Smart home applications can share all kinds of helpful information with homeowners. There appears a new housing platform which can detect the stress on electricity — and the stress on the heart.
“There is a growing population of elderly people, and there are statistics to show that more and more of them are going to live alone in the home,” said Johann Siau, a senior lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire in the U.K., who was leading the InterHome project.
The system was originally designed to provide remote access (远程访问) to a house so owners could be more energy-efficient. In a small type of the system, set-in controller devices connect securely to the Internet. The owner can then monitor them with a cell phone or computer. User feedback helps the system adapt to routines, saving on electricity.
While thinking about responding to user behavior and an increasingly elderly population, the researchers decided to add wristband (手腕带) technology that senses important organs of the body such as body temperature and pulse, Siau said. “If someone were to fall, it would detect the fall and it would immediately start the monitor of the pulse to see if the person has gone into shock (休克),” he said.
The wristband communicates with the home system wirelessly. Data from the band can be securely transmitted to the home network and accessed by authorized users. “We’re working on trying to reduce it to a level where it could potentially be a wrist-sized product,” Siau said.
But he warned that the technology presented new challenges. “When you start using that on a larger scale, you have issues of privacy or security,” he said. Siau said the InterHome home system isn’t intended to invade privacy. “We’re thinking about the elderly people who are living alone with no one looking after them,” he said. “Hopefully this will be able to decrease some concerns and possibly save a few lives.”
小题1:The system was first designed for a house owner to .
A．keep watch on his house
B．keep his house safe
C．monitor the elderly people inside
D．save electricity小题2:The wristband technology is used in the system to .
A．sense important organs of a person
B．keep an old man from falling
C．get the medical information of a sick person
D．record a person’s daily activities小题3:The researchers are now trying to make the wristband .
A．more sensitive
B．be connected with the Internet
C．available for common people
D．suitable to wear on the wrist小题4:What challenges will the new technology bring according to Siau?
A．The wristband can be large and expensive.
B．The wristband will get false information of a person.
C．It will not be used in the proper way.
D．It will bring inconvenience to the old people.
