| Summary: | 碩士 === 臺北市立大學 === 資訊科學系 === 106 === Over the course of time, the modern society is showing an increase in aging population, in which due to weakened ability in self-care, elderly is often subject to accidents that primarily results in form of death by fall. In a home environment, because of its specific utilization characteristics, a bathroom is frequently in a watery and slippery state; thus, it is the most likely location for majority of slip and fall accidents for elderly at home. In addition, showering is one of the most common behaviors engaged in the bathroom that in an unfortunate event of falling with impact on the head to lose consciousness to call for help, the sound of water flowing and impacting on the ground generally blocks family member from being aware of an accident in time. Therefore, it is an important part of home care to avoid slip and fall accident for elderly by early discovery of such incident.
The current detection system for slip and fall accident can be divided into three categories. One is a wearable detection system, which is mostly an electronic component of accelerometer or a G-sensor. It has a wide range of application, but its overall characteristics make it unsuitable for use in a bathroom. The second type is a fixed detection system, which can be further categorized in two groups. One is the use of surveillance camera with visual recognition of images, but it poses concern of violation to privacy. Another lays pressure sensors in large area of floor tiles to detect different pressure values as the basis for determining a fall, but its implementation requires complicated construction and maintenance, resulting in high cost, that it will be difficult to persuade the public to accept it. The third type is a hybrid system with the use of Kinect and sensors, which has a high degree of integration complexity and is associated with an increase in cost, that proves to be disadvantageous for promotion.
This study attempted to analyze the existing and feasible technologies to implement a home detection and reporting system of slip and fall accident at an affordable cost, while humanely considering the needs of privacy and the current living habits of a modern society. By an active reporting mechanism, the system would allow more rescue time of the so-called “golden window” in case of an unfortunate incident. Moreover, the concept of Internet of Things would establish a large database for analysis with an expectation of different application in medical field in the future.
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