Program, information processing method, and information processing device

Abstract

To provide a program, or the like, for presenting the content of an event regarding each person to be monitored on which the event has occurred.SOLUTION: A computer outputs status information indicating condition of each person to be monitored or surrounding conditions of the person to be monitored in association with each of the persons to be monitored in a care facility. The computer outputs, when an event regarding the condition or the surrounding conditions of the person to be monitored has occurred, event information indicating the content of the generated event in association with the person to be monitored. The computer detects changes of the generated event from the occurrence, and outputs event information in a display mode in accordance with the detected changes.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present application relates to a program, an information processing method, and an information processing device. [Background technology]

[0002] In nursing care facilities, multiple staff members provide nursing care such as physical care and assistance with daily life to multiple care recipients. Nursing care facilities are also introducing systems that use various sensors to monitor the condition of the care recipients and promptly notify staff if a problem (an event requiring nursing care) occurs to the care recipient. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a system that monitors the occurrence of events (events requiring nursing care) in a monitored person and outputs an occurrence history of events that occurred in the monitored person in an easy-to-understand manner. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2017-174012 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The system disclosed in Patent Document 1 can present the timing of event occurrence in chronological order by displaying an indicator indicating an event at a position corresponding to the date and time of the event in time-series data that records the state of the monitored person or the surrounding environment. The system disclosed in Patent Document 1 can easily grasp the event occurrence history of a single monitored person. In addition, there is a demand for easily grasping the event occurrence history of each monitored person in the entire facility.

[0005] The present disclosure has been made in consideration of such circumstances, and its purpose is to provide a program or the like that can present the content of an event for each monitored person in which an event has occurred. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] A program according to one aspect of the present invention causes a computer to execute a process of outputting status information indicating the status of each monitored person or the status of their surroundings, in association with each of multiple monitored persons within a nursing facility, and when an event occurs related to the status of the monitored person or the status of their surroundings, outputting event information indicating the content of the event, in association with the monitored person, detecting changes since the occurrence of the event, and outputting the event information in a display format corresponding to the detected change. [Effects of the Invention]

[0007] In one aspect of the present invention, the content of an event can be presented for each monitored person in which an event occurred, and therefore the occurrence history of events that occurred for each monitored person in the entire facility can be presented. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of an information processing system. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a server and a staff terminal. [Figure 3] 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the record layout of a monitored person DB, a sensor data DB, and an event DB. FIG. [Figure 4] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a notification screen. [Figure 5] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a personal screen. [Figure 6] 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a procedure for updating a notification screen. [Figure 7] 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a procedure for updating an alert history on a notification screen. [Figure 8] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of updating an alert history. [Figure 9] 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an alert history update processing procedure according to the second embodiment. [Figure 10] 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an alert history update processing procedure according to the second embodiment. [Figure 11] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of updating an alert history. [Figure 12] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of an information processing system according to a third embodiment. [Figure 13] FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a staff terminal using an intercom. [Figure 14] FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a record layout of an event DB according to the third embodiment. [Figure 15] 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a conversation data accumulation process procedure. [Figure 16] FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a learning model. [Figure 17] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of display of conversation text data. [Figure 18] 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a procedure for generating a list of characteristics of monitoring targets to be star-set; [Figure 19] 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a recommendation processing procedure for star setting. [Figure 20] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a room list screen. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0009] Hereinafter, a program, an information processing method, and an information processing device according to the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the drawings illustrating embodiments thereof.

[0010] (Embodiment 1) 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the configuration of an information processing system. In this embodiment, an information processing system is described that monitors the condition of care recipients, such as elderly people and physically and mentally disabled people living in each room of a nursing facility, and notifies care staff when it detects a situation in which care from care staff is needed. In the following explanation, the care recipient is referred to as a monitored person, and the occurrence of a situation in which care from care staff is needed is referred to as the occurrence of an event.

[0011] The information processing system of this embodiment includes a server 10, a sensor I / F (Interface) device 20, a staff terminal 30, etc., and the server 10, the sensor I / F device 20, and the staff terminal 30 are communicatively connected via a network N. The network N may be the Internet or a LAN (Local Area Network) provided in a care facility.

[0012] A sensor I / F device 20 is provided for each monitoring target person, for example, and multiple types of sensors provided to detect the state of the monitoring target person and the state around the monitoring target person are connected to the sensor I / F device 20. In the example shown in Fig. 1, a sleep sensor 21, a toilet sensor 22, a door sensor 23, an environmental sensor 24, a human presence sensor 25, and a call button 26 are connected to the sensor I / F device 20 by wire or wirelessly. The sensor I / F device 20 is an information processing device that acquires signals from the sensors 21 to 25 and the call button 26 and transmits the acquired signals to the server 10 via the network N. When any of the sensors 21 to 25 outputs an analog signal, the sensor I / F device 20 is configured to perform A / D conversion, and transmits the signals from the sensors 21 to 25 to the server 10 after A / D conversion.

[0013] The sensor I / F device 20, the sensors 21 to 25, and the call button 26 are provided, for example, in a room (living room) where the person to be monitored lives, but the configuration is not limited to one set of the sensor I / F device 20, the sensors 21 to 25, and the call button 26 provided for one person to be monitored. For example, a configuration may be such that a plurality of sensor I / F devices 20 are provided for one person to be monitored, with the sleep sensor 21 and the toilet sensor 22 connected to separate sensor I / F devices 20. Alternatively, a configuration may be such that a plurality of environmental sensors 24 or a plurality of human presence sensors 25 are provided for one person to be monitored, with the plurality of sensors 24, 25 connected to a single sensor I / F device 20. The sensor I / F device 20 may be appropriately disposed in a position corresponding to the installation locations of the sensors 21 to 25 and the call button 26, or may be built into each of the sensors 21 to 25 and the call button 26. Although only the sensor I / F device 20 is shown for the person to be monitored B in FIG. 1, the sensors 21 to 25 and the call button 26 are also connected to this sensor I / F device 20.

[0014] One sleep sensor 21 is installed in the bed of each monitoring target. The sleep sensor 21 is, for example, a sheet-like sensor installed between the bed mattress and the sheet to detect the pulse, breathing, body movement, body temperature, etc. of the person lying on the bed. The sleep sensor 21 uses, for example, a condenser microphone, a pressure sensor using the piezo-resistive effect, a pressure sensor using the piezoelectric effect, etc. to detect the air pressure in the air mattress installed on the bed, thereby detecting the monitoring target's entry and exit (getting out of bed), heart rate, breathing state, body movement state while in bed (sleeping), etc. The sleep sensor 21 may also be installed at the head of the bed or on the wall of the room and may use a sensor that uses microwaves or infrared rays to detect the monitoring target's entry and exit of bed and the pulse, breathing, body movement, body temperature, etc. of the person lying on the bed. Based on the detected signals, the sleep sensor 21 analyzes sleep data such as getting in and out of bed, body movement, occurrence of apnea, depth of sleep, occurrence of awakening during the night (a state in which sleep is interrupted and the person is awake), heart rate, respiratory rate, body temperature, etc., and outputs the data to the sensor I / F device 20. The sleep sensor 21 may further have a configuration capable of detecting the blood pressure and oxygen saturation (blood oxygen concentration) of the person being monitored.

[0015] Toilet sensor 22 is a sensor installed in the toilet provided in the room of the person being monitored, and detects whether the toilet is in use. Toilet sensor 22 can be, for example, a sensor that detects whether someone is sitting on the toilet (toilet seat) or a human presence sensor that detects the movement of a person in the toilet, and when it detects that the toilet is in use, it outputs a detection signal indicating the detection result (toilet in use) to sensor I / F device 20. Door sensor 23 is a sensor installed on a door for entering and exiting the room of the person being monitored, and detects whether the door is opening or closing, or whether a person has passed through the door. When door sensor 23 detects whether the door is opening or closing, or whether a person has passed through the door, it outputs a detection signal indicating the detected state to sensor I / F device 20.

[0016] The environmental sensor 24 is a sensor that measures environmental data such as temperature and humidity in the room of the person being monitored. The environmental sensor 24 is installed, for example, on a wall of the room. The environmental sensor 24 outputs the measured environmental data such as temperature and humidity to the sensor I / F device 20. The human presence sensor 25 is a sensor that detects human movement in the room of the person being monitored, and detects human movement by emitting, for example, infrared rays, ultrasonic waves, visible light, etc. and detecting the reflected waves. The human presence sensor 25 is installed, for example, on a wall of the room. When the human presence sensor 25 detects human movement, it outputs a detection signal to the sensor I / F device 20 indicating that a person is in the room.

[0017] Call button 26 is a button that is manually operated by the person being monitored when they wish to receive assistance of their own volition, and is installed, for example, on the wall of the person being monitored's room. When call button 26 is operated by the person being monitored, it outputs a detection signal indicating that the button has been operated to sensor I / F device 20.

[0018] In this embodiment, a sensor I / F device 20, sensors 21 to 25, and call button 26 are provided for each monitoring target, and the monitoring target is associated with each of the sensor I / F device 20, sensors 21 to 25, and call button 26. In addition to this configuration, when one sensor 21 to 25 is installed in a location where it may detect multiple monitoring targets, a configuration may be provided in which the monitoring target detected by each sensor 21 to 25 is identified by using face authentication or an ID (IDentification) tag, etc. in combination.

[0019] The sensor I / F device 20 acquires signals from the sensors 21 to 25 and the call button 26, and transmits information corresponding to the acquired signals (information indicating the status of the person being monitored) to the server 10 via the network N. The server 10 is installed, for example, in a nursing care facility and is managed by a nursing care provider that uses the information processing system of this embodiment. The server 10 may also be managed by a provider that provides the information processing system of this embodiment to nursing care facilities. The server 10 is an information processing device capable of various information processing and information transmission and reception, such as a server computer or a personal computer. The server 10 accumulates information about the person being monitored that is sequentially received from the sensor I / F device 20 installed for each person being monitored, and when a situation (event) occurs that requires nursing care, the server 10 notifies the staff terminal 30 of the nursing staff of the occurrence of the event.

[0020] The staff terminal 30 is an information terminal used by the care staff of the care facility, and is, for example, a personal computer. The staff terminal 30 may also be a portable communication terminal such as a smartphone, tablet terminal, or laptop computer. The staff terminal 30 has a display unit 36 ​​(see FIG. 2) and displays notification information received from the server 10 to notify the care staff of the status of each monitored person and any events that have occurred.

[0021] 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the server 10 and the staff terminal 30. The staff terminal 30 has a control unit 31, a main memory unit 32, an auxiliary memory unit 33, a communication unit 34, an input unit 35, a display unit 36, etc., and these units are connected via a bus. The control unit 31 includes one or more processors such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), an MPU (Micro-Processing Unit), or a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). The control unit 31 reads a program 33P stored in the auxiliary memory unit 33 into the main memory unit 32 and executes it, thereby performing information processing and control processing that the staff terminal 30 should perform.

[0022] The main memory unit 32 is a temporary storage area such as SRAM (Static Random Access Memory), DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory), or flash memory, and temporarily stores data generated when the control unit 31 executes various programs 33P. The auxiliary memory unit 33 is a non-volatile storage area such as flash memory, a hard disk, or an SSD (Solid State Drive), and stores various programs 33P (program products) executed by the control unit 31 and various data. The programs 33P and various data may be written to the auxiliary memory unit 33 during the manufacturing stage of the staff terminal 30, or the control unit 31 may download them from another device via the communication unit 34 and store them in the auxiliary memory unit 33. The auxiliary memory unit 33 may be another storage device connected to the staff terminal 30.

