2010 Volume 80 Issue 4 Pages 281-289
A wearable bioinformation recording system has been developed for monitoring health conditions, daily living activities and heart function of elderly person. A tri-axis accelerometer attached to the elderly person can simultaneously measure dynamic and static acceleration forces. The heart rate, respiration rate, activity, posture and behavior are detected from the measured acceleration forces. These data are automatically transmitted to the host computer every hour, via a Personal Handy Phone (PHS). The host computer makes a graphic chart from these data. The elderly person's immediate family, caregiver or doctor can download the graphic chart to an internet mobile phone. When a heart discomfort is felt, the elderly person pushes the transmission switch on a wearable sensor, which sends the phonocardiogram (PCG) waveforms derived from the dynamic acceleration force of the prior two minutes and the waveforms for two minutes after the switch is pushed, directly to the host computer. The PCG is stored to the host computer. The doctor can download the PCG to the smart phone and monitor graphically.
The developed system is not only applicable to at-home solitary elderly people, but could also be useful for monitoring hospital patients.
