JPH11155825A - Health control device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To grasp the health condition of a lonely-living aged person in details. SOLUTION: A mat-shaped detecting means 7a-7f on which a number of detecting elements are planely arranged are placed on the floor of a housing. The detecting elements are operated on or off by a person walking on the mat-shaped detecting means 7a-7f, the number of steps is counted, the quantity of movement is computed therefrom and which positions the person moves around in a room is detected to compute the activity of the person. When the moving condition of the person detected by the mat-shaped detecting means 7a-7f arranged in the room except at an entrance 8 is not obtained for at least one hour, e.g. the person is judged to be troubled in emergency including fall- down or death, which is transmitted to a medical institution via a public telephone line or a wireless installation.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a health management device suitable for a solitary elderly person, such as an elderly person living alone.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the rapid aging of society and the nuclear family, the number of elderly people living alone is expected to increase sharply. These elderly people are often disabled, and regular medical examinations and nursing care are indispensable. The maintenance of facilities such as medical institutions and nursing homes is gradually progressing, and with the introduction of public nursing care insurance, attention is being focused on home care provided by specialized caregivers and helpers at home and at home. These nursing care systems mainly focus on medical examinations by doctors, nurses, caregivers, helpers, etc., but when there are many elderly people to be targeted or when the number of doctors is absolutely small, such as in a depopulated area, some equipment Requires a remote health management device.

[0003] A system for performing regular health management at home and periodically updating the results to a medical institution or a management center using a communication line such as a public telephone line, A typical prior art in the technical field of a reporting system is disclosed in
148122. In this prior art, a pedometer is always carried by a person to be measured, and the number of steps is counted, and when the counted number runs out, an emergency notification system is provided. That is, in this prior art, an emergency switch for transmitting an emergency signal to the in-home controller by an emergency operation of the pedometer and a walking number data transmitting means for transmitting the walking number data to the in-home controller are provided. To be able to accurately grasp the safety and health status.

In this prior art, the care receiver, who is the subject, sometimes forgets to carry the pedometer. Alternatively, when such a care receiver has dementia, there is a tendency to remove the pedometer worn on the body. When the cared person does not wear the pedometer, it is impossible to grasp the safety and health of the cared person. Furthermore, in this prior art, only data from a pedometer can be obtained, and it is not possible to know a more detailed movement state of the care receiver, for example, the amount of exercise or the amount of activity.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a health management apparatus and a health management method capable of grasping in detail the health status of a solitary elderly person or the like.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, there is provided a mat-like detecting means in which a plurality of detecting elements for detecting that a person has got on are arranged in a plane, and a response to the output of the mat-like detecting means. And a calculating means for calculating a moving state.

[0007] According to the present invention, the mat-shaped detecting means is installed in a place where a person moves in a house, for example, in a part or the whole of a room for an elderly person living alone. When a person rides on the mat-shaped detecting means and moves, the moving state is calculated by the calculating means. Therefore, it is not necessary for the person to wear the pedometer or the like described in relation to the above-mentioned prior art. As a result, it is possible to grasp the state in which the person is moving in the house, and to grasp the health state of the person in detail. The mat-shaped detection means may have a single relatively large configuration laid over all places where people in the house can move. In another form of implementation,
It may be configured to be relatively small so that a plurality of mat-shaped detecting means may be used so that it can be laid in each place such as a kitchen, a toilet, a bathroom, a door, a veranda, a bedroom, a living room, and the like. . The mat-like detecting means may be flexible or tile-like rigid.

In the invention, it is preferable that the moving state is at least one of a moved position and a moved distance.

According to the present invention, the position or the distance moved by a person in a house can be obtained by calculation.
With this, it is possible to know which position in the room the person is moving around. By knowing the distance traveled in the house, it is also possible to know the amount of human exercise. In addition, it is possible to know whether a person is at home or out of the home, and if there is no movement at home, it is possible to accurately grasp a health condition such as illness or death. The moving state is the number of steps of a person, a count value of the number of steps,
The amount of exercise of the person obtained from the number of steps may be used, or the amount of activity calculated based on the position of the person moving around in the room may be used. In this way, the number of steps can be counted as described above, the history of movement can be measured and stored in a memory, and the amount of activity of a person indoors can be measured in a wide range in detail to grasp the health condition.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that the calculating means detects the position of the detecting element where the pressure once applied and then stops applying the pressure, and calculates the moving state of the person.

According to the present invention, the movement state of a person can be calculated. Household goods fixed in the room,
For example, household items such as a television receiver and a chest are not erroneously calculated.

