EP4369319A1

EP4369319A1 - A household emergency call device

Info

Publication number: EP4369319A1
Application number: EP22207077.3A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Evelin Krajnc; Andraz Krajnc
Original assignee: Caretronic d o o
Current assignee: Caretronic d o o
Priority date: 2022-11-11
Filing date: 2022-11-11
Publication date: 2024-05-15

Abstract

The household emergency call device has a housing with installed touchscreen, at least one loudspeaker, at least one microphone, a power supply, a wireless transmitter for making emergency calls and sending position of the device and/or its user, a processor for controlling operation of the device, a memory for storing data, connection means for connection of external devices such as wrist-watch, wearable pendant, wearable bracelet, pressure monitor, blood sugar measurement device, etc., wherein the device is configured to perform at least the following operations:- detection of falls, long-term non-movement, location and/or other potentially important vital signs via connected wearable item and/or external device, wherein in case of detected irregularities an emergency call is initiated to a pre-set location,- operation of household appliances, lights, window shuts, doors, locks, and similar, in case these have a Bluetooth or similar connection means pairable with the device, wherein said appliances may be controlled by the user or autonomously by the device in case of initiated emergency calls,- entering and storing the performed activities in the memory of the device and/or on a server,- enabling documentation of logged and stored events, which can be accessed and overviewed.

Description

Field of the invention

The present invention belongs to the technical field of data detection and processing, as well as to the field of communication techniques and systems adapted for use in health care, more precisely to the field of devices for emergency calls. The invention relates to a household emergency call device.

Background of the invention and the technical problem

Medical insitutions that provide care for patients use various systems to ensure proper management and control of patients is performed. Nurse call is the name for such systems arranged to allow controlling, guarding and alarming intended for use in hospitals, health centres, nursing homes or other facilities, where spaces are guarded. The purpose of nurse call systems is efficient calling of medical personnel into a room, where a patient needs help. Usually the patient in a bed triggers a call of the medical personnel into the room where the patient is located. The call is triggered with a button and a rope. A nurse receives on her unit an alarm and information about the room where the call has been made. At the same time a light or a signal above the door or the bed is turned on. When the nurse comes to the room or the patient who made the call turns off the call with a special button or a switch.
However, such systems can only be used in hospitals, health centres, nursing homes, etc., as they are not suitable for home use. Namely, elderly and/or ill have to be monitored regularly to prevent any unecessary or unwanted events, such as forgotten medicines and/or medical appointments, or more importantly provide help and/or treatment in case of need or emergency. Elderly are prone to falls, cardiac arrests and other conditions, which require immediate reaction. A timely emergency call from home may save lives, therefore keeping track of elderly or patients is required.
As people rarely employ personal help, it is desired that the control is provided from a distance. Various emergency call devices (also called Hausnotrufanlage in German) for home use have been developed, but their functions are limited. In essence, these devices have 3 or 4 buttons in case of emergency, as well as a microphone and a loudspeaker for communication with a call centre, hospital, nursing home or any other person in charge. The problem of these devices is that the buttons have to be pressed in order to achieve contact, which cannot be done by the affected person if the person is not near the device, if the person has fallen, etc.
Therefore, the technical problem, which is solved by the present invention, is design of a device for emergency calls that will upgrade existing devices, solve their disadvantages and thus contribute to more efficient monitoring of patients and/or elderly living in their homes.

Prior art

Some known devices are based on cameras and subsequently taken video footage of the person, which is not practical or can interfere with the intimacy of the followed person. Such solution is described in documents CN113971869 , JP2002041659 and JP2004110222 . Some devices make use of sensors instead of cameras, such as the device according to patent application KR20130137976 .
Patent application DE102011004099 relates to a device having signalling equipment supported and/or fastened to the body of a person to be monitored. The signalling equipment includes a sensor system comprising an air pressure sensor and an acceleration sensor for generating and transmitting sensor signals, e.g., air pressure and jerk load, to an evaluation unit. The evaluation unit receives and evaluates the sensor signals for recognizing fall of the person to be monitored.
Utility model CN216053262 discloses a home-based care rescue system. A detection module is used for detecting heart rate data, blood pressure data, body temperature data and data important for detection of falls to be used by an elderly person living at home. A controller is provided with a memory which is used for storing health record data of the person and comparing the health record data with the body data detected by the detection device. An emergency call device is used for carrying out emergency call when something abnormal is detected by the controller, wherein an alarm device is used for sending out an alarm signal if the emergency call is performed. Monitoring is achieved with cameras and microphones, which are not used for this purpose in the present invention.
Patent US1 1064339 discloses an emergency event detection and response system that detects an occurrence of an event associated with a user and initiates an emergency response flow. A user may be associated with a wearable device and have in his home a base station and portable or stationary wireless devices containing sensors capable of detecting an emergency event. The emergency event may be detected based on voice or non-voice audio input from the user, data monitoring by the wearable device, base station, and/or portable or stationary wireless device, or by physical button press. Confirmation that the emergency call is initiated is audio based, either by user or by sensing characteristic sounds (for example, a fall, tumbling, "ouch", and similar). Responsive to determining that an emergency event has occurred, the system triggers an emergency response flow by notifying a call center and contacting one or more caregivers associated with the user. Caregivers may access a response system application to receive updates regarding the detected emergency and to contact the user and/or a provider associated with the call center.

