Old people fall-prevention intelligent monitoring waistband with posture correction and active intervention function

Abstract

This invention relates to an intelligent fall prevention monitoring waist belt for the elderly with posture correction and active intervention functions, belonging to the field of care equipment technology. It includes a waist belt body, a sensing module, and a control module. The waist belt body has several airbags arranged around the waist circumference of the human body, and each airbag is connected to an inflation module. The control module is electrically connected to the inflation modules and is used to control the inflation time and pressure of each airbag. The sensing module includes several angle sensors and acceleration sensors, which are electrically connected to the control module. The angle sensors collect the tilt angle of the human torso and upload it to the control module, and the acceleration sensors collect acceleration and upload it to the control module. The control module is used to determine whether the tilt angle exceeds an angle threshold and for a certain duration. The control module calculates a comprehensive risk coefficient based on the duration and acceleration, and when the comprehensive risk coefficient is greater than the threshold, the control module instructs the airbags to inflate.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention belongs to the field of nursing equipment technology, specifically relating to an intelligent monitoring waist belt for preventing falls in the elderly with posture correction and active intervention functions. Background Technology

[0002] With economic development and the accelerated evolution of an aging society, falls have become the leading cause of injury-related death among people aged 65 and above in my country, making elderly care an increasingly pressing social issue.

[0003] Elderly people have weak resistance to falls and need extra cushioning when they fall. To address this, Chinese Patent CN209694100U discloses a wearable protective device with an emergency call function, including a waist belt, cushioning airbags wrapped around the left and right sides and back, a control system, a touch screen, a body balance monitoring unit, an emergency call button, a gas generator, a Bluetooth system, a battery, and system indicator lights; the gas generator is connected to the cushioning airbags; the body balance monitoring unit is connected to the control system; the body balance monitoring unit includes: an accelerometer and a tilt sensor. Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of this utility model are: (1) It can provide comprehensive protection for the elderly, including the spine, etc. (2) Once the elderly fall, they can call for help in time. (3) The system has indicator lights, which can immediately determine whether the system is operating normally.

[0004] While the aforementioned solutions include both body balance monitoring and airbag intervention mechanisms in case of accidents, they focus on "fall alarms after a fall" and lack the ability to intervene in posture in real time before a fall occurs. They also often overlook the combination of the physiological characteristics of the elderly (such as slow gait, weak posture adjustment ability, and susceptibility to chain reactions caused by slight imbalance) and the complex home environment (such as carpet edges and low obstacles). For example, elderly people often experience a relatively long period of pre-fall imbalance warnings (such as continuous body tilting and disordered gait frequency but without falling to the ground). Traditional algorithms based on acceleration thresholds are prone to missing or false alarms. Therefore, there is a need for an elderly fall prevention smart monitoring belt that takes into account the physical characteristics of the elderly, detects falls accurately, and has posture correction and active intervention functions. Summary of the Invention

[0005] To address the aforementioned problems in the existing technology, this invention provides an intelligent fall prevention monitoring belt for the elderly with posture correction and active intervention functions, which is characterized by taking care of the physical characteristics of the elderly and accurate detection.

[0006] The objective of this invention can be achieved through the following technical solutions: An intelligent monitoring belt for preventing the elderly from falling with posture correction and active intervention functions, including a belt body, a sensing module and a control module. The belt body is provided with a plurality of air bags along the circumference of the human waist. Each of the plurality of air bags is connected to an inflation module. The control module is electrically connected to the inflation module and is used to control the inflation time and pressure of each air bag; The sensing module includes a plurality of angle sensors and acceleration sensors. The plurality of angle sensors and acceleration sensors are electrically connected to the control module. The angle sensors are used to collect the inclination angle of the human torso and upload it to the control module. The acceleration sensors are used to collect the acceleration and upload it to the control module; The control module is used to judge whether the inclination angle exceeds the angle threshold and collect the time when the angle threshold is exceeded, and record this time as the duration. The control module is used to calculate the comprehensive risk coefficient according to the duration and the acceleration, and when the comprehensive risk coefficient is greater than the threshold, the control module instructs the air bag to inflate.

