Handheld device for elderly people

• US 10,049,077 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2006
• Issued: 08/14/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Li, Ying, Wen, Yutian, Huang, Bo
• Primary Examiner(s): Chea, Philip
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ma, Wing
• Application Number:
  US11/478,460
• Publication Number:
  US 20080005301A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,428 Days
• Field of Search: 709217, 4554041, 4554042, 455411, 379 45
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/16 Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs coordinating program control therefor G06F9/52; in regulating and control system G05B
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72424 with manual activation of emergency-service functions
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72475 specially adapted for disabled users

Abstract

The embodiments of the invention relate to a mobile computing device, such as a cell phone or “handheld” with expanded features and capabilities for elderly persons, children, and others with either health-related issues or the need to monitoring by friends, family members, healthcare personnel, or others. Illustratively, the invention is a middleware application for a handheld/cellular device, that may be remotely configurable, and interacts with network service providers to provide a single-button solution for elderly people requiring assistance and for the notification of multiple parties regarding the nature of the required assistance.

Claims

1. A handheld device comprising:

a central processing unit;

an operating system;

a plurality of input keys; and

a middleware application, wherein the middleware application is configured to support a plurality of services that are arranged to interact with network service providers, the plurality of services including an emergency locator service, a digital health monitoring service, a name card exchange service, a remote configuration service and a housekeeping and maintenance service,

wherein the middleware application is operable to initiate at least the emergency locator service in an active mode and a passive mode, wherein in the active mode, the emergency locator service is initiated in response to a single one of the plurality of keys being pressed by the user, and in the passive mode, the emergency locator service is initiated by a remote user by sending a text message to the handheld device,

wherein, upon initiation, the emergency locator service is configured to initiate communication with an emergency locator service provider, determine, based on information received from the emergency locator service provider, a location of the handheld device and locations of one or more emergency service centers nearest to the handheld device, and notify one or more recipients listed in a list of receipts stored in a memory of the device as to the location of the device and the determined one or more emergency service center, and

wherein the housekeeping and maintenance service is configured to receive a request for housekeeping maintenance services, and in response to receipt of the request, automatically transmit an address of the user, billing information of the user, and the request to a housekeeping maintenance service provider.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the emergency locator service is configured to determine a geographic location of the handheld device using a global positioning system.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the middleware application is configured to create a message that includes geographic location of the handheld device.

4. The device of claim 3, wherein the middleware application is configured to send the message to the one or more recipients via a network service provider.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the middleware application is configured to receive a request from a remote user to provide a geographic location of the handheld device and to provide a geographic location of the handheld device to the remote user.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the middleware application is configured to create a message including the geographic location of the handheld device and send the message to a. remote user using SMS.

7. The device of claim 1, further comprising a health data acquisition device, the health data acquisition device comprising a wired health data acquisition device ora wireless health data acquisition device.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein the health data acquisition device is a heart rate monitor or blood pressure monitor.

9. The device of claim 7, wherein the middleware application is configured to transmit data received from the health data acquisition device to a network service provider in real time.

10. The device of claim 7, wherein the middleware application is configured to identify a health state of a user of the handheld device.

11. The device of claim 10, wherein the middleware application is configured to create and send a message notifying one or more predefined parties of the health state of the user of the handheld device.

12. The device of claim 7, wherein the middleware application is configured to lock a screen display of the handheld device upon receipt of an instruction received via a network service provider.

13. The device of claim 1 wherein the middleware application is configured to receive and install configuration data for the handheld device via a network service provider.

14. The device of claim 1, wherein the middleware application is configured to transmit and receive name card data.

15. The device of claim 14, wherein the device is configured to transmit and recieve data wirelessly.

16. The device of claim 15, wherein data is transmitted and received using the Bluetooth wireless data protocol.

26. The device of claim 1, wherein the remote configuration services further include features selected from the group consisting of:

setting ring tones, displaying wallpapers, and managing accounts with service providers and configuring emergency or secondary contact information.

