JP2005128938A - Monitoring system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a monitoring system capable of checking one's health conditions in a non-invasive and non-restraining fashion. <P>SOLUTION: The monitoring system divides the floor surface of a room into a plurality of areas and has a plurality of sensors 1 provided so that each area has at least one of the sensors. Further, a plurality of signal analyzers 2 for analyzing detection signals inputted from the sensors 1 to detect biological information are provided in each room. The system includes a home server 3 that receives data including the biological information sent from the plurality of analyzers 2 to determine if there is any abnormality. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a monitoring system, and more particularly to a monitoring system that monitors and analyzes a subject's daily activities and health status.

  It is said that it is important to keep track of health and living conditions from the viewpoint of health management and disease prevention. In particular, grasping the health status and life activities of elderly living alone is very important for families, caregivers, and medical professionals. For this reason, for example, a pendant type wireless emergency call system has been introduced, and a system is proposed in which the person himself / herself reports when an emergency occurs.

In addition, a service system is also provided for monitoring daily activities by installing various sensors at various places such as a house entrance, living room, bath, and toilet.
Furthermore, a system has also been proposed in which a sensor is attached to a household electrical appliance and the safety is confirmed by detecting the usage status of the electrical appliance such as switching on and off (for example, Patent Document 1).
In addition, a system has been proposed in which a person's daily activities are monitored by detecting and accumulating vibrations caused by opening / closing or walking with a vibration sensor or an acceleration sensor (for example, Patent Document 2).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-248093 JP 2001-273575 A

In the conventional system, only the movement of the person is detected, and further, the human health condition cannot be detected in detail.
In addition, a power saving mechanism for a signal analysis terminal that analyzes a signal from a sensor has not been proposed. Furthermore, a technique for effectively preventing interference between a plurality of sensors has not been proposed.

  The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a monitoring system capable of detecting a human health state in a non-invasive and non-constrained manner. Another object of the present invention is to achieve power saving of a signal analysis terminal that analyzes a signal from a sensor. Furthermore, an object of the present invention is to improve the detection accuracy of a sensor.

  A monitoring system according to the present invention is a monitoring system for monitoring a living activity state in a living space of a subject, the floor of the living space being divided into a plurality of regions, and a plurality of at least one provided in each region And a signal analysis unit that receives a detection signal from the sensor and analyzes the detection signal to detect biological information.

  Here, it is preferable that the signal analysis unit determines a location where the subject is present based on information on the intensity of detection signals from the plurality of sensors.

  The signal analysis means may determine the location where the subject is present based on a variance value of detection signals from the plurality of sensors.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the said signal analysis means detects biometric information based on the detection signal from the sensor nearest to the location where the subject exists.

  Further, the signal analysis means includes an amplification processing section that amplifies the detection signal, a control section that executes various controls in the signal analysis means, and a power supply section that supplies power to the amplification processing section and the control section And a signal detection unit that determines the presence or absence of the subject based on the detection signal and supplies power to the amplification processing unit and / or the control unit when it is determined that the subject exists.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the said signal analysis means determines a test subject's abnormality based on the detected biometric information. Furthermore, it is good to provide the report means which reports via an external communication network, when the said signal analysis means determines with abnormality.

  The sensor in a preferred embodiment is a pressure sensor for detecting pressure vibration in a fluid enclosure placed on the upper or lower surface of the floor, or a vibration sensor installed on the upper or lower surface of the floor.

  The sensor may detect vibration of a floor board material divided for each area, and the floor board material may be separated from a floor board material in an adjacent area by a partition material.

  Another monitoring system according to the present invention is a monitoring system that monitors a living activity state in a room of a subject, and divides the floor of the room into a plurality of regions, and a plurality of at least one provided in each region. Sensors, a plurality of signal analysis devices that are provided for each room, input detection signals from the sensors, analyze the detection signals to detect biological information, and biological information transmitted from the plurality of signal analysis devices The home server which receives the data which contain and performs abnormality determination is provided.

  Here, it is preferable that the signal analysis device determines the presence / absence of the subject based on the detection signal from the sensor and transmits the data to the home server only when it is determined that the subject exists. .

