Korea based Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute has developed a mobile phone system for elderly people, which can sense if they have fallen. The new sensor system will also inform family members and medical providers about their situation.
The phone system is equipped with GPS technology, which checks where the accident took place. When a sensor is carried on a belt, it detects a sudden movement like a fall, a mobile phone sends a signal to hospital’s computer. Then the computer calls the phone to check if the person is hurt. If the person needs assistance, the computer reports to the emergency centre of the hospital.
Last month, company has transferred the technology to communications companies and it is expected that the system would be available next year. The system will also work in nursing homes and hospitals equipped with Internet, where users have to carry only the sensors not a mobile phone.
According to ETRI’s Bioinformatics Team leader Park Soo-jun, the company is trying to reduce the size of sensor, so that seniors would be able to carry the sensor in the form of a belt or buckle brooch. Even they would be able to download a program, which senses the signal from the sensor to any mobile phone.
Image Credit: WiMax Forum
Via: Engadet