[0007] As a preferred technical solution of the present invention, the control module is used to calculate the comprehensive risk coefficient R = k1×t / t0 + k2×|a| / a0 according to the duration t and the acceleration a, where t0 is a pre-input duration reference value, a0 is a pre-input acceleration reference value, k1 and k2 are pre-input weight coefficients, and k1 + k2 = 1.

[0008] As a preferred technical solution of the present invention, when the control module judges that the comprehensive risk coefficient R is greater than the preset threshold R0, it judges whether it is greater than the first threshold. If it is less than the first threshold, the control module starts slow inflation. If it is greater than the first threshold, the control module starts fast inflation.

[0009] As a preferred technical solution of the present invention, the control module is pre-input with a first threshold R1. When R0 ≤ R < R1, the control module instructs the unilateral air bag to be pre-inflated to the pressure P1, P1 = 0.3×Pmax; when R ≥ R1, the control module instructs the air bags to be pressurized together to the pressure Pmax, where Pmax is the maximum safe inflation pressure of the air bag.

[0010] As a preferred technical solution of the present invention, the sensing module is also used to monitor the horizontal speed and upload it to the control module. The control module judges whether the horizontal speed exceeds the threshold, and when it exceeds the threshold, it corrects the value of R1 downward.

[0011] As a preferred technical solution of the present invention, the sensing module uploads the horizontal speed V to the control module. The control module corrects R1 to A1 times, where A1 = V0 / V×c, V0 is the horizontal speed reference threshold, and c is a pre-input correction coefficient.

[0012] As a preferred technical solution of the present invention, it further includes a reminder module, which is electrically connected to the control module, and the control module instructs the reminder module to give a reminder and voice prompt when R≥R0.

[0013] As a preferred technical solution of the present invention, it further includes a communication module, which is electrically connected to the control module and is used to pack the fall risk event data, R value sequence, airbag inflation state and timestamp and upload them to the cloud through the NB-IoT protocol when R>R0.

[0014] The beneficial effects of the present invention are as follows: (1) By fusing the data of the angle sensor and the acceleration sensor to calculate the comprehensive risk coefficient, compared with a single sensor modality, the recognition sensitivity to persistent slight imbalance is improved, the misjudgment probability is reduced, and the recognition accuracy of the precursor of falling is improved, thereby improving the fall monitoring effect; (2) When the comprehensive risk coefficient R satisfies R0≤R<R1, the control module instructs the unilateral airbag to be pre-inflated to the pressure P1, P1 = 0.3×Pmax; when R≥R1, the control module instructs the airbag to be pressurized together to the pressure Pmax, where Pmax is the maximum safe inflation pressure of the airbag, forming a hierarchical airbag intervention mechanism, avoiding discomfort caused by over-inflation in the early stage of tilting, and at the same time inflating in time to act as a buffer when the fall risk is large; (3) The horizontal speed v is introduced as a dynamic correction factor. When the movement is fast, the fall risk is large, and it is easier to enter the high-risk state, the value of the first threshold is lowered, so that the comprehensive risk coefficient is more likely to fall into the high-risk interval and trigger full inflation, avoiding the delay of intervention caused by the system not having enough time to fully inflate. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] For the convenience of those skilled in the art to understand, the present invention will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0016] Figure 1 It is the control loop block diagram of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0017] In order to further elaborate on the technical means and effects adopted by the present invention to achieve the predetermined invention purpose, the following will describe in detail the specific embodiments, structures, features and their effects of the present invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and preferred embodiments.