According to the present invention, there is provided a mat-like detecting means in which a plurality of detecting elements for detecting that a person has got on are arranged in a plane, and a detection position of the detecting element changes in response to an output of the mat-like detecting means. Processing means for determining whether or not an emergency condition has occurred, and in response to an output of the processing means, when a change in the detection position has not continued for a predetermined time W2 or more and has not occurred, an emergency condition determination for determining that an emergency condition has occurred. And a health management device.

According to the present invention, it is determined by the processing means whether or not the detection position of the person detected by the mat-like detection means has changed, and after the moving state has been detected, the change in the detection position is determined in advance. If it does not occur continuously for a predetermined time W2, for example, one hour or more, it can be inferred that the person has collapsed due to illness or has died.
At this time, it can be determined that an emergency condition has occurred.

Further, according to the present invention, the processing means detects the position of the detecting element where the pressure once applied and then stops applying the pressure, and determines that the position has changed. When a time during which a change in the next detected position is not detected after a change in the position is detected continues for a predetermined time or more, it is determined that an emergency condition has occurred.

According to the present invention, when a person moves on the mat-shaped detecting means, the processing means determines that the detected position has changed, and after such a change in position is detected, If the change in the next detection position is not detected for the predetermined time W2 or more, it can be determined that an emergency condition such as a person falling down in the house or dying has occurred.

Further, according to the present invention, the processing means includes a first timer for counting a predetermined first time W1, and an output of the mat-like detection means for each time counted by the first timer. A plurality of memories, and a difference calculation means for reading the stored contents of each memory and calculating a difference Δpi between outputs of the detection elements at the same read position. A second timer for measuring a second predetermined time W2 longer than the time W1,
In response to the output of the difference calculation means and the second timer, the difference Δp
When the state where i is zero continues for the second time W2 or more, it is determined that an emergency state has occurred.

According to the present invention, the outputs from the plurality of detecting elements provided in the mat-shaped detecting means are output at the first time W1 measured by the first timer, for example, every three minutes.
The data is stored in a plurality of at least two memories in a time sequential manner. The difference calculating means calculates the difference Δpi between the outputs of the detection elements at the corresponding positions stored in these memories. If the person does not move on the mat-shaped detecting means, the first
The output of the mat-shaped detection means for each time W1 has the same value for each detection element. Thus, the difference Δpi is zero. When such a state in which the difference Δpi is zero continues for the second time W2 or more, for example, for one hour or more, it can be estimated that a person has fallen or died, and an emergency condition has occurred. Is determined.

Further, according to the present invention, the processing means includes a first timer for counting a predetermined first time W1, and an output of the mat-like detecting means for each time counted by the first timer. Difference between the outputs of the plurality of memories, the outputs of the detection elements detected at the first time W1 counted by the first timer, and the outputs of the detection elements at the same position where the stored contents of the memory are read out. The emergency state determination means includes a second timer for measuring a predetermined second time W2 longer than the first time W1, and an output of the difference calculation means and the second timer. In response, when the state where the difference Δpi is zero continues for the second time W2 or more, it is determined that an emergency state has occurred.

According to the present invention, the output detected by the detecting element of the mat state detecting means at every first time W1 of the first timer is stored in the memory, and the detection element of the current mat state detecting means is stored. The output detected by
The difference Δp is calculated by performing an operation directly without storing in memory.
Find i. Thereby, the processing speed for calculating the difference Δpi can be improved as compared with the configuration of the above-described claim 6.

Further, according to the present invention, when the state where the difference Δpi is zero continues for a second time W2 or more in response to the output of the difference calculating means, the position for detecting the position where the state continues is detected. It is characterized by including a detecting means and a position judging means which responds to an output of the position detecting means and judges whether or not the detected position is a predetermined position.

According to the present invention, the position detecting means
It is possible to detect a position where a person riding on the mat-shaped detecting means may be in an emergency state where the person has fallen or has died.

Further, according to the present invention, the emergency state determining means further responds to the output of the position determining means, and the state in which the difference Δpi is zero continues for a second time W2 or more, and the detected position is When it is determined that the position is the predetermined position, it is determined that an emergency state has occurred.

According to the present invention, the emergency position determining means determines that the detected position where the person has fallen or died is a predetermined position, that is, a position other than the entrance. At this time, it is determined that an emergency condition has occurred. It is determined whether the detected position is a predetermined position, for example, a kitchen, a toilet, a bathroom, a veranda, a living room, and the like in a house, that is, whether the detected position is other than the entrance. When a person has fallen or died at the predetermined position other than the entrance, an emergency condition has occurred. Further, when the detected position is not the predetermined position, that is, when the entrance is,
It can be inferred that a person has gone out of the house and gone out, and therefore, it can be prevented that the user is erroneously determined to be in an emergency state.

