JP4363648B2 - Elderly watching system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an elderly monitoring system using walking aids that are used daily by elderly people.

  With the declining birthrate and aging population, there is a need for services that monitor the health and safety of the elderly so as not to burden the elderly and infringe on privacy. In response to such needs, there are services that detect the activity status from the behavior of the elderly while the elderly are naturally living, and convey reassurance information to the family on the other side.

  Typical services include “Mimamori Hotto Line” provided by ZOJIN Mahobin Co., Ltd. (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 1) and “Mimamori” provided by Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd. (eg, Non-Patent Document) 2), “Mimamori Net” provided by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (for example, see Non-Patent Document 3) and the like are known.

  The “Mimamori Hotto Line” is a service in which when an elderly person uses an electronic pot with a built-in wireless communication device, the information is transmitted to a family living remotely via the Internet. Elderly families can watch the situation casually anytime and anywhere with a mobile phone or computer.

  The above-mentioned “Mimamori” is a service that periodically informs the usage status of gas of elderly people and students who live far away by e-mail from a personal computer or mobile phone. Based on how daily gas is used, You can understand the meal patterns and bathing life patterns.

  The above “Mimamori Net” is used once per day for family mobile phones and personal computers, etc., where multiple sensors installed in the house detect the elderly and watch the elderly's occupancy (time / room name). This service is sent by e-mail at a specified time.

  These services use home appliances and gas usage, or presence information using non-contact human sensors, and based on the trend of daily detection data, life patterns are estimated and abnormalities are detected. Service.

  In addition, Tanita's Health Planet (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 4) is a system that combines a body fat scale, a blood pressure monitor, and a pedometer, and is a representative example of a provided service using vital data. The results measured by each measuring device are displayed in a graph, and the transition and trend of the measurement records can be easily seen, and advice on the measurement results is also displayed. As described above, an increasing number of systems can easily perform daily health check by measuring fluctuations in vital data and fluctuations in exercise amount.

  There are a cane and a silver car as tools used when an elderly person moves. A cane or silver car is a tool familiar to the elderly, and when you move, you always walk with it, so if the elderly move, the cane will move, if the elderly falls, the cane will also fall, etc. It is possible to determine the situation of the elderly based on the movement of the cane. Therefore, it is used as a medium for welfare systems for the elderly and disabled. Currently, a cane having a sensor for detecting a fall and a communication function has been proposed, and a cane for converting a collision with the ground into a momentum and the like has been proposed.

In addition, a cane equipped with an alarm device and night illumination, and a system for a disabled person that can detect the walking direction from the movement of the cane have been proposed.
“Mimamori Hot Line” Zojirushi Mahobin Co., Ltd. (URL: http://www.mimamori.net/) “Mimamoru” Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd. (URL: http://www.tasikamete.net/) “Mimamori Net” Matsushita Electric Works, Ltd. (URL: http://www.mew.co.jp/mimamori/) “Healthp Net” Tanita Co., Ltd. (URL: http://www.tanita.co.jp/products/planet/index2.html)

  Based on the usage of household appliances and gas appliances, the conventional system that estimates the life patterns of the elderly and detects abnormalities is used by the elderly naturally in daily life. The load is small.

  However, there is a problem that the observable place is limited only to the home, and there is a problem that the time when the device is actually used is uncertain. For this reason, in reality, it is a mechanism that gives a sense of security to the watching people only during the time when the device is used, rather than performing abnormality detection.

  In a conventional system that detects the behavior of elderly people using non-contact human sensors, etc., it is necessary to place multiple sensors in each room where the elderly live, and the sensors are connected to a server, etc. However, there is a problem that it takes much time and cost to construct a network and to design a sensor arrangement. Therefore, at the present time, it is not very realistic to install a sensor network in each elderly home.

  Next, in the conventional example of measuring and monitoring vital data of the elderly, there is a major premise that the elderly need to use a measuring instrument on a daily basis. The effect can be expected only when there is a target. When acquiring vital data from a wearable vital sensor, ordinary elderly people have a great sense of resistance to wearing the vital sensor, contrary to the original purpose of casually watching, and the elderly There is a problem that there is a risk that the load on the person exceeds the effect.