Description of the solution to the technical problem

The present invention addresses the problem of detecting emergency or other situations in which the monitored person needs help and automatically initiating response based on detected situation. The technical problem is solved as defined in the independent claim, wherein the preferred embodiments are defined in dependent claims.
The essence of the invention is that the device is based on mobile and/or Wi-Fi and/or LTE and/or IP protocols and has a housing with installed touchscreen for displaying a user interface and arranged to show content and/or menu with optional submenus, at least one loudspeaker, at least one microphone, a power supply, a wireless transmitter for making emergency calls and sending position of the device and/or its user, a processor for controlling operation of the device, a memory for storing data, connection means for connection of external devices such as wrist-watch, wearable pendant, wearable bracelet, pressure monitor, blood sugar measurement device, etc., wherein the device is configured to perform at least the following operations:

detection of falls, long-term non-movement, location and/or other potentially important vital signs such as heart beat, blood oxygen, blood sugar, with the connected bracelet or pendant, wherein in case of detected fall, long-term non-movement, decreased or irregular heartbeat, decreased blood oxygen, elevated or decreased blood sugar, etc., the processor is configured to initiate an emergency call,
enabling emergency call to a pre-set destination, which may be emergency dispatch, hospital, nursing home, doctor's office, relative, and similar, upon user input on the touchscreen and/or detected emergency situations,
enabling other calls not in emergency cases, such as to relative(s), friend(s), care taker(s), restaurant(s), cleaner(s), etc., wherein these calls may be video calls using a preferred camera installed on and/or in the housing of the device,
showing calendar with possibility to enter events, reminders, notes, for example doctor's appointments, times, or dates for medicine administration, etc.,
operation of household appliances, lights, window shuts, doors, locks, and similar, in case these have a Bluetooth or similar connection means pairable with the device, wherein said appliances may be controlled by the user or by the device in case of initiated emergency calls,
showing list of active and open activities for the user (patient),
entering performed activities,
storing the performed activities in the memory of the device, ...
enabling playing games, for example memory, chess and other games for improving cognitive health,
showing the health data, detected with sensors
logging events and storing them on the system server and/or the device, wherein access to the server is granted to the SOS call center, nursing home, hospital, doctor's office, etc.,
enabling documentation of logged and stored events, which can be accessed and overviewed by caregivers, relatives, medical staff to the data stored on the device and/or system server to see health-related data, performed activities, i.e., games played, cleaning, taken medicines, and similar,

