A fall detection and intelligent alarm device for the elderly living alone

Abstract

This invention relates to the fields of IoT sensing, smart wearable devices, and home safety monitoring, providing a fall detection and intelligent alarm device for elderly people living alone. The device includes a wearable main module, a microcontroller unit, a multi-axis attitude sensing unit, a dual-mode wireless communication unit, a local audible and visual alarm unit, a manual emergency help button, a power management unit, and an offline storage unit. Each functional unit is electrically connected to the microcontroller unit. The device is suitable for rural areas with weak network conditions and features fall detection, emergency help, tiered alarm linkage, and autonomous operation during network and power outages, supporting zero-operation use. It achieves accurate fall recognition, seamless zero-operation use, reliable alarm information transmission, multi-level linkage for rapid rescue, and autonomous operation during network and power outages. It is highly compatible with the usage habits of elderly people living alone and meets the needs of rural areas with weak network conditions and unstable power supply. It can also be integrated into a comprehensive management system for large-scale deployment.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the fields of Internet of Things sensing, smart wearable devices and home safety monitoring technology, specifically a fall detection and smart alarm device for elderly people living alone. Background Technology

[0002] As the aging population continues to deepen, the number of elderly people living alone or in empty nests is increasing year by year. Falls are the main sudden accident that threatens the personal safety of this group. At the same time, elderly people living alone in rural areas also face problems such as sudden illness, long periods of inactivity, and the inability to detect safety risks in their home environment in a timely manner. They urgently need reliable intelligent monitoring and alarm equipment to provide safety protection.

[0003] Existing fall detection and alarm devices and monitoring devices for elderly people living alone are difficult to adapt to the usage habits of elderly people living alone and the actual needs of rural scenarios, and have many technical shortcomings: First, most devices rely on Wi-Fi. The equipment suffers from several issues: First, communication and continuous mains power are limited. In rural and remote areas, poor signal coverage and unstable power supply make it difficult to guarantee the real-time and reliability of alarm information, resulting in low overall equipment reliability. Second, fall detection often relies on a single accelerometer, which can easily misinterpret everyday actions such as bending over, squatting, sitting, and lying down as falls, leading to a high false alarm rate and severely impacting the user experience. Third, alarm mechanisms are often limited to sending reminders to the caregiver's mobile phone, lacking multi-level linkage capabilities such as on-site audio-visual warnings, village-level grid member coordination, and unified emergency platform handling, resulting in untimely and incomplete responses after anomalies occur. Fourth, the equipment has high power consumption and short battery life, requiring frequent charging. Some devices are complex to operate, making them unsuitable for elderly people with limited mobility or weak smart device operation skills to operate independently or use for extended periods. Fifth, the monitoring dimensions are limited, focusing only on fall events or single environmental indicators, resulting in weak non-intrusive monitoring capabilities and an inability to establish an activity baseline for adaptive early warning. Sixth, the equipment data is isolated, making it difficult to connect with comprehensive management systems such as safe villages and smart elderly care, hindering the formation of a unified supervision and emergency response system and making lightweight and large-scale implementation difficult.

[0004] To address the aforementioned issues, existing technologies fail to provide a low-cost, highly reliable, weak-network adaptive, zero-operation, and multi-level linkage fall detection and intelligent alarm solution. This makes it difficult to meet the safety monitoring needs of elderly people living alone, and also fails to adapt to the large-scale deployment requirements of rural scenarios. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop an intelligent alarm device that integrates accurate fall detection, zero-operation monitoring, multi-level linkage rescue, and self-regulation in the event of network or power outages, in order to solve the pain points of existing technologies. Summary of the Invention

[0005] To address the shortcomings of existing technologies, this invention provides a fall detection and intelligent alarm device for elderly people living alone. It solves the technical problems of existing devices, such as reliance on network power, high false alarm rate, simple alarm mechanism, complex operation, limited monitoring dimensions, and inability to adapt to rural weak network scenarios. It achieves the technical effects of accurate fall recognition, zero-operation seamless use, reliable alarm information transmission, multi-level linkage for rapid rescue, and autonomous operation during network and power outages. It is highly compatible with the usage habits of elderly people living alone, and can also meet the usage needs of rural weak network and unstable power supply scenarios. It can also be connected to a global management system for large-scale promotion.

