台灣已經逐漸進入高齡化的社會，老年人口逐漸增加，這些銀髮族老人無論能行動自如或臥床而需要長期照護的人數皆逐年增加，而健康狀況是老人生活滿意程度的決定因素之一，在影響健康的許多因素中，生理訊號又是最重要的一環，但目前市面上可以買到的生理感測系統均以一電腦設備或電子儀器轉接所感測之生理訊號到遠端之照護中心或醫療院所。但這一些電腦設備或電子儀器體積常很大，且須接有線以外傳生理訊號，不利於攜帶外出，因而受照護者難以自由活動。其實，近年來智慧型手機已能透過藍牙收取生理感測器送出之訊號，又能將該訊號透過WiFi或3G/4G送到遠端，且可隨身攜帶，因此，本研究提出一個以智慧型手機取代電腦設備或電子儀器之醫療照護生理感測系統，稱為行動生理感測網路(Mobile Physiological Sensor Network, MoPSN for short)。這是一個以無線生理感測器區域網路 (Wireless Physiological Sensor Area Network, WPSAN)為基礎，透過生理感測器(Bio-sensor)監控銀髮族生理數據的行動感測系統，同時檢測許多受照護者，為免智慧型手機遺失任何生理數據，該數據傳送至資料蒐集與分類系統，以剖析分類至生理資訊資料庫，亦可以定時或不定時地傳送到照護雲。本研究亦設定各監控因子之回報基準，並將各項生理感測器資料經過醫療照護雲傳送到終端監控平台，讓醫護人員得以即時地監控受照護者之生理資訊，俾提供受照護者適時地照護。 Taiwan has gradually entered its aging society. Her elderly population, including those who can freely move and those who require long healthcare in bed, is still increasing on a yearly basis. Generally, physiological data as the health indicators of an elderly can effectively reflect his/her health status which in turn shows whether he/she has fully satisfied with his/her everyday life or not. A healthcare sensor system for elderly is a sensing system that serves elderly people with a wireless physiological sensor area network (WPSAN for short) and physiological sensors (Bio-sensors) to monitor their healthy conditions. The sensed physiological data is transmitted to an interface server which in turn sends the data to a remote healthcare server or a healthcare cloud. Currently, the volume and weight of the interface server is often far beyond conveniently portable and is consequently inconvenient for an elderly to handily carry it. Therefore, in this study, we develop a wireless physiological sensor architecture which integrates a Wireless Body Sensor Network (WBSN for short) and sensors to sense physiological data for an elderly, and then transmits the data to a remote healthcare cloud through a smartphone. The system also classifies the receiving data based on individual's personal ID and types of sensors, and stores the classified data in a healthcare cloud, from which healthcare givers can monitor the physiological data of an elderly via a healthcare monitoring system, and then timely give suitable healthcare to the elderly when necessary. We also set up personal physiological thresholds for individuals since physiological thresholds for different people vary. Once an elderly’s physiological data is out of its normal range, an alarm will be triggered and an email or a short message will be sent to healthcare givers to attract their attention.
