IDENTIFYING ACTIVITY IN AN AREA UTILIZING SOUND DETECTION AND COMPARISON
First Claim
1. A device for identifying activity of a subject in an environment, the device comprising the components of:
- a memory element that includes a plurality of expected audio signal waveforms;
a detector configured to;
detect the presence of audio energy in the environment;
detect human speech within the environment;
detect silence within the environment; and
provide a record signal output when audio energy is detected in the environment but the audio energy is not human speech;
a recorder configured to receive the record signal and record audio energy within the environment for a period of time controlled by the record signal and store an environment audio signal waveform representing the recorded audio energy into a memory element;
a digital audio waveform analyzer configured compare two or more digital audio waveforms to perform pattern recognition; and
a processing unit configured to;
compare the environment audio signal waveform with the plurality of expected audio signal waveforms to identify a match; and
generate an alarm if the environment audio signal does not match any expected audio signal waveforms.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Microprocessor technology is used to detect routine sounds in a substantially enclosed environment to determine normal or abnormal activity or noise within the environment (i.e., habitual behavior of an individual) A device is situated in a substantially enclosed environment with audio input device similar to a microphone and an optional visual display for interaction with the local users. The device has the ability to be controlled locally via key-pad or USB port connected to a local laptop computer, or remotely via a phone line or Ethernet connection to internet. The device further performs audio pattern recognition using waveform matching scheme to detect the occurrence of pre-programmed sounds representing routine activities. The microprocessor counts the number occurrence of each recognizable sound for a particular interval and over a length of a day or other duration and reports to a remote server. The remote server performs tracking and trending analysis to a web-based caregiver client. Significant changes are detected and reported to caregiver or family web-based client.
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Citations
6 Claims
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1. A device for identifying activity of a subject in an environment, the device comprising the components of:
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a memory element that includes a plurality of expected audio signal waveforms; a detector configured to; detect the presence of audio energy in the environment; detect human speech within the environment; detect silence within the environment; and provide a record signal output when audio energy is detected in the environment but the audio energy is not human speech; a recorder configured to receive the record signal and record audio energy within the environment for a period of time controlled by the record signal and store an environment audio signal waveform representing the recorded audio energy into a memory element; a digital audio waveform analyzer configured compare two or more digital audio waveforms to perform pattern recognition; and a processing unit configured to; compare the environment audio signal waveform with the plurality of expected audio signal waveforms to identify a match; and generate an alarm if the environment audio signal does not match any expected audio signal waveforms. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. A method for detecting abnormal activity in an environment, the method comprising the steps of:
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recording sounds expected to occur in the environment; storing information representing each unique expected sound into a waveform record; a recorder recording audio energy that does not include human speech in the environment over a first period of time; a processor processing each audio energy recording by comparing the audio energy recording to the stored information of unique expected sounds in the waveform record to determine if there is a match; the processor maintaining a count of the number of matches for each identified audio energy recording over the first period of time; the processor comparing the counts to expected values for each count within that first period of time; and the processing sounding an alarm condition based at least in parts on the counts and the expected values. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6)
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Specification