Video Monitoring System

1. A bed system for a patient care facility comprising: a bed comprising a base, a plurality of wheels coupled to the base, a patient support surface supported on the base and configured to support a patient thereon, a plurality of siderails positioned adjacent the patient support surface and adapted to move between up and down positions; a camera positioned within a room of the patient care facility and configured to capture images of the bed and a patient positioned on the bed, the camera adapted to output signals representative of the images; a database containing shape information regarding a shape of the bed and a shape of the siderails; and a computer device in communication with the camera and the database, the computer device configured to use the signals and the shape information to identify both the bed and a partial skeleton of the patient within the images, the partial skeleton including a plurality of points corresponding to three dimensional locations of the patient's head, arms, and hands, the computer device adapted to monitor movement of the points relative to each other and relative to the bed in order to determine at least one of the following: (a) if the patient is eating; (b) is the patient is sleeping; or (c) if the patient is entrapped in any of the siderails.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the camera includes a depth sensing device adapted to detect a first distance between the depth sensing device and the bed and a second distance between the depth sensing device and the partial skeleton.

3. The bed system of claim 2 wherein the computer device is a server coupled to a computer network of the patient care facility.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the computer device is adapted to determine if the patient is entrapped in any of the siderails.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the computer device is in communication with a nurse call system and adapted forward a message to the nurse call system when the computer device determines that the patient is entrapped.

6. The system of claim 4 wherein the computer device is adapted to use the partial skeleton to determine if the patient's hand has extended through any of the siderails.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the partial skeleton of the patient further includes points corresponding to three dimensional locations of the patient's feet, and wherein the computer device is further adapted to determine if a location of the points corresponding to the patient's feet relative to the bed to determine if the patient's feet have extended outside a boundary of the bed.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the computer device is further adapted to conclude that the patient is entrapped if the both the patient's hand has extended through any of the siderails and patient's feet have extended outside the boundary of the bed.

9. The system of claim 3 wherein the computer device is adapted to determine if the patient is eating.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the computer device is adapted to identify both an upper lip and a lower lip of the patient's within the images.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the computer device is adapted to determine a distance between the patient's upper lip and the patient's lower lip, monitor this distance, and determine if this distance repetitively changes over a period of time.

12. The system of claim 9 wherein the computer device is adapted to monitor movement of the points corresponding to the patient's head and arms and to determine if at least one of the arms repetitively moves back and forth to the patient's head.

13. The system of claim 9 wherein the database includes data corresponding to a shape and/or a size of a food tray, and wherein the computer device is adapted to use the data to identify a food tray positioned adjacent to the bed.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the computer device is adapted to monitor movement of the points corresponding to the patient's arms and to determine if at least one of the arms repetitively moves back and forth between the food tray and the patient's head.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the computer device is adapted to identify both an upper lip and a lower lip of the patient's within the images, to determine a distance between the patient's upper lip and the patient's lower lip, to monitor this distance, and to determine if this distance repetitively changes over a period of time.

16. The system of claim 3 wherein the computer device is adapted to determine if the patient is sleeping.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the computer device is adapted to identify right and left eyes of the patient's within the images.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the computer device is adapted to detect retinas for each of the patient's right and left eyes, and to monitor an amount of time that passes during which the computer device does not detect the retinas.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the computer device is further adapted to monitor an amount of movement of the patient over a threshold period of time, and to conclude that the patient is asleep if the amount of time exceeds the threshold period of time and the amount of movement over the threshold period of time is less than a threshold amount.

20. The system of claim 2 wherein the computer device is further adapted to record a time and date whenever the computer device determines that the patient is eating, the patient is sleeping, or the patient is entrapped in any of the siderails.

