A personal alarm system includes a monitoring base station and one or more remote sensing units in two-way radio communication. An electronic handshake between the base station and each remote unit is used to assure system reliability. The remote units transmit at selectable power levels. In the absence of an emergency, a remote unit transmits at a power-conserving low power level. Received field strength is measured to determine whether a remote unit has moved beyond a predetermined distance from the base station. If the distance is exceeded, the remote unit transmits at a higher power level. The remote unit includes sensors for common hazards including water emersion, smoke, excessive heat, excessive carbon monoxide concentration, and electrical shock. The base station periodically polls the remote units and displays the status of the environmental sensors. The system is useful in child monitoring, for use with invalids, and with employees involved in activities which expose them to environmental risk. Alternative embodiments include a panic button on the remote unit for summoning help, and an audible beacon on the remote unit which can be activated from the base station and useful for locating strayed children. In another embodiment, the remote unit includes a Global Positioning System receiver providing location information for display by the base station.

Multi-hazard alarm system using selectable power-level transmission and localization

A portable electronic device is provided which includes a housing having a front face, a base, and a back wall joined in a polyhedron configuration. The front face includes an input area having keys for data entry and a display area having a screen to illustrate information to the user. The front face, back wall, and base are joined in the polyhedron configuration, such that the front face is presented to the user at an angle to horizontal when the base is mounted upon a horizontal or vertical surface. The front face, back wall, and base are joined at rounded edges to afford a smooth contour which is easily and comfortably grasped within the hand of the user. The portable electronic device further includes a sensor to determine whether the housing is aligned upon a horizontal or vertical axis. This sensor delivers its output to a display control which realigns information displayed upon the view screen to shift the displayed information between vertical and horizontal configurations. The input keys within the input area include indicia identifying the function of each key, wherein the indicia are aligned at an angle with respect to the longitudinal axis of the housing. Such angular alignment of the indicia enable the indicia to be easily viewed when the housing is held within the hand of a user at a vertical alignment or mounted upon a console in a horizontal alignment.

Portable electronic device for use in combination portable and fixed mount applications

Signaling systems are disclosed that indicate a change in an absorbent article, such as the presence of a body fluid. The various different signaling systems disclosed do not include any conductive elements contained on the interior of the article as were required in the past. Instead, the changes are monitored from the outer cover of the article. In one embodiment, for instance, conductive zones are formed directly into the outer cover for forming the signaling system. Alternatively, a sensor may be mounted to the outer cover of the article for monitoring changes within the article. The sensor may comprise, for instance, a temperature sensor, a conductivity sensor, an optical sensor, a vibration sensor, a humidity sensor, a material expansion sensor, a chemical sensor, or the like.

Remote Detection Systems For Absorbent Articles

PURPOSE:To provide an electric circuit with good performance by furnishing the supply part with electrically conductive parts, wherein the conductive parts shall be in contact with an image motive forming element in said supply part, leading this conductive part to the ground, and thereby providing possibility of discharging the electric charges on said image motive forming element generated at the time of supplying CONSTITUTION:When sheets are being fed, each sheet P (image motive forming element) bears static electricity, because a frictional force is applied to the sheet owing to friction with a sheet feed roller 26 These electric charges flow to a contact terminal 29 through electrical conductive parts B of the supply part (sheet feed device) 18, which are in contact with the sheet P -ie, pawl 27, bracket 28 and cassette bottom plate 24- and further are released from this contact terminal to the ground 32 via bottom plate 33 of the device body Accordingly there is no risk of generating sparks between the metal parts of/inside the device body and the sheet P, or between the same and the metal parts of the cassette body 23 (for ex, pawl 27), to ensure that the electric circuits in the device body operate with good performance at all times

Image forming device

Monitoring the status of an absorbent article can be desirable to various users in various situations. A monitoring device for use with an absorbent article is provided. The monitoring device includes a sensing device and a signaling device. The sensing device is configured to sense a physiological indication related to the absorbent article wearer. The functionality of the monitoring device may be updateable, for instance, by utilizing firmware updates, hardware or user interface changes, software installations, etc. Thus, the monitoring device of the present invention may be utilized over an entire lifespan from infants to elderly without the need for costly replacement or installation of an entirely new monitoring system.