The device is connectable to a wearable item having an SOS button, an accelerometer, a GPS and a processor configured for detecting user's location via GPS, detecting falls based on data from an accelerometer integrated in the wearable item, and preferably also for detecting person's heartbeat, blood oxygen, and possibly other vital signs. The wearable item may be designed as wrist-watch, wrist-band, a wearable pendant, a wearable bracelet, either with or without a digital display.
Further, the device is connectable to an external device such as blood oxygen meter, blood sugar measurement device, device for measuring pressure, heart rate, and similar devices. The connection is achieved via Bluetooth or any other suitable protocol, such as Zigbee. Second connection means may also be provided for connection to internet. Upon detecting abnormalities, the processor is configured to initiate the emergency call and/or call to any other responsible person entered in contacts.
The device may also be paired with a movement sensor designed as a small box with movement sensors for sensing movement of a person. It is preferably placed under a bed in order to detect if the monitored person has the same lifestyle as before (waking up and going to bed at approximately the same time, intermediate bed time during the day, etc). Such movement sensor is paired with the device according to the invention via communication means and the processor of the device is configured to initiate an SOS call if the sensor did not detect movement for a particular pre-set time, for example from 6 to 16 hours over night or 2 or more during the day, if the lifestyle has significantly changed, etc.
The device can be connected to SOS buttons or mechanisms installed in bathrooms or toilets and their activation leads to initiating the SOS call.
The device may be connected to an automatic distributor of pills, wherein the distributor has a plurality of compartments for receiving at least one pill and a cover for covering all compartments with one openable part corresponding to one compartment, so that a user can access the pills, wherein the cover is controlled with a controller, preferably a PCB, arranged to move the cover once a specific date and/or time has been reached, so the user can timely take them. Furthermore, the controller is arranged to detect if the distributor of pills has been placed vertically in order to take the pills out from the dispenser. If not taken in time, the openable part is locked. The cover may be opened by an authorized person to fill the compartments and the controller may be set suitably in agreement with the schedule for taking the pills. The device is arranged to detect upon connection of the automatic distributor of pills if the pills were not taken in time, in order to call the responsible person or to make an emergency call.
The device according to the invention is also pairable with other external devices, which enable Bluetooth or similar protocol-based connection, said devices being windows, doors, window shuts, lights, audio-video devices and similar. Most notably, connection to doors is preferred, wherein in case of initiated emergency call the device causes the doors to unlock in order to allow the SOS response team free access to the user in need of medical attention. Preferably, the doors are equipped with a Bluetooth door lock, which can be paired with the device, the latter being programmed to unlock the door lock once an emergency call is initiated. This decreases the time needed to get to the user and improves the chances for survival or recovery.
Displayed initial user interface may be divided to SOS (emergency) call, vitalities, contacts, calendar, and games, with further submenus related to calendar, vitalities, contacts, and games. The SOS call field is the largest and preferably in the centre of the display/touchscreen. The loudspeaker may emit sounds in connection with pressed fields of the display, for example "Calendar" when calendar is pressed (chosen). Games menu enable access to cognitive games such as memory, chess, card games, and association-based games. Contacts menu enable calls to pre-set contacts, such as relatives, friends and caregivers. Vitalities menu allows access to overview of performed measurements relating to heart rate, blood pressure, blood glucose, oxygen saturation, as well as taken medicines in case the device is connected to the pill dispenser. The user interface may also have a menu for caregivers and/or other people interacting with the user, for example cleaning staff, housekeepers, physiotherapists, etc. All additional users interacting with the user of the device can log into the device and document the performed tasks or tasks to be completed next time or in the following days, weeks or months. For example, a caregiver can enter which medication they administered to the user, how much liquid the user drank, which other events and/or states have been observed, etc. This allows caregivers, their superiors and/or user's relatives to check performed activities related to cleaning and other services provided by other personnel. This documentation may be stored on the device and/or the cloud/server, to which the device stores information. All the documentation can be checked remotely by the elderly home or other service organisation.
The server may be any suitable server, including cloud servers, wherein all protocols and operations of storing, accessing and viewing stored data are achieved and performed in manners known to the person skilled in this art.
The invention enables efficient monitoring of users, i.e., elderly or patients, and allows prompt emergency calls in case of detected abnormalities. Thus, users still enjoy independence from others without compromising their safety.

Brief description of the drawings

The invention will be further described using examples and figures, which show:

Figure 1: Exemplary user interface shown on the display of the device
Figure 2: Schematic overview of the system comprising the device, wearable devices, external devices
Figure 3: Exemplary submenu with measured vitalities
Figure 4: Exemplary documentation related to performed activities

Detailed description of the invention

The device 1 according to a possible embodiment shown in figure 1 is based on mobile and/or Wi-Fi and/or LTE and/or IP protocols and has a housing 11 with installed touchscreen 12 for displaying a user interface 13, at least one loudspeaker 14, at least one microphone, preferably a camera 15, a power supply, a wireless transmitter, a processor for controlling operation of the device, a memory for storing data, connection means for connection of external devices, wearable item, household appliances and similar.
The user interface 13 is divided into:

centrally positioned SOS call field, upon contact with it an emergency call is initiated,
four smaller fields at the left and right side of the interface for calendar, games, contacts and vitalities/reports.

