Avatar medical examination system

Abstract

To provide an avatar medical examination system that enables remote medical examinations or the like using a simple configuration.SOLUTION: An avatar medical examination system comprises: one or more terminal devices 11, 12 operated by a doctor A and / or nurse B at a remote location; one or more avatar devices 21 to 25 which are disposed adjacently to positions of patients being the targets of medical examinations by the doctor A and / or medical examination support by the nurse B, and respond to the patients C1 to C5 as avatars of the doctor A and / or nurse B; and an avatar control device 30 that, when the patients C1 to C5 are identified by the doctor A and / or nurse B from the terminal devices 11, 12, connects the avatar devices 21 to 25 of the patients C1 to C5 to the terminal devices 11, 12 and performs control that allows remote medical examinations by the avatars and / or remote medical examination support by the avatars to the patients C1 to C5.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an avatar medical examination system that is simply configured and enables remote consultations such as medical examinations. [Background technology]

[0002] It has been proposed to use an avatar robot in such a way that the avatar robot can be remotely controlled to go to a conference room and participate in a conference in a conference room away from one's own room (see, for example, Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2019-46159 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] Incidentally, inpatients at medium to large hospitals often receive medical examinations by doctors and follow-up observations by nurses near their hospital beds. Doctors and nurses are busy, and it is sometimes difficult for them to find time to visit patients' beds directly. When treatment is required, it is essential to visit the patient's bed, but even when a doctor is taking a medical interview or a nurse is assisting with an examination by taking a patient's temperature, the doctor or nurse must visit each patient's bed, which places a heavy burden on the doctor or nurse. On the other hand, the introduction costs of equipment that allows remote examinations of each patient are high.

[0005] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above, and aims to provide an avatar medical examination system that is simply configured and capable of remotely providing medical examinations and the like. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the objectives, the present invention is characterized in comprising one or more terminal devices operated by a doctor and / or nurse in a remote location, one or more avatar devices which are placed adjacent to the location of a patient who is the subject of the doctor's examination and / or the nurse's medical assistance and which act as an avatar for the doctor and / or nurse to interact with the patient, and an avatar control device which, when the doctor and / or nurse identifies a patient from the terminal device, connects the terminal device to the avatar device of the patient and controls the remote examination and / or remote medical assistance of the patient by an avatar.

[0007] In the present invention, in the above-mentioned invention, the avatar device includes an imaging unit, and the avatar control device identifies the patient based on identification information of the patient imaged via the imaging unit.

[0008] Furthermore, in the above-mentioned invention, the present invention is characterized in that the avatar device uses a television monitor placed adjacent to each bed in the hospital room, and is connected to the avatar control device using a wiring cable of the television monitor and / or a communication interface attached to the television monitor. Effect of the Invention

[0009] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an avatar medical examination system that has a simple configuration and enables remote treatment such as medical examination. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the overall configuration of an avatar medical examination system according to the present embodiment. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of an avatar control device. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a terminal device. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of an avatar device. [Diagram 5]FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a remote examination processing procedure using an examiner avatar. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a remote examination process procedure including an examiner emergency change process. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0011] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0012] <Overall composition> FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the overall configuration of the avatar medical examination system according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the avatar medical examination system 1 includes one or more terminal devices 11, 12 operated by a doctor A or a nurse B in a remote location E1, one or more avatar devices 21-25 arranged adjacent to the positions of patients C1-C5 who are the targets of the doctor A's examination and / or the nurse B's medical assistance and which serve the patients C1-C5 as the avatars of the doctor A and / or the nurse B, and an avatar control device 30 that, when the doctor A and / or the nurse B identify the patients C1-C5 from the terminal devices 11, 12, connects the terminal devices 11, 12 to the avatar devices 21-25 of the patients C1-C5 and controls the remote medical examination and / or remote medical assistance by the avatars for the patients C1-C5. The hospital room E2 in FIG. 1 is an example of a four-bed room. The remote location E1 means that it is not close to the hospital room E2. The remote site E1 may be located within the same hospital building, or may be located in a different building or a remote site via the Internet.

