Condition detecting system and method

• US 6,211,787 B1
• Filed: 09/29/1999
• Issued: 04/03/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Yoshiike, Nobuyuki, Morinaka, Katsuya, Tanaka, Shinji
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Benjamin C.
• Application Number:
  US09/408,229
• Time in Patent Office: 552 Days
• Field of Search: 340/573.1, 340/573.4, 340/573.5, 340/554, 340/522, 340/541, 340/565, 600/595, 600/587, 257/338.1, 257/342, 257/221, 374/142, 374/124, 374/45, 379/38, 379/39, 379/47, 379/51, 710/18, 367/99, 367/107, 367/112, 367/116
• US Class Current: 340/573.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/04 Systems determining the presence of a target
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/86 Combinations of lidar systems with systems other than lidar, radar or sonar, e.g. with direction finders
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/87 Combinations of systems using electromagnetic waves other than radio waves
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0469 Presence detectors to detect unsafe condition, e.g. infrared sensor, microphone G08B21/0476 takes precedence

Abstract

Condition detecting system has a detecting device (1) including a plurality of pieces of distance sensors arranged at one corner of an observing sector such as a toilet, a judging device for judging the condition of a staying person in the observing sector on the basis of the information from the detecting device (1), a signal transmitting section for transmitting the results of judgment, and a warning device for issuing a warning on the basis of the signal from the signal transmitting section, and the plurality of pieces of distance sensors are set to perform detection in a plurality of different directions by using infrared ray beams.

Claims

1. A condition detecting system for detecting existence and condition of a person in a specific observing sector comprising:

detecting means including a plurality of pieces of distance sensors arranged at one corner of said observing sector; and

judging means for judging condition of a staying person in said observing sector on the basis of information from the detecting means,

wherein each of said plurality of pieces of distance sensors is set to be able to detect condition of the person in a different direction.

2. The condition detecting system according to claim 1 further comprising signal processing means including a signal transmitting section for transmitting results of judgment attained by said judging means.

3. The condition detecting system according to claim 2 further comprising warning means for issuing a waning on the basis of a signal from said signal transmitting section.

4. The condition detecting system according to claim 3 further comprising warning canceling means for performing cancel of said warning means.

5. The condition detecting system according to claim 3, wherein said plurality of pieces of distance sensors are distance sensors using infrared ray beams, or ultrasonic sensors using transmitting and receiving of ultrasonic waves, or combinations of said two kinds of sensors.

6. The condition detecting system according to claim 3, wherein said warning means works when said judging means judges that a person whose existence is detected does not go out even if a previously determined specified time has elapsed, or when said judging means judges that the person is in an abnormal condition.

7. The condition detecting system according to claim 2, wherein said plurality of pieces of distance sensors are distance sensors using infrared ray beams, or ultrasonic sensors using transmitting and receiving of ultrasonic waves, or combinations of said two kinds of sensors.

8. The condition detecting system according to claim 1, wherein said plurality of pieces of distance sensors are distance sensors using infrared ray beams, or ultrasonic sensors using transmitting and receiving of ultrasonic waves, or combinations of said two kinds of sensors.

9. The condition detecting system according to claim 1, wherein said judging means and said data transmitting section are included in signal processing means and the judging means is realized in terms of software by using a computer.

10. The condition detecting system according to claim 1, wherein said observing sector is a toilet, and staying of a user of the toilet for a long time or an abnormal condition is detected by detecting means including a plurality of pieces of distance sensors arranged at one corner in said toilet.

11. The condition detecting system according to claim 10, wherein said toilet is a Western style toilet and said detecting means is arranged at the front of the Western style toilet or at the upper back portion.

12. The condition detecting system according to claim 1, wherein said observing sector is a washing room, and staying for a long time or an abnormal attitude such as falling down or crouching down is detected by detecting means including a plurality of pieces of distance sensors arranged at one corner in the washing room.

13. The condition detecting system according to claim 1, wherein said observing sector is a bath room, and staying for a long time or an abnormal attitude such as falling down or crouching down in a washing place or a bath tub is detected by detecting means including a plurality of pieces of distance sensors arranged at one corner of the bath room.

14. A condition detecting system for detecting condition of a person covering a plurality of observing sectors, wherein detecting means including a plurality of pieces of distance sensors is arranged at one corner of each observing sector, and each output signal of the detecting means is inputted into one judging means which judges condition of a staying person in said observing sector on the basis of information from the detecting means.

15. The condition detecting system according to claim 14 further comprising warning means for issuing a warning on the basis of a signal from said judging means.

16. The condition detecting system according to claim 15 further comprising warning canceling means for canceling a warning of said warning means.

17. The condition detecting system according to claim 16, wherein when said judging means judges that a person is staying for a long time after a certain time has elapsed, or when said judging means judges that abnormality occurs in an attitude of a staying person, said judging means reports the result of judgment to a centralized control system such as a nurse call system as a contact point signal.

18. The condition detecting system according to claim 15, wherein when said judging means judges that a person is staying for a long time after a certain time has elapsed, or when said judging means judges that abnormality occurs in an attitude of a staying person, said judging means reports the result of judgment to a centralized control system such as a nurse call system as a contact point signal.

19. The condition detecting system according to claim 14, wherein when said judging means judges that a person is staying for a long time after a certain time has elapsed, or when said judging means judges that abnormality occurs in an attitude of a staying person, said judging means reports the result of judgment to a centralized control system such as a nurse call system as a contact point signal.

20. The condition detecting system according to claim 19, wherein said centralized control system turns on and off a separate corridor light or a separate warning lamp, or issues a warning alarm on the basis of said result of judgment.

21. The condition detecting system according to claim 20, wherein said centralized control system stops the warning in the case when said centralized control system receives a result of judgment that a person does not exist in said observing sector, while issuing a warning.

22. The condition detecting system according to claim 19, wherein the warning is canceled and at the same time and measuring is automatically resumed by canceling of said separate corridor light, or by a canceling action of a canceling button in said centralized control system.