[0018] Please refer to Figure 1 , an intelligent monitoring belt for preventing the elderly from falling with posture correction and active intervention functions, including a belt body, a sensing module and a control module. A plurality of airbags are arranged circumferentially along the human waist on the belt body. Each of the plurality of airbags is connected to an inflation module. The control module is electrically connected to the inflation module and is used to control the inflation time and pressure of each airbag; Specifically, each airbag is divided into an upper airbag and a lower airbag. The axis of the torso surrounded by the waist belt is taken as the reference axis, and the upper airbag and the lower airbag are arranged vertically along the reference axis. The inflation module includes at least one storage airbag, a micro air pump, a solenoid valve, and a drive circuit; the input end of the micro air pump is connected to the storage airbag, and the output end of the micro air pump is connected to each airbag via the solenoid valve. The control module controls the opening and closing sequence and duty cycle of the solenoid valve to achieve precise control of the inflation pressure of each airbag. The sensing module includes several angle sensors and acceleration sensors, which are electrically connected to the control module. The angle sensors are used to collect the tilt angle of the human torso and upload it to the control module, and the acceleration sensors are used to collect the acceleration and upload it to the control module. The control module is used to determine whether the tilt angle exceeds the angle threshold and to collect the time when the angle exceeds the threshold. This time is recorded as the duration. The control module is used to calculate the comprehensive risk coefficient based on the duration and acceleration. When the comprehensive risk coefficient is greater than the threshold, the control module commands the airbag to inflate. When the control module relies on a single parameter to determine the fall state, it is easily affected by transient disturbances and may trigger intervention erroneously. In this solution, for example, when the acceleration transient disturbance is too large, but the duration is short or zero, the control module makes a comprehensive judgment based on the duration and acceleration, which weakens the influence of transient acceleration and ensures that intervention is only triggered when the posture imbalance continues to accumulate and the dynamic acceleration shows fall characteristics. By fusing data from angle and acceleration sensors, a comprehensive risk coefficient is calculated. Compared to a single sensor mode, this improves the sensitivity to identifying persistent minor imbalances, reduces the probability of false alarms, and increases the accuracy of identifying fall precursors, thereby improving the effectiveness of fall monitoring. Specifically, the control module is used to calculate the comprehensive risk coefficient R = k1×t / t0 + k2×|a| / a0 based on the duration t and acceleration a, where t0 is the pre-inputted duration reference value, a0 is the pre-inputted acceleration reference value, k1 and k2 are pre-inputted weighting coefficients, and k1+k2=1; Since acceleration is a vector, and acceleration may be negative when falling, its absolute value |a| is used in the calculation. When the duration is long, it means that the body has been in a tilted position for a long time, and the risk of falling is significantly increased due to imbalance; when the absolute value of acceleration is large, it indicates that the trunk is undergoing violent dynamic changes, which is consistent with the acceleration characteristics in the early stage of a fall; at this time, R is large, triggering the airbag inflation command. In some cases, such as in the early stage of body tilt imbalance, over-inflation can cause discomfort during wearing, and there is a probability of damaging the airbag when the airbag is instantly filled, and it can also cause contusions to the user. Therefore, a graded response mechanism needs to be introduced. For this purpose, when the control module determines that the comprehensive risk coefficient R is greater than the preset threshold R0, it determines whether it is greater than the first threshold. If it is less than the first threshold, the control module starts slow inflation. If it is greater than the first threshold, the control module starts fast inflation; Specifically, the control module pre-enters the first threshold R1. When R0 ≤ R < R1, the control module instructs the airbag on the tilted side to be slowly inflated to the pressure P1, where P1 = 0.3×Pmax; when R ≥ R1, the control module instructs all airbags to be quickly inflated to the pressure Pmax, where Pmax is the maximum safe inflation pressure of the airbag pre-entered; For example, the control module pre-divides the airbag into four zones: front, back, left, and right. When the sensing module monitors that the user is tilting to the left and R0 ≤ R < R1, the control module instructs the left airbag to be pre-inflated to the pressure P1; The values of P1 and Pmax have been verified by ergonomic experiments to ensure that they meet the bearing threshold of the L2-L4 segments of the lumbar spine and the skin contact pressure threshold; When slow inflation is carried out, the control module instructs the inflation module to inflate at the speed S1. When fast inflation is carried out, the control module instructs the inflation module to inflate at the speed S2, and S2 ≥ 1.5×S1, where S1 and S2 are pre-entered constants; By controlling the control module to instruct the unilateral airbag to be pre-inflated to the pressure P1, where P1 = 0.3×Pmax when the comprehensive risk coefficient R satisfies R0 ≤ R < R1; when R ≥ R1, the control module instructs the airbags to cooperate to pressurize to the pressure Pmax, where Pmax is the maximum safe inflation pressure of the airbag, a graded airbag intervention mechanism is formed to avoid discomfort during wearing caused by over-inflation in the early stage of tilt, and at the same time, it can be inflated in time to act as a buffer when the fall risk is relatively large.

