System for measuring vital signs on a person

Abstract

Vital Signs Measurement System for a Person The present invention relates to a system (1) for measuring vital signs on a person, comprising a plurality of sensors (5, 7, 8), a Master electronic control board (2) and a Slave electronic control board (3) arranged to receive commands from the Master board for execution, at least one of the sensors (7, 8) being controlled by the Master control board and at least one of the other sensors (5) being controlled by the Slave control board. Figure for the abstract: Fig. 1

Description

Title of the invention: System for measuring vital signs on a person

[0001] The present invention relates to a system for measuring vital signs on a person.

[0002] The detection of potential COVID 19 patients is currently carried out by taking temperatures, carrying out additional clinical examinations, and then by a COVID 19 test.

[0003] There is a significant need to be able to rapidly detect, in particular using mobile means, potential patients with contagious diseases, for example the disease linked to COVID 19.

[0004] Temperature measurements that are as reliable as possible are crucial for such disease detections. The same is true for vital signs.

[0005] The invention provides a new system for measuring vital signs on a person.

[0006] The invention thus relates to a system for measuring vital signs on a person, comprising a plurality of sensors, a Master electronic control card and a Slave electronic control card arranged to receive orders from the Master card for execution, at least one of the sensors being controlled by the Master control card and at least one of the other sensors being controlled by the Slave control card.

[0007] According to one aspect of the invention, the two control cards are arranged to communicate with each other via a USB link (the abbreviation USB stands for Universal Serial Bus).

[0008] Alternatively, this communication may be of another type, for example via a non-wireless link.

[0009] According to one aspect of the invention, one of the sensors is a radar, for example a radar operating at 120 GHz or 130 GHz, and this radar is controlled by the Slave control card, this radar being in particular arranged to measure a heart rate or a respiratory rate of the person.

[0010] The invention is particularly advantageous because the connection, in particular the USB connection, makes it possible to easily change or replace the radar and Slave card assembly, if this is desired or necessary. The invention thus allows modularity in the choice of sensors linked to the Master card and the sensor(s) linked to the Slave card.

[0011] For example, it is possible to have two different systems with the same Master card and its associated sensors, and these two systems differ by the Slave card and the sensor(s), for example the radar, which are linked to it.

[0012] The invention also makes it possible, thanks to the sensors, to carry out the measurements at a distance from the person, without requiring contact between the person and the sensors.

[0013] According to one aspect of the invention, the sensors linked to the Master card comprise: - a temperature sensor operating in the infrared and arranged to measure at least one temperature of the person's skin, in particular on at least one notable area or point of the person's face, this sensor being in particular an infrared camera, - a camera, in particular a Red Green Blue camera, or RGB camera in English, arranged to define on the person's face the remarkable temperature measurement point, or the remarkable temperature measurement points, for the temperature sensor.

[0014] The system may include, if desired, two or more temperature sensors.

[0015] According to one aspect of the invention, the system comprises two RGB cameras.

[0016] The use of several RGB cameras makes it possible to obtain a plurality of re points markable measurement points. These points form a mask of measurement points placed on the person's face.

[0017] According to one aspect of the invention, the sensors linked to the Master card comprise a distance measuring device (5) for providing a distance value between the system and the person, in particular a stereoscopic measuring device, a radar, a Time of Flight (TOF) Sensor type device, an inertial balance.

[0018] According to one aspect of the invention, this distance value (Dist) is used to correct the temperature measured by the temperature sensor.

[0019] According to one aspect of the invention, the Master card further comprises at least one of the following elements: a microphone for recording a breath, the person's heartbeat, a sound produced by the body or vocal responses from the person, an electrical energy storage element such as a battery, a memory, a button for turning the system on / off, a light indicator for signaling the correct positioning or incorrect positioning of the person in front of the system.

[0020] According to one aspect of the invention, this light indicator comprises one or more LEDs, in particular colored LEDs.

[0021] According to one aspect of the invention, each control card carries a microcontroller.

[0022] According to one aspect of the invention, the Slave card further comprises a system start / stop button. This button can also be used to update settings, or to initiate the software update.

[0023] According to one aspect of the invention, the temperature sensor and the RGB camera(s) are arranged in an aligned manner along an alignment line, this line being able to be in particular vertical or horizontal.

[0024] According to one aspect of the invention, at least one of the sensors has a viewing direction making a non-zero angle with the viewing direction of another sensor to take into account the parallax effect.

[0025] In particular, this angle is chosen substantially in a range of 3° to 7°, for example equal to 5°. Thus, for example, the direction of sight between one of the RGB cameras can make an angle of 5° with the direction of sight of the infrared temperature sensor.

[0026] Parallax correction allows for better juxtaposition of the infrared images from the temperature sensor and images from the RGB camera(s), resulting in better measurement accuracy.

