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Chapter 31
INTRODUCTION
In the super-aging society, daily healthcare
monitoring is well recognized as important for the
early diagnosis and timely treatment of lifestyle-
related diseases, especially for inpatients and/or
outpatients living with the chronic disorders that
require acute life support or chronic therapies.
Moreover, medical care and rehabilitation efforts
at home are also increasingly important. Some
platforms and methods of information transfer
(Continua Health Alliance, 2006) have been
developed for daily healthcare monitoring, and
there are commercially available devices for the
Kosuke Motoi
Hirosaki University, Japan
Mitsuhiro Ogawa
Teikyo University, Japan
Takehiro Yamakoshi
Kanazawa University, Japan
Ken-ichi Yamakoshi
Kanazawa University, Japan
Fusion Physiological Sensing
System for Healthcare
ABSTRACT
In the super-aging society, daily healthcare monitoring has become increasingly emphasized as a pos-
sible approach for the early diagnosis and timely treatment of lifestyle-related diseases. A wide variety
of information transfers and platforms have been developed for daily healthcare monitoring. Using
these techniques, the commercially available devices for home healthcare are also networked. However,
techniques for obtaining physiological information are unfocused, and in such a case, even useful data
cannot be obtained even if the network system is applied. Given these considerations, the authors have
investigated a new network system combined with new bioinstrumentation techniques, i.e., the fusion
physiological sensing system and its applicability for the daily healthcare monitoring. In particular, as
contributions towards the development of healthcare technology, two promising monitoring techniques,
ambulatory and non-conscious physiological monitoring, have been developed. These methods can
contribute to the felds of the personal healthcare, medical care, and rehabilitation through their fusion
with information and communications technology. The utility of these systems are reported according
to the results of practical use, in addition to the outline of the sensing techniques in this chapter.
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-2196-1.ch031