Abstract:
There are provided a method and system for sensing abnormal signs in daily activities, the method comprising, at the system, sensing the daily activities, reading previously stored daily activity information, generating a daily activity sequence based thereon, sensing the abnormal signs from the daily activity sequence by using a preset sequence alignment algorithm, and providing the sensed abnormal signs to a user. As described above, the abnormal signs, which should be checked to provide care services, are sensed via changes in a daily activity pattern and added to a care service system that will be installed in welfare facilities for the aged or a home of a solitary old person, thereby effectively sensing the abnormal signs in daily activities of the aged.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims the priority of Korean Patent Application No. 2007-0091126 filed on Sep. 7, 2007, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    The present invention relates to a method and a system for sensing abnormal signs in daily activities, and more particularly, to a method and a system aligning information on daily activities of a human into a daily activity sequence according to a time slot and sensing abnormal signs in the daily activities. 
         [0004]    The present invention was supported by the IT R&amp;D program of MIC/IITA [2006-S-007-02, titled: Ubiquitous Health Monitoring Module and System Development]. 
         [0005]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0006]    As aging is rapidly coming, necessity of cares for old people increases. As requests for care services for patients requiring help of others increases, various systems for care services have been developed. 
         [0007]    For care services, recently, there have been developed technologies of tracking and monitoring daily activities of a person and recognizing the daily activities of the person by analyzing tracked data. Particularly, there have been developed systems for remote-controlling a person whose state should be periodically checked, such as patients or old persons. Generally, such remote-controlling systems obtain a bio signal specialized to diseases such as diabetes and check whether a value of the bio signal is absolutely abnormal. In this case, it is better important to construct a system and obtain an accurate bio signal with integrity than algorithms for calculation. 
         [0008]    In the case of general remote-control systems, required sensors are installed in facilities such as home, sanatoria, asylum, and hospitals and an identification sensor is installed to a person to be tracked, particularly, to an old person, thereby analyzing a sensor signal capable of being periodically obtained. 
         [0009]    However, general remote-control systems are limited to detecting what activity the person executes or what a state is. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0010]    An aspect of the present invention provides a method and a system for sensing abnormal signs in a life pattern via changes of a daily activity pattern, in addition to detecting activities and state of a person. 
         [0011]    An aspect of the present invention also provides a method and a system for receiving daily activities, generating a daily activity sequence based on the daily activities, for each time slot, and sensing abnormal signs in the daily activities from the daily activity sequence by using a sequence alignment algorithm. 
         [0012]    According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of sensing abnormal signs in daily activities, the method including: previously storing daily activity information obtained by sensing daily activities; reading the previously stored daily activity information; generating a daily activity sequence based on the read daily activity information; sensing abnormal signs from the daily activity sequence by using a preset sequence alignment algorithm; and providing the sensed abnormal signs to a user. 
         [0013]    According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for sensing abnormal signs of daily activities, the system includes: a daily activity database previously storing daily activity information obtained sensing the daily activities; and a sensing server generating a daily activity sequence based on the daily activity information read from the daily activity database and sensing the abnormal signs from the generated daily activity sequence by using a sequence alignment algorithm. 
         [0014]    In this case, the sensing server may include: a daily activity information input unit reading the previously stored daily activity information; a daily activity sequence generation unit generating the daily activity sequence based on the daily activity information read by the daily activity information input unit; an abnormal sign sensing unit receiving the generated daily activity sequence from the daily activity sequence generation unit and sensing the abnormal signs from the received daily activity sequence by using the sequence alignment algorithm previously set; and a user service unit providing the abnormal signs sensed by the abnormal sign sensing unit to a user. 
