Privacy controls for cameras in healthcare environments
Disclosed are methods and systems that can maintain patient privacy in a video stream of a medical facility by obfuscating all patient identity information such that the patient's identity and medical information is protected. In addition, the system and methods disclosed herein can limit the change in the perspective of the camera based on a defined privacy zone in the medical facility such that the privacy zone is not in the field of view of the camera.
1 . A method of maintaining patient privacy in a video stream of a portion of a medical facility, the method comprising:
defining at least one privacy zone for the portion of the medical facility, wherein the at least one privacy zone comprises a patient;
capturing, via an image data source, a video stream of the portion of the medical facility that includes an unobfuscated at least one portion of the at least one privacy zone;
transmitting the video stream of the portion of the medical facility that includes the unobfuscated at least one portion of the at least one privacy zone to a pre-authorized display within the portion of the medical facility; and
transmitting the video stream of the portion of the medical facility that includes the unobfuscated at least one portion of the at least one privacy zone to a privacy assessment system outside the portion of the medical facility, wherein the privacy assessment system is configured to:
detect a face of the patient in the video stream of the portion of the medical facility;
modify the video stream to obfuscate the at least one portion of the at least one privacy zone, wherein the face of the patient provides a reference point to define the at least one portion of the at least one privacy zone that is obfuscated as a predefined shaped region of a predefined size centered around the reference point; and
transmit the video stream in which the at least one portion of the at least one privacy zone is obfuscated to another display located outside the portion of the medical facility.
2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising detecting a face of a healthcare provider in the video stream of the portion of the medical facility.
3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the face of the health care provider provides a second reference point to define the at least one portion of the at least one privacy zone that is obfuscated.
4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the face of the healthcare provider does not provide a reference point to define the at least one portion of the at least one privacy zone that is obfuscated.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein defining the at least one privacy zone comprises receiving a user input to define the at least one privacy zone.
6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the user input comprises selecting the face of a patient on a display displaying the video stream of the portion of the medical facility.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein defining the at least one privacy zone comprises receiving a first input from one or more sensors in the portion of the medical facility.
8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the first input corresponds to a position of the patient.
9 . A method of maintaining patient privacy in a video stream of a portion of a medical facility, the method comprising:
defining at least one privacy zone for the portion of the medical facility, wherein the at least one privacy zone comprises a patient;
generating a video stream of the portion of the medical facility that includes an unobfuscated at least one portion of the at least one privacy zone via an image data source from a first perspective, wherein a perspective of the image data source can be remotely controlled;
transmitting the video stream of the portion of the medical facility that includes the unobfuscated at least one portion of the at least one privacy zone to a pre-authorized display within the portion of the medical facility; and
transmitting the video stream of the portion of the medical facility that includes the unobfuscated at least one portion of the at least one privacy zone to a privacy assessment system outside the portion of the medical facility, wherein the privacy assessment system is configured to:
detect a face of a patient in the video stream of the portion of the medical facility;
receive a first user input corresponding to a remotely controlled change in the perspective of the image data source to a second perspective;
limit the change in the perspective of the image data source based on the defined at least one privacy zone so that the at least one privacy zone is not in a field of view of the image data source, wherein the face of the patient provides a reference point to define the at least one privacy zone.
10 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising receiving a second user input, and wherein the at least one privacy zone is defined based on the second user input.
11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the second user input corresponds to a range of motion of the image data source.
12 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising displaying the video stream from the first perspective, wherein the user second input corresponds to a region of the video stream.
13 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising determining whether the first user input is received from an authorized or unauthorized user; and limiting the change in the perspective of the image data source based on the defined at least one privacy zone so that the at least one privacy zone is not in a field of view of the image data source in response to determining that the first user input is received from an unauthorized user.
14 . The method of claim 9 , wherein limiting the change in perspective comprises limiting a tilting range, a panning range, and/or a zoom range of the image data source.
15 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising detecting a face of a healthcare provider in the video stream of the portion of the medical facility.
16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the face of the health care provider provides a second reference point to define the at least one portion of the at least one privacy zone.
17 . A method of maintaining patient privacy in a video stream of a portion of a medical facility, the method comprising:
defining at least one privacy zone for the portion of the medical facility, wherein the at least one privacy zone comprises a patient;
capturing, via an image data source having a perspective, a video stream of the portion of the medical facility that includes an unobfuscated at least one portion of the at least one privacy zone;
transmitting the video stream comprising the unobfuscated at least one portion of the at least one privacy zone to authorized users of a pre-authorized display within the portion of the medical facility; and
transmitting the video stream of the portion of the medical facility that includes the unobfuscated at least one portion of the at least one privacy zone to a privacy assessment system outside the portion of the medical facility, wherein the privacy assessment system is configured to:
detect a face of the patient in the video stream of the portion of the medical facility;
modify the video stream to obfuscate the at least one portion of the at least one privacy zone, wherein the face of the patient provides a reference point to define the at least one portion of the at least one privacy zone that is obfuscated as a predefined shaped region of a predefined size centered around the reference point; and
transmit the video stream in which the at least one portion of the at least one privacy zone is obfuscated to another display located outside the portion of the medical facility to unauthorized users.