PORTABLE DEVICE FOR INDICATING EMERGENCY EVENTS
A portable device including a gesture recognizer module for automatically detecting a specific sequence of gestures is described. The portable device may be used to detect a health, safety, or security related event. The portable device may further include an emergency event module for automatically determining whether the sequence of gestures corresponds to an emergency event. The portable device may further include a proximity detection module for automatically determining whether a mobile device corresponding to a user listed as an emergency contact is in a state of proximity to the portable device. The portable device may further include a notification module for automatically transmitting a message, indicating the emergency event, to the user of the mobile device determined to be in the state of proximity.
This application is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 17/137,761, filed Dec. 20, 2020, entitled “DEVICE WITH INTEGRATED HEALTH, SAFETY, AND SECURITY FUNCTIONS,” which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 16/776,671, filed Jan. 30, 2020, entitled “SMART WATCH WITH INTEGRATED EMERGENCY SOS RESPONSIVE TO BOTH USER INPUT SEQUENCES AND FALL DETECTION,” now abandoned, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 16/130,067, filed Sep. 13, 2018, entitled “SMART WATCH FOR INDICATING EMERGENCY EVENTS,” which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 10,573,164, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/783,026, filed Oct. 13, 2017, entitled “SMART WATCH FOR INDICATING EMERGENCY EVENTS,” which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 10,078,957, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/090,832, filed Apr. 5, 2016, entitled “PORTABLE DEVICE FOR INDICATING EMERGENCY EVENTS,” which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,811,998, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/607,800, filed Jan. 28, 2015, entitled “PORTABLE DEVICE FOR INDICATING EMERGENCY EVENTS,” which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,338,627, and the disclosure of each of prior filed applications is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
BACKGROUND 1. FieldThis disclosure generally relates to health, safety, and/or security systems, devices, and methods.
2. Related ArtVarious transportation and travel technologies have brought greater freedom of movement to individuals. Increased mobility has created situations in which many individuals might find them alone, or in a small group, and facing an issue with their health, safety, and/or security. Being alone might be a problem when faced with an emergency relating to health, safety, and/or security.
Similarly, increasing aging of the world population has created a set of individuals, who might have a higher risk of being alone and experiencing an emergency relating to health, safety, and/or security.
Current solutions to these problems are not sufficient and accordingly there is a need for improved systems, devices, and methods.
The present invention is illustrated by way of example and is not limited by the accompanying figures, in which like references indicate similar elements. Elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale.
In one aspect, a portable device including a gesture recognizer module for automatically detecting a specific sequence of gestures is described. The portable device may further include an emergency event module for automatically determining whether the sequence of gestures corresponds to an emergency event. The portable device may further include a proximity detection module for automatically determining whether a mobile device corresponding to a user listed as an emergency contact is in a state of proximity to the portable device. The portable device may further include a notification module for automatically transmitting a message, indicating the emergency event, to the user of the mobile device determined to be in the state of proximity.
In another aspect, a portable device including a touch screen and a tap recognizer module for automatically detecting a specific sequence of taps on the touch screen is provided. The portable device may further include an emergency event module for automatically determining whether the sequence of taps corresponds to an emergency event. The portable device may further include a proximity detection module for automatically determining whether a mobile device corresponding to a user listed as an emergency contact is in a state of proximity to the portable device. The portable device may further include a notification module for automatically transmitting a message, indicating the emergency event, to the user of the mobile device determined to be in the state of proximity.
In yet another aspect, a portable device including a touch screen and a swipe recognizer module for automatically detecting a specific pattern of swipes on the touch screen. The portable device may further include an emergency event module for automatically determining whether the pattern of swipes corresponds to an emergency event. The portable device may further include a proximity detection module for automatically determining whether a mobile device corresponding to a user listed as an emergency contact is in a state of proximity to the portable device. The portable device may further include a notification module for automatically transmitting a message, indicating the emergency event, to the user of the mobile device determined to be in the state of proximity.
In yet another aspect, a method in a portable system including a footwear including a sensor module for automatically detecting a specific sequence of hops or jumps is provided. The method may include automatically determining whether the sequence of hops or jumps corresponds to an emergency event. The method may further include automatically determining whether a mobile device corresponding to a user listed as an emergency contact is in a state of proximity to the portable device. The method may further include automatically transmitting a message, indicating the emergency event, to the user of the mobile device determined to be in the state of proximity.
DETAILED DESCRIPTIONSeeing a need for a quick, universal way to call for help, government agencies began the widespread adoption of “911” as a single emergency telephone number in the 1980s. Landline phones were the primary way to call 911 for years. The proliferation of cell phones and smartphones have made emergency assistance even more easily obtainable, particularly when one is away from a traditional landline phone.