[0013] Usually, the avatar control device 30 is connected to the terminal devices 11, 12 and the avatar devices 21-25 by LAN cables or the like. In this embodiment, however, the avatar devices 21-24 use existing television monitors arranged adjacent to the beds in the hospital room E2, and the communication connection between the avatar devices 21-24 and the avatar control device 30 uses existing wiring cables of the television monitors and / or a wired interface or a wireless communication interface attached to the television monitor. This eliminates the need for wiring work between the avatar devices 21-24 and the avatar control device 30. The avatar device 25 is an avatar robot with a running function, and is mainly placed in the examination room E3 where there is no existing television monitor. The avatar device 25 communicates with the avatar control device 30 by a wired interface or a wireless communication interface. The examination room E3 may be a treatment room. In this description, an existing bedside television monitor is used as the avatar devices 21-24. However, in a newly constructed building, a similar system may be constructed by procuring new television monitors as the avatar devices 21-24 of a new system.

[0014] For example, doctor A can connect to avatar devices 21-25 from terminal device 11 via avatar control device 30, and as shown in FIG. 1, doctor A examines patient C1 via avatar device 21 in hospital room E2. Doctor A examines patient C1 by asking, for example, "How is your progress?" After that, doctor A switches to avatar device 22 in hospital room E2 and examines patient C2 by asking, for example, "Shall I change your medication?" Doctor A then performs remote examinations of patients C4 and C3 via avatar devices 24 and 23 in hospital room E2, respectively. Furthermore, doctor A performs remote examinations of patient C5 via avatar device 25 in examination room E3.

[0015] Similarly, nurse B can connect to avatar devices 21-25 from terminal device 12 via avatar control device 30, and as shown in FIG. 1, nurse B assists in the examination of patient C5 via avatar device 25 in examination room E3. Furthermore, nurse B switches to avatar device 23 in hospital room E2 and assists in the examination of patient C3 via avatar device 23. Nurse B assists in the examination by asking patient C3, for example, "What is your body temperature?" After that, nurse B switches to avatar device 24 in hospital room E2 and assists in the examination of patient C4, for example, "Has the infusion finished?" Nurse B then assists in the examination of patients C2 and C1 via avatar devices 22 and 21 in hospital room E2. Note that terminal device 11 and terminal device 12 may be located in the same area or in different areas. In general, terminal device 11 is located in each doctor's room, and terminal device 12 is located in a nurse's station. In addition, in FIG. 1, avatar devices 21-24 are shown to be located in the same four-bed hospital room E2, and avatar device 25 is shown to be located in a separate examination room E3. However, similar to the terminal devices, the avatar devices do not have to be located in the same place, and some or all of the avatar devices may be located in different areas.

[0016] In this manner, in this embodiment, Doctor A or Nurse B can remotely examine or assist in examination of patients C1-C5 without visiting them, thereby reducing the burden of examination, etc. on Doctor A and Nurse B. Note that this avatar examination system 1 is constructed using an existing television monitor, wiring cable, and / or a wired interface or wireless communication interface attached to the television monitor, so that the system can be easily introduced.

[0017] <Avatar control device> Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of avatar control device 30. As shown in Fig. 2, avatar control device 30 has a communication unit 31, a control unit 32, and a storage unit 33. Communication unit 31 is a communication interface that establishes a communication connection with terminal devices 11 and 12 and avatar devices 21 to 25. Note that the functions of avatar control device 30 may be implemented on the cloud, or may be implemented in the form of a server device implemented locally.

[0018] The storage unit 33 is a storage device that stores various information used by the control unit 32. The storage unit 33 has an examination schedule database 33a, an examiner database 33b, a patient database 33c, and an examination progress registration database 33d.

[0019] The examination schedule database 33a stores the schedules for each doctor and nurse to examine a patient. The examiner database 33b stores the identification information, avatar information, department, etc. of each doctor and nurse. The patient database 33c stores the identification information, disease progress, hospitalization history, etc. of each patient. In addition, the examination response status registration database 33d stores the history of examination results, etc.

[0020] The control unit 32 is a control unit that controls the entire avatar control device 30, and has an examiner determination unit 32a, a patient determination unit 32b, and an avatar control unit 32c. The control unit 32 stores programs corresponding to these functional units in a storage device such as a non-volatile memory or a magnetic disk device, and loads these programs into the memory and executes them on the CPU, thereby executing the corresponding processes.

[0021] The examiner determination unit 32a determines an examiner based on identification information obtained by logging in an examiner such as a doctor or a nurse and the examiner database 33b. This determination of the examiner is used for avatar processing of the examiner by the avatar control unit 32c.

[0022] The patient determination unit 32b determines a patient designated by the examiner based on the examination schedule database 33a. The determined patient is authenticated by matching the identification information indicated by the patient database 33c with the identification information indicated by the patient via the avatar device 21-24.

