EP2742496A1

EP2742496A1 - Improved floor covering

Info

Publication number: EP2742496A1
Application number: EP12758532.1A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Claude Desgorces; Dominique Henault
Original assignee: Aptim; CSP Conseil
Current assignee: Aptim; CSP Conseil
Priority date: 2011-08-12
Filing date: 2012-08-02
Publication date: 2014-06-18
Also published as: AU2016200574B2; CN103827933A; FR2978974B1; US9619987B2; CA2843683A1; US20140215928A1; AU2016200574A1; IL230919A0; BR112014003088A2; WO2013024212A1; JP2014524617A; CN103827933B; IL230919B; MX2014001690A; AU2012296765A8; AU2012296765A1; JP6126093B2; MX337097B; FR2978974A1; KR20140075677A

Abstract

A floor covering comprises: a surface layer (4) comprising a plurality of conductive segments (12) suitable for being powered electrically; an at least partially electrically insulating intermediate layer (6) comprising a plurality of holes (14) distributed in a substantially regular manner in such a way that the average distance between a hole (14) and the hole (14) closest thereto is between approximately 5 cm and 20 cm; and a base layer (8) comprising a plurality of electrical contacts (16) at least some of which correspond to the holees (14) of the surface layer (4) and are connected to an electronic controller (10). The surface layer (4), the intermediate layer (6), and the base layer (8) are arranged one on top of the other in this order, and are positioned in such a way that at least some of the conductive segments (12) are arranged at least partially facing a hole (14) of the intermediate layer (6), and that these conductive segments (12) react to a pressure by approaching the corresponding electrical contacts (16) of the base layer (8), the electronic controller (10) being also arranged so as to selectively emit a warning signal, depending on a condition comprising the number of conductive elements (16) to which it is connected, which are close to a conductive segment (12).

Description

Improved flooring

The invention relates to the field of floor coverings, and more particularly floor coverings capable of detecting the fall of a person.

All developed countries are experiencing an aging population that is accelerating. This aging is reflected in a very strong increase in the number of people aged 60 and over. This situation creates a real challenge in the field of public health. It also gives rise to serious problems of managing the dependency of the elderly.

In fact, seniors are seeing their life expectancy increase every year. Moreover, the evolution of social structures means that these people live more and more alone, or in specialized structures.

For people living alone, this isolation is an acute problem because they may die as a result of a fall due to their inability to prevent relief. In the case of specialized structures, the detection of falls is also very important, if one wants to avoid a very large number of caregivers, with a very high cost of providing care, as well as liability litigation for lack of supervision.

The growing awareness of these problems has led to studies that have shown that more than 7500 people die each year in France from a fall undetected in time, or the consequences of a fall managed late.

Currently, there is no device that provides a truly satisfactory solution to the detection of falls of people in their daily environment.

The invention improves the situation.

For this purpose, the invention proposes a floor covering, which comprises: a surface layer comprising a plurality of conducting segments capable of being electrically powered,

an intermediate layer, at least partly electrically insulating, comprising a plurality of through recesses distributed in a substantially regular manner, such that the average distance between a recess and the recess which it is closest to is between approximately 5 cm and 20cm,

a base layer comprising a plurality of electrical contacts at least some of which are homologous to the recesses of the surface layer, and connected to an electronic controller,

the surface layer, the intermediate layer and the base layer being superimposed in this order, and positioned so that at least some of the conductive segments are arranged at least partially facing a recess of the intermediate layer, and said conductive segments react at a pressure coming close to the electrical contacts homologous to the base layer, the electronic controller being further arranged to selectively emit an alert signal, according to a condition comprising the number of conductive elements to which it is connected that are adjacent to a conductive segment.

