One dollar application converts iPad2 into a healthcare device that measures heart rate and breathing.
1. One dollar application converts iPad2 into a
healthcare device that measures heart rate and
breathing.
Nikkei Business Online
January 25, 2012
Satoe Kuwahara, Nobuyuki Yajima
Satoe Kuwahara
Sapporo Sparkle k.k.
2. One dollar application converts iPad2 into a healthcare device that measures heart rate and breathing.
One dollar application converts iPad2 into a healthcare device that measures heart
rate and breathing.
Nobuyuki Yajima (Research associate of Nikkei
Visionary Management Institute): It also tracks the rising and falling of the chest
"Great grand design" is a project that looks at the movements to measure your exact breathing rate.
grand design of the things with Ms. Kuwahara who The measuring of the breathing rate can be done
has been designing information systems for long with your clothes on.
time. This time we will look at a consumer IT
product that adds additional value to the product. The newest version of this application will have a
new function that would allow us to move during a
Last time, we looked at Kinect application. So measurement. This application is sold at Apple
what are we going to study today? Store for one dollar.
Satoe Kuwahara(System coordinator in Sapporo Yajima:
Sparkle K.K.): Only one dollar, it's amazingly cheap. But the ap-
We will look at an unique example of iPad2 appli- plication uses advanced technology, so it can be
cation. "Vital Sign Camera" for iPad2 has been sold more expensive.
designed to measure heart rate and breathing re-
motely, by using the iPad2's camera. Kuwahara:
As you are saying, the price is very low, it's practi-
Vital Sign Camera is developed by Philips, the cally free isn't it? Because of the price, many peo-
Netherlands. A video clip of this application has ple find it tempting to buy this application and use
been posted on the web site. So let's watch it to- it for their health maintenance.
gether.(link to go to the video clip)
You actually can your heart rate and breathing any-
When he or she is in front of iPad2's camera, Vital time and anywhere. By placing the iPad2 next to
Sign Camera immediately measures heart rate and your bed, you can check your heart rate and breath-
breathing and shows the results on the display. It is ing just before you start checking email or message
very easy to use this application. You don't need to form a social networking site. You also can check
prepare of do anything before a measurement. them while you are using the iPad2. I think this
What you have to do is, be in front of the iPad2's device is good for older peoples, because small,
camera. light and easy to use.
You can send the results of the measurement to While the technologies used in this application are
your family and friend as well as home doctor very advanced and sophisticated, it is absolutely
through email, Facebook, Twitter and other social easy for users to handle and use this application.
networking site. Therefore, it will be integrated into your everyday
life.
Software required to measure the heart The camera and the sensors of iPad2 are good qual-
ity and they are adequate for the application's
rate and breathing is just one dollar. needs. The developer of this application maximized
the technology and the price advantage of the con-
sumer IT product.
Yajima:
Vital Sign Camera measures the heart rate and
Yajima:
breathing, but how does it really work?
How about the accuracy of the measurement of the
application? Is it accurate enough to use in
Kuwahara:
healthcare field?
It measures the heart rate by tracking the difference
in skin coloration. The change in skin color is very
Kuwahara:
little and it is hard or almost impossible to be
Philips notes that "this application is not a medical
aware of human eye. The image data taken by the
product and should only be used for entertainment
iPad2's camera is analyzed by the software.
2 Sapporo Sparkle k.k.
3. One dollar application converts iPad2 into a healthcare device that measures heart rate and breathing.
purpose". As you all may imagine "for entertain- I'm pretty sure there are many possibilities in the
ment purpose" does not really mean that it enter- computer vision system. But it requires the special-
tains users. But as far as I heard, the accuracy of ized knowledge and the technical know-how and
the application is quite high and is decent to be large-scale equipment to utilize it at full value.
used in the healthcare field. Many people evaluate However now, iPad2, consumer IT product, offers
that it indicates the possibility of the technology. similar quality of the monitoring of the computer
vision system.
