GB2479527A

GB2479527A - Personal attack alarm with unique ID

Info

Publication number: GB2479527A
Application number: GB1005881A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Yojary Lozano
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2010-04-08
Filing date: 2010-04-08
Publication date: 2011-10-19
Also published as: GB201005881D0

Abstract

A system involving a centralised server and a number of portable devices. When one of the devices is activated using a button B it transmits its current location and a unique ID which identifies the specific device to a central server. The ID is a short unique code, for example, 256 bits wide rather than any personal information about the current owner. The location is determined using the Global Positioning System (GPS) and the information is transmitted via SMS. The information is not continuously transmitted, but is sent a single time when activated by the owner of the device. When the server receives the signal from the device, it displays the location on a map and the identity of the device owner. The device may be easily activated without looking at it and has security measures to avoid accidental activation.

Description

Active Guardian

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Every year, central authorities around the world spend vast amounts of money on detecting, preventing and dealing with crime. They employ large numbers of police officers, install closed circuit TV (CCTV) cameras, train the public to protect themselves with, for example, neighbourhood watch schemes and provide financial incentives to the poorer members of society to make it unnecessary for them to turn to crime to support themselves.

The large number of CCTV cameras in a typical metropolitan area means that it is prohibitively expensive to monitor all of them at all times which means that they are generally used to identify criminals after the crime has already occurred rather than to direct police officers to a crime in progress. Hiring and training more police officers is expensive so there is a limit to the total number that a central authority can afford.

Members of the public are able to purchase personal attack alarms to protect themselves from attack in the street. These are popular but in general they protect only a single person. The criminal is rarely apprehended and is able to target another member of the public.

If members were issued with a device that could inform the police of the location of a crime in progress as described below it would neatly solve the cost issues of hiring additional police officers; the quality of intelligence provided would be superior to CCTV cameras as the device would be actively monitored by the owner at activation time and it would also solve the issue of a traditional personal attack alarm in that the criminal would be likely to be apprehended.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a device for informing the central authority of the location of a crime that is in progress or about to happen.

When members of the public are confronted by a crime in progress it may be difficult for them to inform the police, even if they have a method of communication such as a mobile phone as they could be exposing themselves to danger if the criminal(s) becomes aware of their intentions. In addition they may be unfamiliar with the area and therefore unable to direct the police to the correct location quickly. If they had an easy and unobtrusive method of quickly notifying the authorities of the location they may be more willing to assist.

The intention is that selected members of the public would carry a small device with them at all times which would be capable of transmitting GPS co-ordinates and a unique ID to a central server.

The unique ID would identify the owner of the device for two reasons. If a device was compromised, stolen or lost it could easily be disabled by flagging that unique ID on the server. If a malicious user decided to waste police time, they could easily be identified.

The reason for using a unique ID specific to the device rather than a phone number or name is that the server would contain the complete list of IDs. If an attacker determined how to send signals to the central server it would ignore any signals that didn't contain a valid unique ID. The unique ID therefore needs to be sufficiently complex that it would be almost impossible to randomly generate a valid ID.

The server, on receipt of a message from one of the devices would display a map with the location of where the device was activated and the identity of the device owner by lookup of the unique ID.

Both the authorities and the device holder gain from use of the device. The owner gains a measure of security in case a crime is committed against their own person and the police have a greater chance to apprehend criminals if they receive an accurate location while the crime is actually in progress. When sufficient numbers of criminals become aware of the existence of the devices they may be deterred from committing crimes for fear that they can be informed on by any passing member of the public. They will be unable to easily distinguish between someone who has the device and someone who does not.

In order to prevent accidental activation, there will be a lightly sprung cover over the activation key (see Figure 1C) . It should be fairly easy to slide a thumb or finger under this cover (using for example a thumb tab as in Figure 10) and press the key without looking at the device in order to avoid attracting the criminal's attention. On successful activation, the device will silently vibrate once to inform the user it has been activated.

The device is controlled by a microprocessor which can be reprogrammed via USB port (see Figure 1E) for any additional functionality that may be required. For example, if it was determined that some record of owner location over the previous few minutes was useful in order to more accurately pinpoint typical crime locations, that could be added easily.

The device is powered by a rechargeable battery which may be recharged using the DC in port as in figure iF. It is assumed that the battery will last a long time as it won't need to power a screen in comparison with a typical mobile phone battery. There will be an indicator on the device which indicates if the battery needs to be recharged soon. The device can be switched on and off to conserve battery although this will probably require it to re-establish communication with the GPS satellites.

The form factor demonstrated in Figure 1 is only one possible alternative. Other example configurations may be a bracelet or a pendant. In certain configurations (such as these two) for size reasons it will be necessary to separate the GPS components from the part of the device which includes the button. In that case the two components can communicate via Bluetooth.

Although similar inventions have been discussed (in for example US patent 5,731,785) that transmit GPS information and a unique ID to a central authority the distinguishing feature of the device described in this document is that this device is designed to be easily activated without looking at it which is essential to the function as described above.