ACTIVITY WINDOWING

• US 20090315733A1
• Filed: 06/18/2008
• Published: 12/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/18/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Best Buy Health Incorporated (Best Buy Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Healthsense, Inc. (Best Buy Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Bischoff, Brian J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,893,843 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/659
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0423 detecting deviation from an expected pattern of behaviour or schedule
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0469 Presence detectors to detect unsafe condition, e.g. infrared sensor, microphone G08B21/0476 takes precedence

Abstract

Methods, devices, and systems for monitoring a number of recurrent activities of an individual are disclosed. One method for monitoring a recurrent activity of an individual using activity windowing includes recording a number of sensor activations of at least one sensor, determining a number of peaks in the number of sensor activations, defining one or more time frames based upon the location of at least one of the number of peaks in the time period, and applying a rule associated with a threshold number of activations, where the rule is applied to at least one particular time frame in order to determine whether to initiate an action.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring a recurrent activity of an individual using activity windowing, comprising:

recording a number of sensor activations of at least one sensor;

determining a number of peaks in the number of sensor activations;

defining one or more time frames based upon the location of at least one of the number of peaks in the time period; and

applying a rule associated with a threshold number of activations, where the rule is applied to at least one particular time frame in order to determine whether to initiate an action.

2. The method of claim 1, where the method includes:

determining a number of valleys in the number of sensor activations;

defining one or more time frames based upon the location of at least one of the number of valleys in a time period; and

applying a rule associated with a threshold number of activations, where the rule is applied to at least one particular time frame in order to determine whether to initiate an action.

3. The method of claim 2, where the time frames include one or more of:

sequential fractions of hours during a 24-hour day;

sequential hours during the 24-hour day;

sequential time periods during the 24-hour day, which are determined as multiple fractions of hours and multiple hours during the day;

sequential time periods during the 24-hour clay, where the time periods have differing lengths;

sequential 24-hour days during a number of 7-day weeks;

sequential 7-day weeks during a number of months; and

sequential months during a year.

4. The method of claim 2, where the time frames include one or more of:

designated fractions of hours during a 24-hour day;

designated hours during the 24-hour day;

designated time periods during the 24-hour day, which are determined as multiple fractions of hours and multiple hours during the 24-hour day;

designated time periods during the 24-hour day, where the time periods have differing lengths;

designated days of the week during a number of 7-day weeks;

designated 7-day weeks during a number of months; and

designated months during a year.

5. The method of claim 2, where recording the number of sensor activations of the at least one sensor includes:

recording total activations of the at least one sensor;

recording total activations of the at least one sensor associated with a plurality of the particular time frames that form a time window;

recording average activations of the at least one sensor associated with the plurality of the particular time frames that form the time window;

recording total lengths of time of the activations of the at least one sensor associated with each of the particular time frames;

recording total lengths of time of the activations of the at least one sensor associated with the plurality of the particular time frames that form the time window; and

recording average lengths of time of the activations of the at least one sensor associated with the plurality of the particular time frames that form the time window.

6. The method of claim 2, where the method includes adjusting, based on determination of the peaks and valleys, which of the sequence of particular time frames in the time period are monitored for frequencies of performance of a particular recurrent activity.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the method includes utilizing a number of timers for recording the number of activations of the at least one sensor.

8. A system for monitoring a recurrent activity, comprising:

a number of sensors to detect performance of a particular recurrent activity by an individual;

a plurality of subsets of the number of sensors, where at least one subset of the sensors is activatable by sensing an indicator associated with performance of the particular recurrent activity that is different from an indicator sensed by the other subsets of the number of sensors;

a logic component to;

initiate a timer to enable recording activations of the plurality of sensor subsets in a time period;

define one or more time frames in the time period;

institute at least one rule for determining whether to initiate an action based upon a combined frequency of the activations of the plurality of subsets of the number of sensors in the one or more time frames; and

determine initiation of the action based upon whether the at least one rule has been met.

9. The system of claim 8, where the plurality of subsets includes a first subset of sensors that is activatable during performance of a daily living activity and at least a second subset that is activatable during performance of the daily living activity, where the first subset and the second subset are optionally activatable by sensing different indicators of performance of the daily living activity.

10. The system of claim 9, where the system includes combined monitoring of the plurality of subsets and activation of a sensor in the first optionally activatable subset is indicative of performance of the daily living activity even in absence of activation of a sensor in the second optionally activatable subset.

