IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,387,005
Granted Patent B2
US 12,387,005 · App. 18/124,633 · Granted Aug 12, 2025

De-identifying data obtained from microphones

Inventor: Danail V. Stoyanov (London, GB)
Assignee: DIGITAL SURGERY LIMITED
G06F21/6254G06V20/44
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,387,005
App. No.
18/124,633
Granted
Aug 12, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

An aspect includes a computer-implemented method that de-identifies data received from microphones. The method includes receiving data from one or more microphones and de-identifying the data. The de-identifying includes inputting the data into a machine learning system that has been trained to detect patterns in the data that are likely to identify a specific entity, and to remove the detected patterns from the data to generate de-identified data. An output from the machine learning system is received, where the output includes the de-identified data. According to some aspects, the microphones can be located in an operating room.

Claims (34)

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving data, at a computing system, from one or more microphones in an operating room;

de-identifying the data by the computing system, the de-identifying comprising:

inputting the data into a machine learning system that has been trained to detect patterns in the data that are likely to identify a specific entity, and executing a de-identification inference engine to remove the detected patterns from the data to generate de-identified data comprising a transformation of one or more phrases in the data based on a combination of keywords and actions defined for a surgical environment;

receiving an output from the machine learning system, the output including the de-identified data; and

providing the output to a data collection system.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising one or both of training and retraining the machine learning system.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the received data is in an audio format and the method further comprises:

converting the received data into a discrete format; and

inputting the data in the discrete format into the machine learning system.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the de-identified data is in a text format.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising converting the de-identified data into an audio format.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the specific entity is a person.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein at least one of the patterns includes a phrase that is associated with the person.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the patterns identifies a group that includes two or more entities.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing the de-identified data to a second machine learning system comprising one or more machine learning models that are trained to identify a plurality of surgical phases in a video of a surgical procedure.

10. A computer program product comprising a memory device having computer executable instructions stored in a non-transitory form thereon, which when executed by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving labeled training data comprising a plurality of sets of phrases, each set of phrases comprising a phrase and a corresponding de-identified phrase; and

generating, using the labeled training data, a machine learning model to detect patterns in input data that are likely to identify a specific entity and to remove the detected patterns from the data as a transformation of one or more phrases in the data based on a combination of keywords and actions defined for a surgical environment.

11. The computer program product of claim 10 , wherein the generating the machine learning model is further based at least in part on a list comprising identifying phrases that each identify one or more entities.

12. The computer program product of claim 10 , wherein the operations further comprise retraining the machine learning model.

13. The computer program product of claim 10 , wherein the operations further comprise validating the machine learning model.

14. The computer program product of claim 10 , wherein the input data is received from one or more microphones located in an operating room.

15. The computer program product of claim 10 , wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving data from one or more microphones;

de-identifying the data, the de-identifying comprising inputting the data into the machine learning model; and

receiving an output from the machine learning system, the output including the de-identified data.

16. A system comprising:

a data collection system comprising one or more storage devices configured to capture a video of a surgical procedure, the video including data received from one or more microphones in an operating room;

a machine learning execution system configured to execute one or more machine-learning models on a processing system to identify a plurality of surgical phases in the video and to de-identify the data received from the one or more microphones by performing a transformation of one or more phrases in the data based on a combination of keywords and actions defined for a surgical environment; and

an output generator configured to store the video with the surgical phases identified and the de-identified data.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the data from the one or more microphones is converted into a text format prior to being input to the model learning execution system and the de-identified data is in the text format.

18. The system of claim 16 , wherein the de-identifying of the data comprises removing any patterns in the data that are likely to identify a specific entity.

19. The system of claim 16 , wherein the de-identified data is in an audio format.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 22, 2023
From: STOYANOV, DANAIL V.
To: DIGITAL SURGERY LIMITED
Reel/Frame 063055/0156 →
Continuity (2)
Provisional Application 63326967 · Apr 4, 2022
Related Publication 20230315905A1 · Oct 5, 2023
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