Information processing method, information processing device, and program

Abstract

To provide an information processing method, etc. determining and presenting a state relating to an end-of-life care of a monitoring object person lying in a bed.SOLUTION: A computer acquires biological information from a bed sensor that detects the biological information of a monitoring object person lying in a bed. The computer determines a state relating to an end-of-life care of the monitoring object person based on the acquired biological information. The computer outputs end-of-life care information relating to the end-of-life care of the monitoring object person based on the determination result.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

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

[0002] Nursing care facilities are introducing systems that use various sensors to monitor the condition of care recipients and promptly notify care staff when a situation arises in which nursing care is required. Patent Document 1 discloses a system that uses an infrared sensor to detect heat dissipation areas on the bed to determine whether the person being watched over is lying down or sitting up in bed. By determining the posture of the person being watched over in bed, the system disclosed in Patent Document 1 can detect at an early stage when the person being watched over makes a dangerous movement in bed, making it possible to prevent accidents around the bed. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 6582305 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] Meanwhile, in nursing care facilities, nursing staff regularly observe care recipients (those being monitored) who are nearing death to see if they show any signs of impending death, making it difficult to reduce the burden on nursing staff. Therefore, there is a demand for a system that detects and notifies the appearance of signs of impending death in care recipients who are nearing death. However, the system disclosed in Patent Document 1 is not designed to observe the state of a care recipient at the time of death, and is therefore unable to detect the appearance of signs of impending death.

[0005] The present disclosure has been made in consideration of such circumstances, and its purpose is to provide an information processing method, etc., that can determine and present the condition related to the end-of-life care of a monitored person lying in bed. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] An information processing method according to one aspect of the present invention involves a computer executing a process in which biometric information is acquired from a bed sensor that detects the biometric information of a person being monitored who is lying in bed, the computer determines the state of the person being monitored related to end-of-life care based on the acquired biometric information, and the computer outputs end-of-life care information related to the end-of-life care of the person being monitored based on the determination result. [Effects of the Invention]

[0007] In one aspect of the present invention, the condition of a person to be monitored who is lying in bed and is being cared for can be determined and 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 an operation menu. [Figure 6] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a personal screen. [Figure 7] 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a procedure for updating a notification screen. [Figure 8] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of an alert history screen. [Figure 9] 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a procedure for setting a temporary suspension of the end-of-life care mode. [Figure 10]FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of a room list screen. [Figure 11] 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a procedure for updating a notification screen according to the second embodiment. [Figure 12] 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a recommendation processing procedure in an end-of-life care mode. [Figure 13] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of a room list screen. [Figure 14] FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a learning model. [Figure 15] 13 is a flowchart showing an example of a procedure for updating a notification screen according to the fourth embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0009] Hereinafter, an information processing method, an information processing device, and a program 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 people with physical or mental disabilities, living in each room in a facility such as a nursing home or a medical facility, and notifies care staff when a situation in which care from care staff is needed is detected. In the following description, 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 status of the monitoring target person and the status around the monitoring target person are connected to the sensor I / F device 20. In the example shown in Fig. 1, a bed 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 bed 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 monitored person 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 bed sensor 21 is installed in the bed of each monitoring target person. The bed sensor 21 is, for example, a sheet-like sensor installed between the bed mattress and the sheet to detect the pulse (heart rate), breathing, body movement, body temperature, etc. of the monitoring target person lying on the bed. The bed sensor 21 detects the heart rate, breathing, and body movement of the monitoring target person while in bed (sleeping), for example, by detecting the air pressure in an air mattress. The bed sensor 21 may also be configured with conductive fabric and multiple piezoelectric elements to detect the heart rate, breathing, and body movement of the monitoring target person by detecting periodic micro-vibrations. The bed sensor 21 may also be a sensor installed at the head of the bed or on the wall of the room, and use microwaves or infrared rays to detect the pulse, breathing, body movement, body temperature, etc. of the person lying on the bed. Based on the detected signals, the bed sensor 21 analyzes sleep data (biological information) such as the monitoring subject's body movements, occurrence of apnea, sleep depth, occurrence of awakenings (a state in which sleep is interrupted and the person is awake), heart rate, respiratory rate, and body temperature, and outputs the data to the sensor I / F device 20. The bed sensor 21 may also be configured to detect the monitoring subject's blood pressure and oxygen saturation (blood oxygen concentration). In this embodiment, the server 10 is configured to determine that the monitoring subject is in bed when it acquires the sleep data (biological information) detected by the bed sensor 21 via the sensor I / F device 20, and to determine that the monitoring subject has left bed when it is no longer able to acquire the sleep data. That is, the server 10 of this embodiment determines whether the monitoring subject has left bed based on the monitoring subject's biological information detected by the bed sensor 21.

[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, an operation mode 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 configurable 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 depending on the 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 condition changes after admission. Alternatively, the server 10 may automatically set the star setting depending on the monitored person's attributes, diagnosed disease name, condition, etc. The operation mode column stores information on the operation mode set for the monitored person. The information processing system of this embodiment has two operation modes: a watching mode (normal mode) that monitors the condition of the monitored person or the condition around the monitored person based on the detection results of each sensor 21 to 25, and a terminal care mode that monitors signs of death (conditions related to terminal care) based on the detection results of the bed sensor 21. Therefore, "normal" or "end-of-life care" is stored in the operation mode column as information on the operation mode. The operation mode is set by the care staff depending on the condition of the person to be monitored.The real-time information sequence stores information indicating the real-time status of the monitored person, specifically including a status sequence, a heart rate / respiration sequence, etc. The status sequence stores status information indicating the status (event) of the monitored person. The status information indicates the status of the monitored person or the status around the monitored person determined from the detection results of each sensor 21-25. The heart rate / respiration sequence stores, for example, the heart rate and respiration rate of the monitored person over 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 sensor 21-25 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 storing the temperature and humidity in the monitored person's room and a body temperature sequence storing the monitored person's body temperature. Furthermore, if any of the sensors 21-25 can measure the monitored person's blood pressure and oxygen saturation, the real-time information sequence may also include columns storing the monitored person's blood pressure and oxygen saturation.

