Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G08—SIGNALLING
  • G08B—SIGNALLING OR CALLING SYSTEMS; ORDER TELEGRAPHS; ALARM SYSTEMS
  • G08B25/00—Alarm systems in which the location of the alarm condition is signalled to a central station, e.g. fire or police telegraphic systems
  • G08B25/01—Alarm systems in which the location of the alarm condition is signalled to a central station, e.g. fire or police telegraphic systems characterised by the transmission medium
  • G08B25/016—Personal emergency signalling and security systems
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
  • H04L67/01—Protocols
  • H04L67/04—Protocols specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
  • H04L67/50—Network services
  • H04L67/52—Network services specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M1/00—Substation equipment, e.g. for use by subscribers
  • H04M1/72—Mobile telephones; Cordless telephones, i.e. devices for establishing wireless links to base stations without route selection
  • H04M1/724—User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones
  • H04M1/72403—User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
  • H04M1/72418—User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality for supporting emergency services
  • H04M1/72424—User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality for supporting emergency services with manual activation of emergency-service functions
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L65/00—Network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communication
  • H04L65/1066—Session management
  • H04L65/1069—Session establishment or de-establishment
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L65/00—Network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communication
  • H04L65/40—Support for services or applications
  • H04L65/4061—Push-to services, e.g. push-to-talk or push-to-video
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M2250/00—Details of telephonic subscriber devices
  • H04M2250/10—Details of telephonic subscriber devices including a GPS signal receiver
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M2250/00—Details of telephonic subscriber devices
  • H04M2250/52—Details of telephonic subscriber devices including functional features of a camera

