Infrared Image Processing for a Physiological Information Telemetry System

Traditional measurements of physiological information are generally by contact mode. Although contact measurements have the advantage of high accuracy, some people feel uncomfortable, and the battery-operated portable or handheld measurement system cannot be implemented for long-term operation. In this work, we adopt a high performance infrared thermal imaging camera to scan and capture human body images. The grayscale image processing and conversion procedures are provided to detect human body temperatures and heart rates (HR). The remote monitoring measurement function for physiological information is suitable for in-home care, in-home care services, large hospitals or health care institutions. The system uses an infrared thermal imaging camera to search regions of the human body. The algorithm is applied to the elliptical model to search the human body for positions on the head and neck, which are captured because of the higher temperature regions on the neck. We use the fast Fourier transform method to transfer the temperature’s data from the time domain into the frequency domain. Information from the human body temperature and HR are calculated using the correlation between heart rate and vessel temperature. This physiological information determines physical health symptoms and achieves the concept for a physiological information telemetry system.