[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 the normal state, events that require the notification of care staff, and events that require care. Events include events occurring in the normal mode and events occurring in the end-of-life mode. Events occurring in the normal mode include, for example, the monitored person getting out of bed (leaving bed), increased body movement of the monitored person while in bed (while in bed or asleep), use of the toilet or a prolonged stay on the toilet, the door being opened or someone passing by, room temperature or humidity outside a predetermined range, the sensors 21-25 or the sensor I / F device 20 stopping operation, and the call button 26 being operated. Furthermore, in the information processing system, 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, events may include the detection of pre-registered individuals (the monitored person and care staff), the detection of unregistered individuals, and the monitored person wandering around. Events in the end-of-life mode include a sudden change (increase or decrease) in the heart rate and respiratory rate of the person being monitored, cessation of heart rate and respiratory rate of the person being monitored, etc. The occurrence of an event is determined by the control unit 11 of the server 10 based on information acquired from the sensors 21 to 25 and the call button 26 via the sensor I / F device 20. The control unit 11 determines whether an event has occurred for each person being monitored according to the set operation mode, and when it determines that an event has occurred for each person being monitored, it 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 bed 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 bed sensor column stores sleep data indicating the sleeping state of the monitoring target person detected by the bed 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 while lying in bed, data acquired while awake, and data acquired while the subject is in a coma nearing death. 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 changes in the monitoring subject's condition over time may be stored. For example, the bed sensor array may store graphs showing changes in body movement over time, changes in the occurrence of apnea, changes in sleep depth over time, changes in heart rate over time, changes in respiratory rate over time, and changes in body temperature over time. The graph data may be a series of data, for example, pairs of the time of measurement and the measured value recorded by the bed sensor 21 each time a measurement is performed. 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 monitored person and stores information on events that occur to the monitored person in association with the monitored person's ID. 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 occurred event and their contents. For example, if an event occurs in which a monitored person gets out of bed due to waking up during the night for a normal mode, "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 monitored person stays in the toilet for a long time, "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 movement during bedtime occurs, "body movement" 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. Furthermore, if an event such as a sudden change in the heart rate and respiratory rate of the monitored person, or cessation of heart rate and respiratory rate of the monitored person occurs for the monitored person in end-of-life care mode, "end-of-life care alert" is registered as the event item and "sudden change in heart rate and respiratory rate" or "cessation of heart rate and respiratory rate" is registered as the event content. The progress information column stores information indicating the progress of the care staff's response to the event that occurred (hereinafter referred to as care care), and for example, if care care has ended, "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 item and content of an event, photographs and videos taken by the care staff when they treat the person being monitored for that event, as well as recorded audio and the like.

[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 occur to the monitored person, but only events for which an alert has been set for the monitored person are notified to the care staff as an alert. Note that for monitored people for whom the end-of-life mode is set, only events related to end-of-life care (specifically, sudden changes in heart rate and respiratory rate, and cessation of heart rate and respiratory rate) 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 in normal mode leaves the bed, an icon I1 indicating that the person has left the bed and the text "Left the 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 monitored person is asleep, icon I3 indicating that the monitored person is in the toilet, and icon I4 indicating that the monitored person is moving. For monitored people in end-of-life mode, an icon I5 indicating that the end-of-life mode is active and the text "End-of-life mode: ON" are displayed in the individual column R1. In FIG. 4, it is displayed that end-of-life mode is set for the monitored person in room 106. By displaying the status of monitored people with icons in this way, the status of each monitored person and the end-of-life mode setting can be easily grasped. The icons and text corresponding to the status of monitored people and the end-of-life mode setting are pre-installed in, for example, program 13P, and can be displayed by the control unit 11 selecting the icon and text corresponding to the status of each monitored person when generating a notification screen. Furthermore, if a person has been set as a person of interest, an indicator (mark) I6 indicating that the person has been set as a person of interest (star setting) is displayed somewhere in the personal column R1. In the example shown in FIG. 4, the indicator I6 is displayed at the right end of the personal column R1 corresponding to the person being monitored in room 102. This allows the control unit 11 to output the indicator I6 indicating the star setting (person of interest) to the staff terminal 30 in association with the information (status information) displayed in the personal column R1 regarding the person being monitored who has been set as a star. In the room list, the personal columns R1 of the people being monitored who have been set as a star may be displayed together at the top. Note that an 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] When a specific operation (e.g., right-clicking the mouse) is performed on one of the individual columns R1 in the room list, an operation menu is displayed for performing setting processing on the monitored person in this individual column R1. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the operation menu. FIG. 5 shows an example of the operation menu displayed when a specific operation is performed on the individual column R1 of the monitored person in Room 103. The operation menu shown in FIG. 5 displays the following items: "Star Room," "Set End-of-Life Care Mode," "Basic Resident Information," "Alert Settings," "Pause Monitoring," and "Move Out." "Star Room" is an item for instructing the monitored person to star or cancel the star setting. "Set End-of-Life Care Mode" is an item for instructing the monitored person to set end-of-life care mode or cancel end-of-life care mode (i.e., set to normal mode). "Basic Resident Information" is an item for instructing changes to the registered information related to the monitored person. "Alert Settings" is an item for instructing changes to the events for which alerts are set for the monitored person. "Suspend monitoring" is an item for instructing the suspension and resumption of monitoring (watching) of the person being monitored, and "Leave" is an item for instructing the end of monitoring of the person being monitored.

[0038] When the server 10 receives a selection of the "Star Room" item via the operation menu as shown in FIG. 5, the server 10 stores "Set" in the star setting field for the monitored person in the monitored person DB 13a and performs star setting. When the star setting is performed, the server 10 displays a mark I6 indicating a monitored person in the personal field R1 of the monitored person on the notification screen displayed on the staff terminal 30. When the server 10 receives a selection of the "End-of-Life Care Mode Setting" item via the operation menu, the server 10 updates the operation mode field for the monitored person in the monitored person DB 13a to "End-of-Life Care" and sets the end-of-life care mode. Specifically, the control unit 31 of the staff terminal 30 receives a selection of the "End-of-Life Care Mode Setting" item in the operation menu via the input unit 35, thereby accepting a setting for each monitored person as a monitored person for end-of-life care. When the control unit 31 receives a setting for a monitored person for end-of-life care, the control unit 31 notifies the server 10, and the server 10 sets the end-of-life care mode. Note that "Normal" is stored in the operation mode field by default. When the end-of-life mode is set, the server 10 displays an icon I5 and text indicating that the end-of-life mode is in operation in the personal column R1 of the monitored person on the notification screen being displayed on the staff terminal 30.

[0039] Furthermore, when the selection of the "Resident Basic Information" item is accepted via the operation menu, the server 10 displays a setting screen (change screen) for the registration information of the resident (person being monitored) on the staff terminal 30, accepts instructions to set or change the registration information via the setting screen, and sets or changes the registration information. The registration information of the person being monitored is stored, for example, in the monitored person DB 13a, and the server 10 sets or changes the registration information of the person being monitored by updating the stored contents of the monitored person DB 13a. When the selection of the "Alert Settings" item is accepted via the operation menu, the server 10 displays an alert setting screen on the staff terminal 30, accepts events for which an alert should be set via the alert setting screen, and updates the alert setting field for the person being monitored in the monitored person DB 13a.

