“Systems And Methods For Quantifying Hazards In Living Spaces” in Patent Application Approval Process (USPTO 20230032304): Patent Application

2023 FEB 22 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A patent application by the inventors Kadam, Kedar Mangesh (Eden Prairie, MN, US); Keefe, Kelly (Antioch, IL, US); Kilmer, Lee Eric (Stillwater, MN, US); Mohn, Mary Beth (Bloomington, MN, US); Prajapati, Adhiraj Ganpat (St. Louis Park, MN, US); Spadola, Michele N. (Carmel, NY, US), filed on October 30, 2020, was made available online on February 2, 2023, according to news reporting originating from Washington, D.C., by NewsRx correspondents.

This patent application has not been assigned to a company or institution.

The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Part of the human condition involves generally falling ill or becoming injured, which is why healthcare has been a big part of civilization for countless generations. Healthcare has evolved from simple rules and patterns (e.g., improving hygiene to avoid needlessly getting sick, eating unbruised fruits and vegetables, eating certain types of meals to reduce digestive effort, etc.) to more sophisticated methods involving curated plans by nutritionists, doctors, physical therapists, etc. As healthcare continues to evolve toward more reliance on experts, many individuals may be left behind due to several factors. For example, individuals may not have health insurance that covers a certain aspect of their health treatment, individuals may live in remote areas with a dearth of experts compared to more populated areas, individuals may relegate certain types of recommended care as insubstantial based on their health history, etc. Increasing access to expert recommendations and making these recommendations more affordable can generally improve healthcare in society.

“Healthcare has grown to be a comprehensive term that not only encompasses diagnosis and treatment of injuries, illnesses, and diseases, but also to include illness and injury preventative measures. Preventative measures can sometimes take a backseat to diagnosis and treatment due to society’s focus on the latter. As such, compliance with preventative measures can be much lower especially when an individual feels great. The present disclosure is directed to solving problems related to implementation of preventative measures and other problems.”

In addition to the background information obtained for this patent application, NewsRx journalists also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent application: “According to some implementations of the present disclosure, a method includes receiving data associated with a living space of a resident. The received data is analyzed to identify one or more hazards in the living space. A risk score is determined for the living space based at least in part on the identified one or more hazards.

“According to some implementations of the present disclosure, a system includes a sensor, a memory, and a control system. The sensor is configured to generate data associated with a living space of a resident. The memory is configured to store machine-readable instructions and a resident profile. The control system includes one or more processors configured to execute the machine-readable instructions to analyze the data to identify one or more hazards in the living space. The control system is further configured to execute the machine-readable instructions to determine a risk score for the living space based at least in part on the identified one or more hazards.

“The above summary is not intended to represent each implementation or every aspect of the present disclosure. Additional features and benefits of the present disclosure are apparent from the detailed description and figures set forth below.

“While the present disclosure is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific implementations and embodiments thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that it is not intended to limit the present disclosure to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the present disclosure is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A method including: receiving data associated with a living space of a resident; analyzing the data to identify one or more hazards in the living space; determining a hazard score for each of the one or more identified hazards in the living space; determining a likelihood of occurrence of harm for each of the one or more identified hazards in the living space; and determining a risk score for the living space based at least in part on each of the respective hazard scores of the one or more identified hazards and each of the respective likelihoods of occurrence of harm for the one or more identified hazards, the risk score being indicative of how hazardous the living space is to the resident.

“2-5. (canceled)

“6. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the respective likelihoods of occurrence of harm is indicative of a percentage likelihood that the resident will encounter a respective one of the one or more hazards in the living space.

“7. The method of claim 1, wherein the likelihood of occurrence for each respective one of the one or more hazards is based at least in part on a historical frequency of proximity of the resident to the respective one of the one or more hazards.

“8. The method of claim 7, wherein a magnitude of the likelihood of occurrence for a respective one of the one or more hazards is directly proportional to the historical frequency of proximity.

“9. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the risk score for the living space further includes weighting the hazard score, for each of the one or more identified hazards, by the corresponding likelihood of occurrence and adding each of the weighted hazard scores to obtain the risk score.

“10. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more hazards include one or more obstacles blocking a walkway of the living space; a narrow walkway of the living space; one or more tripping hazards in the living space; one or more loose cords in the living space; one or more loose wires in the living space; a slippery floor of the living space; a relatively hard to reach light switch in the living space; a relatively hard to reach electrical outlet in the living space; a low toilet seat in the living space; a lack of shower handles in a shower in the living space; a sharp corner in the living space; a sharp edge in the living space; one or more pets in the living space; one or more stairs in the living space; a gas stove in the living space; a high positioning of cabinets in the living space; a difficult-to-use electrical appliance in the living space; a height of a bed in the living space, a height of a sink in a bathroom of the living space, a dimly lit area in the living space, a type of shower or tub of the living space, or any combination thereof.

“11. The method of claim 1, wherein the received data is received from a sensor including one or more cameras, one or more infrared cameras, one or more acoustic sensors, one or more radar sensors, one or more ultra-wide band RF sensors, one or more microphones, one or more speakers, one or more heat sensors, one or more gas sensors, one or more barometers, one or more proximity sensors, one or more humidity sensors, one or more gyroscopic sensors, one or more light sensors, one or more motion sensors, or any combination thereof.

