WO2014048994A2

WO2014048994A2 - Alarm system with geoposition based behaviour for mobile terminals

Info

Publication number: WO2014048994A2
Application number: PCT/EP2013/069977
Authority: WO
Inventors: Danny VAN DER POEL; Martin Staunsager LARSEN; Andreas Christian HAUGAARD
Original assignee: Hippih Holding Aps
Priority date: 2012-09-26
Filing date: 2013-09-25
Publication date: 2014-04-03
Also published as: WO2014048994A3

Abstract

A portable alarm system including a mobile terminal and portable alarm device. The mobile terminal includes a first wireless transceiver, a first geographical location detector determining a current geographical location of the terminal, geographical zone data defining a number of predetermined geographical zones, a first zone detector comparing the current geographical location of the terminal to the number of zones to determine a current zone of the terminal, a command communicator for generation and transmission of zone data to the portable alarm device through a paired wireless connection between the alarm device and terminal. The zone data indicates the number of predetermined geographical zones and/or the current geographical zone of the terminal. A portable alarm device includes a second wireless transceiver, zone data received through the second wireless transceiver, an alarm indicator for responding according to an alarm setting selected by an alarm configurator based on the zone data.

Description

ALARM SYSTEM WITH GEOPOSITION BASED BEHAVIOUR FOR MOBILE TERMINALS

The present invention relates to a portable alarm system comprising a mobile terminal and an associated portable alarm device coupled through a paired wireless con- nection. The mobile terminal comprises a first geographical location detector configured to determine a current geographical location of the mobile terminal and a memory device storing geographical zone data defining a number of predetermined geographical zones. The mobile terminal is configured to transmit zone data indicating at least one of the number of predetermined geographical zones and the current geographical zone of the mobile terminal data to the portable alarm device.

The portable alarm device comprises an alarm indicator configured to respond according to an alarm setting controlled by an alarm configurator. The alarm setting selected by the alarm configurator is based on the zone data such that the alarm behaviour of the portable alarm device may be automatically adapted to a current geographical location of the associated mobile terminal.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Mobile terminals such as portable PCs, mobile phones, Smart Phones, PDAs, tablets like iPad have gained world-wide popularity and are sold globally in tremendous numbers. The functionality of these mobile terminals is rapidly increasing due to advances in semiconductors, telecommunications, display technologies etc. are becoming increasingly popular as more than simply a mobile telephony device for placing and receiving telephone calls. These types of mobile terminals are often expensive to replace, and worse yet, they hold numerous data that are important to the owner or user of the mobile terminal such as email messages, contact persons, calendars, various useful applications (apps), music and photos etc. From a professional perspective, the numerous smartphone applications are highly advantageous for example by boosting employee productivity and lowering the response time to customer and organizational requests for information. On the other hand, the stor- age or access to personal and/or business critical information through applications, like email clients, makes a loss of the mobile terminal for example by theft or accident to a highly misfortunate incident and can lead to uncontrolled dissemination of critical business data whether these relates to the user's own organization or clients..

Hence, a portable alarm device that protects a mobile terminal from theft or loss may be useful to help protect these types of critical business and personal data. The portable alarm device could for example notify the user by visual, audible or tactile notification if the mobile terminal is separated more than a predetermined distance from the portable alarm device. The portable alarm device could advantageously be sufficiently small and lightweight to be carried about in a pocket, purse or attached to a key ring of the user. The portable alarm device is accordingly preferably shaped and sized to be an unobtrusive personal device to the owner of the mobile terminal.

WO 201 1/028345 discloses a Bluetooth enabled telephony device that may be paired with a wireless security device using one or more Bluetooth wireless protocol profiles. The wireless security device may send a command to the telephony device over the wirelessly paired Bluetooth connection, to the telephony device. The command may cause the telephony device to place a telephone call to an emergency telephone number. Once the telephone call is placed, a prerecorded emergency message may be sent from the wireless security device to the telephony device, causing the telephony device to play the prerecorded emergency message. The wireless security device may also be configured to generate a visible or audible notification out-of-range notification when a quality parameter of the Bluetooth wireless connection is outside a predetermined quality threshold.

To avoid erroneous or undesired alarms from the portable alarm device it will be highly advantageous if the alarm device is capable of automatically adapting its alarm behaviour to a current geographical location of the associated mobile terminal. In this manner, the alarm behavior can be different at relatively safe locations or zones such as at home or at the workplace compared to less safe environments in terms of theft and accidental loss such as bars, sports and concert venues, markets etc. In this manner, the portable alarm device may be inactive at the user's home premises even though the portable alarm device is brought out-of-range of the associated mobile terminal, or separated from it by a larger distance than allowed in other, e.g. unsafe, geographical zones. The adaptation of the alarm behavior of the portable alarm device may advantageously be automatic and completely transparent to the user during normal use. The alarm behavior could for example be defined by the user during an initial set-up or programming of the portable alarm device by entering or selecting zone data defining a number of predetermined geographical zones. The number of predetermined geographical zones and preferred alarm set- tings for each zone could be set by an application programme executed on the associated mobile terminal.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A first aspect of the invention relates to a portable alarm system comprising a mobile terminal and an associated portable alarm device. The mobile terminal comprising: a processor,

a first wireless transceiver,

a first geographical location detector configured to determine a current geographical location of the mobile terminal,