[0023] The communication unit 34 is a communication module for performing processes related to wired or wireless communication, and transmits and receives information to and from other devices via the network N. The input unit 35 accepts operation inputs from the care staff and sends control signals corresponding to the operation content to the control unit 31. The display unit 36 ​​is a liquid crystal display, an organic EL display, or the like, and displays various information in accordance with instructions from the control unit 31. A part of the input unit 35 and the display unit 36 ​​may be a touch panel configured as an integrated unit.

[0024] In addition to the above-described configuration, the staff terminal 30 of this embodiment may also have a microphone that collects surrounding sounds and generates digital audio data, a speaker that outputs messages or warning sounds in accordance with instructions from the control unit 31, earphones, or headphones.

[0025] The server 10 includes a control unit 11, a main memory unit 12, an auxiliary memory unit 13, a communication unit 14, etc., and these units are connected via a bus. The above-mentioned units 11 to 14 of the server 10 have the same configuration as the units 31 to 34 of the staff terminal 30, so a description of their configuration will be omitted. The auxiliary memory unit 13 of the server 10 stores a monitored person DB 13a, a sensor data DB 13b, and an event DB 13c in addition to various programs 13P (program products) executed by the control unit 11. The monitored person DB 13a is a database that stores information about monitored persons in this system. The sensor data DB 13b is a database that stores the status of monitored persons detected by each sensor 21 to 25 and the operation status of the call button 26. The event DB 13c is a database that stores information about events that have occurred for each monitored person. The monitored person DB 13a, the sensor data DB 13b, and the event DB 13c may be stored in other storage devices with which the server 10 can communicate via the network N.

[0026] In this embodiment, the server 10 may be a multi-computer consisting of multiple computers, a virtual machine virtually constructed by software, or a cloud server. In addition to the above-described configuration, the server 10 may also have an input unit that accepts operational inputs, a display unit such as a liquid crystal display or an organic electroluminescence (EL) display, etc. The server 10 may also have a reading unit that reads a non-transitory computer-readable portable storage medium 10a, and may use the reading unit to read the program 13P from the portable storage medium 10a and store it in the auxiliary storage unit 13. The program 13P may be executed on a single computer or on multiple computers interconnected via a network N.

[0027] FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the record layout of the monitored person DB 13a, the sensor data DB 13b, and the event DB 13c. The monitored person DB 13a includes a monitored person ID column, a name column, an age column, a gender column, a room number column, an alert setting column, a star setting column, and a real-time information column. The monitored person ID column stores an ID uniquely assigned to the monitored person. The name column, the age column, the gender column, and the room number column store the name, age, gender, and room number of the monitored person in association with the monitored person ID. The alert setting column stores information (e.g., event name, event identification information) of events that occur to the monitored person and that should be notified to the care staff (an alert should be output). Note that the alert setting may be configured to be set for each time period. In this case, the alert setting column stores information on each time period and information on events that should be notified to the care staff if they occur in that time period, in association with each other. The alert setting is set by care staff according to the medical condition of the monitored person, for example, when the monitored person enters a nursing home. The star setting column stores setting information indicating whether the monitored person is treated as a target person (star). A target person is a monitored person who requires more careful nursing care than other monitored people. When set as a target person, "setting" is stored in the star setting column as setting information. Note that the star setting may be set by care staff, for example, when the monitored person enters a nursing home or when the monitored person's medical condition changes after entering the nursing home, or may be automatically set by the server 10 according to the monitored person's attributes, diagnosed disease name, medical condition, etc. The real-time information column stores information indicating the real-time condition of the monitored person, specifically including a status column, heart rate / respiration column, etc. The status column stores status information indicating the condition (event) of the monitored person. The status information indicates the condition of the monitored person or the condition around the monitored person determined from the detection results of each sensor 21 to 25. The heart rate and respiration sequence stores, for example, the heart rate and respiration rate of the person being monitored for one minute. The control unit 11 of the server 10 updates each column of the real-time information sequence based on information acquired from each of the sensors 21 to 25 via the sensor I / F device 20.In addition to the above-mentioned columns, the real-time information sequence may also include a temperature / humidity sequence that stores the temperature and humidity in the room of the person being monitored, and a body temperature sequence that stores the body temperature of the person being monitored. Furthermore, if any of the sensors 21 to 25 can measure the blood pressure and oxygen saturation of the person being monitored, the real-time information sequence may also include columns that store the blood pressure and oxygen saturation of the person being monitored.

[0028] An event is a phenomenon occurring in the state of the monitored person or in the environment surrounding the monitored person, and includes events that are different from normal conditions, events that should be notified to care staff, and events that require care. For example, events include the monitored person getting out of bed (leaving bed), increased body movement of the monitored person while in bed (while in bed or asleep), using the toilet or staying on the toilet for a long time, the door being opened or someone passing by, room temperature or humidity outside a predetermined range, cessation of the monitored person's heartbeat or breathing, stoppage of operation of each sensor 21-25 or the sensor I / F device 20, and operation of the call button 26. Furthermore, if a personal authentication terminal using facial recognition or ID tags is installed at the entrance of the nursing care facility or the door of each monitored person's room in the information processing system, events may include detection of a pre-registered person (the monitored person and care staff), detection of an unregistered person, or the monitored person wandering away. The occurrence of an event is determined by the control unit 11 of the server 10 based on information acquired from each sensor 21-25 and the call button 26 via the sensor I / F device 20. When the control unit 11 determines that an event has occurred for each monitoring target, the control unit 11 registers information about the determined event in the event DB 13c.

[0029] The sensor data DB 13b is provided for each monitoring target person and stores the detection results of the sensors 21-25 and operation information for the call button 26 in association with the target person ID of the monitoring target person. The sensor data DB 13b includes a date and time column, a sleep sensor column, a toilet sensor column, a door sensor column, an environmental sensor column, a human presence sensor column, and a call button column. The date and time column stores the detection date and time of each sensor 21-25 and the operation date and time for the call button 26. Note that the date and time column may store the date and time when the server 10 acquired the detection results and operation information from each sensor 21-25 and the call button 26. The sleep sensor column stores sleep data indicating the sleeping state of the monitoring target person detected by the sleep sensor 21. The sleep data includes body movement data indicating the magnitude of body movement, apnea data indicating the occurrence of apnea, sleep depth data indicating the depth of sleep, heart rate data indicating the heart rate, respiratory rate data indicating the respiratory rate, and body temperature data indicating the body temperature. The sleep data includes data acquired while the monitoring subject is asleep as well as data acquired while awake. The sleep data may be stored in a format in which each piece of data is associated with a date and time. Alternatively, graph data showing temporal changes in the monitoring subject's condition may be stored. For example, the sleep sensor array may store graphs showing temporal changes in body movement, apnea occurrence, sleep depth, heart rate, respiratory rate, and body temperature. The graph data may be a series of data, each time a measurement is taken by the sleep sensor 21, recording a pair of the time and the measured value. An apnea is a phenomenon in which airflow through the mouth and nose stops for 10 seconds or more during sleep. Sleep depth is detected as one of three stages: awake, light sleep, and deep sleep. The sleep depth data may include the occurrence of mid-sleep awakenings and the total daily sleep time.

[0030] The toilet sensor array stores information (used / not used) indicating whether the toilet sensor 22 has detected the use of the toilet by the person being monitored. The door sensor array stores information (open / no movement) indicating whether the door sensor 23 has detected the opening of the door or the passage of the person being monitored through the door. The environmental sensor array stores environmental data indicating the temperature and humidity in the room of the person being monitored detected by the environmental sensor 24. The environmental data may also be stored in the environmental sensor array in the form of graphs showing the changes in temperature and humidity over time, in addition to a configuration in which the temperature and humidity are stored in association with the date and time. The human sensor array stores information (present / absent in the room) indicating whether the human sensor 25 has detected the movement of the person being monitored. The call button array stores information (used / not used) indicating whether the person being monitored has operated (used) the call button 26. The control unit 11 of the server 10 updates each column of the sensor data DB 13b based on information acquired from the sensors 21 to 25 and the call button 26 via the sensor I / F device 20. Note that the toilet sensor column may store only information indicating the use of the toilet (used), the door sensor column may store only information indicating the opening of the door or the passage of the person to be monitored (open), the human sensor column may store only information indicating the presence of the person to be monitored (presence), and the call button column may store only information indicating the operation of the call button 26 (used).

[0031] The event DB 13c is provided for each monitoring target and stores information on events that occur to the monitoring target in association with the target ID of the monitoring target. The event DB 13c includes a date / time column, an event item column, an event content column, a progress information column, and a comment column. The date / time column is the date and time when an event occurred, and stores the date and time when the control unit 11 of the server 10 determined that an event occurred based on information acquired from each of the sensors 21-25 and the call button 26. The event item column and the event content column store items related to the event that occurred and their contents. For example, if an event occurs in which a monitoring target gets out of bed due to waking up during the night, "getting out of bed" is registered as the event item and "waking up during the night" is registered as the event content. If an event occurs in which the room temperature is outside a predetermined range, "room temperature" is registered as the event item and "30°C (measured room temperature)" is registered as the event content. If an event occurs in which the target spends a long time in the toilet, "toilet" is registered as the event item and "20 minutes (measured time)" is registered as the event content. Furthermore, if an event such as an increase in body movements while the patient is in bed occurs, "body movements" is registered as the event item and "increase" as the event content. Furthermore, if an event such as the operation of the call button 26 occurs, "call" is registered as the event item. The progress information column stores information indicating the progress of the care staff's response (hereinafter referred to as care) to the event that occurred, and for example, when care care has been completed, "completed" is stored. The comment column stores comments entered by the care staff regarding the event using the staff terminal 30. The event DB 13c is not limited to the configuration shown in FIG. 3. For example, the event DB 13c may be configured to store, in association with the event item and content, photographs and videos taken when the care staff treats the monitored person in response to the event, as well as recorded audio.

[0032] The control unit 11 of the server 10 updates the real-time information sequence of the monitored person DB 13a and each column of the sensor data DB 13b based on information acquired from the sensors 21-25 and the call button 26 via the sensor I / F device 20. Furthermore, when the control unit 11 detects the occurrence of an event on the monitored person based on information acquired from the sensors 21-25 and the call button 26, it updates the date and time column, the event item column, and the event content column of the event DB 13c. Furthermore, when the control unit 11 receives, for example, via the staff terminal 30, notification that the care staff has completed care for an event, it stores "Completed" in the progress information column of the event DB 13c, and when it receives a comment regarding the event, it stores the comment in the comment column. The control unit 11 may also store "Completed," indicating the completion of care, in the progress information column in association with the date and time when the notification of the completion of care was received. The event DB 13c registers information on all events that have occurred to the person being monitored, but only events for which an alert has been set for the person being monitored are notified to the care staff as an alert. The event DB 13c may be configured to register information on all events, or may be configured to register only information on events notified to the care staff (events for which an alert has been set).

[0033] FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a notification screen. The notification screen is a screen for notifying the care staff of the status of each monitoring target person, and is generated by the control unit 11 of the server 10 based on the stored contents of the monitoring target person DB 13a and the event DB 13c. The control unit 11 transmits the generated notification screen to the staff terminal 30, and the control unit 31 of the staff terminal 30 displays the notification screen acquired from the server 10 on the display unit 36. When the control unit 31 of the staff terminal 30 receives an operation input via the input unit 35 for the displayed notification screen, it transmits the operation content to the server 10. The control unit 11 of the server 10 changes the display state of the notification screen and switches the display content according to the operation content, and transmits the updated notification screen to the staff terminal 30. As a result, the updated notification screen is displayed on the staff terminal 30.