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the monitoring system which can detect a person's health state non-invasively and without restraint can be provided. Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to achieve power saving of a signal analysis terminal that analyzes a signal from a sensor. Furthermore, according to the present invention, the detection accuracy of the sensor can be increased.

Embodiment 1 of the Invention
FIG. 1 shows a state in which a monitoring system according to the present invention is installed. In this example, the monitoring system is installed in a general house. Specifically, the signal analysis terminals 2 are installed in the rooms A, B, bath, toilet, kitchen dining, and bedroom. Each room is divided into a plurality of areas 10a to 10f in advance, and sensors 1a to 1f are provided for each area. Each sensor 1a to 1f is connected to the signal analysis terminal 2 so as to be communicable by wire or wirelessly. Note that the number of sensors in each room does not have to be six, and does not have to be the same between rooms. In this example, a monitoring system is installed in a general house. However, the monitoring system is not limited to this, and a monitoring system may be installed in a place where various lives can be conducted such as an elderly facility, a hospital, an accommodation facility, or a camp. Is possible.

  FIG. 2 shows an overall configuration diagram of the monitoring system. As shown in the figure, one home server 3 is provided in the monitoring system and is connected to each of the signal analysis terminals 2 installed in each room by wire or wirelessly. The home server 3 is connected to a call center, a family terminal, a medical institution terminal, and the like via an external communication network 4. Each signal analysis terminal 2 is connected to a plurality of sensors 1a, 1b,. The sensor 1 is, for example, a pressure sensor or a vibration sensor.

FIG. 3 shows an example of attachment of the sensor 1. In this example, a fluid enclosure 1-a and a pressure sensor 1-b are placed on a base or floor 11, and a floor board 12 and a floor 13 are stacked in that order. Here, the flooring 13 is, for example, a fold, a flooring material, a carpet or the like. As shown in FIG. 4, the hollow tube 14 may be attached to the pressure sensor 1-b and the floor board material 12 may be provided via a plurality of spacers 15. In this case, the hollow tube 14 functions as an air mat in which a fluid such as air freely moves, that is, a fluid enclosure.
According to the structure shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, when a resident sits on the floor 13 or sleeps, biological information can be detected by the pressure sensor 1-b from biological vibrations generated by the resident. . The biological information includes heartbeat information, respiration information, snoring information, body movement information, and the like.

FIG. 5 shows the configuration of the signal analysis terminal 2. The signal analysis terminal 2 includes a signal detection unit 21, an amplification processing unit 22, a filtering unit 23, a control unit 24, an operation unit 25, a communication control unit 26, a storage unit 27, and a power supply unit 28.
The signal detection unit 21 is connected to the pressure sensors 1-b1 to 1-b6 of the sensors 1a to 1f, and detection signals are input from these pressure sensors 1-b1 to 1-b6. The signal detection unit 21 compares the intensity of the detection signals input from the pressure sensors 1-b1 to 1-b6 with a predetermined value, and determines that it is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. It is determined that a person is in the vicinity of the sensor 1. The signal detection unit 21 may compare the variance value with a predetermined value instead of the signal intensity. By using the dispersion value, it is possible to prevent an error from occurring when there is a signal change caused by pulsed noise. A signal indicating the result of such determination is input to the control unit 24. Further, the signal detection unit 21 outputs detection signals input from the pressure sensors 1-b1 to 1-b6 to the amplification processing unit 22.

  The amplification processing unit 22 is an amplifier that receives the detection signals detected by the pressure sensors 1-b1 to 1-b6 from the signal detection unit 21 and performs amplification processing. In this example, the amplification processing unit 22 is configured to input a detection signal via the signal detection unit 21, but the configuration is not limited thereto, and the detection signal is directly input from the pressure sensors 1-b1 to 1-b6. Also good.

  The filtering unit 23 includes a filtering unit 231, a band bus filtering unit 232, and a filtering unit 233 having different pass frequencies. These are provided for separating the biological information contained in the detection signal. For example, the filtering unit 231 passes the frequency signal of the heartbeat signal, the band bus filtering unit 232 passes the frequency signal of the respiratory signal, and the filtering unit 233 passes the frequency signal of the snoring signal and outputs each to the control unit 24 To do.

