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Fall prevention

a technology for users and devices, applied in the field of falling prevention, can solve problems such as significant injuries and inability to prevent falling

Inactive Publication Date: 2012-04-19
KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS ELECTRONICS NV
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0013]In an alternative embodiment, the step of identifying a step boundary comprises identifying clusters of contiguous measurements in the collected measurements in which the magnitude of each of the measurements exceeds a threshold, apart from a subset of the measurements whose magnitude is less than the threshold, provided that the subset covers a time period less than a time threshold.
[0014]In another alternative embodiment, the step of identifying a step boundary comprises identifying

Problems solved by technology

Falls affect millions of people each year and result in significant injuries, particularly in the elderly.
Although these fall detectors are useful, they do not actually prevent falling, and only provide a warning or alarm in the event that a user already has fallen.

Method used

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Embodiment Construction

[0033]Although the invention will be described in terms of a method and device that is used for fall prevention, it will be appreciated that the method and device can be provided with additional functionality so that the device can also be used as a fall detector.

[0034]In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the fall prevention device comprises a single unit that is worn by a user.

[0035]FIG. 1 shows a fall prevention device 2 in the form of a pendant being worn around the neck of a user 4 and FIG. 2 shows the fall prevention device 2 in more detail.

[0036]The fall prevention device 2 comprises three sensors, an accelerometer 6, a magnetometer 8 and a gyroscope 10, which are connected to a processor 12. The processor 12 receives measurements from the sensors 6, 8, 10 and processes the measurements to determine if the user 4 of the fall prevention device 2 is at a higher risk of falling.

[0037]In particular, the processor 12 processes the measurements from the accelerometer 6, magne...

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Abstract

There is provided a method of determining a fall risk of a user, the method comprising collecting measurements of the motion of the user, estimating a value for a parameter related to the gait of the user from the measurements, and determining a fall risk for the user from a comparison of the estimated value with a normal value for the parameter determined from motion of the user in which the user is at their normal risk of falling.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The invention relates to a method and device for monitoring the motion of a user, and in particular to a method and device for determining a fall risk for a user.BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION[0002]Falls affect millions of people each year and result in significant injuries, particularly in the elderly. In fact, it has been estimated that falls are one of the top three causes of death in elderly people.[0003]A fall is defined as a sudden, uncontrolled and unintentional downward displacement of the body to the ground. There are currently some fall detection systems available that detect these falls and allow the user to obtain assistance manually or automatically if a fall occurs. Exemplary fall detectors can comprise personal help buttons (PHBs) or worn and / or environment-based automatic detectors.[0004]Automatic fall detectors comprise one or a set of sensors that measure the movement of the user, and a processor that compares the measured or proc...

Claims

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Application Information

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IPC IPC(8): G06F15/00G01P15/00
CPCA61B5/1117A61B5/7282A61B5/7264G08B21/0446G16H50/20G01C22/006G01P15/00
Inventor TEN KATE, WARNER RUDOLPH THEOPHILE
Owner KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS ELECTRONICS NV
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