21. A system comprising: a computer device configured to: receive signals representative of images, captured by one or more devices including one or more video cameras, one or more depth sensing devices, or one or more thermal imaging devices, of a patient positioned on a bed or chair; identify a skeleton of the patient within the images, the skeleton including a plurality of points corresponding to three dimensional locations of one or more of the patient's head, trunk, arms, and legs; determine depths of the plurality of points relative to the bed or chair based on the images or information from the one or more devices that captured the images; determine information about the patient using movements or positions of one or more of the plurality of points and the depths of the plurality of points, wherein the information includes one or more of whether the patient is about to exit, or has exited, the bed or chair, or whether the patient has fallen; and communicate an alert based on the information about the patient.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein to determine the information, the computer device is configured to: estimate a likelihood of the patient leaving the bed or chair using the movements or positions of the one or more of the plurality of points and the depths of the plurality of points; and determine the information based on the estimate.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the computer device is further configured to compare the estimate to a threshold, and wherein to determine the information, the computer device is configured to determine the information based on the comparison.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein the computer device is further configured to retrieve information of a region relative to the chair or bed, and wherein to determine the information, the computer device is configured to: determine the movements of the one or more of the plurality of points into or towards the region or the positions of the one or more of the plurality of points within the region; and determine the information about the patient based on the determination of the movements of the one or more of the plurality of points into or towards the region or the positions of the one or more of the plurality of points within the region.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the region comprises a region at an outer periphery of the bed.

26. The system of claim 24, wherein the region comprises a region over a side rail of the bed.

27. The system of claim 21, wherein to determine information about the patient, the computer device is configured to: determine first coordinates of at least one extremity of the patient using the one or more of the plurality of points, and determine second coordinates of an outline of the bed; compare the first coordinates and the second coordinates; and determine the information about the patient based on the comparison.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the at least one extremity comprises at least one of a foot, hand, or head of the patient.

29. The system of claim 21, wherein the computer device is further configured to generate for display the skeleton of the patient on the images of the patient.

30. The system of claim 21, wherein the skeleton comprises a first skeleton, wherein the computer device is configured to: identify a second skeleton of a caregiver within the images; and generate for display the second skeleton of the caregiver on images of the caregiver.

31. The system of claim 21, further comprising one or more of the one or more video cameras, the depth sensing devices, or the thermal imaging devices, wherein the one or more video cameras, the depth sensing devices, or the thermal imaging devices are configured to: capture the images of the patient positioned on the bed or chair; and output the signals representative of the images for the computer device to receive.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the one or more depth sensing devices are configured to detect a first distance between the one or more depth sensing devices and the bed or chair and a second distance between the one or more depth sensing devices and the skeleton, and wherein to determine depths of the plurality of points, the computer device is configured to determine the depths based on the first distance and the second distance.

33. The system of claim 31, wherein at least one of the one or more thermal imaging devices or the depth sensing devices are configured to capture the images using infrared light.

34. The system of claim 21, wherein the signals representative of the images comprises signals representative of ambient light images or thermal images.

35. The system of claim 21, wherein the computer device is in communication with a nurse call system, and wherein to communicate the alert, the computer device is configured to communicate the alert to the nurse call system.

36. The system of claim 21, wherein to communicate the alert, the computer device is configured to communicate the alert to one or more communication devices.

37. The system of claim 36, wherein the one or more communication devices comprise one or more of pagers, personal digital assistants, tablet computers, laptop computers, cell phones, nurses stations, or audio stations.

38. The system of claim 21, further comprising a database configured to store one or more of photographic or physical data of the patient, wherein to identify the skeleton, the computer device is configured to identify the skeleton based on the photographic or physical data of the patient.

39. The system of claim 21, further comprising a database configured to store attributes of the bed or chair, wherein to determine the information, the computer device is configured to determine the information about the patient using the movements or positions of the one or more of the plurality of points and the attributes of the bed or chair.

40. A method comprising: receiving signals representative of images, captured by one or more devices including one or more video cameras, one or more depth sensing devices, or one or more thermal imaging devices, of a patient positioned on a bed or chair; identifying a skeleton of the patient within the images, the skeleton including a plurality of points corresponding to three dimensional locations of one or more of the patient's head, trunk, arms, and legs: determining depths of the plurality of points relative to the bed or chair based on the images or information from the one or more devices that captured the images: determining information about the patient using movements or positions of one or more of the plurality of points and the depths of the plurality of points, wherein the information includes one or more of whether the patient is about to exit, or has exited, the bed or chair, or whether the patient has fallen: and communicating an alert based on the information about the patient.