[0006] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention is implemented through the following technical solution: a fall detection and intelligent alarm device for elderly people living alone, comprising a wearable main module, a microcontroller unit, a multi-axis attitude sensing unit, a dual-mode wireless communication unit, a local sound and light alarm unit, a manual emergency help button, a power management unit, and an offline storage unit. Each functional unit is electrically connected to the microcontroller unit. The device is adapted to rural weak network scenarios and has fall detection, emergency help, hierarchical linkage alarm, and autonomous operation functions in the event of network or power outages, supporting zero-operation use.

[0007] Preferably, the multi-axis attitude sensing unit includes a three-axis accelerometer, a three-axis gyroscope, and an attitude angle calculation module, used to collect human motion acceleration, angular velocity, body tilt angle, and attitude change characteristic data, providing multi-dimensional sensing data for fall detection.

[0008] Preferably, the microcontroller unit incorporates a multi-sensor fusion fall recognition algorithm, which comprehensively judges the resultant acceleration, rate of change of attitude angle, impact characteristics, and static recovery state to accurately distinguish between daily behaviors such as walking, bending over, squatting, sitting, and lying down from real fall events; the microcontroller unit can establish a baseline of the elderly's daily activities and achieve adaptive early warning by learning activity patterns to reduce the false alarm rate.

[0009] Preferably, the dual-mode wireless communication unit adopts an automatic switching mode between NB-IoT and 4GCat.1. In areas with weak network conditions, NB-IoT is used first to maintain a long connection and reduce power consumption. When an alarm is triggered, it automatically switches to 4GCat.1 to ensure that alarm information is uploaded quickly. When the network is abnormal, the alarm data and device status are cached in the offline storage unit and automatically retransmitted to the management platform after communication is restored.

[0010] Preferably, the local audible and visual alarm unit includes a high-volume buzzer and a high-brightness flashing LED. When a fall is detected or a manual request for help is triggered, an audible and visual warning is activated on-site to alert nearby personnel and provide on-site assistance. The dual-mode wireless communication unit can push alarm information to family terminals, grassroots management terminals, and emergency rescue platforms according to the level of danger, realizing a three-level linkage alarm.

[0011] Preferably, the danger levels are divided into general reminders, emergency warnings, and emergency rescues. General reminders are pushed to family member terminals, emergency warnings are pushed to family member terminals and grassroots management terminals, and emergency rescues are pushed to family member terminals, grassroots management terminals, and emergency rescue platforms.

[0012] Preferably, the manual emergency help button has a physical anti-accidental touch structure and adopts a long press trigger mechanism. It is used for elderly people to actively seek help in non-fall-related emergency situations. After being triggered, the alarm process is the same as the automatic fall alarm.

[0013] Preferably, the power management unit includes a lithium battery, a charging management chip, and a low-power wake-up mechanism, supporting low-power standby operation, automatic low-battery reminder, and abnormal power consumption protection functions, so as to achieve long battery life and meet the zero-operation needs of elderly users.

[0014] Preferably, the offline storage unit is used to cache fall alarm events, human posture data, and device operating status data when the network is interrupted. The cached data can be automatically retransmitted after the network is restored through the dual-mode wireless communication unit to ensure that the data is not lost. The microcontroller unit can independently complete data processing and anomaly detection locally without relying on real-time cloud computing.

[0015] Preferably, the device supports independent operation mode, and can also be connected to the Smart Village and Smart Elderly Care Intelligent Monitoring and Management System through standard communication protocols to realize unified device registration, status monitoring, alarm reception, work order dispatch and historical data query.

[0016] This invention provides a fall detection and intelligent alarm device for elderly people living alone. It has the following beneficial effects: 1. The device of the present invention has a lightweight wearable structure, which works immediately upon power-on and requires no complicated settings or operations from the elderly. The physical anti-accidental touch help button takes into account both ease of operation and the need to prevent accidental touch, perfectly adapting to the usage habits of elderly people with limited mobility and weak ability to operate smart devices.

