Positional awareness and locating system for cognitively impaired individuals and their caregivers

• US 10,044,847 B2
• Filed: 07/14/2015
• Issued: 08/07/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/22/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DBI Technologies, LLC
• Original Assignee: Lawrence P. Levitt
• Inventors: Economy, Theodore F., Englesson, II, John George
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Lee
• Application Number:
  US15/301,739
• Publication Number:
  US 20170142246A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,120 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561-4563
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/629 to features or functions of an application
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2111 Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/385 Transceivers carried on the body, e.g. in helmets
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/06 at the transmitting station
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724094 Interfacing with a device worn on the user's body to provide access to telephonic functionalities, e.g. accepting a call, reading or composing a message
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724095 Worn on the wrist, hand or arm
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72475 specially adapted for disabled users
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/022 with dynamic range variability
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

An apparatus and system for minimizing the risk that a cognitively impaired individual will wander or elope, and for locating the individual in case he or she nonetheless successfully wanders or elopes. The system employs a wearable appliance which the cognitively impaired individual should not be able to remove easily. The system also employs a smartphone having an application for use by a care giver. A website and cloud server are employed for communication of data from the wearable appliance to the smartphone and from the smartphone to the website. In an optional embodiment, the smartphone can initiate notifications to other smartphones held by other individuals who can assist in the search.

Claims

1. A system for minimizing the risk that a cognitively impaired individual will wander or elope and for locating the individual in case he or she successfully wanders or elopes, the system comprising:

a wearable appliance, securable to the cognitively impaired individual, electronically tethered to a primary smartphone of a caregiver of the cognitively impaired individual via a plurality of electronic tethers comprising a first electronic tether limited by a first range, a second electronic tether limited by a second range and a third electronic tether limited by a third range, wherein the third range is greater than the first range and the second range, the second range is greater than the first range, Bluetooth connectivity establishes the first electronic tether, Wi-Fi connectivity establishes the second electronic tether and cellular connectivity establishes the third electronic tether,

wherein

a break in the first electronic tether causes the wearable appliance to communicate with a website by means of the Wi-Fi connectivity or the cellular connectivity thereby transmitting location data indicative of the present location of the wearable application to the website such that the transmitted location data is received by the website, the website is configured to then push the received location data to the primary smartphone by means of one or more push notifications, the pushed location data being integrated into a moving map application programming interface display for real-time display, via the primary smartphone, of the present location of the wearable appliance,

the break in the first electronic tether also causes the primary smartphone to establish a link with the website and pull location data indicative of the present location of the wearable appliance and, optionally, the primary smartphone is configured to initiate push notifications to one or more secondary smartphones that are usable to assist in locating the wearable appliance,

if the wearable appliance is unable to connect to a known Wi-Fi Access Point, then the wearable appliance is configured to switch to Access Point Mode thereby establishing the second electronic tether and functioning as a locating beacon to assist in acquisition of the present location of the wearable appliance, and, when the Wi-Fi connectivity is not available, the wearable appliance relies on the cellular connectivity for Internet connectivity to communicate with the website, and

the website employs cloud server architecture and is configured to function as intelligence for dynamic usage of the received location data such that processing duties executed by the wearable appliance and the primary smartphone are minimized and battery power consumption by the wearable appliance and the primary smartphone is minimized.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the website is configured to allow the caregiver to sign up and register the wearable appliance with the website, set up a secure profile of the cognitively impaired individual and set up a network of individuals that assist the caregiver in locating at least one selected from the wearable appliance and the cognitively impaired individual.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the secure profile comprises at least one selected from photographs of the cognitively impaired individual, at least one medical condition of the cognitively impaired individual and a medical history of the cognitively impaired individual.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the website is configured to provide access to instantaneous and historical locations of the primary smartphone and/or the wearable appliance, battery life of the primary smartphone and/or the wearable appliance, communication capabilities of the primary smartphone and/or the wearable appliance and/or other system status values.

5. A system for minimizing the risk that a cognitively impaired individual will wander or elope and for locating the individual in case he or she successfully wanders or elopes, the system comprising:

a wearable appliance, securable to the cognitively impaired individual, electronically tethered to a primary smartphone of a caregiver of the cognitively impaired individual via an electronic tether by means of received signal strength indicator values for Bluetooth as a primary short range tether and Wi-Fi or cellular data as a secondary mid-range tether,

wherein

a break in the electronic tether causes the wearable appliance to communicate with a website by means of Wi-Fi connectivity or cellular data web service calls thereby transmitting location data indicative of the present location of the wearable application to the website such that the transmitted location data is received by the website, the website is configured to then push the received location data to the primary smartphone by means of one or more push notifications, the pushed location data being integrated into a moving map application programming interface display for real-time display, via the primary smartphone, of the present location of the wearable appliance,

the break in the electronic tether also causes the primary caregiver'"'"'s smartphone to establish a link with the website and pull location data indicative of the present location of the wearable appliance and, optionally, the primary smartphone is configured to initiate push notifications to one or more secondary smartphones that are usable to assist in locating the wearable appliance,

if the wearable appliance is unable to connect to a known Wi-Fi Access Point, then the wearable appliance is configured to switch to Access Point Mode thereby establishing a secondary medium range electronic tether and functioning as a locating beacon to assist in acquisition of the present location of the wearable appliance, and

the website employs cloud server architecture and is configured to function as intelligence for dynamic usage of the received location data such that processing duties executed by the wearable appliance and the primary smartphone are minimized and battery power consumption by the wearable appliance and the primary smartphone is minimized, and

further wherein

a distance threshold value is based on a location and a time and is included in a setup of the electronic tether, and

the electronic tether employs a plurality of RF technologies to determine if the electronically tethered wearable appliance and primary smartphone maintain the distance threshold value.

6. A method comprising:

electrically tethering a wearable appliance, securable to the cognitively impaired individual, to a primary smartphone of a caregiver of the cognitively impaired individual via a plurality of electronic tethers by means of received signal strength indicator values for Bluetooth as a primary short range electronic tether and WiFi as a secondary mid-range electronic tether;

communicating, via the wearable appliance when a break in the primary short range electronic tether occurs, with a website by means of Wi-Fi connectivity or cellular connectivity thereby transmitting location data indicative of the present location of the wearable application to the website such that the transmitted location data is received by the website;

pushing, via the website, the received location data to the primary smartphone by means of one or more push notifications;

integrating the pushed location data into a moving map application programming interface display for real-time display, via the primary smartphone, of the present location of the wearable appliance;

establishing a link between the website and the primary smartphone, when the break in the primary short range electronic tether occurs, and pulling the location data indicative of the present location of the wearable appliance from the website and, optionally, initiating, via the primary smartphone, push notifications to one or more secondary smartphones that are usable to assist in locating the wearable appliance;

switching the wearable appliance to Access Point Mode when the wearable appliance is unable to connect to a known Wi-Fi Access Point thereby establishing the secondary medium range electronic tether and functioning as a locating beacon to assist in acquisition of the present location of the wearable appliance; and

determining if the electronically tethered wearable appliance and primary smartphone maintain a distance threshold value via the plurality of electronic tethers, wherein the distance threshold value is based on a location and a time and is included in a setup of the electronic tether, or

establishing the primary short range electronic tether limited by a first range via Bluetooth connectivity, the secondary medium range electronic tether limited by a second range via Wi-Fi connectivity and a tertiary long range electronic tether limited by a third range via cellular connectivity, wherein the third range is greater than the first and second ranges and the second range is greater than the first range.