# US 2014/0155755 A1 · Enhanced Diagnostics for a Telepresence Robot

> Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt

- Number: US 2014/0155755 A1
- Document ID: US20140155755A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 14/091,292
- Filed: 2014-02-13
- Published: 2014-06-05
- Earliest claimed: 2011-05-19
- Assignees: Intouch Technologies, Inc.
- Applicants: Intouch Technologies, Inc.
- Inventors: Marco Pinter; Timothy C. Wright; H. Neal Reynolds
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20140155755A1

## CPC

- G16H 10/60: for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
- A61B 5/0008: {Temperature signals}
- A61B 5/0013: {Medical image data (A61B1/00011, A61B6/56, A61B8/56 take precedence)}
- A61B 5/0022: {Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet}
- A61B 5/0075: {by spectroscopy, i.e. measuring spectra, e.g. Raman spectroscopy, infrared absorption spectroscopy (A61B5/0071 takes precedence)}
- A61B 5/0077: {Devices for viewing the surface of the body, e.g. camera, magnifying lens}
- A61B 5/015: {By temperature mapping of body part}
- A61B 5/02055: {Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular condition and temperature}
- A61B 5/1128: {using image analysis (A61B5/1127 takes precedence)}
- A61B 5/165: {Evaluating the state of mind, e.g. depression, anxiety}
- A61B 5/4064: {Evaluating the brain (for intracranial pressure A61B5/031; for cerebral blood gases A61B5/14553; using EEG A61B5/369)}
- A61B 5/4809: {Sleep detection, i.e. determining whether a subject is asleep or not}
- A61B 5/7264: {Classification of physiological signals or data, e.g. using neural networks, statistical classifiers, expert systems or fuzzy systems}
- A61B 5/7275: {Determining trends in physiological measurement data; Predicting development of a medical condition based on physiological measurements, e.g. determining a risk factor}
- A61B 5/741: {using synthesised speech}
- A61B 5/742: {using visual displays (displays for heart-related electrical signals, e.g. ECG, A61B5/339)}
- A61B 5/746: {Alarms related to a physiological condition, e.g. details of setting alarm thresholds or avoiding false alarms}
- A61B 34/10: Computer-aided planning, simulation or modelling of surgical operations
- A61B 34/30: Surgical robots
- B25J 9/1689: {Teleoperation}
- B25J 11/009: {Nursing, e.g. carrying sick persons, pushing wheelchairs, distributing drugs}
- G05D 1/0038: {by providing the operator with simple or augmented images from one or more cameras located onboard the vehicle, e.g. tele-operation (images analyzed by a computer and used for automatic navigation G05D1/0246)}
- G05D 1/2247: {providing the operator with simple or augmented images from one or more cameras}
- G16H 40/67: for remote operation
- G16H 50/20: for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems
- H04N 7/148: {Interfacing a video terminal to a particular transmission medium, e.g. ISDN}
- A61B 5/024: Measuring pulse rate or heart rate
- G16H: HEALTHCARE INFORMATICS, i.e. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE HANDLING OR PROCESSING OF MEDICAL OR HEALTHCARE DATA
- A61B: DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION (usefulness limited to only animals A61D)
- B25J: MANIPULATORS; CHAMBERS PROVIDED WITH MANIPULATION DEVICES ({manipulators specially adapted for use in surgery A61B34/70; manipulators used in cleaning hollow articles B08B9/04}; manipulators associated with rolling mills B21B39/20; manipulators associated with forging machines B21J13/10; {manipulators associated with picking-up and placing mechanisms B23P19/007}; means for holding wheels or parts thereof B60B30/00; {vehicles with ground-engaging propulsion means, e.g. walking members B62D57/02, B62D57/032; devices for picking-up and depositing articles or materials between conveyors B65G47/90, B65G47/91; manipulators with gripping or holding means for transferring packages B65H67/065}; cranes B66C; {manipulators used in the protection or supervision of pipe-line installations F17D5/00; walking equipment adapted for nuclear steam-generators F22B37/006}; manipulators specially adapted for, or associated with, nuclear reactors G21C; {apparatus used for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor H10P72/50})
- G05D: SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING NON-ELECTRIC VARIABLES
- H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION

## Abstract

A telepresence device may autonomously check patients. The telepresence device may determine the frequency of checking based on whether the patient has a risk factor. The telepresence device may include an image sensor, a thermal camera, a depth sensor, one or more systems for interacting with patients, or the like. The telepresence device may be configured to evaluate the patient's condition using the one or more sensors. The telepresence device may measure physiological characteristics using Eulerian video magnification, may detect pallor, fluid level, or fluid color, may detect thermal asymmetry, may determine a psychological state from body position or movement, or the like. The telepresence device may determine whether the patient is experiencing a potentially harmful condition, such as sepsis or stroke, and may trigger an alarm if so. To overcome alarm fatigue, the telepresence device may annoy a care provider until the care provider responds to an alarm.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including computer-readable instruction code for performing a method of autonomously checking a patient, the method comprising:
visiting the patient with a telepresence device;
accessing a medical record of the patient;
performing, using the telepresence device, one or more diagnostic activities to evaluate the patient, wherein the one or more diagnostic activities are selected based on the medical record;
determining whether a potentially harmful condition exists with the patient based on results from the one or more diagnostic activities; and
performing an action responsive to the potentially harmful condition if it is determined that the potentially harmful condition exists.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the one or more diagnostic activities include receiving telemetry data from a patient monitor.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the one or more diagnostic activities include measuring a physiological characteristic of the patient using an image sensor.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 3, wherein measuring the physiological characteristic comprises determining a temperature of the patient from a thermographic image.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein visiting the patient comprises automatically visiting a plurality of patients in a predetermined order, wherein the predetermined order is determined based on a risk level of each patient, and wherein higher risk patients are visited more often than lower risk patients.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the one or more diagnostic activities are selected by a care provider.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein performing the action responsive to the potentially harmful condition comprises performing an action selected from the group consisting of archiving the results from the one or more diagnostic activities, alerting a local care provider, and alerting a remote care provider.

### Claim 8

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including computer-readable instruction code for performing a method of diagnosing sepsis in a patient, the method comprising:
visiting the patient with a telepresence device;
performing, using the telepresence device, one or more diagnostic activities on the patient to detect sepsis;
evaluating results from the one or more diagnostic activities; and
alerting a care provider if the results indicate sepsis is present in the patient.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein performing one or more diagnostic activities comprises detecting at least one of changes in temperature and changes in pulse across a plurality of visits.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein evaluating the results comprises detecting at least one of an increase in temperature of more than two percent and an increase in pulse of more than 20%.

### Claim 11 (depends on 8)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein performing one or more diagnostic activities includes detecting temperature asymmetry from a thermographic image.

### Claim 12 (depends on 8)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the method further comprises capturing video of respiration by the patient for viewing by the care provider.

### Claim 13

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including computer-readable instruction code for performing a method of diagnosing a stroke, the method comprising:
visiting a patient using a telepresence device;
performing, using the telepresence device, one or more diagnostic tests on the patient to detect a stroke;
determining, based on the diagnostic tests, whether the patient has suffered a stroke; and
alerting a care provider if the patient has suffered a stroke.

### Claim 14 (depends on 13)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the one or more diagnostic tests include an interactive test requiring the patient to correctly perform an action.

### Claim 15 (depends on 14)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the action is selected from the group consisting of maintaining a limb in an elevated position for a predetermined length of time and speaking in response to a prompt.

### Claim 16 (depends on 13)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the one or more diagnostic tests include detecting at least one of face symmetry and facial expression using an image sensor.

### Claim 17 (depends on 13)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein determining whether the patient has suffered a stroke comprises determining the results of one or more tests on the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale.

