System and method for monitoring of activity and fall

• US 9,615,777 B2
• Filed: 12/09/2005
• Issued: 04/11/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gescloc Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Christian Cloutier
• Inventors: Cloutier, Christian, Fortin, Rgis
• Primary Examiner(s): HINDENBURG, MAX F
• Application Number:
  US11/297,368
• Publication Number:
  US 20060139166A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,141 Days
• Field of Search: 600587, 3405737
• 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 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1117 Fall detection
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1118 Determining activity level
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4818 Sleep apnoea
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/681 Wristwatch-type devices
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0288 Attachment of child unit to child/article
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0415 detecting absence of activity per se
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0446 worn on the body to detect changes of posture, e.g. a fall, inclination, acceleration, gait

Abstract

A system for monitoring activity of at least one subject in an environment, comprising at least one sensing assembly, detecting parameters in the environment; and a server communicating with at least one of: i) the subject and ii) the sensing assembly; the at least one sensing assembly comprising at least a first sensor connected to the region of the back of the neck of the subject, the first sensor unit comprising at least one accelerometer.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring activity of a subject and occurrence of a fall of the subject, said system comprising:

a sensing unit configured for placement at the base of the back of the neck of the subject, said sensing unit being configured for a low G/high G acceleration sensing range; and

a base configured to wirelessly communicate with said sensing unit;

said sensing unit being configured to wirelessly transmit acceleration data measured by said sensing unit in the low G and in the high G acceleration range and correlated to the spine of the subject due to said placement at the base of the back of the neck of the subject;

wherein said base is configured to receive said acceleration data measured by said sensing unit in the low G and in the high G acceleration range and sent by said sensing unit;

said base being further configured to process the acceleration data in the low G and in the high G acceleration range into data reflecting a vectorial position of the spine of the subject due to said placement at the base of the back of the neck of the subject;

said base being further configured to identify a fall of the subject based at least on said acceleration data measured by said sensing unit in the high G range and to determine levels of activity of the subject based at least on said acceleration data measured by said sensing unit in the low G range.

2. A system for monitoring activity of a subject and for monitoring occurrence of a fall of the subject, said system comprising:

a sensing assembly comprising a first sensing unit configured for placement at the base of the back of the neck of the subject, said first sensing unit comprising a high G 3-axes accelerometer and a low G 3-axes accelerometer; and

a base configured to wirelessly communicate with said sensing assembly;

said sensing assembly being configured to wirelessly transmit acceleration data measured by said high G 3-axes accelerometer and acceleration data measured by said low G 3-axes accelerometer to said base, said acceleration data being correlated to the spine of the subject due to said placement at the base of the back of the neck of the subject;

wherein said base is configured to receive said acceleration data measured by said high G 3-axes accelerometer and acceleration data measured by said low G 3-axes accelerometer sent by said sensing assembly;

said base being further configured to process the acceleration data measured by said high G 3-axes accelerometer and said acceleration data measured by said low G 3-axes accelerometer;

said base being further configured to identify a fall of the subject based at least on said acceleration data measured by said high G 3-axes accelerometer and correlated to the spine of the subject due to said placement at the base of the back of the neck of the subject;

wherein said base is further configured to analyse said acceleration data measured by said high G 3-axes accelerometer and by said low G 3-axes accelerometer and correlated to the spine of the subject due to said placement at the base of the back of the neck of the subject to monitor the activity of the subject associated with displacement amplitude of the trunk of the subject ranging from low to high and to monitor occurrence of a fall.

3. The system according to claim 2,

wherein said base is further configured to compare an acceleration of the subject as measured by said low G 3-axes accelerometer with a predetermined acceleration of the subject at rest, thereby yielding an energy level of the subject.

4. The system according to claim 2, wherein

said first sensing unit further comprises a gyroscope;

said sensing assembly is further configured to wirelessly transmit data measured by said gyroscope;

said base is further configured to receive data measured by said gyroscope; and

said base is further configured to determine velocity of lateral movements and back and forth movements of the trunk of the subject from said data measured by said gyroscope.

5. The system according to claim 4,

wherein said base further comprises an analog-to-digital converter configured to digitize data received from said sensing assembly;

said base further comprises a memory having the capability to store said data digitized by said analog-to-digital converter; and

said base is further configured to process said digitized data stored in said memory.

6. The system according to claim 2, wherein said base is further configured to compare the acceleration of the subject as measured by said high G 3-axes accelerometer and by said low G 3-axes accelerometer with the acceleration at rest of the subject over periods of time of 1 minute, of 5 minutes, of 30 minutes or over longer periods of time.

7. The system according to claim 2,

wherein said base is configured to determine, from said data measured by said high G 3-axes accelerometer, an amplitude of an impact if the subject experiences an impact;

and

said base is further configured to compare said amplitude of impact to a predetermined impact threshold and to identify a fall of said subject and a corresponding severity of the fall as a result of said comparison.