It can be used for health monitoring purpose, but is
of course not a substitute for doctors and nurses. Actually, I saw similar example about two years
However, I think it is good enough considering its ago. User can measure his or her heart rate and
usage. Naturally, it is good to be very accurate, but body temperature just by standing in front of the
the perfect precision is not an absolute requirement camera embedded in the mirror. The users do not
for this application. Because it does not aim to sub- have to be conscious of the camera. The objects to
stitute for medical devices. be measured are slightly different, but the applica-
tion's mechanism is almost same.
The things cannot be achieved by ex- However, the application was very expensive and I
thought that "its cost-effectiveness is not good
pensive specialized device. enough and still needs to some work". Because it
requires a lot of equipment and it imposes a heavy
burden on the user.
Yajima:
It is pretty amazing that we can create a healthcare
After two years, a consumer IT product takes the
device(even it is for entertainment purpose) by
place of that application. I think the use of comput-
combining general purpose device, iPad2, and an
er vision system will be more expanded. I think
application.
there is a good chemistry between the consumer IT
product familiar with the public like iPad2 and the
Kuwahara:
computer vision system, and both of them will be
Yes, you right. mobile device, such as iPad2 can be
developed in high detail and supported further.
transformed into various type of devices by only
combining with application. What is more it can be
created at a low cost and with less effort.
Connecting "customs" and multiple ser-
Yajima: vices
This application uses iPad2's camera to measure
heart rate and breathing. Have we never had this
kind of technology before? Yajima:
What do you think about the future development in
Kuwahara: the healthcare application for iPad2?
The technology used in this application is called
"computer vision system that analyzes image data", Kuwahara:
and has already been used for some other purposes. I think people will more frequently use healthcare
The store analysis application using Kinect also applications in the future and will accustom to
uses the computer vision system. themselves to check their health condition with the
healthcare applications,iPad2 and other services.
The typical example of the computer vision system
is monitoring or surveillance. Computer monitors, Naturally, electronic health record system and elec-
analyzes and alerts operator instead of people do. tronic chart will be expanded in the future. If a
The computer vision system is very stable and health problem is found through the monitoring,
more reliable compared to human eye. It can moni- you might be able to talk a doctor through a system
tor multiple points at once and for long time. that connects a patient and a doctor.
By using these advantages, we have used the com- I think we will be able to combine health check
puter vision system for prison surveillance and hos- application, diet menu application and jogging pro-
pital patient monitoring. It monitors prisoner's eve- gram application to create a comprehensive system
ry act or hospital patient's vital sign and movement. of healthcare. With use of this system, users can
monitor their health condition easily and frequently
3 Sapporo Sparkle k.k.
4. One dollar application converts iPad2 into a healthcare device that measures heart rate and breathing.
without having to go to a hospital, and can make a
training program or a menu for healthy eating by The design of this system can possibly be used for
their own. the nursing care.
Given a high-speed connection to the internet, the
The monitoring health check should be done every consultation can take place today between a patient
day and the iPad2 will be an essential device for and doctor. I think this telemedicine conference
many people. It not only monitors user's health system will be greatly expanded and improved in
condition but also plays a role of communication the future. Doctor will be able to measure the
channel between the service platform and the user health condition of a patient using the new tele-
terminal. medicine conference system.
Given this perspective, functions and applications To develop a new system by using the consumer IT
(especially related to healthcare) used every day is products familiar with the public, such as iPad2, it
very important. Because they are the contact points will become easy for even older people to use, and
for both the users and the service providers. the cost burden for local governments and medical
institutions will be reduced.
Adding a new twist to this system, we will be able
to develop a safety confirmation system for the By using the features of the system, it will be pos-
elderly person or your grandparent living alone. I sible to create a new application. For example, we
actually think it will be realized by the combination can use its features(measuring heart rate and
of the iPad2, applications and services. breathing) to develop a sleep prevention system for
a driver of a vehicle or for people who are study-
ing.