[0034] The notification screen shown in Fig. 4 has a room list display area that displays the current status of each monitored person in the nursing facility, and an alert history display area that displays the occurrence history of events for which alerts have been set for each monitored person. The room list has multiple individual columns R1, and each individual column R1 displays information about one monitored person stored in the monitored person DB 13a. Specifically, the room number, name, room temperature and humidity, body temperature, respiratory rate, and heart rate of each monitored person are displayed in text, and the current status of the monitored person is displayed in text and with icons corresponding to each status. The text and icons indicating the status of the monitored person are prepared in advance to correspond to each status stored in the monitored person DB 13a.

[0035] For example, when a monitored person leaves bed, an icon I1 indicating that the person has left bed and the words "Left Bed" are displayed in the individual column R1. In addition to icon I1, icons corresponding to the monitored person's status include icon I2 indicating that the person is asleep, icon I3 indicating that the person is in the toilet, and icon I4 indicating that the person is moving. Displaying the monitored person's status using icons in this way makes it easier to understand the status of each monitored person. The icons and text corresponding to the monitored person's status are pre-installed in, for example, program 13P, and can be displayed by the control unit 11 selecting an icon and text corresponding to the monitored person's status when generating a notification screen. Furthermore, when a monitored person is designated as a noted person, an indicator (mark) I5 indicating that the monitored person has been designated as a noted person (starred) is displayed somewhere in the individual column R1. In the example shown in FIG. 4, indicator I5 is displayed at the right end of the individual column R1 corresponding to the monitored person in Room 102. This allows the control unit 11 to output an indicator I5 indicating the star setting (person of interest) to the staff terminal 30 in association with information (status information) displayed in the personal column R1 regarding the starred monitored person. In the room list, the personal columns R1 of the starred monitored people may be displayed together at the top. Note that the instruction to register the star setting is received, for example, via the input unit 35 of the staff terminal 30, and the setting is completed when the control unit 11 of the server 10 stores "Set" in the star setting column of the monitored person DB 13a.

[0036] A scroll bar is provided at the right end of the display area for the room list. When the scroll bar is operated via the input unit 35 of the staff terminal 30, a screen is displayed in which the display content (each individual column R1) is scrolled up or down. The room list has a "Watched" tab, a "Starred" tab, and an "All" tab. By switching the tab selection, a room list corresponding to the selected tab is displayed. For example, when the "All" tab is selected, individual columns R1 corresponding to all monitored persons stored in the monitored person DB 13a are displayed in the room list. When the "Watched" tab is selected, individual columns R1 corresponding to monitored persons (those whose status is being monitored) among the monitored persons stored in the monitored person DB 13a are displayed in the room list. When the "Starred" tab is selected, individual columns R1 corresponding to monitored persons who are starred among the monitored persons stored in the monitored person DB 13a are displayed in the room list. For example, if the number of monitored persons for which each care staff member is responsible is fixed, a tab may be provided for switching to a room list displaying the individual column R1 corresponding to the monitored person for which each care staff member is responsible. The room list may be configured to be switchable for each floor or area within the care facility, and the individual column R1 displayed in the room list may be displayed in a position that matches the layout of the rooms on each floor or area.

[0037] Although not shown in the figure, when a predetermined operation (e.g., right-clicking the mouse) is performed on one individual field R1, an operation menu is displayed for performing setting processes for the monitored person in this individual field R1. For example, an operation menu is displayed for accepting selection of processes such as star setting and canceling the setting, changing alert settings, changing registered information related to the monitored person, and pausing and resuming monitoring (watching) of the monitored person. When the selection of each process is accepted via such an operation menu, the respective setting screen is displayed, and settings can be changed via the setting screen. Note that the suspension of monitoring (watching) of the monitored person is set, for example, when a resident of a nursing facility (monitored person) is temporarily hospitalized in a medical institution or when the resident returns home temporarily.

[0038] The alert history has multiple alert columns R2, and each alert column R2 displays information about one event that occurred for one monitored person. Specifically, the room number, name, and event (alert) date and time of the monitored person for whom an alert event has been set are displayed in text, and the monitored person's status (event details) is displayed in text and icons corresponding to each event. The icons corresponding to events are, for example, the same icons as the icons I1 to I4 used in the room list. In the alert column R2, an indicator I5 is also displayed for a monitored person who has been set as a star. That is, the control unit 11 outputs an indicator I5 indicating the star setting (notable person) to the staff terminal 30 in association with the information (event information) displayed in the alert column R2 regarding the starred monitored person. The alert column R2 for a starred monitored person may be highlighted in a display mode indicating high importance by displaying it in a predetermined color or flashing. An unread mark is displayed in the alert column R2 if the displayed alert has not been confirmed by the care staff. When a predetermined operation (for example, a left click of the mouse) is performed on the alert field R2, the details of the alert in this alert field R2 are displayed, and when the details are displayed, the alert is marked as read. When the alert is marked as read, the unread mark that was displayed in the alert field R2 is no longer displayed. Instead of the unread mark disappearing, a read mark indicating the read state may be displayed.

[0039] Furthermore, when a predetermined operation (e.g., right-clicking the mouse) is performed on the alert field R2, an operation menu (not shown) is displayed for performing processing on the alert in this alert field R2. For example, an operation menu is displayed for accepting selection of processing such as input of information and comments regarding the nursing care provided by the nursing staff in response to the alert, or changing the alert to an unread state. When input of a comment for the alert is selected via such an operation menu, a comment input screen is displayed, and the comment input via the input screen is stored in the event DB 13c. When change to an unread state is selected via the operation menu, the read state of the alert is changed to an unread state.

[0040] A scroll bar is provided at the right end of the alert history display area. When the scroll bar is operated via the input unit 35 of the staff terminal 30, a screen is displayed in which the display content (each alert column R2) is scrolled up and down. The alert history has an "All" tab, an "Unread" tab, and an "Read" tab. By switching the tab selection, a list of alert history corresponding to the selected tab is displayed. For example, when the "All" tab is selected, an alert column R2 for all alerts notified to date is displayed in the alert history. When the "Unread" tab is selected, an alert column R2 for unread alerts among the alerts notified to date is displayed in the alert history. When the "Read" tab is selected, an alert column R2 for read alerts among the alerts notified to date is displayed in the alert history. Information regarding alerts notified to date is associated with information indicating whether the alert has been acknowledged by the care staff (unread or read) and information indicating whether the alert has been addressed by the care staff (care has been provided) (addressed or not addressed), and is stored in a DB provided in, for example, the auxiliary storage unit 13 of the server 10. Therefore, the control unit 11 of the server 10 can generate an alert history corresponding to each tab by reading information corresponding to the selected tab from the DB. Also, the alert history may be configured to be switchable for each floor or area within the nursing facility.

[0041] By displaying the notification screen configured as described above on the staff terminal 30, the care staff can grasp the current status of each monitored person and the occurrence of events for which an alert has been set for that monitored person. For example, when one of the individual fields R1 in the room list is selected on the notification screen shown in FIG. 4 (e.g., when a left mouse click is performed), a personal screen displaying a list of information about the monitored person in the selected individual field R1 is displayed on the staff terminal 30. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the personal screen. The personal screen is generated by the control unit 11 of the server 10 based on the information stored in the sensor data DB 13b for each monitored person. The personal screen includes a real-time data field R3, a previous day's sleep field R4, a vital sign history field R5, etc. The real-time data field R3 displays real-time information indicating the monitored person's current status. The real-time data field R3 has a "Last 12 Hours" tab and a "Last 30 Minutes" tab. By switching between the tabs, information for the past 12 hours or the past 30 minutes is displayed. The real-time data column R3 displays graphs showing changes over time in sleep status, breathing rate, heart rate, activity status, tray usage history, door opening history, room temperature, etc. The horizontal axis of each graph indicates time, and the right end of the horizontal axis indicates the current time.

[0042] The sleep state is displayed as a bar graph, with hatched areas in the bar graph indicating time spent asleep and blank areas indicating time spent awake. Note that the graph showing the sleep state may be configured so that times of deep sleep and times of shallow sleep are indicated by different hatching. Respiratory rate and heart rate are displayed as line graphs. The activity state is displayed as a bar graph, with hatched areas in the bar graph indicating times when the human presence sensor 25 detected the movement of the monitored person in the room. The toilet usage history is displayed as a bar graph, with hatched areas in the bar graph indicating times when the toilet sensor 22 detected the monitored person using the toilet. The door opening history is displayed as a bar graph, with hatched areas in the bar graph indicating times when the door sensor 23 detected the door being opened or the monitored person passing through. The room temperature is displayed as a line graph. Note that a line graph indicating humidity may be displayed together with the room temperature.

[0043] The previous day's sleep column R4 displays information about the previous day's sleep, such as the sleep time, fatigue recovery level, good sleep index, and comfortable environment index. Each piece of information is calculated by the control unit 11 of the server 10 based on the information stored in the sensor data DB 13b. The sleep time is displayed as a character indicating the sleep time calculated based on the sleep data detected by the sleep sensor 21, and a mark (five stars in FIG. 5) and character ("Sleep well" in FIG. 5) indicating the evaluation corresponding to the sleep time. The fatigue recovery level is also calculated based on the sleep data and indicates the degree of recovery from fatigue through sleep, for example, on a scale of 100 points. The good sleep index is also calculated based on the sleep data and indicates the degree of good sleep, for example, on a scale of 100 points. The comfortable environment index is calculated based on the environmental data detected by the environmental sensor 24 and indicates the degree of comfort of the sleeping environment, for example, on a scale of 100 points.

[0044] The vital history field R5 displays vital data of the monitoring subject detected by the sleep sensor 21. In the example shown in FIG. 5, the vital history field R5 displays the current values ​​for body temperature, blood pressure, and oxygen saturation, as well as graphs showing temporal changes over the past week. The horizontal axis of each graph indicates the date (day of the week), and the right end of the horizontal axis indicates the current date (day of the week). The vital history field R5 also displays a message indicating the monitoring subject's condition corresponding to the current value of each vital data. For example, if the body temperature is 37.5°C or higher, the message "Fever" is displayed. If the blood pressure falls into a category such as high normal blood pressure, high blood pressure, stage 1 hypertension, stage 2 hypertension, or stage 3 hypertension, a message indicating the corresponding category is displayed. If the oxygen saturation is less than 95%, a message indicating that the oxygen saturation is abnormal is displayed.

[0045] The personal screen has a "Return to room list" button for returning to the display of the screen shown in Fig. 4, and when the "Return to room list" button is operated via the input unit 35 of the staff terminal 30, the screen displayed on the staff terminal 30 switches to the notification screen shown in Fig. 4. By appropriately switching between the notification screen shown in Fig. 4 and the personal screen shown in Fig. 5 and displaying them on the staff terminal 30, the care staff can check the status of each monitored person individually while understanding whether or not there is an alert for the monitored person throughout the facility.

