Apparatus and methods are described including identifying that a subject suffers from sleep apnea. Positive airway pressure (PAP) is applied to the subject via a mask placed on a face of the subject. A respiratory-related parameter of the subject is sensed, while the mask is on the face of the subject, and a need of the subject for respiratory support is assessed, responsively to the respiratory-related parameter. In accordance with the assessed need, the mask is configured to regulate the PAP provided to the subject's face. Other applications are also described.

A method and apparatus for monitoring the respiration of a patient supported on a patient support apparatus through receiving signals from load cells supporting a patient on the patient support apparatus, processing the signals to characterize movement of the patient's center of mass, using the movement of the patient's center of mass, determine respiratory characteristic of the patient, and communicating the respiratory characteristic of the patient to a caregiver.

A system for monitoring medical conditions including pressure ulcers, pressure-induced ischemia and related medical conditions comprises at least one sensor adapted to detect one or more patient characteristic including at least position, orientation, temperature, acceleration, moisture, resistance, stress, heart rate, respiration rate, and blood oxygenation, a host for processing the data received from the sensors together with historical patient data to develop an assessment of patient condition and suggested course of treatment, including either suspending or adjusting turn schedule based on various types of patient movement. Compliance with Head-of-Bed protocols can also be performed based on actual patient position instead of being inferred from bed elevation angle. The sensor can include bi-axial or tri-axial accelerometers, as well as resistive, inductive, capacitive, magnetic and other sensing devices, depending on whether the sensor is located on the patient or the support surface, and for what purpose.

A biological signal of a subject is acquired so as to calculate biological information from the acquired biological signal. When the biological information has been determined to be anomaly, whether the biological information is one that was calculated under a high-accuracy condition is determined. When the biological information is determined to be one that was calculated under the high-accuracy condition, a notice is given based on a first criterion. In the other cases, a notice is given based on a second criterion. Thereby, it is possible to provide an abnormality notification system that can give a necessary notification appropriately while suppressing unnecessary notification, by changing the criteria for notification in accordance with the accuracy of the determined biological information when the biological information of the subject was determined to be anomaly.

One aspect of the apparatus comprising, a sensor configured to acquire a biological signal of a user, and a controller configured to, determine whether the biological signal is continuously outside a predetermined range for a first time period, after determining that the biological signal has been continuously outside the predetermined range for the first time period, then determine whether the biological signal is inside the predetermined range, and activate an alarm if the controller has determined that (i) the biological signal has been outside the predetermined range for the first time period, and (ii) the biological signal has been continuously inside the predetermined range for a second time period, the second time period being longer than the first time period.

A seat cushion is provided. The seat cushion includes an upper pad, a lower pad, a support structure, a plurality of optical modules, and a processor. The upper pad includes a plurality of transparent areas. The lower pad is provided with a plurality of grooves to accommodate the optical modules. The support structure is connected between the upper pad and the lower pad. The optical modules are located below the upper pad and are disposed corresponding to the transparent areas. The optical modules respectively transmit sense signals and respectively receive feedback signals corresponding to the sense signals. The processor is coupled to the optical modules and is configured to collect optical signals.

A patient support apparatus comprises a plurality of load cells, a frame supported on the load cells, a mattress, a plurality of air pressure sensors, and a control system. The mattress includes a plurality of inflatable zones positioned on the frame, the mattress and frame cooperating to direct any patient load through the mattress and frame to the load cells. Each of the plurality of air pressure sensors measures the pressure in a respective inflatable zone of the mattress. The control system includes a controller operable to receive a separate signal from each of the plurality of load cells and each of the plurality of air pressure sensors and process the signals to identify motion of the patient. The motion of the patient is further processed by the controller to characterize the nature of the patient motion as a high shear motion or a low shear motion, and based on the characterization of the patient motion, the controller automatically updates a patient profile in a patient record or communicates the information with a caregiver.

A healthcare apparatus includes a BCG sensor; a camera; and a processor configured: to detect a ROI) corresponding to the face from the color facial image; to convert the detected first color image into a black and white image to acquire a first black and white image; to convert the detected second color image into a black and white image to acquire a second black and white image; to apply the acquired first black and white image and the acquired second black and white image to a predetermined trained algorithm model to output a remote photoplethysmography (rPPG) signal waveform of the subject; to calculate a first stress index based on the first heart rate variability; to calculate a second stress index based on the second heart rate variability; and to output a stress index of the subject based on the first stress index and the second stress index.

An estimation system includes: a first sensor that detects a first amount of activity that is an amount of activity of a subject in a room; a second sensor that detects a second amount of activity that is an amount of activity of the subject on a bed in the room; and an estimation device that estimates at least one of a position and an action of the subject in association with a position in the room based on the first amount of activity detected by the first sensor and the second amount of activity detected by the second sensor, and outputs an estimation result obtained from the estimation. The first sensor and the second sensor are sensors other than two-dimensional image sensors.

A bed has a mattress. A sensor is configured to sense sleep readings of a user sleeping on the bed. An automation controller is configured to transmit the sleep readings to a cloud service. Hardware hosting the cloud service is configured to compare the sleep readings with trend data in order to generate adjustments to the user's sleep environment.