### Claim 18

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including computer-readable instruction code for performing a method of non-tactilely measuring actigraphy, the method comprising:
measuring a position of a limb of a patient using a depth sensor on a telepresence device;
determining motion of the limb based on variations in position measurements over time; and
determining a psychological state of the patient based on the motion of the limb.

### Claim 19 (depends on 18)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein determining the psychological state includes determining whether the patient is in a state selected from the group consisting of asleep, distressed, and agitated.

### Claim 20 (depends on 18)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein determining the psychological state includes determining whether the patient is asleep, and wherein the method further comprises delaying an interactive diagnostic until the patient is awake.

### Claim 21 (depends on 18)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the method further comprises receiving a request from a care provider for notification when the patient is awake, and alerting the care provider if the psychological state of the patient includes being awake.

### Claim 22

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including computer-readable instruction code for performing a method of autonomously checking a plurality of patients with a telepresence device, the method comprising:
receiving indications of the plurality of patients;
receiving medical data for at least one of the plurality of patients; and
determining a frequency of checking each of the plurality of patients with the telepresence device based on the received medical data.

### Claim 23 (depends on 22)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the method further comprises detecting one or more risk factors in the received medical data, and wherein determining the frequency comprises determining the frequency based on the one or more risk factors.

### Claim 24 (depends on 23)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 23, wherein detecting one or more risk factors comprises receiving an indication of a diagnosis requiring more frequent checking.

### Claim 25 (depends on 22)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the medical data includes an indication of the frequency.

### Claim 26

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including computer-readable instruction code for performing a method of overcoming alarm fatigue in a care provider, the method comprising:
detecting that a patient is experiencing an alarm condition;
locating a care provider;
navigating a telepresence device to the care provider; and
alerting the care provider that the patient experiencing the alarm condition using the telepresence device.

### Claim 27 (depends on 26)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 26, wherein detecting that the patient is experiencing the alarm condition comprises performing one or more diagnostic activities on the patient.

### Claim 28 (depends on 26)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 26, wherein locating the care provider comprises locating the care provider using a vision system on the telepresence device.

### Claim 29 (depends on 26)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 26, wherein alerting the care provider comprises performing at least one action selected from the group consisting of displaying a message on a display device, playing an alert sound, and playing an audio message comprising synthesized speech.

### Claim 30

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including computer-readable instruction code for performing a method of autonomously checking a patient, the method comprising:
visiting the patient with a telepresence device;
if the patient is coupled to a patient monitor, attempting to acquire telemetry data from the patient monitor;
measuring a patient characteristic using an image sensor on the telepresence device;
determining whether a potentially harmful condition exists with the patient based on at least one of the telemetry data and the patient characteristic; and
performing an action responsive to the potentially harmful condition if it is determined that the potentially harmful condition exists.

### Claim 31 (depends on 30)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 30, wherein the telemetry data corresponds to the patient characteristic.

### Claim 32 (depends on 31)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 31, wherein measuring the patient characteristic comprises measuring the patient characteristic if the telemetry data is not acquired from the patient monitor.

### Claim 33 (depends on 30)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 30, wherein attempting to acquire the telemetry data comprises attempting to perform optical character recognition on a display of the patient monitor.

### Claim 34 (depends on 30)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 30, wherein attempting to acquire the telemetry data comprises requesting the telemetry data via a wireless network.

### Claim 35 (depends on 34)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 34, wherein requesting the telemetry data comprises requesting the telemetry data from a system selected from the group consisting of the patient monitor and an electronic medical record system.

### Claim 36 (depends on 30)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 30, wherein the telemetry data corresponds to a physiological characteristic distinct from the patient characteristic.

### Claim 37 (depends on 36)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 36, wherein the patient characteristic includes at least one characteristic selected from the group consisting of pallor, fluid level, fluid color, and thermal symmetry.