[0046] The following describes the processing performed by each device in the update processing of the notification screen displayed on the staff terminal 30 in the information processing system of this embodiment. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of the notification screen update processing procedure. In FIG. 6, the left side shows the processing performed by the server 10, and the right side shows the processing performed by the staff terminal 30. The following processing is executed by the control unit 11 in accordance with the program 13P stored in the auxiliary storage unit 13 of the server 10, and by the control unit 31 in accordance with the program 33P stored in the auxiliary storage unit 33 of the staff terminal 30. In the following processing, when the sensor I / F device 20 acquires detection signals from the sensors 21 to 25 and an operation signal from the call button 26, it transmits the acquired signals to the server 10 via the network N. Note that the sensor I / F device 20 may be configured to transmit signals from the sensors 21 to 25 and the call button 26 to the server 10 in response to a signal request from the server 10.

[0047] The control unit 11 of the server 10 determines whether or not a signal (sensor data) has been received from the sensors 21 to 25 or the call button 26 connected to the sensor I / F device 20 via any of the sensor I / F devices 20 (S11). If the control unit 11 determines that sensor data has not been received (S11: NO), it waits until it is received. If the control unit 11 determines that sensor data has been received (S11: YES), it identifies which monitored person's state has been detected by the received sensor data (S12). For example, the server 10 is configured to store a table in which identification information (subject ID) of each monitored person is registered in association with identification information (device ID) of each sensor I / F device 20, and the sensor I / F device 20 transmits the sensor data and the identification information of the sensor I / F device 20 to the server 10. In this case, the control unit 11 of the server 10 can identify the monitoring target person corresponding to the received sensor data based on the table and the identification information of the sensor I / F device 20 received from the sensor I / F device 20. The sensor I / F device 20 may also be configured to store the identification information of the corresponding monitoring target person and transmit the sensor data and the identification information of the monitoring target person to the server 10. In this case, the control unit 11 of the server 10 can identify the monitoring target person for the received sensor data based on the identification information of the monitoring target person received from the sensor I / F device 20.

[0048] The control unit 11 associates the date and time of this time with the received sensor data and stores them in the sensor data DB 13b of the identified monitoring target (S13). The control unit 11 also stores real-time information indicating the current status of the monitoring target based on the received sensor data in the monitoring target DB 13a. The control unit 11 generates display information to be displayed in the individual column R1 of the room list on the notification screen based on the sensor data stored in the sensor data DB 13b (S14). For example, the control unit 11 generates display information by associating information about the monitoring target identified in step S12 (e.g., target ID) with status information (status information) about the monitoring target based on the sensor data. The control unit 11 (status output unit) transmits the generated display information to the staff terminal 30 (S15). When the control unit 31 of the staff terminal 30 receives display information for the room list from the server 10, it updates the room list on the notification screen currently displayed on the display unit 36 ​​based on the received display information (S16). Specifically, the control unit 31 displays the status indicated by the received status information of the monitored person in the individual column R1 corresponding to the received information of the monitored person. For example, when the control unit 31 receives "Left the bed" as the status information of the monitored person in room 101 from the server 10, the control unit 31 displays the icon I1 corresponding to "Left the bed" and the words "Left the bed" in the individual column R1 of the monitored person in room 101, and updates the room list.

[0049] Next, the control unit 11 identifies an event that has occurred in the monitored person based on the sensor data stored in the sensor data DB 13b in step S13 (S17). For example, when a signal indicating that the monitored person has left bed is received from the sleep sensor 21, the control unit 11 identifies the occurrence of an event that the monitored person has left bed. Furthermore, when a signal indicating a state of body movement is received from the sleep sensor 21, the control unit 11 identifies the occurrence of an event that the monitored person has made large body movements in bed if the magnitude of the body movement indicated by the received signal is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. Furthermore, when a signal indicating toilet use is received from the toilet sensor 22, the control unit 11 identifies the occurrence of an event that the monitored person has used the toilet. Furthermore, when the control unit 11 receives a signal indicating toilet use continuously for a predetermined period of time or longer, the control unit 11 identifies the occurrence of an event that the monitored person stayed in the toilet for a long time. Furthermore, when a signal indicating a door being opened is received from the door sensor 23, the control unit 11 identifies the occurrence of an event that the door is opened. Furthermore, when the control unit 11 receives a signal indicating temperature (room temperature) from the environmental sensor 24, if the received temperature is above a predetermined range, it identifies the occurrence of an event of a high temperature state, and if the received temperature is below the predetermined range, it identifies the occurrence of an event of a low temperature state. Furthermore, when the control unit 11 receives a signal indicating humidity from the environmental sensor 24, if the received humidity is above a predetermined range, it identifies the occurrence of an event of a high humidity state (humid state), and if the received humidity is below the predetermined range, it identifies the occurrence of an event of a low humidity state (dry state). Furthermore, when the control unit 11 receives a signal indicating a zero heart rate and a zero respiratory rate from the sleep sensor 21, it identifies the occurrence of an event of an inability to detect a biological reaction (cessation of heart rate and breathing). Furthermore, when the control unit 11 receives an operation signal from the call button 26, it identifies the occurrence of an event of an operation of the call button 26. Furthermore, when the control unit 11 has not received a signal from any of the sensor I / F devices 20 or a signal from any of the sensors 21 to 26 for a predetermined period of time or longer, it identifies the occurrence of an event of a malfunction of any of the sensor I / F devices 20 or any of the sensors 21 to 25.

[0050] Furthermore, if personal authentication terminals using facial recognition or ID tags, etc., are installed at appropriate locations in the nursing care facility, the control unit 11 identifies the occurrence of events such as the detection of a registered person and the detection of an unregistered person based on signals received from the personal authentication terminals. Furthermore, if one personal authentication terminal detects the same monitored person a predetermined number of times or more within a predetermined time, the control unit 11 identifies the occurrence of an event such as the monitored person wandering. The events detected by the control unit 11 are not limited to the events described above, but may be any events occurring in or around the monitored person, and may include various conditions that can be identified based on detection signals from the sensors 21-26. Reference values ​​for determining whether body movement, time spent in the toilet, temperature, and humidity are within normal ranges are pre-stored in the auxiliary storage unit 13 of the server 10, and reference values ​​set for each monitored person may be pre-stored.

[0051] The control unit 11 stores the detection date and time of the sensor data used to identify the occurrence of an event in the event DB 13c of the monitored person in association with information about the determined event (S18). For example, when the control unit 11 identifies the occurrence of an event in which the monitored person gets out of bed due to waking up during sleep, it stores "getting out of bed" as the event item and "waking up during sleep" as the event content. When the control unit 11 identifies the occurrence of an event in which body movement is large, it stores "body movement" as the event item and "large" or "increased" as the event content. When the control unit 11 identifies the occurrence of an event in which the person uses the toilet, it stores "toilet" as the event item, and when the control unit 11 identifies the occurrence of an event in which the person stays in the toilet for a long time, it stores the time spent in the toilet as the event content. When the control unit 11 identifies the occurrence of an event in which the person opens a door, it stores "door" as the event item and "open" as the event content. Furthermore, when the control unit 11 identifies the occurrence of an event such as a high temperature or low temperature, it stores "room temperature" as the event item and stores the measured room temperature as the event content. When the control unit 11 identifies the occurrence of an event such as a humid or dry temperature, it stores "humidity" as the event item and stores the measured humidity as the event content. When the control unit 11 identifies the occurrence of an event such as cessation of heartbeat and breathing, it stores "heart rate" as the event item and stores the measured heart rate and respiratory rate (measured number zero) as the event content. When the control unit 11 identifies the occurrence of an event such as operation of the call button 26, it stores "call button" as the event item and stores "operation" as the event content. When the control unit 11 identifies the occurrence of an event such as malfunction of the sensor I / F device 20 or the sensors 21 to 25, it stores "device malfunction" as the event item and stores device information of the device in which the occurrence of unnecessary operation was detected as the event content.

[0052] Furthermore, when the control unit 11 identifies the occurrence of an event such as the detection of a registered person or the detection of an unregistered person, it stores "person detection" as the event item and stores information indicating the detected monitored person or unregistered person as the event content. Furthermore, when the control unit 11 identifies the occurrence of an event such as the monitored person wandering, it stores "wandering" as the event item and stores information on the monitored person detected as the event content. Note that if the personal authentication terminal is installed in a common area for the monitored person, an event DB for the nursing care facility may be prepared in the server 10, and event information indicating the detection of a registered person, the detection of an unregistered person, and the monitored person wandering, as well as identification information or installation location information of the personal authentication terminal, may be stored in the event DB for the nursing care facility.

[0053] The control unit 11 determines whether the event identified in step S17 is an event for which an alert has been set for the monitoring target person (S19). Here, the control unit 11 determines whether the event identified in step S17 is included in the events for which an alert has been set for the monitoring target person identified in step S12. If it is determined that the event is not an event for which an alert has been set (S19: NO), the control unit 11 ends the processing. Note that the control unit 11 executes the processing from step S12 onwards every time it receives sensor data from the sensor I / F device 20.

[0054] If it is determined that the event is one for which an alert has been set (S19: YES), the control unit 11 generates alert information to be displayed in the alert field R2 of the alert history on the notification screen based on the information stored in the event DB 13c (S20). For example, the control unit 11 generates alert information by associating the current date and time, the information (room number and name) of the monitored person identified in step S12, and event information indicating the content of the event. The control unit 11 (event output unit) transmits the generated alert information to the staff terminal 30 (S21). Note that the control unit 11 may store the alert information in the event DB 13c in association with the event information. When the control unit 31 of the staff terminal 30 receives alert information to be displayed in the alert history from the server 10, it updates the alert history of the notification screen currently displayed on the display unit 36 ​​based on the received alert information (S22). Specifically, the control unit 31 generates a new alert field R2 and displays the current date and time, and the room number, name, and status of the monitored person for whom an alert (an event for which an alert has been set) has occurred in the generated alert field R2. In the example shown in Fig. 4, an alert field R2 indicating that the monitored person in room 101 has "left bed" is displayed, and the alert history is updated. Note that an unread mark is displayed in the newly generated alert field R2.

[0055] Through the above-described processing, the server 10 can monitor the status of each monitored person based on the sensor data received from the sensor I / F device 20, and can notify the care staff of the status of the monitored person via a room list displayed on the staff terminal 30. Furthermore, when an event for which an alert is set for a monitored person occurs, the server 10 can notify the care staff of the occurrence of the event via the alert history displayed on the staff terminal 30. Therefore, the care staff can grasp the status of each monitored person, and when an alert occurs for any monitored person, can quickly grasp the event and start care.

[0056] In the above-described process, if the staff terminal 30 is configured to have an audio output unit such as a speaker or earphones, it may be configured to output the alert information by voice when it receives alert information from the server 10, in addition to updating the alert history being displayed. For example, when the control unit 31 of the staff terminal 30 receives alert information indicating that the monitored person in room 101 has experienced an "exit" event, it may output the message "Room 101, Taro Sato, has exited the bed" by voice. With this configuration, the care staff can know that an event (alert) has occurred for the monitored person without checking the content displayed on the display unit 36 ​​of the staff terminal 30.

[0057] FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of the procedure for updating the alert history on the notification screen, and FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of updating the alert history. The server 10 of this embodiment executes the following process, for example, after a predetermined time has elapsed since alert information was sent to the staff terminal 30 in step S21 of FIG. 6, or whenever a predetermined time has elapsed. The control unit 11 of the server 10 determines whether there is an alert (unread alert) for which care has not been completed by the care staff in the alert history on the notification screen displayed on the staff terminal 30 (S31). For example, the control unit 11 determines whether there is an alert field R2 in which an unread mark is displayed in the alert history. The server 10 stores each piece of alert information displayed in the alert history on the notification screen together with the progress of care by the care staff in the main memory unit 12, and can determine whether there is an alert for which care has not been completed by the care staff based on the stored contents. If it is determined that there is no unread alert (S31: NO), the control unit 11 terminates the process.