Development to medical, nursing care The system detects drowsiness of the people who
are driving or studying, and gives an audio warning
and fraud prevention by comparing the heart rate and the breathing pat-
tern.
Yajima:
Yajima:
Do you think this system is going to firmly com-
Using this system in the field of the medical and
bine with medical care?
the nursing care as well as the fraud monitoring,
the accuracy and the reliability of the system
Kuwahara:
should be very important.
I think this system will expand its services and
functions to meet medical requirements. The users
will combine self-reported information and doctor's
diagnosis through this system. However, carefully Thinking about the usage that maximiz-
designed studies are essential to determine how this es the advantages of the technology.
healthcare system will be used in the future to best
effect.
Kuwahara:
At the moment, this system only can measure heart The accuracy and the precision required in accord-
rate and breathing. If the system can measure body ance with its use. Naturally, if the system is used in
temperature, blood pressure, blood glucose level diagnosis, it would be essential to have the high
and so on, its practical use will be increased in the accuracy and precision. So I'm not saying that the
future. However, if we want to use this system in computer vision system can be used every occa-
the medical fields, we would need to improve its sion. We need to think carefully about how to and
accuracy and reliability and to promote the im- where to use it.
provement of technology.
So therefore it is important to think about carefully
The future healthcare system will measure and rec- the accuracy and precision required for the use
ord the health condition of individuals. The data when you design general purpose products and spe-
accumulated is accessible by the user and the doc- cific purpose products. I think that the iPad2's ap-
tors. If there is something wrong in the result of plication may not be able detect sign of problems
measurement, an alert will be sent to the doctor or in your body, but it is good enough to use in the
the medical center where appropriate examinations measurement of the health condition.
and treatments could be undertaken.
4 Sapporo Sparkle k.k.
5. One dollar application converts iPad2 into a healthcare device that measures heart rate and breathing.
Yajima: start developing it. The comparing to others would
The trend for new IT product to emerge first in the do nothing to achieve your goals. You just have to
consumer market and then spread into business consider the use and the features of the product,
organization is called "consumerization". And now and then the design the best process to develop it.
I somehow understand the meaning of the consum-
erization by seeing the example of the use of con- It also is necessary to consider combination with
sumer IT products such as Kinect and iPad2. other applications. It helps to compensate for the
weakness of the application, and to create useful
Kuwahara: product.
I also was impressed by the way of using Kinect
adn iPad2. It actually shows us that the technolo- From last time to this time, I have introduced the
gies used in consumer IT products can be used to consumer IT products, Kinect and iPad2 with high
create new kind of experience. The consumer IT quality and advanced technology. Next time, I will
products for video game and video unit have the provide an example of
advanced technology and availability. value creation by not using the advanced technolo-
gy.
By combining technologies used in the consumer
IT products and imagination, we will be able to
deliver unique and valuable products. What is
more, the technologies have advanced and more
sophisticated.
Giving priority to value creation than
cost reduction
Yajima:
Solutions created by the combination of the con-
sumer IT products and their applications are much
cheaper than the previous method of using the spe-
cialized product and large-scale system.
Kuwahara:
A large number of consumer IT products are being
produced and sold to all over the world. The prod-
uct quantity is much larger than the products for
business use. Naturally, the consumer IT products
are cheaper than the business use products. But this
is not directly related to the reduction in production
cost. The consumer IT products can be used where
it is most appropriate or needed. As I have told you
the usage scene is diversified and expanded quite
rapidly.
The important thing is to increase the value of the
product or organization by utilizing technology
rather than simply decreasing its cost. I think the
key to achieve this is the designing. In other words,
in order to increase the value of the production or
the organization, we should carefully consider the
design of the overall picture and the use or applica-
tion.
The point of designing is to think carefully about
the product and draw an overall picture before you
5 Sapporo Sparkle k.k.