US 11,688,262 B1Granted

Patient position monitoring and warning system for detecting bodily movements and preventing falls

OwnerRalph Trimnellinventor

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

A wearable, body position monitor and activity alert device, designed to protect patients with a compromised ability to stand or walk from their own impulses to stand up by delivering a personal audible message of “caution”, “persuasion”, “discouragement” and/or “direction” when detecting the initiation of a “signature body movement” that could lead to a dangerous fall. The objective is to prevent falls from happening by monitoring a person's movements using a 3D accelerometer sensor and/or a 3D gyroscope sensor. No caregiver assistance belts, tethers, or other restraints are needed. When the patient starts to stand up, the patient monitoring system simultaneously and wirelessly alerts a caregiver, who is wearing a Caregiver's Personal Alert Device (CPAD), of the patient's intent to stand. When alerted by the CPAD, the caregiver then intervenes before the patient falls.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method of discouraging a disabled person from falling, comprising the following steps, performed in the order presented:

(1) attaching an electronic Position Monitoring and Activity Alert (PMAA) device to a patient;
(2) monitoring and detecting changes in a patient's bodily orientation that are predictive of a patient's intent to stand up;
(3) using a microprocessor to compare monitored changes in the patient's bodily orientation to one or more internal positioning model(s) that are programmed inside of the microprocessor;
(4) announcing, with the PMAA device, a verbal warning message to the patient when the monitored changes match the one or more internal positioning model(s);
and then telling, with the PMAA device, the patient to “not stand up” and/or to “sit (or lie) back down”;
and
(5) simultaneously along with step (4), transmitting one or more caregiver alert signals to a Caregiver's Personal Alarm Device (CPAD), thereby alerting the caregiver that the patient is starting to stand up;
and then
(6) the caregiver subsequently intervenes with the patient to discourage the patient from standing up and possibly falling down;
and
(7) repeatably playing the verbal warning message in step (4) at an increasingly louder volume each time the message is announced when the PMAA device continues to detect ongoing changes in the patient's bodily orientation that are predictive of a patient's intent to stand up.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 18/099,927Filed 21 Jan 2023
Granted: 27 Jun 2023
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification13 codes

A61B 5/1117
Determining posture transitions: fall detection
G08B 21/0423
Based on behaviour analysis: detecting deviation from an expected pattern of behaviour or schedule
A61B 5/002
Characterised by features of the telemetry system: monitoring the patient using a local or closed circuit, e.g. in a room or building
A61B 5/1115
Local tracking of patients, e.g. in a hospital or private home: monitoring leaving of a patient support, e.g. a bed or a wheelchair