[0058] When it is determined that there is an unread alert (S31: YES), the control unit 11 acquires information about the monitored person corresponding to the unread alert (S32). For example, the control unit 11 refers to the progress status of each alert information from the alert information stored in the main memory unit 12 and reads out alert information for which care care by the care staff has not yet been completed. The alert information here includes the date and time of the event related to the alert, the monitored person, and the content of the event. The control unit 11 also reads out the status of the monitored person from the time the alert was generated to the present for the alerted event from the sensor data DB 13b. The control unit 11 determines whether the status of the monitored person has deteriorated based on the read information (S33). For example, the control unit 11 (detection unit) detects a change over time in the status of the monitored person according to the elapsed time since the alert was generated based on the information about the monitored person. Then, the control unit 11 determines whether the status of the monitored person has deteriorated based on the detected change. For example, depending on the time elapsed since the alert was issued, if the condition of the person being monitored or the surrounding conditions change to an unfavorable state, such as if the body temperature of the person being monitored rises, if the blood pressure of the person being monitored changes from high normal to high blood pressure, if the temperature in the room rises, or if the person has been in the toilet for a predetermined time (e.g., 20 minutes) or more, the control unit 11 determines that the condition of the person being monitored has worsened.

[0059] If the control unit 11 determines that the condition of the monitored person for whom an alert has been issued has worsened (S33: YES), it specifies the display mode of the alert information according to the monitored person's most recent condition (S34). For example, the control unit 11 specifies a display mode, such as a color or a flashing pattern, according to the monitored person's condition. Note that the display mode according to each condition may be stored in advance in the auxiliary storage unit 13 and may be changeable by operational input via the staff terminal 30. FIG. 8A shows an example of the display mode of the alert field R2. For example, as shown in FIG. 8A, the control unit 11 specifies a color to display the alert field R2 for the monitored person in room 101. Note that in the example shown in FIG. 8A, the alert field R2 for the monitored person in room 101 is displayed in a reversed black and white display mode compared to the alert fields R2 for other monitored people. If the control unit 11 determines that the condition of the monitored person for whom an alert has been issued has not worsened (S33: NO), it skips the processing of step S34.

[0060] Next, the control unit 11 specifies the display mode of the alert information according to the elapsed time since the alert was generated (S35). For example, the control unit 11 specifies a display mode, such as a color or a blinking pattern, according to whether the elapsed time since the alert was generated is 1 minute, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, etc. Here, too, the display mode according to the elapsed time is assumed to be stored in advance in the auxiliary storage unit 13. Note that the display mode according to the elapsed time since the alert was generated may be configured to change the display color or blinking pattern, or, for example, add the text "5 minutes passed!" in association with the alert field R2, as shown in FIG. 8A. The control unit 11 generates alert information for unread alerts to be displayed in the alert field R2 in the display mode specified in step S34 and / or the display mode specified in step S35 (S36), and transmits the generated alert information to the staff terminal 30 (S37). The control unit 31 of the staff terminal 30 updates the alert history of the notification screen currently displayed on the display unit 36 ​​based on the alert information received from the server 10 (S38). As a result, for example, the alert history shown in FIG. 4 is displayed on the staff terminal 30 with the alert history changed in the display mode of the alert field R2 for the monitored person in room 101 as shown in FIG. 8A.

[0061] By the above-described process, alert information regarding an alert that has occurred can be displayed in the alert field R2 in a display format that corresponds to the time elapsed since the alert occurred, whether the condition of the monitored person has worsened, etc. Therefore, the urgency of the alert can be grasped depending on the display format, and nursing care can be implemented promptly.

[0062] In this embodiment, multiple types of sensors 21 to 25 are provided to determine the condition of the person being monitored, and the condition of the person being monitored (occurrence of an event) is monitored based on the detection signals from each of the sensors 21 to 25. Furthermore, for each person being monitored, it is possible to set events that should be notified to the care staff as alerts among the events that have occurred. Therefore, different events can be set as events that should be notified to the care staff depending on the health condition of the person being monitored, etc.

[0063] In this embodiment, whether or not care has been provided by the care staff for the alert is indicated by whether or not an unread mark is displayed in each alert field R2 in the alert history on the notification screen. Alternatively, a mark indicating the progress of each alert may be displayed in each alert field R2 to indicate the progress (response status) of the care staff for each alert. For example, as shown in FIG. 8B , an unread mark may be displayed when the content of an alert has not been confirmed by the care staff, an in-progress mark indicating that care is being provided when the care staff confirms the content of the alert and starts care, and a completed mark indicating that care has been completed when the care is completed, may be displayed. In this configuration, the progress of each alert displayed in the alert history can be easily grasped. Furthermore, in addition to switching the display of the mark, the display mode (e.g., display color, flashing) of the alert field R2 may be switched depending on the progress of each alert. The progress of each alert may be input by the care staff via the input unit 35 of the staff terminal 30, for example.

[0064] (Embodiment 2) This section describes an information processing system in which, when an alert indicating that care by care staff has not been completed for multiple monitored individuals occurs, the display mode of the alert field R2 and the display order of each alert are changed according to priority. The information processing system of this embodiment can be realized using devices similar to those of the information processing system of embodiment 1 shown in Figure 1, so a description of the configuration of each device will be omitted.

[0065] In the information processing system of this embodiment, the server 10 and the staff terminal 30 execute the same processing as the processing shown in Fig. 6. As a result, in the information processing system of this embodiment as well, the server 10 monitors the status of the monitored persons based on the sensor data received from the sensor I / F device 20, notifies the care staff of the status of each monitored person in a room list, and, if an alert occurs for any monitored person, notifies the care staff of the occurrence of the alert in an alert history.

[0066] 9 and 10 are flowcharts showing an example of the procedure for updating the alert history in the second embodiment, and Fig. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of updating the alert history. The calculation process of the priority score shown in Fig. 10 is the process of step S42 in Fig. 9. The process shown in Fig. 9 is the process shown in Fig. 7 with steps S41 to S44 added between steps S32 and S33. Explanation of the same steps as in Fig. 7 will be omitted.

[0067] The control unit 11 of the server 10 of this embodiment executes the same processes as steps S31 to S32 in Fig. 7. Then, the control unit 11 determines whether the unread alert is an alert for multiple monitored persons (S41). If it is determined that the unread alert is not an alert for multiple monitored persons (S41: NO), that is, if there is only an alert for one monitored person, the control unit 11 proceeds to the process of step S33. In this case, the control unit 11 executes the same process as shown in Fig. 7.

[0068] If it is determined that the alert is for multiple monitoring targets (S41: YES), the control unit 11 calculates a priority score for each alert to determine the display order and display mode in the alert history on the notification screen (S42). In the priority score calculation process shown in FIG. 10, the control unit 11 extracts information about one monitoring target from the information about the monitoring targets acquired in step S32 (S51). Note that the control unit 11 reads information about the monitoring target for which the alert has occurred from the monitoring target DB 13a, along with the alert information. The control unit 11 then determines whether the monitoring target is a star-set monitoring target (S52), and if it determines that the monitoring target is a star-set monitoring target (S52: YES), it adds a predetermined score corresponding to the star setting to the priority score of the monitoring target (the priority score here is 0) (S53).

[0069] If it is determined that a star has not been set (S52: NO), the control unit 11 skips the process of step S53 and identifies a score according to the content of the event related to the alert (S54). For example, scores according to each event item and event content are set in advance and stored in the auxiliary storage unit 13, and the control unit 11 acquires the score according to the content of the event related to the alert from the auxiliary storage unit 13. The control unit 11 then adds the identified score to the priority score calculated in step S53 (S55). The control unit 11 also measures the elapsed time since the occurrence of this alert, identifies a score according to the measured elapsed time (S56), and adds the identified score to the priority score calculated in step S55 (S57). Here, too, for example, a score according to the elapsed time since the occurrence of the alert is set in advance and stored in the auxiliary storage unit 13, and the control unit 11 acquires the score according to the elapsed time since the occurrence of the alert from the auxiliary storage unit 13.

[0070] Furthermore, the control unit 11 determines whether the condition of the monitoring target has worsened based on the information of the one monitoring target extracted in step S51 (S58). The process of step S58 is the same as the process of step S33. If the control unit 11 determines that the condition of the monitoring target has worsened (S58: YES), it adds a predetermined score to the priority score calculated in step S57 (S59). If the control unit 11 determines that the condition of the monitoring target has not worsened (S58: NO), the control unit 11 skips the process of step S59 and determines whether there are any monitoring targets for which unread alerts have been issued and for which the above-mentioned process has not been performed (S60). If it determines that there is an unprocessed monitoring target (S60: YES), the control unit 11 returns to the process of step S51, extracts information about the one unprocessed monitoring target (S51), and executes the processes of steps S52 to S59 based on the extracted information.

[0071] If it is determined that there are no unprocessed monitoring targets (S60: NO), the control unit 11 returns to the processing shown in FIG. 9. Then, the control unit 11 determines the display order of the alert information for each monitoring target based on the priority score calculated for each monitoring target (each alert) in step S42 (S43). For example, the control unit 11 assigns a display order of 1, 2, 3, ... to each monitoring target in descending order of priority score. The control unit 11 also determines the display mode of the alert information for each monitoring target according to the priority score calculated for each monitoring target (S44). For example, the control unit 11 determines the display mode, such as a color or blinking pattern, according to the priority score for each monitoring target. The display mode according to each priority score is stored in advance in the auxiliary storage unit 13. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 11 , alert information for "body movement detected" for the monitored person in room 102, alert information for "body movement detected" for the monitored person in room 105, and alert information for "leaving bed" for the monitored person in room 101 are displayed in the alert column R2 in this order in a display style corresponding to their respective priority scores. This configuration allows alert information with a high priority score to be highlighted, allowing care staff to easily identify high-priority alerts. In the example shown in FIG. 11 , for the monitored people in rooms 102 and 105, both of which have "body movement detected" alerts, the alert for the monitored person in room 102, who is starred, is displayed at the top. Furthermore, the "body movement detected" alert for the monitored person in room 105 is displayed with priority over the "leaving bed" alert for the monitored person in room 101. Instead of displaying information according to the priority score, each piece of alert information may be displayed in the alert column R2 in a display style corresponding to the content of the event being alerted or the time elapsed since the alert occurred.

[0072] Thereafter, the control unit 11 generates alert information for each person to be monitored in the alert history, which is displayed in the alert field R2 in the display order specified in step S43 and in the display format specified in step S44 (S36), and transmits the generated alert information to the staff terminal 30 (S37). As a result, for example, from the alert history shown in Fig. 4, the display format of the alert field R2 for the people to be monitored in rooms 101, 102, and 105 is changed as shown in Fig. 11, and the alert history with the display order rearranged is displayed on the staff terminal 30.

[0073] Through the above-described processing, for a monitored person for whom an alert has occurred, alert information of higher importance can be displayed in the alert history with priority depending on whether the person is starred, the alert content, the time elapsed since the alert occurred, whether the monitored person's condition has deteriorated, and the like. Therefore, even when alerts have occurred for multiple monitored persons, the care staff can easily identify monitored persons with high urgency or priority based on the display order and display mode of each alert column R2, enabling prompt care. Note that the scores based on whether the person is starred, the alert content, the time elapsed since the alert occurred, and the condition of the monitored person has deteriorated can be appropriately set according to the priority and urgency of each situation, thereby making it possible to calculate an appropriate priority score for each monitored person.