  By the way, the cane is a tool that is frequently used as a welfare tool for the elderly, and various ideas using it as a medium have been proposed. However, no system has been found so far that can accurately estimate the activity status of the elderly based on the movement of the cane and provide peace of mind to the people watching.

  A cane equipped with a sensor for detecting falls and a communication function has been proposed in the past, but the method for detecting falls has not been clearly proposed. There is a possibility that misinformation will increase when the user falls down from something that was in the middle.

  In addition, in the conventional example, only emergency information is transmitted to the person on the side of watching, such as a family member, so that there is a problem that it is not possible to transmit reliable information.

  Conventionally, a cane that converts a collision with the ground into momentum has been proposed, but it is difficult to calculate a general moving distance and momentum because the interval and strength of striking the cane differ depending on the individual. is there. Although it has been proposed that the walking direction can be detected from the movement of the cane, it is for a visually impaired person, so it is necessary to provide a Braille block or the like on the road. Therefore, there is a problem that it is not sufficient as an information source for giving relief information to a person such as a family based on the movement of the walking stick.

The present invention relates to an elderly monitoring system using walking aids that are used daily by elderly people. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an elderly monitoring system that can increase the chances of thinking about the other party without developing into a concrete communication act such as telephone or e-mail.

The present invention detects that the user has grasped the handle of the cane, and triggered by this detection, detects a contact with the ground, has a communication function, contact information detected by the cane, and the above A database that records information about the owner of the cane and information about a user who uses the information detected by the cane, and the information detected by the cane is registered and deleted in the database, and the information of the information detected by the cane A management server that manages transmission and reception, registers detection information transmitted from the cane in the database, and converts the detection information transmitted from the cane into safe information or emergency information, and is provided on the lower surface of the cane When the contact sensor provided detects that it is in contact with the ground at a predetermined time interval, the management server that outputs relief information and the information detected by the cane are received from the management server, This Based on the received information, the state of the user who uses the cane is estimated, and the person who watches the person using the cane has a communication terminal that provides relief information or emergency information transmitted by the management server This is a system for watching elderly people.

According to the present invention, in an elderly monitoring system using walking aids that are used daily by the elderly, it is possible to share operation histories among a plurality of people in a human relationship that can safely share operation histories for communication terminals. By communicating, there is an effect that the opportunity to think about the other party can be increased without developing into a concrete communication act such as telephone or e-mail.

  The best mode for carrying out the invention is the following examples.

  FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing an elderly monitoring system 100 that is Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

  The elderly person watching system 100 includes a cane 10, a wireless base station RB1, a backbone network NW1, wireless terminals T11 and T12, wired terminals T13 and T14, a management server CS1, and a database DB1.

  The cane 10 includes contact sensors 11 and 12, an acceleration sensor 13, a tilt sensor 14, a processing device 15, and a wireless communication device 16. The contact sensor 11 senses that a person has gripped the handle. The contact sensor 12 detects contact between the wand 10 and the ground.

  The wireless communication device 16 transmits the measurement values of each sensor mounted on the cane 10 to the management server CS1 by the instruction of the processing device 15.

  The radio base station RB1 communicates with the cane 10. The backbone network NW1 connects the staff 10 and the management server CS1. The wireless terminals T11 and T12 are mobile phones or the like in which the “watching user” receives normal / abnormal information. The wired terminals T13 and T14 are personal computers that receive information indicating that the “watching user” is normal / abnormal.

  The management server CS1 determines that an elderly person or the like who uses the cane 10 is normal / abnormal based on the measurement values transmitted from the plurality of canes 10. The database DB1 registers and manages information related to the measured value related to the cane 10, the user who uses the cane 10, and the “watching user” who transmits the normal / abnormal result.

  Next, the control operation of the first embodiment will be described.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the control operation of the first embodiment.

  In S <b> 11 and S <b> 12, the “user on the side to be watched” such as an elderly person holds the handle of the cane 10 and waits until the contact sensor 11 senses it. Thereby, it is possible to accurately detect a state where the user on the side to be watched is using the cane 10 or holding the cane 10.

  In S <b> 13, the processing device 15 starts acquiring measurement values of the contact sensors 11, 12, the acceleration sensor 13, and the tilt sensor 14, triggered by sensing that the handle 10 has been gripped, The data is recorded in a memory provided in the processing device 15.

