Elderly fall monitoring method and device
AssigneeSarcos LC
InventorsTomasz J. Petelenz, Stephen C. Peterson, Steven C. Jacobsen
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Abstract
A method and system for recording acceleration and body position data from elderly or disabled persons. The fall monitoring system includes signal feature extraction and interpretive methods for characterizing accelerations and body positions during fall events. The system can detect health and life threatening fall events in elderly persons, and can autonomously notify nursing personnel or family members that the person is in need of immediate assistance.
Claims23
A method for monitoring a person's fall using an accelerometer included in a personal monitoring device configured to be carried on the person, having a microprocessor and a memory buffer, wherein data is stored in the buffer of the personal monitoring device, comprising the steps of:
- (a) sampling an output from the accelerometer indicative of body acceleration and body angle;
- (b) detecting whether the body angle is in a steady state indicative of a fall for at least two seconds;
- (c) measuring a fall duration by reading back through the buffer;
- (d) determining if an uncontrolled fall has taken place by testing whether the fall duration is less than a time threshold;
- and
- (e) determining whether a severe fall has occurred by comparing an angular rate of change of the body angle and an acceleration amplitude change to a severity threshold.
A method for monitoring a person's fall using an accelerometer in a monitoring device carried on the person, which monitoring device samples the person's body angle and body acceleration, comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing a buffer in the monitoring device and storing body angle and body acceleration data therein;
- (b) detecting whether the body angle is in a horizontal steady state for at least two seconds;
- (c) measuring a fall duration using time duration data for the person's body angle stored in the buffer of the monitoring device;
- (d) determining whether the fall duration is less then a time threshold indicating that the fall is an uncontrolled fall;
- and
- (e) determining the severity of the uncontrolled fall using an angular rate of change of the body angle and an acceleration amplitude change.
A method for monitoring a person's fall using a single-dimensional accelerometer in a personal monitoring device, comprising the steps of:
- (a) detecting whether an acceleration exceeds a trigger threshold;
- (b) collecting at least 2 seconds of additional acceleration data in a buffer after the acceleration exceeds a trigger threshold;
- and
- (c) finding a largest acceleration sample value in the buffer;
- and
- (d) signaling that a fall has taken place when the largest acceleration sample value exceeds a maximum threshold.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.