a memory device storing geographical zone data defining a number of predetermined geographical zones,

a first zone detector configured to comparing the current geographical location of the mobile terminal to the number of predetermined geographical zones to determine a current geographical zone of the mobile terminal,

a command communicator configured for generation and transmission of zone data to the portable alarm device through a paired wireless connection between the portable alarm device and the mobile terminal;

the zone data indicating at least one of the number of predetermined geographical zones and the current geographical zone of the mobile terminal;

a portable alarm device comprising:

a second wireless transceiver,

a processor for receipt and storage, in a second memory device, of the zone data received through the second wireless transceiver,

an alarm indicator configured to respond according to an alarm setting controlled by an alarm configurator;

wherein the alarm setting selected by the alarm configurator is based on the zone data. To avoid erroneous or undesired alarms from the portable alarm device it will be highly advantageous if the alarm device is capable of automatically adapting its alarm behaviour to a current geographical location of the associated mobile terminal. In this manner, the alarm behavior can differ between relatively safe locations or zones such as at home or at the workplace and less safe environments in terms of theft and accidental loss such as bars, sport and concert events, markets etc. In this manner, the alarm indicator of the portable alarm device may be inactive, or actuated in an unobtrusive manner according to a first predetermined alarm setting, at the user's home premises even though the portable alarm device is brought out-of- range of the associated mobile terminal, i.e. the connection state of the paired wireless connection between the portable alarm device and the mobile terminal is broken or disconnected. Likewise, the portable alarm device may be inactive, or actuated in an unobtrusive manner, at the user's home premises even though the portable alarm device is separated from the mobile terminal by a larger distance than allowed in other, e.g. unsafe, geographical zones. The adaptation of the alarm behavior of the portable alarm device may advantageously be effected automatically by the alarm configurator and rendered completely transparent to the user during normal use. The alarm behavior could for example be defined by the user during an initial set-up or programming of the portable alarm device by entering or selecting zone data defining a number of predetermined geographical zones. The number of predetermined geographical zones and preferred alarm settings for each zone could be set by the user through a suitable application programme executed on the associated mobile terminal. The zone data and the preferred alarm settings for each zone may be transmitted to the the portable alarm device and stored in the second memory device by the processor of the alarm device.

The mobile terminal may comprise a battery powered portable communication device such as a mobile or cellular phone, a SmartPhone, a tablet etc. for placing and receiving wireless phone calls for example via a GSM, 3G-4G, Wi-Fi communication channel.

The processor of the mobile terminal preferably comprises a software programmable microprocessor or CPU for example based on the well-known ARM architecture. The use of a software based processor allows various functions and features of the mobile terminal to be implemented by executable program instructions or executable code stored in a program memory device accessible to the processor. The skilled person will appreciate that the program memory, and data memory as well, may comprise various types of volatile and non-volatile memory such as SRAM, DRAM, EEPROM, EPROM, ROM, flash memory and any combination of these.

The association between the mobile terminal and the portable alarm device is preferably achieved by pairing the devices such that each device has a unique ID that is known to the other device. The pairing can be made by custom application pro- grams executed on the mobile terminal and the portable alarm device or by exploiting a standardized Pairing mechanism of the Bluetooth protocol. The device pairing ensures that the paired wireless connection between the portable alarm device and the mobile terminal can be set-up and the zone data transmitted to the portable alarm device.

In one embodiment, the portable alarm device comprises:

zone data, stored in the second memory device, comprising the number of predetermined geographical zones,

a second geographical location detector configured to determine the current geo- graphical location of portable alarm device,

a second zone detector configured to comparing the current geographical location of the portable alarm device to the number of predetermined geographical zones to determine and transmit the current geographical zone of the portable alarm device to the alarm configurator. The second geographical location detector may for exam- pie comprise one of: {a GPS receiver, a transceiver for wireless local area network, a cellular network transceiver}, etc. The skilled person will appreciated that by detecting the presence of a particularly named WLAN network, the current geographical location of portable alarm device may be determined for example by accessing a suitable database holding address information about a multitude of WLAN net- work. Another option is to provide a GPS receiver in the alarm device itself such that the second zone detector can compare acquired GPS coordinators with the zone data defining the number of predetermined geographical zones and thereby determine the current geographical zone of the portable alarm device. However, the skilled person will appreciate that integrating the second geographical location detector in the portable alarm device entails significant additional power consumption, space occupation and increasing device costs. These factors may be unacceptable for certain categories of the portable alarm devices such as mass- produced consumer devices where low costs and long battery lifetime are essential. Accordingly, in another preferred embodiment, a geographical location detector is omitted in the portable alarm device and the device regularly receives zone data from the mobile terminal through the paired wireless connection. The zone data indicates the current geographical zone of portable alarm device assuming the mobile terminal and the portable alarm device are in the same zone. Accordingly, in one such embodiment, the portable alarm device comprises:

stored zone data received from the mobile terminal and indicating the current geographical zone of the mobile terminal;

the alarm configurator being configured to determine the current geographical zone of the portable alarm device based on the received zone data.