[0040] Furthermore, when the server 10 receives a selection of the "Pause Monitoring" item via the operation menu, the server 10 temporarily stops monitoring (monitoring process) of the monitored person. For example, the server 10 stores information indicating that the monitoring process is paused as information about the monitored person in the monitored person DB 13a. When the pause is set, the server 10 may display a message in the personal column R1 of the monitored person on the notification screen notifying that the monitoring process is paused. After the pause is set, the server 10 is controlled not to acquire information from the sensors 21 to 25 and the call button 26 corresponding to the monitored person, or not to perform processing based on the acquired information. Note that the suspension of monitoring of the monitored person is set, for example, when a resident (monitored person) of a nursing facility is temporarily hospitalized in a medical institution or temporarily returns home. When the server 10 receives a selection of the "Leave" item via the operation menu, the server 10 ends monitoring of the monitored person. For example, the server 10 stores information indicating that the monitored person has left as information about the monitored person in the monitored person DB 13a. When the departure is registered, the server 10 deletes the personal column R1 of the person to be monitored from the notification screen.

[0041] 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-set event occurred are displayed in text, and the monitored person's status (event details) are 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 I5 used in the room list. Note that, when an alert (an event related to end-of-life care) occurs for a monitored person for whom end-of-life care mode is set, the alert column R2 for that monitored person may be displayed in a different color or flashing from the other alert columns R2. In this case, the care staff can be notified that an alert different from that for other monitored people has occurred. Also, an indicator I6 is displayed in the alert column R2 for a star-set monitored person. Note that the alert column R2 for a star-set monitored person may be highlighted in a predetermined color or flashing to indicate high importance. If the displayed alert has not been confirmed by the care staff, an unread mark is displayed in the alert column R2. 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.

[0042] 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.

[0043] 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.

[0044] 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, as well as the occurrence of events for which an alert has been set for monitored people in normal mode, and the occurrence of events (alerts) related to end-of-life care for monitored people in end-of-life mode. 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. 6 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, and the like. 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, and by switching between the tabs, information for the past 12 hours or the past 30 minutes is displayed. The real-time data field R3 displays graphs showing temporal changes in sleep state, breathing rate, heart rate, activity state, toilet 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.

[0045] 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.

[0046] 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 of these pieces 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 bed sensor 21, and a mark (five stars in FIG. 6) and character ("Sleep well" in FIG. 6) indicating an 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.

[0047] The vital history field R5 displays vital data of the monitoring subject detected by the bed sensor 21. In the example shown in FIG. 6, 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.

[0048] 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. 6 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.

[0049] 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. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of the notification screen update processing procedure. In FIG. 7, 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.

[0050] 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 and identification information (device ID) of each sensor I / F device 20 are registered in association with each other, 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.

[0051] 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., the target ID) with status information (status information) about the monitoring target based on the sensor data. The control unit 11 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.

[0052] Next, the control unit 11 determines whether the monitoring subject identified in step S12 is a monitoring subject for which the end-of-life mode is set (S17). Specifically, the control unit 11 reads the operation mode set for the identified monitoring subject from the monitoring subject DB 13a and determines whether the end-of-life mode is set. If it is determined that the end-of-life mode is not set (S17: NO), that is, if the normal mode is set, the control unit 11 identifies an event related to the normal mode that has occurred for the monitoring subject based on the sensor data stored in the sensor data DB 13b in step S13 (S18). For example, if the control unit 11 receives a signal from the bed sensor 21 indicating that the monitoring subject's heart rate and respiratory rate are zero (signals indicating that the monitoring subject's biological reactions cannot be detected), the control unit 11 identifies the occurrence of an event in which the monitoring subject has left bed. Note that the control unit 11 may also identify the occurrence of an event in which the monitoring subject has left bed if it receives a signal indicating that other biological information of the monitoring subject is zero (signals indicating that detection is not possible). Furthermore, when the control unit 11 receives a signal indicating a body movement state from the bed sensor 21, if the magnitude of the body movement indicated by the received signal is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the control unit 11 determines the occurrence of an event that the monitored person in bed is making large body movements. When the control unit 11 receives a signal indicating toilet use from the toilet sensor 22, the control unit 11 determines the occurrence of an event that the toilet has been used. When the control unit 11 receives a signal indicating toilet use continuously for a predetermined period of time or longer, the control unit 11 determines the occurrence of an event that the monitored person stayed in the toilet for a long time. When the control unit 11 receives a signal indicating the door has been opened from the door sensor 23, the control unit 11 determines the occurrence of an event that the door has been opened. When the control unit 11 receives a signal indicating temperature (room temperature) from the environment sensor 24, if the received temperature is equal to or greater than a predetermined range, the control unit 11 determines the occurrence of an event that the temperature is high, if the received temperature is below the predetermined range, the control unit 11 determines the occurrence of an event that the temperature is low, if the received temperature is below the predetermined range. When the control unit 11 receives a signal indicating humidity from the environment sensor 24, if the received humidity is equal to or greater than the predetermined range, the control unit 11 determines the occurrence of an event that the humidity is high (humid), if the received humidity is below the predetermined range, the control unit 11 determines the occurrence of an event that the humidity is low (dry).Furthermore, when an operation signal is received from call button 26, control unit 11 determines that an event has occurred, that is, operation of call button 26. Furthermore, when control unit 11 does not receive a signal from any of sensor I / F devices 20 or a signal from any of sensors 21 to 26 for a predetermined time or longer, control unit 11 determines that an event has occurred, that is, malfunction of any of sensor I / F devices 20 or any of sensors 21 to 25.

[0053] 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.

[0054] On the other hand, when it is determined that the end-of-life mode is set (S17: YES), the control unit 11 (determination unit) identifies an event related to the end-of-life mode that has occurred in the monitoring subject here, based on the sensor data (biometric information of the monitoring subject) detected by the bed sensor 21 among the sensor data stored in the sensor data DB 13b in step S13 (S19). Specifically, the control unit 11 identifies the occurrence of an event such as a sudden change (increase or decrease) in heart rate and respiratory rate, or cessation of heart rate and respiratory rate (heart rate zero and respiratory rate zero), based on the heart rate data and respiratory rate data detected by the bed sensor 21.

