Wearable device and system capable of automatically notifying personal emergency, and method thereof

• US 9,728,062 B2
• Filed: 05/21/2015
• Issued: 08/08/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/05/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Chang, Jen-Tsorng
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, An T
• Application Number:
  US14/718,827
• Publication Number:
  US 20160071391A1
• Time in Patent Office: 810 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0453 worn on the body to detect health condition by physiological monitoring, e.g. electrocardiogram, temperature, breathing detecting, measuring or recording for diagnostic purposes A61B5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/016 Personal emergency signalling and security systems emergency non-personal manually actuated alarm activators G08B25/12

Abstract

A method for safeguarding the health of a user by automatically notifying a personal emergency is applied in a wearable device worn around a user'"'"'s body or part. The method includes ultrasonic signals being periodically transmitted through the user'"'"'s body and received by a receiver. A state of health of the user'"'"' body is determined according to the ultrasonic signals and a signal notifying a personal emergency is generated if the state of health of the user'"'"'s body is abnormal. The signal is transmitted to at least one base station, to inform the base station to determine location of the wearable device for assistance-rendering purposes.

Claims

1. A wearable device for automatically notifying personal emergency comprising:

a main body configured to be worn around a user'"'"'s body;

an ultrasonic transmitter secured to the main body, and configured to periodically transmit ultrasonic signals;

an ultrasonic receiver secured to the main body, and configured to receive the ultrasonic signals transmitted by the ultrasonic transmitter through the user'"'"'s body;

a processor secured to the main body, and configured to receive the ultrasonic signals from the ultrasonic receiver, determine a state of health of the user'"'"'s body according to the received ultrasonic signals, determine whether the state of health of the user'"'"'s body is abnormal, and generate a signal for notifying emergency personal in event the state of health of the user'"'"'s body is abnormal; and

a wireless communication unit secured to the main body, and configured to transmit the signal to at least one base station, to inform the at least one base station to determine a location of the wearable device,

wherein data concerning the state of health comprises a velocity of blood flow in the user'"'"'s body;

the processor is configured to determine the velocity of blood flow according to an intensity of the received ultrasonic signals, and determine whether the state of health of the user'"'"'s body is abnormal according to the determined velocity of blood flow;

wherein the signal notifying a personal emergency comprises a first signal and a second signal;

the processor is configured to generate the first signal when the determined velocity of blood flow is less than a preset velocity and a difference between the preset velocity and the determined velocity of blood flow is less than a preset amount, and is further configured to generate the second signal when the determined velocity of blood flow is nearly zero.

2. The wearable device of claim 1, wherein each base station is a BLUETOOTH®

station;

the wireless communication unit is configured to transmit the signal to the base station via a BLUETOOTH®

network.

3. The wearable device of claim 1, further comprising a positioning unit, wherein the positioning unit is configured to detect the location of the wearable device when the state of health of the user'"'"'s body is abnormal;

the processor is configured to generate a signal for a personal emergency including the detected location when the state of health of the user'"'"'s body is abnormal;

the wireless communication unit is configured to transmit the signal including the location of the wearable device to one base station, thereby allowing the base station to determine the location of the wearable device included in the signal.

4. The wearable device of claim 3, wherein the positioning unit is a global positioning system device or an assisted global positioning system device.

5. The wearable device of claim 1, wherein the main body comprises two ends able to be connected to each other.

6. The wearable device of claim 5, wherein the main body further comprises a first portion, a second portion, a third portion, and a fourth portion located between the two ends, and connected together in that order;

the ultrasonic transmitter and the ultrasonic receiver are secured to internal surfaces of the second portion and the fourth portion, and face each other when the two ends are connected to each other.

7. The wearable device of claim 1, wherein the ultrasonic transmitter and the ultrasonic receiver are made of polyvinylidene fluoride.

8. A system for automatically notifying personal emergency comprising:

a wearable device comprising;

a main body configured to be worn around a user'"'"'s body;

an ultrasonic transmitter secured to the main body, and configured to periodically transmit ultrasonic signals;

an ultrasonic receiver secured to the main body, and configured to receive the ultrasonic signals transmitted by the ultrasonic transmitter through the user'"'"'s body;

a processor secured to the main body, and configured to receive the ultrasonic signals from the ultrasonic receiver, determine a state of health of the user'"'"'s body according to the received ultrasonic signals, determine whether the state of health of the user'"'"'s body is abnormal, and generate a signal for notifying emergency personal in event the state of health of the user'"'"'s body is abnormal; and

a wireless communication unit secured to the main body; and

a plurality of base stations capable of wirelessly communicating with the wearable device, the wireless communication unit configured to transmit the signal to at least one of the base stations, the at least one base station configured to determine a location of the wearable device, and generate an alarm according to the determined location; and

a cloud server, the at least one base station further configured to transmit the alarm to the cloud server;

wherein data concerning the state of health comprises a velocity of blood flow in the user'"'"'s body;

the processor is configured to determine the velocity of blood flow according to an intensity of the received ultrasonic signals, and determine whether the state of health of the user'"'"'s body is abnormal according to the determined velocity of blood flow;

wherein the signal notifying a personal emergency comprises a first signal and a second signal;

the processor is configured to generate the first signal when the determined velocity of blood flow is less than a preset velocity and a difference between the preset velocity and the determined velocity of blood flow is less than a preset amount, and is further configured to generate the second signal when the determined velocity of blood flow is nearly zero.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the at least one base station is configured to determine the location of the wearable device according to an intensity of the signal.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the signal comprises the location of the wearable device;

and the at least one base station is configured to determine the location of the wearable device included in the signal.

11. A method for automatically notifying personal emergency applied in a wearable device worn around a user'"'"'s body, the method comprising:

periodically transmitting ultrasonic signals;

receiving the ultrasonic signals transmitted through the user'"'"'s body;

determining a velocity of blood flow in the user'"'"'s body concerning state of health of the user'"'"'s body according to an intensity of the received ultrasonic signals;

determining whether the state of health of the user'"'"'s body is abnormal according to the determined velocity of blood flow;

generating a first signal for notifying emergency personal, in event the state of health of the user'"'"'s body is abnormal, the determined velocity of blood flow is less than a preset velocity, and a difference between the preset velocity and the determined velocity of blood flow is less than a preset amount;

generating a second signal for notifying emergency personal, in event the state of health of the user'"'"'s body is abnormal and the determined velocity of blood flow is nearly zero; and

transmitting the first signal or the second signal to at least one base station, to inform the at least one base station to determine location of the wearable device according to an intensity of the signal.

12. A method for automatically notifying personal emergency applied in a wearable device worn around a user'"'"'s body, the method comprising:

periodically transmitting ultrasonic signals;

receiving the ultrasonic signals transmitted through the user'"'"'s body;

determining a velocity of blood flow in the user'"'"'s body concerning state of health of the user'"'"'s body according to an intensity of the received ultrasonic signals;

determining whether the state of health of the user'"'"'s body is abnormal according to the determined velocity of blood flow;

detecting a location of the wearable device;

generating a first signal for notifying emergency personal including the detected location, in event the state of health of the user'"'"'s body is abnormal, the determined velocity of blood flow is less than a preset velocity, and a difference between the preset velocity and the determined velocity of blood flow is less than a preset amount

generating a second signal for notifying emergency personal including the detected location, in event the state of health of the user'"'"'s body is abnormal and the determined velocity of blood flow is nearly zero; and

transmitting the first signal or the second signal including the detected location to at least one base station, to inform the at least one base station to determine the detected location of the wearable device included in the signal.