JP2830661B2 - Bedtime equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sleeping apparatus for detecting the position of a sleeping human body on bedding such as a bed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a bed apparatus of this type, for example, a pressure-sensitive switch or a pressure detection sensor is arranged in a matrix at the side of a bed, and a human body moves on the bed for turning over and the like. In this case, the position of the person on the bedding could be known (for example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 55-125).
No. 32, JP-A-55-63619).

[0003]

The information on the sleeping position of a sick or aged person who is sleeping is important information for nurses and caregivers in protecting the safety and health of the sick and the elderly.
However, the conventional sleeping apparatus has a problem that even if the human body shifts, it is impossible to detect where the human body has moved unless it is on the sensor. In addition, in order to eliminate missing detection, it is necessary to arrange a large number of sensors evenly in a matrix, so that the configuration is complicated, and there is a problem that it is difficult to manufacture as bedding and it is not practical.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a practical sleeping device having a simple structure which can detect the movement of the position of a human body gradually without using many sensors as described above. is there.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is provided on both the left and right sides of bedding , and is used when a sleeping person enters a bed.
It is caused by body movement, turning over, heart activity or respiratory activity
A piezoelectric element for detecting vibration transmitted on the bedding due to body movement, signal conversion means for processing an output signal of each of the piezoelectric elements, and the human body when the human body is located at the center of the bedding
Before the body movements caused by heart activity and respiratory activity
Vibration transmitted on the bedding is detected by each of the piezoelectric elements.
The signal obtained corresponding to each of the piezoelectric elements
Storage means for storing the output of the conversion means as a reference value;
The difference between the output of the signal conversion means and the reference value
Computed for each child, provided on the right side of the bedding
From the value of the difference corresponding to the piezoelectric element,
Subtracted the value of the difference corresponding to the piezoelectric element
Comparing means for judging the position of the human body on the bedding based on the subtraction value, and output means for outputting the judgment result of the comparing and judging means. Further, the present invention achieves the above object.
Bedding on either side of the bedding,
For body movements and turning over when a sleeper enters the bed, heart activity and respiratory activity
Detect the vibration generated on the bedding due to the body movement
And processing the output signal of the piezoelectric element.
Signal conversion means, when the human body is located in the center of the bedding
The body movements caused by the heart activity and respiratory activity of the human body
Therefore, the vibration transmitted on the bedding is detected by the piezoelectric element.
The output of the signal conversion means obtained when the
Storage means for storing and storing the output
The position of the human body on the bedding is determined based on the difference from the reference value.
Comparing and judging means, and judging results of the comparing and judging means.
Output means for outputting.

[0006]

The present invention operates as follows by the above configuration. When the human body touches the floor, the piezoelectric element built in the bed is deformed by the body motion of the human body and generates a voltage. This output signal is processed by the signal conversion means, and the body movement of the human body is detected. On the other hand, the signal immediately after the person has landed or when the human body is located at the center of the bed is stored in the storage means as a reference value. Further, the comparison determination means compares the output of the reference value from the storage means with the output from the signal conversion means, and outputs the result to the output means as position information of the person on the bed.

[0007]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic view of one embodiment of the present invention.
Reference numeral 1 denotes a bed in which piezoelectric elements 2a and 2b are built. The piezoelectric element 2 is formed of a polymer piezoelectric material such as polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) in the form of a thin film, and a flexible electrode film is adhered to both surfaces thereof and formed into a tape shape. 3 is an operation unit and 4 is an operation panel. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the present embodiment. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 2 denotes a piezoelectric element, 5 denotes a signal conversion unit, 6 denotes a storage unit, 7 denotes a comparison determination unit, and 8 denotes an output unit. The signal conversion means 5 includes a filter 9,
An amplifying unit 10, a smoothing unit 11, and a calculation unit 12 are incorporated. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the signal processing in the signal conversion unit of the present embodiment. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of another embodiment.

The operation of the above embodiment will be described below. As shown in FIG. 1, one piezoelectric element 2 is provided on each side of the bed. Since the piezoelectric element 2 is in the form of a thin film tape, it is easy to provide it on bedding. In FIG. 2, when a person enters the bed, the body motion and turn over when entering the bed,
Vibrations caused by the heart's pulsation and minute body movements caused by breathing are transmitted on the bed. The piezoelectric element 2 is deformed by its vibration, generates a voltage by the piezoelectric effect, and outputs a signal, so that a human body can be sensed without a human body on the sensor. The output signal at this time is sent to the signal conversion means 5. The signal conversion means 5 converts the signal as follows. The signal is filtered by a filter 9 for specific frequency components,
The signal is amplified by the amplifying unit 10 and smoothed by the smoothing unit 11, and the calculating unit 12 calculates an integrated value per a certain time. The output at the time of landing or when the human body is located at the center of the bedding is stored in the storage means 6 so as to be used as a reference value. The setting of the reference value is performed on the operation panel 4 of FIG. On the operation panel 4, operations such as setting a reference value, starting and stopping the operation of the apparatus, and resetting the reference value can be performed. When an operation start is instructed on the operation panel 4, the signal conversion means 5 starts processing the vibration detected by the piezoelectric element 2. The signal output from the signal conversion means 5 and the output of the storage means 6 are compared by the comparison determination means 7.