The stored zone data, received from the mobile terminal, may indicate the current geographical zone of the portable alarm device in a direct or indirect manner. In one embodiment, the zone data may indicate the current geographical zone directly such as 'zone V, 'zone 2', 'zone x' etc. In this scheme, the first zone detector of the mobile terminal may have made the current geographical zone determination, e.g. 'zone V based on the stored data defining the number of predetermined geographical zones and the current geographical location. In an alternative embodiment, the zone data may indicate the current geographical zone indirectly by including the geographical zone data, defining the number of predetermined geographical zones, in combination with the current geographical location. Hence, in the latter situation, the processor of the portable alarm device can make the determination of the current geographical zone by comparing the current geographical location to the stored data defining the number of predetermined geographical zones.

According to one embodiment, the geographical zone data comprises a first predetermined geographical zone and a second predetermined geographical zone;

wherein the alarm configurator of the portable alarm device is configured to: - select a first alarm setting in response to determining the current geographical zone of the portable alarm device as the first predetermined geographical zone.

- select a second alarm setting in response to determining the current geographical zone of the portable alarm device as the second predetermined geographical zone. As mentioned above the first predetermined geographical zone may comprise a home address or workplace of the user of the alarm system. In this manner, the first predetermined alarm setting may be inactive, or actuated in an unobtrusive manner, for example by either flashing a LED device or switching to a differently colored LED device of the alarm indicator if the portable alarm device is brought out-of-range of the associated mobile terminal or loses the connection through the paired wireless connection for other reasons. On the other hand, if the second predetermined geographical zone is an unsafe geographical zone, the second alarm setting preferably defines a more readily noticeable or obtrusive activity of the alarm indicator if the portable alarm device is brought out-of-range of the associated mobile terminal or loses the connection to the associated mobile terminal through the paired wireless connection for other reasons. Consequently, the alarm configurator may generally be responsive to a connection state between the portable alarm device and the mobile terminal through the paired wireless connection. The second alarm setting may for example comprise a loud alarm beep or other distinct audible sound emitted by a speaker or a buzzer and/or actuation of a vibrator of the alarm indicator. These alarm notifications may of course be supplemented with various forms of visible light indications from a light source of the alarm indicator.

The respective areas of the first and second predetermined geographical zones may vary considerably depending on the particular application and user preferences. In one embodiment, the area of the first predetermined geographical zone lies between 100 and 10.000 m². The area may be a substantially circular area with a zone diameter between 10 and 200 meters such as between 25 and 125 meters. In this embodiment, the area of the second predetermined geographical zone may be the rest of the globe. In other embodiments, the second predetermined geographical zone may comprise a work place of the user and may cover an area 100 and 10.000 m² similar to the area of the first predetermined geographical zone, or the area may be larger than 10.000 m² to cover large factory premises of the workplace. According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the portable alarm device comprises a motion detector, such as an accelerometer or gyroscope, opera- tively coupled to the alarm configurator. In the alternative, the motion detector may be based on an optical sensing mechanism or a capacitive proximity mechanism integrated with the portable alarm device. The latter motion detection mechanisms may operate by detecting relative motion between the portable alarm device and its support surface or structure. The alarm configurator is configured to change a current alarm setting in response to a motion signal supplied by the motion detector. This embodiment is particularly helpful in situations where the portable alarm device lacks the previously discussed second geographical location detector. In such embodiments, the portable alarm device must rely on the zone data transmitted from the mobile terminal through the paired wireless connection to determine its current geographical zone. Hence, in case the paired wireless connection is disconnected or uncoupled for example because the portable alarm device is out-of-range or be- cause the mobile terminal is powered off or discharged, there is no mechanism to indicate to the alarm configurator, via the zone data, that the alarm device is moved out of a current geographical zone. The current geographical zone being indicated by the most recently received zone data from the mobile terminal. This problem can be solved by including the motion detector and adapting the alarm configurator to detect and react to the motion signal in the disconnected state of the portable alarm device and the associated the mobile terminal. If the portable alarm device is moved in the disconnected state, the user is notified by switching from a current alarm setting to another setting, preferably more obtrusive, predetermined alarm setting. This feature is highly useful to notify the user of a missing mobile terminal when the user leaves home for work e.g. Monday morning forgetting his discharged mobile terminal at the home. On the other hand, an unobtrusive predetermined alarm setting can be retained as long as the portable alarm device remains stationary despite the disconnected state. Hence, annoying false alarm indications can be eliminated when the user is at home while a distinct and noticeable alarm can alert the user if he or she leaves home without the disconnected mobile terminal.

In a preferred embodiment, the alarm configurator of the portable alarm device is configured to switch between the first, third and fourth predetermined alarm settings when the portable alarm device is located in the first predetermined geographical zone. The latter may be the home or office address of the user. According to this embodiment, the alarm configurator is configured to:

a) determining the current geographical zone of the portable alarm device from the zone data,

b) in the first predetermined geographical zone, determining the connection state between the portable alarm device and the mobile terminal,

c) if the connection state is disconnected, change the alarm setting from the first predetermined alarm setting to a third predetermined alarm setting,

d) detecting the motion signal,

e) if no motion is indicated, maintain the third predetermined alarm setting, f) in response to detection of motion, change the alarm setting from the third predetermined alarm setting to a fourth predetermined alarm setting.

