Portable Wireless Personal Head Impact Reporting System

• US 20150285832A1
• Filed: 10/07/2014
• Published: 10/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/03/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sensetech LLC
• Original Assignee: Sensetech LLC
• Inventors: Thomas, Biju, Bauer, Timothy
• Granted Patent: US 10,914,754 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A42B 3/0433 Detecting, signalling or lighting devices
• CPC Class Codes: A42B 3/046 Means for detecting hazards or accidents
• CPC Class Codes: G01L 5/0052 measuring forces due to impact G01L5/0061, G01L5/14 take precedence; impact testing of structures G01M7/08; impact testing of material G01N3/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 3/00 Measuring linear or angular speed; Measuring differences of linear or angular speeds G01P5/00 - G01P11/00 take precedence; direction and speed indication G01P13/045; counting mechanisms G06M
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0446 worn on the body to detect changes of posture, e.g. a fall, inclination, acceleration, gait
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/30 for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49826 Assembling or joining

Abstract

A system senses, analyzes, and reports a collision event experienced by a person or object. A sensor module records angular velocities over time and a processor analyzes the sensed velocities, calculates properties of angular velocities, such as jerk and jolt, compares these properties with threshold values selected to correlate to predicted severities of injury to the person or object, and transmits information regarding these properties to a communication device controlled by user-designated persons. Group tracking and communication devices are used by monitors to manage multiple persons equipped with sensor modules. The sensor modules and group tracking and communication devices are designed to be portable, attachable, and detachable so that they can be attached to different types of gear used by persons engaging in different activities.

Claims

1. A method of evaluating the severity of a collision event experienced by a person or object with another person or object, said method comprising:

sensing angular velocities of said person or object over time as a result of said collision event;

calculating jerk and/or jolt from said angular velocities over time; and

comparing said jerk or jolt with threshold values selected to correspond to one or more levels of severity of the collision event.

2. The method of claim 1 also comprising communicating the level of severity of the collision event to said person.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said severity levels are determined adjusting the said jerk or jolt values by factors representative of the person or object'"'"'s fragility.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein said factors comprise one or more factors selected from the group consisting of:

the person or object'"'"'s size, weight, presence and toughness of protective materials around the person or object, severity and type of collision events previously suffered by the person or object, biological parameters of the person, and severity and type of collision events suffered by other persons or objects having similar fragility factors.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said levels of severity comprise:

(1) severe enough to recommend seeking medical attention at a later time;

severe enough to warrant calling for emergency medical treatment.

6. The method of claim 1 also comprising notifying one or more third parties of the occurrence and severity of the collision event.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein said third parties are selected from the group consisting of monitors comprising teachers, parents, military observers and/or coaches;

emergency contact resources, rescue/emergency provider networks, and user-defined contacts.

8. The method of claim 1 also comprising determining the location of the person or object and notifying the person or third parties of said location.

9. The method of claim 6 also comprising determining the person'"'"'s medical insurance and/or financial resources and providing the information to said third parties.

10. A method for predicting type and severity of an injury to a person or object caused by a particular collision event, said method comprising:

setting threshold values for jerk and or jolt experienced by the person or object during a collision event that are likely to cause injury to said person or object, based on at least one fragility factor of the person or object, comparing and jerk and/or jolt forces on the person or object as a result of the particular collision event to said threshold values to predict the severity of said injury.

11. The method of claim 10 also comprising collecting and correlating jerk and/or jolt data from multiple persons or objects during collision events, fragility factors of said persons or objects, and levels of injury caused by said collision events to each person or object, and setting said threshold values based on said correlations.

12. An electronic storage device comprising a database comprising stored information comprising jerk and/or jolt data from multiple persons or objects during collision events, fragility factors of said persons or objects, and levels of injury caused by said collision events to each person or object.

13. The electronic storage device of claim 12 operationally connected to a processor programmed to correlate said jerk and/or jolt and fragility factor data with said levels of injury and predict the level of injury likely to be sustained by a person or object in a specific collision event.