The transmission of the signal indicating the emergency condition, for example, by a mobile phone or other telephone, via a public telephone line or by wireless communication, for example, to notify a medical institution, a welfare facility center or a management center, etc. Can be.

Also, according to the present invention, the detecting element of the mat-shaped detecting means detects the applied pressure as a binary value corresponding to the pressure, and the position detecting means detects when a plurality of detected positions are present.
The centroid of the area including the detection position is calculated and detected.

According to the present invention, the detection element of the mat-shaped detection means has a configuration for deriving a binary output. For example, when a pressure is applied to the detection element by the gravity of a person acting on the detection element, One of the ON / OFF switching states, for example, an ON state, and when no such pressure is applied, the other switching state, for example, an OFF state. At a position where a person riding on the mat-shaped detecting means falls, for example, or dies, the gravity of the person acts on the plurality of detecting elements, and the switching state becomes, for example, one switching state as described above. ing. When such a plurality of detection elements are detecting pressure, the centroid of an area including the detection position is calculated. As a result, the position of the person can be accurately known.

Further, according to the present invention, the detecting element of the mat-shaped detecting means detects the applied pressure by three or more values corresponding to the pressure, and the position detecting means detects the detected pressure when there are a plurality of detected positions. The method is characterized in that the center of gravity of a region including the detection position is calculated, and the position of the center of gravity in the plane where the detection element is arranged is detected.

According to the present invention, the mat-like detecting means derives an electric signal corresponding to the applied pressure such as the gravity of a person, and for example, the resistance value corresponding to the pressure changes.
Thus, unlike the binary output of claim 10, the output of claim 11
Has a configuration for deriving an electric signal having three or more values. Thus, for example, in a state where a person has fallen or dies on the mat-shaped detection means, the center of gravity is calculated based on the output values of each of the plurality of detection elements present in the fallen area. Can be. By calculating and detecting the position of the obtained center of gravity in the plane on which the detecting element is arranged, it is possible to accurately know the position where the person has fallen or died.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that each of the detecting elements of the position detecting means changes the switching state when a predetermined value of pressure is applied, thereby detecting that a person has got on.

According to the present invention, the detecting element provided in the mat-shaped detecting means is configured to change the on / off switching state, for example, and the configuration can be simplified.

Further, according to the present invention, each detecting element of the position detecting means detects the applied pressure as a value of 3 or more, and the position detecting means discriminates the level of the output of the detecting element by a predetermined value. When the detected pressure of the element is equal to or higher than the predetermined value, it is detected that a person gets on the vehicle.

According to the present invention, each of the detecting elements constituting the mat-shaped detecting means derives an electric signal having a value of 3 or more representing the applied pressure, and for example, the resistance value corresponding to the pressure is continuously changed. It is a configuration in which a changing electric signal is converted into a digital value by level discriminating the electric signal by a level discriminating means.

In this way, according to the twelfth and thirteenth aspects, when the pressure acting on the detecting element is equal to or higher than a predetermined value, it can be detected that a person is on the mat-shaped detecting means. Thus, the relatively small and lightweight pet animal bred indoors can be prevented from being erroneously detected by the detection element, and the human can be detected accurately.

According to the present invention, a plurality of detecting elements for detecting the presence of a person are arranged in a plane to form a mat-shaped detecting element at a place where a person moves in a house. This is a health management method characterized by calculating a movement state of a person based on an output of an element.

According to the present invention, a plurality of detecting elements are arranged in a plane, and a person moves on the detecting elements.
Accurately grasping the amount of exercise and the degree of activity of a person is surely performed.

The mat-shaped detecting means may have a detecting element whose on / off switching state changes when a person gets on the vehicle, or an electric signal such as a resistance corresponding to the pressure when the pressure acts. May be changed, a configuration may be used in which the presence or absence of a person is detected by capacitance, or another configuration may be used. Although the detection element may have an individual configuration, in addition, for example, a plurality of column electrodes that intersect, for example, orthogonally, intersect the row electrodes at intervals above a plurality of parallelly arranged row electrodes are arranged. When a pressure of a person or the like acts on the column electrode, the column electrode bends and may be electrically connected to a row electrode intersecting with the column electrode. A pressure-sensitive material having a property and a resistance value corresponding to a compressive force may be interposed. This pressure-sensitive material may have a configuration in which a conductive powder such as carbon or metal powder is mixed into a resilient sheet-like body such as rubber or synthetic resin.