[0055] 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 (S20). For example, when the control unit 11 identifies the occurrence of an event related to end-of-life care for a monitored person for whom end-of-life care mode is set, it stores "end-of-life care alert" as the event item and "sudden change in heart rate and respiratory rate" or "cessation of heart rate and respiratory rate" as the event content. When the control unit 11 identifies the occurrence of an event related to end-of-life care for a monitored person for whom normal mode is set, such as getting 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 related to large body movement, it stores "body movement" as the event item and "large" or "increased" as the event content. Furthermore, when the control unit 11 identifies the occurrence of an event of using the toilet, it stores "toilet" as the event item, and when it identifies the occurrence of an event of staying in the toilet for a long time, it stores the duration of stay in the toilet as the event content. When the control unit 11 identifies the occurrence of an event of opening the door, it stores "door" as the event item and "open" as the event content. When the control unit 11 identifies the occurrence of an event of a high temperature or low temperature, it stores "room temperature" as the event item and the measured room temperature as the event content. When the control unit 11 identifies the occurrence of an event of a humid or dry condition, it stores "humidity" as the event item and the measured humidity as the event content. When the control unit 11 identifies the occurrence of an event of operating the call button 26, it stores "call button" as the event item and "operation" as the event content. In addition, when the control unit 11 identifies the occurrence of an event in which the sensor I / F device 20 or the sensors 21 to 25 malfunction, it stores "equipment malfunction" as the event item and stores, as the event content, the equipment information of the equipment in which the occurrence of the unnecessary operation was detected.

[0056] 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.

[0057] The control unit 11 determines whether the event identified in step S18 or step S19 is an event for which an alert has been set for the monitoring target (S21). Here, the control unit 11 determines whether the event identified in step S18 is included in the events for which an alert has been set for the monitoring target identified in step S12. Note that the control unit 11 determines that the event identified in step S19 is an event for which an alert has been set. In other words, if an event related to end-of-life care occurs for a monitoring target for which an end-of-life care mode is set, the event is determined to be an event for which an alert has been set.

[0058] If it is determined that the event is not an event for which an alert is set (S21: NO), the control unit 11 ends the process. Note that the control unit 11 executes the processes from step S12 onwards every time it receives sensor data from the sensor I / F device 20.

[0059] If it is determined that the event is one for which an alert has been set (S21: 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 (S22). 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 transmits the generated alert information to the staff terminal 30 (S23). This allows the control unit 11 to output an alert when an event for which an alert has been set occurs for a monitored person for whom the normal mode is set. Furthermore, the control unit 11 (output unit) can output alert information related to end-of-life care (end-of-life care information) when an event related to end-of-life care occurs for a monitored person for whom the end-of-life mode is set. The control unit 11 may store the alert information in the event DB 13c in association with the event information. The control unit 31 of the staff terminal 30 receives alert information (end-of-life care information) to be displayed in the alert history from the server 10, and updates the alert history of the notification screen currently displayed on the display unit 36 ​​based on the received alert information (S24). 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. The control unit 31 can display each alert field R2 in the order in which the alerts occurred by placing the most recent alert field R2 at the top of the alert history. In the example shown in FIG. 4, the alert field R2 indicating that a "end-of-life care alert" has occurred for the monitored person in Room 106 is displayed as the most recent alert, and the alert history is updated. An unread mark is displayed in the newly generated alert field R2.

[0060] Through the above-described process, the server 10 monitors 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 monitored person's status via a room list displayed on the staff terminal 30. Furthermore, when an event for which an alert is set occurs for a monitored person for whom normal mode is set, the server 10 can notify the care staff of the occurrence of the event via the alert history displayed on the staff terminal 30. Furthermore, when an event related to end-of-life care occurs for a monitored person for whom end-of-life mode is set, the server 10 can notify the care staff of the occurrence of the event via the alert history. Thus, the care staff can grasp the status of each monitored person and, when an alert occurs for any monitored person, can quickly grasp it and begin care. In particular, for monitored people for whom end-of-life mode is set, it becomes possible to appropriately determine the timing of contacting the monitored person's family and doctors, etc., who will be present at the end-of-life care.

[0061] 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 a "caregiving alert" has occurred for the monitored person in room 106, it may output a message by voice saying, "Room 106, Suzuki Hanako, a caregiving alert has occurred." With this configuration, the care staff can know that an event (alert) has occurred for the monitored person without having to check the content displayed on the display unit 36 ​​of the staff terminal 30.

[0062] In this embodiment, multiple types of sensors 21-25 are provided to determine the state of the monitored person, and the state of the monitored person (occurrence of an event) is monitored based on the detection signals from each of the sensors 21-25. Furthermore, using such an information processing system, the occurrence of signs of death can be monitored for a monitored person approaching death. Therefore, in this embodiment, for a normal monitored person, the bed sensor 21 detects whether the monitored person has left bed and their state based on the monitored person's biological information detected by the bed sensor 21. For a monitored person approaching death, the bed sensor 21 does not detect whether the monitored person has left bed, but rather detects a state related to end-of-life care. Therefore, by switching between the normal mode and the end-of-life care mode, two types of states can be detected using a single bed sensor 21. In nursing facilities, care staff regularly observe monitored people approaching death to determine whether they show signs of death. By using the information processing system of this embodiment, the state of the monitored person can be monitored only when an end-of-life care alert is generated, thereby reducing the burden on the care staff. Furthermore, for monitored individuals for whom normal mode is set, it is possible to set, for each monitored individual, the events that should be notified to the care staff as alerts among the events that have occurred. Thus, different events can be set as events to be notified to the care staff depending on the monitored individual's health condition, etc.

[0063] In this embodiment, an alert for a monitoring subject for whom the end-of-life mode is set may be output based on the occurrence of an event related to end-of-life care (such as a sudden change in heart rate or respiratory rate, or cessation of heart rate or respiratory rate) as well as the elapsed time since the end-of-life mode was set. For example, an alert may be issued when one day (24 hours), three days, one week, or two weeks have passed since the end-of-life mode was set. In this case, an alert can be issued to the caregiver not only when an end-of-life condition (event) occurs but also when a predetermined time has passed since the end-of-life mode was set. Specifically, in step S19 of FIG. 7, the control unit 11 not only determines the end-of-life condition based on the sensor data from the bed sensor 21 but also determines whether the elapsed time since the end-of-life mode was set has reached a predetermined time. If the control unit 11 determines that the predetermined time has reached, it identifies the occurrence of an event (alert) indicating that the predetermined time has passed since the end-of-life mode was set. The date and time the end-of-life mode was set can be stored, for example, in the operation mode field of the monitoring subject DB 13a.

[0064] FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of the alert history screen. In the example shown in FIG. 8, an alert (event) is displayed indicating that three days have passed since the end-of-life mode was enabled for the monitored person in Room 105. When an alert is output based on the elapsed time since the end-of-life mode was enabled, the elapsed time itself can be notified to the care staff by displaying the elapsed time in the alert column R2. In this configuration, the care staff can grasp the elapsed time since the end-of-life mode was enabled for the monitored person for whom the end-of-life mode is enabled through the alert. This allows the care staff to predict future changes in the monitored person's condition and, if necessary, to cancel the end-of-life mode. The elapsed time since the end-of-life mode was enabled may be displayed as status information in the individual column R1 of the room list, in addition to an alert indicating the elapsed time.