The control unit 24 includes an arithmetic device such as a CPU (Central Processor Unit) and a memory such as a ROM and a RAM, and controls the power supply unit 28, the communication control unit 26, and the like.
The operation unit 25 is input means such as a keyboard and a mouse, and the input information is output to the control unit 24.
The communication control unit 26 mainly controls communication with the home server 3.
The storage unit 27 is an internal storage medium such as a RAM or a hard disk device, or an external storage medium such as a CD-ROM or FDD, and stores various types of information.
The power supply unit 28 supplies power to each component of the signal analysis terminal 2 and also supplies power to the pressure sensors 1-b1 to 1-b6.

  In the present invention, in order to realize power saving, power supply to the amplification processing unit 22 and the control unit 24 is normally turned off or reduced. When the signal detection unit 21 determines whether there is a person based on the detection signals from the pressure sensors 1-b1 to 1-b6, and determines that there is a person, the amplification processing unit 22 and the control unit from the power supply unit 28. Power is supplied to 24. Normally, power supply to only the amplification processing unit 22 is turned off or lowered, and when the signal detection unit 21 determines that there is a person, the power supply unit 28 supplies power to the amplification processing unit 22. Good. Furthermore, not only the amplification processing unit 22 and the control unit 24 but also the communication control unit 26 may perform the same processing.

The power saving function will be described with reference to FIG. In the example illustrated in FIG. 6, in order to simplify the description, it is assumed that the pressure sensor 1b is only the pressure sensors 1-b1, 1-b2, and 1-b3 of the three sensors 1a to 1c. As shown in FIG. 6, the electric power from the power supply unit 28 is shifted with respect to each of the pressure sensors 1-b 1, 1-b 2, 1-b 3, that is, not overlapped in time. Supply is made. From each pressure sensor 1-b 1, 1-b 2, 1-b 3, there is a change in the output signal only during a period in which power is supplied from the power supply unit 28. In this example, there is no person in the vicinity of the pressure sensors 1-b1 and 1-b3, and the presence of a person is not detected. On the other hand, there is a person in the vicinity of the pressure sensor 1-b2, and the presence of the person is detected. For this reason, only the detection signal from the pressure sensor 1-b2 has an intensity greater than or equal to a predetermined value. The signal detection unit 21 determines that the detection signal from the pressure sensor 1-b2 has an intensity greater than or equal to a predetermined value, and outputs a signal indicating that to the power supply unit 28. The power supply unit 28 receives the signal and starts supplying power to the amplification processing unit 22 and the control unit 24. The power supply to the amplification processing unit 22 and the control unit 24 is a period in which the signal detection unit 21 determines that the detection signals from the pressure sensors 1-b1, 1-b2, 1-b3 have an intensity greater than or equal to a predetermined value. Continued.
The amplification processing unit 22 to which power is supplied receives detection signals from the pressure sensors 1-b1, 1-b2, and 1-b3, and executes predetermined amplification processing. Similarly, the control unit 24 supplied with power inputs the biological information sorted by the filtering unit 23 and executes various analysis processes.

  Next, a data transmission process from the signal analysis terminal 2 to the home server 3 will be described with reference to FIG. First, it is assumed that the detection signal from the sensor 1 is as shown in FIG. That is, no significant signal change is observed from t0 to t1, and the signal has a strength equal to or higher than a predetermined signal level (set as a body movement setting value) from t1 to t2, and thereafter from t2 to t3. It is a signal having a strength that is greater than or equal to a predetermined signal level (existing set value level) and less than the body motion set value.

As shown in FIG. 7, data transmission from the signal analysis terminal 2 to the home server 3 is performed only when the detection signal from the sensor 1 has an intensity equal to or higher than the existing set value. Furthermore, body motion data indicating body motion is transmitted from the signal analysis terminal 2 to the home server 3 only when the detection signal from the sensor 1 has an intensity equal to or greater than the body motion set value. Furthermore, biometric data indicating biometric information is transmitted from the signal analysis terminal 2 to the home server 3 only when the detection signal from the sensor 1 has an intensity that is greater than or equal to the presence set value and less than the body motion set value.
At this time, if power is supplied from the power supply unit 28 to the communication control unit 26 only when data transmission to the home server 3 is performed, further power saving of the signal analysis terminal 2 can be achieved.