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a safety method and a device, and particularly a method and device for increasing the safety for a person.
• panic button devices for people at nursing homes, wherein a carrier of the panic button may raise attention of the staff that he or she need some kind of assistance.
• these types of devices have drawbacks such as limited range of transmission and disability to provide positioning information of the person in distress, etc.
• the present invention relates to a communication device providing enhanced communication solutions for people in distress and ensures a secure and reliable service for care takers and other responsible agencies.
• the method and device provide multiple communication channels while at the same time being able to provide an aid or rescue team, service center or support organization with location data.
• a method for communicating with a person in distress comprising the steps of: providing a communication device, initiating an event in said communication device for opening a two-way communication link with a monitoring entity, starting a camera and display unit on said communication device, transmitting communication signals between said communication device and said monitoring entity, and transmitting position data of and images from said communication device to said monitoring entity.
• the method may further comprising using said images in order to assist an aid team for assessment of a condition of said person in distress and/or for assisting said aid team in locating said person in distress.
• the event is triggered by one or several of: pushing a button, activation by voice, input signal from a sensor; or input from said communication link.
• the position data are obtained from a global navigation satellite system (GNSS), such as GPS or Galileo.
• the communication signals may be one or several of sound, text, or image data.
• the invention also relates to a device for alerting a monitoring entity and communicating with a person in distress.
• the device comprises: a communication arrangement, a camera, a positioning arrangement for obtaining position coordinates, an arrangement for triggering a response, and a microphone and/or speaker;
• the communication arrangement is arranged to establish a communication link upon activation of said trigger arrangement and to provide said position coordinates, and data from said camera, and/or said microphone to a monitoring entity receiver in order to acquire aid in a distress situation.
• the invention also relates to a system for alerting a monitoring- entity and, communicating with a person in distress, comprising: a positioning network, a device as previously lined out, a communication network, a monitoring entity.
• the device comprises means for activation upon a trigger event, means for establishing a two-way communication link with said monitoring, entity in response to said event via said communication network, means for providing position coordinates of said device obtained from said positioning network, and means for providing at least one of image data, voice data, text data, and physiological data to said monitoring entity in order for said monitoring entity to assist said person in distress.
• the position coordinates are provided through at least one of said device or positioning network.
• the invention also relates to a device for monitoring the location of a person under surveillance, comprising: a communication arrangement for communicating with an infrastructure; a positioning arrangement for obtaining position coordinates.
• the device continuously transmits said position coordinates to a monitoring entity.
• Fig. 1 illustrates schematically a device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention
• Fig. 2 illustrates block diagram illustrating the steps of a method according to the present invention
• Fig. 3 is a block diagram of some functional units in the device as shown in Fig. 1;
• Fig. 4 illustrates in schematic way a system setup according to the present invention. Detailed description of the invention
• the present invention describes a method and device for increasing the safety and confidence for persons with special needs.
• the device provides a plurality of communication channels and may also transmit location coordinates concerning the geographical location of the device.
• Fig. 1 illustrates a device according to one preferred embodiment of the present invention.
• a device may comprise several interfacing and interacting units depending on application area.
• the following parts and functions may be provided.
• the device 1 may be provided with a wireless communication link to a support organization, the communication link being one of , but not limited to NMT, GSM, GPRS, UMTS, mobile phone systems 1, 2, 2.5, and 3G, satellite phone system, WCDMA, CDMA, CDMA2000, etc.
• the communication link is not limited to above mentioned cellular radio protocols and systems but may also comprise radio standards found within rescue frequency bands, radio standards for local communication (e.g. WLAN within 802.11 range, 802.16, the so called WiFi related systems, and WiMax systems), ISM frequency bands and so on.
• the radio part of the device may be of a modular concept wherein the radio part may be changed at production time or at a later staqe depending on the application area.
• the device 1 a housing 11 in which is arranged: - An antenna 10,
• a display unit 40 A speaker 61 , - A microphone 62,
• One or several antennas 10 may be located externally on and/or internally in the housing 11 of the device 1 in order to facilitate the communication link and an as GPS or Galileo satellite systems.
• GPS is a satellite based positioning system launched and controlled by USA while the Galileo system is launched and controlled by a European initiative part of a GNSS.
• the camera 20 is provided, which may provide a rescue team with a visual observation of the local surroundings. Images may be transmitted as MMS messages or in a video stream depending on communication protocol and complexity of the device 1.
• the camera 20 may also be utilized In a two-way communication between the person carrying the device and a support organization. This may aid in an assessment of the condition of the person. Since the communication can be of two-way type, the display unit 40 may be provided with or in the device 1.
• the display unit 40 may display general information about location coordinates, the current time, personal data (e.g. name, address, and medical data), images/video of a person from the support organization, map or direction indication for guiding the person to a location, and so on.
• the display unit 40 may further contain text messages transmitted from the support organization generated by a person in the support organization or automaticalIy by a software system. These text messages may be transmitted as SMS messages or as packet based data (e.g. using the IP protocol).
• the Speaker 61 and/or microphone 62 are provided in the device in order to communicate with sound between the person and support organization.
• the speaker may also be used as a siren controllable either from the support organization or by the person. For instance, if a person is hidden in some way and a rescue team has difficulties finding the person, the support organization may trigger the siren and thus the rescue team can trace the sound for finding the person. If a microphone is provided, an alarm or establishment of communication link may be voice activated as a triggering event.