[0065] In this embodiment, whether or not care has been provided by the care staff for an 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, 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 alert and begins care, and a completed mark indicating that care has been completed when the care staff has completed care. This configuration allows the care staff to easily grasp the progress of each alert displayed in the alert history, enabling them to easily determine the priority of responses to each alert. 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.

[0066] (Embodiment 2) This section describes an information processing system that can temporarily stop monitoring of the end-of-life care status of a monitoring target who has been set to end-of-life care mode. 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, and therefore a description of the configuration of each device will be omitted.

[0067] A monitoring target person who is nearing death and for whom the end-of-life mode is set is bedridden and requires regular nursing care, such as changing the person's position, skin care to keep the body clean, and massage to improve blood circulation, to prevent the development of bedsores. When providing such nursing care, there is a possibility that the occurrence of an event (alert) related to end-of-life care may be erroneously detected based on the sensor data (biometric information) detected by the bed sensor 21. Therefore, the information processing system of this embodiment is configured to temporarily stop processing in the end-of-life mode, so that when the nursing staff provides the above-mentioned nursing care, the occurrence of an event (alert) related to end-of-life care is not detected, and the output of an erroneous alert can be avoided.

[0068] FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an example of the process for setting a pause in the end-of-life care mode, and FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing another example screen of the room list. In the information processing system of this embodiment, the control unit 11 of the server 10 determines whether an instruction to set a pause in the end-of-life care mode has been received for any of the monitored persons for whom the end-of-life care mode has been set (S31). For example, in the information processing system of this embodiment, the staff terminal 30 is configured to be able to input an instruction to set a pause in the end-of-life care mode and an instruction to cancel the pause, and when an instruction to set a pause in the end-of-life care mode or an instruction to cancel the pause is received, the received instruction is transmitted to the server 10. In this case, the server 10 can receive an instruction to set a pause in the end-of-life care mode and an instruction to cancel the pause from the staff terminal 30.

[0069] The sensor I / F device 20 may also be provided with an input unit (e.g., an operation button) for inputting an instruction to pause the end-of-life mode and an instruction to cancel the pause, and the sensor I / F device 20 may be configured to receive the instruction to pause or cancel the pause via the input unit and transmit the received instruction to the server 10. In this case, the server 10 can acquire the instruction to pause the end-of-life mode and an instruction to cancel the pause from the sensor I / F device 20. The sensor I / F device 20 may also be provided with a communication unit capable of short-range wireless communication with, for example, a staff terminal 30 or an ID tag carried by a care staff member, and the sensor I / F device 20 may be configured to transmit an instruction to pause the end-of-life mode to the server 10 when wireless communication with the staff terminal 30 or the ID tag is possible via the communication unit (i.e., when the staff terminal 30 or the ID tag is present within the communication range), and to transmit an instruction to cancel the pause of the end-of-life mode to the server 10 when wireless communication with the staff terminal 30 or the ID tag is not possible (i.e., when the staff terminal 30 or the ID tag is not present within the communication range). If a staff terminal 30 or an ID tag is present within the communication range, it is highly likely that a care staff member carrying the staff terminal 30 or ID tag is providing care to the monitored person near the sensor I / F device 20. On the other hand, if a staff terminal 30 or an ID tag is not present within the communication range, it is highly likely that a care staff member carrying the staff terminal 30 or ID tag is not providing care to the monitored person near the sensor I / F device 20. Therefore, by automatically switching between pausing and canceling the end-of-life care mode depending on whether the sensor I / F device 20 can wirelessly communicate with the staff terminal 30 or ID tag via the communication unit, the care staff does not need to operate the staff terminal 30 or the sensor I / F device 20, and therefore the operational burden is not increased. Even in the above-mentioned configuration, the server 10 can obtain instructions to pause and cancel the pause of the end-of-life care mode from the sensor I / F device 20.

[0070] Therefore, the control unit 11 of the server 10 determines whether or not an instruction to set a pause in the end-of-life mode has been received from the staff terminal 30 or the sensor I / F device 20. Note that a terminal for inputting an instruction to set a pause in the end-of-life mode and an instruction to cancel the pause may be provided separately from the staff terminal 30 or the sensor I / F device 20, and in this case, the server 10 can receive an instruction to set a pause in the end-of-life mode and an instruction to cancel the pause from the terminal.

[0071] When it is determined that an instruction to pause the end-of-life mode has been received (S31: YES), the control unit 11 identifies the monitored person for whom the end-of-life mode is to be paused (S32). For example, when the instruction to pause is received from the sensor I / F device 20, the monitored person for whom the end-of-life mode is to be paused can be identified by identifying the monitored person associated with the sensor I / F device 20. When the instruction to pause is received from the staff terminal 30, the control unit 11 can acquire identification information of the monitored person corresponding to the setting instruction from the staff terminal 30, along with the setting instruction, and identify the monitored person corresponding to the received setting instruction based on the acquired identification information. The control unit 11 pauses the end-of-life mode by, for example, storing information indicating that the end-of-life mode is paused in the monitored person DB 13a as information on the identified monitored person (S33).

[0072] The control unit 11 then generates display information in the individual column R1 of the room list on the notification screen to indicate that the end-of-life care mode for the monitored person is temporarily suspended, and transmits the display information to the staff terminal 30 (S34). For example, the control unit 11 generates the display information by associating information about the monitored person identified in step S32 (e.g., the subject ID) with information indicating that the end-of-life care mode is temporarily suspended. When the control unit 31 of the staff terminal 30 receives the 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 (S35). Here, the control unit 31 displays information indicating that the end-of-life care mode for the monitored person is temporarily suspended in the individual column R1 corresponding to the received information about the monitored person. In the example shown in FIG. 10, the words "End-of-life care mode: temporarily suspended" are displayed in the individual column R1 for the monitored person in Room 105. An icon indicating that the end-of-life care mode is temporarily suspended may also be displayed. When it is determined that the instruction to set the end-of-life mode to be temporarily stopped has not been acquired (S31: NO), the control unit 11 skips the processes of steps S32 to S34.

[0073] Meanwhile, the control unit 11 determines whether or not an instruction to cancel the pause has been acquired for any of the monitoring subjects for whom the end-of-life mode has been paused (S36). The control unit 11 can acquire the instruction to cancel the pause from the same device as the device that issued the instruction to set the pause. If it is determined that an instruction to cancel the pause has been acquired (S36: YES), the control unit 11 identifies the monitoring subject for whom the pause of the end-of-life mode is to be canceled (S37). Here, the control unit 11 can identify the monitoring subject by processing similar to that of step S32. The control unit 11 sets the cancellation of the pause of the end-of-life mode by, for example, deleting information indicating that the end-of-life mode is paused, which is stored as information about the identified monitoring subject in the monitoring subject DB 13a (S38).