  In S14, the processing device 15 converts the acquired data stored in the memory into a communication frame, controls the wireless communication device 16, and transmits it to the management server CS1. In S15, the management server CS1 stores the received data in the database DB1, and performs abnormality detection in S16.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of measurement data of each sensor in the first embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 3, when an elderly person is moving normally, the inclination of the inclination sensor 14 attached to the cane 10 at 90 degrees periodically changes and the acceleration is almost constant until time t1. It can be seen that it is. Here, in order to make the behavior of the measurement value of the acceleration sensor 13 easy to understand, the case of a uniaxial sensor is indicated by an absolute value. Moreover, about the contact sensor 12 attached to the handle and the lower surface, the handle is maintained in a gripped state, and it can be seen that the lower surface of the cane 10 is in contact with the ground at a substantially constant time interval. In S17, when the management server CS1 determines that the management server CS1 is normal, the management server CS1 transmits the relief information to the designated terminal.

  As described above, when the measured values of the contact sensors 11 and 12, the acceleration sensor 13, and the tilt sensor 14 change within the set threshold range, it is determined to be normal, and the people on the side of watching such as family members In addition, reliable information can be provided instead of the measured values themselves. As a result, in the watching system 100, it is possible to provide casual information and abnormality information casually using the medium called the cane 10.

  On the other hand, between times t1 and t2, it can be seen that the degree of inclination shows an abnormal value, and the acceleration rapidly increases and decreases. At the same time, it can be seen that there is no contact between the handle and the lower surface. From this, it can be seen that there is a high possibility that an elderly person using the cane (a user on the side to be watched over) has fallen or collided with something and that an abnormality has occurred.

  In addition, the behavior after time t2 is almost the same as the behavior until time t1, and an elderly person falls from time t1 to time t2, but stands up by himself and starts walking, or something of There is a possibility that the staff moved away from the hand and rolled.

  When the time from time t1 to time t2 is very long, or when normal behavior is not seen after time t2, it is determined that an abnormal situation requiring urgent rushing, etc. Can be output.

  In S18, when the management server CS1 determines that the situation is abnormal, it transmits emergency information to the designated terminal. Here, a threshold value is provided for the time width between times t1 and t2, and emergency information is provided to people on the side of the family or the like, so that it can be used as an emergency call system. Furthermore, by providing a stepwise threshold in the time interval from time t1 to time t2, it is possible for the watching side to determine whether or not to worry.

  As described above, the situation determination becomes more accurate than the conventional monitoring system by detecting a phenomenon that may cause an abnormality and the behavior before and after the phenomenon. If the elderly person does not touch the handle by the time t1 (the contact sensor 11 that the elderly person contacts does not detect contact), the contact sensor 12 that detects contact with the ground does not detect contact at a substantially constant interval. There is a possibility that the user has just fallen for some reason from the state where the cane 10 is leaned against something. In the conventional system, it is not possible to detect a case where the cane falls for some reason from a state where the cane is leaned against something.

  In addition, by providing stepwise thresholds for the length of time t1 and t2, information indicating the degree of worry is provided, and by providing safety information in a normal state, the person who is watched over is watched over. There is a possibility that a good relationship of trust may be established by creating an opportunity for communication with people, and worrying information and reassurance information itself are messages that cannot be expressed in words.

  That is, the management server CS1 outputs relief information when the contact sensor 12 provided on the lower surface of the cane 10 detects that it is in contact with the ground at a predetermined time interval.

  In addition, when the management server CS1 detects that the measured values of the contact sensors 11, 12, the acceleration sensor 13, and the tilt sensor 14 provided on the cane change within the set threshold value range, the management server CS1 provides relief information. On the other hand, when it is detected that the measured values of the contact sensors 11, 12, the acceleration sensor 13, and the tilt sensor 14 are changed outside the set threshold value range, the abnormality information is output.

  Furthermore, if the time when the measured values of the contact sensors 11, 12, the acceleration sensor 13, and the tilt sensor 14 change outside the set threshold range is equal to or longer than a predetermined time, the management server CS1 sends emergency information. Output.

  In addition, when outputting the emergency information, the management server CS1 ranks the degree of worry by providing a stepwise threshold as the predetermined time.

