Remote heart rate estimation

An apparatus comprising:

• a camera;
• a processor;
• a memory storing code executable by the processor to perform:
• detecting an object of interest (OOI) in each image of a video data captured by the camera;
• tracking the OOI in each image of the video data;
• identifying a region of interest (ROI) within the OOI;
• generating a plurality of super pixels from a plurality of pixels in each ROI;
• generating a super-pixel time series from the plurality of super pixels in each image;
• removing interfering signals from the super-pixel time series;
• modeling the super-pixel time series as a super-pixel model;
• calculating a heart beat signal from the super-pixel model, wherein an ith super pixel for a time t is modeled as yi(t)=ui(t)+hi(t)+ni(t), where yi(t) is a measured pixel value, ui(t) is a background signal representing contributions to the measured pixel value due to movement and lighting variations, hi(t) is the heart beat signal, and ni(t) is a sensor noise signal representing contributions to the measured pixel value due to sensor noise;
• and
• calculating heart characteristics from the heart beat signal, the heart characteristics comprising one or more of a heart rate, an inter-beat interval, and a heart rate variability.

A program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing code executable by a processor to perform:

• detecting an object of interest (OOI) in each image of a video data captured by the camera;
• tracking the OOI in each image of the video data;
• identifying a region of interest (ROI) within the OOI;
• generating a plurality of super pixels from a plurality of pixels in each ROI;
• generating a super-pixel time series from the plurality of super pixels in each image;
• removing interfering signals from the super-pixel time series;
• modeling the super-pixel time series as a super-pixel model;
• calculating a heart beat signal from the super-pixel model, wherein an ith super pixel for a time t is modeled as yi(t)=ui(t)+hi(t)+ni(t), where yi(t) is a measured pixel value, ui(t) is a background signal representing contributions to the measured pixel value due to movement and lighting variations, hi(t) is the heart beat signal, and ni(t) is a sensor noise signal representing contributions to the measured pixel value due to sensor noise;
• and
• calculating heart characteristics from the heart beat signal, the heart characteristics comprising one or more of a heart rate, an inter-beat interval, and a heart rate variability.