[0074] The control unit 11 then transmits cancellation information indicating that the suspension of the end-of-life care mode for the monitoring target has been cancelled to the staff terminal 30 (S39). For example, the control unit 11 associates information about the monitoring target identified in step S32 (e.g., the target ID) with information indicating that the suspension of the end-of-life care mode has been cancelled and transmits the associated information to the staff terminal 30. When the control unit 31 of the staff terminal 30 receives the cancellation information from the server 10, it updates the list of rooms on the notification screen displayed on the display unit 36 ​​by displaying information indicating that the end-of-life care mode is active in the individual column R1 corresponding to the monitoring target (S40). Here, the text "End-of-life care mode: Paused" displayed in the individual column R1 is updated to "End-of-life care mode: ON." When it is determined that an instruction to cancel the suspension has not been received (S36: NO), the control unit 11 skips the processing of steps S37 to S39.

[0075] Through the above-described processing, the server 10 can acquire instructions to pause the end-of-life mode and instructions to cancel the pause via the sensor I / F device 20 or the staff terminal 30, and can set or cancel the pause depending on the acquired instructions. The control unit 11 of the server 10 performs the above-described processing each time it acquires an instruction to pause the end-of-life mode or an instruction to cancel the pause for a monitoring subject for whom the end-of-life mode is set. As a result, when monitoring processing in the end-of-life mode is unnecessary, the execution of unnecessary processing is suppressed by pausing, and when monitoring processing is necessary, the suspension can be canceled to ensure that the monitoring processing is executed.

[0076] Fig. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of a notification screen update process procedure according to the second embodiment. The process shown in Fig. 11 is the process shown in Fig. 7 with step S41 added between YES in step S17 and step S19. Explanation of the same steps as in Fig. 7 will be omitted. Note that steps S11 to S16 in Fig. 7 are not shown in Fig. 11.

[0077] The control unit 11 of the server 10 and the control unit 31 of the staff terminal 30 of this embodiment execute the same processes as steps S11 to S17 in FIG. 7. When the control unit 11 of the server 10 of this embodiment determines that the end-of-life mode is set (S17: YES), it determines whether the end-of-life mode is temporarily suspended for the current monitoring target, specifically, the monitoring target identified in step S12 (S41). Here, the control unit 11 determines whether information indicating that the end-of-life mode is temporarily suspended is stored in the monitoring target DB 13a in association with the monitoring target. When it determines that the end-of-life mode is temporarily suspended (S41: YES), that is, when information indicating that the end-of-life mode is temporarily suspended is stored in association with the monitoring target, the control unit 11 ends the series of processes.

[0078] If it is determined that the end-of-life mode is not temporarily stopped (S41: NO), that is, if information indicating that the end-of-life mode is temporarily stopped is not stored in association with the monitoring target, the control unit 11 proceeds to the processing of step S19. That is, the control unit 11 identifies an event related to the end-of-life mode that has occurred for the monitoring target based on the sensor data detected by the bed sensor 21 (S19), and executes the processing from step S20 onwards.

[0079] As a result of the above-described process, when the end-of-life mode is temporarily stopped for a monitoring subject for whom the end-of-life mode is set, the process of determining an event related to the end-of-life mode (a state related to end-of-life care) is not performed. On the other hand, when the pause of the end-of-life mode is released and the end-of-life mode is active, the process of determining an event related to the end-of-life mode (a state related to end-of-life care) is performed.

[0080] In this embodiment, the same effects as those of the first embodiment described above can be obtained. Furthermore, in this embodiment, it is possible to temporarily suspend the end-of-life care mode for a monitoring target for which the end-of-life care mode is set, and it is possible to switch between pausing the end-of-life care mode and canceling the pause as appropriate. Therefore, when a care staff member provides nursing care to a monitoring target, for example, pausing the end-of-life care mode can prevent an erroneous alert from being output. In this embodiment, the modified examples described in the first embodiment as appropriate can also be applied.

[0081] (Embodiment 3) This section describes an information processing system that recommends whether to set a terminal care mode to a monitored person who is set to a normal mode, based on sensor data detected from the monitored person. 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.

[0082] The information processing systems of the above-described first and second embodiments are configured such that a care staff member manually sets an end-of-life mode for each monitoring target via, for example, an operation menu shown in Fig. 5. In the information processing system of this embodiment, the server 10 has a function of monitoring the biological information (e.g., heart rate and respiratory rate) of each monitoring target based on sensor data acquired from the sensor I / F device 20, determining whether or not to set an end-of-life mode and making a recommendation.

[0083] 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. 7. 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.

[0084] FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing an example of the recommendation processing procedure for the end-of-life care mode, and FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing another example screen of the room list. The control unit 11 of the server 10 of this embodiment performs the following processing at an appropriate timing, for example, once every 12 hours or once a day. The control unit 11 of the server 10 reads sensor data of a monitoring subject for whom normal mode is set from the sensor data DB 13b of the monitoring subject (S51). For example, the control unit 11 reads heart rate data and respiratory rate data of the monitoring subject for a predetermined period of time, such as the most recent few hours or one day.

[0085] The control unit 11 detects a change in the condition of the person being monitored based on the read sensor data (S52). Specifically, the control unit 11 detects signs related to changes in biological information that appear in a person approaching death. For example, the control unit 11 determines whether or not a sudden change has occurred in the heart rate and respiratory rate over the last few minutes to tens of minutes based on the read heart rate data and respiratory rate data. The usual heart rate and respiratory rate of the person being monitored may be stored in the monitoring target DB 13a as reference data, and the control unit 11 may compare the usual heart rate and respiratory rate to determine whether or not a sudden change has occurred in the heart rate and respiratory rate over the last few minutes to tens of minutes. The control unit 11 may also determine a change in the condition of the person being monitored based on the body temperature, blood pressure, etc. of the person being monitored in addition to the heart rate and respiratory rate.

[0086] The control unit 11 determines whether to set the end-of-life mode as the operating mode for the monitored person based on changes in the monitored person's condition (S53). Here, the control unit 11 determines that the end-of-life mode should be set when it detects signs of a person approaching death. Note that the control unit 11 is not limited to a configuration in which it determines whether to set the end-of-life mode based on signs of a person approaching death, such as sudden changes in heart rate and respiratory rate. For example, it may determine that the end-of-life mode should be set for the monitored person when the person has remained in bed for a predetermined period of time or longer, i.e., when the person has not left the bed for a predetermined period of time or longer. Furthermore, if the server 10 can communicate with an electronic medical record server that manages the electronic medical record in which the monitored person's medical records, etc. are registered, the control unit 11 may obtain information about the monitored person's condition from the electronic medical record and determine whether to set the end-of-life mode based on the obtained information.