Multifunctional monitoring device for absorbent articles

PURPOSE: To eliminate the necessity for installing a plurality of dead reckoning devices corresponding to a plurality of GPS receivers, by combining a plurality of GPS (global positioning system) receivers with a dead reckoning method, measuring a position of a train and improving a measuring frequency by the GPSs equivalently. CONSTITUTION: A dead reckoning operation is carried out for a forefront position of a train by a dead reckoning operational device 33. The result of at least total length of the train is stored on a locus memory device 34. When either a front GPS 11 or a rear GPS 21 becomes unable to measure a position, a position difference operational device 35 obtains a position difference between the forefront position and a rearmost position of the train based on the locus stored on the memory device 34. A front position operational device 40 or a rear position operational device 50 corrects by the position difference an output of the GPS receiver which is unable to detect the position. If both of the front and rear GPSs 11 and 21 are turned inoperable, a dead reckoning device 30 executes the dead reckoning operation starting from the forefront position immediately before the GPSs are turned inoperable. COPYRIGHT: (C)1995,JPO

Method for measuring position of train

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a small, inexpensive and sanitary diaper exchange time notifying device which correctly notifies a diaper exchange time and is easily used by arrangement on a cloth diaper or a disposable paper diaper for the baby of general home. SOLUTION: At least one humidity sensor for measuring humidity by perceiving moisture to be exhaled from the diaper, based on the moisture by faeces or urine, is arranged at the outer side of the diaper, so as to calculate a difference between the measured humidity value and a prescribed value and the portion of change of the measured humidity value in a fixed period. When the difference exceeds the prescribed value and the change portion exceeds the prescribed value, a usage limit is determined in the diaper. Then an alarm signal is outputted to correctly notify the diaper exchange time. When the measurement value of the humidity sensor is detected to be a reduced value being not more than a fixed value after the fixed time elapses, the alarm signal is released. Accordingly, the diaper exchange time is correctly notified. COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Device for notifying diaper exchange time

PURPOSE:To realize a hand-held GPS (global positioning system) which can independently set a receiving direction and a display direction. CONSTITUTION:A plane antenna 12 is mounted at a package 24 via a hinge 22. A direction of a screen of an LCD display unit can be set to a direction in which the screen can be easily seen by a user while holding a receiving direction of the antenna 12 in a direction in which a signal from a GPS satellite 28 can be adaptively received. A circuit in the package 24 is connected to the antenna 12 via a coaxial line led around in the hinge 22. A load to be applied to the line can be alleviated by the leading line around in the hinge 22.

Hand-held gps receiver

PURPOSE:To eliminate a plurality of interference waves, by using a demultiplexer and keeping an optimum state of a lot of notch filters with one D/A converter. CONSTITUTION:Notch filter 2-4 are connected in series and interference waves included in the filters 2-4 are selected at a tuning circuit 12 and detected at a detection circuit 15. A digital voltage is supplied to a D/A converter 19 from a processor 17 and the converter 19 selectively supplies a DC voltage to the filters 2-4 through a demultiplexer 18. Further, the converter 19 and the demultiplexer 18 are controlled with the device 17 including a microcomputer so that the frequency of a wave eliminated interference is made coincident with the frequency of the interference wave at a selected notch filter.

Notch filter device for loran c receiver

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To form an ultrasonic wave-transmitting/receiving device for underwater search and an underwater-searching apparatus which can uniformly search all directions under a water. SOLUTION: In setting ultrasonic vibrating elements 14 on a sphere 40, the elements are arranged to positions of vertices of a regular polyhedron inscribed to the sphere 40 in a range where an underwater search is to be conducted. Moreover, vibrating elements 14 are arranged to positions spaced by a substantially equal distance to each of the vibrating elements 14 arranged to the vertices. In this arrangement, the ultrasonic vibrating elements 14 are uniformly and finely arranged in the range of the underwater search and therefore can search all directions under the water minutely at high speed.

Chogo Sekine

Papers

Method for measuring position of train

Device for notifying diaper exchange time

Hand-held gps receiver

Notch filter device for loran c receiver

Ultrasonic wave-transmitting/receiving device for underwater search and underwater-searching apparatus