Despite the ubiquity of smartphones, dialing 911 from one still has barriers that may be difficult, time-consuming, or even impossible—particularly in the very emergency situations in which one is most likely to dial 911. One may need to turn on the phone, unlock the screen, open the dialing application, and then actually dial 911—which can use valuable time. In some cases, there might be an easy way to dial 911 (such as the “emergency” option on a Blackberry, or a 911Now app for Android phones), but even those would require the phone to be on, the screen unlocked, manual dexterity, and moderate vision capabilities. To address these deficiencies, in one embodiment, an HSS device 10 is described that provides a way for people to tap a “Morse-like” code onto any HSS device's (for example, mobile phone or smartphone) screen, whether the device is on, on with a locked screen, has a “dead” battery, or is turned off. This would be useful in a situation where someone has limited vision, mobility, or dexterity (such as being bound and gagged in the trunk of a car) and needs to call for emergency assistance. Rather than fumbling to turn on the phone, unlocking the screen, pulling up the dialing application, and then dialing 911 onto a digital dial pad screen image (without the tactile cues of a push-button dial pad), a person could tap a pre-programmed code (e.g., two long taps followed by 2 short taps) to automatically dial 911 or automatically perform a more complex emergency sequence.
Additional details of smart glasses 150 are described in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2014/0218269, which is based on application Ser. No. 13/762,146, filed on Feb. 7, 2013, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. In particular,
Swipe recognizer module 304 may include instructions that when executed by processor 12 may result in automatically capturing touch screen data corresponding to the swipes. Additional details regarding capturing swipe events and processing are described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,542,206, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. In particular,
Gesture recognizer module 306 may include instructions that when executed by processor 12 may result in automatically capturing data corresponding to the gestures. Additional details regarding capturing gesture events and processing are described in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2012/0146903, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. In particular,
With continued reference to
In another embodiment, an indication of an emergency event may come automatically from a health monitoring sensor, such as a sensor for detecting a seizure. In this embodiment, the user of HSS device 10 need not indicate an emergency event via taps, swipes, gestures, jumps, hops or arm movements. Instead, a seizure detection sensor may be included as part of a head band or a cap that a user with HSS device 10 may wear. While this embodiment is described in reference to a sensor for detecting seizure, the sensor could be any sensor that can detect a hazardous health condition, such as a heart attack, a stroke, a lack of consciousness, or other types of health conditions that might warrant an emergency response. The seizure detection sensor may be the type described in U.S. Patent Publication 2012/0197092, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. In particular, an EEG detection and an EEG control system, as described in
In one embodiment, once emergency event module 310 automatically detects an emergency event, it might be configured to automatically dial an emergency number, such as 911. The dialed emergency number may be a number other than 911 depending upon the location of HSS device 10. In one embodiment, HSS device 10 may automatically, in real-time, obtain information concerning the emergency number to dial depending upon the location of HSS device 10. This could be accomplished using service side functionality associated with wireless networks 110. The location of HSS device 10 may be detected using GPS (as part of sensors 24) and may be processed by sensor module 314. Sensor module 314 may format and pass this information to emergency event module 310. As an example, an accelerometer for detecting a shock to the portable device may provide shock related information to the emergency event module. Emergency event module 301 may automatically analyze the shock related information to determine whether the shock related information corresponds to an emergency event. For example, the rate of acceleration experienced by HHS device 10 may indicate the user of the device falling down and/or being thrown. Upon the automatic detection of the emergency event, emergency event module 310 may automatically communicate with other modules, including proximity detection module 312 and notification module 318 in a similar manner as would be the case when a user enters a specific sequence of taps indicating an emergency event.
In one embodiment, HSS device 10 may further include a proximity detection module 312. Proximity detection module 312 may rely on LTE Direct (also known as 3GPP/3GPP2 ProSe proximity standard) to automatically determine which of the contacts have mobile devices that are in proximity to HSS device 10, and thus are in a state of proximity. In one embodiment, a state of proximity may refer to contacts whose cell phone devices are being served by the same cell site as HSS device 10. A state of proximity may also refer to whether HSS device 10 and the other user's (identified as contacts in a contact database associated with HSS device 10) devices are within the same city, town, or ZIP code area. As part of proximity detection, HSS device 10 may automatically perform location measurements to determine its location. HSS device 10 may automatically perform such measurements alone or in combination with servers in wireless networks 110. Either a control plane location solution, such as defined by 3GPP and 3GPP2 or a user plane location such as Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) defined by Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) may be used. Additional details concerning determining a state of proximity based on a control plane solution or a user plane solution are described in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2014/0162687, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. In particular,
In another embodiment, a user of HSS device 10 may designate contact information to use in case of emergency (ICE). Several contacts could be designated for use in ICE. As part of this embodiment, HSS device 10 may first determine whether any ICE contacts with a mobile device are in a state of proximity. If not, then the other contacts may be considered.