Other features and advantages of the invention will appear better on reading the following description, taken from examples given for illustrative and non-limiting purposes, taken from the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 represents a view with a partial cutaway of a coating according to the invention,

FIG. 2 represents a close-up view of part of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 represents a sectional view of FIG. 2,

FIG. 4 represents a view similar to the view of FIG. 3 when the coating is under pressure, and

FIG. 5 represents an exemplary flow diagram of a function implemented in the invention. The drawings and the description below contain, for the most part, elements of a certain character. They can therefore not only serve to better understand the present invention, but also contribute to its definition, if any. As can be seen in FIG. 1, a floor covering 2 comprises a surface layer 4, an intermediate layer 6, a base layer 8, and an electronic controller 10.

To better show all these elements, Figures 1 to 4 will be described below simultaneously. In FIG. 1, part of the surface layer 4 has been torn off in the top left corner of the liner 2. FIG. 2 is a close-up view of a dotted box portion in FIG. 3 ^' . and 4 are sectional views of Figure 2, at rest and in response to pressure having a vertical component.

Floor covering means any type of flooring. This can be a simple carpet, that is to say a floor covering whose area is between about 60 cm ² and a few tens of m ² . But the term floor covering is broader in scope and may cover the entire floor of a building or dwelling, at least in their areas intended for use by elderly patients. As can be seen in FIG. 1, the surface layer 4 comprises an electrical conductor 12 which extends along several parallel lines over the entire height of the floor covering 2. In the example described here, the conductor 12 is a single electrical wire having a diameter of about 1 mm, which is connected to a power supply not shown. The wire 12 rests in the example described here on a lower part of the surface layer 4, which isolates it electrically. The wire 12 can be isolated further by a sheath, or not. The diameter of this electrical wire may vary depending on current requirements and power options. This single electrical wire can be replaced by a plurality of electrically insulated wires each and each connected to an independent power supply. It can also be a conductive system, by example of printed circuit type mono or multi-conductor, or equivalent. It may also be a conductive layer that covers the lower part of the surface layer 4. It may still be a plurality of push buttons. As will be seen below, the function of the conductor 12 is to deform under pressure in a substantially vertical direction to establish a point electrical contact for detecting this pressure.

The intermediate layer 6 is located directly under the surface layer 4, in contact with the electrical conductor 12. In the example described here, the intermediate layer 6 is made of an electrically insulating material, for example a layer of insulating plastic material.

The intermediate layer 6 comprises a plurality of holes 14 which reveal the base layer 8 in FIGS. 1 and 2.

The holes 14 are through recesses regularly made in the intermediate layer 6. In the example described here, these recesses have a circular shape having a radius of 1 cm. In other embodiments, the shape of these recesses may vary, and be for example a rectangle, a rhombus or any other suitable polygon, or any closed contour, including revolution. The recess has a chosen surface of between 2 cm ² and 9 cm ² for a thickness of the intermediate layer of between about 3 mm and 12 mm. In fact, the recesses 14 are provided to allow the deformation of the layer 4 through them, so that the conductor 12 comes close to and / or in contact (near) the base layer 8. The portion of the conductor 12 which comes in proximity and / or in contact with the base layer 8 forms a conductive segment. Indeed, as can be seen in Figures 3 and 4, the base layer 8 has a plurality of electrical contacts 16, which are each connected by a wire 18 to the electronic controller 10. In the example described here, the electrical contacts 16 of the base layer 8 are chosen to have a contact surface 3 to 5 times greater than the contact surface of an electrical conductor 12 of the surface layer 4. indeed, this facilitates contact with the latter during a deformation of the surface layer 4 following a pressure, and avoids the detection errors. However, in various variants, the section of the electrical contact 16 may be chosen to be identical to that of the electrical conductor 12, or lower.

In the example described here, the surface layer 4 is superimposed on the intermediate layer 6, which is itself superimposed on the base layer 8, in this order.

The coating 2 is therefore intended to be deposited with the base layer 8 in contact with the ground, and with the surface layer 4 as a contact surface for walking. For this purpose, the surface layer 4 may advantageously be linoleum, a plastic tile, a carpet, or any type of soil surface as defined by sanitary standards.

