Fall detection and hip impact protector
AssigneeFall-Safe Assist Ltd
InventorWilliam E. Beckett
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
This invention relates to hip protector devices. We describe a hip protector for protecting a user in the event of a fall, the hip protector comprising: one or more hip protection elements; and an electronic fall detection sys tem, wherein the hip protection element is arranged to reduce the impact of a fall by a user; wherein the fall detection system is configured to detect the occurrence of said fall by said user and to store fall data defining one or more characteristics of said detected fall in a data store, for later retrieval; wherein said hip protection element comprises a cushion or pad, and wherein said electronic fall detection system is located within said cushion or pad.
Claims24
A hip protector for protecting a user in the event of a fall, the hip protector comprising:
- one or more hip protection elements;
- and
- an electronic fall detection system,
- wherein the hip protection element is arranged to reduce the impact of a fall by a user;
- wherein the fall detection system is configured to detect the occurrence of said fall by said user and to store fall data defining one or more characteristics of said detected fall in a data store, for later retrieval;
- wherein said hip protection element comprises a cushion or pad, and
- wherein said electronic fall detection system is located within said cushion or pad.
A hip protector for protecting a user in the event of a fall, the hip protector comprising:
- one or more hip protection elements;
- and
- an electronic fall detection system,
- wherein the hip protection element is arranged to reduce the impact of a fall by a user;
- and
- wherein the fall detection system includes an accelerometer to generate movement data for detecting an occurrence of said fall by said user,
- wherein the fall detection system further includes one or more gyroscopes to detect the direction of fall by the user;
- wherein responsive to detecting said fall occurrence said fall detection system is configured to monitor said movement data for a predetermined time period, and
- responsive to said fall detection system determining from said movement data that said user is immobile, said fall detection system is configured to generate an alarm signal for alerting a third party.
A method of monitoring falls of an elderly or infirm person, the method comprising:
- incorporating an electronic fall detection system in a hip protector;
- monitoring one or more of a fall time, a fall force and a fall direction of said person using said electronic fall detection system;
- and
- performing one or both of:
- storing said fall time, said fall force and/or fall direction for later interrogation;
- and
- generating an alarm responsive to one or more of said fall time, fall force, fall direction and a detected duration of immobility of said person after a said fall.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.