Wireless monitoring of safety helmets

• US 9,781,965 B2
• Filed: 07/21/2016
• Issued: 10/10/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Miller, II, Robert R.
• Primary Examiner(s): HUNNINGS, TRAVIS R
• Application Number:
  US15/215,989
• Publication Number:
  US 20170006950A1
• Time in Patent Office: 446 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A42B 3/046 Means for detecting hazards or accidents
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0247 Pressure sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/028 Microscale sensors, e.g. electromechanical sensors [MEMS]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/04 Arrangements of multiple sensors of the same type
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/043 in a linear array
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0004 characterised by the type of physiological signal transmitted
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/11 Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb for measuring pulse A61B5/02 ;A61B5/1038 takes precedence; motion detection to correct for motion artifacts in physiological signals A61B5/721
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1122 of movement trajectories
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4064 Evaluating the brain A61B5/031, A61B5/369, A61B5/14553 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6803 Head-worn items, e.g. helmets, masks, headphones or goggles
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6898 Portable consumer electronic devices, e.g. music players, telephones, tablet computers
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7246 using correlation, e.g. template matching or determination of similarity
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7264 Classification of physiological signals or data, e.g. using neural networks, statistical classifiers, expert systems or fuzzy systems neural networks per se G06N3/00; expert systems per se G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7282 Event detection, e.g. detecting unique waveforms indicative of a medical condition A61B5/4094, A61B5/4818, A61B5/349, A61B5/0823 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/742 using visual displays A61B5/339 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/746 Alarms related to a physiological condition, e.g. details of setting alarm thresholds or avoiding false alarms alarms per se G08B
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/747 in case of emergency, i.e. alerting emergency services
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/043 detecting an emergency event, e.g. a fall

Abstract

Remote monitoring of a subject wearing a sports helmet is enabled. In one aspect, an example system includes a safety helmet and a sensor integrated with the helmet for continuously gathering head acceleration force data, the head acceleration force data associated with the head movements of a subject. The system can also include a wireless transceiver coupled to the sensor for transmitting the head acceleration force data and a mobile device for receiving the head acceleration force data from the wireless transceiver. The system can further include a database engine for displaying the head acceleration force data to a user.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;

receiving, from a wireless transceiver of a helmet corresponding to a head of a person, first pressure data representing a first pressure that has been applied to the head during a first type of activity determined to be performed by the person; and

displaying the first pressure data representing the first pressure that has been applied to the head during the first type of activity with second pressure data representing a second pressure that has been applied to the head during a second type of activity determined to be performed by the person that is different from the first type of activity.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining whether head acceleration force data associated with movements of the head during the first type of activity satisfies a defined condition related to a head injury.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the operations further comprise:

in response to determining that the head acceleration force data satisfies the defined condition, sending the first pressure data directed to a device.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

correlating head acceleration force data associated with movements of the head with the first type of activity and the second type of activity.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the operations further comprises:

in response to the correlating, displaying respective axes of movement of respective uses associated with the first type of activity and the second type of activity.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining an acceleration of the head; and

determining a period of time since the acceleration.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the operations further comprise:

displaying a symbol corresponding to the period of time.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising an array of sensors, wherein the receiving further comprises:

obtaining the first pressure data via the wireless transceiver from the array of sensors.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the array of sensors comprises a microelectromechanical system accelerometer.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the receiving comprises:

receiving the first pressure data from the wireless transceiver utilizing a wireless communication protocol based on an Institute for Electronics Engineers 802.15.4 physical radio specification.

11. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a system comprising a processor, pressure data from a transceiver coupled to a pressure sensitive sensor of a helmet, wherein the pressure data represents a first pressure applied to a portion of a head engaged in a first type of activity; and

displaying the first pressure data representing the first pressure applied to the portion of the head with second pressure data representing a second pressure applied to the portion of the head engaged in a second type of activity that is different from the first type of activity.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining, by the system, whether an acceleration of the head satisfies a defined condition with respect to an anticipated injury of the head.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

in response to determining that the acceleration satisfies the defined condition, sending, by the system, the first pressure data directed to a device.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

comparing, by the system, head acceleration force data associated with movements of the head with different activities comprising the first type of activity and the second type of activity.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

in response to the comparing, displaying, by the system, axes of the movements of the head.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining, by the system, a acceleration of the head; and

determining, by the system, a period of time since the acceleration.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the receiving comprises receiving the first pressure data via a ZigBee based wireless communication protocol.

18. A mobile device, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;

receiving pressure data from a wireless transceiver coupled to a pressure sensor of a helmet, wherein the pressure data represents respective pressures that have been determined to have been applied to a head of a person; and

displaying information presenting a first pressure of the respective pressures determined to have been applied to the head of the person during a first activity and a second pressure of the respective pressures determined to have been applied to the head of the person during a second activity different from the first activity.

19. The mobile device of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining an acceleration of the head; and

in response to determining that the acceleration satisfies a defined condition with respect to a future injury of the head determined to be likely to occur, sending a message directed to a device.

20. The mobile device of claim 18, wherein the receiving comprises receiving the pressure data according to a ZigBee based communication protocol.