[0023] The avatar control unit 32c controls the communication connection between the terminal devices 11 and 12 of the examiners and the avatar devices 21 to 15 of the patients, and also controls the generation of the examiners' avatars. The avatar control unit 32c also controls the running of the avatar device 25. The avatar control unit 32c also performs a process of storing the examination response status registration process after the examination in the examination response status registration database 33d. The avatar control unit 32c may refer to the examination schedule database 33a and notify the terminal devices 11 and 12 of the examiners that the scheduled examination time has arrived and the patient to be examined, when the scheduled examination time arrives. The avatar control unit 32c may also be configured to make an emergency change of the examiner. For example, when a nurse B checks the state of the patient C1 on the avatar device 21 on the terminal device 12 and finds that the patient C1 is in a bad condition and needs to be examined by the doctor A immediately, a function may be provided to promptly switch the display of the avatar device 21 to the terminal device 11 by requesting the doctor A to switch to the terminal device 11.

[0024] <Terminal device> FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the terminal devices 11 and 12. Note that, in FIG. 3, the configuration of the terminal device 11 will be described, but the terminal device 12 has a similar configuration. As shown in FIG. 2, the terminal device 11 has a control unit 11a, a communication unit 11b, a display unit 11c, a sound output unit 11d, an imaging unit 11e, and a microphone 11f. Note that, the terminal device 11 has an input unit (not shown). This input unit may use the display unit 11c as an operation display unit that also serves as the input unit. Note that, the functions of the terminal devices 11 and 12 may be implemented in a place (local) where a doctor or nurse is present, or may be implemented by using the cloud or external communication.

[0025] The communication unit 11b is a communication interface that establishes a communication connection with the avatar control device 30. The display unit 11c is a display device that displays various information. The sound output unit 11d is an output device that outputs sound, such as a speaker. The imaging unit 11e is an imaging device, such as a camera, that captures images of the examinee's movements for avatar processing. The microphone 11f is an input device that inputs the examinee's voice.

[0026] The control unit 11a stores processing programs for each of these units in a storage device such as a non-volatile memory or a magnetic disk device, and loads these programs into memory and executes them on the CPU, thereby executing the corresponding processes.

[0027] <Avatar Device> Fig. 4 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of avatar devices 21 to 25. Note that, in Fig. 4, the configuration of avatar device 21 will be described, but avatar devices 22 to 25 have a similar configuration. As shown in Fig. 3, avatar device 21 has control unit 21a, communication unit 21b, display unit 21c, sound output unit 21d, imaging unit 21e, and microphone 21f. Note that avatar device 25 has a running function in addition to the functions of avatar devices 21 to 24.

[0028] The communication unit 21b is a communication interface that establishes a communication connection with the avatar control device 30. The display unit 21c is a display device that displays various information, and displays an avatar of the examinee that has been avatar-processed. The sound output unit 21d is an output device that outputs sound, such as a speaker. The imaging unit 21e is an imaging device, such as a camera, that captures images of the patient's identification information and the patient's condition. The microphone 21f is an input device that inputs the patient's voice.

[0029] The control unit 21a stores processing programs for each of these units in a storage device such as a non-volatile memory or a magnetic disk device, and loads these programs into memory and executes them on the CPU, thereby executing the corresponding processes.

[0030] Since avatar devices 21-24 use a television monitor placed adjacent to the patient's bed, there is no need to newly provide display unit 21c and sound output unit 21d. It is sufficient to newly connect imaging unit 21e and microphone 21f to the television monitor. As described above, avatar device 25 has a running function in addition to the functions of avatar devices 21-24.

[0031] <Remote medical examination processing> Fig. 5 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a remote examination process procedure using an examiner's avatar. As shown in Fig. 5, first, when Doctor A logs in to the terminal device 11, the terminal device 11 notifies the avatar control device 30 of Doctor A's login (step S101). Upon receiving this login notification, the avatar control device 30 determines the examiner who has logged in (Doctor A) (step S102).

[0032] After that, Doctor A who has logged in refers to the examination schedule database 33a on the terminal device 11 (step S103) and specifies the patient C1 to be examined (step S104). The avatar control device 30 then refers to the patient database 33c and transmits the patient information of the specified patient (step S105). After confirming the patient information, Doctor A instructs the avatar control device 30 from the terminal device 11 to start an avatar examination (step S106).

