Drowning prevention system
OwnerVivek Sandrapatyinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A drowning prevention system includes an alerting device worn on the body of a person which monitors the person's blood oxygen level. When the alert device is submerged, if the person's blood oxygen level falls below a threshold, then the alert device will begin emitting an alert sound. The alert sound will be picked up or otherwise detected by one or more hydrophones in the water. The hydrophone output is constantly monitored to determine if the alert sound is occurring in the water. If an alert sound is detected at one of the hydrophones, a receiving unit to which the hydrophones are coupled generates an alert that is perceptible to other persons in the proximity of the receiving.
Claims11
A drowning prevention system, comprising:
- a wearable unit including a light-based blood oxygen sensor positioned against the wearer's skin and configured to detect a wearer's blood oxygen saturation level and, when the wearer's blood oxygen saturation level falls below a preselected threshold for at least a preselected duration of time as indicated by at least two consecutive periodic readings, emit an audio signal at a frequency selected to propagate through water, wherein different wearable units are assigned different frequencies so that each frequency is associated with a particular wearer;
- and
- a receiving unit having a plurality of hydrophones and a graphical user interface depicting a pool area, wherein the receiving unit is configured to receive the audio signal in water at the plurality of hydrophones, identify the particular wearer based on the frequency of the received audio signal, determine a location of the wearable unit based on differences in reception of the audio signal at the plurality of hydrophones, indicate the location and the identified wearer on the graphical interface, and in response generate an audible alert sound in air including an identification of the wearer.
A wearable unit for preventing drowning, comprising:
- a case containing:
- a light-based blood oxygen saturation sensor positioned to contact a wearer's skin;
- an acoustic transducer;
- a controller that is configured to evaluate real time output of the blood oxygen saturation sensor and operate the acoustic transducer to emit an alert sound at a frequency selected to propagate through water upon a level of the output of the blood oxygen saturation sensor being below a preselected threshold for at least two consecutive periodic readings, wherein different wearable units are assigned different frequencies so that each frequency is associated with a particular wearer, the alert sound is at a frequency uniquely associated with the wearable unit of the different wearable units;
- and
- a strap coupled to the case and configured to hold the light-based oxygen sensor in the case against a wearer's skin.
A method for prevention of drowning, comprising:
- providing a plurality of wearable units, each wearable unit is configured to be worn on a body of a wearer, each wearable unit including a light-based blood oxygen saturation sensor;
- producing, periodically, by the blood oxygen saturation sensor, a blood oxygen saturation value;
- comparing the blood oxygen saturation values with a preselected threshold;
- when the blood oxygen saturation values are below the preselected threshold for at least two successive periodic values, the wearable unit emitting an alarm sound, wherein different ones of the plurality of wearable units are assigned different frequencies so that each frequency is associated with a particular wearer;
- providing a receiving unit that includes a plurality of hydrophones and a graphical user interface depicting a pool area;
- detecting at the receiving unit, via the plurality of hydrophones, the alarm sound emitted by the wearable unit;
- and
- in response to detecting the alarm sound, identify the particular wearer based on the frequency of the received alarm sound, determine a location of the wearable unit based on differences in reception of the alarm sound at the plurality of hydrophones, indicate the location and the identified wearer on the graphical interface, and the receiving unit generating an alarm including an identification of the wearer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.