The skilled person will appreciate that many different types of respective alarm set- tings can be implemented in the connected state, the disconnected state and the disconnected state with motion of the portable alarm device to allow the user to distinguish between these. The different alarm settings may be distinguished by anyone of different audible sound signals, vibration signals and light signals. The third predetermined alarm setting may for example exclusively comprise flashing a visible light device of the alarm indicator to avoid an unnecessary obtrusive alarm signal. On the other hand, the fourth predetermined alarm setting may comprise actuating at least one of a vibrator and a speaker of the alarm indicator. The actuation of the alarm indicator in question should preferably produce a readily detectable level of vibration and/or sound such that the user receives a clear notification of the motion of the portable alarm device in the disconnected state.

The alarm configurator of the portable alarm device is preferably further configured to:

g) subsequent to step b) return to step a) if the connection state is coupled.

h) outside the first predetermined geographical zone, determining the connection state between the portable alarm device and the mobile terminal, i) if the connection state is unconnected, change the current alarm setting to a fifth predetermined alarm setting (outside safe zone without BT-link).

The skilled person will understand that the portable alarm system comprises at least two different predetermined geographical zones between which the alarm behaviour of the portable alarm device differs. In one embodiment, the portable alarm system comprises only first and second predetermined geographical zones and the latter comprises all geographical locations situated outside the first predetermined geographical zone. Other embodiments of the portable alarm system comprise three or more predetermined geographical zones depending on the user's needs and preferences.

In one embodiment, the portable alarm system further comprises:

a distance detector configured to compute a distance estimate indicating a physical distance or separation between the portable alarm device and the mobile terminal; wherein the alarm configurator is responsive to the distance estimate. This feature is highly useful in numerous situations, in particular in unsafe zones where user wishes protection against theft or accidental loss of the mobile terminal. In one such embodiment, the alarm configurator is configured to activate the alarm indicator if a current distance estimate exceeds a predetermined distance threshold. The predetermined distance threshold may be a user settable parameter that can be entered from a suitable graphical user interface of the mobile terminal. Depending on the nature of the predetermined geographical zone in question, the user can select or enter a suitable value of the predetermined distance threshold such as between 2 and 20 meters for example between 5 and 10 meters.

The distance detector may be implemented in various ways depending on characteristics of the paired wireless connection. In one embodiment, the distance detector comprises the first and second wireless transceivers and a predetermined characteristic of a radio frequency signal transmitted though the paired wireless connection. The predetermined characteristic of a radio frequency signal may be its level. In another embodiment, the predetermined characteristic of the radio frequency signal comprises a received signal strength indicator (RSSI). The first geographical location detector, and optionally the second geographical location detector, preferably comprises at least one of: {a GPS receiver, a transceiver for wireless local area network, a cellular network transceiver}, etc. for detection of the current geographical location. Since mobile terminals normally include a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver, the first geographical location detector can exploit GPS coordinators and other operating system supported geo-position features of the mobile terminal. This allows the first geographical location detector to be implemented exclusively in software as executable program instructions or executable code stored in a memory device of the mobile terminal.

Depending on the type of geographical location detector utilized to indicate the geographical zone or zones in question, a predetermined geographical zone may be essentially stationary once the zone has been defined, for example by user intervention as explained below in further detail, and only changed occasionally if the user moves to a new home or changes work. However, in other embodiments one or more of the predetermined geographical zone(s) may cover a non-stationary vessel in geographical terms such as a ship, train, airplane etc. In the latter embodiment, predetermined geographical zone is e.g. defined by a local wireless network or similar means that are transported together with the mobile terminal and portable alarm device.

The alarm indicator preferably comprises one or more indicators selected from a group of: {speaker for audible sound, vibrator, visible light}. Each of the first and second wireless transceivers comprises one of: an IEEE

802.1 1 compatible transceiver (Wi-Fi), Bluetooth compatible transceiver, etc. In the latter case each of the first and second wireless transceivers preferably comprises Bluetooth transceivers compatible with an official Bluetooth standard(s), as adopted by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, such as Bluetooth standard versions 2.0, 2.1 , 3.0, 3.0+HS and 4.0.

The processor of the mobile terminal preferably comprises a software programmable microprocessor controlled by executable program instructions or executable code stored in the memory device. In this manner, various components and func- tions of the mobile terminal may conveniently be implemented as respective software applications executed under control of an operating system of the mobile terminal such as current releases of Android, iOS 5 and Windows Phone etc. In this manner, the geographical location detector may comprise a first set of the executa- ble program instructions, for example interfacing to an existing GPS application and GPS antenna of the mobile terminal as mentioned above. The zone detector may likewise comprise a second set of the executable program instructions and the command communicator may comprise a third set of the executable program instructions.

The skilled person will understand that the mobile terminal preferably functions as a master device in the present portable alarm system and the portable alarm device functions as a slave device receiving and storing the zone data indicating the current geographical zone. Therefore, the mobile terminal preferably comprises a suitable graphical user interface for user control of settings and functions of the present portable alarm system. The graphical user interface comprises a fourth set of executable program instructions, which when executed causes the software programmable microprocessor to:

generating and presenting the graphical user interface on a display of the mobile terminal, said graphical user interface comprising virtual select buttons and/or data entry boxes for entry and/or selection of the geographical zone data defining the number of predetermined geographical zones. According to one such embodiment, the graphical user interface comprises a map showing a current position of the mobile terminal and allowing the user to define one of the predetermined geographical zones by marking and selecting an area on the displayed map.

