Pressure distribution image based human motion tracking system using skeleton and surface integration model

A lying person´s motion tracking system by using a pressure distribution image and a full body model is proposed. The full body model consists of a skeleton and a surface model to cope with a variety of body shapes. BVH files are used as the skeleton model that describes a hierarchy of joints and links. Wavefront object files are used as the surface model that describes geometry of the surface. The bed has 210 pressure sensors that are under the mattress. It can measure a pressure distribution image of a lying person. The lying person´s motion is tracked by considering potential energy, momentum and a difference between the measured pressure distribution image and a pressure distribution image that is calculated by the full body model. Experimental results reveal that the realized system can track not only horizontal motions such as opening and closing legs but also vertical motions such as raising the upper body.