[0017] 2. The present invention provides triple protection through multi-axis attitude sensing, fusion algorithm and activity baseline model. The fusion algorithm is combined to comprehensively judge fall events, and at the same time, it can establish the daily activity baseline of the elderly to realize adaptive early warning, effectively distinguish between daily behavior and real falls, greatly reduce the false alarm rate and improve detection accuracy.

[0018] 3. The dual-mode communication automatic switching and offline cache retransmission of this invention ensure that alarm information is not lost in rural weak network environments; at the same time, low power consumption, long battery life and local independent operation ensure that core functions are maintained when the network is disconnected or the power is cut off.

[0019] 4. The local sound and light warning and three-level linkage alarm of the present invention, when triggered by a fall or request for help, activates the sound and light warning on site to enable surrounding assistance, and at the same time links family members, grassroots management and emergency rescue platform according to the level of danger, forming a three-level linkage rescue mechanism.

[0020] 5. The device of the present invention can operate independently to meet the monitoring needs of a single elderly person, or it can be connected to the smart village and smart elderly care full-domain intelligent monitoring and management system through standard communication protocols to realize unified device registration, status monitoring, alarm reception, and work order dispatch, which facilitates large-scale deployment and unified management in rural and urban areas.

[0021] 6. The device of the present invention not only realizes accurate fall monitoring and alarm, but also realizes non-intrusive monitoring of the daily activities of the elderly through the activity baseline model, provides early warning of abnormal states such as prolonged inactivity, and supports active emergency assistance. It takes into account both passive monitoring and active assistance, covering multiple safety monitoring needs of elderly people living alone. Attached Figure Description

[0022] Figure 1. Schematic diagram of the overall structure of the device of the present invention; Figure 2. Schematic diagram of the fall detection and alarm process of the device of the present invention; Figure 3. Schematic diagram of the three-level linkage rescue and data transmission of the device of the present invention.

[0023] The components include: 1. Wearable main module; 2. Microcontroller unit; 3. Multi-axis attitude sensing unit; 31. Three-axis accelerometer; 32. Three-axis gyroscope; 33. Attitude angle calculation module; 4. Dual-mode wireless communication unit; 5. Local sound and light alarm unit; 51. High-loudness buzzer; 52. High-brightness strobe LED; 6. Manual emergency help button; 7. Power management unit; 71. Lithium battery; 72. Charging management chip; 73. Low-power wake-up mechanism; 8. Offline storage unit. Detailed Implementation

[0024] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present invention, and not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0025] Example: Please see the appendix Figure 1 - Appendix Figure 3 This invention provides a fall detection and intelligent alarm device for elderly people living alone, comprising: The multi-axis attitude sensing unit 3 includes a three-axis accelerometer 31, a three-axis gyroscope 32, and an attitude angle calculation module 33, which are used to collect human motion acceleration, angular velocity, body tilt angle, and attitude change characteristic data to provide multi-dimensional sensing data for fall detection.

[0026] The microcontroller unit 2 is equipped with a multi-sensor fusion fall recognition algorithm. By comprehensively judging the resultant acceleration, rate of change of attitude angle, impact characteristics and static recovery state, it can accurately distinguish between daily behaviors such as walking, bending over, squatting, sitting, and lying down and real fall events. The microcontroller unit 2 can establish a baseline of the elderly's daily activities and achieve adaptive early warning by learning activity patterns, thereby reducing the false alarm rate.

[0027] The dual-mode wireless communication unit 4 adopts a dual-mode automatic switching mode of NB-IoT and 4GCat.1. In areas with weak network, NB-IoT is used first to maintain a long connection and reduce power consumption. When an alarm is triggered, it automatically switches to 4GCat.1 to ensure that alarm information is uploaded quickly. When the network is abnormal, the alarm data and device status are cached in the offline storage unit 8 and automatically retransmitted to the management platform after communication is restored.

[0028] The local audible and visual alarm unit 5 includes a high-loudness buzzer 51 and a high-brightness flashing LED 52. When a fall is detected or a manual request for help is triggered, an audible and visual warning is activated on-site to alert nearby personnel and provide on-site assistance. The dual-mode wireless communication unit 4 can push alarm information to family terminal, grassroots management terminal, and emergency rescue platform according to the danger level, realizing three-level linkage alarm. The danger levels are divided into general reminder, emergency warning, and critical rescue. General reminder is pushed to family terminal, emergency warning is pushed to family terminal and grassroots management terminal, and critical rescue is pushed to family terminal, grassroots management terminal, and emergency rescue platform.