Embodiment 2 of the Invention
In the second embodiment of the invention, as shown in FIG. 8, a plurality of sensors are provided separately in each of the regions 10a to 10f. In this example, sensors 1c-1, 1c-2, 1c-3, 1c-4 are installed at the four corners of a substantially rectangular area 10c.

  In such a configuration, it is assumed that there is a person at position A shown in FIG. An example of the detection signal of each sensor 1c in this case is shown in FIG. In this example, since the position A is closest to the sensor 1c-4, the intensity of the detection signal of the sensor 1c-4 is the highest. And each sensor 1c will output the detection signal of the intensity | strength according to the distance from the position A, respectively. Then, by analyzing the signal from each sensor 1c, it is possible to determine where the person is on the area. This determination may be performed in the signal analysis terminal 2 or may be performed in the home server 3.

Embodiment 3 of the Invention
The determination process in the home server 3 will be described with reference to FIGS. This determination process is basically executed by the control unit of the home server 3. First, it is determined whether any of the detection signals of the sensors 1a to 1f is greater than or equal to the existing set value (S101). If it is determined that the detection signal is not greater than the presence setting value, it is determined that the person is absent (S102).
Next, it is determined which sensor of the sensors 1a to 1f has the highest intensity (S103). In this example, it is assumed that the detection signal of the sensor 1b has the highest intensity. In this case, it is determined that there is a person in the vicinity of the sensor 1b (S104).

  Subsequently, it is determined whether or not the intensity of the detection signal of the sensor 1b is equal to or higher than the body movement setting value (S105). When it is determined that the intensity of the detection signal is equal to or higher than the body movement set value, it is determined that the body has moved, that is, the body movement state (S106). On the other hand, when it is determined that the intensity of the detection signal is less than the body movement set value, the heart rate and the respiration rate are further counted from the signal classified by the filtering unit 23 from the detection signal, and cough and Whether or not there is is determined (S107).

  The processing from step S101 to S107 described above is executed, for example, every minute, and is performed continuously for 24 hours a day. Further, the data table shown in FIG. 11 is created in a predetermined storage unit of the home server 3 by such a series of processes. In such a data table, data is sorted in time series. In the example shown in FIG. 11, the determination process is executed at an interval of 1 minute from 0:01 on March 28, 2003. In this example, the person who was initially in the vicinity of the sensor 1a has moved to the vicinity of the sensor 1b at 0:02. Furthermore, since it became a resting state after 0:03, the heart rate, the respiratory rate, the presence or absence of snoring, and the presence or absence of cough are determined. According to such a table, it is possible to grasp the location, state, and biological information at rest.

Although the above-described determination process is performed in the home server 3, the present invention is not limited thereto, and may be performed in the signal analysis terminal 2.
When a person is moving across the area, the body movement start times of all sensor signals are sorted in order from the earliest. If the start time of body movement is measured with a shift, it is determined that the body movement has occurred during measurement, and it is determined that measurement of biological information such as heartbeat, respiration, and snoring is impossible.

  In addition, when there are a plurality of rooms, by adding identification information (ID) specific to each signal analysis terminal 2 to data transmitted from the signal analysis terminal 2 in each room to the home server 3, The home server 3 can recognize which signal analysis terminal 2 is the data from. Therefore, if information indicating that there is a person is included in the data from the specific signal analysis terminal 2, it can be determined that there is a person in the room where the signal analysis terminal 2 is installed.

Embodiment 4 of the Invention
The fourth embodiment of the present invention has a feature in an air mat sensor mounting structure. That is, when a room is divided into regions and air mat sensors are attached in each region, vibrations are transmitted between adjacent air mat sensors if they are attached without a gap. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 12, a partition member 16 is provided between the adjacent sensor 1 and the pressing plate 12. As a result, transmission of vibration between the adjacent sensors 1 can be prevented, and it is possible to accurately determine which sensor 1 the person is located in. The partition member 16 has a lattice shape and is made of, for example, wood or plastic.

Embodiment 5 of the Invention
In the fifth embodiment of the present invention, the abnormality detection process of the home server 3 will be described. As shown in FIG. 13, the home server 3 receives biological information from the signal analysis terminal 2 (S201). The home server 3 stores the received biometric information in the storage means, and further displays it on a display or the like (S202).