“12. The method of claim 1, further comprising: generating one or more recommendations for reducing the risk score for the living space, wherein the generated one or more recommendations for reducing the risk score for the living space include increasing a width of a physical walkway of the living space, removing a first physical object from the living space, reorienting a second physical object within the living space, adding one or more new objects to the living space, or any combination thereof.

“13-16. (canceled)

“17. The method of claim 12, further comprising: creating, using at least a portion of the received data, a virtual representation of the living space, wherein the virtual representation of the living space includes one or more virtual items of furniture, one or more virtual rugs, one or more virtual carpeted floor areas, one or more virtual light fixtures, one or more virtual hardwood floor areas, one or more virtual electrical outlets, one or more virtual stairs, one or more virtual appliances, one or more virtual cabinets, one or more virtual items of clothing, one or more virtual shoes, a virtual bed, one or more virtual pets, one or more virtual doorways, one or more virtual walkways, or any combination thereof.

“18. (canceled)

“19. The method of claim 17, further comprising: causing a representation of at least one of the generated one or more recommendations to be displayed as one or more virtual objects within the virtual representation of the living space.

“20-21. (canceled)

“22. The method of claim 19, wherein at least one of the one or more virtual objects is a moving virtual object, the moving virtual object including (i) an item of furniture moving from one location to another, (ii) a rug moving from one location to another, (iii) the virtual object moving from one location to another, or (iv) any combination thereof.

“23. (canceled)

“24. The method of claim 19, wherein the one or more virtual objects are displayed within the virtual representation of the living space in an augmented reality view of at least a portion of the living space, the augmented reality view being presented via an electronic display device.

“25. The method of claim 17, further comprising: causing a representation of at least one of the generated one or more recommendations to be displayed as one or more animations within the virtual representation of the living space.

“26. The method of claim 25, wherein the one or more animations includes (i) a widening of a virtual walkway in the virtual representation of the living space, (ii) a narrowing of the virtual walkway in the virtual representation of the living space, (iii) a resizing of a virtual object in the virtual representation of the living space, (iv) a widening of a virtual doorway in the virtual representation of the living space, (v) a narrowing of the virtual doorway in the virtual representation of the living space, or (iv) any combination thereof.

“27-31. (canceled)

“32. The method of claim 12, further comprising: causing the one or more recommendations to be sent to an electronic device; receiving implementation feedback via the electronic device, the implementation feedback associated with an implementation status for each of the one or more recommendations for reducing the risk score; and generating a report, the report including the risk score, the one or more recommendations for reducing the risk score for the living space, the implementation status for each of the one or more recommendations for reducing the risk score, a revised risk score that is based at least in part on the risk score and the implementations status of each of the one or more recommendations, at least a portion of the resident profile, at least a portion of a virtual model of the living space, or any combination thereof.

“33-34. (canceled)

“35. The method of claim 1, wherein the resident profile includes an electronic health record associated with the resident, a height of the resident, an age of the resident, a health condition of the resident, a rooming status of the resident, a type of home of the resident, medication prescribed to the resident, vital signs of the resident, a type of assistive device used by the resident, a mental status of the resident, demographic information of the resident, a location of a bedroom of the resident in the living space, a location of a bathroom of the resident in the living space, an average number of times the resident uses the bathroom per day in the living space, an average activity level of the resident per day, or any combination thereof.

“36. (canceled)

“37. The method of claim 1, further comprising: creating, using at least a portion of the received data, a virtual representation of the living space, wherein the virtual representation of the living space includes (i) a virtual walkway, (ii) a virtual object, or (iii) both (i) and (ii), the virtual walkway being a virtual representation of a physical walkway contained in the living space and the virtual object being a virtual representation of a physical object contained in the living space.

“38. The method of claim 37, further comprising: determining (i) a width of the physical walkway, (ii) a distance between the physical object and a second physical object in the living space, (iii) a size of the physical object, (iv) one or more dimensions of the physical object, or (v) any combination thereof.

“39-44. (canceled)

“45. A system comprising: a sensor configured to generate data associated with a living space of a resident; a memory storing machine-readable instructions and a resident profile; and a control system including one or more processors configured to execute the machine-readable instructions to: analyze the data to identify one or more hazards in the living space; determine a hazard score for each of the one or more identified hazards in the living space; determine a likelihood of occurrence of harm for each of the one or more identified hazards in the living space; and determine a risk score for the living space based at least in part on each of the respective hazard scores of the one or more identified hazards and each of the respective likelihoods of occurrence of harm for the one or more identified hazards, the risk score being indicative of how hazardous the living space is to the resident.

“46-49. (canceled)”

There are additional claims. Please visit full patent to read further.

URL and more information on this patent application, see: Kadam, Kedar Mangesh; Keefe, Kelly; Kilmer, Lee Eric; Mohn, Mary Beth; Prajapati, Adhiraj Ganpat; Spadola, Michele N. Systems And Methods For Quantifying Hazards In Living Spaces. U.S. Patent Application Number 20230032304, filed October 30, 2020 and posted February 2, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(20230032304)&db=US-PGPUB&type=ids

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