Referring to FIG. 3, a description will be given of the processing of the comparing and judging means 7 of this embodiment. In FIG. 3, the horizontal axis represents time, and the vertical axis represents output from the signal conversion means 5. FIG. 3- (1) shows the T time detected from the piezoelectric elements 2 built in the left and right sides of the bedding and stored in the storage means 6. The reference values Va1 and Vb2 in FIG.
And a, 2b and b correspond to each other. Fig. 3- (2)
Are the outputs Va2 and Vb2 from the signal conversion means 5 at certain times t1 and t2 when the body movement occurs. The comparison and determination means calculates the difference between each of a and b in FIG. 3- (2) and the reference value in FIG. 3- (1), that is, Va3 and Vb3 in FIG. 3- (3).
Comparing the difference between the left and right of (3), Va3-b3 as shown in FIG. In this example, "a-
Since “b” was obtained, if it is on the positive side, it means that greater vibration is transmitted to the side of a, that is, to the right. That is,
From this, it is possible to know over time how much the human body position has moved to the right in the turning over that occurred between t1 and t2.
The result of the comparison in this way is sent to the output means 8. The output means 8 displays and displays the result on the operation panel 4 in an easy-to-understand manner, for example.

By the above operation, the piezoelectric element 2 provided on the bedding
Senses minute vibrations emanating from the human body on the bedding, and by detecting the magnitude of the vibration transmitted without the human body on the piezoelectric element 2, it is possible to easily move the position of the human body,
You can know the progress. For example, as shown in FIG. 3- (5), during the period from time t0 to tn, the sleeping person was initially located at the center, but once turned to the right at time tn1, moved to the left at time tn2. doing. Further, since the number of sensors is small, a practical sleeping device can be obtained with a simple configuration.

Next, another embodiment will be described. In the above embodiment, two piezoelectric elements are used. However, as shown in FIG. 4, in the other embodiment, only one piezoelectric element is used. The configurations of the signal conversion unit 5, the storage unit 6, the comparison determination unit 7, and the output unit 8 are the same. This is used when moving the sleeping position in only one direction is a problem. In FIG. 1, it is assumed that only the piezoelectric element 2a is provided, and one side surface is a wall or a bed with a guard. The configurations of the signal conversion unit 5, the storage unit 6, the comparison determination unit 7, and the output unit 8 are the same. Referring to FIG. 3, a description will be given of the processing performed by the comparison determining means of this embodiment. Assuming that the reference value stored in the storage means of this embodiment is a1 in FIG. 3- (1), a body motion occurs at t1-t2 in FIG. 3- (2) and becomes a2. The difference a2−a1 is obtained, and FIG.
A3 is obtained. From this, since a level difference of H occurs at the time t2, it is possible to know how much the level has moved to the side a at this level.

By the above operation, even if only one piezoelectric element 2 is used, the movement of the position of the human body can be detected, so that it is possible to realize a simpler configuration.

It is also possible to provide a monitor in a centralized control room such as a hospital or a nursing home or the like so that the output from the output means is always displayed. Also, in combination with an alarm device, an alarm can be sounded when a human body or bedding has reached a dangerous position where it is likely to fall from the bed, or a guard can be attached to the side of the bed. For example, in FIG. 3- (5), if it is determined that the area is within the range between L1 and L2, it is determined that the area is within the safety area. If the vehicle deviates from the safety area at time tn2 between t0 and tn, an alarm is issued. It can be fired or a guard can be raised on the side of the bed.
In addition, the number of piezoelectric elements can be increased to detect a vertical movement of the position of the human body.

[0014]

As described above, according to the sleeping apparatus of the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

In other words, the position of the human body is determined by detecting a minute vibration propagating in the bedding generated by the activity of the heart or the breathing of the person on the floor by using the piezoelectric element built in the bedding. Even if there is no human body on the sensor, the position of the human body can be known. Further, even if the number of sensors provided is small, the movement of the position of the human body on the bedding can be gradually detected, so that a practical sleeping device can be realized with a simple configuration.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a bed apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the apparatus.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of signal processing in a comparison determination unit of the apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a bed apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 bed 2 piezoelectric element 5 signal conversion means 6 storage means 7 comparison and judgment means 8 output means

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] (1) Provided on both the left and right sides of the bedding , and
The body movement caused by heart activity or respiratory activity
A piezoelectric element for detecting a vibration transmitted on the bedding, a signal conversion means for processing an output signal of each of the piezoelectric elements, and the bedding
When the human body is located at the center of the
Propagation on the bedding by body movement generated by sucking activity
When vibration is detected by each of the piezoelectric elements,
The output of the signal conversion means obtained corresponding to each element is
Storage means for storing as a reference value;
The difference between the output and the reference value corresponds to each of the piezoelectric elements
Calculation to the piezoelectric element provided on the right side of the bedding.
From the value of the corresponding difference, the piezoelectric provided on the left side of the bedding
Subtraction means for subtracting the value of the difference corresponding to the element, comparison means for judging the position of the human body on the bedding based on the subtraction value, and output means for outputting the judgment result of the comparison judgment means. Bedtime device consisting of. 2. A bed provided on one of the left and right sides of the bedding,
A body caused by a sleeper turning over, heart activity or respiratory activity
Piezoelectric element for detecting vibration generated on the bedding by movement
And signal conversion means for processing an output signal of the piezoelectric element
And the heart of the human body when the human body is located in the center of the bedding
The sleep caused by body movements caused by the activities of the internal organs and breathing
When vibration transmitted on the tool is detected by the piezoelectric element,
The output of the signal conversion means is stored as a reference value.
Storage means, an output of the signal conversion means and the reference value
A comparative judgment for determining a position of a human body on the bedding based on the difference
Output means for outputting a determination result of the comparison means
Sleeping device comprising means.