  Furthermore, the management server CS1 leans the cane 10 when the contact sensor 11 that contacts the elderly does not detect contact and the contact sensor 12 that detects contact with the ground detects contact that is not substantially constant. It is determined from the state that it has fallen.

As described above, the first embodiment detects the situation of an elderly person who uses a cane more accurately than the conventional system by combining the measurement values of the contact sensors 11 and 12, the acceleration sensor 13, and the tilt sensor 14. By sending reliable information and abnormal signals, you can watch casually. It also functions as an everyday communication tool by providing not only urgent information but also information representing the degree of security and anxiety to the people watching.

  FIG. 4 is a system configuration diagram showing an elderly monitoring system 200 that is Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

  The elderly monitoring system 200 uses the position information of the GPS, mobile phone, and PHS to grasp the position of the cane so as to grasp where to go when an abnormality is detected from the movement of the cane. This is an elderly monitoring system.

  The elderly person monitoring system 200 includes a walking stick 20, a radio base station RB2, a backbone network NW2, radio terminals T21 and 22, wired terminals T23 and T24, a management server CS2, a database DB21, and a location information database DB22. Have

  The cane 20 includes a contact sensor 11 that senses that a person has grasped the handle, a contact sensor 12 that senses contact between the cane 20 and the ground, an acceleration sensor 13, an inclination sensor 14, a processing device 25, and a wireless device. A communication device 16 and a position information detection device 27 are included.

  The wireless communication device 16 transmits the measurement value of each sensor mounted on the wand 20 to the management server CS2 according to a command from the processing device 25. The position information detection device 27 detects the position information of the cane 20 from the base station information of the GPS and the mobile telephone network.

  The radio base station RB2 communicates with the cane 20. The backbone network NW2 connects the cane 20 and the management server CS2. The wireless terminals T21 and T22 are mobile phones that receive information indicating that the “watching user” is normal / abnormal. The wired terminals T23 and T24 are personal computers or the like that receive information indicating that the “watching user” is normal / abnormal.

  The management server CS2 determines that an elderly person or the like who uses the cane 20 is normal / abnormal based on the measurement values transmitted from the plurality of canes 20.

  The database DB 21 registers and manages measurement values related to the cane 20, information related to the user who uses the cane 20 (the user on the side to be watched), and information related to the “watching user” to which the result of determining normality / abnormality is transmitted. . The position information database DB22 manages position information of the cane 20.

  Next, the control operation of Embodiment 2 of the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the control operation of the second embodiment of the present invention.

  In S21, the processing device 25 instructs the position information detection device 27 to periodically acquire the position information, and the wireless communication device 16 transmits the position information to the management server CS2. The management server CS2 records the transmitted position information in the position information database DB22. The location information is acquired using GPS, etc., and in indoor locations where radio waves from satellites cannot be received, such as indoor information on mobile phones and PHS, infrared sensors and wireless tags installed in specific locations, etc. The position information detected by is used.

  In S <b> 22, the contact sensor 11 senses that the “user to be watched over” such as an elderly person has gripped the handle of the cane 20. Accordingly, it is possible to accurately detect whether the user on the watched side is using or holding the cane 20.

  In S23, the processing device 25 starts acquiring measurement values by the contact sensors 11, 12, the acceleration sensor 13, and the tilt sensor 14 triggered by sensing that the handle is being gripped, and acquires the acquired data as position information. Is recorded in a memory provided in the processing device 25.

  In S24, the processing device 25 converts the acquired data stored in the memory into a communication frame, controls the wireless communication device 16, and transmits it to the management server CS2. In S25, the management server CS2 stores the received data in the database DB21, and detects an abnormality in S26.

  If it is determined in S27 that the management server CS2 is not abnormal, the management server CS2 transmits the reassurance information to the terminals T21 to T24 designated by the watching person. In S28, when abnormality or danger is detected, emergency information is transmitted to the designated terminals T21 to T24.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of relief information and emergency information transmitted to a mobile phone when the designated terminal is a mobile phone in the second embodiment.

