Patent ID: 11931167
Assignee: CERNER INNOVATION, INC.
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A | IPC A

Claim 23:
24. A smart sensor for detecting conditions likely to result in pressure injury to a human patient, comprising:
a multi-layer support surface having:
a contact layer configured for a person to sit or lay thereon,
a pressure-measuring layer subjacent to the contact layer comprising: an air bladder inflatable to hold a volume of air, and
a substrate layer having a density and stiffness configured to mechanically isolate the pressure-measuring layer from ambient vibrations transmitted through a floor, furniture, or other intervening articles upon which the multi-layer support surface is mounted;

gas-tight hollow tubing fluidly coupled with the air bladder;
an inflating mechanism fluidly coupled with the gas-tight hollow tubing and operable to adjust internal gas pressure of the air bladder;
a pressure release valve fluidly coupled with the gas-tight hollow tubing and operable to adjust the internal gas pressure of the air bladder;
a pressure sensor fluidly coupled with at least one of the air bladder and the gas-tight hollow tubing;
a communication component that receives pressure measurements from the pressure sensor and outputs data corresponding to the pressure measurements;
a processor communicably coupled with the pressure sensor and configured to receive the data from the communication component; and
computer memory having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the processor, cause the smart sensor to perform operations comprising:
receiving a time series of the pressure measurements, corresponding respectively to a plurality of time periods, from the pressure sensor, wherein:
the pressure measurements are indicative of movement or shifting of the person sitting or lying on the contact layer, and
the plurality of time periods comprise substantially consecutive intervals;

determine a subset of time periods, of the plurality of time periods, that are associated with pressure injuries based on the time series of pressure measurements corresponding to individual time periods of the plurality of time periods,
determining whether an accumulation of the subset of time periods associated with pressure injuries exceeds a threshold value, and
responsive to determining that the accumulation of the subset of time periods associated with pressure injuries exceeds a threshold value, presenting a notification, outputting an electronic signal warning the human patient or medical professional when the series of the pressure measurements exceed one or more thresholds corresponding with conditions likely to induce pressure injury.