[0029] The manual emergency help button 6 has a physical anti-accidental touch structure and adopts a long press trigger mechanism. It is used for elderly people to actively seek help in non-fall-related emergency situations. After being triggered, the alarm process is the same as the automatic fall alarm.

[0030] The power management unit 7 includes a lithium battery 71, a charging management chip 72, and a low-power wake-up mechanism 73. It supports low-power standby operation, automatic low-battery reminder, and abnormal power consumption protection, enabling the device to have a long battery life and meet the zero-operation needs of elderly users.

[0031] The offline storage unit 8 is used to cache fall alarm events, human posture data, and device operating status data when the network is interrupted. The cached data can be automatically retransmitted after the network is restored through the dual-mode wireless communication unit 4 to ensure that the data is not lost. The microcontroller unit 2 can independently complete data processing and anomaly judgment locally without relying on real-time cloud computing.

[0032] The device supports independent operation mode and can also be connected to the smart village and smart elderly care full-domain intelligent monitoring and management system through standard communication protocols to realize unified device registration, status monitoring, alarm reception, work order dispatch and historical data query. All functional units are located on the wearable main module 1 and are electrically connected to the microcontroller unit. The device is suitable for rural weak network scenarios and has fall detection, emergency assistance, hierarchical linkage alarm, and self-operation functions in the event of network or power failure. It supports zero-operation use.

[0033] The following is a description with reference to specific embodiments: Example 1: This device accurately detects accidental falls in elderly individuals at home and features a three-level alarm system. Elderly individuals living alone wear this device as a wristband. Upon power-on, the device automatically completes sensor calibration and network registration, entering a low-power normal monitoring state. The microcontroller unit 2 continuously collects the elderly person's posture data through the multi-axis posture sensing unit 3, gradually establishing a baseline for their daily activities. If an elderly person falls while walking at home and is unable to stand or recover independently, the three-axis accelerometer 31 of the multi-axis posture sensing unit 3 collects impact data indicating a sudden increase in resultant acceleration, and the three-axis gyroscope 32 collects abrupt changes in body posture angles. The posture angle calculation module 33 then calculates this data and transmits the human posture feature data to the microcontroller unit 2.

[0034] The microcontroller unit 2 uses a multi-sensor fusion fall recognition algorithm to comprehensively judge the resultant acceleration, rate of change of attitude angle, impact characteristics, and prolonged static state without recovery after a fall. It excludes everyday behaviors such as bending over or squatting, accurately identifying it as a genuine fall event with an emergency warning level. Immediately, the microcontroller unit 2 activates the local audible and visual alarm unit 5. A high-volume buzzer 51 emits a continuous alarm sound, and a high-brightness flashing LED 52 emits a flashing red warning light, providing on-site audible and visual alerts. Simultaneously, it caches the fall alarm information, the elderly person's home location information, and human posture data to the offline storage unit 8.

[0035] The dual-mode wireless communication unit 4 automatically switches from NB-IoT mode to 4GCat.1 mode, quickly pushing fall alarm information and location information to family members' terminals and village-level grid workers at the grassroots management terminal. After receiving the notification on their mobile phones, family members immediately contact the elderly person by phone. The grid worker arrives at the elderly person's home within 5 minutes to conduct an on-site verification. Finding that the elderly person is unable to stand up on their own after the fall, the grid worker immediately performs a simple physical examination and care for the elderly person, and reports the situation to the management platform through the grassroots management terminal. At the same time, the grid worker contacts the township health center to provide professional treatment at home.

[0036] After the rescue and response are completed, the grid worker enters information such as the response method and its effect into the management platform. The platform then feeds back the results to the family member's terminal. The microcontroller unit 2 records the entire process of the fall incident and optimizes the elderly person's daily activity baseline model based on this incident to improve the accuracy of subsequent early warnings. If the rural network signal is interrupted when the fall occurs, the dual-mode wireless communication unit 4 caches all alarm data to the offline storage unit 8 and automatically retransmits it to the management platform after the network is restored, ensuring that alarm information is not lost.