  By changing the expression of the icon, the degree of urgency is displayed, and the position information is also displayed. Usually, it is displayed as relief information, and in an emergency, it is displayed as emergency information. Further, by setting the urgency threshold in stages, if there is a little concern, the person on the side of watching is notified of minor abnormality information. The urgency threshold value may be provided in a stepwise manner in accordance with the length of time when no contact is detected by the contact sensors 11 and 12, the acceleration, and the variation value of the inclination.

According to the second embodiment, as described above, by installing the position information detection device 27 for detecting position information on the cane 20, it is possible to grasp a place where the user must rush in an emergency.

  FIG. 7 is a system configuration diagram showing an elderly monitoring system 300 that is Embodiment 3 of the present invention.

  The elderly person watching system 300 is a system in which a terminal (medium for detecting an abnormality) used by a person on the side of an elderly person or the like is a silver car.

  The elderly monitoring system 300 includes a silver car 30, a wireless base station RB3, a network NW3, wireless terminals T31 and T32 used by the watching side, wired terminals T33 and T34 used by the watching side, a management server CS3, and a database. It has DB31 and position information database DB32.

  The silver car 30 includes a contact sensor 31, an acceleration sensor 33, an inclination sensor 34, a processing device 35 that controls the entire silver car 30, a wireless communication device 36, and a position information detection device 37. And a rotary encoder 38 and wheels 39.

  The management server CS1 manages acquired data measured by the contact sensor 31, the acceleration sensor 33, the tilt sensor 34, and the rotary encoder 38.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating the control operation of the third embodiment.

  In S31, the processing device 35 periodically transmits the position information detected by the position information detection device 37 to the management server CS3. In S32, when the contact sensor 31 senses contact with the handle by an elderly person, the processing device 35, in S33, the contact sensor 31, the acceleration sensor 33, the tilt sensor 34, and the rotary encoder 38 start measurement, and position information Is recorded in a memory provided in the processing device 35.

  Similar to the operation in the cane 20, the movement using the silver car 30 is detected by the contact sensor 31 of the handle, and the measurement is started using this as a trigger. The contact sensor 31 detects the presence or absence of contact with the handle, the inclination sensor 14 detects the inclination of the silver car 30, the acceleration sensor 13 detects the acceleration of the silver car 30, and the rotary encoder The number of rotations is detected.

  In S34, the processing device 35 converts the acquired data recorded in the memory provided in the processing device 35 into a communication frame, and transmits the communication frame to the management server CS3 by wireless communication. In S35, the management server CS3 stores the received data in the database DB31 and detects an abnormality.

  In S36, the movement of the silver car 30 is estimated based on the inclination, acceleration, and rotation speed, and the state of the “person on the watched side” who uses it is estimated. Threshold values are set for the inclination, acceleration, and the number of rotations per unit time, and when all parameters do not exceed the threshold values, the safety information is transmitted to the terminal designated by the “watching person” (S37). If at least one parameter exceeds the threshold, the emergency information is transmitted to the terminal designated by the “watching person” (S38). In addition, by transmitting the position information together, the person on the watch side can rush immediately.

According to Example 3, as described above, an elderly person watching system using the silver car 30 can be provided as a medium for detecting the moving state of the elderly person. As a result, as with the cane 20, the elderly can be watched casually.

  FIG. 9 is a system configuration diagram showing an elderly monitoring system 400 that is Embodiment 4 of the present invention.

  The elderly person watching system 400 is an elderly person watching system using communication in which information about movement of a cane or a silver car is communicated among the elderly people.

  The elderly person watching system 400 includes a cane 40, 50, 60 having the same configuration as the cane 20, a silver car 70, 80, 90, and a wireless terminal T41 carried by an elderly person who carries the cane 40, 50, 60. T42 and T45, network NW4, management server CS4, database DB4, and communication terminals T43 and T44 with a display function used by elderly people at home or the like.

  The database DB4 manages the personal information of the elderly, terminal information used, and activity information of the elderly (information detected from the canes 40, 50, 60 and the silver car 30).

  Silver cars 70, 80, and 90 are silver cars in which a display function is added to the silver car 30 shown in FIG.

  Next, the control operation of the fourth embodiment will be described.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating the control operation of the fourth embodiment.

  In S41, the canes 40, 50, 60 and the silver cars 70, 80, 90 transmit information acquired by the sensors to the management server CS4. In S42, the management server CS4 receives the information transmitted from the canes 40, 50, 60 and the silver cars 70, 80, 90 and stores them in the database DB4 in association with the respective owner (elderly) information. To do.