[0019] The fall risk caused by the user's different actions is different. For example, when the user moves quickly, the probability of falling is significantly higher than that in the static or slow walking state, and the fall process is faster at this time, and the time window for the belt to intervene is shorter. If the graded airbag intervention action is slow at this time, it will cause the airbag not to be inflated in time when falling and lose its protective effect; therefore, the sensing module is also used to monitor the horizontal speed and upload it to the control module, and the control module determines whether the horizontal speed exceeds the threshold, and corrects the value of R1 downward when it exceeds the threshold; Specifically, the sensing module uploads the horizontal speed V to the control module, and the control module corrects R1 to A1 times, where A1 = V0 / V×c, V0 is the horizontal speed reference threshold, c is the pre-entered correction coefficient, V ≥ V0, and when V < V0, the control module takes V = V0; When V≤V0, A1=1, and R1 remains unchanged; when V>V0, A1<1, and R1 is dynamically adjusted to A1×R1 to ensure that the rapid inflation response is triggered earlier in high-speed movement scenarios; after correction, R1′=A1×R1, so that the comprehensive risk coefficient R can trigger rapid inflation when it is smaller, thus improving the response capability before a fall. By introducing horizontal speed v as a dynamic correction factor, when the movement is faster and the risk of falling is greater, making it easier to enter a high-risk state, the value of the first threshold is lowered, making it easier for the comprehensive risk coefficient to fall into the high-risk range and trigger full inflation, thus avoiding intervention delays caused by the system not being able to fully inflate in time.

[0020] To remind users to straighten their bodies in time, a reminder module is also included. The reminder module is electrically connected to the control module. When R≥R0, the control module instructs the reminder module to provide reminders and voice prompts. Specifically, the reminder module has multiple voice prompts pre-loaded to deal with falls in different directions. The control module determines the direction of the fall based on the acceleration direction uploaded by the sensor module and plays the corresponding voice prompt for the direction of the fall. To facilitate guardians or caregivers to promptly learn about the elderly person's situation, a communication module is also included. The communication module is electrically connected to the control module and is used to package fall risk event data, R value sequence, airbag inflation status and timestamp when R>R0, and upload them to the cloud via the NB-IoT protocol. In this embodiment, an emergency contact is added to each belt in the cloud. When the R value is detected to exceed the threshold for 3 seconds, the cloud automatically pushes an alarm message to the emergency contact.

[0021] Optionally, in the early stages of a fall, a waist belt can be used to provide a force couple to the user, thereby assisting in posture correction. Specifically, when the control module detects that R0≤R, when the airbag in the direction of the fall is pre-inflated to P1, the air pressure of the upper airbag in the airbag in the direction of the fall is greater than that of the lower airbag. At the same time, the upper and lower airbags of the airbag on the opposite side of the direction of the fall are simultaneously inflated to P2, P2<P1, forming an asymmetrical support torque. For example, when tilting to the left, the control module instructs the left airbag to pre-inflate to P1 and the air pressure of the upper airbag in the left airbag is greater than that of the lower airbag. At the same time, it instructs the upper and lower airbags of the right airbag to inflate to P2 simultaneously, thereby generating a force couple that rotates to the right to assist the user in returning to the correct position.

