Sistema y método para el análisis de la actividad de una persona y detección automática de caídas

摘要

The invention relates to a system for the analysis of a person's activity and the automatic detection of a fall. The inventive system is based on the use of a portable, wireless device which is positioned on the person's body, said device comprising: a biaxial accelerometer which detects acceleration values along axes X and Y, a microprocessor which determines when a fall has occurred, a GSM/GPRS/UMTS-type mobile communication module which sends alarm messages to an external receiver, a GPS-type global positioning and location-finding module which indicates the position of the person, an alarm activation/deactivation button, and a battery. The fall-detection methodology is based on the continuous measurement of acceleration along vertical axis Y and horizontal axis X, which can be used to establish a time window, prior to the detected instantaneous event, which serves as a comparative reference. A measurement of acceleration during the aforementioned period is calculated and said mean value is used to establish maximum acceleration limits and differential limits. According to the invention, instantaneous acceleration values are compared, at all times, to the aforementioned limits. In this way, the system performs direct detection which determines the unequivocal occurrence of a fall when the instantaneous acceleration exceeds one of the maximum limits, and differential detection which determines a possible fall when the instantaneous acceleration exceeds one of the differential limits without reaching the maximum limits.