[0037]

FIG. 1 is a simplified plan view of a house 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. In house 1,
For example, an elderly person living alone, such as an elderly person living alone, lives in the house 1, and mat-shaped detecting means 7a to 7e are arranged in the kitchen 2, the toilet 3, the bathroom 4, the other rooms 5 and the veranda 6, respectively. Is done. When a person has fallen or has died on these mat-shaped detecting means 7a to 7e, it can be determined that an emergency condition has occurred as described later. Further, in the vicinity of the entrance 8 of the house 1, a mat-shaped detecting means 7f is provided. When the movement of the person on the mat-shaped detecting means 7f is no longer detected, it can be determined that the person has gone out of the entrance 8. These mat-shaped detecting means 7a to 7f may be indicated by a reference numeral 7 in general.

FIG. 2 is a simplified perspective view of a part of the mat-shaped detecting means 7. As shown in FIG. The mat-shaped detecting means 7 may have a shape of, for example, a flexible carpet or the like, or may be formed in a rigid tile shape, and the detecting elements 9 which are pressure-sensitive sensors are arranged in a matrix. It is arranged and configured. These detecting elements 9 are covered with and built in sheets 10 and 11 made of an electrically insulating material such as upper and lower cloths. Each of these detection elements 9 has an area of about the size of a human foot 12, and may have a rectangular planar shape of, for example, 15 × 15 cm.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the detecting element 9. Planar electrodes 14 and 15 are arranged below and above the elastic pressure-sensitive conductor 13. Human foot 1 above seat 11
When gravity acts as indicated by an arrow 16 due to 2, the pressure-sensitive conductor 13 is elastically compressed and deformed. The pressure-sensitive conductor has a configuration in which a conductive powder such as carbon or metal powder is mixed into an elastic insulating material such as rubber and synthetic resin. When pressure is applied to compress and deform as shown by the arrow 16, the electric resistance between the electrodes 14 and 15 changes smaller than in the natural state shown in FIG. Thus, the detecting element 9 derives an electric signal having a resistance value corresponding to the applied pressure.

FIG. 4 is a simplified electric circuit diagram showing the electric configuration of one mat-shaped detecting means 7. The plurality of detection elements 9 are arranged in a matrix, and one electrode 14 of each detection element 9 is commonly connected to a plurality of row electrodes 17 individually corresponding to each row. The other electrode 15
Is commonly connected to a plurality of column electrodes 18 arranged for each column, for each of the detection elements 9 arranged for each column.

FIG. 5 is a simplified block diagram showing an electrical configuration related to the plurality of mat-like detecting means 7. The first processing unit 19a is provided for each of the mat detection units 7a to 7f.
To 19f (generally 19) are provided. These first processing means 19 include a row electrode 17 and a column electrode 18.
Are sequentially scanned, and the electric signal of each detection element 9 is received. In scanning these row electrodes 17 and column electrodes 18, during the period when a single row electrode 17 is activated,
The plurality of column electrodes 18 are sequentially activated, an electric signal between each row electrode 17 and the column electrode 18 is received, and such an operation is repeated for each of the plurality of row electrodes 17. Each output of the first processing means 19 is provided to the second processing means 21 and subjected to arithmetic processing. The second processing means 21 includes memories M0 to M0.
M6 is connected, and the output of the mat-like detection means 7, the calculation result, and the like are stored. The second processing means 21 also includes
A public telephone line 22 is connected, and an electric signal indicating the amount of exercise or activity of a person and an electric signal indicating that an emergency condition has occurred are transmitted via the public telephone line 22 to a medical institution or a welfare facility center. Alternatively, it is transmitted to a management center or the like and displayed by the output display means.

FIG. 6 is a simplified plan view of the mat-shaped detecting means 7 provided in the house 1. On this mat-shaped detecting means 7, a television receiver and household goods 23 such as a chest are fixedly provided. The footprint of a person in the room 5 is indicated by reference numeral 24, and the trajectory following the footprint 24 is indicated by reference numeral 25. As described above, the distance L1 moved by the person in the house 1 can be detected by calculating the location, the locus 25, and the like by the operation of the processing means 19, 21.

FIG. 7 shows the first and second processing means 19, 2
3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of FIG. The process proceeds from step a1 to step a2, in which a predetermined time W1 is measured via the timer operation of the first processing means 19. The time W1 may be, for example, one second.
The time W clocked by the timer in step a3
Each time 1 has elapsed, in the next step a4, the first processing means 19 sets the row electrode 1 described with reference to FIG.
By scanning the 7 and the column electrode 18, the electric signal of the detecting element 9 of the mat-shaped detecting means 7 is received and the level is discriminated.
The electric signal obtained between the electrodes 14 and 15 of the detecting element 9 corresponds to the pressure of the foot 12 which acts, and by discriminating the level of the electric signal, for example, 3
The above-mentioned digital values are converted, and the state of the pressure distribution in each mat-like detecting means 7 is converted into gradation data, so that each detection element corresponds to a pixel, so-called next step a.
5 is stored in the memory M1. Each electrode 14, 1
The discrimination level of the electric signal from 5 is set to a value exceeding the pressure corresponding to gravity of a pet animal or the like which is relatively small and lightweight. For example, the minimum discrimination level of each detection element 9 is set to a value corresponding to, for example, 30 kg. Set to. This makes it possible to detect a pressure corresponding to the gravity of a person such as a solitary elderly person. Further, when the next time W1 has elapsed, the level discrimination operation of the electric signal is performed as described above, and the electric signal is stored in the memory M2. Steps a1 to a4
Is executed by the first processing means 19. Step a
Each operation after 5 is executed by the second processing means 21.

