further includes the step of allowing the person to perform the task.
Furthermore, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes the step of
comparing the initial profile of personal characteristics with a database of personal characteristics of a group of persons to ascertain the identity of the person. The profile includes at least one of a set of parameters including voice recognition patterns, iris patterns and photographic images.
Furthermore, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes the step of storing the results.
Furthermore, in accor
G.E. Ehrlich (1995) Ltd.
Rovnak John Edmund
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