• Otherways of initiating a communication link may be through the activation of an event button 80, such as a distress or panic button.
• the establishment may be through a predetermined destination (e. g. a predetermined phone number) or dependent on the geographical location of the device 1.
• the device 1 is provided in such a way that it can be attached to a wrist of a person with watchbands 90 for securing the device 1 on the arm.
• the invention is not limited to this; other securing mechanisms may be used as understood by the person skilled in the art. It is not limited, to mounting on the arm; it may also be fitted on any suitable part of the body or to the clothes of the person with therefore, appropriate fastening mechanisms; e.g. a clip on mechanism or a clamping mechanism.
• the device 1 may further comprise one or several buttons for interacting with the device 1, for example an on/off switch 100 may be provided. Other functions that may be provided are for example a reset button, time adjustment button and so on.
• the device 1 may yet further comprise one or several indicators 30 for displaying the status of the device 1, e.g. a power and/or battery indicator; the power and battery indicator may be combined into one LED 30 displaying different colors depending on status, e.g. green for power on and sufficient battery power, yellow for power on and battery level below a predetermined level, and red for power on but battery level critically low as controlled by a second predetermined level.
• Other indicators may be used for displaying other information, such as positioning data reception, communication link reception, and data from a measurement of physiological data.
• the device 1, designated, here with 200 comprises several different possible units as seen in Fig. 2. It comprises a processing unit 201, such as a microprocessor, embedded processor, ASIC, FPGA, or similar computational device; a memory unit 202 of either volatile or non-volatile type.
• the device 200 may further comprise one or several communication units 205, 206, e.g. for the wireless link with the support organization, a fixed (or wireless) link for communication with the device locally for software updating, configuration or similar purposes.
• the local link may be a n Ethernet link, a series communication link, USB, Firewire, I2C, or similar standard or non-standard communication protocol links.
• the communication unit 206 for local link will have a suitable connector (not shown) connected to the unit 206.
• This type of local link may also be utilized using a wireless protocol such as Bluetooth, WLAN, or similar local radio communication links as understood by the person skilled in the art.
• a wireless link may also be utilized in case of where the system comprises a "hands free-set".
• the term "hands free set” means a speaker and microphone in a headset which is common for mobile, phones for
• the device 200 may further comprise one or several sensors (not shown) and/or sensor input means (not shown) in order to respond to the sensor signal or to measure different variables, such as but not limited to, physiological data of the person in possession of the device 200. These variables may be transmitted to the support organization and/or may be used as a trigger event for establishing contact with the support organization.
• a method according to the present invention may comprise the following steps as illustrated in Fig. 3:
• step 301 - triggering an event for opening a two-way communication link with a central service
• step 302 - starting a camera and display unit on the communication device (step 302); - transmitting communication signals between said communication device and the central service; the communication signals being one or both of sound and image data (step 303);
• step 304 transmitting position coordinates of the communication device to the central service (step 304); and - using the images in order to assist a rescue team in locating the person in distress (step 305).
• FIG. 4 the device, designated in this case with 401, according to the present invention is shown in relation to a complete system.
• a person 402 is equipped with a device 401 according to the present invention.
• the device 401 is in contact 407 with one or several positioning sources 408 in order to be able to obtain positioning coordinates.
• positioning systems 408 are be GPS or Galileo, GLASNOSS satellite based positioning systems and/or positioning systems, based on cellular telephony infrastructure systems. These can be operated in combination in order to give better accuracy and provide redundancy. Satellite based positioning systems can be vulnerable due to a line of sight problem: if the receiver is indoors or e.g. in a dense forest, the reception may be too weak to obtain good coordinates. In such a case a cellular telephony based positioning system may provide redundancy; however, with a reduced accuracy.
• the device 401 may further be able to establish contact 406 to an infrastructure system 403, comprising for instance a base station 403 in the case of using a cellular communication system: (e.g. mobile phone system such as GSM, UMTS) or a wireless gateway or access point considering, a WLAN or WMAN, these in turn may be connected 405 to a support organization 404 via a network infrastructure.
• the support organization 404 may communicate with the person 402 since in the present embodiment the communication link is a two-way link.
• the support organization 404 may communicate 410 (wirelessly or wired) with a rescue team 409 in order to guide the rescue team 409 to the person 402, thus decreasing the response time and enhancing the safety for the person 402. Because of these advantages, the person 402 wearing or carrying the device according to the present invention will feel more confident and secure outside his or hers natural areas.
• the device is already started from the beginning of use and continuously transmits location data to a support organization. This is the case for instance if one wants to keep track of a child during for instance an excursion to a forest) or for keeping track of an Alzheimer's patient that is allowed to take a walk in a surrounding area of a nursing home.
• the invention may also be used for other application areas where there is a risk that persons may be in distress, such as at ski resorts, during boat trips, at trekking events, cross country skiing, adventure events, mountaineering, and so on.
• GPS Global Positioning System
• GSM Global System for Mobile Communications
• WCDMA Wideband Code-Division Multiple Access
• WLAN Wireless Local Area Network

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
• Emergency Management (AREA)
• Human Computer Interaction (AREA)
• Computer Security & Cryptography (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Alarm Systems (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=33448656

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (3)

Families Citing this family (5)

Family Cites Families (4)

• 2004
  • 2004-10-18 SE SE0402528A patent/SE0402528D0/xx unknown
• 2005
  • 2005-10-17 WO PCT/SE2005/001551 patent/WO2006043882A1/en active Application Filing
  • 2005-10-17 EP EP05794477A patent/EP1803319A1/de not_active Withdrawn

Non-Patent Citations (1)

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events