Systems and methods for notifying users of emergency impact zones

• US 10,027,792 B1
• Filed: 06/12/2017
• Issued: 07/17/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/12/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Juvare LLC
• Original Assignee: Robert J. Sweeney
• Inventors: Sweeney, Robert J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, David Q
• Application Number:
  US15/620,425
• Time in Patent Office: 400 Days
• Field of Search: 4554042, 455 301, 379 45, 707722, 348143, 34053913
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72424 with manual activation of emergency-service functions
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

An emergency notification (EN) computing device includes at least one processor and a memory in communication with the processor. The processor is programmed to receive, from a user device, an emergency report that identifies an emergency situation and is associated with a report location, receive user input defining an impact zone within a geographical region based on the report location and the emergency situation, collect location data from a plurality of mobile user devices associated with a plurality of bystanders, detect a first bystander located within the impact zone based on the location data, and automatically notify the first bystander of the emergency situation.

Claims

1. An emergency notification (EN) computing device comprising at least one processor and a memory in communication with said at least one processor, wherein said at least one processor is programmed to:

define a plurality of impact zones within a geographical region prior to receiving an emergency report, wherein each of the plurality of impact zones is identified as inactive;

receive, from a user device, the emergency report identifying an emergency situation, wherein the emergency report is associated with a report location;

receive user input selecting at least one of the plurality of impact zones within the geographical region based on the report location and the emergency situation;

activate the at least one selected impact zone;

collect location data from a plurality of mobile user devices carried or worn by a plurality of bystanders;

detect a first bystander of the plurality of bystanders located within the impact zone based on the location data; and

automatically trigger the mobile user device of the first bystander to notify the first bystander of the emergency situation.

2. The EN computing device in accordance with claim 1, wherein the location data identifies a first location of the first bystander, and said at least one processor is further programmed to:

collect additional location data for the first bystander that identifies a second location of the first bystander from a first user device of the plurality of mobile user devices after the location data is collected, wherein the first user device transmits the additional location data when a distance between the first location and the second location exceeds a predetermined distance threshold; and

determine whether the first bystander is within the impact zone based upon the second location.

3. The EN computing device in accordance with claim 1 further comprising an interface communicatively coupled to said at least one processor, said interface configured to display the emergency situation and locations of the plurality of bystanders, wherein said at least one processor is further programmed to update said interface in response to updates to at least one of the report location and the location data.

4. The EN computing device in accordance with claim 3, wherein said interface is configured to:

display the geographical region;

receive the user input defining the impact zone; and

display the impact zone within the geographical region.

5. The EN computing device in accordance with claim 1, wherein the user input includes at least three geographical coordinate points, wherein said at least one processor is further programmed to define the impact zone based on the at least three geographical coordinate points.

6. The EN computing device in accordance with claim 1, wherein the report location is a last known location of the user device based on previously collected location data.

7. The EN computing device in accordance with claim 1, wherein said at least one processor is further programmed to:

define a warning zone around a boundary of the impact zone;

detect that a second bystander of the plurality of bystanders is located within the warning zone based on the location data; and

notify the second bystander of the emergency situation in response to the detection.

8. The EN computing device in accordance with claim 7, wherein said at least one processor is further programmed to:

receive a user selection of at least one of a center location and a radius size for the warning zone; and

define the warning zone based on the user selection.

9. The EN computing device in accordance with claim 1, wherein said at least one processor is further programmed to remove the impact zone after a predetermined period of time.

10. A method for notifying bystanders of an emergency situation, said method comprising:

defining a plurality of impact zones within a geographical region prior to receiving an emergency report, wherein each of plurality of impact zones is identified as inactive;

receiving, by an emergency notification (EN) computing device, the emergency report from a user device, wherein the emergency report identifies an emergency situation and is associated with a report location;

receiving user input selecting or defining at least one of the impact zones within the geographical region based on the report location and the emergency situation;

activating the at least one selected impact zone; and

collecting, by the EN computing device, location data from a plurality of mobile user devices carried or worn by the plurality of bystanders;

detecting a first bystander of the plurality of bystanders located within the impact zone based on the location data; and

automatically notifying, by triggering the mobile user device of the first bystander, the first bystander of the emergency situation.