  Next, the home server 3 executes a determination process (S203). More specifically, the determination process is executed based on the biological information stored in the storage unit. For example, when biometric information indicating wake-up is not obtained at a predetermined time, it is determined that there is no wake-up at the usual time and that it is an abnormal life. In addition, when the person is clearly resting for a long time in a region different from usual, it is determined that there is a high possibility that he / she falls and is unconscious. If body motion, heart rate, etc. cannot be detected in all areas, it is determined that there is a possibility of death. Further, when the body is moving at night, it is determined that there is a possibility that the user is not sleeping and is jealous.

If the home server 3 determines that there is an abnormality, the home server 3 notifies the call center, family terminal, medical institution terminal, etc. via the external communication network 4.
By detecting an abnormality in this way, it is possible to make a more detailed abnormality determination in a non-invasive and unconstrained manner for a consumer.

It is explanatory drawing which shows installation of the monitoring system concerning this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the monitoring system concerning this invention. It is a figure which shows the installation state of the sensor used in the monitoring system concerning this invention. It is a figure which shows the installation state of the sensor used in the monitoring system concerning this invention. It is a block diagram of the signal analysis terminal concerning this invention. It is a signal waveform diagram in the signal analysis terminal concerning the present invention. It is a transmission timing diagram of data in the monitoring system according to the present invention. It is a figure which shows the example of installation of the sensor concerning this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a detection signal of the sensor concerning this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the determination process in the home server concerning this invention. It is an example of the data table in the home server concerning this invention. It is an example of attachment of the sensor concerning the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows the abnormality determination in the home server concerning this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1 sensor,
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 2 Signal analysis terminal 3 Home server 4 External communication network 10 Area | region 11 Floor 12 Pressing member 13 Floor material 14 Hollow tube 15 Spacer 21 Signal detection part 22 Amplification process part 23 Filtering part 24 Control part 25 Operation part 26 Communication control part 27 Storage part 28 Power supply

Claims (12)

A monitoring system for monitoring a living activity state in a living space of a subject,
Dividing the floor of the living space into a plurality of areas, a plurality of sensors provided at least one in each area;
A monitoring system comprising signal analysis means for inputting a detection signal from the sensor and analyzing the detection signal to detect biological information.   The monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the signal analysis unit determines a location where the subject is present based on information on the intensity of detection signals from the plurality of sensors.   The monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the signal analysis unit determines a location where the subject is present based on a variance value of detection signals from the plurality of sensors.   The monitoring system according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the signal analysis means detects biological information based on a detection signal from a sensor closest to the location where the subject is present.   The signal analysis unit includes an amplification processing unit that amplifies the detection signal, a control unit that executes various controls in the signal analysis unit, a power supply unit that supplies power to the amplification processing unit and the control unit, A signal detection unit that determines the presence or absence of the subject based on the detection signal and that supplies power to the amplification processing unit and / or the control unit when it is determined that the subject exists. The monitoring system according to any one of claims 1 to 4.   The monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the signal analysis unit determines abnormality of the subject based on the detected biological information.   The monitoring system according to claim 6, further comprising notification means for making a notification via an external communication network when the signal analysis means determines that there is an abnormality.   The monitoring system according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the sensor is a pressure sensor that detects pressure fluctuation in a fluid enclosure installed on an upper surface or a lower surface of a floor.   The monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the sensor is a vibration sensor installed on an upper surface or a lower surface of the floor. The sensor detects the vibration of the floor board material divided for each region,
The monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the floor board material is separated from a floor board material in an adjacent region by a partition material. A monitoring system for monitoring a living activity state in a subject's room,
Dividing the floor of the room into a plurality of areas, a plurality of sensors provided at least one in each area;
A plurality of signal analysis devices that are provided for each room, input detection signals from sensors, analyze the detection signals, and detect biological information;
The monitoring system provided with the home server which receives the data containing the biometric information transmitted from the said several signal analyzer, and performs abnormality determination.   The signal analysis device determines whether or not a subject exists based on a detection signal from a sensor, and transmits the data to the home server only when it is determined that a subject exists. Item 12. The monitoring system according to Item 11.

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