[0027] Parallax takes into account the distance between the system and the person. This distance can be 70 cm for example for a person sitting in front of the system.

[0028] According to one aspect of the invention, the radar has a viewing direction which is inclined, in particular by 15°, relative to the viewing direction of the temperature sensor, or alternatively relative to the viewing direction of the RGB camera. This angle can be in the range of 13° to 18°.

[0029] Thus, in the case where the radar is used to measure a person's heart rate or breathing rate, this radar is advantageously directed towards the person's torso while the temperature sensor is centered on the person's face. This allows for better measurement accuracy because the sensors are optimally oriented.

[0030] According to one aspect of the invention, the Master control card is arranged to be able to communicate with a cloud computing service, in particular to send measurement data, for example for storing the data or processing this data in the cloud computing service.

[0031] According to one aspect of the invention, the communication between the Master control card and the cloud is carried out by a wireless protocol, preferably a Wifi protocol.

[0032] According to one aspect of the invention, the Master control card comprises, in this case, a Wifi transceiver.

[0033] According to one aspect of the invention, the Slave control card is arranged to be able to communicate with a cloud computing service, in particular to send measurement data, for example for storing the data or processing this data in the cloud computing service.

[0034] According to one aspect of the invention, the computing cloud associated with the Master control card is distinct from the computing cloud associated with the control card Slave.

[0035] Thus it is possible to carry out data processing and storage on two different clouds, for example which have different capacities or belong to different organizations, for example to different research centers and / or hospitals and / or companies.

[0036] According to one aspect of the invention, the communication between the Slave control card and the cloud is carried out by a wireless protocol, preferably a Wifi protocol.

[0037] According to one aspect of the invention, the Slave control card comprises, in this case, a Wifi transceiver.

[0038] According to one aspect of the invention, the Wifi transceivers of the Master and Slave control cards are independent of each other.

[0039] Alternatively, the Master and Slave control cards use the same Wifi transceiver.

[0040] According to one aspect of the invention, the Master control card comprises at least one USB input / output, a connector for connection to a local computer network of the LAN type, or connection to a 4G or 5G network.

[0041] In case of Wifi malfunction, the Master control card can be connected to the LAN local network, if necessary.

[0042] According to one aspect of the invention, the Master control card is arranged to be connected to a 12V power supply, in particular of the battery type.

[0043] According to one aspect of the invention, the Master and Slave cards are arranged parallel to each other.

[0044] According to one aspect of the invention, the system comprises a housing in which the Master and Slave control cards and the associated sensors are arranged.

[0045] According to one aspect of the invention, the housing comprises openings to allow the signals to be captured by the sensors to pass through.

[0046] According to one aspect of the invention, the housing is for example made of plastic.

[0047] Alternatively, the control cards are arranged in separate boxes.

[0048] According to one aspect of the invention, the system comprises a Human-Machine interface arranged to allow a person to communicate with the system.

[0049] According to one aspect of the invention, this Human-Machine interface comprises a screen, in particular a touch screen such as a tablet.

[0050] According to one aspect of the invention, this screen can be assembled on the system housing or be independent of it.

[0051] According to one aspect of the invention, the housing can be mounted on feet or form a terminal, for example placed on the ground.

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[0065] The system can be packaged in a transportable case and placed in a building, for example an airport, a hospital or any other location. The person whose vital signs are to be measured can be seated or standing in front of the box or terminal. The invention also relates to a method for measuring vital signs on a person, comprising the following steps: - Provide a plurality of sensors, - Provide a Master electronic control card and a Slave electronic control card arranged to receive orders from the Master card for execution, at least one of the sensors being controlled by the Master control card and at least one of the other sensors being controlled by the Slave control card, - Measure the person's vital signs using these sensors. According to one aspect of the invention, the Master control card controls the Slave control card, for example to trigger the measurement by the sensor, in particular the radar, on the Slave control card. The measured skin temperature can, if desired, be corrected by a correction related to the emissivity of the person's skin. The invention can serve as an aid to provide, on the basis of its measured vital signs, diagnostic information, in particular for the detection of a disease in a person, in particular a contagious disease such as COVID 19. Cloud computing can include health data storage or HDS for short. The invention and its various applications will be better understood by reading the following description and examining the accompanying figures: [Fig.l] schematically illustrates a system according to a non-limiting embodiment of the invention. [Fig.2] schematically illustrates the system of [Fig.l], in front view, [Fig.3] schematically illustrates the system of [Fig.l], in side view, [Fig.4] illustrates notable measurement points on a person's face, obtained using the system according to the invention. [Fig.l] shows a system 1 for measuring vital signs on a person, comprising a plurality of sensors which will be described below, a Master electronic control card 2 and a Slave electronic control card 3 arranged to receive orders from the Master control card 2 for execution, at least one of the sensors being controlled by the Master control card 2 and at least one of the other sensors being controlled by the Slave control card 3. The two control cards 2 and 3 are arranged to communicate with each other by a USB connection (the abbreviation USB stands for Universal Serial Bus). This connection is referenced 4 in [Fig.l].