[0087] If it is determined that the end-of-life mode should be set (S53: YES), the control unit 11 outputs recommendation information to the staff terminal 30 indicating that the end-of-life mode should be set for the monitored person (S54). For example, as shown in FIG. 13, the control unit 11 outputs an instruction to the staff terminal 30 to display a mark indicating the recommendation of the end-of-life mode in the personal column R1 of the monitored person for whom the end-of-life mode setting should be recommended in the room list on the notification screen. This makes it possible to present monitored people for whom the end-of-life mode should be set in the room list displayed on the staff terminal 30. In the example shown in FIG. 13, the mark "End-of-life mode recommended" is displayed in the personal column R1 of the monitored person in room 108.

[0088] On the other hand, if it is determined that the end-of-life mode should not be set (S53: NO), the control unit 11 skips the processing of step S54 and determines whether there is a monitoring subject for whom the above-mentioned processing has not been performed (unprocessed monitoring subject) (S55).If it is determined that there is an unprocessed monitoring subject (S55: YES), the control unit 11 returns to the processing of step S51, reads out the sensor data of the unprocessed monitoring subject among the monitoring subjects for whom the normal mode is set (S51), and executes the processing of steps S52 to S54 based on the read sensor data.

[0089] If it is determined that there are no unprocessed monitoring subjects (S55: NO), the control unit 11 ends the series of processes. Through the above-described processes, the control unit 11 can determine whether or not a monitoring subject for whom normal mode is set should be changed to end-of-life mode based on sensor data. Therefore, it is possible to search for monitoring subjects for whom normal mode is set, and to present to the care staff a recommendation for changing the setting to end-of-life mode for the found monitoring subjects. Therefore, the care staff can easily identify monitoring subjects for whom end-of-life mode should be set, and it is no longer necessary for the care staff to determine whether or not end-of-life mode should be set for each monitoring subject. This reduces the burden on the care staff.

[0090] In this embodiment, the server 10 is not limited to a configuration in which, when it is determined that the end-of-life mode should be set, the server 10 presents recommendation information to the care staff via a list of rooms. For example, the server 10 may be configured to automatically change the setting to the end-of-life mode for a monitored person for whom it is determined that the end-of-life mode should be set, without presenting recommendation information to the care staff. In this case, the care staff does not need to change the operating mode setting, thereby reducing the operational burden on the care staff.

[0091] In this embodiment, the process of determining whether to set the end-of-life mode based on the sensor data of the monitored person may be performed 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 a convolution neural network (CNN), a recurrent neural network (RNN), or a long short-term memory (LSTM) can be used to output information indicating the operating mode to be set for the monitored person when sensor data is input. In this case, the control unit 11 inputs sensor data detected from the monitored person into the learning model and, based on the output information from the learning model, determines whether to set the end-of-life mode or normal mode for the monitored person.

[0092] FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the configuration of a learning model. The learning model shown in FIG. 14 is trained to receive as input the heart rate data and respiratory rate data of the person being monitored detected by the bed sensor 21, perform a calculation to determine the operation mode to be set for the person being monitored based on the input data, and output the calculation result. The learning model shown in FIG. 14 has two output nodes, output node 0 outputs the probability that it should be determined that the end-of-life mode should be set, and output node 1 outputs the probability that it should be determined that the other mode, i.e., the normal mode, should be set. 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. 14 is generated by machine learning an untrained learning model using training data including training heart rate data and respiratory rate data and information (correct label) indicating the operation mode (end-of-life mode or normal mode) to be set for the corresponding monitoring target. When training heart rate data and respiratory rate data are input, the learning model learns so that the output value from the output node corresponding to the content indicated by the correct label 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 heart rate data and respiratory rate data to calculate output values ​​from each output node. The learning model then compares the calculated output value of each output node with a value (0 or 1) corresponding to the correct label 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, and examples include backpropagation, steepest descent, etc. This results in a learning model that is trained to determine whether the end-of-life mode or normal mode is the operating mode to be set for the monitored person when the heart rate data and respiratory rate data of the monitored person are input.

[0094] The learning model is trained by another learning device. The trained learning model generated by training on the other learning device is downloaded from the learning device to the server 10 via, for example, the network N or the portable storage medium 10a and stored in the auxiliary storage unit 13. Note that the learning model is not limited to the configuration of FIG. 14, and the data input to the learning model is not limited to heart rate data and respiratory rate data. For example, the learning model may be configured to input body temperature data, blood pressure data, etc. in addition to heart rate data and respiratory rate data. In this case, the learning model is configured to determine the operation mode to be set for the monitoring target based on this data and output a discrimination probability for each of the end-of-life mode and the normal mode.

[0095] (Embodiment 4) The information processing systems of the above-described first to third embodiments are configured to switch between a normal mode and a terminal care mode as the operation mode for each monitoring subject. With this configuration, it is possible to detect whether a monitoring subject in the normal mode has entered or left bed, and to detect a terminal care-related condition for a monitoring subject in the terminal care mode, based on the sensor data detected by the bed sensor 21. In this embodiment, an information processing system is described that can detect a terminal care-related condition for a monitoring subject who is approaching death without switching the operation mode.

[0096] The information processing system of this embodiment can be realized using devices similar to those of the information processing system of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 , and therefore a description of the configuration of each device will be omitted. In the information processing system of this embodiment, the bed sensor 21 has the function of a load sensor that detects a load applied to the bed, in addition to the functions of the bed sensor 21 of the first embodiment. For example, the bed sensor 21 detects the load applied to the bed by detecting the air pressure in an air mattress installed on the bed using a condenser microphone, a pressure sensor utilizing the piezo-resistive effect, a pressure sensor utilizing the piezoelectric effect, or the like. The bed sensor 21 configured in this way can detect the heart rate, respiratory status, and body movement status of the monitoring subject while in bed, as well as the monitoring subject's entry and exit (getting out of bed). That is, the monitoring subject's entry and exit (getting out of bed) can be determined depending on whether the bed sensor 21 detects a load equivalent to the monitoring subject's body weight. Because the bed sensor 21 can detect the monitoring subject getting in and out of bed, for example, when the bed sensor 21 detects that the heart rate and respiratory rate are 0, it can be determined whether the monitoring subject's heart rate and respiration cannot be detected because they have gotten out of bed, or whether the monitoring subject's heart rate and respiration have stopped while in bed. Therefore, with this configuration, it is possible to distinguish between the monitoring subject getting out of bed and the monitoring subject's heart rate and respiration having stopped while in bed (a state related to end-of-life care) without switching the operation mode for the monitoring subject.

[0097] Fig. 15 is a flowchart showing an example of a notification screen update process procedure according to the fourth embodiment. The process shown in Fig. 15 is the same as the process shown in Fig. 7 except that step S61 is added instead of steps S17 to S19, and steps S62 to S64 are added between steps S20 and S21. Explanation of the same steps as in Fig. 7 will be omitted. Note that steps S11 to S14 in Fig. 7 are not shown in Fig. 15.