Games menu enable access to cognitive games such as memory, chess, card games, and association-based games. Contacts menu enable calls to pre-set contacts, such as relatives, friends and caregivers. Vitalities menu allows access to overview of performed measurements relating to hear rate, blood pressure, blood glucose, oxygen saturation, as well as taken medicines in case the device is connected to the pill dispenser. The user interface may also have a menu for caregivers to check performed activities related to cleaning and other services provided by other personnel. This documentation may be stored on the device and/or the cloud/server, to which the device stores information. The loudspeaker may emit sounds in connection with pressed fields of the display, for example "Calendar" when calendar is pressed (chosen).
The device is connected to at least one wearable item, to external devices and household appliances as shown in figure 2.
The wearable item having an SOS button, an accelerometer, a GPS and a processor configured for detecting user's location via GPS, detecting falls based on data from an accelerometer integrated in the wearable item, and preferably also for detecting person's heartbeat, blood oxygen, and possibly other vital signs. The wearable item may be designed as wrist-watch, a wearable pendant, a wearable bracelet, either with or without a digital display.
The external devices may be a body temperature measurement device, a blood pressure measuring device, a blood glucose measuring device, a heartrate monitor, a pill dispenser, a bed sensor or any other movement sensor. The household appliances may be doors, door locks, windows, window locks, lights, audio-video equipment and similar. These devices may be paired with Bluetooth or any other suitable protocol.
The device is configured to perform at least the following operations:

detection of falls, long-term non-movement, location and/or other potentially important vital signs such as heart beat, blood oxygen, blood sugar, with the connected wearable item designed as a bracelet or a pendant, wherein in case of detected fall, long-term non-movement, decreased or irregular heartbeat, decreased blood oxygen, elevated or decreased blood sugar, etc., the processor is configured to initiate an emergency call,
enabling emergency call to a pre-set destination, which may be emergency dispatch, hospital, nursing home, doctor's office, relative, and similar, upon user input on the touchscreen and/or detected emergency situations,
enabling other calls not in emergency cases, such as to relative(s), friend(s), care taker(s), restaurant(s), cleaner(s), etc., wherein these calls may be video calls using a preferred camera installed on and/or in the housing of the device,
showing calendar with possibility to enter events, reminders, notes, for example doctor's appointments, times or dates for medicine administration, etc.,
operation of household appliances, lights, window shuts, doors, locks, and similar, in case these have a Bluetooth or similar connection means pairable with the device, wherein said appliances may be controlled by the user or by the device in case of initiated emergency calls,
showing list of active and open activities for the user (patient),
entering performed activities,
storing the performed activities in the memory of the device,
enabling playing games, for example memory, chess and other games for improving cognitive health,
logging events and storing them on the system server and/or the device, wherein access to the server is granted to the SOS call center, nursing home, hospital, doctor's office, etc.,
enabling documentation of logged and stored events, which can be accesses and overviewed by caregivers, relatives, medical staff to the data stored on the device and/or system server to see health-related data, performed activities, i.e., games played, cleaning, taken medicines, and similar,

Upon detecting any abnormalities, the processor is configured to initiate the emergency call and/or call to any other responsible person entered in contacts. In case of Bluetooth-connectable doors and/or door lock, the initiation of emergency call causes the doors to unlock thus allowing the SOS response team free access to the user in need of medical attention.
Figure 3 shows an exemplary display of vitalities, wherein measurements are displayed for review by a relative, caregiver or any other person visiting the user of the device. Figure 4 shows an exemplary report of performed activities.

Claims

A household emergency call device (1), which is based on mobile and/or Wi-Fi and/or LTE and/or IP protocols and has a housing (11) with:
- a touchscreen (12) for displaying a user interface (13) and arranged to show content and/or menu with optional submenus,

- at least one loudspeaker (14),

- at least one microphone,

- a power supply,

- a wireless transmitter for making emergency calls and sending position of the device and/or its user,

- a processor for controlling operation of the device,

- a memory for storing data,

- connection means for connection of external devices such as a wearable item (21), pressure monitor (22), blood sugar measurement device (23), and similar health-related devices,

wherein the device (1) is configured to perform at least the following operations:
- detection of falls, long-term non-movement, location and/or other potentially important vital signs such as heart beat, blood oxygen, blood sugar, with the connected wearable item (21) and/or external devices (3) arranged to monitor vital signs such as heart beat, blood oxygen, blood sugar, wherein in case of detected fall, long-term non-movement, decreased or irregular heartbeat, decreased blood oxygen, elevated or decreased blood sugar, etc., the processor is configured to initiate an emergency call,

