JP2000241561A - Device and method for detecting in-bed state - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a reliable and low-cost in-bed state detection device and its method for easily reporting abnormality in advance by detecting the presence of a human on a bed and giving a warning when the human is not in the bed or in a dangerous state. SOLUTION: A detection device consists of a distance detection means 11 by combining an LED and a PSD being mounted to a ceiling, a measurement means 12 for sampling a signal that is outputted from the distance detection means 11 for changing to a digital signal, a data storage part 13 for storing the data, a judgment part 14 for judging that a human is in a bed and out of bed when the difference in the data being obtained by the measurement means 12 is equal to or more than a constant value and within a constant value, respectively, a display part 15 and a warning part 16 for displaying the information and giving a warning.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for detecting a state of a human being on a bed using a sensor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Hitherto, as a method of detecting an in-bed state, a method of detecting the weight of a human body and a method of detecting heat of a human body by an infrared sensor have been proposed. In the method of detecting the weight of a human body, a load sensor is attached to the foot of the bed, and it is possible to determine whether the user is in the bed or leaves the bed based on a change in the weight. A piezoelectric sensor or the like is laid under the sheets of the bed, and it is possible to similarly determine whether the user is in the bed or leaves the bed based on a change in pressure. On the other hand, the method using the infrared sensor can accurately detect the position on the bed and the like if the face or skin is directly facing the sensor.

[0003]

However, the method of detecting the weight of a human body has a major problem in that a sensor must be directly attached to the bed, and the degree of freedom of installation is low. Also, the position of the human body on the bed cannot be detected simply by attaching the load sensor to the feet of the bed. In addition, the method using an infrared sensor has a major problem in that it cannot be detected if a human body is hidden by a futon.

[0004] On the other hand, in a bed in a hospital or the like, if a wandering elderly person leaves the bed and a long time has passed, the safety of the patient becomes a problem. Conventionally, to check that the patient has left the bed, the patrol and nurses have to check, which has taken a lot of effort and time. There has not been a low-cost device for preventing such a bed leaving detection or a falling accident from a bed in advance.

In view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, the present invention detects the presence of a human body on a bed and issues a warning when the bed leaves or is in danger, thereby making it possible to easily notify the abnormality in advance. It is an object of the present invention to provide a reliable and low-cost occupancy detection device and a method thereof.

[0006]

According to the present invention, there is provided a distance detecting means for detecting a distance to each part on the front side of a bed, and a concave and convex shape on the front side of the bed based on data obtained from the distance detecting means. And a determination means for determining the occupied state using the result.

Further, according to the present invention, the distance detecting means
The distance to each part on the front side of the bed is detected to determine the irregular shape on the front side of the bed, and when the difference between the irregularities is equal to or greater than a certain value, it is determined that the bed is present, and the difference is within a certain value. In the case of (1), the in-bed state detection method determines that the user has left the bed.

According to the present invention having the above-described structure, the presence or absence and location of a human body on a bed can be easily obtained. In addition, by performing multiple or rotational scanning of a plurality of distance sensors such as a laser radar, a PSD, and an ultrasonic sensor, it is possible to accurately detect the state of being in the floor regardless of the temperature environment in the room. Further, by connecting to a network pulled out to the ceiling, it is possible to collectively manage the occupancy states of a plurality of beds and to monitor a patient or the like in real time.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

(Embodiment 1) An occupancy detection device according to Embodiment 1 will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG.
2 and FIG. 2 show a schematic configuration diagram and a schematic schematic diagram of an occupancy detection device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, a distance detecting means 11 mounted on a ceiling by a combination of an LED and a PSD, a measuring means 12 for sampling a signal output from the distance detecting means 11 and converting the data into a digital signal, A data storage unit 13 to be stored, a determination unit 14 which determines a presence / absence of bed by taking a difference of data obtained by the measurement unit 12 for a certain period of time, a display unit 15 which displays the information and issues an alarm,
It comprises an alarm unit 16.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. Distance sensor 24 as distance detecting means 11 on the ceiling
Is installed, the LED emits light, and the angle of the returned light is P
The SD detects and outputs distance data from the sensor 24 to the front surface of the bed 21. In the case of the present embodiment, distance data of 12 points is obtained. Since the distance sensor 24 emits the beam 23 from one point on the ceiling, the determination unit 14 performs conversion correction to a parallel distance from the ceiling surface. Then, the determination unit 14 compares the correction result data by taking the difference between the irregularities of the data. As a result, there are places where the distance is short and places far from the ceiling surface, and unevenness on the surface is obtained. When the difference is equal to or more than a certain value, a convex portion is determined as the position of the human body.

(Embodiment 2) An occupancy detection device according to Embodiment 2 will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the occupancy detection device according to the embodiment of the present invention. Five pairs of LEDs and PSD are mounted on the ceiling, and are rotated and scanned by the motor 25.
If sampling is performed at a certain timing, the bet 21
Distance information of an arbitrary place above can be obtained. According to this method, fine unevenness information on the bed 21 can be obtained at low cost by the distance sensor 24 having a small number of sensor elements. As described in the first embodiment, the position of the human body where the difference is equal to or more than a certain value is the position of the human body, and it is possible to detect the turning of the person by finding that the position changes locally.