The graphical user interface preferably comprises executable instructions which when executed causes the software programmable microprocessor to:

generating virtual select buttons and/or data entry boxes, on the graphical user inter- face, for user entry and/or selection of the alarm settings of the portable alarm device. The alarm settings may define respective indicator levels and/ temporal patterns such as sound and vibration levels, light intensity, flashing patterns and duration. In a preferred embodiment, the user can manually set the above-discussed the predetermined distance threshold via the graphical user interface. Accordingly, the fourth set of executable program instructions comprises executable instructions which when executed causes the software programmable microprocessor to:

generating a virtual select button and/or a data entry box, on the graphical user interface, for user entry and/or selection of the predetermined distance threshold of the portable alarm device. A predetermined distance threshold may be entered for just a single one or for each of the number of predetermined geographical zones. A second aspect of the invention relates to a portable alarm device comprising: a wireless transceiver,

a processor for receipt and storage, in a memory device of the portable alarm device, of zone data received through the wireless transceiver from a mobile terminal associated with the portable alarm device,

the zone data indicating at least one of a number of predetermined geographical zones and a current geographical zone of the associated mobile terminal, an alarm indicator configured to respond according to an alarm setting controlled by an alarm configurator;

wherein the alarm configurator controls the alarm setting based on the zone data.

The skilled person will understand that the above described features of the portable alarm device in connection with the description of the present portable alarm system apply to the present aspect of the invention. The portable alarm device preferably comprises a motion detector, such as an accelerometer or gyroscope, operatively coupled to the alarm configurator. The alarm configurator may be configured to change a current alarm setting in response to a motion signal supplied by the motion detector as described in detail above.

In a preferred embodiment of the portable alarm device, a memory device such as SRAM, DRAM, EEPROM, EPROM, ROM, flash memory and any combination of these, stores zone data indicating the number of predetermined geographical zones. The portable alarm device additionally comprises a geographical location detector configured to determine a current geographical location of portable alarm device and a zone detector. The zone detector is configured to compare the current geographical location of the portable alarm device to the number of predetermined geographical zones to determine the current geographical zone of the portable alarm device and transmit the current geographical zone to the alarm configurator. The alarm configurator preferably selects a suitable alarm setting based on the current geographical zone as previously explained.

The skilled person will appreciate that the processor of the portable alarm device preferably comprises a software programmable microprocessor or CPU. The use of a software based processor allows the above-described functions and features of the alarm configurator and the processor of the portable alarm device to be at least partly implemented by executable program instructions or executable code stored in a program memory device accessible to the processor. The skilled person will appreciate that the program memory may comprise various types of volatile and non- volatile memory such as SRAM, DRAM, EEPROM, EPROM, ROM, flash memory and any combination of these.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A preferred embodiment of the invention will be described in more detail in connec- tion with the appended drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 illustrates schematically a portable alarm system comprising a mobile terminal and an associated portable alarm device in accordance with a first embodiment of the invention; and

Fig. 2 is a flow chart illustrating alarm behaviour of the portable alarm device in a predetermined safe geographical zone in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Fig. 1 illustrates a portable alarm system 200 comprising a mobile phone or smartphone 204 and an associated portable alarm device 202. The smartphone 204 and the portable alarm device 202 are wirelessly connected via a paired wireless connection 206 such as a Bluetooth link. The portable alarm device 202 comprises a disc-shaped housing suitable for use as a key ring. A manually actuable push-button 203 protrudes from the housing and allows the user to deactivate an activated alarm indicator (not shown) of the portable alarm device 202. In the present embodiment, the alarm indicator comprises individual indicators like green and red LEDS, a buzzer and a vibrator. The portable alarm device 202 is preferably powered by a suitable rechargeable battery or battery pack.

The smartphone 204 comprises a user operable graphical user interface displayed on a touch-screen 208. The graphical user interface preferably comprises virtual select buttons and/or data entry boxes for entry and/or selection of geographical zone data defining a number of predetermined geographical zones such as a first zone at the user's home and a second zone outside the user's home as explained in additional detail below. According to one such embodiment, the graphical user interface comprises a map showing a current position of the smartphone 204 and allowing the user to define at least the first predetermined geographical zone by marking and selecting an area on the displayed map. The skilled person will appreciate that the graphical user interface preferably is implemented by a set of executable instructions or software code which when executed causes a software programmable microprocessor of the smartphone to provide the user interface functions. The graphical user interface preferably also comprises virtual select buttons and/or data entry boxes for user entry and/or selection of the alarm settings of the portable alarm de- vice. A virtual navigation wheel 210 is displayed on the graphical user interface as one form of virtual select button. The alarm settings may define respective indicator levels and/ temporal patterns such as sound and vibration levels, light intensity, flashing patterns and duration etc. Other functions and features of the smartphone 204 are discussed below in further detail.