8. The system according to claim 2, wherein said base is further configured for automatically detecting abnormal variations in the subject'"'"'s accelerations as measured by said sensing assembly and for emitting a request for intervention or an alarm upon detecting said abnormal variations.

9. The system according to claim 8, wherein the base is further configured to detect said abnormal variations of the subject'"'"'s activity as at least one of:

immobility, interruption of breathing movements, and hyperactivity of a predetermined critical level different from a normal state of said subject.

10. The system according to claim 2, further comprising at least one additional detector, said at least one additional detector comprising at least one of:

three-dimensional locators, interphones, motion sensors, presence detectors, pillbox sensors, smoke detectors and household appliance detectors, said base being further configured to be in wireless communication with said at least one additional detector.

11. The system according to claim 2, wherein said base is further configured to assess, from acceleration data received from said sensing assembly, the dynamics of the trunk of the subject and to assess the activity of the subject as critical or normal based on thresholds predetermined for the subject.

12. The system according to claim 2, said sensing assembly further comprising one of a RFID, ultrasound or camera unit configured to measure the height of the subject along a vertical axis;

wherein said base is further configured to use the measured height of the subject along the vertical direction to differentiate between actual fall events and false alarms.

13. The system according to claim 7, wherein said base is configured to use impact waves to differentiate between actual fall events and non-fall events.

14. The system according to claim 2,

wherein the sensing assembly further comprises a second sensing unit configured to be located at a wrist of the subject, said sensing assembly being configured to send data measured by said first and second sensing units to said base;

wherein said first sensing unit and said second sensing unit are configured for connection via a wireless communication link;

said base being configured to receive data from said first and second sensing units and for analyzing said data measured by said first sensing unit and said data measured by said second sensing unit to determine activity levels of the subject.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein said base is configured to perform an analysis of data measured by said first sensing unit and of data measured by said second sensing unit, and to determine, as a result of said analysis, a precise position of the subject in the subject'"'"'s environment and to reduce false alarm occurrence based on predetermined thresholds for the subject in the subject'"'"'s environment.

16. The system according to claim 2,

wherein said sensing assembly further comprises a detector configured for sensing wearing of the sensing assembly by the subject, said sensing assembly being further configured for sending data measured by said detector to said base;

said base being further configured to receive data measured by said detector and for differentiating between a fall of said subject and a fall of the sensing assembly independently of said subject based on said acceleration data measured by said high G 3-axis accelerometer and said data measured by said detector.

17. The system according to claim 2, wherein said base is further configured to be in wireless communication with a server;

said base being further configured to transfer said acceleration data measured by said high G 3-axes accelerometer and said acceleration data measured by said low G 3-axes accelerometer to said server and/or to send an alarm.

18. The system according to claim 2, wherein said base and said sensing assembly are further configured for bi-directional voice communication.

19. The system according to claim 2, wherein said sensing assembly is further configured to communicate with said base via a RF frequency.

20. The system according to claim 2, wherein said sensing assembly and/or said base further comprises a help button.

21. A system for monitoring a subject, said system comprising:

a sensing assembly comprising a first sensing unit configured for placement at the base of the back of the neck of the subject;

said first sensing unit comprising a high frequency-low accuracy accelerometer and a low frequency-high accuracy accelerometer; and

a base configured to wirelessly communicate with said sensing assembly;

said sensing assembly being configured to wirelessly transmit acceleration data correlated to the spine of the subject due to said placement at the base of the neck of the subject and measured by said accelerometers to said base;

wherein said base is configured to receive said acceleration data measured by said accelerometers and sent by said sensing assembly;

said base being further configured for processing the acceleration data received from said sensing assembly;

said base being further configured to identify body posture and movements of the subject from said acceleration data correlated to the spine of the subject.

22. A system for monitoring a subject, said system comprising:

a sensing assembly comprising a first sensing unit and a second sensing unit;

said first sensing unit comprising a high frequency-low accuracy accelerometer and a low frequency-high accuracy accelerometer and being configured for placement at the base of the back of the neck of the subject; and

said second sensing unit comprising an accelerometer and being configured for placement at a wrist of the subject;

said first and second sensing units being configured to wirelessly transmit acceleration data measured by said accelerometers; and

a base configured to wirelessly communicate with said first and second sensing units;

wherein said base is configured to receive said acceleration data measured by said accelerometers of said first sensing unit and correlated to the spine of the subject due to said placement at the base of the back of the neck of the subject and sent by said first sensing unit, and said acceleration data measured by said accelerometer of said second sensing unit and sent by said second sensing unit;

said base being further configured to process the acceleration data correlated to the spine of the subject received from said first sensing unit and data received from said second sensing unit;

said base being further configured to track dynamics of the trunk of the subject and to distinguish a fall of the subject from a non-fall impact based at least on said acceleration data.