On 17th March 2020, Frequency Precision Ltd., was granted a US patent for our bed occupancy sensor, which was judged to be 'a new and useful invention'.
This was a very exciting moment for us and reflects many years of hard work by Doug and Tom. We were granted a UK patent for the invention in 2016.
Our bed occupancy sensor uses Airlert technology to detect the presence of a person in bed, by sensing their heart beat.
This allows our bed occupancy sensor to be certain that a person is in bed.
The sensor is already used by several London councils to prevent falls by alerting carers if a person gets out of bed in the night and then doesn't return.
Tom Dwyer, our technical director, explains "a key part of the invention is that the sensor is able to filter out other signals, such as vibrations in the room. The sensor uses two piezo's similar to those found in a speaker. Having two piezo's allows false alarms to be minimised, as general vibrations in the room cause the piezos to deform in the same direction, and the sensor will actively remove these signals. A heart beat will cause the piezo's to deform in opposite directions".
We hope to develop this technology further, exploiting the unique ability of the sensor to 'hear' sounds through the mattress, such as a heart beat or sounds of a person breathing. This would allow the sensor to measure a persons vital signs when they are in the bed.
Well done to Tom and Doug!