[0066] One of the sensors is a radar 5, here a radar operating at 120 GHz or 130 GHz, and this radar is controlled by the Slave control card 3.

[0067] This radar 5 is arranged to measure a heart rate or a respiratory rate of the person.

[0068] The invention is particularly advantageous because the USB link 5 makes it possible to easily change or replace the radar assembly 5 and Slave card 3, if this is desired or necessary.

[0069] The invention makes it possible, thanks to the sensors, to carry out measurements at a distance from the person, without requiring contact between the person and the sensors.

[0070] In the example described, the sensors linked to the Master card 2 include: - a temperature sensor 7 operating in the infrared and arranged to measure a temperature of the person's skin, on a plurality of notable points of the person's face, this sensor 7 being an infrared camera, - two 8 cameras, here Red Green Blue cameras, or RGB cameras in English, arranged to define on the person's face, the remarkable points of temperature measurement, for the temperature sensor.

[0071] The use of several RGB cameras makes it possible to obtain a plurality of remarkable measurement points. These points form a mask of measurement points 20 placed on the face 21 of the person 22, as illustrated in [Fig.4].

[0072] The sensors linked to the Master card 2 comprise a distance measuring device 9 to provide a distance value between the system 1 and the person 22, here a device of the Time of Flight (TOF) Sensor type.

[0073] This distance value is used to correct the temperature measured by the temperature sensor 7.

[0074] The Master card 2 further comprises a microphone 10 for recording a breath, the person's heartbeat, a sound produced by the body or vocal responses from the person, a battery 11, a memory 12, a button 13 for turning the system on / off, a light indicator 14 for signaling the correct positioning or incorrect positioning of the person in front of the system.

[0075] This light indicator 14 comprises one or more LEDs, in particular colored LEDs. For example, the indicator emits a green light when the person is well framed, orange when the person is moderately well framed or red when the person is not correctly framed.

[0076] Each control card carries a microcontroller 17.

[0077] The Slave card 3 further comprises a start / stop button 18 of the system.

[0078] The temperature sensor 7 and the cameras 8 are arranged in an aligned manner along an alignment line 19, this line being in particular vertical in the example of [Fig.2],

[0079] In the example of [Fig.3], one of the cameras 8, here the one above the IR sensor 7, has a viewing direction 25 making a non-zero angle Al with the viewing direction 26 of the sensor 7 to take into account the parallax effect.

[0080] This angle Al is chosen to be substantially equal to 5°.

[0081] The parallax correction allows for better juxtaposition of the infrared images from the temperature sensor 7 and the images from the RGB cameras 8, resulting in better measurement accuracy.

[0082] Parallax takes into account the distance between the system and the person. This distance can be 70 cm for example for a person sitting in front of the system.

[0083] The radar 5 has a sighting direction 27 which is inclined at an angle A2, here 15°, relative to the sighting direction 26 of the temperature sensor 7.

[0084] Thus, in the case where the radar 5 is used to measure a heart rate or a respiratory rate of the person, this radar is advantageously directed towards the torso of the person while the temperature sensor 7 is centered on the face of the person.

[0085] The Master control card 2 is arranged to be able to communicate with a computing cloud 30, or Cloud in English, in particular to send measurement data, for example for storing the data or processing this data in the computing cloud.

[0086] Communication between the Master control card 2 and the cloud 30 is carried out by a wireless protocol, preferably a Wifi protocol.

[0087] The Master control card 2 comprises, in this case, a Wifi transceiver 31.

[0088] The Slave 3 control card is arranged to be able to communicate with a cloud IT 33, or Cloud in English, in particular to send measurement data, for example for data storage or processing of this data in the IT cloud.

[0089] The computing cloud 30 associated with the Master control card 2 is distinct from the computing cloud 33 associated with the Slave control card 3.

[0090] It is thus possible to carry out data processing and storage on two different clouds, for example which have different capacities or belong to different organizations.

[0091] Communication between the Slave control card 3 and the cloud 33 is carried out by a wireless protocol, preferably a Wifi protocol.

[0092] The Slave 3 control card includes, in this case, a Wifi transceiver 34.

[0093] The Wifi transceivers 31 and 34 of the Master and Slave control cards are independent of each other.

[0094] Alternatively, the Master and Slave control cards use the same Wifi transceiver.