[0037] Example 2: For elderly individuals experiencing sudden illness, manual emergency assistance and rescue are provided. If an elderly person living alone experiences dizziness, numbness in limbs, or other symptoms while wearing this device, and is unable to move independently without falling, they can trigger an active emergency call signal by pressing and holding the manual emergency call button 6 on the wearable main module 1. Upon receiving the call signal, the microcontroller unit 2 determines it to be an emergency and immediately activates the local audible and visual alarm unit 5 to issue a warning. Simultaneously, it caches the emergency call information and the elderly person's location information to the offline storage unit 8.

[0038] The dual-mode wireless communication unit 4 simultaneously pushes the request for help to the family's terminal, the grassroots management terminal, the emergency rescue platform, the township health center, and the fire department. Village-level grid workers arrive at the elderly person's home immediately to provide on-site care, while emergency medical personnel from the health center arrive promptly to provide treatment. The fire department provides on-site emergency support. After the incident is resolved, relevant personnel enter the results into the management platform, forming a complete rescue loop. The microcontroller unit 2 records the entire process data of this request for help incident.

[0039] Example 3: The microcontroller unit 2, which monitors and alerts elderly individuals for prolonged inactivity, established a baseline of the elderly person's daily activities based on prior data collection: the elderly person wakes up around 7:30 AM daily, engages in simple walks around the house in the morning, takes a nap for about one hour at noon, and moves around in the yard in the evening. On one particular day, the device detected that the elderly person had not shown any activity by 9:00 AM. The multi-axis attitude sensing unit 3 continuously collected data showing the elderly person in a stationary, inactive state. The microcontroller unit 2, through analysis of the daily activity baseline model, ruled out normal situations such as a nap and determined it to be an abnormal state requiring a general alert.

[0040] The microcontroller unit 2 pushes abnormal information about the elderly's prolonged inactivity to the family member's terminal only through the dual-mode wireless communication unit 4. After receiving the reminder, the family member immediately contacts the elderly via video call and finds that the elderly is resting in bed due to a cold. The family member goes to the elderly's home in a timely manner to take care of them and reports the elderly's physical condition to the management platform. The microcontroller unit 2 adaptively adjusts the daily activity baseline and warning threshold according to the changes in the elderly's physical condition.

[0041] Example 4: In rural areas with weak network signals and occasional power outages, the device operates autonomously under these conditions. In remote rural areas, network signals are unstable, and power outages are frequent. When the elderly person wearing the device is in normal monitoring mode, the dual-mode wireless communication unit 4 prioritizes NB-IoT mode to maintain a long-term connection with the management platform. The device remains in low-power standby mode, requiring no external power supply. During brief network interruptions, the device's microcontroller unit 2 continues fall detection and daily activity monitoring. All sensor data and abnormal information are cached in the offline storage unit 8 and automatically retransmitted after network recovery. When the mains power is interrupted, the device is continuously powered by the built-in lithium battery 71. The low-power wake-up mechanism of the power management unit 7 ensures that the device can maintain core monitoring and alarm capabilities for at least 7 days in battery-powered mode, fully realizing autonomous operation in the event of network or power outages, ensuring uninterrupted safety monitoring for the elderly.

[0042] In this embodiment, the wearable main module 1 of the device weighs ≤20g, making it comfortable to wear without feeling heavy; the standby power consumption is ≤10μA, the battery life is ≥15 days under normal use, and ≥30 days under low power mode; the fall detection accuracy is ≥98%, and the false alarm rate is ≤1%; the dual-mode wireless communication unit 4 supports full network compatibility and can be adapted to rural network environments in different regions of the country; the device can access the Safe Village Smart Monitoring and Management System through the MQTT standard communication protocol to achieve unified management and large-scale deployment of the equipment, while supporting functions such as real-time monitoring of equipment status, historical data query, and alarm work order dispatch, which facilitates daily supervision and emergency response by grassroots management departments.

