) The Aquace l his invention relates to a portable device (i.e. that may
be put anywhere convenient) that includes underwater vim signs (cat Beat, oxygen in the blood) monitonug and emergency support, which can be connected to a mobile station (MS), a location device (GPS), an audio device (Al)) and a flotation device (BUOY).
To monitor viral signs on t}ut surlice is well Icnovn, but the developed systems are not applicable to monitor a person underwater. In some circumstances, for example free diving. there is the need to continuously monitor the users vital signs to predict emergency situations such as the on set of hypoxia The objective of this invention is to allow a person underwater to have their vita} signs monitmed either locally andIor remotely lexteTral to the Aquacare) via the MS, to predict an emergency situation (e.g. Hypoxia) upon which an alarm can be triggered either locally on the person, and/or on the BUOY and/or remotely.
Accordingly, this invention uses body sensors to detecx He users vital signs underwater, an underwater vital signs monitoring module and an emergency support module.
Preferably the Aquacare is made of lightweight metal and/or plastics material and is as small as desirable in size to be used as a portable dence.
A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be Gibed with reference to the accompany dray in which: Figure 1 shows how the A4uacare will be connected to the MS (2) and its antenna (at, an AK) (4) and a GPS (5). Collectively these can be connected to a BUOY (6).
Figure 2 shows a module diagram of the Ate components.
As depicted in Figure 1, tl}e Aquace (1) car' be ach:d to an MS (2) with an ardenrm (3) and an AD (4. The Aquacare (l) comprises of at last four ItO Interfaces 18,19,20 and 21 as detailed in figure 2. Data Interface 20 of(1) is used to transfer data to and from data interlace ofthe MS (2).
Audio Interface 18 of ( 1) is used to transfer data to an AD (4) via its input interface 23. The Gas Interface 19 of (1) is used to transfer data from the GPS (5) via its output interface 24. The underwater Inexact 21 of ( 1) Is used to transfer data to and item the WK transceiver (I7) of (1) via its interface 25. The physical connections between 20 2 t8 As. 191k 2-4 and 21 25 respectively may be either cable or wireless . As shown in Figure 2, the Aquace consists of two modules nary the emergency- support module (18, 19,;10 and 21) and the vital signs monitoring module (7,g,910,11,121314,15 and 16) each of these modules consists of, but is not rcsmcted to, a number of onrmcted sumodules. F of these sumodules (18, 19,20,21 and 7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16) may be either hardware (e. a chipset) or software (e.g. a program) or a combination of b -. All the modules may also be combined in any combination. for example module 14 rr be combined Add 21 into a 1e chipset.
) The AD Audio Interface (18) has at least 2 uses; firstly to connect the Aquacare to at least one AD and secondly' to convert any data to be sent to the AD into a format that can be used by the AD.
The GPS Data Interface (19) has at least uses; firstly to connect the Aquace to at least one GPS and secondly, to convert any data received into a format that can be used bat the Aquacare.
The MS Data Interlace (20) has at least 3 uses, firstly to connect Me Agare to at least one MS, secondly, to convert any data received into a format that can be used by die Aqucare and thirdly. to convert any data to be sent to the MS into a fonnat that can be used by the MS.
The Surface Data Interface (21) has at least 3 uses; firstly to connect the emergency support module to at least one underwater transceiver (17), secondly. to convert any clam received Film the vital signs monitoring module into a format that can be used by the emergency support module and thirdly, to convert any dam to be sent to the vital signs monitoring module into a fonnat that can be used by the vital signs monitoring nodule.
The Underwater Data Interface} 2) has at least 3 uses; firstly to connect the vital signs monitoring mode to at least one underwater transceiver (7) , secondly, to convert any data received Tom the emergency support module into a format that can be Ad by the monitoring support module and thirdly, to convert any data to be sent to die emergency support module into a fonnat Mat can be used by the emergency support module.
The Underwater Audio Interface l O) has at least 2 uses; firstly to connect the Aqcare to at least one underwater audio device and secondly, to convert any data to be sent to the underwater audio device into a format that can be used by the underwater audio device.
The Underwater Data laterce ( 1 l.) has at least 2 uses; firstly to connect the Aquacare to at least one underwater vital signs sensor, secondly' to convert any data receired item a format that can be used by Aquacare.
To Facilitate flexibility the Aquacre may also include a microcontroller (id), a storage medium (14), a Text-TmSpeech ule ( 13) an depd-meter 1 5).
Designs originally bar He momtaring of free divers, but equally spp} icable in any underwater vital signs monitoring enviromnent, an example of "Aquacare" is one tb" consists of two modules namely the vital signs monitoring module Which is underwater and Me emergency short mile that are integrated into the Dee divers wetsuit and their marker surface buoy respectively. The wetsuit has built-in vital signs sensors (to detect for example heartbeat and aqc,gen in the blow) and an audio device for emergency alarms. These are connected to Be Aquacare vital signs monk<g module and an underwater transceiver. The surface buoy contains a waterproof protected GPS device, a mobile phone, and an audio device. Maltese are connoted to the Aquacare emercacy support module that is also comected to an underwater transceiver. Me bee divers vital signs recorded by the built-in wetsuit servitors are tmnsmitted to the emergency support module, on the swerve, via the transceivers. A microcontroller then interprets Me sensors data anal detem Mat the diver is starting to experieru e hypoxia An alarm request is tramimied back to the diver. via the transceivers, and an audio alarm is played on the divers Bandager audio device. Meanwhile, the Aquacare emergency support module has determined its location aria the. GPS and informed a remote: emergency call centre by sending an SMS via the mobile phone. The emergency support module is also emitting an emergency siren via the audio device.