System for automatically monitoring persons in a domestic environment

• US 6,825,761 B2
• Filed: 10/01/2002
• Issued: 11/30/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Healthcare GMBH (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens AG
• Inventors: Schmidt, Volker, Mankopf, Michael, Christ, Tilo
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Toan N.
• Application Number:
  US10/260,515
• Publication Number:
  US 20030098793A1
• Time in Patent Office: 791 Days
• Field of Search: 340/506, 340/573.1, 340/573.4, 340/825.19, 340/870.02, 340/5.1, 340/3.1, 340/825.36
• US Class Current: 340/506
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/189 using passive radiation detection systems
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/10 using wireless transmission systems G08B25/009 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/14 Central alarm receiver or annunciator arrangements

Abstract

A system for automatically monitoring persons in a domestic environment by using sensors for detecting characteristic parameters which are supplied to a surveillance center which, if necessary, alerts an alarm center, particularly a service provider, the sensors detecting a plurality of domestic devices (including measuring devices) used or operated regularly and the sensor data being supplied personalized and automatically to the center which evaluates the incoming data by using an expert system with predetermined rules.

Claims

1. A system for automatically monitoring consumption activity of a person in a domestic environment, the system comprising:

plural sensors for detecting consumption activity of plural domestic devices that are in a domestic environment of a person being monitored and for automatically sending signals that identify consumption activity of the person being monitored and the detected activity, said plural sensors sensing activity of a plurality of water, gas, and electric devices through the use of water meters, gas meters, and ammeters;

a surveillance center that receives said signals from said plural sensors;

an expert system at said surveillance center for automatically evaluating the detected consumption activity based on predetermined rules, the expert system initiating alarm output based on the automatic evaluation; and

an alarm center for generating an alarm signal in response to the alarm output from said surveillance center.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein,

the detected consumption activity relates to a frequency of use of a monitored device, and

said expert system compares a detected frequency of use of at least one of the domestic devices to a predetermined frequency and generates an output when the detected frequency deviates from the predetermined frequency.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said expert system learns a normal consumption activity of the plural domestic devices and generates an output when the detected activity deviates from the learned normal activity.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein said expert system evaluates the detected use activity of a plurality of the domestic devices and generates an output only when more than one of the detected activities deviates from the predetermined rules concerning frequency of use.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein said expert system analyzes utilization of the domestic devices and revises the predetermined rules based on the analysis.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein said plural sensors include a telephone usage sensor.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein said surveillance center further comprises a first service provider that receives the output from said sensors, appends personal data identifying the person whose activity is being monitored to form encrypted data, and sends the encrypted data to a second service provider that receives the encrypted data, the second service provider hosting the surveillance center and the expert system.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the first service provider comprises a first database that includes the personal data and contact information for entities, including contact addresses and nursing services, that are to receive the alarm output from said surveillance center and a second sensor database for storing incoming sensor data derived from the sensor signals, the alarm output being routed from the second service provider via the first service provider to the entities, one of which entities hosts the alarm center.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein said alarm center generates alarms with different levels of urgency, depending on the output from said surveillance center.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein said surveillance center is at least one municipal utility that accepts the sensor signals from the plural sensors and stores the received sensor signals as consumption data within a database located at the municipal utility.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein one municipal utility accepting sensor signals is a telephone company, the telephone company storing telephone usage data indicating an historic telephone use frequency for the person, and a current telephone use frequency for the person sufficient to determine if the current telephone frequency use deviates beyond a predetermined rule within the expert system so as to trigger a non-standard use frequency alarm.

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a first service provider that accepts the sensor signals from the plural sensors and attaches, to the sensor signals, encrypted personal data identifying the person whose activity is being monitored,

the sensor signals together with the attached encrypted personal data being sent by the first service provider to the surveillance center hosting the expert system,

the signal generated by the surveillance center being routed via the first service provided to trigger an alarm at the alarm center.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein said plural sensors include a sensor for sensing activity indicating use frequency of a telephone.

13. A method for automatically monitoring consumption activity of a person in a domestic environment, the method comprising the steps of:

detecting consumption, including both quantity and frequency of use, activity of plural domestic devices that are in a domestic environment of a person being monitored using plural sensors;

automatically sending signals from the sensors that identify the person being monitored and the detected activity;

receiving the signals from the sensors at a surveillance center;

automatically evaluating the detected consumption activity based on predetermined rules using an expert system at the surveillance center; and

generating a signal in response to an output from the surveillance center when usage of any of water meters, gas meters, and ammeters deviates from a normal usage.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the expert system performs the steps of comparing a detected consumption frequency of operation of at least one of the domestic devices to a predetermined frequency and generates an output when the detected frequency deviates from the predetermined frequency.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the expert system performs the steps of learning a normal usage of the plural domestic devices and generating an output when the detected activity deviates from the learned normal usage.

16. The method of claim 13, the expert system performs the steps of evaluating the detected activity of a plurality of the domestic devices and generating an output only when more than one of the detected activities deviates from the predetermined rules.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the expert system performs the steps of analyzing frequency and quantity utilization of the domestic devices and revises the predetermined rules based on the analysis.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the surveillance center performs the steps of encrypting the output from the sensors and sending the encrypted data to a separate service provider.

20. A system for automatically monitoring activity of a person in a domestic environment as measured by domestic device usage, the system comprising:

plural sensors for detecting utility consumption activity of plural gas, electric, and water devices that are in a domestic environment of a person being monitored and for automatically sending signals that identify the detected utility consumption activity of the plural gas, electric, and water devices as to consumed quantities of corresponding gas, electric, and water utilities;

a surveillance center that receives said signals from said plural sensors and encrypts consumption data in said signals;

an expert system that receives the encrypted data and automatically learns a normal consumption activity of the plural gas, electric, and water devices and, after having learned the normal consumption activity monitors a current level of consumption activity while comparing the current level of consumption activity against the learned normal consumption activity; and

said surveillance center generating a signal in response to an output from said expert system when the comparison of the current level of consumption activity against the learned normal consumption activity triggers a monitoring rule within the expert system.