HIP PROTECTOR SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR HIP FRACTURE PREVENTION

• US 20130312168A1
• Filed: 01/25/2012
• Published: 11/28/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/03/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hip-Hope Technologies Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hip-Hope Technologies Ltd.
• Inventors: Raanan, Amatsia
• Granted Patent: US 9,629,399 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 2/465
• CPC Class Codes: A41D 1/002 adapted to accommodate electronic equipment patients' garments for medical monitoring A41D13/1281; luminous ornaments A41D27/085
• CPC Class Codes: A41D 13/018 inflatable automatically
• CPC Class Codes: A41D 13/0506 Hip
• CPC Class Codes: A41D 13/0568 with straps
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1117 Fall detection
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6831 Straps, bands or harnesses
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0446 worn on the body to detect changes of posture, e.g. a fall, inclination, acceleration, gait

Abstract

An active hip protector system and method for hip fracture prevention are introduced in order to overcome the short-comings of existing methods of preventing hip fractures; namely: to provide effective impact protection and eliminate false fall alarms. The hip protector system comprises a belt-like pouch, worn over the user'"'"'s waist, containing airbags which are inflated to a large size ensuring that the user'"'"'s thighs will not hit the ground upon impact, once the system detects a fall. The pouch contains all of the necessary elements for fall detection and activating inflation of the airbags. Incorporation of distance measurement sensors and cross reference with acceleration and spatial orientation sensors enable reliable detection of impending collision with the ground. The pneumatic system, including the airbags, is carried within the pouch or, alternatively, can be placed in a location that is prone to falling.

Claims

1-25. -25. (canceled)

26. A hip protector system comprising:

a pouch configured to be worn around a waist of a user at a waist plane of the user, the pouch comprising at least one airbag, located at an area of the pouch so that the at least one airbag is configured to be wrapped against at least one of a right part and a left part of the waist of the user, respectively, above hips of the user; and

a detecting and inflating mechanism to detect a fall event and to inflate the at least one airbag upon detecting of the fall event,

wherein when the at least one airbag is in a fully inflated state and wrapped against the respective part of the waist, the at least one airbag extends along the waist plane beyond a respective hip of the user.

27. The hip protector system of claim 26, wherein the pouch comprises a first and a second airbags, located at an area of the pouch so that the first airbag is configured to be wrapped against the right part of the waist of the user, and the second airbag is configured to be wrapped against the left part of the waist of the user.

28. The hip protector system of claim 26, wherein the detecting and inflating mechanism comprises:

a pneumatic sub-system to inflate the at least one airbag by discharging compressed gas into the at least one airbag upon detection of a fall event.

29. The hip protector system of claim 26, wherein the detecting and inflating mechanism comprises:

at least one proximity sensor to measure user'"'"'s pelvis to ground surface distance;

at least one gyro to provide spatial orientation of the waist plane of the user; and

at least one accelerometer to measure the vertical acceleration of the waist plane of the user.

30. The hip protector system of claim 29, wherein the detecting and inflating mechanism comprises a Micro Controller Unit, the Micro Controller Unit to:

receive signals from the at least one proximity sensor, the at least one gyro and the at least one accelerometer; and

transform the user'"'"'s pelvis to ground surface distance into height based on the spatial orientation of the waist plane of the user.

31. The hip protector system of claim 30, wherein the Micro Controller Unit to:

compute a first value of downward velocity based on a change of the height in time;

compute a second value of downward velocity based on the vertical acceleration in time; and

filter the user'"'"'s pelvis to ground surface distance by correlating the first value of downward velocity and the second value of downward velocity to distinguish between measurements of the distance to the ground surface and distance to other objects.

32. The hip protector system of claim 31, wherein the Micro Controller Unit to:

identify irregularity in the user'"'"'s pelvis to ground surface distance measurements based on a discontinuity criteria database.

33. The hip protector system of claim 32, wherein the Micro Controller Unit to:

detect a fall event by checking height-velocity sets of values against a collision envelope reference database and by verifying continuity of the height against a height continuity criteria reference database,

wherein a fall event is detected if the continuity is verified and a predetermined number of within-collision-envelope height-velocity sets are found.

34. The hip protector system of claim 33, wherein the detecting and inflating mechanism comprises:

a pneumatic sub-system configured to inflate the at least one airbag by discharging compressed gas into the at least one airbag,

wherein the Micro Controller Unit to;

activate the pneumatic sub-system upon detection of a fall event.

35. The hip protector system of claim 26, wherein the at least one airbag comprises:

gas discharge mechanism to perform a controlled gas discharging process when the at least one airbag undergoes a contraction caused by an impact with a ground surface.

36. A method for hip protection comprising:

providing a pouch configured to be worn around a waist of a user at a waist plane of the user, the pouch comprising at least one airbag, located at an area of the pouch so that the at least one airbag is configured to be wrapped against at least one of a right part and a left part of the waist of the user, respectively, above hips of the user;

detecting a fall event; and

inflating the at least one airbag upon detection of the fall event,

wherein when the at least one airbag is in a fully inflated state and wrapped against the respective part of the waist, the at least one airbag extends along the waist plane beyond a respective hip of the user.

37. The method for hip protection of claim 36, wherein the pouch comprises a first and a second airbags, located at an area of the pouch so that the first airbag is configured to be wrapped against the right part of the waist of the user, and the second airbag is configured to be wrapped against the left part of the waist of the user.

38. The method for hip protection of claim 36, wherein the inflating comprises:

discharging, by a pneumatic sub-system, compressed gas into the at least one airbag upon detection of a fall event.

39. The method for hip protection of claim 36, wherein the detecting comprises:

measuring user'"'"'s pelvis to ground surface distance;

measuring spatial orientation of the waist plane of the user; and

measuring the vertical acceleration of the waist plane of the user.

40. The method for hip protection of claim 39, wherein the detecting comprises:

receiving the user'"'"'s pelvis to ground surface distance, the spatial orientation of the waist plane of the user and the vertical acceleration of the waist plane of the user; and

transforming the user'"'"'s pelvis to ground surface distance into height based on the spatial orientation of the waist plane of the user.

41. The method for hip protection of claim 40, wherein the detecting comprises:

computing a first value of downward velocity based on a change of the height in time;

computing a second value of downward velocity based on the vertical acceleration in time; and

filtering the user'"'"'s pelvis to ground surface distance by correlating the first value of downward velocity and the second value of downward velocity to distinguish between measurements of the distance to the ground surface and distance to other objects.

42. The method for hip protection of claim 41, wherein the detecting comprises:

identifying irregularity in the user'"'"'s pelvis to ground surface distance measurements based on a discontinuity criteria database.

43. The method for hip protection of claim 42, wherein the detecting comprises:

checking height-velocity sets of values against a collision envelope reference database;

verifying continuity of the height against a height continuity criteria reference database; and

detecting a fall event if the continuity is verified and a predetermined number of within-collision-envelope height-velocity sets are found.

44. The method for hip protection of claim 43, wherein the detecting comprises:

activating a pneumatic sub-system upon detection of a fall event; and

inflating the at least one airbag by discharging compressed gas into the at least one airbag by the pneumatic sub-system.

45. The method for hip protection of claim 36, comprising:

performing a controlled gas discharging process when the at least one airbag undergoes a contraction caused by an impact with a ground surface.