11. The system of claim 9, where the combined monitoring of the plurality of subsets includes monitoring a plurality of optionally activatable subsets for sensing different indicators, where at least one sensor in the plurality of subsets is activated by variations in performance of the daily living activity.

12. The system of claim 11, where monitoring the plurality of optionally activatable subsets includes positioning the sensors of the plurality of optionally activatable subsets in one or more locations associated with performance of the daily living activity, where the one or more locations are selected from a group that includes:

a kitchen area;

a lavatory that includes a toilet area;

a bathroom that includes a bathing area;

a bedroom that includes a sleeping area;

a medicine storage area;

a living room that includes a relaxation area;

a living room that includes an entertainment area;

a thermostat;

a doorway;

a window;

a trash container;

a space that facilitates access to a utility that enables transport of the individual to and from the residence;

a utility that allows the individual to access information from an entity outside the residence;

a utility that allows the individual to communicate with an entity outside the residence; and

a hallway that allows access to one or more of the preceding.

13. The system of claim 11, where monitoring a plurality of optionally activatable subsets includes analyzing two or more of the subsets together.

14. A system for monitoring recurrent activities of an individual, comprising:

a number of sensors for detecting actions associated with performance of a number of recurrent activities by the individual, where at least some of the number of sensors are located in a residence of the individual; and

a logic component in communication with the number of sensors, the logic component including instructions executable by a device to perform a method that includes;

monitoring, by using at least one of the number of sensors and an associated timer, frequencies of the performance of the number of recurrent activities, where the frequencies are identified by activations of the at least one of the number of sensors partitioned into a sequence of particular time frames covering a defined time period;

deriving at least one equation that substantially represents the individual frequencies of the number of recurrent activities partitioned into the sequence of particular time frames covering the defined time period;

deriving a first derivative for the at least one equation to identify peaks and valleys in the frequencies of the performance of at least one recurrent activity;

obtaining activity performance information corresponding to the identified peaks and valleys in the frequencies of the performance of the at least one recurrent activity; and

adjusting, based on the activity performance information, which of the sequence of particular time frames covering the defined time period are monitored for frequencies of the performance of the at least one recurrent activity.

15. The system of claim 14, where adjusting which of the sequence of particular time frames are monitored includes creating a number of time windows for focused monitoring of the frequency of performance of the at least one activity, where the number of time windows encompass at least a portion of:

a number of identified peaks in the frequencies of the performance of the at least one recurrent activity; and

a number of identified valleys in the frequencies of the performance of the at least one recurrent activity.

16. The system of claim 14, where the method includes deriving a second derivative for the at least one equation to identify an apex for at least one of the peaks and a nadir for at least one of the valleys in the frequencies of the performance of at least one recurrent activity.

17. The system of claim 16, where identifying the apex for at least one of the peaks and the nadir for at least one of the valleys includes identifying at least one of which particular times are at the apex for the at least one of the peaks and which particular times are at the nadir for the at least one of the valleys in the frequencies.

18. The system of claim 17, where identifying at least one of which particular times are at the apex for the at least one of the peaks and which particular times are at the nadir for the at least one of the valleys in the frequencies includes one or more of:

fractions of hours during a 24-hour day;

hours during the 24-hour day;

time periods during the 24-hour day, which are determined as multiple fractions of hours and multiple hours during the day;

time periods during the 24-hour day, where the time periods have differing lengths;

24-hour days during a number of 7-day weeks;

7-day weeks during a number of months; and

months during a year.

19. The system of claim 18, where adjusting which of the sequence of particular time frames are monitored includes creating a number of time windows for focused monitoring of the frequency of performance of the at least one activity, where the number of time windows encompass at least one of:

a number of identified apices in the frequencies of the performance of the at least one recurrent activity; and

a number of identified nadirs in the frequencies of the performance of the at least one recurrent activity.

20. The system of claim 14, where detecting actions associated with performance of at least one of the number of recurrent activities by the individual includes using a number of sensors selected from a group that includes:

a motion sensor;

a water flow sensor;

a sound sensor;

a visible light sensor;

an infrared light sensor;

an ultraviolet light sensor;

a vibration sensor;

a pressure sensor;

a temperature sensor;

an accelerometer; and

an inclinometer.