Claims
- 1. A body movement monitoring apparatus comprising:
- body movement detecting means which includes at least one piezo-electric element disposed on a surface supporting a body and that detects a rough body movement of the body on the surface, the rough body movement being a movement whereby the position of the body on the surface is substantially altered, and a fine movement of the body on the surface, the fine body movement being movement associated with one of heartbeat and respiration, the body movement detecting means producing a signal that is proportional to an amount of the movement of the body;
- absence judging means for judging that there is no fine body movement and no rough body movement indicative of an absence of the body on the surface responsive to the signal of the body movement detecting means being below a first value;
- presence judging means for judging a presence of the body on the surface by detecting the fine body movement, which is accomplished by determining that the signal of the body movement detecting means is above the first set value and below a second value; and
- body movement judging means for judging that the body has produced the rough body movement responsive to the signal of the body movement detecting means being above the second value.
- 2. A body movement monitoring apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein the body movement detecting means includes, a filter which filters a certain specific frequency component of a piezo-electric signal output by the piezo-electric element, an amplifier which amplifies a filter signal output by the filter, a rectifier which rectifies an amplifier signal output by the amplifier and a smoothing device which smoothes a rectifier signal output by the rectifier.
- 3. A body movement monitoring apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein the piezo-electric element is defined by a tape comprising a high-molecular piezo-electric material, such as polyvinylidene fluoride, bonded with a flexible electrode film on both surfaces thereof.
- 4. A human monitoring apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein the piezo-electric element is contained in a sheet shaped bag, and a stretching-and-shrinkingly movable stretch-shrink parts are provided on the end parts of the bag, and in addition, engaging and disengaging parts, which enable engaging-and-disengaging of end tip parts of said stretch=shrink parts each other, are provided on respective ones of said end parts.
- 5. A human monitoring apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein display means for displaying the signal level of the body movement detecting means, and first setting means capable of changing the first set value and the second set value manually in response to the signal level displayed by the display means are provided.
- 6. A human monitoring apparatus in accordance with claim 1, having first memory means for sampling and storing the signal level of the body movement detecting means at a predetermined period, when the presence in bed is judged by the presence judging means, first operating means for operating a minimum value and a maximum value of the content stored in the first memory means, and second setting means for refreshing the minimum value as the first set value and the maximum value as the second set value.
- 7. A human monitoring apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein the piezo-electric element is disposed on a toilet seat or a bath tub.
- 8. A body movement monitoring apparatus comprising:
- body movement detecting means which includes at least one piezo-electric element disposed on a surface supporting a body and that detects a rough body movement of the body on the surface, the rough body movement being movement whereby the position of the body on the surface is substantially altered, and a fine movement of the body on the surface, the fine body movement being movement associated with one of heartbeat and respiration, the body movement detecting means producing a signal that is proportional to an amount of the movement of the body;
- absence judging means for judging that there is no fine body movement and no rough body movement indicative of an absence of the body on the surface responsive to the signal of the body movement detecting means being below a first value;
- presence judging means for judging a presence of the body on the surface by detecting the fine body movement, which is accomplished by determining that the signal of the body movement detecting means is above the first set value and below a second value;
- body movement judging means for judging that the body has produced the rough body movement responsive to the signal of the body movement detecting means being above the second value;
- a timer for resetting a time measurement responsive to the absence of the rough body movement is being detected and for starting the time measurement responsive to the presence of rough body movement being detected; and
- sleep judging means for judging that the body is asleep responsive to a measured time of the timer exceeding a predetermined time.
- 9. A body movement monitoring apparatus comprising:
- a piezo-electric element disposed on a surface supporting a body and that detects a rough body movement of the body on the surface, the rough body movement being a movement whereby the position of the body on the surface is substantially altered, and a fine movement of the body on the surface, the fine body movement being movement associated with one of heartbeat and respiration, the piezo-electric element producing a signal that is proportional to an amount of the movement of the body; and
- a processing unit receiving the signal from the piezo-electric element and determining (1) that there is no fine body movement and no rough body movement, which indicates an absence of the body on the surface, responsive to the signal of the piezo-electric element being below a first value, (2) a presence of the body on the surface by detecting the fine body movement, which is accomplished by determining that the signal of the piezo-electric element is above the first set value and below a second value, and (3) that the body has produced the rough body movement responsive to the signal of the piezo-electric element being above the second value.
- 10. A body movement monitoring apparatus in accordance with claim 9, wherein the body movement detecting means includes, a filter which filters a certain specific frequency component of a piezo-electric signal output by the piezo-electric element, an amplifier which amplifies a filter signal output by the filter, a rectifier which rectifies an amplifier signal output by the amplifier and a smoothing device which smoothes a rectifier signal output by the rectifier.
- 11. A body movement monitoring apparatus in accordance with claim 9, wherein the piezo-electric element is defined by a tape comprising a high-molecular piezo-electric material, such as polyvinylidene fluoride, bonded with a flexible electrode film on both surfaces thereof.
- 12. A body movement monitoring apparatus comprising:
- a piezo-electric element disposed on a surface supporting a body and that detects a rough body movement of the body on the surface, the rough body movement being a movement whereby the position of the body on the surface is substantially altered, and a fine movement of the body on the surface, the fine body movement being movement associated with one of heartbeat and respiration, the piezo-electric element producing a signal that is proportional to an amount of the movement of the body;
- a processing unit receiving the signal produced by the piezo-electric element and determining (1) that there is no fine body movement and no rough body movement, which indicates of an absence of the body on the surface responsive to the signal of the piezo-electric element being below a first value, (2) a presence of the body on the surface by detecting the fine body movement, which is accomplished by determining that the signal of the piezo-electric element is above the first set value and below a second value, and (3) that the body has produced the rough body movement responsive to the signal of the piezo-electric element being above the second value; and
- a timer for resetting a time measurement responsive to the absence of the rough body movement is being detected and for starting the time measurement responsive to the presence of rough body movement being detected, wherein the processing unit also judges that the body is asleep responsive to a measured time of the timer exceeding a predetermined time.
Priority Claims (4)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
2-58270 |
Mar 1990 |
JPX |
|
2-60218 |
Mar 1990 |
JPX |
|
2-135893 |
May 1990 |
JPX |
|
2-161822 |
Jun 1990 |
JPX |
|
PRIOR APPLICATIONS
This is a divisional of application Ser. No. 08/224,104, filed Apr. 6, 1994 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,479,939 which was a continuation of application Ser. No. 07/784,438, filed Dec. 20, 1991 now abandoned, which was based on International Application PCT/JP91/00307, filed Mar. 7, 1991 which designated the U.S. and in turn was based on Japanese Applications Hei 2-58270, filed Mar. 9, 1990, Hei 2-60218, filed Mar. 12, 1990, Hei 2-135893, filed May 25, 1990 and Hei 2-161822, filed Jun. 20, 1990, the priority of all which is claimed and the content of all which is hereby incorporated by reference.
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Divisions (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
224104 |
Apr 1994 |
|
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
784438 |
Dec 1991 |
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