Development of wearable computer for elderly home health care support

Abstract

We have been developing a network-based medical care supporting system called the Hyper Hospital. The Hyper Hospital is constructed on the computer based network whose interface is the virtual reality dedicated to the patients. As a part of the progress, we have been developing a wearable information system which enables a care-giver to operate various support devices connected to the network. In this study, we focused on the development of a wearable computer-based home care support system. In our system, the wearable computer consists of a network built in a jacket. Every necessary function is implemented by each dedicated small computers connected to the in jacket network. It is easy to append a new function to the system by adding one SBC (Single Board Computer) for the purpose. It was shown that the network constituted by such a set of SBCIs with a single function becomes a highly efficient information system.