Preventing falls using posture and movement detection

• US 9,691,253 B2
• Filed: 02/02/2015
• Issued: 06/27/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Covidien LP (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: Covidien LP (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: Russell, Brian Keith, Woodward, Jonathan James, Ruehlmann, Dietrich Otto, Olsen, Marjorie Jones, Morris, Benjamin David
• Primary Examiner(s): Ghulamali, Qutbuddin
• Application Number:
  US14/611,893
• Publication Number:
  US 20150221202A1
• Time in Patent Office: 876 Days
• Field of Search: 3405737
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/002 Monitoring the patient using a local or closed circuit, e.g. in a room or building A61B5/0017 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1117 Fall detection
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1118 Determining activity level
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/043 detecting an emergency event, e.g. a fall
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0446 worn on the body to detect changes of posture, e.g. a fall, inclination, acceleration, gait

Abstract

Methods, apparatuses and systems are described for associating remote physiological monitoring with an at-risk falling condition of a patient. The methods may include receiving movement data of a patient from one or more sensors. The methods may also include determining a patient posture and a patient activity level based, at least in part, on the received movement data, and determining that an at-risk condition is satisfied by the patient posture or the patient activity level. Once it is determined that the at-risk condition is satisfied, the methods may also include issuing an alert based, at least in part, on the determination that the at-risk condition is satisfied.

Claims

1. A method of issuing an alert, comprising:

receiving movement data of a patient from one or more sensors;

determining a patient posture and a patient activity level based, at least in part, on the received movement data;

determining that an at-risk condition is satisfied by the patient posture or the patient activity level exceeding a respective patient posture or the patient activity level threshold for a predetermined period of time;

operating a timer to measure the period of time for which at least one of the patient posture or the patient activity level satisfies the at-risk determined condition; and

issuing an alert based at least in part on the determination that the at-risk condition is satisfied and that the period of time has met or surpassed a predetermined timer threshold.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving movement data comprises:

receiving orientation, position, velocity, posture, or acceleration data from the one or more sensors.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the timer comprises a posture timer, the method further comprising:

operating the posture timer to measure the patient posture for the predetermined period of time during which the at-risk condition is satisfied; and

issuing the alert when the posture timer meets or surpasses a predetermined posture timer threshold.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

re-initializing the posture timer when the patient posture does not satisfy the at-risk threshold.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

setting the predetermined posture timer threshold based, at least in part, on patient physiological factors.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the timer comprises an activity timer, the method further comprising:

operating the activity timer to measure the patient activity level for the predetermined period of time during which the at-risk condition is satisfied; and

issuing the alert when the activity timer meets or surpasses a predetermined activity timer threshold.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

re-initializing the activity timer when the patient activity level does not satisfy the at-risk threshold.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

setting the predetermined activity timer threshold based, at least in part, on patient physiological factors.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting the issued alert to a monitoring station.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the at-risk condition is satisfied by the patient activity level comprises:

correlating the patient movement data received with a vector magnitude (VMU).

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

determining that the at-risk condition is satisfied when the VMU reaches or surpasses a predetermined VMU threshold based, at least in part, on the activity level of the patient.

12. A remote patient monitoring device, comprising:

a transceiver configured to receive movement data of a patient from one or more sensors; and

a processor configured to;

determine a patient posture and a patient activity level based, at least in part, on the received movement data;

determine that an at-risk condition is satisfied by the patient posture or the patient activity level exceeding a respective patient posture or the patient activity level threshold for a predetermined period of time;

operate a timer to measure a period of time for which at least one of the patient posture or the patient activity level satisfies the at-risk determined condition; and

issue an alert based at least in part on the determination that the at-risk condition is satisfied and that the period of time has met or surpassed a predetermined timer threshold.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein the timer comprises a posture timer,

the posture timer configured to:

operate to measure the patient posture for the predetermined period of time during which the at-risk condition is satisfied; and

issue the alert when the posture timer meets or surpasses a predetermined posture timer threshold.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the processor is further configured to:

re-initialize the posture timer when the patient posture does not satisfy the at-risk threshold.

15. The device of claim 13, wherein the processor is further configured to:

set the predetermined posture timer threshold based, at least in part, on patient physiological factors.

16. The device of claim 12, wherein the timer comprises an activity timer,

the activity timer configured to:

operate to measure the patient activity level for the predetermined period of time during which the at-risk condition is satisfied; and

issue the alert when the activity timer meets or surpasses a predetermined activity timer threshold.

17. The device of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to:

re-initialize the activity timer when the patient activity level does not satisfy the at-risk threshold.

18. The device of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to:

set the predetermined activity timer duration based, at least in part, on patient physiological factors.

19. The device of claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to:

correlate the patient movement data received with a vector magnitude (VMU); and

determine that the at-risk condition is satisfied when the VMU reaches or surpasses a predetermined VMU threshold based, at least in part, on the activity level of the patient.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable code, the code executable by a processor to:

receive movement data of a patient from one or more sensors;

determine a patient posture and a patient activity level based, at least in part, on the received movement data;

determine that an at-risk condition is satisfied by the patient posture or the patient activity level exceeding a respective patient posture or the patient activity level threshold for a predetermined period of time;

operate a timer to measure a period of time for which at least one of the patient posture or the patient activity satisfies the at-risk determined condition; and

issue an alert based at least in part on the determination that the at-risk condition is satisfied and that the period of time has met or surpassed a predetermined timer threshold.