# US 11,298,728 B2 · Method and system of monitoring the cleaning of hospital environments

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- Number: US 11,298,728 B2
- Document ID: US11298728B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 15/968,103
- Filed: 2018-05-01
- Published: 2019-10-03
- Granted: 2022-04-12
- Earliest claimed: 2018-05-01
- Assignees: Sociedade Beneficente Israelita Brasileira Hospital Albert Einstein; I-HealthSys Produtos Médicos Ltda—ME
- Applicants: Sociedade Beneficente Israelita Brasileira Hospital Albert Einstein; I-HealthSys Produtos Médicos Ltda—ME
- Inventors: Alexandre Rodrigues Marra; Marcelo Prado; Renaldo Massini Junior; Alvaro Costa Neto
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11298728B2

## CPC

- B08B 7/0057: {by ultraviolet radiation}
- B08B 13/00: Accessories or details of general applicability for machines or apparatus for cleaning
- G06Q 10/0631: Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
- G06Q 10/0639: Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations
- G08B 21/24: Reminder alarms, e.g. anti-loss alarms
- G16H 40/20: for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
- Y02W 90/00: Enabling technologies or technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions mitigation
- B08B: CLEANING IN GENERAL; PREVENTION OF FOULING IN GENERAL
- G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G08B: SIGNALLING SYSTEMS, e.g. PERSONAL CALLING SYSTEMS; ORDER TELEGRAPHS; ALARM SYSTEMS
- G16H: HEALTHCARE INFORMATICS, i.e. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE HANDLING OR PROCESSING OF MEDICAL OR HEALTHCARE DATA
- Y02W: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO WASTEWATER TREATMENT OR WASTE MANAGEMENT

## Abstract

There is described a method of monitoring the cleaning of hospital environments, the hospital environment (1) comprising at least an item (2, 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 2e, 2f, 2g, 2h, 2i, 2j) disposed inside thereof, wherein the method comprises the steps of: generating a statement of events (5,5′,5″) of the hospital environment (1), the statement of events (5,5′,5″) related to the occurrence of at least a touch between at least a passer-by (3,3′,3″,30) of the hospital environment (1) with one of the items (2, 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 2e, 2f, 2g, 2h, 2i, 2j) disposed in the hospital environment (1), and performing the cleaning action of the hospital environment (1) based on the statement of events (5,5′,5″) generated. A system of monitoring the cleaning of hospital environments is also described.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method of monitoring the cleaning of a hospital environment, the hospital environment comprising at least an item disposed inside thereof, wherein the method comprises the steps of:
disposing a plurality of sensors within the hospital environment;
detecting, using at least one of the plurality of sensors, a quantity of touches occurred between a passer-by and the at least one item disposed in the hospital environment, and determining a time duration for each of said touches;
generating a dirtiness index for the at least one item disposed in the hospital environment, the dirtiness index being determined based on the quantity of the touches between the passer-by and the at least one item disposed in the hospital environment and on the time duration for each of said touches;
generating a statement of events indicating the touches detected between the passer-by and the at least one item disposed in the hospital environment; and
performing a cleaning action in the hospital environment based on the statement of events generated and the dirtiness index generated for said item.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising, during said step of performing the cleaning action:
displaying, using an indicating element, said statement of events to a cleaning professional.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the step of displaying said statement of events comprises: representing the statement of events in the indicating element by way of an enhanced reality interface.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the indicating element provides to the passer-by a simultaneous visualization of simultaneously displays to the cleaning professional the hospital environment and the enhanced reality interface.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the indicating element is wearable by the professional.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The method as claimed in claim 5, further comprising a step of evaluating the effectiveness of the cleaning action performed in the hospital environment, said step comprising determining at least one from among:
a quantity of touches occurred between the cleaning professional and the at least one item disposed in the hospital environment,
a time duration for each of the touches occurred between the cleaning professional and the at least one item disposed in the hospital environment, and
a path data of the cleaning professional inside the hospital environment during the performance of the cleaning action, the path data comprising data related to the path followed by the cleaning professional during the performance of the cleaning action.

### Claim 7 (depends on 3)

The method as claimed in claim 3, further comprising:
sending the path data to a remote device, the remote device disposed remotely to the indicating element.

### Claim 8 (depends on 4)

The method as claimed in claim 4, further comprising:
enabling bidirectional data traffic between the indicating element and the remote device.

### Claim 9 (depends on 5)

The method as claimed in claim 5, further comprising, after the step of performing the cleaning action:
disposing a UV sanitizing equipment in the hospital environment, wherein a placement of the UV sanitizing equipment is chosen based on the statement of events.

### Claim 10 (depends on 6)

The method as claimed in claim 6, further comprising the steps of:
defining a placement site of the UV sanitizing equipment in the hospital environment based on the statement of events,
defining an operating power of the UV sanitizing equipment based on the statement of events and,
defining an operating time of the UV sanitizing equipment based on the statement of events.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said steps of detecting a quantity of touches occurred between a passer-by and the at least one item disposed in the hospital environment, and determining a time duration for each of said touches are performed using a plurality of sensors disposed in the hospital environment, wherein the plurality of sensors is selected among infrared sensors, contact sensors and/or radiofrequency sensors.