Marius Cristian Cerlinca

Hand posture recognition for human-robot interaction

In this paper, we describe a fast and accurate method for hand posture recognition in video sequences using multiple video cameras. The technique we propose is based on the head detection, skin detection and human body proportions in order to recognize commands from real-time video sequences. Our technique is also a robust one in order to deal with changes of lighting. The experimental results show that it can be used in various vision-based applications that require real-time detection and recognition of hand posture.

RFID-based Information System for Patients and Medical Staff Identification and Tracking

Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is having a major impact on the health care industry. By attaching radio frequency tags to different entities (people and objects), RFID technology can provide identification, tracking, location, security and other capabilities. The goal of this chapter is to show how RFID technology can be used to reduce medical mistakes, improve patient safety and enhance the quality of medical service in hospitals. After briefly introducing the eHealth domain and some of the healthcare issues, this chapter describes how the RFID technology can be used in healthcare. Thus the third section describes some hospital use cases that could benefit from RFID technology. Also it briefly presents some of the existing projects that successfully implement this emerging technology in healthcare. The next section shows how to use a medical staff and patients tracking application, called the RFIDHospitalTracker, to improve the quality of the hospital services. We have developed the RFIDHospitalTracker to support the high requirements for scalability, reliability and security. An overview of its distributed software architecture is given. Also, this section enumerates some open problems that still have to be solved before RFID technology will be fully embraced by the healthcare community. The last part presents some of the future developments proposed by our research team. The conclusion summarizes the main achievements of this chapter.

Integrating Mobile Applications into RFID Based B2B Systems

This paper presents the principles governing the design and development of a mobile application, as well as various aspects regarding its integration into a more complex RFID_B2B (radio frequency identification - business to business) system. Extending the applicability of RFID_B2B systems represents the main goal of such applications, which are generally expected to handle large amount of data, to operate in stand-alone mode and to allow their easy integration into complex RFID_B2B systems. The paper proposes new solutions and ideas regarding the design and development of a secure and very fast method for the communication and synchronization between the B2B servers and a mobile application running on various mobile devices.

Developing a Logopaedic Mobile Device Using an FPGA

In this paper we will describe a device developed for children with speech disorders caused by bad pronunciation or even by bad hearing of certain phonemes. First, we will define speech fluency and speech fluency disorder. Speech fluency designates the easy and confidant construction of a phonic stream that is understandable to the receiver. Speech fluency disorder points to the elements which significantly impair the construction of the phonic stream and which make understanding by the receiver difficult (a partial definition, illocutionary connector in the form of a metalingual commentary). Speech fluency disorder, so defined, is an inherent quality of stuttering [1].

An RFID-based system for product authentication

This paper aims at presenting a project that joins the efforts to reduce the trade of counterfeit products, by developing an RFID-based integrated system, which would constitute a secure and low cost solution for the authentication of brand products, as well as for monitoring their traceability, building at the same time a software support for the control of distribution along the supply chain.

Object-Oriented Solutions for Information Storage on RFID Tags

Already moving into the real world through a wide variety of applications, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology uses radio waves to uniquely identify an entity (object, animal, or person). This data collection technology uses electronic tags to store identification data and other specific information, and a reader to read and write tags. A tag is a chip with an antenna. Tags fall into three categories: are active (battery- powered), passive (the reader signal is used for activation) or semi-passive (battery-assisted, activated by a signal from the reader). In certain tag types, the information on the tag is reprogrammable. There are existing and proposed RFID standards that deal with the air interface protocol (the way tags and readers communicate), data content (the way data is organized or formatted), conformance (ways to test whether products meet the standard) and applications (how standards are used on shipping labels, for example). RFID solutions run at several frequencies: • Low – from 125 KHz to 134 KHz (LF) • High – 13.56MHz (HF) • Ultra High – 860-960 MHz (UHF) • Micro Wave – 2.45 GHz The cost of simple RFID tags is likely to fall to roughly

Application of RFID Technology in eHealth

0.05/unit in the next several years (Sarma, 2001), while tags as small as 0.4mm × 0.4mm, and thin enough to be embedded in paper are already commercially available (Takaragi et al., 2001). Such improvements in cost and size will ensure a rapid proliferation of RFID tags in many new areas. The use of RFID is becoming more and more popular in industry, logistics, retail and other branches as an alternative to the barcode. In fact RFID tags are expected to replace conventional barcode labels due to their major benefits: high data storage capacity, read-write capability, read-speed rate, multiple entity identification, information updating, no-line-of-sight scanning, durability, and environmental resistance. But how much data should be placed on RFID tags? There are two schools of thought: 1. as little as possible (just an ID); 2. more in support of efficiency and performance (e.g. item name, security data, etc.). In the former case, the electronic product code (EPC) is a typical example. While the EPC standard continues to be adopted in various markets and employed in a wide range of applications (e.g. the retail supply chain), many RFID users are particularly interested in high-level functionality features to meet their own requirements. Using the EPC number as

An RFID and multi-agent based system for improving efficiency in patient identification and monitoring

Today’s hospitals are particularly interested in increasing the quality and efficiency of patient identification and monitoring procedures. While most patient health records are stored in separate systems, there is still a huge stack of paperwork left for health-care providers to fill out in order to comply with different regulations. Since many health care errors occur when important patient information is missing or simply not available, the electronic medical records (EMRs) may easily alleviate the distress of most doctors and nurses working in today’s care system. The next step beyond the EMR is to connect and provide medical information to primary care physicians, medical and surgery specialists, anesthesiologists, nurses, assisted-living staff, patients themselves, patient’s family and so on. However, each hospital may use a different system, store data in many ways and even decide upon its own data format. Furthermore, file system access and data retrieval are often governed by inconsistent parameters. Thus, the availability of medical information is seriously affected and effective communication among physicians is not achieved. Within this framework, the present chapter focuses on how RFID technology can be used in order to solve the problems eHealth is dealing with. After defining the EHR and EMR terms, we shall focus on presenting an RFID-based system (named SIMOPAC) that integrates RFID and multi-agent technologies in the field of health care. The purpose of this system is to make patient emergency care as efficient and risk-free as possible, by providing doctors with as much information about a patient as quickly as possible. SIMOPAC could be used in every hospital with the existing systems in order to promote patient safety and optimize hospital workflow. The SIMOPAC system will assure information exchange with electronic health record (EHR/EMR) (Smaltz & Berner, 2007; Hallvard & Karlsen, 2006) systems set up in healthcare units. This information exchange will be in accordance with the HL7 standards specifications. In the present chapter, we will focus on the RFID technology and how it could be used in emergency care in order to identify patients and to achieve real time information concerning the patients’ biometric data, which might be used at different levels of the health care system (laboratory, family physician, etc.). Within the SIMOPAC system, the access to medical information is granted by an electronic memory-based chip (RFID tag or transponder). This tag, named Personal Health Information Card (CIP, in Romanian) (Turcu & Turcu, 2008), allows patient information storage (Jonathan, 2004). We describe a general purpose architecture and data model that is designed for storing and presenting clinically significant information to the emergency care physician. Also, we present the strengths and weaknesses of this RFID-based systems used in eHealth.