[0022] The above description is merely a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the present invention in any way. Although the present invention has been disclosed above with reference to preferred embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Any person skilled in the art can make some modifications or alterations to the above-disclosed technical content to create equivalent embodiments without departing from the scope of the present invention. Any simple modifications, equivalent changes and alterations made to the above embodiments based on the technical essence of the present invention without departing from the scope of the present invention shall still fall within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A smart fall prevention monitoring belt for the elderly with posture correction and active intervention functions, characterized in that: The package includes a belt body, a sensing module and a control module. The belt body is provided with a plurality of air bags along the circumference of the human waist. Each of the plurality of air bags is connected to an inflation module. The control module is electrically connected to the inflation module and is used to control the inflation time and pressure of each air bag; The sensing module includes a plurality of angle sensors and acceleration sensors. The plurality of angle sensors and acceleration sensors are electrically connected to the control module. The angle sensors are used to collect the inclination angle of the human torso and upload it to the control module. The acceleration sensors are used to collect acceleration and upload it to the control module; The control module is used to judge whether the inclination angle exceeds the angle threshold and collect the time when the angle threshold is exceeded, and record this time as the duration. The control module is used to calculate the comprehensive risk coefficient according to the duration and acceleration, and when the comprehensive risk coefficient is greater than the threshold, the control module instructs the air bag to inflate.

2. The intelligent fall prevention monitoring belt for the elderly with posture correction and active intervention functions as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The control module is used to calculate the comprehensive risk coefficient R = k1×t / t0 + k2×|a| / a0 according to the duration t and acceleration a, where t0 is a pre-input reference value of the duration, a0 is a pre-input reference value of the acceleration, k1 and k2 are pre-input weight coefficients, and k1 + k2 = 1.

3. The intelligent fall prevention monitoring belt for the elderly with posture correction and active intervention functions according to claim 1, characterized in that: When the control module judges that the comprehensive risk coefficient R is greater than the preset threshold R0, it judges whether R is greater than the first threshold. If it is less than the first threshold, the control module starts slow inflation. If it is greater than the first threshold, the control module starts fast inflation.

4. The intelligent fall prevention monitoring belt for the elderly with posture correction and active intervention functions according to claim 3, characterized in that: The control module pre-inputs a first threshold R1. When R0 ≤ R < R1, the control module instructs the single-sided air bag to be slowly inflated to the pressure P1, P1 = 0.3×Pmax; when R ≥ R1, the control module instructs all air bags to be quickly inflated to the pressure Pmax, where Pmax is the maximum safe inflation pressure of the air bag.

5. The intelligent fall prevention monitoring belt for the elderly with posture correction and active intervention functions according to claim 4, characterized in that: The sensing module is also used to monitor the horizontal speed and upload it to the control module. The control module judges whether the horizontal speed exceeds the threshold, and when it exceeds the threshold, it downwardly corrects the value of R1.

6. The intelligent fall prevention monitoring belt for the elderly with posture correction and active intervention functions according to claim 6, characterized in that: The sensing module uploads the horizontal speed V to the control module, and the control module corrects R1 to A1 times, where A1 = V0 / V×c, V0 is the reference threshold of the horizontal speed, and c is a pre-input correction coefficient.

7. The intelligent fall prevention monitoring belt for the elderly with posture correction and active intervention functions according to claim 4, characterized in that: It further includes a reminder module. The reminder module is electrically connected to the control module. When R ≥ R0, the control module instructs the reminder module to give a reminder and voice prompt.

8. The intelligent fall prevention monitoring belt for the elderly with posture correction and active intervention functions according to claim 7, characterized in that: It further includes a communication module. The communication module is electrically connected to the control module and is used to, when R > R0, pack and upload the fall risk event data, R value sequence, air bag inflation status and time stamp to the cloud.

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