[0098] The control unit 11 of the server 10 and the control unit 31 of the staff terminal 30 of this embodiment execute the same processes as steps S11 to S16 in Fig. 7. After the process of step S15, the control unit 11 of the server 10 of this embodiment identifies an event that has occurred to the person being monitored here based on the sensor data stored in the sensor data DB 13b in step S13 (S61). Note that the process of step S61 includes the processes of steps S18 and S19 in Fig. 7, and the control unit 11 identifies an event that has occurred to the person being monitored, regardless of whether the person being monitored is nearing death or not.

[0099] After processing step S20, the control unit 11 determines whether the event identified in step S61 is an event related to a condition related to end-of-life care (S62). For example, the control unit 11 determines whether the identified event is an event indicating cessation of heartbeat and breathing. In addition, a sudden change in heart rate and respiratory rate, a sudden change in body temperature or blood pressure, etc. may be defined as an event related to information related to end-of-life care, and the control unit 11 determines whether such a condition (event) has occurred. If it is determined that the event is not related to a condition related to end-of-life care (S62: NO), that is, if a normal event other than an event related to end-of-life care has occurred, the control unit 11 proceeds to processing step S21.

[0100] If it is determined that the event is related to a state related to end-of-life care (S62: YES), the control unit 11 determines whether the monitoring target is currently in bed (S63). For example, the control unit 11 determines whether the monitoring target is currently in bed based on real-time information (e.g., status information) of the monitoring target stored in the monitoring target DB 13a. If it is determined that the monitoring target is not currently in bed (S63: NO), that is, if the monitoring target has left bed, the control unit 11 determines that a normal event has occurred and proceeds to the processing of step S21. If it is determined that the monitoring target is currently in bed (S63: YES), the control unit 11 determines that the currently in bed monitoring target has entered a state related to end-of-life care and identifies that an alert (event) related to end-of-life care has occurred (S64).

[0101] After processing step S64, the control unit 11 proceeds to processing step S22, where it generates alert information for the event identified in step S61 to display an alert related to end-of-life care in the alert column R2 of the alert history on the notification screen (S22), and transmits this to the staff terminal 30 (S23). As a result, when the occurrence of an alert related to end-of-life care for the monitored person is detected, alert information related to end-of-life care is output in the alert history being displayed on the staff terminal 30, similar to the example shown in FIG.

[0102] In this embodiment, the same effects as those of the above-described embodiments can be obtained. Furthermore, in this embodiment, it is possible to determine whether a monitored person has left bed or whether the heart rate and breathing of a monitored person in bed have stopped, without setting an operation mode for each monitored person. Therefore, the care staff does not need to perform an operation to set the operation mode, and the operational burden can be reduced. The configuration of this embodiment can be applied to the information processing systems of the above-described embodiments 1 to 3, 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 as appropriate.

[0103] 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.

[0104] 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.

[0105] 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]

[0106] 10 Servers 11 Control section 12 Main memory 13 Auxiliary storage 14 Communications Department 20 Sensor I / F device 21 Bed Sensor 30 Staff terminal 34 Communications Department 35 Input section 36 Display section 13a Monitoring target database 13b Sensor data DB 13c Event DB

Claims

1. acquiring biological information from a bed sensor that detects biological information of a person to be monitored who is lying in bed; Determine whether the person to be monitored has left the bed based on the acquired biological information; For a person to be monitored who is set as a monitoring target for end-of-life care, a determination is made on the state of end-of-life care based on the biological information without determining whether to leave bed, Depending on the determination result, end-of-life care information regarding the end-of-life care of the person to be monitored is output. An information processing method in which processing is performed by a computer.

2. Acquiring the biological information from a bed sensor that detects the biological information of a person to be monitored lying in bed; determining a state of the person being monitored based on the acquired biological information; outputting end-of-life care information regarding the end-of-life care of the person to be monitored according to the determination result; outputting status information indicating the state of each of the plurality of monitoring subjects in the facility, the state of the surroundings of the monitoring subjects, or the settings of the monitoring subjects related to the end-of-life care, in association with each of the plurality of monitoring subjects in the facility; When an event occurs related to the state of the person to be monitored, the state around the person to be monitored, or the state related to the end-of-life care, event information indicating the content of the event is output in association with the person to be monitored. An information processing method in which processing is performed by a computer.

3. For each of multiple monitored individuals in the facility, the system accepts settings for whether or not they are monitored for end-of-life care, The monitoring target who has received the setting to be the monitoring target for end-of-life care is set as the monitoring target for end-of-life care.

3. The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein the processing is executed by the computer.

4. the biological information includes a heart rate and a respiratory rate; A state of end-of-life care for the person to be monitored is determined based on the heart rate and respiratory rate of the person to be monitored.

4. The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein the processing is executed by the computer.

5. The process of determining the state of end-of-life care based on the biological information is temporarily stopped.

5. The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein the processing is executed by the computer.

6. The pause of the process of determining the condition related to end-of-life care is canceled, and the process of determining the condition related to end-of-life care is resumed.

6. The information processing method according to claim 5, wherein the processing is executed by the computer.

7. Identifying a person to be monitored who should be set as a monitoring target for end-of-life care based on biological information of the person to be monitored 7. The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein the processing is executed by the computer.

8. an acquisition unit that acquires biological information from a bed sensor that detects biological information of a monitoring subject lying in bed; a determination unit that determines whether the monitoring target person has left bed based on the acquired biological information; a determination unit that determines a state related to end-of-life care for a person to be monitored who has been set as a monitoring target related to end-of-life care, without determining whether the person has left bed based on the biological information; an output unit that outputs end-of-life care information regarding the end-of-life care of the person being monitored according to the determination result; An information processing device comprising:

9. Acquiring the biological information from a bed sensor that detects biological information of a person to be monitored lying in bed; Determine whether the person to be monitored has left the bed based on the acquired biological information; For a person to be monitored who is set as a monitoring target for end-of-life care, a determination is made on the state of end-of-life care based on the biological information without determining whether to leave bed, Depending on the determination result, end-of-life care information regarding the end-of-life care of the person to be monitored is output. A program that causes a computer to perform a process.

10. Acquiring the biological information from a bed sensor that detects biological information of a person to be monitored lying in bed; determining a state of the person being monitored based on the acquired biological information; outputting end-of-life care information regarding the end-of-life care of the person to be monitored according to the determination result; outputting status information indicating the state of each of the plurality of monitoring subjects in the facility, the state of the surroundings of the monitoring subjects, or the settings of the monitoring subjects related to the end-of-life care, in association with each of the plurality of monitoring subjects in the facility; When an event occurs related to the state of the person to be monitored, the state around the person to be monitored, or the state related to the end-of-life care, event information indicating the content of the event is output in association with the person to be monitored. A program that causes a computer to perform a process.

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