  In S43, the management server CS4 converts the information recorded in the database DB4 into activity information and transmits it to the elderly communication terminals T41, T42, and T45. Here, the terminal which transmits activity information transmits only to the other party whom the owners have agreed, and information sharing is performed by close friends (community) etc.

  In S44, the activity information is received by the designated communication terminal and displayed on each display device.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a display example of activity information converted by the management server CS4 to share measurement information of each sensor within the community.

  In FIG. 11, A, B, C, D, and E indicate elderly people.

  FIG. 11 (1) is a diagram showing a state in which the positions of the canes 40, 50, 60 and the silver car 30 are displayed with icons. In this case, if the measurement result of each sensor exceeds the threshold value, the type of icon is changed according to the degree of risk. This allows older people to watch each other within the community.

  FIG. 11 (2) shows the amount of activity calculated based on the number of times a contact sensor (not shown) provided on the lower surface of the canes 40, 50, 60 contacts the ground and the number of rotations of the wheels of the silver car 30. It is a graph which shows.

  Share the calculated amount of activity in the community. As a result, it is possible to increase the amount of activity due to stimulation by seeing the activity status of other elderly people, trigger communication, increase the number of exchanges, and it is expected to share activity information within the community. The

  The fourth embodiment is an elderly monitoring system using communication in which information about movements of the canes 40, 50, 60 and the silver car 30 is communicated among the elderly. There is a possibility that senior citizens will be able to communicate with each other in both directions, which will lead to more active communication among older people. In addition, knowing each other's situation helps each other with the elderly, and the elderly can also watch each other.

  The elderly person watching system 400 has a possibility that the mental burden is reduced for a person who is watching over, such as an elderly person, unlike the form of unilateral monitoring by the person watching.

  According to each of the embodiments described above, a specific communication action such as a telephone or e-mail can be performed by communicating the operation history among a plurality of persons having a human relationship that can safely share the operation history for the communication terminal. Even if you don't develop, you can increase your chances of thinking about others.

  In other words, when the other party performs an operation on the other party's communication terminal, the operation details of the other party are reflected in the abstract image displayed on his / her terminal according to the input contents. If you know or understand the situation to some extent, you can somehow guess the other person's behavior and feelings.

  In addition, since the operation history handled in the above embodiment is information obtained by normal operation on the communication terminal or simple input, there is almost no burden on information transmission, and is converted according to the operation history, Since the abstracted image is displayed on the other party's terminal, even if a third party discovers the displayed abstracted image, it is not possible for the party or party to know whether or not the caller or location is identified. Is not very meaningful.

  Therefore, in each of the above embodiments, by sharing history information that eases the burden on the user, it is possible to imagine the other party, know that the other party is operating without change, and feel at ease. Create an effect.

  By the way, the cane has a market of about 1.5 billion yen every year, and is a must-have item for healthy elderly people. Walkers and silver cars also have a market of several billion yen every year, and are popular products because they can walk more easily than walking sticks. Since the elderly people naturally carry and use the cane, there is almost no resistance caused by using the cane, and the cane is suitable as a medium for acquiring the daily movements of the person being watched over, such as the elderly.

  If the “user on the watched side” such as the elderly moves normally while using the cane, in addition to the act of the elderly gripping the cane, the cane periodically tilts back and forth, or the ground and the lower surface of the cane A phenomenon of periodic contact occurs. For this reason, the normal movement and abnormal situation of the elderly can be easily detected from the movement of the cane. Therefore, when the walking stick is used as a medium for estimating the activity status of the elderly, it is not necessary to wear a special sensor or device or limit the place where the activity is performed. Similarly, in the case of a silver car or a walker, an action that an elderly person grasps and an operation that a wheel rotates and moves occur, so that the activity status can be easily extracted from the rotation speed and rotation speed of the wheel.

  In addition, since the cane and the silver car itself are sufficiently larger than detection devices such as a contact sensor, an acceleration sensor, and an inclination sensor, there are almost no problems regarding the size and design when the sensor is mounted. Moreover, it is possible to detect position information at the same time by attaching a GPS, a mobile phone, etc., and to acquire real-time data at almost any place indoors or outdoors by installing a wireless communication function. Furthermore, accidents such as falls can be detected accurately by detecting the degree of contact with the ground and the degree of inclination.