[0095] The Master 2 control card has a USB input / output 37 to create the USB connection with a USB input / output 38 of the Slave 3 card.

[0096] The Master 2 control card includes a connector 39 for connection to a local computer network of the LAN type, or connection to a 4G or 5G network.

[0097] In case of Wifi malfunction, the Master 2 control card can be connected to the LAN local network, if necessary.

[0098] The Master card 2 operates with a 12 Volt power supply formed by the battery 11. The Slave card 3 can also be powered by this battery 11 via an electrical connection not shown, or have its own power supply.

[0099] The Master 2 and Slave 3 cards are arranged parallel to each other, i.e. in parallel planes.

[0100] The system 1 comprises a housing 42 in which the Master 2 and Slave 3 control cards and the associated sensors are arranged.

[0101] The housing 42 comprises openings 43 to allow the signals to be captured by the sensors to pass through.

[0102] The housing 42 is for example made of plastic.

[0103] The system 1 comprises a Human-Machine interface arranged to allow a person to communicate with the system.

[0104] This Human-Machine interface comprises a screen, in particular a touch screen such as a tablet 44.

[0105] The housing 42 can be mounted on feet or form a terminal, for example placed on the ground.

[0106] The person whose vital signs are to be measured may be seated or standing in front of the box or terminal.

[0107] The Master 2 control card controls the Slave 3 control card, for example to trigger the measurement by the sensor, in particular the radar, on the Slave control card.

[0108] The measured skin temperature can, if desired, be corrected by a correction linked to the emissivity of the person's skin.

[0109] The invention can serve as an aid to provide, on the basis of its measured vital signs, diagnostic information, in particular with a view to detecting a disease in a person, in particular a contagious disease such as COVID 19.

[0110] The computing cloud 30 or 33, or Cloud, may include health data storage or HDS in English abbreviation.

[0111] In an exemplary embodiment not illustrated, two Slave cards and one Master card are provided.

[0112] A lighting source 50 may be provided, as illustrated in [Fig.3].

Claims

Claims

1. System (1) for measuring vital signs on a person, comprising a plurality of sensors (5, 7, 8), a Master electronic control card (2) and a Slave electronic control card (3) arranged to receive orders from the Master card for execution, at least one of the sensors (7, 8) being controlled by the Master control card and at least one of the other sensors (5) being controlled by the Slave control card, the two control cards (2, 3) being arranged to communicate with each other via a USB link.

2. System according to one of the preceding claims, in which one of the sensors is a radar (5), for example a radar operating at 120 or 130 GHz, and this radar is controlled by the Slave card, this radar being in particular arranged to measure a heart rate or a respiratory rate of the person.

3. System according to one of the preceding claims, in which the sensors linked to the Master card (2) comprise: - a temperature sensor (7) operating in the infrared and arranged to measure at least one temperature of the person's skin, in particular on at least one notable area or point of the person's face, this sensor being in particular an infrared camera, a camera (8), in particular a Red Green Blue camera, or RGB camera in English, arranged to define on the person's face the notable temperature measurement point, or the notable temperature measurement points, for the temperature sensor.

4. System according to the preceding claim, wherein the system comprises two RGB cameras (8).

5. System according to one of the preceding claims, in which the sensors linked to the Master card comprise a distance measuring device (9) for providing a distance value between the system and the person, in particular a stereoscopic measuring device, a radar, a Time of Flight (TOF) Sensor type device, an inertial balance.

6. System according to one of the preceding claims, in which the card Master further comprises at least one of the following elements: a microphone (10) for recording a breath, heartbeats of the person, a sound produced by the body or vocal responses of the person, an electrical energy storage element such as a battery (11), a memory, a button for turning the system on / off, a light indicator for signaling the correct positioning or incorrect positioning of the person in front of the system.

7. System according to one of the preceding claims, in which the Master control card (2) is arranged to be able to communicate with a computing cloud (30), or Cloud in English, in particular to send measurement data, for example for storage of the data or processing of this data in the computing cloud.

8. System according to one of the preceding claims, in which the Slave control card (3) is arranged to be able to communicate with a computing cloud (33), or Cloud in English, in particular to send measurement data, for example for storage of the data or processing of this data in the computing cloud.

9. A method of measuring vital signs on a person, comprising the following steps: - Providing a plurality of sensors (5, 7, 8), - Providing a Master electronic control card (2) and a Slave electronic control card (3) arranged to receive commands from the Master card for execution, at least one of the sensors being controlled by the Master control card (2) and at least one of the other sensors being controlled by the Slave control card (3), - Measuring vital signs of the person using these sensors.

10. Method according to the preceding claim, in which the Master control card (2) controls the Slave control card (3), for example to trigger the measurement by the sensor, in particular the radar, on the Slave control card.

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