Method for operating an emergency call system and emergency call system

• US 10,182,333 B2
• Filed: 02/20/2018
• Issued: 01/15/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Milan Vasic
• Original Assignee: Milan Vasic
• Inventors: Vasic, Milan
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Ajit
• Application Number:
  US15/899,586
• Publication Number:
  US 20180192276A1
• Time in Patent Office: 329 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/001 Alarm cancelling procedures or alarm forwarding decisions, e.g. based on absence of alarm confirmation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• 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 call system and a method for operating the emergency call system are provided. The emergency call system includes a mobile device and receiving stations. The mobile device has a radio module to transmit an emergency call and each of the receiving stations is configured as a router and has an alarm device and a radio module to receive the emergency call. The emergency call is transmitted from the mobile device to a first receiving station to trigger the alarm signal and a position of the mobile device relative to the receiving stations is determined. Depending on the position, only one of the receiving stations is selected to trigger the alarm signal.

Claims

1. A method for operating an emergency call system having at least one mobile device and a plurality of receiving stations, the at least one mobile device being carried by a user and having at least one mobile device radio module configured to transmit an emergency call, each of the plurality of receiving stations having at least one receiving station radio module and an alarm device and being configured as a router, the at least one receiving station radio module being configured to receive the emergency call from the at least one mobile device, and the alarm device being configured to output an acoustic and/or visual alarm signal, the method comprising:

transmitting the emergency call from the at least one mobile device to a first of the plurality of receiving stations to trigger the alarm signal;

determining a position of the at least one mobile device relative to the plurality of receiving stations; and

,

depending on the determined position of the at least one mobile device, selecting only one of the plurality of receiving stations which is best suited to direct an attention of a third party to the user and to trigger the alarm signal of the selected receiving station'"'"'s alarm device to attract the attention of the third party in a vicinity of the selected receiving station.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending a notification to mobile devices of users connected to a same network of the selected receiving station when the emergency call is received.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the emergency call system includes a central server, and

the method further comprises;

when the emergency call is received, controlling receiving stations located in a vicinity of the at least one mobile device by the central server to transmit via a network of the receiving stations a warning message to mobile radio devices connected to the network and moving in the range of the network.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the least one mobile device, signal strengths of receiving station radio modules of the plurality of receiving stations; and

,

transmitting the emergency call to one of the plurality of receiving stations having a receiving station radio module that has a highest signal strength.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

transmitting, by the least one mobile device, the signal strengths of all of the plurality of receiving stations together with the emergency call to the first of the plurality of receiving stations; and

,

determining, by the first of the plurality of receiving stations, the position of the at least one mobile device depending on said signal strengths.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

comparing, by the first of the plurality of receiving stations, the signal strengths with reference signal strengths; and

,

triggering the alarm signal by the first of the plurality of receiving stations only if the signal strengths correspond to one or more of the reference signal strengths.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

to set up the emergency call system at different positions, storing reference signal strengths of a reference mobile device, respectively detected by the plurality of receiving stations, together with position data of the reference mobile device that are determined by a global navigation satellite system.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

subsequent to receiving the emergency call by the first of the plurality of receiving stations, forwarding the emergency call, an identifier of the mobile device and position data of the first of the plurality of receiving stations and/or of the at least one mobile device by the first of the plurality of receiving stations to a central server.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

to set up the emergency call system, preselecting one of the plurality of receiving stations that is within a range of a reference mobile device to trigger the alarm signal as reference signal strengths are determined depending on a position of the reference mobile device.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

to set up the emergency call system, storing in the plurality of receiving stations position data of neighboring receiving stations; and

,

depending on the position of the at least one mobile device, triggering the alarm signal by the first of the plurality of receiving stations or forwarding the emergency call by the first of the plurality of receiving stations to a neighboring second receiving station if a position of the neighboring second receiving station is nearer to the position of the at least one mobile device than a position of the first of the plurality of receiving stations or a position of a preselected receiving station.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

depending on a type of the transmitted emergency call, triggering a silent alarm or a loud alarm by the one of the plurality of receiving stations.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein, with their respective receiving station radio modules, the plurality of receiving stations scan their surroundings to detect neighboring receiving stations.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one mobile device, with the transmission of the emergency call, starts an audio recording and transmits audio data packets at regular time intervals to the first of the plurality of receiving stations and/or to at least one further receiving station.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein a user identifier or a mobile device identifier is concomitantly transmitted with the emergency call by the at least one mobile device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein an alarm signal is triggered only if the user identifier or the mobile device identifier corresponds to an authorized user identifier or a corresponding mobile device identifier stored in the central server or in the first of the plurality of receiving stations.

16. An emergency call system comprising:

at least one mobile device being carried by a user and having an emergency call switch and at least one mobile device radio frequency transceiver configured to transmit an emergency call;

a plurality of receiving stations each having at least one receiving station radio frequency transceiver and being configured to receive the emergency call;

the at least one mobile device being configured to trigger an emergency call and, upon an actuation of the emergency call switch, to transmit the emergency call to one of the plurality of receiving stations which is best suited to direct an attention to the user;

each of the plurality of receiving stations being configured as a router and having an alarm device and a processor;

the alarm device being configured to output an acoustic alarm signal and/or a visual alarm signal; and

,

the processor being configured to determine a position of the mobile device depending on a signal strength of at least one of the receiving station radio frequency transceiver and the mobile device radio frequency transceiver, and, depending on the determined position, to output an alarm signal by only one of the alarm devices to attract the attention of a third party in a vicinity of the one of the plurality of receiving stations.

17. The emergency call system of claim 16, wherein a notification is sent to mobile devices of users connected to a same network of the one of the plurality of receiving stations when the emergency call is received.

18. The emergency call system of claim 16, further comprising a central server, wherein, when the emergency call is received, the central server controls receiving stations located in a vicinity of the at least one mobile device to transmit via a network of the receiving stations a warning message to mobile radio devices connected to the network and moving in the range of the network.

19. The emergency call system of claim 16, wherein the at least one mobile device radio frequency transceiver and the at least one receiving station radio frequency transceiver are configured as WLAN transceivers or Bluetooth transceivers.

20. The emergency call system of claim 16, wherein the emergency call system is configured to:

transmit the emergency call from the at least one mobile device to a first of the plurality of receiving stations to trigger the alarm signal;

determine a position of the at least one mobile device relative to the plurality of receiving stations; and

,

depending on the determined position of the at least one mobile device, select only one of the plurality of receiving stations to trigger the alarm signal.