Error Cause Estimation in Agitation State Determination

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing systems for determining a patient's agitation state may fail to function correctly due to errors, preventing appropriate actions from being taken in response to the patient's condition.

Innovation Solution

A determination apparatus and method that includes an estimation unit to identify the cause of errors in determining a patient's agitation state and a notification unit to alert relevant personnel, allowing for corrective actions even when the agitation state cannot be determined.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If an agitation determination system is implemented to monitor patient conditions, then patient safety is improved, but system reliability deteriorates when errors occur preventing agitation state determination

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveagitation state determination reliabilityVSAvoiderror impact on patient safety

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary error detection and cause estimation before the error can completely prevent agitation state determination. By continuously monitoring data quality and estimating error causes in advance, the system prepares compensatory measures proactively, maintaining reliability even when errors occur.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system implements feedback mechanisms where error detection results and cause estimation information are fed back into the determination process. This feedback loop allows the system to adjust its operation based on detected errors and estimated causes, maintaining reliable agitation state determination despite the presence of errors in the system.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

2Reliability

If error detection and cause estimation functions are added to the determination apparatus, then system reliability is improved, but device complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveerror handling reliabilityVSAvoiddetermination apparatus complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The error detection and cause estimation functions are merged with the existing agitation state determination unit rather than being implemented as separate independent systems. This integration approach improves reliability while minimizing the increase in device complexity by sharing hardware and software resources.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Solution Approach 2:

The determination apparatus is designed with multi-functionality, where the same processing units perform both normal agitation state determination and error detection/cause estimation functions. This universal design improves reliability without proportionally increasing device complexity, as existing components serve multiple purposes.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Data Source

PatentUS20230346317A1Determination apparatus

Publication Date: 2023.11.02 NEC CORP

AI summary

A determination apparatus (500) includes an estimation unit (512) configured to estimate a cause for an error based on data used when an agitation state is determined, and a notification unit (522) configured to issue a notification according to a result of the estimation by the estimation unit (521).