- enabling emergency call to a pre-set destination, which may be emergency dispatch, hospital, nursing home, doctor's office, relative, and similar, upon user input on the touchscreen and/or detected emergency situations,

- showing list of active and open activities for the user (patient),

- entering performed activities into the device via the user interface,

- storing the performed activities in the memory of the device,

- showing the health data, detected with exernal devices and/or the wearable item,

- logging events and storing them on a server and/or the device, wherein access to the server is granted to the SOS call center, nursing home, hospital, doctor's office,

- enabling documentation of logged and stored events, which can be accessed and overviewed by caregivers, relatives, medical staff to the data stored on the device and/or system server to see health-related data, performed activities, i.e., games played, cleaning, taken medicines, and similar,

and wherein the operation of the device is supported with a computer program and/or other suitable protocols, which ensure above-mentioned operations.
The device according to claim 1, wherein the device is configured to perform control of household appliances (4), lights, window shuts, doors, locks, and similar, provided these household appliances have connection means connectable with the device (1), wherein said appliances (4) are controlled by the user through the device and/or autonomously by the device (1) in case of initiated emergency calls.
The device according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the device is configured to perform additional operations:
- enabling other calls not in emergency cases, such as to relative(s), friend(s), care taker(s), restaurant(s), cleaner(s), etc., wherein these calls may be video calls using a camera (15) installed on and/or in the housing of the device, and/or

- showing calendar with possibility to enter events, reminders, notes, for example doctor's appointments, times, or dates for medicine administration, etc., and/or

- enabling playing games, for example memory, chess and other games for improving cognitive health.
The device according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the device is connected to a wearable item (21) having an SOS button, an accelerometer, a GPS and a processor configured for detecting user's location via GPS, detecting falls based on data from an accelerometer integrated in the wearable item, and preferably also for detecting person's heartbeat, blood oxygen, and possibly other vital signs, wherein the wearable item (21) is designed as wrist-watch, wrist-band, a wearable pendant, a wearable bracelet, either with or without a digital display.
The device according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the device is connected to an external device (3) such as blood oxygen meter, blood sugar measurement device, device for measuring pressure, heart rate, and similar devices.
The device according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the device is connected to a movement sensor designed as a small box with movement sensors for sensing movement of a person arranged to detect if the monitored person has changed lifestyle, wherein in case of detected irregularities an emergency call is initiated.
The device according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the device is connected to an automatic distributor of pills, wherein:
- the distributor has a plurality of compartments for receiving at least one pill and a cover for covering all compartments with one openable part corresponding to one compartment, so that a user can access the pills,

- said the cover is controlled with a controller, preferably a PCB, arranged to move the cover once a specific date and/or time has been reached, so the user can timely take them, wherein the controller is arranged to detect if the distributor of pills has been placed vertically in order to take the pills out from the dispenser, and
wherein the device is arranged to detect whether the pills were taken, and if not taken in time, the device is configure to initiate a call to a responsible person or an emergency call.
The device according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the device is connected to doors and/or a door lock with Bluetooth or similar protocol-based connection, wherein in case of initiated emergency call the device causes the doors to unlock.
The device according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the device is connected to SOS buttons or mechanisms installed in bathrooms or toilets and their activation leads to initiating the SOS call.
The device according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the device (1) is connected to the wearable item (2), to at least on external device (3) and/or at least one household appliance (4) via Bluetooth or any other suitable protocol, such as Zigbee.
The device according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the device is provided with second connection means for enabling internet connection.
The device according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the user interface is divided into:
- a centrally positioned SOS call field, upon contact with it an emergency call is initiated,

- at least four smaller fields at the left and right side of the interface for calendar, games, contacts, and vitalities/reports.
The device according to the preceding claim, wherein vitalities menu allows access to overview of performed measurements relating to heart rate, blood pressure, blood glucose, oxygen saturation, as well as taken medicines in case the device is connected to the pill dispenser.
The device according to any claim from 10 to 11, wherein the user interface has a menu for caregivers and/or other people interacting with the user, for example cleaning staff, housekeepers, physiotherapists, the device being configured to allow documentation of performed tasks or tasks to be completed next time or in the following days, weeks or months, and wherein documentation is stored on the device and/or the cloud/server and available for review.
The device according to the preceding claim, wherein the loudspeaker is configured to emit sounds in connection with pressed fields of the user interface, for example the loudspeaker emits sound "Calendar" when calendar is pressed.