         [0015]    As described above, the abnormal signs, which should be checked to provide care services, are sensed via changes in a daily activity pattern and added to a care service system that will be installed in welfare facilities for the aged or a home of a solitary old person, thereby effectively sensing the abnormal signs in daily activities of the aged. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0016]    The above and other aspects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
           [0017]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a system for sensing abnormal signs in daily activities, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0018]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a sensing server in the system of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0019]      FIG. 3  is a flowchart illustrating a process of sensing abnormal signs in daily activities, at the sensing server of  FIG. 2 , according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and 
           [0020]      FIG. 4  is a graph illustrating an example of sequence alignment to sense abnormal signs, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0021]    Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Only, in describing operations of the exemplary embodiments in detail, when it is considered that a detailed description on related well-known functions or constitutions may make essential points of the present invention be unclear, the detailed description will be omitted. 
         [0022]    Daily activities indicate previously defined activities that are essential for living, such as eating or sleeping. Hereinafter, in the present embodiment, the daily activities will be described by considering sleeping, eating, easing nature, going-out, a rest, exercises, recreation, and communication, which are given as input. When necessary, other activities may be applied. The daily activities are sensed by an activity tracking method, classified, and previously stored. 
         [0023]    A method and a system for sensing abnormal signs in daily activities of a human by receiving information on previously stored daily activities, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, will be described. A configuration of the system for sensing abnormal signs in daily activities, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings. 
         [0024]      FIG. 1  is block diagram illustrating the configuration of the system for sensing abnormal signs in daily activities, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a sensing server  120  in the system of  FIG. 1 . 
         [0025]    Referring to  FIG. 1 , the system includes a daily activity database  110  previously storing daily activities and the sensing server  120  to which a display unit  130 , such as a monitor of a personal computer, and a terminal  140  are connected. 
         [0026]    The daily activity database  110  previously senses and classifies daily activities of a person and previously stores the daily activities. The stored daily activities are stored together with time information thereof. That is, when there is present a daily activity of sleeping, the daily activity database  110  stores time information t s  and t e  with respect to the daily activity of sleeping. Information on the previously stored daily activities is transferred, as input data, to the sensing server  120 . The daily activity information may be formed of a composition shown in Equation 1. 
         [0000]      Unit of daily activity information={ ADL   i   ,t   s , and  t   e }   Equation (1) 
         [0000]    wherein ADL i  indicates one of the daily activities of sleeping, eating, easing nature, going-out, a rest, exercises, recreation, and communication, t s  indicates a start time, and t e  indicates an end time. 
         [0027]    Referring to  FIG. 2 , the sensing server  120  may include an input unit  121 , a daily activity sequence generation unit  122 , an abnormal sign sensing unit  123 , a user service unit  124 , and a log storage unit  125 . 
         [0028]    The input unit  121  transmits control signals from the daily activity sequence generation unit  122  and the abnormal sign sensing unit  123  to the daily activity database  110  and receives the previously daily activity information from the daily activity database  110 . 
         [0029]    The daily activity sequence generation unit  122  generates a daily activity sequence by expressing the daily activities in a sequence for each time slot, according to a time basket T b  determined with respect to the daily activity information received from the input unit  121 , and generates an average daily activity sequence by using a daily activity sequence of a previous day and a daily activity sequence of today. In this case, the time basket T b  may be generally considered as 30 minutes or 10 minutes. That is, a daily activity sequence is generated by considering each time as unit of 30 minutes (T b =30 min). 
         [0030]    The daily activity sequence generation unit  122  requests the abnormal sign sensing unit  123  of calculating the abnormal signs at a certain point in time of a day, for example, a point in time of checking whether there is present an abnormality in daily activities in a day. 
         [0031]    The abnormal sign sensing unit  123  senses the abnormal signs by comparing the generated daily activity sequence with other daily activity sequences by using a sequence alignment algorithm generally used in bioinformatics. That is, the abnormal sign sensing unit  123  calculates a similarity between daily activity sequence ADLS i  generated on a specific day i and daily activity sequence ADLS j  generated on another specific day j by performing the sequence alignment algorithm thereon. In this case, the certain day may be an average daily activity sequence of several days. 
