Patent US10045699

Determining a state of a user based on thermal measurements of the forehead
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US10045699

1. A system configured to differentiate between normal and abnormal states, comprising: (12) (3)

at least one inward-facing head-mounted thermal camera (CAM) configured to take thermal measurements of at least first and second regions on the right side of a user's forehead (TH_R1and TH_R2, respectively), and to take thermal measurements of at least third and fourth regions on the left side of the forehead (TH_L1and TH_L2, respectively);

wherein the middles of the first and third regions are at least 1 cm above the middles of the second and fourth regions, respectively; and wherein the at least one CAM is located below the first and third regions, and does not occlude the first and third regions; and

a computer configured to determine, based on TH_R1, TH_R2, TH_L1, and TH_L2, whether the user is in a normal state or an abnormal state.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one CAM comprises at least first and second inward-facing head-mounted thermal cameras (CAM1 and CAM2, respectively) located to the right and to the left of the vertical symmetry axis that divides the user's face, respectively; CAM1 is configured to take TH_R1and TH_R2, and CAM2 is configured to take TH_L1and TH_L2. (1) (0)

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one CAM comprises a multi-pixel sensor and a lens; wherein the sensor plane is tilted by more than 2° relative to the lens plane according to the Scheimpflug principle in order to capture sharper images when the at least one CAM is worn by the user. (0)

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer is configured to utilize a model to determine whether the user is in the normal state or the abnormal state, and the model was trained based on a first set of previous thermal measurements taken while the user was indoors and in the normal state, a second set of previous thermal measurements taken while the user was indoors and in the abnormal state, a third set of previous thermal measurements taken while the user was outdoors and in the normal state, and a fourth set of previous thermal measurements taken while the user was outdoors and in the abnormal state. (0)

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer is configured to utilize a model to determine whether the user is in the normal state or the abnormal state, and the model was trained based on a first set of previous thermal measurements taken while the user was sitting and in the normal state, a second set of previous thermal measurements taken while the user was sitting and in the abnormal state, a third set of previous thermal measurements taken while the user was in the normal state and at least one of standing and moving around, and a fourth set of previous thermal measurements taken while the user was in the abnormal state and at least one of standing and moving around. (0)

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the abnormal state involves the user displaying symptoms of one or more of the following: an anger attack, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and a headache; and wherein the normal state refers to a usual behavior of the user that does not involve displaying said symptoms. (0)

8. The system of claim 1, wherein when the user is in the abnormal state, the user will display within a predetermined duration shorter than an hour, with a probability above a predetermined threshold, symptoms of one or more of the following: anger, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD); and wherein when the user is in the normal state, the user will display the symptoms within the predetermined duration with a probability below the predetermined threshold. (0)

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the abnormal state refers to times during which the user has a higher level of concentration compared to the normal state that refers to times during which the user has a usual level of concentration. (0)

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least one additional inward-facing head-mounted thermal camera configured to take thermal measurements of regions on the nose and below the nostrils (TH_ROI3and TH_ROI4, respectively); wherein TH_ROI4is indicative of the user's breathing, and the computer is configured to determine the state of the user also based on TH_ROI3and TH_ROI4. (0)

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least one additional inward-facing head-mounted thermal camera configured to take thermal measurements of regions on the nose and below the nostrils (TH_ROI3and TH_ROI4, respectively); wherein the computer is further configured to: (i) generate feature values based on TH_R1, TH_R2, TH_L1, TH_L2, TH_ROI3, and TH_ROI4, and (ii) utilize a model to determine the user's state based on the feature values; wherein the model was trained based on a first set of previous TH_R1, TH_R2, TH_L1, TH_L2, TH_ROI3, and TH_ROI4taken while the user was in the normal state and a second set of previous TH_R1, TH_R2, TH_L1, TH_L2, TH_ROI3, and TH_ROI4taken while the user was in the abnormal state. (0)

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising an additional inward-facing head-mounted thermal camera configured to take thermal measurements of a region on the periorbital area (TH_ROI3); wherein the computer is further configured to: (i) generate feature values based on TH_R1, TH_R2, TH_L1, TH_L2, and TH_ROI3, and (ii) utilize a model to determine the user's state based on the feature values; wherein the model was trained based on a first set of previous TH_R1, TH_R2, TH_L1, TH_L2, and TH_ROI3taken while the user was in the normal state and a second set of previous TH_R1, TH_R2, TH_L1, TH_L2, and TH_ROI3taken while the user was in the abnormal state. (0)

13. The system of claim 1, wherein responsive to determining that the user is in the normal state, the computer is further configured to prioritize a first activity over a second activity, and responsive to determining that the user is in the abnormal state, the computer is further configured to prioritize the second activity over the first activity; wherein accomplishing each of the first and second activities requires at least a minute of the user's attention, and the second activity is more suitable for the abnormal state than the first activity. (4) (0)

18. The system of claim 1, further comprising a sensor configured to provide an indication indicative of whether the user touches the forehead, whereby the touch is expected to influence thermal readings from the touched area; wherein the computer is configured to continue to operate, for a predetermined duration, according to a state identified shortly before receiving the indication, even if it identifies a different state shortly after receiving the indication. (0)

19. A system configured to alert about an abnormal state, comprising: (3) (3)

a user interface configured to provide an alert about an abnormal state of the user; wherein the abnormal state is determined based on TH_R1, TH_R2, TH_L1, and TH_L2.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the at least one CAM comprises at least first and second inward-facing head-mounted thermal cameras (CAM1 and CAM2, respectively) located to the right and to the left of the vertical symmetry axis that divides the user's face, respectively, and less than 10 cm from the user's face; CAM1 is configured to take TH_R1and TH_R2, and CAM2 is configured to take TH_L1and TH_L2. (0)

21. The system of claim 19, further comprising a computer configured to utilize a model to determine whether the user is in the normal state or the abnormal state; wherein the model was trained based on a first set of previous thermal measurements taken while the user was sitting and in the normal state, a second set of previous thermal measurements taken while the user was sitting and in the abnormal state, a third set of previous thermal measurements taken while the user was in the normal state and at least one of standing and moving around, and a fourth set of previous thermal measurements taken while the user was in the abnormal state and at least one of standing and moving around. (0)

22. The system of claim 19, wherein the abnormal state involves the user displaying symptoms of one or more of the following: an anger attack, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD); and wherein the normal state refers to a usual behavior of the user that does not involve displaying said symptoms. (0)

23. A method for alerting about an abnormal state, comprising: (0) (5)

taking thermal measurements of at least first and second regions on the right side of a user's forehead (TH_R1, TH_R2), and thermal measurements of at least third and fourth regions on the left side of the forehead (TH_L1, TH_L2); wherein the middles of the first and third regions are at least 1 cm above the middles of the second and fourth regions, respectively;

generating feature values based on TH_R1, TH_R2, TH_L1, and TH_L2;

utilizing a model to detect a state of the user based on the feature values;

wherein the model comprises parameters of a classifier that distinguishes between normal and abnormal states, and the model was trained based on (i) previous feature values taken while the user was in a normal state, and (ii) other previous feature values taken while the user was in the abnormal state; and

responsive to detecting the abnormal state, alerting thereof.

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Patent US10045699

Determining a state of a user based on thermal measurements of the forehead

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