17. A handheld device, comprising,

a central processing unit;

an operating system running on the central processing unit;

a keypad in electronic communication with the operating system; and

a middleware application running on the operating system, wherein the middleware application is configured to support a plurality of services that are arranged to interact with service providers, wherein the plurality of services are configured to communicate with each other, the services including an emergency locator service, a digital health monitoring service, a name card exchange service, a remote configuration service and a housekeeping and maintenance service,

wherein the middleware application is operable to initiate at least the emergency locator service in an active mode and a passive mode, wherein in the active mode, the emergency locator service is initiated in response to a single one of the plurality of keys being pressed by the user, and in the passive mode, the emergency locator service is initiated by a remote user by sending a text message to the handheld device,

wherein, upon initiation, the emergency locator service is configured to initiate communication with an emergency locator service provider, determine, based on information received from the emergency locator service provider, a location of the handheld device and locations of one or more emergency service centers nearest to the handheld device, and notify one or more recipients listed in a list of receipts stored in a memory of the device as to the location of the device and the determined one or more emergency service centers when a single key of the keypad is pressed, and

wherein the housekeeping and maintenance service is configured to receive a request for housekeeping maintenance services, and in response to receipt of the request, automatically transmit an address of the user, billing information of the user, and the request to a housekeeping maintenance service provider.

18. The device of claim 17, wherein the middleware application is configured to permit communication of contact or address information between applications.

27. The device of claim 17, wherein the remote configuration services further include features selected from the group consisting of setting ring tones, displaying wallpapers, and managing accounts with service providers and configuring emergency or secondary contact information.

19. Anon-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing a set of instructions for a computing device having a user interface comprising a keypad and a screen display, the set of instructions comprising:

recognizing an input from the keypad;

determining a service associated with the input, the services including an emergency locator service, a digital health monitoring service, a name card exchange service, a remote configuration service and a housekeeping and maintenance service, wherein the housekeeping and maintenance service is configured to receive a request for housekeeping maintenance services, and in response to receipt of the request, automatically transmit an address of the user, billing information of the user, and the request to a housekeeping maintenance service provider; and

initiating at least the emergency locator service, wherein the emergency locator service is operable in an active mode and a passive mode, wherein in the active mode, the emergency locator service is initiated responsive to a single key being pressed on the keypad, and in the using a passive mode, the emergency locator service is initiated by a remote user by sending a text message to the computing device,

wherein, responsive to said tiling, the emergency locator service performs operations comprising;

initiating communication with an emergency locator service provider;

determining, based on information received from the emergency locator service provider, a geographic location of the computing device and locations of one or more emergency service centers nearest to the computing device;

generating a message including the determined geographic location of the computing device and the determined locations of the one or more emergency service centers nearest to the computing device;

querying a database to identify at least one message recipient;

transmitting the message to the at least one message recipient via a network service provider; and

notifying one or more recipients listed in a list of receipts stored in the storage medium of the device as to the location of the device and the determined one or more emergency service centers when the single key on the keypad is pressed.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the storage medium comprises a non-volatile memory.

21. The computer readable storage medium of claim 19 comprising acquiring health data from a probe in electronic communication with the computing device.

22. The computer readable storage medium of claim 19 comprising transmitting health data in real time.

23. The computer readable storage medium of claim 19 comprising displaying health data on the display screen in real time.

24. The computer readable storage medium of claim 21 comprising analyzing the health data and determining a health status of a user of the computing device.

25. The computer readable storage medium of claim 19 herein the message includes health data.

28. A handheld device comprising:

a central processing unit;

an operating system;

a plurality of input keys; and

a middleware application, wherein the middleware application is configured to support a plurality of services that are arranged to interact with network service providers, the plurality of services including an emergency locator service, a digital health monitoring service, a name card exchange service, a remote configuration service and a housekeeping and maintenance service, wherein the middleware application is configured to initiate at least the emergency locator service based on a passive mode, wherein the emergency locator service is initiated by a remote user by sending a text message to the handheld device,

wherein upon activation of the passive mode, at least the emergency locator service requests information related to the handheld device from an associated one of the network service providers, and provides the requested information to a remote user, and

based on a determination that a condition related to the requested information is met, the middleware application receives a request from the remote user to operate in an active mode, wherein, in the active mode;

the emergency locator service initiates communication with an emergency locator service provider to determine, based on information received from the emergency locator service provider, a location of the handheld device and locations of one or more emergency service centers nearest to the handheld device, and notify one or more recipients listed in a list of receipts stored in a memory of the device as to the location of the device and the determined one or more emergency service centers when a single key is pressed, and

wherein the housekeeping and maintenance service is configured to receive a request for housekeeping maintenance services, and in response to receipt of the request, automatically transmit an address of the user, billing information of the user, and the request to a housekeeping maintenance service provider.

29. The device of claim 28, wherein the requested information related to the handheld device includes a geographic location of the handheld device.

30. The device of claim 29, wherein the associated one of the one or more network service providers utilizes a global positioning system to determine the geographic location of the handheld device.