Automated Video Activity Analysis for Eldercare

简介(由申请人提供)：我们的目标是探索新的信息技术，帮助老年人独立生活，提高他们在家中的生活质量，同时以最高效率利用照顾者和老年护理专家的时间和注意力。我们的多学科研究团队将设计一个隐私保护的无线视频传感器网络，以收集居民在家中活动的连续视频数据。我们将开发一个统计活动建模框架来分析视频数据，以实现自动功能评估和异常活动检测。基于自动活动分析的结果，我们将开发一个视频摘要方案，将海量的视频数据转换为紧凑而有意义的活动记录，以便快速高效地进行功能评估和问题诊断。异常活动检测将通过检测跌倒和其他异常活动模式来指示条件变化或健康危机，从而有助于降低独立生活的风险。持续的视频监控和自动化的活动分析和总结将显著提高老年护理的效率。拟议的技术将在TigerPlace进行测试和评估，这是一个独特的独立居住的公寓式老年护理设施，由密苏里大学哥伦比亚大学辛克莱护理学院设计。进入这一附属于墨尔本大学的尖端设施为实现我们的研究目标提供了一个难得的机会。独居老人的潜在风险，以及对异常情况反应迟缓的可怕后果，都需要这项拟议的技术。老年人口的显著增长和老年护理专业人员的短缺突出了拟议研究的重要性。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Our objective is to explore new information technologies to assist the independent living of elderly people and enhance their quality of life at home, while utilizing the time and attention of caregivers and eldercare specialists in the highest efficiency. Our multidisciplinary research team will design a privacy-protecting wireless video sensor network to collect continuous video data about the resident's activities at home. We will develop a statistical activity modeling framework to analyze the video data for automated functional assessment and abnormal activity detection. Based on the results from the automated activity analysis, we will develop an video summarization scheme to transform the voluminous video data into a compact and meaningful activity record for fast and efficient functional assessment and problem diagnosis. The abnormal activity detection will help reducing the risks of independent living by detecting falls and other unusual activity patterns that indicate changing conditions or health crisis. The continuous video monitoring and automated activity analysis and summarization will significantly improve the eldercare efficiency. The proposed technologies will be tested and evaluated at TigerPlace, a unique independent-living, apartment-style eldercare facility designed by the Sinclair School of Nursing at University of Missouri-Columbia (MU). Access to this cutting edge facility affiliated with MU provides an exceptional opportunity to accomplish our research aims. The potential risks of the elderly people living alone and the dreadful consequences of late response to abnormal situations call for the proposed technology. The remarkable growth of the elderly population and the shortage of eldercare professionals underscore the significance of the proposed research.