In one embodiment, the message may be a pre-configured message that may be automatically transmitted via SMS, MMS, or similar services. In an alternative embodiment, prior to transmission, the pre-configured message may be modified to include additional information based on sensor measurements. As an example, HSS device 10 may determine its velocity by interacting with a location server (including functionality on the network side in
With continued reference to
With continued reference to
In another embodiment, as part of step 504, an indication of an emergency event may be based on other parameters, such as time elapsed since HSS device 10 was last used to place or receive any calls. In one embodiment emergency event module 310 may work with operating system module 318 and other functionality of HSS device 10 to keep track of time that has elapsed since HSS device 10 was last used to place or receive any calls. Sensors 24, including GPS may automatically provide the location of HSS device 10 to emergency event module via sensor module 314. Additional details concerning determining an amount of time that has elapsed since a mobile device was last used are described in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2014/0321624, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. In particular,
In step 506, proximity detection module 312 may work in conjunction with the service side functionality discussed in
Next, in step 508, notification module 316 may automatically transmit a message, indicating the emergency event, to the user of the mobile device determined to be in a state of proximity by proximity detection module 312. In one embodiment, the message may be a pre-configured message that may be transmitted via Short Message Service (SMS), Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), or similar services. In an alternative embodiment, prior to transmission, the pre-configured message may be automatically modified to include additional information based on sensor measurements. As an example, HSS device 10 may determine its velocity by interacting with a location server in wireless networks 110. The velocity may be included as part of the pre-configured message. As an another example, one of the sensors may be an accelerometer for detecting a shock to HSS device 10 and notification module 316 may automatically transmit such information to the user of the mobile device determined to be in the state of proximity.
In one embodiment, upon determining that a mobile device corresponding to a user identified as an emergency contact is in a state of proximity with HSS device 10, proximity detection module 312, working with service side functionality 420, may allow automatic direct discovery of one user device, such as UE B 404 by another user device, such as UE A 402. In addition, proximity detection module 312, working with service side functionality 420, may allow even direct communication between the UE A 402 and UE B 404.
In one embodiment, reserve battery 28 may be charged via kinetic energy. In one embodiment, battery 26 may supply power to the entire HSS device 10; but, reserve battery 28 may supply power to only those modules that are needed for performing steps 502, 504, 506, and 508 and any associated components of HSS device 10. In one embodiment, reserve battery 28 may continue to supply power to these modules, even if HSS device 10 is turned off by the user. In one embodiment, even when HSS device 10 is turned off, reserve battery 28 may supply power to only: (1) emergency event module 310, and (2) one or more of tap recognizer module 302, swipe recognizer module 304, or gesture recognizer module 306. The choice of modules may be based on the nature of the sequence entered by the user that corresponds to an emergency event. Once emergency event module 310 determines an emergency event, then reserve battery 28 may supply power to other modules, including proximity detection module 312, sensor module 314, notification module 316, and operating system module 318.
It is to be understood that the modules and components depicted herein are merely exemplary. In an abstract, but still definite sense, any arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality is effectively “associated” such that the desired functionality is achieved. Hence, any two components herein combined to achieve a particular functionality can be seen as “associated with” each other such that the desired functionality is achieved, irrespective of architectures or intermedial components. Likewise, any two components so associated can also be viewed as being “operably connected,” or “operably coupled,” to each other to achieve the desired functionality.
Furthermore, those skilled in the art will recognize that boundaries between the functionality of the above described operations merely illustrative. The functionality of multiple operations may be combined into a single operation, and/or the functionality of a single operation may be distributed in additional operations. Moreover, alternative embodiments may include multiple instances of a particular operation, and the order of operations may be altered in various other embodiments.
Although the invention is described herein with reference to specific embodiments, various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention as set forth in the claims below. Accordingly, the specification and figures are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention. Any benefits, advantages, or solutions to problems that are described herein with regard to specific embodiments are not intended to be construed as a critical, required, or essential feature or element of any or all the claims.
Furthermore, the terms “a” or “an,” as used herein, are defined as one or more than one. Also, the use of introductory phrases such as “at least one” and “one or more” in the claims should not be construed to imply that the introduction of another claim element by the indefinite articles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim element to inventions containing only one such element, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases “one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or “an.” The same holds true for the use of definite articles.
Unless stated otherwise, terms such as “first” and “second” are used to arbitrarily distinguish between the elements such terms describe. Thus, these terms are not necessarily intended to indicate temporal or other prioritization of such elements.
