Intel Sets Its Sights on Elder Care
Chip maker is testing sensors that could keep grandparents at home.
From: PC World - 01/07/2005
By: Tom Krazit

Intel is making progress on a research project designed to make the "digital
home" into a sensor network that could help take care of the looming problem
of elder care, a company researcher said this week at the International
Consumer Electronics Show here.

In 2002, Intel announced an initiative to design a sensor network, backed by
a PC's processing power, that would provide a stream of data to an elderly
patient's doctors, family, and friends. Eric Dishman, a social scientist
leading the project at Intel, took the CES stage alongside Intel Chief
Executive Officer Craig Barrett to outline some of the work Intel completed.

The company conducted research trials of the technology, which consists of a
network of motion sensors that Dishman dubbed "motes," he said in an
interview following Barrett's keynote. The motes themselves are relatively
inexpensive, but they produce a great deal of data that must be organized and
processed by a PC, he says.

For instance, concerned sons and daughters can monitor the location within
the home of an elderly parent living alone, Dishman says. The network could
also be used to remind individuals suffering from memory loss to take their
medicine, or help ensure that seniors stay in touch with a social network of
family and friends, he says.

Processing Power Needed
Intel's interest is not in developing the sensor networks themselves, but
rather creating yet another application where processing power is required to
help run the system, Dishman says. For instance, a forthcoming Intel
technology known as VT would allow PCs to take advantage of a separate
virtual environment in which to run these applications, he says.

VT is expected to appear in Intel chip sets in 2006, around the same time the
next version of Microsoft's Longhorn operating system is slated to launch
with software support for virtualization technology.

Many countries around the world are grappling with a rapidly aging population
that is expected to live for a longer period of time than previous
generations. Assisted-living facilities and nursing homes are often the only
resort for the sons and daughters of older parents who need help taking care
of themselves.

Intel envisions a home network that could help those individuals who are in
the early stages of Alzheimer's disease or dementia stay in their homes,
Dishman says. By sharing the data with doctors and researchers, it's also
possible that scientists could help diagnose problems in older patients and
treat them before the disease sets in, he says.

Something as simple as monitoring the pressure and cadence of a person
dialing a telephone could help signal the onset of mental problems, Dishman
says. If the person forgets the number while dialing, or feebly presses the
keys, doctors can start to make diagnoses based on a pool of similar data, he
says.

One problem that could slow the implementation of these networks is privacy
concerns about the sheer amount of data available to prying eyes. Dishman
acknowledges those concerns, but these networks should be as secure as any
available at the time, due to the stringent U.S. Health Insurance Portability
and Accounting Act that requires companies to secure health-related
information, he says.

Coming Soon?
Products should start appearing in Europe and Asia over the next few years,
Dishman says. Companies such as Honeywell and Koninklijke Philips Electronics
are taking a leading role in advancing these home electronic technologies, he
says.

Once consumers realize what this technology can do for them, they are more
interested in home sensor network for their parents, as opposed to digital
televisions and home entertainment networks, Dishman says, citing the results
of an internal study.

Barrett's keynote address to the CES audience was otherwise bare of new
information. He demonstrated a number of previously discussed technologies,
such as Sonoma, the second generation of Intel's Centrino notebook technology
scheduled to be introduced later this month. He also briefly touched on
several consumer-related topics that Intel has been pushing for some time,
including dual-core processors for gaming PCs and WiMax broadband wireless
Internet networks.

For more CES coverage, see PC World's CES news page or the CES staff blog. 
http://www.pcworld.com/news/locations/0,loc,53,00.asp
http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/ 

Url:
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,119207,tk,dn010705X,00.asp

Links:
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,118170,00.asp
http://www.pcworld.com/resource/browse/0,cat,1710,sortIdx,1,00.asp