Fig. 2 is a flow chart illustrating alarm behaviour of the portable alarm device of a portable alarm system in a predetermined safe geographical zone, indicated as Safe zone on flowchart. The predetermined safe geographical zone may be at the user's home or work place in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention. The boxes 156, 160, 164 summarize the respective alarm settings of the alarm indicator in each of the illustrated connection states between the portable alarm or safety device and an associated smartphone. The portable alarm device may be shaped and sized like a key ring and comprise a rechargeable battery for powering the device. In this manner, the portable alarm device can be carried around by the user in convenient and unobtrusive manner. In the present embodiment, the portable alarm device lacks a geographical location detector such that its current geographical location is regularly indicated by zone data transmitted from the associated or paired smartphone. The latter device includes a GPS based geographical location detector. The communication between the portable alarm device and the associated smartphone takes place through a paired wireless connection, preferably a Bluetooth connection, where the pairing of the devices is part of the communication protocol. The skilled person will understand that the smartphone functions as a master device in the present portable alarm system and the portable alarm device functions as a slave device receiving and storing the zone data indicating the current geographical zone.

In the present embodiment, the alarm system comprises the above-mentioned first geographical zone and a second zone that comprises all locations outside the first zone. The first geographical zone may have an area between 500 and 2.000 m². The selection of the size of the first geographical zone may be done by the user through the graphical user interface on the touch screen or display 208 of the smartphone 204 (please refer to Fig. 1 ). The graphical user interface preferably comprises virtual select buttons and/or data entry boxes for entry and/or selection of the geographical zone data defining the number of predetermined geographical zones, their respective locations and areas. The alarm indicator of the portable alarm device comprises a pair of differently colored LEDs such as a green LED and a red LED. The alarm indicator furthermore comprises a buzzer for creating an audible notification and a vibrator to provide tactile notification or feedback to the user allowing the user to be notified about the various alarm states in a flexible manner by a suitable combination of audible, tactile and visual indicators. In addition, the portable alarm device comprises a motion detector, preferably in the form of an ac- celerometer, operatively coupled to the alarm configurator. The accelerometer may comprise a power-down or sleep mode in addition to normal operation. Switching between the power-down and normal operation modes by controlled from a processor of the portable alarm device. In certain states of the alarm device, the alarm configurator is configured to change a current alarm setting of the portable alarm device in response to a motion signal supplied by the accelerometer as described in additional detail below. The portable alarm system resides in a normal or default mode in step 102. In step 104, an alarm configurator of the portable alarm device determines the current geographical zone of the portable alarm device from the stored zone data. The zone data are preferably stored in a suitable volatile or non-volatile memory device of the portable alarm device. The skilled person will appreciate that the portable alarm device may comprise a processor such as a software programmable microprocessor to handle receipt, update and storage of the zone data regularly transmitted by the paired smartphone. In this case, the alarm configurator may be fully or partly imple- mented as a set of the executable microprocessor program instructions. If the current geographical zone is determined to be the Safe zone in step 104, the alarm configurator proceeds to step 106 and places the portable alarm device in a Safe zone mode. On other hand, if the alarm configurator determines the portable alarm device is outside the Safe zone, the configurator proceeds along the 'NO' arrow and selects appropriate alarm settings associated with the second predetermined geographical zone. The latter alarm settings may lead to a more obtrusive alarm signals to the user if the portable alarm device and the smartphone are disconnected, or a separation between these exceeds a pre-set distance threshold compared to the alarm settings in the safe zone under the same conditions. Hence, the portable alarm device exhibits geo-position dependent alarm behaviour.

The alarm configurator enters the safe zone mode by selecting a first predetermined alarm setting from a number of pre-stored predetermined alarm settings. In this manner, the alarm behaviour of the portable alarm device is automatically adapted to the current safe zone of the alarm device. In the present embodiment, the first predetermined alarm setting as indicated by box 156 includes the following states of the different indicators/actuators: buzzer = off; vibration = off; light = green LED blinking, red LED off. In addition, the accelerometer is powered down while the wireless Bluetooth receiver is powered on.

The alarm configurator proceeds to step 108 and checks whether the Bluetooth connection or link to the smartphone is in an active state or a disconnected state. If the connection state is connected or coupled, the alarm configurator reverts to step 104 and retains the first predetermined alarm setting. On the other hand, if the connection state is disconnected, the portable alarm device has lost in connection to the master device (smartphone) and in response to this situation the alarm configurator proceeds to step 1 10 wherein the alarm setting is switched from the first predetermined alarm setting to a third predetermined alarm setting. The third alarm setting indicates to the user that a potentially unsafe situation has arisen. This can for example be signalled or notified by adapting the alarm configurator to start flashing the red LED and turn off the green LED that was active in the first alarm setting.

However, since the zone data in the portable alarm device indicates that the system is located within the safe zone, the alarm setting is adapted to avoid an unnecessary obtrusive alarm signal disturbing the household. The reason for the disconnected state of the Bluetooth link may be an unremarkable event or situation such as a discharged battery of the smartphone or the portable alarm device being temporarily out-of-range of the smartphone. In the present embodiment, the third predetermined alarm setting the wireless connection is lost but the last message to the hippih product was that the Master Device is in safe Zone. The hippih product turns on the ac- celerometer to monitor new movements. The third predetermined alarm setting accordingly includes the following states of the different indicators/actuators: buzzer = off; vibration = off; light = green LED off, red LED blinking. In addition, the accel- erometer is powered on and the wireless Bluetooth transceiver is powered on as indicated by box 160. The wireless Bluetooth transceiver polls the smartphone at predetermined time intervals for example every second minute through the Bluetooth link seeking to re-established the connected and paired state of the devices. A particularly useful feature of the present embodiment is that the accelerometer is active in the disconnected state of the portable alarm device and smartphone such that motion of the portable alarm device can be detected by the processor and/or alarm configurator in this situation. In the present embodiment, the alarm configurator proceeds initially to step 1 12 where the connection state of the Bluetooth link is checked. If the Bluetooth link is re-established, for example because the

smartphone has been charged and activated or returned into range, the alarm configurator returns to step 104 and switches to its accompanying (first) alarm setting. On the other hand, if the Bluetooth link remains disconnected, the alarm configurator proceeds to step 1 14 and monitors a motion signal provided by the accelerometer. If no motion is indicated, the alarm configurator returns to step 1 10 and maintain the third predetermined alarm setting.