In step a6, the stored contents of the memories M1 and M2 are read, and the levels of electric signals of the respective detecting elements 9 are compared to detect whether or not the change has occurred, that is, whether or not the person has moved. You.

FIG. 8 is a simplified diagram showing the state of the pressure distribution detected by the mat-shaped detecting means 7. The household item tool 23 is fixedly provided on the mat-shaped detection means 7. The footprint 24 is detected as shown in FIG. 8A, and after a lapse of time W1, the footprint 27 is detected at a coordinate position different from that of the footprint 24 as shown in FIG. As a result, the moved footprint 2 is stored in the memory M3.
Only 4, 27 are stored as shown in FIG. In the memories M <b> 1 to M <b> 3, the coordinate position (x, y) where the level-discriminated pressure has acted, the time, and the applied pressure, and thus the gravity of the person, are shown in Table 1 by the operation of the second processing means 21. Is stored as follows.

[0046]

[Table 1]

In step a7, the moving distance L1 followed by the trajectory 25 is calculated and obtained based on the footprints 24 and 27 of the person stored in the memory M3. Step a
In step 8, the position which is the coordinate position to which the person has moved, for example, which of the mat-shaped detecting means 7a to 7f, and which position of each of the mat-shaped detecting means 7a to 7f are calculated and detected. I do.

In step a9, the results calculated in steps a6 to a8 are stored. Information including the amount of exercise of the person obtained in this manner, for example, the movement distance L1 and the amount of activity, for example, the moved position as described above, can be stored in the memory M4. In step a10, when a predetermined transmission time is set, for example, every half day or every day, in the next step a11, the memory M
4 is transmitted via the telephone line 22. In this way, the amount of exercise and the amount of activity of the people in the house 1 can be known at a remote place, whereby health management can be performed. Thus, in step a12, a series of operations ends.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the first and second processing means 19 and 21 in the embodiment shown in FIGS. The process moves from step b1 to step b2, and it is determined whether or not the lockable door 29 of the entrance 8 is locked and locked. The lock means 28 has an insertion slot for an integrated circuit (IC) card, and can be inserted into the insertion slot from inside or outside the house 1. If it is determined that the identification code set on the IC card inserted into the insertion slot is the same as the code preset in the memory, the lock means 28 is unlocked and the door 29 is opened. it can. When the lock means 28 is unlocked by inserting the IC card from inside the house 1,
It is determined that the person living in house 1 is out. When the IC card is inserted into the insertion slot from the outside of the house 1 and the locking means 28 is unlocked, the person returns to the house 1 from an outside place, and it is determined that there is a person in the house 1. As a result, the process moves from step b2 to step b3, and the timekeeping operation for each predetermined time W3 is repeatedly performed. This time W3 may be, for example, 3 minutes. In step b4, in all of the mat-shaped detecting means 7a to 7f provided in the room 5 in the house 1, whether or not a person is riding, that is, the pressure distribution is scanned and detected by the first processing means 19a to 19f. You. Step b
At 5, the distribution state is stored in the memory M5. FIG. 10 (1) shows a pressure distribution state detected by the mat-shaped detection means 7 at a certain time and obtained by level discrimination of a state where a person is riding. Further, the pressure distribution state indicating that a person obtained by the mat-shaped detection means 7 after the predetermined time W3 has elapsed from the time when the pressure distribution state shown in FIG. This is shown in FIG. The pressures of the fixedly provided household goods 23 and the footprints 24 and 27 at different positions obtained when the person moves are detected. The stored contents of the memories M5 and M6 for storing the current and previous pressure distribution states are stored in step b6.
At the same position, the difference Δpi of the electric signal level corresponding to the pressure of the detection element 9 at the same position is calculated and obtained. Δpi = | pi-p (i-1) | (1)

Here, pi indicates the output of each detection element detected this time, which is stored in the memory M5.
p (i-1) indicates the output of the detection element detected last time.

In step b7, the difference Δpi is stored in the memory M7 corresponding to the position of each detection element. The difference Δpi for each position corresponding to each position of the mat-like detection means 7 stored in the memory M7 is shown in FIG. 10 (3). This difference Δpi is an absolute value.

