FALL DETECTING APPARATUS AND METHOD, AND EMERGENCY AID SYSTEM AND METHOD USING THE SAME

• US 20080133277A1
• Filed: 12/04/2007
• Published: 06/05/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: OH, Soo-Young, SONG, Sa-Kwang, ZYUNG, Taehyoung, JANG, Jae-Won, LIM, Myung-Eun, PARK, Seon-Hee, PARK, Soo-Jun
• Granted Patent: US 7,961,109 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/3
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0002 Remote monitoring of patients using telemetry, e.g. transmission of vital signals via a communication network A61B5/07 takes precedence; transmission systems for measured values G08C; transmission H04B; transmission of digital information H04L; wireless communication networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1117 Fall detection
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0446 worn on the body to detect changes of posture, e.g. a fall, inclination, acceleration, gait
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/016 Personal emergency signalling and security systems emergency non-personal manually actuated alarm activators G08B25/12
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 80/00 ICT specially adapted for facilitating communication between medical practitioners or patients, e.g. for collaborative diagnosis, therapy or health monitoring

Abstract

Provided are a fall detecting apparatus and method and an emergency aid system and method using the same. The fall detecting apparatus includes a storing unit configured to store fall data vectors; an angular velocity measuring unit configured to measure an angular velocity value; an acceleration measuring unit configured to measure an acceleration value; an acceleration extracting unit configured to extract a kinetic acceleration value and a gravitational acceleration value by filtering the acceleration value measured by the acceleration measuring unit; and a fall determining unit configured to convert the angular velocity value, which is measured by the angular velocity measuring unit, and the kinetic acceleration value and the gravitational acceleration value, which are extracted by the acceleration extracting unit, into a fall data vector, and determine a use'"'"'s fall by comparing the converted fall data vector with the fall data vector stored in the storing unit.

Claims

1. A fall detecting apparatus, comprising:

a storing unit configured to store fall data vectors;

an angular velocity measuring unit configured to measure an angular velocity value;

an acceleration measuring unit configured to measure an acceleration value;

an acceleration extracting unit configured to extract a kinetic acceleration value and a gravitational acceleration value by filtering the acceleration value measured by the acceleration measuring unit; and

a fall determining unit configured to convert the angular velocity value, which is measured by the angular velocity measuring unit, and the kinetic acceleration value and the gravitational acceleration value, which are extracted by the acceleration extracting unit, into a fall data vector, and determine a use'"'"'s fall by comparing the converted fall data vector with the fall data vector stored in the storing unit.

2. The fall detecting apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a location information acquiring unit configured to acquire location information; and

a communication unit configured to notifying the location information, which is acquired by the location information acquiring unit, and fall notification information, which is generated by the fall determining unit, to an external emergency aid system.

3. The fall detecting apparatus of claim 1, wherein the storing unit includes:

a basic fall database configured to store basic fall data vectors; and

a user fall database configured to store user fall data vectors.

4. The fall detecting apparatus of claim 3, wherein the fall determining unit stores the angular velocity value, which is measured by the angular velocity measuring unit, and the kinetic acceleration value and the gravitational acceleration value, which are extracted by the acceleration extracting unit, into a queue in form of fall data vector, and determines the user'"'"'s fall by comparing the fall data vector stored in the queue with the fall data vectors stored in the basic fall database and the user fall database.

5. The fall detecting apparatus of claim 4, wherein the fall determining unit determines the user'"'"'s fall when an approximation degree between the fall data vector stored in the queue and the fall data vector stored in the basic fall database or the user database is less than a threshold value.

6. The fall detecting apparatus of claim 3, wherein the acceleration extracting unit extracts the kinetic acceleration value by performing high-pass-filtering on the acceleration value measured by the acceleration measuring unit, and extracts the gravitational acceleration value by performing low-pass-filtering on the acceleration value measured by the acceleration measuring unit.

7. A fall detecting method, comprising the steps of:

measuring an angular velocity value and an acceleration value;

extracting a kinetic acceleration value and a gravitational acceleration value by filtering the acceleration value;

converting the measured angular velocity value, the measured kinetic acceleration value, and the measured gravitational acceleration value into a fall data vector; and

determining a use'"'"'s fall by comparing the converted fall data vector with a preset fall data vector.

8. The fall detecting method of claim 7, further comprising the steps of:

acquiring location information when it is determined that a user falls down; and

notifying the acquired location information and the determined user'"'"'s fall information to an external emergency aid system.

9. The fall detecting method of claim 7, wherein the user'"'"' fall is determined when an approximation degree between the converted fall data vector and the fall data vector stored in a basic fall database or a user fall database is less than a threshold value.

10. The fall detecting method of claim 9, wherein the step of extracting the acceleration value includes the steps of:

extracting the kinetic acceleration value by performing high-pass-filtering on the measured acceleration value; and

extracting the gravitational acceleration value by performing low-pass-filtering on the measured acceleration value.

11. An emergency aid system, comprising:

a user information storing unit configured to store personal information and health condition based on user'"'"'s private number, and emergency contact number;

a fall information receiving unit configured to receive location information and fall notification information from a fall detecting apparatus, which converts an angular velocity value, a kinetic acceleration value, and a gravitational value into a fall data vector and determines a user'"'"'s fall by comparing the compared fall data vector with a preset fall data vector;

a user identifying unit configured to confirm the user'"'"'s identification by searching the user information storing unit on the basis of user'"'"'s private number included in the fall notification information received by the fall information receiving unit; and

a fall notifying unit configured to notify the user'"'"'s fall to an emergency contact number of the user identified by the user identifying unit.

12. An emergency aid method, comprising the steps of:

receiving location information and fall notification information from a fall detecting apparatus, which converts an angular velocity value, a kinetic acceleration value, and a gravitational value into a fall data vector and determines a user'"'"'s fall by comparing the compared fall data vector with a preset fall data vector;

confirming the user'"'"'s identification by searching a user information database on the basis of user'"'"'s private number included in the received fall notification information; and

notifying the user'"'"'s fall to an emergency contact number of the identified user.