On the other hand, if the motion signal in step 1 14 indicates motion of the portable alarm device the alarm configurator proceeds to step 1 16 and changes the alarm setting from the third predetermined alarm setting to a fourth predetermined alarm setting as indicated in box 164. The fourth predetermined alarm setting produces a readily detectable level of vibration and/or sound and/or light from the respective indicators such that the user receives an unmistakable notification of a potentially unsafe situation where the portable alarm device is about to be moved out of the safe zone. This feature is highly useful to clearly notify the user of a left behind smartphone for example when leaving home for work Monday morning forgetting his discharged mobile terminal at home. On the other hand, the above discussed relatively unobtrusive alarm setting can be selected as long as the smartphone remains stationary despite the disconnected state. Hence, annoying false alarm indications can be eliminated when the user is at home while a distinct alarm notification nevertheless alerts the user if he or she leaves the home, or other safe geographical zone, without the disconnected smartphone. In the present embodiment, the fourth predetermined alarm setting includes a notification alert to the user that the hippih product is moved to inform the user it is likely that the user is now leaving the Safe Zone without his/hers Master Device. The fourth predetermined alarm setting includes the following states of the different indicators/actuators: buzzer = on; vibration = on; light = green LED off, red LED blinking. In addition, the accelerometer is maintained in powered on state and the wireless Bluetooth transceiver is powered on. The wireless Bluetooth transceiver polls the smartphone at predetermined time intervals for example every second minute through the Bluetooth link seeking to reestablish the connected and paired state of the devices. The skilled person will notice that the above-mentioned indications by the respective indicators in connection with fourth predetermined alarm setting may change over time. The buzzer and/or vibrator may be turned off after respective predetermined time intervals such as 2 or 5 minutes. In a preferred embodiment, the portable alarm device furthermore includes a user operable button that manually turns off or mutes one or more of the individual indicators of the alarm indicator. After step 1 16, the alarm configurator proceeds to step 1 18 the connection state of the Bluetooth link is checked once again. If the Bluetooth link turns out to have been re-established, for example because the smartphone has been charged and activated or returned into range, the alarm configurator returns to step 104 and switches to the accompanying (first) alarm setting indicating to the user that normal operation in the safe zone has been resumed. The Bluetooth link may be re-established by the user returning to the home and turns on/charges the smartphone which leads to an automatic connection to the paired portable alarm device. On the other hand, if the Bluetooth link remains disconnected, the alarm configurator proceeds to step 1 14 and monitors the motion signal, and if motion continues, proceeds to step 1 16 retaining the fourth alarm setting. On other hand if the motion is interrupted, the alarm configurator proceeds to step 1 10 with the accompanying alarm setting described above.

Claims

1. A portable alarm system comprising a mobile terminal and an associated portable alarm device;

the mobile terminal comprising:

a processor,

a first wireless transceiver,

a portable alarm device comprising:

a second wireless transceiver,

wherein the alarm setting selected by the alarm configurator is based on the zone data.

2. A portable alarm system according to claim 1 , wherein the portable alarm device comprises:

a second geographical location detector configured to determine the current geographical location of portable alarm device, a second zone detector configured to comparing the current geographical location of the portable alarm device to the number of predetermined geographical zones to determine and transmit the current geographical zone of the portable alarm device to the alarm configurator.

3. A portable alarm system according to claim 1 , wherein the portable alarm device comprises:

4. A portable alarm system according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the geographical zone data comprises a first predetermined geographical zone and a second predetermined geographical zone;

wherein the alarm configurator of the portable alarm device is configured to:

- select a first alarm setting in response to determining the current geographical zone of the portable alarm device as the first predetermined geographical zone.

- select a second alarm setting in response to determining the current geographical zone of the portable alarm device as the second predetermined geographical zone.

5. A portable alarm system according to claim 5, wherein the first predetermined geographical zone comprises a home address or workplace of a user of the alarm system.

6. A portable alarm system according to claim 4, wherein the first predetermined geographical zone has an area between 100 and 10.000 m² such as a substantially circular area with a zone diameter between 10 and 200 meters, preferably between 25 and 125 meters.

7. A portable alarm system according to any of claims 4-6, wherein the alarm configurator is responsive to a connection state between the portable alarm device and the mobile terminal through the paired wireless connection.

8. A portable alarm system according to claim 7, wherein the portable alarm device comprises a motion detector, such as an accelerometer or gyroscope, operatively coupled to the alarm configurator;

the alarm configurator being configured to change a current alarm setting in response to a motion signal supplied by the motion detector.