At step b8, it is determined whether or not the difference Δpi at each position where the detecting elements 9 of all the mat-shaped detecting means 7a to 7f are arranged is zero. The fact that the difference Δpi is zero indicates that the person has stopped moving, that is, that the person is in a stopped state. If there is a position where the difference Δpi is not zero, the process proceeds from step b8 to step b9, where the contents of the memory M5 indicating the current detection state are transferred to the memory M6 and copied. Thereafter, in step b10, the timer is cleared and time measurement of the time W3 is started. In step b8, when it is determined that the difference Δpi is zero at all the positions of the mat-shaped detecting means 7a to 7f, in the next step b11,
It is determined whether or not the state where the difference Δpi becomes zero at all the positions is the minimum. If it is determined in step b11 that it is the minimum, in the next step b12,
The previous memory M7 in which the difference Δpi became zero at all positions.
The contents stored in the memory M7 immediately before this are stored in step b
Read at 12. In the memory M7, the difference Δpi is stored in time sequence in the above step b7.

FIG. 11 shows the difference Δ corresponding to the pressure distribution of the mat-like detecting means 7 stored in the memory M7 in time sequence.
It is a figure which shows pi. The footprint 27 is detected as shown in FIG. 11 (1), and thereafter, as shown in FIG. 11 (2), a region 32 is obtained over a plurality of detection elements in which the difference Δpi at each position of the detection element is not zero. Then, FIG. 11 (3)
Assuming that the distribution of the difference Δpi in the region 32 is zero at all positions, as shown in FIG.
In 2, the store contents of FIG. 11B are read.

In step b13, the center of gravity of the memory M7 shown in FIG. 11 (2) is calculated. The center of gravity is
This is indicated by reference numeral 33 in FIG. In this way, the person has fallen on the mat-shaped detecting means 7 and the center of gravity 3
Search for position 3.

In step b14, the position of the center of gravity 33 is
Predetermined position, that is, mat-shaped detecting means 7a to 7e
It is determined whether it is the position of
It is determined whether or not the position is a predetermined position of the mat-shaped detecting means 7f provided in the above. Mat-like detection means 7a provided at a predetermined position other than the vicinity of the entrance 8
When it is determined that the center of gravity 33 is located at ７7e, in the next step b15, a timing operation of a predetermined time W4 is started. This time W4 may be, for example, one hour. When it is determined in step b16 that the time W4 has elapsed, in step b17, it is determined that an emergency condition has occurred. Accordingly, the processing unit 21 transmits an electric signal indicating that the emergency condition has occurred to the telephone line 22. Send.

The center of gravity 3 detected in step b14
If it is determined that 3 (see FIG. 11 (2) described above) is within a predetermined area of the mat-like detecting means 7f provided near the entrance 8, the luggage is placed on the mat-like detecting means 7f. It can be determined that the person has put it and that the person has gone out. Thus, a series of operations is completed.

FIG. 12 is a simplified plan view of a house 1 according to another embodiment of the present invention. In the house 1, a single mat-shaped detecting means 7g is arranged.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing a simplified electrical configuration related to the mat-like detecting means 7g shown in FIG. The processing means 34 is provided in the mat shape detecting means 7g.
Is connected. The configuration and operation of this processing means 34 are the same as those of the first and second processing means 19 and 21 described above, and the other configuration is also the same as that of the above-described embodiment.

In still another embodiment of the present invention, the mat-like detecting means 7a to 7g have a configuration in which the switching element is turned on / off instead of deriving an electric signal having a value of 3 or more corresponding to the pressure. May be done.

[0060]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the presence of a person on the mat-shaped detecting means can be detected by the mat-shaped detecting means, and the moving state of the person can be calculated by the calculating means. For example, the health condition of a solitary elderly person, a cared person, etc. can be known in detail and accurately. Further, in the present invention, it is not necessary for a person to wear a pedometer or the like described in connection with the above-mentioned prior art, and this is particularly true for elderly people with dementia or the like who have worn from the body. The present invention is particularly effective in view of the characteristics to be removed. Thus, for example, by counting the number of steps of a person, the amount of exercise of the person can be known. In addition, it is possible to know, for example, the position of a room in a house where a person is moving around, and to know the amount of activity of the person.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the movement state obtained by calculation by the calculation means is at least one of the moved position and the distance. The amount of exercise and the amount of activity can be accurately known.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, when the detecting element once detects the pressure and then stops detecting the pressure, the moving state of the person can be calculated and obtained, that is, the moving state can be obtained. The position or distance can be calculated and calculated. Therefore, when an object such as a household item or luggage is fixedly placed on the mat-shaped detection means, it is possible to avoid erroneously detecting such an object such as a household item as a person.