(Embodiment 3) A method for detecting an in-bed state according to Embodiment 3 will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a method for detecting a state of occupancy in one embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, the procedure in the present embodiment will be described. As described in the second embodiment, L
The ED and the PSD 24 are rotated and scanned using the motor 25. In the case of the present embodiment, eight pairs of LEDs and PSDs are used. The LED and the PSD are rotated and scanned in the width direction of the bed 21, and the distance between each point on the bed 21 and the sensor 24 is measured. Based on the swing angle of the sensor 24, each measured data is corrected to the distance between each point on the bed 21 and the ceiling. Suppose that the data are plotted three-dimensionally as shown in FIG. Since the height of the bed 21 is fixed, a point within 10 cm from the height of the bed 21 has no human body and is considered to be the mat or the comforter of the bed 21. Furthermore, the points included in a range of 10 cm are searched from there, and the points are statistically calculated. By leveling the distance of each point from the ceiling obtained in this way, a convex portion on the bed 21 can be found. Further, the area of the convex portion having a certain height or more can be easily calculated. For example, in the case of the schematic diagram of FIG. 4, when the difference described in the first and second embodiments is a certain value or more and the difference
cm or more, and the convex portion is a bet 2
If the area is 20% or more of the total area of the object 1, the human body is determined, and the presence and position of the human body on the bed 21 can be accurately determined.

(Embodiment 4) A method for detecting an in-bed state according to Embodiment 4 will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 are schematic diagrams showing a method for detecting a state of occupancy in one embodiment of the present invention. Leveling is performed in the same manner as in the third embodiment. If the convex portion of 5% or more of the entire area of the bed 21 is 60 cm or more from the surface of the bed 21,
A person is sitting or standing on the bed 21. Furthermore, considering the position, it is possible to predict the action of the person on the bed 21. In the case of FIG. 5, the user is sitting at the end of the bed 21. In the case of FIG.
This is a case where the user is sleeping on the end of the bed 21. By tracking these convex portions on the bet 21 in a time series, for example, in the case of FIG. 6, if the convex portion further approaches the end of the bet 21, a warning is issued. Thereby, it is possible to prevent a fall accident from the bed 21 in advance, and if this state continues for a long time, it is possible to predict in advance the risk of a bedsore. With this method, elderly people who need nursing care can be monitored from a distant place without causing a privacy problem. Also,
It can be used not only for the elderly but also for infants and the like.

The distance sensor described here is an LED and a PS.
Although it was D, the present invention is not limited thereto, and a laser radar or an ultrasonic sensor can have the same function.

Even if the above-mentioned means of the apparatus of the present invention, the function of each device, or each of the above-mentioned processes and operations of the method of the present invention are realized by software using a computer, the dedicated circuits and devices are used. It may be realized.

The present invention is also a program recording medium storing a program for realizing all or a part of each means, each unit, each device, or each process of the present invention by a computer. .

[0018]

As is apparent from the above description, the present invention enables highly reliable and low-cost detection of an in-bed condition.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an occupancy detection device according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view for explaining the occupancy detection device according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view for explaining the occupancy detection device according to the second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic graph of a state-of-bed detection method according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic graph of an in-bed state detection method according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic graph of an in-bed state detection method according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11. Distance detection means 12. Measuring means 13. Data storage unit 14. Judgment unit 15. Display section 16. Alarm unit 21. Bet 22. Human body 23. Detection beam 24. Distance sensor 25. motor

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G01B 21/00 G01B 21/00 C 21/02 21/02 A 21/20 21/20 C 21/28 21 / 28 (72) Inventor Nobuyuki Yoshiike 1006 Kadoma, Kazuma, Osaka Pref.F-term (reference) in Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. AA00 AA04 AA06 AA12 AA22 AA36 AA41 AA46 CC07 DD02 JJ03 QQ16 QQ26 QQ31 QQ44 RR02 RR09 RR13 2F069 AA04 AA12 AA42 AA60 AA93 AA96 AA99 BB40 DD27 GG04 GG07 GG09 GG09 GG09 GG09 GG10 GG31 GG65

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A distance detecting means for detecting a distance to each part on a front side of a bed, and a concave / convex shape on the front side of the bed is determined based on data obtained from the distance detecting means.
And a determining means for determining a resident state using the result. 2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said distance detecting means detects the distance by rotating and scanning one or more distance sensors. 3. The occupancy detection device according to claim 1, wherein the distance sensor of the distance detection means is any one of a laser radar system, a PSD system, and an ultrasonic sensor. 4. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said distance detecting means is mounted on a ceiling. 5. The bed detecting means detects the distance to each part on the front side of the bed to determine the shape of the unevenness on the front side of the bed, and when the difference between the unevennesses is a certain value or more, the bed is on the floor. Is detected, and when the difference is within a certain value, it is determined that the user is out of bed. 6. The occupancy detection method according to claim 5, wherein the position and posture of the human body on the bet are determined by analyzing the area and height of the convex portion in the uneven state on the front side of the bet. 7. By tracking the temporal change of the convex portion in the uneven state on the bed, there is a danger that the human body will fall off the bet when the convex portion comes within a certain distance from the end of the bet. 6. The occupancy detection method according to claim 5, wherein it is determined that there is a occupancy. 8. A method for detecting a state of presence in a bed, which tracks a temporal change of a convex portion in an uneven state on the bed, and determines that there is a danger of bedsore when the convex portion does not move for a certain period of time. 9. The occupancy detection method according to claim 5, wherein the determination result is transmitted to a display device and / or an alarm device. 10. A program recording medium storing a program for realizing all or a part of each means or each process of claim 1 to 9 by a computer.