Claims
1. A portable device comprising:
- a gesture recognizer module for automatically detecting a specific sequence of gestures;
- an emergency event module for automatically determining whether the sequence of gestures corresponds to an emergency event;
- a proximity detection module for automatically determining whether a mobile device corresponding to a user listed as an emergency contact is in a state of proximity to the portable device; and
- a notification module for automatically transmitting a message, indicating the emergency event, to the user of the mobile device determined to be in the state of proximity.
2. The portable device of claim 1 further comprising a GPS sensor for: (1) automatically determining a location of the portable device and (2) automatically providing the location to at the emergency event module.
3. The portable device of claim 1 further comprising an accelerometer for automatically detecting a shock to the portable device and automatically providing shock related information to the emergency event module.
4. The portable device of claim 3, wherein the emergency event module is configured to automatically analyze the shock related information and automatically determine whether the shock related information corresponds to an emergency event.
5. The portable device of claim 1 comprising a first battery for providing power to the portable device and a second battery for providing power to the portable device, wherein the second battery is used only in association with the emergency event module and other functionality needed to detect and manage the emergency event.
6. The portable device of claim 5, wherein the second battery is for providing power to the emergency event module and the other functionality required to detect and manage the emergency event even when the portable device is powered off.
7. The portable device of claim 6, wherein the second battery is powered based on kinetic energy.
8. The portable device of claim 1, wherein the emergency event module is programmable to automatically dial 911 upon detection of the specific sequence of gestures.
9. The portable device of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of sensors and wherein the emergency event module is programmable to automatically process data from the plurality of sensors and automatically modify the message before automatically transmitting it to the user of the mobile device determined to be in the state of proximity.
10. A portable device comprising:
- a touch screen;
- a tap recognizer module for automatically detecting a specific sequence of taps on the touch screen;
- an emergency event module for automatically determining whether the sequence of taps corresponds to an emergency event;
- a proximity detection module for automatically determining whether a mobile device corresponding to a user listed as an emergency contact is in a state of proximity to the portable device;
- a notification module for automatically transmitting a message, indicating the emergency event, to the user of the mobile device determined to be in the state of proximity; and
- a plurality of sensors and wherein the emergency event module is programmable to: (1) automatically process data from the plurality of sensors and (2) automatically modify the message before automatically transmitting it to the user of the mobile device determined to be in the state of proximity.
11. The portable device of claim 10 further comprising a GPS sensor for automatically determining a location of the portable device and automatically providing the location to the emergency event module.
12. The portable device of claim 10 further comprising an accelerometer for detecting a shock to the portable device and providing shock related information to the emergency event module.
13. The portable device of claim 12, wherein the emergency event module is configured to analyze the shock related information and determine whether the shock related information corresponds to an emergency event.
14. The portable device of claim 10 further comprising a first battery for providing power to the portable device and a second battery for providing power to the portable device, wherein the second battery is used only in association with the emergency event module and other functionality required to detect and manage the emergency event.
15. The portable device of claim 14, wherein the second battery is for providing power to the emergency event module and the other functionality required to detect and manage the emergency event even when the portable device is powered off.
16. The portable device of claim 15, wherein the second battery is powered based on kinetic energy.
17. The portable device of claim 10, wherein the emergency event module is configured to automatically dial 911 upon detection of the specific sequence of taps.
18. A portable device comprising:
- a touch screen;
- a swipe recognizer module for automatically detecting a specific pattern of swipes on the touch screen;
- an emergency event module for automatically determining whether the pattern of swipes corresponds to an emergency event;
- a proximity detection module for automatically determining whether a mobile device corresponding to a user listed as an emergency contact is in a state of proximity to the portable device;
- a notification module for automatically transmitting a message, indicating the emergency event, to the user of the mobile device determined to be in the state of proximity; and
- a first battery for providing power to the portable device and a second battery for providing power to the portable device, wherein the second battery is used only in association with the emergency event module and other functionality needed to detect and manage the emergency event and wherein the second battery is for providing power to the emergency event module and the other functionality required to detect and manage the emergency event even when the portable device is powered off.
19. The portable device of claim 21 further comprising a GPS sensor for automatically determining a location of the portable device and providing the location to the emergency event module.
20. The portable device of claim 21 further comprising an accelerometer for automatically detecting a shock to the portable device and automatically providing shock related information to the emergency event module.
Type: Application
Filed: Jan 30, 2023
Publication Date: Jun 1, 2023
Inventors: Arati P. Singh (Austin, TX), Ranjeev K. Singh (Austin, TX)
Application Number: 18/161,577