According to the present invention, when the change of the detection position obtained by the detection element does not occur for a predetermined time W2 or more, there is a possibility that a person has fallen or died. It is determined that an emergency condition has occurred. Thus, one can know that a person has fallen or died in the house.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the processing means comprises:
It is determined that the position of the person has changed by moving on the mat-shaped detecting means, and if such a change in position does not occur for a predetermined time W2 or more, the person has fallen in the house, Alternatively, it is determined that an emergency condition such as death has occurred, thereby making it possible to avoid an object such as a household tool being erroneously detected as a person.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the first time W
The outputs of the detecting elements provided in the mat-shaped detecting means are stored in a time-sequential manner in a plurality of memories, and a difference Δpi between the outputs is calculated. Since it is determined that an emergency condition has occurred when it has continued for the second time W2 or more, it is possible to accurately detect that a person has fallen or died in the house, It is possible to avoid falsely detecting an object such as a household item as a person.

According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, as compared with the sixth aspect of the present invention, the previous output is stored by using the output of the detecting element provided in the mat-like detecting means as it is. Since the difference Δpi is calculated by subtracting from the stored contents of the existing memory, the processing speed for calculating the difference Δpi can be improved. Thus, even in a configuration in which the mat-shaped detecting means is laid within a wide range, the occurrence of an emergency state can be quickly determined.

According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, the occurrence of an emergency condition in which a person has fallen or died in the predetermined position, which is a position other than the entrance of a house or room such as an entrance, etc. Thus, it is possible to prevent a person from erroneously determining that an emergency condition has occurred when a person goes out of an entrance such as a house or a room entrance.

According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, when the state where the difference Δpi is zero at the predetermined position has continued for the second time W2 or more, it is determined that an emergency state has occurred and the user has gone out. It is possible to prevent erroneous judgment at the time.

According to the tenth aspect of the present invention, it is determined whether or not a person is on the mat-shaped detecting means by turning on / off the detecting element.
By detecting with the binary electric signal of the OFF switching state, and when there are a plurality of positions where the person is detected as riding, by calculating the centroid of an area including the detected position,
The position of a person can be known accurately.

Such a detecting element is configured to derive an electric signal corresponding to an applied pressure such as a person's gravitational force, and the binary electric signal is obtained by level discriminating the electric signal. A configuration may be adopted.

According to the eleventh aspect of the present invention, an electric signal having a level corresponding to an applied pressure such as a person's gravitational force is derived, and based on output values of a plurality of detecting elements,
Since the center of gravity is calculated, the position of the person can be known more accurately.

According to the twelfth aspect of the present invention, the detection element can be realized by a switching element, and the configuration can be simplified.

According to the thirteenth aspect of the present invention, an electric signal having a level corresponding to the pressure of the detecting element can be subjected to level discrimination to obtain an output of three or more values. Can be reliably detected.

According to the present invention, the relatively small and lightweight pet animal indoors is prevented from being erroneously detected, and the detection of a person having a larger weight than the pet animal is prevented. Can be done accurately.

According to the fourteenth aspect of the present invention, the amount of exercise and the degree of activity of a person can be accurately grasped without wearing a pedometer described in connection with the prior art on the body. Can be determined in detail and accurately.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a simplified plan view of a house 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a simplified perspective view of a part of the mat-shaped detecting means 7;

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the detection element 9.

FIG. 4 is a simplified electric circuit diagram showing an electric configuration of one mat-shaped detecting means 7;

FIG. 5 is a simplified block diagram showing an electrical configuration related to a plurality of mat-shaped detecting means 7;

FIG. 6 is a simplified plan view of a mat-shaped detecting means 7 provided in the house 1.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining operations of first and second processing means 19 and 21;

FIG. 8 is a simplified diagram showing a state of a pressure distribution detected by a mat-shaped detecting means 7;

FIG. 9 shows a first embodiment of the embodiment shown in FIGS.
9 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the second processing means 19 and 21.

FIG. 10 is a simplified diagram showing a state of a pressure distribution detected by a mat-shaped detecting means 7;

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a difference Δpi corresponding to the pressure distribution of the mat-like detection means 7 stored in the memory M7 in time sequence.

