Safety communicator—convergence of body vitals and toxic gas parameters into smartphone app to enhance safety monitoring

• US 10,055,971 B2
• Filed: 11/27/2015
• Issued: 08/21/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: M R, Gowrishankar, Tyagaraj, Anand, Hsi, Peter, Gulaguli, Shashikant, Liu, James, Gonia, Patrick, Shah, Saurabh, Sharma, Praveen, Kumar, Tarun
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, LAURA N
• Application Number:
  US15/532,626
• Publication Number:
  US 20170330444A1
• Time in Patent Office: 998 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/265 Personal security, identity or safety
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/12 responsive to undesired emission of substances, e.g. pollution alarms
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/182 Level alarms, e.g. alarms responsive to variables exceeding a threshold
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/016 Personal emergency signalling and security systems emergency non-personal manually actuated alarm activators G08B25/12
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/10 using wireless transmission systems G08B25/009 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation

Abstract

Embodiments relate generally to systems and methods for communication between one or more personal protection equipment (PPE) devices, a mobile device, and a central monitoring station. Personnel may wear PPE devices for detection and communication. These portable devices may communicate wirelessly, over a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) network, via Bluetooth, or another wireless connection. Systems may include a smartphone application operable to receive and combine information from each of the PPE devices. The application may also display the information to the user. In some embodiments, the application may transfer the data to a cloud storage network via a cellular network. Additionally, the application may communicate the combined data from all of the PPE devices to the central monitoring station.

Claims

1. A method of combining data from multiple personal protection equipment (PPE) devices and communicating the data, wherein the method is completed by an application executed on a mobile device, the method comprising:

detecting, by the mobile device, one or more PPE device within a wireless communication range of the mobile device;

in response to detecting the one or more PPE device, pairing, by the mobile device, with the one or more PPE device;

receiving, by the mobile device, data read by the one or more PPE device, using wireless communication channels;

sending, by a device interface manager of the mobile device, data from the one or more PPE device to a user interface of the mobile device;

evaluating, by the mobile device, the data readings sent by the one or more PPE device;

in response to evaluating the data reading, transmitting, by the mobile device, the data to a central monitoring station;

in response to evaluating the data reading, sending, by at least one of the mobile device and the central monitoring station, the data to a cloud network;

determining that at least a portion of the data readings are within a preset limit;

in response to determining that at least a portion of the data readings are within the preset limit, displaying the data on the user interface;

determining that at least a portion of the data readings are above or below the preset limit;

in response to determining that at least a portion of the data readings are above or below the preset limit, reading out an alarm status, by the application; and

in response to reading out an alarm status by the application, alerting a user, via the user interface, of the alarm status;

wherein the application is configured to send a notification to one or more of the PPE devices when the mobile device is not communicating with the central monitoring station, wherein the PPE device activates communication between the PPE device and central monitoring station.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

determining, by a device event manager of the mobile device, that an alarm event has been received from at least one PPE device;

receiving, by the device interface manager, the alarm event information; and

sending, by the device interface manager, an update to the user interface containing the alarm event information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

detecting, by the mobile device, a second PPE device within a wireless communication range of the mobile device;

in response to detecting the second PPE device, pairing, by the mobile device, with the second PPE device;

receiving, by the mobile device, data read by the second PPE device, using wireless communication channels; and

sending, by the device interface manager of the mobile device, data from the second PPE device to the user interface of the mobile device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the data is read and received at preconfigured time intervals.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the data is read and received continually.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating data to a second user interface worn by the user.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating data from an audio message to a headset worn by the user.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

communicating with a user identifier;

receiving user identification data from the user identifier; and

associating PPE data received by the mobile device with the user identification data.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile device facilitates all communication between the PPE device(s) and the central monitoring station.

10. An application executed by a mobile device configured to:

detect one or more PPE device within a wireless communication range of the mobile device;

in response to detecting the one or more PPE device, pair with the one or more PPE device;

receive data from the one or more PPE device, wherein the one or more PPE device communicates wirelessly with the mobile device;

evaluate the data received from the one or more PPE device;

display the data received from the one or more PPE device on a user interface of the mobile device;

detect an alarm status from at least one PPE device;

in response to detecting the alarm status from at least one PPE device, displaying an alarm status on the user interface of the mobile device;

forward the data received from the one or more PPE device to a central monitoring station; and

forward the data received from the one or more PPE device to a cloud network;

wherein the application is configured to send a notification to one or more of the PPE devices when the mobile device is not communicating with the central monitoring station, wherein the PPE device activates communication between the PPE device and central monitoring station.

11. The application of claim 10, wherein the application is further configured to communicate data to a second user interface worn by a user.

12. The application of claim 10, wherein the application is further configured to communicate an audio message to a headset worn by a user.

13. The application of claim 10, wherein the application is further configured to:

communicate with a user identifier;

receive user identification data from the user identifier; and

associate PPE data received by the mobile device with the user identification data.

14. The application of claim 10, wherein the application is further configured to:

determine that an alarm event has been received from at least one PPE device;

receive the alarm event information; and

send an update to the user interface containing the alarm event information.

15. The application of claim 10, wherein the application is further configured to:

detect a second PPE device within a wireless communication range of the mobile device;

in response to detecting the second PPE device, pair with the second PPE device;

receive data read by the second PPE device, using wireless communication channels; and

display the data received from the second PPE device on the user interface of the mobile device.

16. A mobile device comprising:

a user interface;

a plurality of wireless communication elements;

a processor;

a memory;

an application stored in the memory and executed by the processor to;

detect one or more PPE device within a wireless communication range of the mobile device;

in response to detecting the one or more PPE device, pair with the one or more PPE device;

receive data from one or more PPE device, wherein the PPE device communicates wirelessly with the mobile device;

evaluate the data received from the one or more PPE device;

display the data received from the one or more PPE device on the user interface mobile device;

detect an alarm status from at least one PPE device;

in response to detecting the alarm status from at least one PPE device, displaying an alarm status on the user interface of the mobile device;

forward the data received from the one or more PPE device to a central monitoring station; and

forward the data received from the one of more PPE device to a cloud network;

wherein the application is configured to send a notification to one or more of the PPE devices when the mobile device is not communicating with the central monitoring station, wherein the PPE device activates communication between the PPE device and central monitoring station.

17. The mobile device of claim 16, wherein the mobile device facilitates all communication between the one or more PPE device and the central monitoring station.

18. The mobile device of claim 16, wherein the plurality of wireless communication elements comprises one or more of the following:

Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, near-field communication (NFC), radio frequency identification (RFID), radio, and cellular.

19. The mobile device of claim 16, wherein the application is further configured to combine at least a portion of the received data to generate a health status for the user.