9. A portable alarm system according to claim 8, wherein the alarm configurator of the portable alarm device is configured to:

c) if the connection state is uncoupled, change the alarm setting from the first prede- termined alarm setting to a third predetermined alarm setting,

d) detecting the motion signal,

e) if no motion is indicated, maintain the third predetermined alarm setting (no motion without BT-link),

f) in response to detection of motion, change the alarm setting from the third prede- termined alarm setting to a fourth predetermined alarm setting (motion without BT- link).

10. A portable alarm system according to claim 9, wherein the alarm configurator of the portable alarm device is further configured to:

g) subsequent to step b) return to step a) if the connection state is coupled.

1 1. A portable alarm system according to claim 9, wherein the alarm configurator of the portable alarm device is further configured to:

h) outside the first predetermined geographical zone, determining the connection state between the portable alarm device and the mobile terminal,

i) if the connection state is unconnected, change the current alarm setting to a fifth predetermined alarm setting (outside safe zone without BT-link).

12. A portable alarm system according to any of claims 9-1 1 , wherein the third predetermined alarm setting comprises exclusively flashing a visible light device of the alarm indicator.

13. A portable alarm system according to any of claims 9-12, wherein the fourth predetermined alarm setting comprises actuating at least one of a vibrator and a speaker of the alarm indicator.

14. A portable alarm system according to any of claims 4-7, wherein the second predetermined geographical zone comprises all geographical locations situated outside the first predetermined geographical zone.

15. A portable alarm system according to any of the preceding claims, further comprising:

a distance detector configured to compute a distance estimate indicating a physical distance or separation between the portable alarm device and the mobile terminal; wherein the alarm configurator is responsive to the distance estimate.

16. A portable alarm system according to claim 9, wherein the alarm configurator is configured to activate the alarm indicator if a current distance estimate exceeds a predetermined distance threshold.

17. A portable alarm system according to claim 16, wherein the distance detector comprises the first and second wireless transceivers and a predetermined charac- teristic of a radio frequency signal transmitted though the paired wireless connection.

18. A portable alarm system according to claim 17, wherein the predetermined characteristic of the radio frequency signal comprises a received signal strength indicator (RSSI).

19. A portable alarm system according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the first geographical location detector, and optionally the second geographical location detector, comprises at least one of: {a GPS receiver, a transceiver for wireless local area network, a cellular network transceiver}, etc. for detection of the current geographical location.

20. A portable alarm system according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the alarm indicator comprises one or more indicators selected from a group of: {speaker for audible sound, vibrator, visible light}.

21. A portable alarm system according to any of the preceding claims, wherein each of the first and second wireless transceivers comprises one of: an IEEE 802.1 1 compatible transceiver (Wi-Fi), Bluetooth compatible transceiver, etc.

22. A portable alarm system according to claim 21 , wherein each of the first and second wireless transceivers comprises Bluetooth transceivers compatible with an official Bluetooth standard(s), as adopted by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, such as Bluetooth standard versions 2.0, 2.1 , 3.0, 3.0+HS and 4.0.

23. A portable alarm system for a mobile terminal according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the processor of the mobile terminal comprises a software programmable microprocessor controlled by executable program instructions or exe- cutable code stored in the memory device; wherein:

the geographical location detector comprises a first set of the executable program instructions,

the zone detector comprises a second set of the executable program instructions, the command communicator comprises a third set of the executable program in- structions.

24. A portable alarm system for a mobile terminal according to claim 23, wherein the executable program instructions or executable code stored in the memory device further comprises a fourth set of executable program instructions when executed causing the software programmable microprocessor to:

generating and presenting a graphical user interface on a display of the mobile terminal, said graphical user interface comprising virtual select buttons and/or data entry boxes for entry and/or selection of the geographical zone data defining the number of predetermined geographical zones.

25. A portable alarm system for a mobile terminal according to claim 24, wherein the fourth set of executable program instructions comprises further executable instructions which when executed causes the software programmable microprocessor to: generating virtual select buttons and/or data entry boxes, on the graphical user interface, for user entry and/or selection of the alarm settings of the portable alarm device .

26. A portable alarm system for a mobile terminal according to claim 16 and 25, wherein the fourth set of executable program instructions comprises further executable instructions which when executed causes the software programmable microprocessor to:

generating virtual select button and/or data entry box, on the graphical user interface, for user entry and/or selection of the predetermined distance threshold of the portable alarm device .

27. A portable alarm device comprising:

a wireless transceiver,

a processor for receipt and storage, in a memory device of the portable alarm de- vice, of zone data received through the wireless transceiver from a mobile terminal associated with the portable alarm device,

28. A portable alarm device according to claim 27, wherein the alarm configurator is responsive to a connection state between the portable alarm device and the mobile terminal through a paired wireless connection.

29. A portable alarm device according to claim 27, further comprising a motion detector, such as an accelerometer or gyroscope, operatively coupled to the alarm configurator;

the alarm configurator being configured to change a current alarm setting in re- sponse to a motion signal supplied by the motion detector.

30. A portable alarm device according to claim 27, further comprising:

zone data indicating the number of predetermined geographical zones in the memory device

a geographical location detector configured to determine a current geographical location of portable alarm device,

a zone detector configured to comparing the current geographical location of the portable alarm device to the number of predetermined geographical zones to determine the current geographical zone of the portable alarm device and transmit the current geographical zone to the alarm configurator.