FIG. 12 is a simplified plan view of a house 1 according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a simplified block diagram showing an electrical configuration related to a mat-like detection means 7g shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 House 2 Kitchen 3 Toilet 4 Bathroom 5 Room 6 Veranda 7a-7f Mat-shaped detecting means 8 Entrance 9 Detecting element 10, 11 Sheet 12 Feet 13 Pressure sensitive conductor 14, 15 Electrode 17 Row electrode 18 Column electrode 19 First processing Means 21 Second processing means 22 Public telephone line 23 Household goods 24, 27 Footprint 25 Trace 28 Lock means 29 Door 33 Center of gravity 34 Processing means

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Katsumi Nakajima 1-8-4 Higashikawasakicho, Chuo-ku, Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture Inside the Research Institute for New Industry Creation (72) Takashi Katsurakawa, Higashikawasakicho, Chuo-ku, Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture 1-chome 4-4 New Industry Creation Research Organization

Claims (14)

[Claims] 1. A mat-like detecting means in which a plurality of detecting elements for detecting that a person has got on are arranged in a plane, and a calculating means for calculating a moving state of a person in response to an output of the mat-like detecting means. A health care device comprising: 2. The health management device according to claim 1, wherein the movement state is at least one of a moved position and a moved distance. 3. The operation means according to claim 1, wherein the operation means detects the position of the detection element to which the pressure once applied and then stops applying the pressure to calculate the moving state of the person.
Or the health management device according to 2. 4. A mat-like detecting means in which a plurality of detecting elements for detecting that a person gets on are arranged in a plane, and whether a detection position of the detecting element changes in response to an output of the mat-like detecting means. Processing means for determining whether or not an emergency condition has occurred when a change in the detected position does not occur continuously for a predetermined time W2 or more in response to an output of the processing means. A health management device comprising: 5. The processing means detects the position of the detecting element where the pressure once applied and then stops applying the pressure, and determines that the position has changed. The health management according to claim 4, wherein when a time during which no change in the next detection position is detected after the change is detected continues for the predetermined time or more, it is determined that an emergency condition has occurred. apparatus. 6. A processing means comprising: a first timer for measuring a first time W1 determined in advance; and a plurality of means for sequentially storing outputs of the mat-shaped detection means for each of the times measured by the first timer. A memory, and a difference calculation means for reading out the stored contents of each memory and calculating a difference Δpi between outputs of the detection elements at the same read position. A second timer for measuring a predetermined second time W2, which is longer than the second timer.
6. The health management device according to claim 4, wherein when the state in which i is zero continues for the second time W2 or more, it is determined that an emergency state has occurred. 7. A processing means comprising: a first timer for measuring a first time W1 determined in advance; and a plurality of means for sequentially storing outputs of the mat-shaped detection means for each time counted by the first timer. A difference Δpi between an output of each detection element detected at each first time W1 measured by the first timer and an output of each detection element at the same position from which the stored content of the memory is read is calculated. Emergency operation determination means, comprising: a second timer for measuring a predetermined second time W2 longer than the first time W1, a response to outputs from the difference operation means and the second timer, The difference Δp
6. The health management device according to claim 4, wherein when the state in which i is zero continues for the second time W2 or more, it is determined that an emergency state has occurred. 8. In response to the output of the difference calculation means, the difference Δp
When the state where i is zero continues for the second time W2 or more, the position detecting means for detecting the position where the state continues, and the detected position is determined in advance in response to the output of the position detecting means. The health management device according to claim 6, further comprising: a position determination unit configured to determine whether the position is a predetermined position. 9. The emergency state determination means further responds to an output of the position determination means, wherein the state in which the difference Δpi is zero is equal to or longer than a second time W2.
9. The health management device according to claim 8, wherein when it is determined that the position is continued and the detected position is the predetermined position, it is determined that an emergency condition has occurred. 10. The detecting element of the mat-shaped detecting means detects the applied pressure in two values corresponding to the pressure, and the position detecting means, when there are a plurality of detected positions, an area including the detected position. 8. The health management device according to claim 6, wherein the centroid of the health management device is calculated and detected. 11. The detecting element of the mat-shaped detecting means detects the applied pressure by three or more values corresponding to the pressure, and the position detecting means detects the detected position when there are a plurality of detected positions. 8. The health management device according to claim 6, wherein a center of gravity of the region including the center of gravity is calculated, and a position of the center of gravity in a plane where the detecting element is arranged is detected. 12. Each of the detecting elements of the position detecting means changes a switching state when a predetermined value of pressure is applied, thereby detecting that a person has got on the vehicle. The health care device according to any one of the preceding claims. 13. Each of the detecting elements of the position detecting means detects the applied pressure as a value of 3 or more, and the position detecting means performs level discrimination of the output of the detecting element with a predetermined value to detect the detecting element. The health management device according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein when a pressure is equal to or more than the predetermined value, detection of a person riding thereon is detected. 14. A mat-shaped detection element, which is configured by arranging a plurality of detection elements for detecting that a person has got on a plane, in a place where a person moves in a house, and outputting the detection element. A health management method characterized by calculating a moving state of a person by using the method.