Apparatus for use in a fall detector or fall detection system, and a method of operating the same

• US 9,489,815 B2
• Filed: 11/04/2011
• Issued: 11/08/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Inventors: Ten Kate, Warner Rudolph Theophile
• Primary Examiner(s): Tweel, Jr., John A
• Application Number:
  US14/114,592
• Publication Number:
  US 20140191863A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,831 Days
• Field of Search: 340/539.12, 340/686.1, 340/689, 600/483
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02055 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular condition and temperature
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/021 Measuring pressure in heart or blood vessels A61B5/0205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02438 with portable devices, e.g. worn by the patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0531 Measuring skin impedance
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1102 Ballistocardiography
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1116 Determining posture transitions
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1117 Fall detection
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1126 using a particular sensing technique
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14551 for measuring blood gases
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7203 for noise prevention, reduction or removal
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/725 using specific filters therefor, e.g. Kalman or adaptive filters A61B5/316 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7275 Determining trends in physiological measurement data; Predicting development of a medical condition based on physiological measurements, e.g. determining a risk factor
• 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 5/747 in case of emergency, i.e. alerting emergency services
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/02 Alarms for ensuring the safety of persons
• 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 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: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion telephones including GPS signal receivers H04M2250/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5116 for emergency applications

Abstract

There is provided a method of operating a fall detector, the method comprising, on detecting a fall event by a user of the fall detector, measuring at least one physiological characteristic of the user; and using the measurement of the at least one physiological characteristic to determine whether to expedite an alert that the user has fallen. An apparatus comprising a processor that is configured to perform the method described above is also provided.

Claims

1. A method of operating a fall detector, the method comprising:

on detecting a fall event by a user of the fall detector, measuring at least one physiological characteristic of the user;

using the measurement of the at least one physiological characteristic to determine whether to expedite an alert that the user has fallen by;

determining if the measurement of the at least one physiological characteristic deviates from a normal value for the at least one physiological characteristic; and

automatically expediting, by a processor, an alert that the user has fallen by triggering an alert before an expiry of a revocation period if the at least one physiological characteristic deviates from a normal value for the at least one physiological characteristic.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprises:

initiating a non-expedited alert that the user has fallen if it is determined that the user has not got up within a predetermined time period after the detected fall event.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of determining if the measurement of the at least one physiological characteristic deviates from a normal value for the at least one physiological characteristic comprises comparing the measurement of the at least one physiological characteristic to a threshold value or a normal range of values for the at least one physiological characteristic.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the normal value for the at least one physiological characteristic is user-dependent.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, the method further comprising the steps of:

measuring the movements of the user; and

analyzing the measured movements to identify one or more movements indicative of a fall by the user.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the measured movements are further analyzed to obtain the measurement of the at least one physiological characteristic of the user.

7. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the step of measuring at least one physiological characteristic of the user comprises using a sensor different to that used to measure the movements of the user.

8. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the one or more movements consistent with a fall are selected from an impact, a change in height of the user, a vertical velocity and a change in orientation of the user.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein an alert comprises at least one of an audible alarm, a call to a call center, emergency service or nominated recipient or sending data to a call center, emergency service or nominated recipient.

11. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one physiological characteristic is selected from heart rate, heart rate variability, respiration rate, respiration rate variability, body temperature, skin conductivity and blood pressure.

12. A computer program product comprising computer readable code embodied therein, the code being configured such that, on execution by a suitable computer or processor, the computer or processor is caused to perform the method as claimed in claim 1.

14. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprises:

initiating a non-expedited alert that the user has fallen if it is determined that the user has not got up within a predetermined time period after the detected fall event and the at least one physiological characteristic does not deviate from the normal value for the at least one physiological characteristic.

15. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprises:

initiating no alert if it is determined that the user has gotten got up within a predetermined time period after the detected fall event.

16. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprises:

initiating no alert if it is determined that the user has gotten got up within a predetermined time period after the detected fall event and the at least one physiological characteristic does not deviate from the normal value for the at least one physiological characteristic.

10. The method as claimed in 1, wherein expediting an alert comprises one or more of:

labeling a call or message as high priority such that queuing of the call or message at a recipient is expedited compared to a non-expedited alert, initiating an alert through a higher priority or higher bandwidth channel in a network than a non-expedited alert, and initiating an alert to an emergency service instead of, or in addition to, a call center associated with the fall detector.

13. An apparatus, comprising:

a processing unit that is configured to;

determine a measurement of at least one physiological characteristic of a user of a fall detector on detecting a fall event by the user; and

use the measurement of the at least one physiological characteristic to determine whether to expedite an alert that the user has fallen by;

determining if the measurement of the at least one physiological characteristic deviates from a normal value for the at least one physiological characteristic;

expediting an alert that the user has fallen if the at least one physiological characteristic deviates from a normal value for the at least one physiological characteristic; and

issuing a non-expedited alert that the user has fallen if the at least one physiological characteristic does not deviate from a normal value for the at least one physiological characteristic.

17. A method, comprising:

expediting, with a processor, issuance of an automatically generated alert that a user has fallen if at least one physiological characteristic, of the user measured after a fall event has been determined, deviates from a normal value for the at least one physiological characteristic; and

issuing, with the processor, an automatically generated non-expedited alert that the user has fallen if the at least one physiological characteristic does not deviate from the normal value for the at least one physiological characteristic.

19. The method as claimed in claim 17, further comprises:

initiating no alert if it is determined that the user has gotten got up within a predetermined time period after the detected fall event.

20. The method as claimed in claim 17, further comprises:

initiating no alert if it is determined that the user has gotten got up within a predetermined time period after the detected fall event and the at least one physiological characteristic does not deviate from the normal value for the at least one physiological characteristic.

18. The method as claimed in 17, further comprises:

initiating the non-expedited alert that the user has fallen if it is determined that the user has not got up within a predetermined time period after the detected fall event.