11. The method in accordance with claim 10, wherein the location data identifies a first location of the first bystander, and said method further comprises:

collecting additional location data for the first bystander that identifies a second location of the first bystander from a first user device of the plurality of mobile user devices after the location data is collected, wherein the first user device transmits the additional location data when a distance between the first location and the second location exceeds a predetermined distance threshold; and

determining, by the EN computing device, whether the first bystander is within the impact zone based upon the second location.

12. The method in accordance with claim 10, wherein receiving the user input further comprises:

receiving at least three geographical coordinate points; and

defining, by the EN computing device, the impact zone based on the at least three geographical coordinate points.

13. The method in accordance with claim 12, wherein defining the impact zone further comprises establishing boundaries of the impact zone between each coordinate point of the at least three geographical coordinate points.

14. The method in accordance with claim 10 further comprising:

defining, by the EN computing device, a warning zone around a boundary of the impact zone;

detecting that a second bystander of the plurality of bystanders is located within the warning zone based on the location data; and

notifying the second bystander of the emergency situation in response to the detection.

15. The method in accordance with claim 14, wherein defining the warning zone further comprises:

receiving a user selection of at least one of a center location and a radius size for the warning zone; and

defining the warning zone based on the user selection.

16. The method in accordance with claim 10 further comprising removing the impact zone after a predetermined period of time.

17. At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon, wherein when executed by at least one processor, the computer-executable instructions cause the at least one processor to:

define a plurality of impact zones within a geographical region prior to receiving an emergency report, wherein each of the plurality of impact zones is identified as inactive;

receive, from a user device, the emergency report identifying an emergency situation, wherein the emergency report is associated with a report location;

receive user input selecting or defining at least one of the impact zones within the geographical region based on the report location and the emergency situation;

activate the at least one selected impact zone;

collect location data from a plurality of mobile user devices carried or worn by a plurality of bystanders;

detect a first bystander of the plurality of bystanders located within the impact zone based on the location data; and

automatically trigger the mobile user device of the first bystander to notify the first bystander of the emergency situation.

18. The computer-readable storage media in accordance with claim 17, wherein the user input includes at least three geographical coordinate points, wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the at least one processor to define the impact zone based on the at least three geographical coordinate points.

19. The computer-readable storage media in accordance with claim 17, wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the at least one processor to:

define a warning zone around a boundary of the impact zone;

detect that a second bystander of the plurality of bystanders is located within the warning zone based on the location data; and

notify the second bystander of the emergency situation in response to the detection.

20. An emergency notification (EN) computing device comprising at least one processor in communication with at least on memory device, wherein the at least one processor is programmed to:

define a plurality of impact zones within a geographical region prior to receiving an emergency report, wherein each of the plurality of impact zones is identified as inactive;

receive, from a user device, the emergency report identifying an emergency situation, wherein the emergency report is associated with a report location within the geographic region;

receive user input selecting at least one impact zone of the plurality of impact zones based on the report location and the emergency situation;

activate the at least one impact zone;

collect location data from a plurality of mobile user devices;

determine at least one mobile user device of the plurality of mobile user devices located in the at least one impact zone based on the location data; and

transmit a notification to the at least one mobile user device, wherein the notification includes instructions to a user associated with the at least one mobile user device based on the emergency report.

21. The EN computing device in accordance with claim 20, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed:

determine that an additional mobile user device of the plurality of mobile user devices is not located in the at least one impact zone;

collect additional location data from the additional mobile user device;

determine that the additional mobile user device is currently located in the at least one impact zone; and

transmit the notification to the additional mobile user device.