Wrist-Worn Fall Detection Device With Dynamic Cancel Input
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Solution Overview
Problem
Wrist-worn emergency detection devices, such as fall detectors, often experience high false alarm rates, leading to unintentional cancellation of true alarms as users become accustomed to canceling false alerts, potentially missing critical assistance during actual emergencies.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a wrist-worn device with a sensor interface, processor, and touch-sensitive display that requires users to actively engage with varied cancel configurations, such as sequence of inputs, input position, swipe movements, voice control, or period of activation time, to cancel alarms, thereby ensuring conscious decision-making and reducing false positives.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the fall detection algorithm is made more sensitive to detect more true falls, then the True Positive Rate increases, but the False Positive Rate increases leading to more false alarms
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the parameters of the cancel function itself - specifically the input method required to cancel the alarm. By requiring a varied input sequence (e.g., specific swipe patterns, multiple taps, or voice commands) rather than a simple button press, the system maintains high sensitivity for fall detection while preventing accidental cancellations. This parameter change in the user interaction model resolves the contradiction between detecting true falls and avoiding false alarms.
2Ease of operation
If a simple cancel button is provided for easy operation, then the Ease of Operation improves, but the risk of unintentional cancellation increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the cancel function dynamic by varying the required input method based on the detection confidence level or contextual factors. When a fall is detected with high confidence, the system requires a more complex input sequence to cancel, reducing unintentional cancellations. When confidence is lower, the cancellation process can be simpler. This dynamic adjustment resolves the contradiction between ease of operation and cancellation accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary verification step between the simple user gesture and the alarm cancellation. This intermediary layer analyzes the input sequence, checks timing patterns, and validates whether the cancellation intent is genuine before executing the cancel action. This mediator resolves the contradiction by maintaining operational simplicity while ensuring cancellation accuracy through intelligent validation.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach significantly reduces false alarm rates by requiring user attention and awareness, ensuring that true emergency alerts are not unintentionally canceled, thereby improving the accuracy and reliability of emergency detection systems.
Implementation Method 1
the PERS can include one or more sensors, for example an (3D) accelerometer
Implementation Method 2
pulse (via Photoplethysmography (PPG))
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3
Figure 4a~5
AI summary
According to an aspect, there is provided a wrist-worn emergency-detection device (10), such as a fall-detection device, the emergency detection device comprising a sensor interface (30), a processor (20) and a touch-sensitive display (40), wherein the processor is arranged to: trigger an alarm based on an emergency-detection input from the sensor interface; select a cancel configuration of the device to accept a cancel alarm input from a user, the cancel alarm input instructing alarm cancellation with an input that varies from a previous time a cancel configuration was selected; format the display with user instructions according to the cancel configuration; and cancel the alarm when there is a cancel alarm input by the user in accordance with the user instructions.