[0074] In this embodiment, the server 10 is not limited to a configuration in which each alert is displayed in a display order and display mode according to a priority score calculated based on the status of the monitored person. For example, the server 10 may be configured to change the display order and display mode of each alert based on the time of day when the alert occurred, the number of care staff on duty at the time the alert occurred, and the work status of each care staff. For example, the priority events may be different depending on the daytime period on weekdays (e.g., from 9:00 to 18:00) and the nighttime period (other time periods). Furthermore, the priority events may be different depending on the time period when the number of care staff on duty is equal to or greater than a predetermined number and the time period when the number is less than the predetermined number. In this way, by determining the priority score of each alert (the display order according to the priority score) according to not only the status of the monitored person but also the status of the care staff, the care staff can efficiently provide care in response to each alert. Therefore, even when the number of care staff available to provide care is small, care can be provided efficiently for each monitored person.

[0075] In this embodiment, the same effects as those of the first embodiment described above can be obtained. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the alert field R2 can be displayed in a display mode and display order according to the time elapsed since the occurrence of the alert, changes in the condition of the monitored person, etc. (changes over time). Therefore, the care staff can easily identify monitored people with high priority by using the alert history on the notification screen, and it becomes possible to shorten the time from the occurrence of an alert to the start of care care in response to the alert. In this embodiment, the modified examples described as appropriate in the first embodiment described above can also be applied.

[0076] (Embodiment 3) In addition to the configuration of the information processing systems of the first and second embodiments described above, an information processing system in which conversations are carried out between care staff using a staff terminal 30 will be described. FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the configuration of an information processing system of a third embodiment. In the information processing system of this embodiment, in addition to a personal computer, a smartphone, a tablet terminal, or a laptop computer, an intercom equipped with a headset provided with a microphone, earphones, and a communication unit is used as the staff terminal 30. Note that a headset equipped with a microphone and earphones or headphones may be connected to a smartphone or tablet terminal via a wired or wireless connection and used as the staff terminal 30. The other configurations are the same as those of the information processing system of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, and therefore description thereof will be omitted.

[0077] Fig. 13 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a staff terminal 30 using an intercom. The staff terminal 30 shown in Fig. 13 has a microphone 37 and earphones 38 instead of the input unit 35 and display unit 36 ​​of the staff terminal 30 shown in Fig. 2. Furthermore, the staff terminal 30 of this embodiment stores in the auxiliary storage unit 33 a conversation application program 33AP (hereinafter referred to as conversation app 33AP) for transmitting and receiving voice messages to and from other staff terminals 30 via the network N.

[0078] The microphone 37 is an audio input unit that collects surrounding sounds and generates digital audio data, and sends the acquired audio data to, for example, the main memory unit 32 for storage. The earphones 38 are audio output units that output audio in accordance with instructions from the control unit 31, and output messages or warning sounds in accordance with instructions from the control unit 31. Note that the staff terminal 30 may be configured to include headphones or speakers instead of the earphones 38.

[0079] In the information processing system of this embodiment, the server 10 and the staff terminal 30 execute the same process as that shown in FIG. 6 . Thus, in the information processing system of this embodiment, the server 10 monitors the status of the monitored individuals based on sensor data received from the sensor I / F device 20, notifies the care staff of the status of each monitored individual in a room list, and, if an alert occurs for any monitored individual, notifies the care staff of the occurrence of the alert in an alert history. When an event for which an alert is set for any monitored individual occurs, the server 10 of this embodiment displays alert information in the alert history on the notification screen displayed on the staff terminal 30 and transmits audio data of the alert information to each staff terminal 30. If the staff terminal 30 is configured with earphones 38, headphones, or speakers, when it receives audio data of the alert information from the server 10, it outputs the received audio data as audio through the earphones 38, headphones, or speakers. With this configuration, in this embodiment, the occurrence of an alert can be notified to the care staff by audio output from the staff terminal 30.

[0080] In addition, the server 10 of this embodiment acquires conversations exchanged via voice between staff terminals 30, and when an alert occurs to a monitored person, converts the acquired voice data of the conversation into text data, and stores the generated text data and voice data in the event DB 13c in association with the event that generated the alert.

[0081] Fig. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a record layout of the event DB 13c of the third embodiment. In addition to the configuration of the event DB 13c of the first embodiment shown in Fig. 3, the event DB 13c of this embodiment has a conversation text string and a conversation voice string. The conversation voice string stores voice data of a conversation between care staff members in response to an event for which an alert has been notified from the server 10 to the staff terminal 30, and the conversation text string stores text data obtained by converting the voice data of the conversation into text. The voice data and text data of the conversation include the date and time when the staff terminal 30 transmitted the voice data and information about the care staff member who is speaking.

[0082] FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing an example of a conversation data accumulation process. In FIG. 15, the left side shows the process performed by the server 10, and the right side shows the process performed by the staff terminal 30. Note that the staff terminal 30 in the process shown in FIG. 15 is assumed to have earphones 38, headphones, or a speaker. The control unit 11 of the server 10 in this embodiment executes, for example, the process shown in FIG. 6, and executes the following process after the process of step S21. That is, if the control unit 11 determines that the event identified in step S17 is an event for which an alert has been set for the monitored person identified in step S12 (S19: YES), it generates alert information to be displayed in the alert field R2 (S20) and transmits it to the staff terminal 30 (S21). Thereafter, the control unit 11 generates audio data of alert information to be notified to the care staff (S71). The alert information here may be audio data generated from the alert information generated in step S20, and includes, for example, the content of the event and information about the monitored person for whom the event occurred. For example, in the event of a monitored person getting out of bed, the control unit 11 generates alert information (audio message) including the room number and name of the monitored person and a message indicating that the monitored person has gotten out of bed. Specifically, alert information such as "Room 503, Yamada Ichiro, has gotten out of bed" is generated. In addition, in the event of a long stay in the toilet, the control unit 11 generates alert information including the room number and name of the monitored person and a message indicating the length of time the monitored person stayed in the toilet.

[0083] The control unit 11 transmits the generated audio data of the alert information to the staff terminal 30 (S72). For example, the control unit 11 transmits the alert information to all staff terminals 30 with which it can communicate by broadcast communication. The control unit 31 of the staff terminal 30 receives the alert information transmitted by the server 10 and outputs the received alert information as audio via the earphones 38 (S73). Note that the control unit 11 of the server 10 may transmit the alert information (text data) generated in step S20 to the staff terminal 30, and the control unit 31 of the staff terminal 30 may convert the received text data alert information into audio data alert information and output the obtained audio data alert information as audio via the earphones 38. This allows the server 10 to notify the care staff of the occurrence of an event in the monitored person by audio.

[0084] When a care staff member is notified of the occurrence of an event via the staff terminal 30, the care staff member uses the staff terminal 30 to converse with other care staff members and provide care (necessary treatment) for the event that has occurred. The control unit 31 of the staff terminal 30 determines whether or not it has acquired voice data of a speech (conversational voice) uttered by the care staff member who is the user of its own terminal 30 via the microphone 37 (S74). If it is determined that the speech voice of the care staff member has been acquired (S74: YES), the control unit 31 transmits the acquired voice data to the other staff terminals 30 and the server 10 via the network N (S75).

[0085] If it is determined that the voice of the care staff member has not been acquired from the staff terminal 30 (S74: NO), the control unit 31 proceeds to the process of step S76. That is, the control unit 31 of the staff terminal 30 that has not acquired the voice of the care staff member determines whether or not it has received voice data transmitted from another staff terminal 30 that has acquired the voice of the care staff member (S76). If the control unit 31 determines that it has received voice data transmitted from another staff terminal 30 (S76: YES), it outputs the conversation voice of the other care staff member through the earphone 38 based on the received voice data (S77).

[0086] If the control unit 31 determines that voice data has not been received from another staff terminal 30 (S76: NO), it skips the process of step S77 and returns to the process of step S74. Each time the control unit 31 acquires a voice uttered by a care staff member via the microphone 37, it repeats the process of transmitting the acquired voice data to the other staff terminal 30 and the server 10. Furthermore, each time the control unit 31 receives voice data transmitted from another staff terminal 30, it repeats the process of outputting a conversational voice based on the received voice data from the earphone 38. This allows the care staff members to converse with each other via the staff terminal 30. For example, if care staff member A utters, "Yamada-san in 503 has gotten out of bed. Is anyone nearby?", the staff terminal 30 of care staff member A acquires the voice data uttered by care staff member A and transmits it to the other staff terminal 30. The other staff terminals 30 output the received voice data aloud, and when care staff member B, hearing this voice, says, "It's B. I'm nearby and will assist you now," the staff terminal 30 of care staff member B acquires the voice data uttered by care staff member B and transmits it to the other staff terminals 30. The other staff terminals 30 output the received voice data aloud, and when care staff member A, hearing this voice, says, "Mr. B, please," the staff terminal 30 of care staff member A acquires the voice data uttered by care staff member A and transmits it to the other staff terminals 30. The other staff terminals 30 output the received voice data aloud, and each care staff member who hears this voice can understand that care staff member B will provide care in response to the notified event (alert).

[0087] If care staff member B needs help or advice from other care staff members while providing care in response to the alert, he / she will emit a conversational voice requesting help or advice. In this case, the staff terminal 30 of care staff member B can request help or advice from the other care staff members by acquiring the voice data emitted by care staff member B and transmitting it to the other staff terminals 30. Furthermore, when care staff member B completes care for the notified event, he / she will emit a conversational voice reporting the completion of care. In this case, the staff terminal 30 of care staff member B can report the completion of care to the other care staff members by acquiring the voice data emitted by care staff member B and transmitting it to the other staff terminals 30. In this way, each care staff member can provide care while conversing with each other via the staff terminal 30.

[0088] The control unit 11 of the server 10 receives the voice data transmitted from each staff terminal 30 (S78). The control unit 31 of the staff terminal 30 transmits the voice data and the identification information of the staff terminal 30 itself or the identification information of the care staff member using the staff terminal 30 itself, and when the control unit 11 of the server 10 receives the voice data, it can identify the staff terminal 30 that transmitted the voice data or the care staff member using the staff terminal 30. The control unit 11 converts the received voice data into text data and generates text data of the conversation voices of the care staff members (S79).

[0089] Then, the control unit 11 stores the text data generated in step S79 and the voice data received in step S78 in the event DB 13c of the current monitoring target (the monitoring target for whom an event is occurring) (S80). Specifically, the control unit 11 associates the identification information of the care staff member who generated the received voice data, the date and time of reception of the voice data, and the text data of the generated conversational voice and stores them in a conversation text string, and associates the identification information of the care staff member, the date and time of reception of the voice data, and the voice data received in step S78 in a conversational voice string. The control unit 11 stores the conversation text and the conversational voice in the event DB 13c in association with the event stored in the event DB 13c in step S18 of FIG. 6. Through the above-described process, the control unit 11 can acquire voice data of the conversation between the care staff members from each staff terminal 30 and can store an event that occurred to the monitoring target and the text data and voice data of the conversation between the care staff members regarding the event in association with each other.