[0043] Although embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes, modifications, substitutions and alterations can be made to these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A fall detection and intelligent alarm device for elderly people living alone, characterized in that, The device includes a wearable main module (1), a microcontroller unit (2), a multi-axis attitude sensing unit (3), a dual-mode wireless communication unit (4), a local sound and light alarm unit (5), a manual emergency help button (6), a power management unit (7), and an offline storage unit (8). Each functional unit is electrically connected to the microcontroller unit. The device is suitable for rural weak network scenarios and has functions such as fall detection, emergency help, hierarchical linkage alarm, and autonomous operation in the event of network or power failure. It supports zero-operation use.

2. The fall detection and intelligent alarm device for elderly people living alone according to claim 1, characterized in that, The multi-axis attitude sensing unit (3) includes a three-axis accelerometer (31), a three-axis gyroscope (32), and an attitude angle calculation module (33), which are used to collect human motion acceleration, angular velocity, body tilt angle and attitude change characteristic data, and provide multi-dimensional sensing data for fall detection.

3. A fall detection and intelligent alarm device for elderly people living alone, as described in claim 1, is characterized in that... The microcontroller unit (2) is equipped with a multi-sensor fusion fall recognition algorithm. By comprehensively judging the resultant acceleration, attitude angle change rate, impact characteristics and static recovery state, it can accurately distinguish between daily behaviors such as walking, bending over, squatting, sitting down and lying down and real fall events. The microcontroller unit (2) can establish a baseline of the elderly’s daily activities and achieve adaptive early warning by learning the activity patterns, thereby reducing the false alarm rate.

4. A fall detection and intelligent alarm device for elderly people living alone, as described in claim 1, is characterized in that... The dual-mode wireless communication unit (4) adopts the NB-IoT and 4GCat.1 dual-mode automatic switching mode. In weak network areas, NB-IoT is used first to maintain long connection and reduce power consumption. When an alarm is triggered, it automatically switches to 4GCat.1 to ensure that alarm information is uploaded quickly. When the network is abnormal, the alarm data and device status are cached in the offline storage unit (8) and automatically retransmitted to the management platform after communication is restored.

5. A fall detection and intelligent alarm device for elderly people living alone according to claim 1, characterized in that, The local sound and light alarm unit (5) includes a high-loudness buzzer (51) and a high-brightness strobe LED (52). When a fall is detected or a manual request for help is triggered, the sound and light alarm is activated on site to remind people in the surrounding area and request help on site. The dual-mode wireless communication unit (4) can push alarm information to family terminal, grassroots management terminal and emergency rescue platform according to the danger level to realize three-level linkage alarm.

6. A fall detection and intelligent alarm device for elderly people living alone, as described in claim 5, is characterized in that... The danger levels are divided into general alerts, emergency warnings, and emergency rescues. General alerts are pushed to family member terminals, emergency warnings are pushed to family member terminals and grassroots management terminals, and emergency rescues are pushed to family member terminals, grassroots management terminals, and emergency rescue platforms.

7. A fall detection and intelligent alarm device for elderly people living alone, as described in claim 1, is characterized in that... The manual emergency help button (6) is a physical anti-accidental touch structure and adopts a long press trigger mechanism. It is used for elderly people to actively seek help in non-fall emergency situations. After triggering, the alarm process is the same as the automatic fall alarm.

8. A fall detection and intelligent alarm device for elderly people living alone according to claim 1, characterized in that, The power management unit (7) includes a lithium battery (71), a charging management chip (72), and a low-power wake-up mechanism (73), which supports standby low-power operation, low battery automatic reminder, and abnormal power consumption protection functions, so as to realize the device's long battery life and meet the zero-operation needs of elderly people.

9. A fall detection and intelligent alarm device for elderly people living alone according to claim 1, characterized in that, The offline storage unit (8) is used to cache fall alarm events, human posture data, and device operating status data when the network is interrupted. The cached data can be automatically retransmitted after the network is restored through the dual-mode wireless communication unit (4) to ensure that the data is not lost. The microcontroller unit (2) can independently complete data processing and anomaly judgment locally without relying on real-time cloud computing.

10. A fall detection and intelligent alarm device for elderly people living alone according to claim 1, characterized in that, The device supports independent operation mode and can also be connected to the Smart Village and Smart Elderly Care Intelligent Monitoring and Management System through standard communication protocols to realize unified device registration, status monitoring, alarm reception, work order dispatch and historical data query.

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