As a result, the elderly have no burden of using special equipment or the like, and can easily watch the activities of the elderly who use the walking stick indoors and outdoors.

1 is a system configuration diagram illustrating an elderly person watching system 100 that is Embodiment 1 of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a control operation according to the first embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the measurement data of each sensor in Example 1. FIG. It is a system configuration | structure figure which shows the elderly person monitoring system 200 which is Example 2. FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a control operation according to the second embodiment. In Example 2, when the designation | designated terminal is a mobile phone, it is a figure which shows the example of the relief information and emergency information which were transmitted to the mobile phone. It is a system configuration | structure figure which shows the elderly person monitoring system 300 which is Example 3. FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a control operation according to the third embodiment. FIG. 10 is a system configuration diagram illustrating an elderly person monitoring system 400 according to a fourth embodiment. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a control operation according to the fourth embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the activity information which management server CS4 converted in order to share the measurement information of each sensor within a community.

Explanation of symbols

100, 200, 300, 400 ... Elderly watching system,
10, 20, 40, 50, 60 ... cane,
11, 12, 31 ... contact sensor,
13, 33 ... acceleration sensor,
14, 34 ... inclination sensor,
15, 25, 35 ... processing device,
16, 36 ... wireless communication device,
27, 37 ... position information detection device,
38 ... Rotary encoder,
39 ... wheels,
RB1, RB2, RB3, RB4 ... wireless base,
T11, T12, T21, T22, T31, T32, T41, T42, T45 ... wireless terminals,
T13, T14, T23, T24, T33, T34, T43, T44 ... wired terminal,
CS1, CS2, CS3, CS4 ... management server,
30, 70, 80, 90 ... Silver car.

Claims (8)

Detecting that the user has gripped the handle of the cane, and using this detection as a trigger, detecting contact with the ground and having a communication function;
A database that records contact information detected by the cane, information about the owner of the cane, and information about a user who uses the information detected by the cane;
The information detected by the cane is registered / deleted in the database, the transmission / reception of the information detected by the cane is managed, the detection information transmitted from the cane is registered in the database, and the detection transmitted from the cane A management server that converts information into safety information or emergency information, and when the contact sensor provided on the lower surface of the cane detects contact with the ground at predetermined time intervals, A management server that outputs
The management server receives information detected by the cane from the management server, estimates the state of the user who uses the cane based on the received information, and monitors the person who uses the cane. A communication terminal that provides relief information or emergency information sent by
An elderly watch system characterized by having In claim 1,
The wand is a wand that detects position information indicating the position of the wand itself,
The management server associates the contact information detected by the staff with the location information, stores it in the database, and provides the location information with the location information when providing relief information or emergency information to the communication terminal. An elderly monitoring system characterized by being a server. In claim 1,
When the management server detects that the measured value of the contact sensor provided on the cane changes within a set threshold value range, the management server outputs relief information, while the measured value of the contact sensor Is a server that outputs abnormal information when it is detected that the change is outside the set threshold range. In claim 1,
The management server is a server that outputs emergency information if the time when the measured value of the contact sensor is changing outside the set threshold range is a predetermined time or more. system. In claim 4,
The management server is a server that ranks the degree of worry by providing a stepwise threshold as the predetermined time when outputting the emergency information. In claim 1,
When the contact sensor that the elderly person contacts does not detect contact and the contact sensor that detects contact with the ground performs contact detection that is not substantially constant, the management server is in a state in which the cane is leaned up, An elderly monitoring system characterized by being a server that determines that the device has fallen. In claim 1,
The management server converts the information collected by the wand into an activity amount, and shares the converted activity amount and the position of the wand among the users of the wand among the permitted colleagues. Is a server that delivers
The communication terminal is a terminal that receives and displays information transmitted from the management server and shares information detected by the staff with the staff of the staff. In any one of Claim 1, Claim 2, and Claim 7,
The elderly monitoring system, wherein the management server is a server that transmits the safety information or emergency information to a communication terminal that is permitted among the communication terminals.

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