Telemonitoring system of television´s operating state for remotely located families

In aging societies such as Japan´s, the number of elderly person living alone increases. Since the incidence of disease and injury increases with aging, remotely located family members become anxious about the safety of their elderly parent. The elderly parent is conversely eager for information about the remotely located family. To improve smooth communication between the elderly parent and the remotely located family, we developed an inexpensive telemonitoring system of the television´s operating state (TVOS). The system is comprised of sensors and a PC with an Internet connection. The TVOS is detected by a current sensor attached to the power line of the television (TV). The PC acquires the TVOS via a USB/PIO unit. The PC at the family´s end requires the TVOS from the PC at the elderly person´s end to be transmitted via the Internet once a minute. A feasibility test, over one year, was performed in two pairs of parent-child families, Le. four households, living apart. The results showed that (1) a different pattern of TVOS was obtained for each family, and (2) the pattern of TVOS differed between business days and non-business days in the same family.