Exploiting advanced video analysis technologies for a smart home monitoring platform for epileptic patients: Technological and legal preconditions

Current advances in video surveillance systems for health purposes at patient´s homes, usually for the elderly and patients with chronic conditions, in conjunction with the latest achievements in vision-based human activity monitoring and motion analysis, create exciting opportunities and novel service-scenarios for the home monitoring of patients with epilepsy. Such innovative service platforms are to be used for predictive/diagnostic purposes, by enabling the quantified analysis and classification of clinical manifestations, or for the efficient treatment of patients, by supporting clinicians to better assess response to therapy. Ultimately, such platforms enhance the overall monitoring scheme of a patient usually performed by caring persons, who might occasionally miss an epileptic event. This paper discusses the technological and legal preconditions for such a platform, based on current research results for the detection of absence seizures in conjunction with the expertise on ethico-legal matters for translational research gained through the CONTRACT project.