# US 10,482,321 B2 · Methods and systems for identifying the crossing of a virtual barrier

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- Number: US 10,482,321 B2
- Document ID: US10482321B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 15/857,696
- Filed: 2017-12-29
- Published: 2019-07-04
- Granted: 2019-11-19
- Earliest claimed: 2017-12-29
- Assignees: Cerner Innovation, Inc.
- Applicants: Cerner Innovation, Inc.
- Inventors: Michael Kusens
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10482321B2

## CPC

- A61B 5/6891: {Furniture}
- G06V 40/103: {Static body considered as a whole, e.g. static pedestrian or occupant recognition}
- A61B 5/1113: {Local tracking of patients, e.g. in a hospital or private home}
- A61B 5/1115: {Monitoring leaving of a patient support, e.g. a bed or a wheelchair}
- A61B 5/1117: {Fall detection}
- A61B 5/1128: {using image analysis (A61B5/1127 takes precedence)}
- A61B 5/746: {Alarms related to a physiological condition, e.g. details of setting alarm thresholds or avoiding false alarms}
- G06T 7/73: using feature-based methods
- G06V 20/52: Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects (recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69)
- G06V 40/23: {Recognition of whole body movements, e.g. for sport training}
- A61B 5/1171: based on the shapes or appearances of their bodies or parts thereof
- A61B 2503/08: Elderly
- A61B 2562/0219: Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
- A61B 2562/0252: Load cells
- A61B 2562/046: in a matrix array
- G06T 2207/30196: Human being; Person
- G06T 2210/12: Bounding box
- G06V 30/224: of printed characters having additional code marks or containing code marks
- A61B: DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION (usefulness limited to only animals A61D)
- G06V: IMAGE OR VIDEO RECOGNITION OR UNDERSTANDING
- G06T: IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL

## Abstract

Systems, methods and media are disclosed for identifying the crossing of a virtual barrier. A person in a 3D image of a room may be circumscribed by a bounding box. The position of the bounding box may be monitored over time, relative to the virtual barrier. If the bounding box touches or crosses the virtual barrier, an alert may be sent to the person being monitored, a caregiver or a clinician.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method of identifying the crossing of a virtual barrier, the method being performed by a computerized monitoring system and comprising:
receiving image data for a room from one or more 3D motion sensors;
configuring a virtual barrier within the room;
classifying an object within the room as a person;
creating a bounding box to circumscribe at least a portion of the person;
monitoring a position of the bounding box over time and relative to the virtual barrier; and
wherein upon detecting that at least a portion of the bounding box has touched or crossed the virtual barrier, initiating skeletal tracking, blob tracking, or a combination thereof to confirm the touching or crossing of the virtual barrier.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual barrier is configured automatically by the computerized monitoring system.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual barrier is configured by the computerized monitoring system based on input from a human user.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising sending an alert to a computerized communication system upon detecting the bounding box touches or crosses the virtual barrier.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The method of claim 4, wherein, upon receiving the alert, the computerized communication system notifies the person, a caregiver, or clinician that the virtual barrier has been crossed.

### Claim 6 (depends on 4)

The method of claim 4, wherein an alert is sent to the computerized communication system only if a specified minimum portion of the bounding box crosses the virtual barrier.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising sending the image data to a centralized monitoring station.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The method of claim 7, further comprising displaying human-intelligible images from the image data at the centralized monitoring station.

### Claim 9

A system for identifying the crossing of a virtual barrier, the system comprising:
a computerized monitoring system in communication with one or more 3D motion sensors; and
a computerized communication system;
wherein the computerized monitoring system is configured to:
receive image data from the one or more 3D motion sensors;
configure a virtual barrier;
analyze the image data to create a bounding box around a person in the image data;
upon detecting that at least a portion of the bounding box has touched or crossed the virtual barrier, initiate skeletal tracking, blob tracking, or a combination thereof to confirm the touching or crossing of the virtual barrier; and
send an alert to the computerized communication system upon confirmation of the touching or crossing of the virtual barrier.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The system of claim 9, further comprising a user input device, wherein the computerized monitoring system is configured to configure the virtual barrier based on user input.

### Claim 11 (depends on 9)

The system of claim 9, further comprising a centralized monitoring station configured to display human-intelligible images based on the data from the one or more 3D motion sensors.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The system of claim 11, wherein the centralized monitoring station is configured to receive an alert from the computerized communication system, and, upon receipt of the alert, move the display of human-intelligible images to an alert display.

### Claim 13 (depends on 9)

The system of claim 9, wherein the virtual barrier is configured automatically by the computerized monitoring system.

### Claim 14 (depends on 9)

The system of claim 9, wherein the computerized monitoring system is configured to use biometrics to identify the person.

### Claim 15

Non-transitory computer-readable media having embodied thereon instructions which, when executed by a computer processor, cause the processor to:
receive image data for a room from one or more 3D motion sensors;
configure a virtual barrier within the room, by a computerized monitoring system;
classify an object within the room as a person;
create a bounding box to circumscribe at least a portion of the person;
monitor a position of the bounding box over time and relative to the virtual barrier; and
wherein upon detecting that at least a portion of the bounding box has touched or crossed the virtual barrier, initiate skeletal tracking, blob tracking, or a combination thereof to confirm the crossing of the virtual barrier.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The media of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to accept user input to configure the virtual barrier.

### Claim 17 (depends on 15)

The media of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to send an alert to a computerized communication system upon confirmation that the bounding box touches or crosses the virtual barrier.

### Claim 18 (depends on 17)

The media of claim 17, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to send another alert to the computerized communication system if all of the bounding box crosses the virtual barrier.

### Claim 19 (depends on 15)

The media of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to send the image data to a centralized monitoring station.