Communications: electrical – Condition responsive indicating system – Specific condition
Reexamination Certificate
2001-03-13
2003-12-09
Wu, Daniel J. (Department: 2632)
Communications: electrical
Condition responsive indicating system
Specific condition
C340S539230, C340S573300, C340S426110, C464S062100, C464S062100, C464S062100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06661347
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to means for detecting body movement, and, more particularly, relates to systems, and methods of operation thereof, within a position locator device for evaluating movement of a body relative to an environment. The invention can provide a care giver information concerning the location and the orientation of the body of a person in the care giver's care. The present invention is especially useful in indicating that a person who is mentally or physically disabled has wandered away from bed and may fall.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Methods for determining specific movements of a body that use a variety of devices, apparatus and systems are, generally speaking, known. The term “body” is defined broadly hereafter and includes both organic and inorganic objects.
In point of fact, many methods are known for sensing body movement, or non-movement (i.e., sensed dynamic accelerations, including cessation of movement), as well as, for sensing body movement over time, which is commonly used to determine comparative levels of activity of a monitored body (See, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,110,741, 4,292,630, 5,045,839, and 5,523,742). These methodologies, however, merely report various levels of body activity, and, simply stated, fail to recognize possible causes for any increased or decreased level of body activity.
In contrast, other methodologies have developed over time for the detection of falls (See also, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,829,285, 5,477,211, 5,554,975, and 5,751,214). These methodologies are largely based upon the utilization of one or more mechanical switches (e.g., mercury switches) that determine when a body has attained a horizontal position. These methods however fail to discern “normal,” or acceptable, changes in levels of body activity. Stated another way, the foregoing fall detection methodologies provide no position change analysis and, therefore, cannot determine whether a change in position, once attained, is acceptable or unacceptable.
Various training methods have been conceived for sensing relative tilt of a body (See, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,300,921 and 5,430,435), and some such methodologies have employed two-axis accelerometers. The output of these devices, however, have reported only static acceleration of the body (i.e., the position of a body relative to earth within broad limits). It should be appreciated that static acceleration, or gravity, is not the same as a lack of dynamic acceleration (i.e., vibration, body movement, and the like), but is instead a gauge of position. While accelerometers that measure both static and dynamic acceleration are known, their primary use has heretofore been substantially confined to applications directed to measuring one or the other, but not both.
Thus, it may be seen that the various conventional detectors fall into one of two varieties, those that gauge movement of the body and those that gauge a body's position by various means, with neither type capable of evaluating body movement to determine whether the same is normal or abnormal; and if abnormal, whether such movement is so abnormal to be beyond tolerance, for instance, to be damaging, destructive, crippling, harmful, injurious, or otherwise alarming or, possibly, distressing to the body. None of the methodologies heretofore known have provided a suitable means to evaluate body movement over time and to determine whether such movement is tolerable. Further improvement could thus be utilized.
One very important area involving the evaluation of body movement involves monitoring the attempted movements of persons who are physically disabled or who suffer from cognitive decline. It is estimated that as many as five million (5,000,000) persons in the United States suffer from cognitive decline. Alzheimer's disease and senile dementia are the major causes of cognitive decline. Alzheimer's disease is estimated to afflict between three million (3,000,000) and four million (4,000,000) persons. Senile dementia afflicts the majority of the remainder of those persons who suffer from cognitive decline. Some persons may suffer a temporary cognitive decline due to illness and recover their cognitive faculties when they recover from the illness.
Alzheimer's disease is caused by the formation of amyloid plaques of protein that disrupt normal neural activity. Many persons who get Alzheimer's disease begin to experience the onset when they are in their sixties.
Senile dementia is caused by a number of different factors that are related to brain aging and geriatric diseases. Many persons who get senile dementia begin to experience the onset when they are in their seventies and eighties.
An estimated fifteen percent (15%) of people who suffer from cognitive decline are in institutions such as hospitals, nursing homes or similar institutions. The procedures that are used in such institutions are specifically designed to closely monitor persons who are suffering from cognitive decline.
However, most of the people who suffer from cognitive decline are not institutionalized but are cared for at home. It is estimated that as many as ten percent (10%) to twenty percent (20%) of these cases are in the advanced stages of cognitive decline.
Persons who are in the advanced stages of cognitive decline are very likely to be unable to prevent themselves from falling when they attempt to rise from a bed or a chair. The same is true for persons who are suffering from either temporary or permanent physical decline. For example, a person who has suffered a stroke or who has broken a leg may have a similar risk of falling when they attempt to rise from a bed or a chair.
In order to prevent such persons from falling, it would be advantageous to have a position locator device that could alert a care giver whenever a person who suffers from cognitive or physical decline leaves his or her bed (or chair) and wanders away. It would also be advantageous to have a position locator device that is capable of evaluating movement of the body of a monitored person relative to an environment. For example, when the position locator device detects a body movement that signifies the occurrence of a potentially dangerous event (e.g., a fall), the position locator device can immediately send an alarm to call for assistance.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To address the above-introduced deficiencies of the prior art, the present invention introduces systems, as well as methods of operating such systems, within a position locator device for evaluating movement of a body relative to an environment. For the purposes hereof, the term “body” is defined broadly, meaning any organic or inorganic object whose movement or position may suitably be evaluated relative its environment in accordance with the principles hereof; and where the term “environment” is defined broadly as the conditions and the influences that determine the behavior of the physical system in which the body is located. The term “position locator device” is defined broadly to include, without limitation, devices that are capable of sending an electronic transmission as a locator signal, Global Positioning System (GPS) devices, and other similar types of devices that are capable of detecting the location of a person who is being monitored.
An advantageous embodiment of a system that evaluates movement of a body relative to an environment in accordance herewith includes both a sensor and a processor. In operation, the sensor is associated with the body and operates to repeatedly sense accelerative phenomena of the body. The processor, which is associated with the sensor, processes the sensed accelerative phenomena as a function of at least one accelerative event characteristic to determine whether the evaluated body movement is within environmental tolerance. The processor also preferably generates state indicia while processing the sensed accelerative phenomena, which represents the state of the body within the environment over time.
For the purposes hereof, the term “sensor” is defined broad
Halleck Michael E.
Lehrman Michael L.
Massman Edward L.
Owens Alan R.
iLife Solutions, Inc.
Nguyen Tai T.
Wu Daniel J.
LandOfFree
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