[0090] The control unit 11 determines whether the care provided by the care staff has ended for the event notified to the care staff by sending alert information to the staff terminal 30 in step S72 (S81). For example, the staff terminal 30 may be provided with an input unit (input button) for inputting the end of care, and the control unit 11 may determine the end of care when the input button is operated. The control unit 11 may also determine whether the care has ended based on whether a predetermined keyword is included in the voice data uttered by the care staff while providing care. For example, keywords such as "end" or "end (completion)" may be registered in advance in the auxiliary storage unit 13, and the control unit 11 may determine that the care has ended if the keyword is included in the voice data uttered by the care staff. Note that in addition to determining whether the keyword is included in the voice data uttered by the care staff, the control unit 11 may also determine whether the keyword is included in the text data converted from the voice data.

[0091] The end of nursing care by the care staff may also be determined using a learning model trained by machine learning. The learning model is expected to be used as a program module that functions as part of artificial intelligence software. For example, a learning model trained using algorithms such as CNN (Convolution Neural Network), RNN (Recurrent Neural Network), LSTM (Long Short-Term Memory), Transformer, BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers), and GPT (Generative Pre-Training) can be used to output information indicating whether conversation data (voice data or text data) by the care staff contains content related to nursing care for the monitored individual when the conversation data is input. In this case, the control unit 11 inputs the conversation data of the care staff into the learning model, determines whether the conversation of the care staff contains content related to nursing care based on the output information from the learning model, and determines whether nursing care by the care staff has ended based on the determination result.

[0092] FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the configuration of a learning model. The learning model shown in FIG. 16 is trained to receive input data (audio data or text data) of a conversation between a care staff member using the staff terminal 30, perform a calculation based on the input data to determine whether the conversation is related to care provided by the care staff member, and output the calculation result. The learning model shown in FIG. 16 has two output nodes, where output node 0 outputs the probability that the input conversation data should be determined to include content related to care provided by the care staff member, and output node 1 outputs the probability that the input conversation data should be determined to include content other than that, such as casual conversation. The output value of each output node is, for example, a value between 0 and 1.0, and the sum of the determination probabilities output from each output node is 1.0.

[0093] The learning model shown in FIG. 16 is generated by machine learning an untrained learning model using training data containing training conversation data (voice data or text data) and information (correct labels) indicating whether the conversation data includes content related to nursing care or other content (chat). When training conversation data is input, the learning model learns so that the output value from the output node corresponding to the content indicated by the correct labels approaches 1.0 and the output values ​​from other output nodes approach 0.0. In the learning process, the learning model performs calculations based on the input conversation data to calculate output values ​​from each output node. The learning model then compares the calculated output values ​​of each output node with the value corresponding to the correct label (0 or 1) and optimizes parameters used in the calculation process so that each output value approximates the value corresponding to the respective correct label. The parameters are, for example, weights between neurons in the learning model. The parameter optimization method is not particularly limited, but examples include backpropagation, steepest descent, and the like. This results in a learning model that is trained to determine whether, when conversation data is input, the input conversation data contains content related to nursing care or is casual conversation that does not contain content related to nursing care.

[0094] The learning model is trained by another learning device. The trained learning model generated by the other learning device is downloaded from the learning device to the server 10 via the network N or the portable storage medium 10a, for example, and stored in the auxiliary storage unit 13. Note that the learning model is not limited to the configuration of FIG. 16, and the number of discrimination targets determined by the learning model is not limited to two. For example, the learning model may be configured to determine whether the input conversation data includes content related to nursing care, casual conversation, or content indicating the end of nursing care. In this case, the control unit 11 can determine whether nursing care by the nursing staff has ended based on the output information from the learning model. Furthermore, the learning model may be configured to determine whether the input conversation data includes content related to nursing care, casual conversation, content indicating the start of nursing care, content indicating that nursing care is being provided, or content indicating the end of nursing care. In this case, in response to an alert, the progress of nursing care by the nursing staff, such as whether nursing care has started, is being provided, or has ended, can be determined.

[0095] Returning to the explanation of the process shown in Fig. 15, if it is determined that the nursing care by the nursing staff has not ended (S81: NO), the control unit 11 returns to the process of step S78 and executes the processes of steps S78 to S81 on the voice data transmitted from the staff terminal 30. This allows the voice data of the conversation transmitted from the staff terminal 30 and the text data of the conversation generated from the voice data to be stored in the event DB 13c. Therefore, the voice data and text data of the conversation conducted by the nursing staff using the staff terminal 30 are stored in the event DB 13c.

[0096] When it is determined that the care provided by the care staff has been completed (S81: YES), the control unit 11 stores "Completed" indicating the completion of care in the progress information column of the event DB 13c of the monitored person for whom care care has been completed (S82), and ends the series of processes. Through the above-described processes, when the server 10 detects the occurrence of an event for which an alert has been set for the monitored person, it can notify each care staff member by voice via the staff terminal 30. The care staff member can provide care while conversing with other care staff member using the staff terminal 30, and the server 10 can store text data and voice data of the conversations between the care staff member in association with the occurred event.

[0097] The text data of conversations between care staff members stored in the event DB 13c by the above-described processing can be viewed, for example, using the staff terminal 30 or another terminal. FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of display of the text data of conversations. When viewing the text data of conversations stored in the event DB 13c, the viewer specifies an arbitrary monitored person and an arbitrary date and time or an event that has occurred, and requests the text data of the conversation corresponding to the specified event from the server 10. The control unit 11 of the server 10 reads out information about the event corresponding to the requested content and the text data of the conversation (conversation text) from the event DB 13c and transmits them to the requesting terminal.

[0098] When the requesting terminal receives the event information and the text data of the conversation from the server 10, it generates a screen as shown in FIG. 17A and displays it on the display unit. In the screen shown in FIG. 17A, the bold-line display frame displays the alert information generated by the control unit 11 of the server 10 in step S20 of FIG. 6 and the date and time of the alert. In addition, the thin-line display frame displays the information of the care staff who spoke, the date and time of the speech, and the text data of the conversation of the care staff generated by the control unit 11 of the server 10 in step S79 of FIG. 15, each of which is associated and displayed in chronological order. The screen as shown in FIG. 17A allows the viewer to understand the content of the event that occurred, the content of the conversation between the care staff regarding the event, and the content of the care provided to the monitored person. Note that the screen as shown in FIG. 17A is displayed, for example, on the personal screen shown in FIG. 5. For example, the personal screen shown in FIG. 5 may be configured to display information about an alert that occurred to the monitored person, and to display text data of the conversation between the care staff regarding the alert (event) in association with the displayed alert.

[0099] In this embodiment, when generating text data from audio data of conversations between care staff members received from the staff terminal 30, the control unit 11 of the server 10 may be configured to extract pre-registered keywords from the generated text data and perform highlighting to highlight the extracted keywords. For example, after processing step S79 in FIG. 15, the control unit 11 identifies predetermined keywords from the generated text data and performs highlighting on each keyword. In this configuration, when viewing the text data of conversations stored in the event DB 13c of the server 10, predetermined keywords are highlighted as shown in FIG. 17B. This allows the viewer to easily grasp important keywords from the content of conversations between multiple care staff members. In the example shown in FIG. 17B, the room number and name of the monitored person, the content of the event, and the content of the care are displayed in a frame.

[0100] In the process shown in FIG. 15 of this embodiment, the server 10 may be configured to, when acquiring a conversational voice of a care staff member from the staff terminal 30, perform a process of identifying which event occurred in which monitored person the conversational voice is being spoken in relation to. The control unit 11 of the server 10 performs the processes of steps S12 to S21 in FIG. 6 and steps S71 to S72 in FIG. 15 each time sensor data is received from each sensor I / F device 20. Therefore, the server 10 may transmit alert information related to different events consecutively to the staff terminal 30. That is, a situation may arise in which, after alert information related to one event is transmitted to the staff terminal 30, alert information related to another event is transmitted to the staff terminal 30 before the care staff member finishes providing care for the event. In this case, the care staff member will be conversing about multiple events, and it becomes necessary to determine which event each conversation of the care staff member relates to. Therefore, for example, after processing step S79 in Figure 15, the control unit 11 of the server 10 identifies an event that corresponds to the voice data (voice of the care staff conversation) received in step S78 from among the events being notified to the care staff (events for which care by the care staff has not yet been completed).

[0101] For example, the control unit 11 may determine that a conversation voice received from the staff terminal 30 within a predetermined time (e.g., within 30 seconds) after the transmission of alert information and a conversation voice of another care staff member received within a predetermined time (e.g., within 10 seconds) after the reception of the conversation voice are conversations corresponding to the event of the transmitted alert information. As a result, a conversation that took place within a predetermined time after the notification of the occurrence of an event can be identified as a conversation related to the event. The control unit 11 may also determine, from the received conversation content, which event occurred in which monitored person the conversation is related to. For example, if the conversation content includes information about the monitored person or information about an event, the control unit 11 can identify the event corresponding to the received conversation voice based on the information included in the conversation content. In this case, even if more than a predetermined time has passed since the transmission of the alert information, it is possible to identify which event the conversation voice of the care staff member is related to.

[0102] Then, in step S80, the control unit 11 stores the text data of the conversation voice of the care staff in the conversation text string corresponding to the identified event in the event DB 13c of the monitored person for whom the event has occurred, and stores the audio data of the conversation voice of the care staff in the conversation audio string corresponding to the identified event. This allows the conversation voice and conversation text of the care staff to be stored in association with the corresponding event.

[0103] In the above-described embodiment, the server 10 is configured to convert the acquired voice data into text data each time the server 10 acquires voice data of a conversation between care staff using the staff terminal 30, and store the converted voice data in the event DB 13c. However, the process of converting voice data into text data does not need to be performed at the timing when the voice data is acquired, and may be performed, for example, at predetermined time intervals. For example, when the server 10 acquires voice data of a conversation between care staff, the server 10 may store the acquired voice data in the event DB 13c, and at predetermined times, convert each voice data into text data and store the text data in the event DB 13c.

[0104] In this embodiment, the server 10 may be configured to create a report regarding an event (alert) that occurred to the monitored person based on the conversation content (conversation text) between the care staff that is accumulated in response to the event. The report includes various types of reports, such as care record information to be accumulated as a care record, doctor report information to be reported to medical professionals such as doctors, and family report information to be reported to the monitored person's family, etc. For example, the formats of each report are stored in advance in the auxiliary storage unit 13 of the server 10, and the control unit 11 can create a desired report by inputting information about the event (alert) to be reported and information about the care provided by the care staff into each field of the report format to be created.

[0105] In this embodiment, the server 10 may be configured to determine the progress of nursing care in response to an alert based on the conversation content (conversation text) of the nursing staff accumulated in response to an event (alert) that occurred to the monitored person. For example, if a learning model is used to determine whether the input conversation data includes content related to nursing care, casual conversation, content indicating the start of nursing care, content indicating the initiation of nursing care, or content indicating the end of nursing care, the server 10 can determine the progress of nursing care by the nursing staff in response to the alert, such as whether nursing care has been initiated, is being performed, or has been completed. In this case, as shown in FIG. 8B, a mark indicating the progress of nursing care in response to each alert may be displayed in the alert column R2.

[0106] In this embodiment, the server 10 may be configured to store data of conversations between the person being monitored and the care staff using a nurse call system, in addition to storing data of conversations between the care staff using the staff terminal 30. For example, the information processing system of this embodiment shown in FIG. 12 may be provided with a nurse call system and configured to store text data and audio data of conversations between the care staff and the person being monitored using a master unit and a slave unit of the nurse call system. With this configuration, it becomes possible to later check, based on the stored data, the response and content of the care staff when the person being monitored makes a nurse call call.

