# US 9,521,335 B2 · Detecting febrile seizure with a thermal video camera > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 9,521,335 B2 - Document ID: US9521335B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 14/306,817 - Filed: 2014-06-17 - Published: 2015-12-17 - Granted: 2016-12-13 - Earliest claimed: 2014-06-17 - Assignees: Xerox Corporation - Applicants: Xerox Corporation - Inventors: Lalit Keshav Mestha; Beilei Xu; Rakesh Suresh Kulkarni - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US9521335B2 ## CPC - G01J 5/10: using electric radiation detectors - A61B 5/01: Measuring temperature of body parts {; Diagnostic temperature sensing, e.g. for malignant or inflamed tissue} (clinical contact thermometers G01K13/20) - A61B 5/015: {By temperature mapping of body part} - G01J 5/0025: {Living bodies (ear thermometers G01J5/0011; detecting, measuring or recording for diagnostic purposes A61B5/00)} - G01J 5/025: {Interfacing a pyrometer to an external device or network; User interface} - G01J 5/07: Arrangements for adjusting the solid angle of collected radiation, e.g. adjusting or orienting field of view, tracking position or encoding angular position (optical collimating elements G01J5/0806) - G06T 7/0016: {involving temporal comparison} - H04N 23/23: from thermal infrared radiation - H04N 23/80: Camera processing pipelines; Components thereof - A61B 5/0077: {Devices for viewing the surface of the body, e.g. camera, magnifying lens} - G01J 2005/0077: {Imaging} - G06T 2207/10016: Video; Image sequence - G06T 2207/10048: Infrared image - G06T 2207/30076: Plethysmography - G06T 2207/30088: Skin; Dermal - G01J: MEASUREMENT OF INTENSITY, VELOCITY, SPECTRAL CONTENT, POLARISATION, PHASE OR PULSE CHARACTERISTICS OF INFRARED, VISIBLE OR ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT; COLORIMETRY; RADIATION PYROMETRY (light sources F21, H01J, H01K, H05B; investigating properties of materials by optical means G01N) - A61B: DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION (usefulness limited to only animals A61D) - G06T: IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL - H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION ## Abstract What is disclosed is a system and method for detecting febrile seizure using a thermal video camera. In one embodiment, a video is received comprising time-sequential thermal images of a subject. The video is acquired of the subject in real-time using a thermal video system. Each thermal image comprises a plurality of pixels with an intensity value of each pixel corresponding to a temperature. The thermal images are processed to determine an occurrence of a febrile seizure. The processing involves identifying a region of interest in the thermal image and determining a temperature for the region of interest based on values of the pixels isolated in that region of interest. Thereafter, a rate of change of temperatures is obtained for the subject in real-time on a per-frame basis. If the rate of change is determined to have exceeded a pre-defined threshold level, then the subject is having a febrile seizure. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method for detecting febrile seizure using a thermal video device, the method comprising: receiving a video comprising time-sequential frames of thermal images of a subject being monitored for febrile seizure, said video being acquired by a thermal video system, each thermal image comprising a plurality of pixels, an intensity value of each pixel corresponding to a surface temperature; and processing thermal images to determine an occurrence of a febrile seizure, said processing comprising: isolating pixels associated with at least one region of interest; determining a temperature for the subject based on values of said pixels isolated in said region of interest; determining a rate of change of said subject's temperature; and in response to said rate of change exceeding a threshold level, determining that said subject is having a febrile seizure. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein said thermal video system is any of: a single-band infrared video camera, a multi-band infrared video camera in the thermal range, and a multi-spectral infrared video camera in the thermal range. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein pixels are isolated in the regions of interest using any of: pixel classification, color, texture, spatial features, spectral information, facial recognition, object identification, pattern recognition, and a user input. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein determining a temperature for said subject comprises any of: integrating pixel values over at least a portion of said region of interest; and weighted averaging pixel values over at least a portion of said region of interest. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: weighting values of any of said isolated pixels; averaging values of any of said isolated pixels; normalizing values of any of said isolated pixels; and discarding any pixels with intensity values below a level of acceptability. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein said threshold is based on any of: a rate of fever progression of patients who have had a febrile seizure; and a user input. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein said determination of febrile seizure further utilizes health vitals of said subject comprising any of: cardiac pulse rate, blood pressure, respiration rate, muscle twitch, a signal from an electrocardiogram (ECG/EKG), and a signal from electroencephalogram (EEG). ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether a movement occurred during video acquisition which is likely to adversely impact said temperature determination, comprising any of: analyzing pixels in said thermal image; performing facial recognition on said thermal image; performing object tracking on said thermal image; performing pattern recognition on said thermal image; using a motion detector; and visually observing said subject. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The method of claim 8, wherein, in response to said determination, further comprising any of: adjusting a position of said thermal video system; adjusting a position of said subject; changing a frame rate of said thermal video system; swapping said thermal video system for another thermal video system; ignoring video image frames captured during movement; initiating an alert that movement has occurred; and stopping video acquisition altogether. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating said rate of change to any of: a display device, a storage device, a smartphone, a laptop, tablet-PC, a workstation, and a remote device over a network. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein, in response to said subject having a febrile seizure, initiating a notification comprising any of: an audio message, a text message, an email, a voicemail message, a phone call, a video, an image, and an alert signal. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein said video is a streaming video and febrile seizure determination occurs in real-time. ### Claim 13 A thermal video system for detecting febrile seizure using a thermal video device, the system comprising: a video camera a video comprising time-sequential frames of thermal images, each thermal image comprising a plurality of pixels, an intensity value of each pixel corresponding to a surface temperature; and a processor in communication with a memory, said processor executing machine readable instructions for performing: receiving thermal images of a subject being monitored for febrile seizure; isolating pixels associated with at least one region of interest; determining a temperature for said subject based on values associated with said isolated pixels; determining a rate of change of said subject's temperature; and in response to said rate of change exceeding a threshold, determining that said subject is having a febrile seizure. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The system of claim 13, wherein said thermal video system is any of: a single-band infrared video camera, a multi-band infrared video camera in the thermal range, and a multi-spectral infrared video camera in the thermal range. ### Claim 15 (depends on 13) The system of claim 13, wherein pixels are isolated in the regions of interest using any of: pixel classification, color, texture, spatial features, spectral information, facial recognition, object identification, pattern recognition, and a user input. ### Claim 16 (depends on 13) The system of claim 13, wherein determining a temperature for said subject comprises any of: integrating pixel values over at least a portion of said region of interest; and weighted averaging pixel values over at least a portion of said region of interest. ### Claim 17 (depends on 13) The system of claim 13, further comprising: weighting values of any of said isolated pixels; averaging values of any of said isolated pixels; normalizing values of any of said isolated pixels; and discarding any pixels with intensity values below a level of acceptability. ### Claim 18 (depends on 13) The system of claim 13, wherein said threshold is based on any of: a rate of fever progression of patients who have had a febrile seizure; and a user input. ### Claim 19 (depends on 13) The system of claim 13, wherein said determination of febrile seizure further utilizes health vitals of said subject comprising any of: cardiac pulse rate, blood pressure, respiration rate, muscle twitch, a signal from an electrocardiogram (ECG/EKG), and a signal from an electroencephalogram (EEG). ### Claim 20 (depends on 13) The system of claim 13, further comprising determining whether a movement occurred during video acquisition which is likely to adversely impact said temperature determination, comprising any of: analyzing pixels in said thermal image; performing facial recognition on said thermal image; performing object tracking on said thermal image; performing pattern recognition on said thermal image; using a motion detector; and visually observing said subject. ### Claim 21 (depends on 20) The system of claim 20, wherein, in response to said determination, further comprising any of: adjusting a position of said thermal video system; adjusting a position of said subject; changing a frame rate of said thermal video system; swapping said thermal video system for another thermal video system; ignoring video image frames captured during movement; initiating an alert that movement has occurred; and stopping video acquisition altogether. ### Claim 22 (depends on 13) The system of claim 13, further comprising communicating said rate of change to any of: a display device, a storage device, a smartphone, a laptop, tablet-PC, a workstation, and a remote device over a network. ### Claim 23 (depends on 13) The system of claim 13, wherein, in response to said subject having a febrile seizure, initiating a notification comprising any of: an audio message, a text message, an email, a voicemail message, a phone call, a video, an image, and an alert signal. ### Claim 24 (depends on 13) The system of claim 13, wherein said video is a streaming video and febrile seizure determination occurs in real-time.