Advantageously, the surface layer 4 may be chosen less hard than the intermediate layer 6, which may for example have a pressure resistance of about 15 kg / cm ² to 25 kg / m ² . Thus, the surface layer 4 can deform more easily inside the recesses 14 under the effect of pressure, which increases the detection sensitivity.

In the same way, the base layer 8 is adapted to serve as a connection to a soil, and be for example rubber if the coating 2 is a carpet, or be a suitable material for gluing or other method of attachment if it is is a coating for an entire room.

Beyond their superposition, the layers 4, 6 and 8 are specifically arranged so that the conductor 12 is arranged facing all the recesses 14 or at least their greater majority, and so that the electrical contacts 16 are themselves with regard to all these recesses 14 or their greater majority. Thus, as shown in FIG. 4, when a pressure represented in this figure by an arrow, for example the force exerted by the weight of a person, is exerted on the surface layer 4, this is deforms and fills the recesses 14 at the place where this pressure is exerted, and the conductor 12 comes into contact with the electrical contacts 16 in the recesses 14 concerned.

In the example described here, the recesses 14 are spaced vertically and horizontally, center to center, by a distance of about 7.5 cm, and if we consider a coating having an area of 1.6 m by 2, 1m, we thus obtain 252 detection points formed by the triplets ^' conductor 12, recess 14, contact 16. Advantageously, the spacing between the recesses 14 can be between 5cm and 20cm. When a person falls, it is necessarily lying on the back, under the belly, or at least with a large enough part of his body on the ground. As each of these detection points is connected to the electronic controller 10 by a wire 18, it becomes easy to monitor the activity to detect a possible fall. A sufficiently tight mesh then makes it possible to detect the difference between a fall and the presence of one or more persons who walk on the coating 2.

And the mesh of the example described here is very tight, which offers great precision.

Indeed, the extent of a person lying down means that a fall can be detected:

when more than ten detection points are activated in a square approximately 30 cm apart, or in a rectangle with a similar surface and whose diagonal is approximately 35 cm, or over an area of approximately 0.09 m ² , for a minimum duration, for example of the order of one minute, or

when 4 detection points aligned horizontally, diagonally or vertically are activated for a minimum duration, for example of the order of one minute. In general, the minimum duration for the detection can be chosen greater than 15 seconds. In one variant, the detection may not depend on a minimum duration. These scenarios exclude the case of walking or the presence of several people on the lining 2. Indeed, an adult foot is in the vast majority of cases of a length less than 35cm, which corresponds to a size 53 Consequently, the detection criteria described above make it possible to discriminate the standing position, in which only the feet are in contact with the ground. In addition, in the case where several people are present, even if they are very close, they will not provoke detection thanks to the meshes described, even if the center distance of the recesses 14 is 20cm.

The calculations necessary for the detection can be carried out within the electronic controller 10. For this, the latter can comprise a computing unit in the form of an on-board device, a dedicated card or any other appropriate means. The electronic controller 10 may also comprise means of communication, wired (by conventional telephone line or network, for example Ethernet), or wireless (through a GSM, GPRS, 3G, or Wifi communication interface).

In addition, the electronic controller 10 can be made of several parts. In this case, the electronic controller 10 comprises a first portion 20 connected to the wires 18, and which comprises a communication interface similar to that described above. The part 20 communicates with a remote part 22, which can perform the detection calculations mentioned above, and itself comprise a communication interface similar to that described above.

These communications interfaces can be used to issue alerts in the event of a fall detection, for example to a central monitoring station, to a rescue call center, to the infirmary station in the case of a hospital, to a clinic or retirement home, etc. Finally, the electronic controller 10 may include only a communication interface similar to that described above, the set of fall detection calculations being offset on a detection server to which the electronic controller 10 is connected via this interface.

FIG. 5 represents an exemplary flow diagram that the electronic controller 10 can implement to detect falls. In an operation 20, the electronic controller 10 is initialized, with all the parameters related to the detection of falls, and with the initialization of the communication interface.

