FALL DETECTION SYSTEM USING A COMBINATION OF ACCELEROMETER, AUDIO INPUT AND MAGNETOMETER

• US 20120083237A1
• Filed: 09/20/2011
• Published: 04/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NICE North America LLC
• Original Assignee: Numera, Inc. (Innova Pure Water Incorporated)
• Inventors: Fish, Ram David Adva, Messenger, Henry, Baryudin, Leonid, Dardashti, Soroush Salehian, Goldshtein, Evgenia
• Granted Patent: US 8,843,101 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/404.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 1/07 Indicating devices, e.g. for remote indication indicating working conditions of vehicles G07C5/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72421 with automatic activation of emergency service functions, e.g. upon sensing an alarm
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/02 including a Bluetooth interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion telephones including GPS signal receivers H04M2250/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

A wearable device for detecting a user state is disclosed. The wearable device includes an accelerometer for measuring an acceleration of a user, a magnetometer for measuring a magnetic field associated with the user'"'"'s change of orientation, a microphone for receiving audio, a memory for storing the audio, and at least one processor communicatively connected to the accelerometer, the magnetometer, the microphone, and the memory. The processor is identified to declare a measured acceleration as a suspected user state, and to categorize the suspected user state based on the stored audio as one of an activity of daily life (ADL), a confirmed user state, or an inconclusive event.

Claims

1. An apparatus wearable by a user for detecting a user state, comprising:

an accelerometer for measuring an acceleration of the user;

a magnetometer for measuring a magnetic field associated with the user and calculation of the user'"'"'s orientation;

a microphone for receiving audio;

a memory for storing the audio; and

at least one processor communicatively connected to the accelerometer, the magnetometer, the microphone, and the memory, and configured to;

identify a measured acceleration and magnetic field as a suspected user state; and

categorize the suspected user state based on the stored audio as one of an activity of daily life (ADL), a confirmed user state, and an inconclusive event.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein categorizing the suspected user state based on the stored audio comprises an opt-out mechanism wherein specific sound patterns are used to assess the suspected user state as an ADL.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein categorizing the suspected user state based on the stored audio comprises an opt-in mechanism wherein specific sound are detected and employed to confirm that a fall has happened.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a gyroscope communicatively connected to the at least one processor, wherein the processor is configured to calculate a change of orientation of the user from the gyroscope, the magnetometer, and accelerometer that is more accurate than a change of orientation calculated from the magnetometer and accelerometer alone.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a speaker and a cellular transceiver each communicatively connected to the at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor is configured to employ the speaker, the microphone, and the cellular transceiver to receive a notification and an optional further confirmation from a voice conversation with a call center or the user.

6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to extract at least one feature from the stored audio and at least one of the measured acceleration or the measured magnetic field.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the at least one feature is an inter-signal dynamic property.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the inter-signal dynamic property is based on relationships between audio energy and physical movement.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the inter-signal dynamic property is one of elapsed time between acceleration and audio peaks and acceleration and rotation rate peaks.

10. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising a cellular transceiver configured to communicate with a cloud computing system, wherein the at least one processor is operable to employ the cellular transceiver to:

transmit the stored audio and at least one of the measured acceleration and calculated change of orientation to the cloud computing system; and

receive a re-confirmation or change of classification from the cloud computing system based on the stored audio and at least one of the measured acceleration and the calculated change of orientation.

11. A computer implemented method for detecting a fall of a user, comprising:

identifying a measurement of acceleration and magnetic field associated with the user as a suspected fall; and

categorizing the suspected fall based on stored audio as one of an activity of daily life (ADL), a confirmed fall, and an inconclusive event.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein categorizing the suspected fall based on the stored audio comprises an opt-out mechanism wherein specific sound patterns are used to assess the suspected fall as an ADL.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein categorizing the suspected fall based on the stored audio comprises an opt-in mechanism wherein specific sounds characteristics are detected and employed to confirm that a fall has happened.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising calculating a change of orientation of the user from the gyroscope, the magnetometer, and accelerometer that is more accurate than a change of orientation calculated from the magnetometer and accelerometer alone

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising receiving a notification and an optional further confirmation from a voice conversation with a call center or the user.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising extracting at least one feature from the stored audio and at least one of the measured acceleration and the calculated change of orientation.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein:

the at least one feature is an inter-signal dynamic property is based on relationships between audio energy and physical movement; and

the inter-signal dynamic property is one of elapsed time between acceleration and audio peaks and acceleration and rotation rate peaks.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

transmitting the recorded audio and at least one of the measured acceleration and the calculated change of orientation to a cloud computing system; and

receiving a re-confirmation or change of classification from the cloud computing system based on the recorded audio and at least one of the measured acceleration and the calculated change of orientation.

19. A computer readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by a processing system, cause the processing system to perform operations comprising:

identifying a measurement of acceleration and magnetic field associated with the user as a suspected fall; and

categorizing the suspected fall based on stored audio as one of an activity of daily life (ADL), a confirmed fall, and an inconclusive event.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the method further comprises:

calculating a change of orientation of the user from the gyroscope, the magnetometer, and accelerometer that is more accurate than a change of orientation calculated from the magnetometer and accelerometer alone.