[0107] In this embodiment, the same effects as those of the above-described embodiments can be obtained. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the server 10 can store the contents (text data and voice data) of conversations between care staff members in response to an alert notified to the care staff members via the staff terminal 30. Therefore, when checking the care provided by the care staff members in response to an alert (an event that occurred to the monitored person), it becomes possible to view the contents of the conversations between the care staff members. The configuration of this embodiment can be applied to the information processing systems of the above-described embodiments 1 and 2, and similar effects can be obtained even when applied to the information processing systems of the above-described embodiments. Furthermore, the modified examples described in the above-described embodiments can also be applied to this embodiment.

[0108] (Embodiment 4) This section describes an information processing system that recommends whether or not to star a person who is not yet a starred person to be monitored, depending on the characteristics of the person who has been starred. The information processing system of this embodiment can be realized using devices similar to those of the information processing system of embodiment 1 shown in Figure 1, so a description of the configuration of each device will be omitted.

[0109] The information processing systems of the first to third embodiments described above are provided with a star setting function that allows care staff to set a monitoring target as a notable target, for example, when the monitoring target moves in or when the monitoring target's condition, etc., changes. Star setting is set based on the monitoring target's disease name and condition, or behavioral tendencies, etc., and therefore the characteristics of monitoring targets who are set as stars are often similar. Therefore, by extracting the characteristics of monitoring targets who have already been set as stars in a certain nursing facility, it is possible to make recommendations on whether or not to set a star for monitoring targets who will move in later or for monitoring targets whose condition, etc., has changed.

[0110] FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing an example of a process procedure for generating a feature list of monitoring subjects to be starred. The control unit 11 of the server 10 of this embodiment reads out information about the monitoring subjects who have been starred from the monitoring subject DB 13a (S91). In this embodiment, it is assumed that the monitoring subject DB 13a stores attribute information about each monitoring subject, including their age and gender, medical history, medical treatment history, medication history, current diagnosis and symptoms, and medical records including various test results such as blood tests and urine tests. The control unit 11 reads out this information about the monitoring subjects who have been starred from the monitoring subject DB 13a. The control unit 11 may also obtain this information from another server that stores electronic medical records including medical records.

[0111] The control unit 11 extracts characteristic information indicating the attributes and symptoms of the monitored person from the read information of the monitored person (S92). For example, the control unit 11 extracts attribute information such as the monitored person's age, diagnosis, symptoms, medications, etc. as characteristic information of the monitored person. The control unit 11 then generates a characteristic list of monitored people to be starred based on the extracted characteristic information for each monitored person (S93). For example, the control unit 11 counts the number of people with the same or similar characteristic information based on the extracted characteristic information, and generates a list of the characteristic information sorted in descending order of the number of people. The server 10 of this embodiment generates a list of characteristic information of monitored people to be starred by executing the above-described process at appropriate times. The server 10 then determines whether or not to star monitored people who have not been starred based on the generated list, and recommends that monitored people who should be starred be starred.

[0112] FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing an example of a recommendation processing procedure for star settings, and FIG. 20 is an explanatory diagram showing an example screen of a room list. The control unit 11 of the server 10 of this embodiment determines whether information about a new monitored person has been registered in the monitored person DB 13a (S101). For example, when a new monitored person moves into a nursing home, information about the monitored person is registered in the monitored person DB 13a. If it is determined that information about the new monitored person has not been registered (S101: NO), the control unit 11 determines whether there is any monitored person whose condition (condition, symptoms, etc.) has changed based on the medical records of the monitored people already registered in the monitored person DB 13a (S102). If it is determined that there is no monitored person whose condition has changed (S102: NO), the control unit 11 ends the processing.

[0113] When the control unit 11 determines that information about a new person to be monitored has been registered (S101: YES), or when it determines that there is a person to be monitored whose status has changed (S102: YES), it reads out information about that person to be monitored from the person to be monitored DB 13a (S103). Then, based on the read-out information about the person to be monitored and the characteristic list generated by the processing of Fig. 18, the control unit 11 determines whether or not the person to be monitored is a person to be star-set (S104). For example, the control unit 11 extracts attribute information such as the age of the person to be monitored, characteristic information such as the diagnosis and symptoms, and medications being taken of the person to be monitored from the read-out information about the person to be monitored, and determines whether or not the extracted characteristic information or characteristic information similar to the extracted characteristic information is included in the characteristic list.

[0114] If it is determined that star setting should be performed (S104: YES), that is, if the characteristic information of the monitored person is included in the characteristic list, the control unit 11 outputs recommendation information indicating that star setting should be performed for the monitored person, for example, to the staff terminal 30 (S105). For example, as shown in FIG. 20, the control unit 11 outputs an instruction to the staff terminal 30 to display a mark indicating a recommendation for star setting in the personal column R1 of the monitored person for whom star setting should be recommended, in the room list on the notification screen. This makes it possible to present monitored people who should be star-set (star candidates) in the room list displayed on the staff terminal 30. In the example shown in FIG. 20, the mark "star candidate" is displayed in the personal column R1 of the monitored person in Room 103.

[0115] On the other hand, if it is determined that star setting is not necessary (S104: NO), that is, if the characteristic information of the monitoring target is not included in the characteristic list, the control unit 11 ends the series of processes. Through the above-described process, a monitoring target similar to the characteristic information of a monitoring target who has been starred can be searched for from among the monitoring targets who have not been starred, and if a search is successful, a recommendation for star setting can be presented to the found monitoring target. Therefore, the care staff can easily identify monitoring targets who should be starred, and by starring them early, it becomes possible to prioritize monitoring of the monitoring target.

[0116] The characteristic list of the monitored individuals to be starred, generated by the above-described process, may be used in other nursing care facilities. For example, a monitored individual who is starred in one nursing care facility is likely to be starred in other nursing care facilities as well. Therefore, by extracting the characteristics of monitored individuals who are starred in nursing care facilities that have already introduced the system, it is possible to recommend whether or not each monitored individual should be starred in nursing care facilities that will subsequently introduce the system.

[0117] In the information processing systems of the first to fourth embodiments described above, when an alert is issued for each monitored person, the content of the alert is stored in the event DB 13c. Therefore, the occurrence frequency of each alert (alert event) can be measured in the nursing care facility, and the occurrence distribution of each alert and changes in the occurrence frequency of each alert over time can be analyzed. Furthermore, for example, it is possible to analyze the time periods and days of the week when each alert occurs most frequently. This configuration allows each nursing care facility to analyze the tendency of alerts to occur, and by allocating nursing care staff taking into account, for example, the time periods or days of the week when alerts occur most frequently, appropriate personnel allocation becomes possible.

[0118] Furthermore, in the information processing systems of the first to fourth embodiments described above, when an alert is generated for each monitored person, the content of the alert is stored in the event DB 13c. When care care in response to the alert is completed, information indicating the completion of care care is stored in the event DB 13c. Since the information indicating the completion of care care is stored in the event DB 13c together with the completion date and time of the care care, it is possible to measure the time required for each alert from the occurrence of the alert to the completion of the care care. Furthermore, by analyzing the chronological change in the time required for each alert from the occurrence of the alert to the completion of the care care, it is possible to determine whether the care staff has achieved efficient care care. Furthermore, by storing information on the care staff who provided care in response to each alert in association with each alert, it is possible to determine the time required for each care staff to provide care for each alert. Therefore, it is possible to perform personnel evaluations of each care staff member based on the time required for each care staff member to provide care care. Furthermore, it is possible to identify care staff members who provide efficient care with short times, and by sharing the behavioral tendencies of these care staff members with other care staff members, it is possible to develop human resources by using these care staff members as role models.

[0119] The embodiments disclosed herein are to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the claims, not by the above meaning, and is intended to include all modifications within the meaning and scope of the claims. [Explanation of symbols]

[0120] 10 Servers 11 Control section 12 Main memory 13 Auxiliary storage 14 Communications Department 20 Sensor I / F device 21 Sleep Sensor 22 Toilet Sensor 23 Door Sensor 24 Environmental Sensors 25 Human Sensor 26 Call button 30 Staff terminal 34 Communications Department 35 Input section 36 Display section 37. Mike 38 Earphones 13a Monitoring target database 13b Sensor data DB 13c Event DB

Claims

1. outputting status information indicating the state of each of the plurality of monitoring subjects in the nursing care facility or the state of the surroundings of each of the monitoring subjects; When an event occurs relating to the state of the person to be monitored or the state around the person to be monitored, outputting event information indicating the content of the event in association with the person to be monitored; Detecting a change from the occurrence of the event; outputting the event information in a display mode corresponding to the detected change; acquiring voice data of conversations between a plurality of caregivers regarding the event indicated by the output event information; Convert the acquired voice data into text data, storing text data converted from the voice data of the conversations between the plurality of caregivers in a storage unit in association with the event information; Accept the selection for one of the events, Outputs the text data stored in association with the selected event. A program that causes a computer to perform a process.

2. The event information is output in a display mode according to the caregiver's response to the event. The program according to claim 1 , which causes the computer to execute a process.

3. Accepting a setting of a person to be monitored as a person to be monitored, The status information and event information of the monitoring target person for which the setting of the target person has been accepted are output in association with an index corresponding to the target person.

3. The program according to claim 1, which causes the computer to execute processing.

4. extracting characteristic information of the person to be monitored who has been set as the person to be watched; Based on the extracted characteristic information, a monitoring target person to be set as a target of interest is identified from among multiple monitoring targets. The program according to claim 3, which causes the computer to execute processing.

5. When events occur to multiple monitored individuals, the priority of each event is determined, Event information for each event is output in a display format according to the determined priority.

5. The program according to claim 1, which causes the computer to execute a process.

6. The priority of each event is determined based on the content of each event that has occurred, the time that has elapsed since the occurrence of each event, and whether or not a person to be monitored has been designated as a person to be watched. The program according to claim 5, which causes the computer to execute processing.

7. For each person to be monitored, an event for which event information should be output is set among a plurality of types of events related to the state of the person to be monitored or the state around the person to be monitored.

7. The program according to claim 1, which causes the computer to execute a process.

8. determining a caregiver's response to the corresponding event based on the text data; The event information is output in a display mode according to the determined response status.

8. The program according to claim 1, which causes the computer to execute a process.

9. outputting status information indicating the state of each of the plurality of monitoring subjects in the nursing care facility or the state of the surroundings of each of the monitoring subjects; When an event occurs relating to the state of the person to be monitored or the state around the person to be monitored, outputting event information indicating the content of the event in association with the person to be monitored; Detecting a change from the occurrence of the event; outputting the event information in a display mode corresponding to the detected change; acquiring voice data of conversations between a plurality of caregivers regarding the event indicated by the output event information; Convert the acquired voice data into text data, storing text data converted from the voice data of the conversations between the plurality of caregivers in a storage unit in association with the event information; Accept the selection for one of the events, Outputs the text data stored in association with the selected event. An information processing method in which processing is performed by a computer.

10. An information processing device having a control unit, The control unit outputting status information indicating the state of each of the plurality of monitoring subjects in the nursing care facility or the state of the surroundings of each of the monitoring subjects; When an event occurs relating to the state of the person to be monitored or the state around the person to be monitored, outputting event information indicating the content of the event in association with the person to be monitored; Detecting a change from the occurrence of the event; outputting the event information in a display mode corresponding to the detected change; acquiring voice data of conversations between a plurality of caregivers regarding the event indicated by the output event information; Convert the acquired voice data into text data, storing text data converted from the voice data of the conversations between the plurality of caregivers in a storage unit in association with the event information; Accept the selection for one of the events, Outputs the text data stored in association with the selected event. Information processing device.

Images