Then in an operation 25, a detection loop begins. This loop includes the detection of electrical signals on the son 18. When no pressure is detected, the son 18 do not present an electrical signal.

If an electrical signal is detected on a given wire 18, this means that the conductor 12 is in contact with an electrical contact 16. In response to this detection, an identifier of the detection point associated with the given wire 18 is stored, with a marker of time.

Then, in an operation 30, the computing unit checks the list of thread identifier / time marker pairs, to determine if they check one of the fall detection conditions set out above.

If this is the case, then the communication interface is activated in an operation to send a fall detection signal, then the detection resumes with the operation 25. Otherwise, the loop resumes directly with the operation 25. The sending of the fall detection signal may include any useful information, including the location of the coating 2 if known, a time associated with the time markers to indicate the time of the fall, etc. As mentioned above, the invention can be applied to both carpets and complete floor coverings, to equip a whole hospital or a retirement home for example, and relies on the transformation of a pressure linked to a fall in an electrical signal whose location is known, in order to detect a fall.

In various variants, the coating may have the following characteristics:

the electronic controller comprises a calculation unit able to detect a fall as a function of the signal emitted on the electrical wires connected to said electrical contacts; the computing unit is arranged to detect:

* the activation of more than ten detection points in an area of approximately 0.09 m ² for a duration greater than or equal to 30 seconds, and / or

* the activation of four detection points aligned horizontally, diagonally or vertically for a duration greater than or equal to 30 seconds, - the electronic controller further comprises a communication interface adapted to selectively transmit said detection signal,

the communication interface is of wired type,

the communication interface operates with a conventional telephone network,

the communication interface works with an Ethernet network,

the communication interface is of wireless type,

the communication interface operates with a wireless telephone network of the GMS, GPRS or 3G type, and

- The communication interface works with a wireless network type WiFi.

Claims

claims

1. Floor covering, characterized in that it comprises:

a surface layer (4) comprising a plurality of conductive segments (12) capable of being electrically powered,

an intermediate layer (6), at least partly electrically insulating, comprising a plurality of recesses (14) passing through substantially evenly distributed, so that the average distance between a recess (14) and the recess (14) of which it is closest is between about 5 cm and 20 cm, - a base layer (8) comprising a plurality of electrical contacts (16) at least some of which are homologous to the recesses (14) of the surface layer (4). ), and connected to an electronic controller (10),

- the surface layer (4), the intermediate layer (6), and the base layer (8) being superimposed in this order, and positioned so that at least some of the conductive segments (12) are arranged at least in part facing a recess (14) of the intermediate layer (6), and that these conductive segments (12) react at a pressure coming close to the electrical contacts (16) homologous to the base layer (8),

the electronic controller (10) being further arranged to selectively emit an alert signal, according to a condition comprising the number of conductive elements (16) to which it is connected which are adjacent to a conductive segment (12).

2. Flooring according to claim 1, wherein the electronic controller (10) comprises a calculation unit adapted to detect a fall as a function of the signal transmitted on the electrical son (18) connected to said electrical contacts (16).

Floor covering according to claim 2, wherein the computing unit is arranged to detect:

- the activation of more than ten detection points in an area of approximately 0.09 m ² for a duration greater than or equal to 30 seconds, and / or the activation of four detection points aligned horizontally, diagonally or vertically for a duration greater than or equal to 30 seconds.

4. Flooring according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the electronic controller (10) further comprises a communication interface adapted to selectively transmit said detection signal.

The flooring according to claim 4, wherein the communication interface is wired.

The floor covering of claim 5, wherein the communication interface operates with a conventional telephone network.

The flooring according to claim 5, wherein the communication interface operates with an Ethernet network.

Floor covering according to claim 4, wherein the communication interface is of wireless type.

9. Flooring according to claim 4, wherein the communication interface operates with a wireless telephone network type GMS, GPRS or 3G.

The floor covering of claim 4, wherein the communication interface operates with a wireless WiFi network.