[0033] The avatar control device 30, which has received the instruction to start the avatar examination, establishes a communication connection with the avatar device 21 of the specified patient C1 (step S107). Thereafter, the avatar control device 30 performs authentication processing of the patient based on the patient's identification information captured by the imaging unit 21e of the avatar device 21 (step S108). Thereafter, the terminal device 11 and the avatar device 21 perform a remote examination (avatar examination) of the patient C1 by the doctor A via the avatar control device 30 while displaying the avatar of the doctor A on the avatar device 21 (step S109).

[0034] After that, when Doctor A finishes the avatar medical examination, Doctor A performs a process to register the medical examination history in the medical examination status registration database 33d (step S110). After that, Doctor A instructs the avatar control device 30 to end the avatar medical examination for Patient C1 (step S111). Upon receiving this end instruction, the avatar control device 30 cuts off communication with the avatar device 21 of Patient C1 (step S112).

[0035] Thereafter, Doctor A refers to the examination schedule database 33a (step S203) in the same manner as in step S103, and if there is a next patient to be examined, repeats the above-mentioned avatar examination process, and if there is no next patient to be examined, logs out from the terminal device 11. Note that while FIG. 5 illustrates an example of Doctor A, the same sequence also applies to Nurse B.

[0036] Here, a processing sequence will be described for the case where a process is included in which the medical treatment of a specific patient is urgently changed from Nurse B to Doctor A and taken over. Fig. 6 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a remote medical examination processing procedure including a process of urgently changing the examiner. As shown in Fig. 6, Nurse B first performs an avatar examination in the same manner as Doctor A shown in Fig. 5 (steps S101 to S109).

[0037] If the avatar examination reveals that the condition of patient C1 has worsened, nurse B issues an examiner emergency change request to the avatar control device 30 from the terminal device 12, which is a request to have doctor A perform an emergency examination (step S301). The avatar control device 30, which has received this examiner emergency change request, transmits an examiner emergency change notification to the terminal device 11 of doctor A, which is already connected in communication (step S302). Then, the avatar control device 30 switches to an avatar examination between doctor A on the terminal device 11 and patient C1 on the avatar device 21, and doctor A performs an avatar examination of patient C1 (step S303).

[0038] 5 (steps S110 to S112), when the avatar medical examination is completed, Doctor A performs a process of registering the medical examination history in the medical examination status registration database 33d (step S310). Doctor A then instructs the avatar control device 30 to end the avatar medical examination for Patient C1 (step S311). Upon receiving this end instruction, the avatar control device 30 cuts off communication with the avatar device 21 of Patient C1 (step S312).

[0039] In addition, each configuration illustrated in the above embodiment is a functional schematic, and does not necessarily have to be physically configured as illustrated. In other words, the form of distribution and integration of each device and component is not limited to that illustrated, and all or a part of them can be functionally or physically distributed and integrated in any unit according to various usage conditions, etc. [Explanation of symbols]

[0040] 1. Avatar medical examination system 11,12 Terminal equipment 11a, 21a, 32 Control unit 11b,21b,31 Communication Department 11c,21c Display section 11d, 21d Sound output section 11e, 21e Imaging section 11f,21f Microphone 21~25 Avatar Device 30 Avatar Control Device 32a Examiner Determination Department 32b Patient determination section 32c Avatar control section 33 Storage section 33a Medical appointment schedule database 33b Patient database 33c Patient Database 33d Medical Examination Status Registration Database Doctor A B Nurse C1~C5 patient E1 Remote area E2 Ward E3 Examination Room

Claims

1. One or more terminal devices operated by doctors and / or nurses at remote locations; one or more avatar devices that are disposed adjacent to a patient who is a subject of a doctor's examination and / or a nurse's examination assistance and that act as avatars of the doctor and / or nurse to interact with the patient; an avatar control device that, when a doctor and / or a nurse identifies a patient from the terminal device, connects the terminal device to an avatar device of the patient and controls the remote examination and / or remote examination assistance using an avatar for the patient; An avatar diagnosis system comprising:

2. the avatar device includes an imaging unit; 2. The avatar medical examination system according to claim 1, wherein the avatar control device identifies a patient based on identification information of the patient captured by the imaging unit.

3. The avatar diagnosis system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the avatar device uses a television monitor placed adjacent to each bed in the hospital room, and is connected to the avatar control device using a wiring cable of the television monitor and / or a communication interface attached to the television monitor.

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