System for providing personal security via event detection

Details System for providing personal security via event detection System for providing personal security via event detection

1999-07-06

2001-09-25

Hofsass, Jeffery (Department: 2736)

Communications: electrical

Condition responsive indicating system

With particular coupling link

C340S531000, C340S573300, C340S573100, C340S870030, C340S870030

Reexamination Certificate

active

06294993

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates in general to an apparatus, method, and data structure for providing personal security via event detection, including automatic generation of an emergency signal based on an emergency event. More particularly, the invention relates to an apparatus, method, and data structure for facilitating communications between an event-detecting device and an emergency services provider, and other various features.
A universal problem encountered by every individual on Earth at some point in his or her life is a personal distress situation. Personal distress situations can result from violent crimes, medical emergencies, or accidents—sport, automobile, work, etc. In many instances, there is no clear means of resolution for the victim—he or she is physically immobilized (such as with a heart attack) or circumstantially immobilized (such as with a robbery with a gun to the victim's head). Even if the victim has taken it upon him or herself to carry something for security purposes, e.g., cell phone, firearm, personal siren, the security product the victim has chosen is unlikely to be useful for the particular event. In these situations, help may never come, or it may arrive too late. In the United States alone, over 1.5 million deaths occur every year resulting from the three major categories of personal distress situations. It is believed that most of these deaths could have been prevented if appropriate help could have been summoned to the victim in a timely manner.
Numerous personal security aids are available, e.g., cell phones, guns, Mace, home security systems, bedside phone dialers, automobile assistance systems. However, without exception, each of the available products is limited by a common characteristic—the product does not provide automatic resolution in every situation. Many other limitations are inherent to the products depending on the type of product. For instance, a can of Mace may be a great way to stop a rapist in a parking lot, but it has no value to a heart attack victim in his office; a cell phone works well for calling an ambulance when a victim breaks a leg crossing an icy street in a city, but it probably cannot assist rescuers in locating a victim buried in an avalanche. Furthermore, each product differs in packaging, transportation medium, legality, and usefulness.
However, in general, each product is designed to resolve only a single type of unfavorable situation and is largely useless for other types. Moreover, each product has other inherent limitations posed by geography or sociopolitical factors. The following table characterizes the problems with the current solutions in three different types of unfavorable situations.
Medical
Violent Personal
Emergency
Crime
Accident
Firearm
No resolution.
Does not call for
No resolution.
help.
No idea of
location.
Not automatic.
Requires expert-
ise to operate
effectively.
May escalate
rether than
resolve.
Does not convey
anything about
victim's con-
dition.
Chemical Spray
No resolution.
Does not call for
No resolution.
help.
No idea of
location.
Not automatic.
May escalate
rather than
resolve.
Does not convey
anything about
victim's con-
dition.
Cell Phone
Does not work
Does not work
Does not work
everywhere.
everywhere.
everywhere.
May not convey
May not convey
May not con-
location.
location.
vey location.
Not automatic.
Not automatic.
Not automatic.
Does not convey
May escalate
Does not con-
anything about
rather than
vey anything
victim's
resolve.
about victim's
condition.
May be unsafe to
conditions.
use in this
situation.
Home Security
Only protects
Only protects
Only Protects
System
victim when
victim when
victim when
victim is home.
victim is home.
victim is home.
Automobile
No resolution.
Protects the car,
No resolution.
Security System
not the victim.
Panic feature only
alerts potential
help within
earshot.
No automatic
resolution.
Automobile
Only useful if
Does not work
Only useful if
Assistance
victim is in the
everywhere.
victim is in the
System (e.g.,
vehicle.
May not convey
vehicle.
OnStar)
Does not work
location.
Does not work
everywhere.
Not automatic.
everywhere.
May not convey
May not con-
location.
vey location.
Not automatic.
Not automatic.
Does not convey
Does not con-
anything about
vey anything
victim's
about victim's
condition.
condition.
Child Screamer
No resolution.
Only works if
No resolution.
Device
child is still in
range of parent's
device.
What is missing is a universally applicable personal security solution. Three important factors suggest that the time is right for such a universal security solution: (1) the maturation of the Baby Boomer generation in the United States and elsewhere and the physical insecurity that comes with aging; (2) the increasing susceptibility of global citizens to random violence and the public fear of experiencing such violence; and (3) the expanding interest in “image” sports and outdoor recreational activities like skiing, hiking, mountain climbing, and hang gliding.
The foregoing demonstrates that there is a need for an invention which is universally applicable in variety of distinct personal distress situations.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention satisfies the need and avoids the drawbacks of the prior art by providing an apparatus, method, and data structure for providing personal security via event detection. In one embodiment, personal security is provided by automatic generation of an emergency message in response to an emergency event. This emergency message may be then transmitted to an emergency services provider.
According to one aspect of the invention, an apparatus and method capable of automatically sensing a user's distress and distress type, identifying the user's spatial location, and communicating with local emergency management services to summon help to the victim are set forth. The apparatus and method may include the structure for and steps of sensing an emergency event, detecting a geographic location of the emergency event, generating an emergency message based on the emergency event and the geographic location, communicating the emergency message to an emergency services provider, and powering the requisite structures. The system may also contain the structure for and steps of providing a feedback signal to the user, allowing the user to manually generate an emergency message, and allowing transmission of the user's medical information, or any combination of these features. In addition, the emergency message may be generated in a variety of languages, and most preferably in the official language in the user's geographic location.
In another aspect of the invention, a system for providing personal security to an individual contains a computer-readable memory for storing data for access by an application program and includes a data structure stored in the computer-readable memory. The data structure may include information used by the application program and may contain an emergency event field having information associated with the presence or absence of an emergency event, a physiological feedback field, a distress rules processing field for processing the physiological feedback field, a geographic positioning field for identifying the location of the individual, and a distress message management field for generating an emergency message corresponding to an emergency event. The data structure may also contain a voice processing field for converting the emergency message into a voice message, a power management field for controlling power to the system, a heat flash indicator field for providing a feedback signal to the individual, a networking field for downloading updated information from an external computer, and a configuration update field authenticating the updated information.


REFERENCES:
patent: D. 357741 (1995-04-01), Magnus
patent: 3949388 (1976-04-01), Fuller
patent: 4952928 (1990-08-01), Carroll et al.
patent: 5228449 (1993-07-01), Christ et al.
patent: 5471983 (1995-12-01), Magnus
patent: 5528248 (1996-06-01), S

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