Electronic fall monitoring system

Inventors

Carr, Roy Seizo • Humphrey, Glen Holt • Coatney, Drew Deem • Patel, Himanshu • McHale, Lisa • Young, Brian N. • Thomas, Justin K.

Assignees

Tidi Products LLC

Abstract

The present invention provides an improved electronic fall monitoring system comprising a device having multiple sensor ports for flexibly monitoring various sensors associated with a single patient without requiring repeated connections and disconnections of sensors. With several sensors simultaneously connected at different locations, a processor can execute to ensure that only one sensor, corresponding to one patient, is monitored at any given time, including by triggering an alarm when a second sensor is triggered while a first sensor is in use. Accordingly, the system can provide a “one step transfer” in which a caregiver may simply press hold once to transfer a patient from one sensed area to another. In addition, the caregiver can simply actuate a single input with only a momentary press to allow suspension of monitoring for a shorter duration (hold) or a longer press to allow suspension of monitoring for a longer duration (extended hold).

Core Innovation

The electronic fall monitoring system detects activation indicating physical presence at patient sensors and deactivation indicating loss of physical presence at the patient sensors. The system includes multiple sensor ports and a processor executing a program stored in a non-transient medium to select a mode from monitor mode, alarm mode, and standby mode. In monitor mode, the processor monitors for deactivation, and in alarm mode an alarm is active following the deactivation detected in monitor mode, while in standby mode the alarm is held inactive.

In one configuration, selection of the monitor mode monitors one of the first and second sensor ports for the deactivation of the patient sensor while monitoring the other of the first and second sensor ports for activation of the patient sensor. This provides mode-dependent monitoring behavior across the sensor ports so that activation and deactivation are detected in respective parts of the monitoring process. The processor selects the mode from the plurality of modes to govern whether monitoring leads to an alarm or is suppressed.

The system further provides user control over transitions into the standby mode by using a user selectable input. Selection of the user selectable input for a shorter duration causes a transition to the standby mode for a shorter amount of time, and selection for a longer duration causes a transition to the standby mode for a longer amount of time. Additional configurations also activate indicators corresponding to the selected mode and to a power condition, including a first indicator associated with the mode and a second indicator associated with the power condition.

Claims Coverage

The document includes three independent claims, each defining an electronic fall monitoring system with mode selection among monitor mode, alarm mode, and standby mode, and each adding different sets of inventive features: sensor-port monitoring behavior across activation/deactivation, mode/power indicator activation, and user-input-driven standby timing.

Across the independent claims, the inventive core is governed by processor-driven selection among monitor mode, alarm mode, and standby mode based on activation/deactivation detection from patient sensors. Additional independent-claim differentiation includes port monitoring that pairs deactivation on one port with activation monitoring on the other, activation of indicators tied to both mode and a power condition, and user-selectable input durations that determine standby transition timing.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications

No documented applications found