         [0032]    When abnormal signs are sensed, the user service unit  124  displays the sensed abnormal signs on the display unit  130 . When the sensed abnormal signs relate to the easing nature or the eating, which correspond to abnormality of a body, the user service unit  124  transmits a short message to the terminal  140  of a user such as a nurse or family to inform the abnormal signs. 
         [0033]    The log storage unit  125  stores a log with respect to the sensed abnormal signs and transfers the log to the abnormal sign database  126 . 
         [0034]    The method of sensing abnormal signs at the sensing server  120  will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings. 
         [0035]      FIG. 3  is a flowchart illustrating the method of sensing abnormal signs at the sensing server, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 
         [0036]    In  210 , the sensing server  120  receives previously stored daily activity information from the daily activity database  100 . In  220 , the sensing server  120  generates a daily activity sequence by using the received daily activity information. 
         [0037]    In  230 , the sensing server  120  generates an average daily activity sequence by using a daily activity sequence of a previous day and a daily activity sequence of today. In this case, the average daily activity sequence is determined by voting based the frequency of daily activities in a time basket T b . For example, when there are present 25 times of eating, 3 time of rest, and 2 times of exercise in a time basket of 12:00 to 12:30, an average daily activity sequence of the time basket is determined to be the eating. The average daily activity sequence is used as a reference for a sequence alignment algorithm when sensing the abnormal signs. 
         [0038]    In  240 , the sensing server  120  sequence-aligns the generated daily activity sequence by using the sequence alignment algorithm to determine whether there are present abnormal signs of daily activities in the generated daily activity sequence. A detailed description on the sequence alignment will be described in detail with reference to  FIG. 4 . 
         [0039]    In  250 , the sensing server  120  checks whether a sequence alignment value obtained by the sequence alignment is a threshold value or less and finishes operation when the sequence alignment value is greater than the threshold value. On the other hand, when the sequence alignment value is the threshold value or less, in  260 , the sensing server  120  determines that the abnormal signs occur in a life pattern, in  270 , notifies the abnormal signs to the nurse and the family via the display unit  130  and the terminal  140 , and stores a log of the sensed abnormal signs in the log storage unit  125 . 
         [0040]    In a process of sensing the abnormal signs, the sequence alignment using the sequence alignment algorithm as shown in  FIG. 4  will be described in detail. The sequence alignment may be expressed in a dynamic programming algorithm of following Equation 2. 
         [0000]    
       
         
           
             
               
                 
                   
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         [0041]    where ADLS indicates daily activity sequence, M i,j  indicates a value of a point where ith daily activity sequence of  302  meets jth daily activity sequence of  301  in a matrix formed of two daily activity sequences, M 0,{j=0, . . . , and n} =0, M {i=0, . . . , and n},j=0 . S(ADLS i , ADLS j ) indicates a score when daily activities of sleeping, eating, easing nature, going-out, a rest, exercises, recreation, and communication are matched, respectively, that is a sequence alignment value in which a positive value is given when identical daily activities are matched, and a relatively low value is given when different daily activities are matched. However, in this case, when the importance is given for each user and approximately similar daily activities such as a rest and recreation are matched, a relatively low value is given, thereby giving a high score when different daily activities are matched. 
         [0042]    As shown in  FIG. 4 , in the case of  303 , up to second meal activities, daily activities of  301  and  302  are identical to each other. However, since third daily activities of  301  and  302  are different from each other, such as a toilet and a game room, a penalty for discordance therebetween, a negative score is given. That is, when progressing as a diagonal line, it is shown that positive scores are continuously given. When vertically or horizontally moving, it is shown that negative scores are generally given. The threshold value that is a reference for determining whether the calculated value of the sequence alignment is abnormal may be experimentally determined. 
         [0043]    While the present invention has been shown and described in connection with the exemplary embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.