Monitoring activity of an individual

• US 10,475,331 B2
• Filed: 10/30/2018
• Issued: 11/12/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Best Buy Health Incorporated (Best Buy Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: GreatCall Incorporated (Best Buy Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Bischoff, Brian J., Shilepsky, Alan P., Long, Lina
• Primary Examiner(s): Dsouza, Adolf
• Application Number:
  US16/174,741
• Publication Number:
  US 20190130732A1
• Time in Patent Office: 378 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0288 Attachment of child unit to child/article
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0423 detecting deviation from an expected pattern of behaviour or schedule
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0453 worn on the body to detect health condition by physiological monitoring, e.g. electrocardiogram, temperature, breathing detecting, measuring or recording for diagnostic purposes A61B5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0492 Sensor dual technology, i.e. two or more technologies collaborate to extract unsafe condition, e.g. video tracking and RFID tracking
• 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 29/185 Signal analysis techniques for reducing or preventing false alarms or for enhancing the reliability of the system
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/30 for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/00 Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention relate to methods, devices, and systems to monitor activity. One method to monitor activity includes monitoring activity of an individual including detecting a sensor activated by an individual during the individual'"'"'s daily activities. The embodiment also includes comparing the sensor activation to a predetermined sensor activation timeframe, determining whether to initiate an alert based upon the comparison, and checking for at least one other sensor activation to confirm whether an alert should be initiated.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring activity of an individual, comprising:

monitoring a number of sensors to identify activations of at least one sensor of the number of sensors; and

applying a rule associated with the activations of the at least one sensor to determine whether to take an action, wherein the rule includes starting a timer in response to a first sensor activation, monitoring a first sensor activation and at least one second sensor activation to determine that the action should be initiated in response to the at least one second sensor activation occurring before an expiration of the timer, and checking for at least one other sensor activation from the number of sensors to confirm the action should be initiated.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method includes grouping a number of the multiple sensors into one or more groups.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the method includes regrouping a number of the multiple sensors into one or more different groups.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein checking for at least one other sensor activation includes checking for a sensor activation from another sensor within the same group as a first sensor activation.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein grouping the number of sensors into one or more groups is based upon one or more rules used to determine whether the action should be initiated.

6. The method of claim 2, further including detecting the first sensor activation in a first group of sensors and wherein checking for at least one other sensor activation includes checking for a sensor activation from a sensor within a second group.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring a number of sensors to identify activations of at least one sensor includes detecting absence of a home/away sensor and wherein checking for at least one other sensor activation includes checking for a sensor activation from a sensor indicating an exit.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the method includes utilizing a number of timers to determine whether to take the action.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the method includes utilizing a number of timers to monitor whether a sensor activation occurs within a time period in order to determine whether to take the action.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the method includes utilizing a number of timers to monitor whether a client response occurs within a time period in order to determine whether to take the action.

11. A system for monitoring activity, comprising:

a number of sensors configured to be activated by an individual; and

a logic component, configured to communicate with the number of sensors, having computer-executable instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium executed by a processor to;

initiate a first rule based upon an identification of a first sensor activation;

initiate a first timer for monitoring a sensor activation according to the first rule;

initiate a second timer for monitoring the time between a first sensor activation and at least one second sensor activation according to the first rule;

determine an action should be initiated based upon the second timer reaching a predetermined time; and

determine the action should not be initiated based upon the at least one second sensor activation according to the first rule occurring before the predetermined time.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the logic component is designed to initiate a second rule, associating a simultaneous activation of the first sensor and the second sensor.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the logic component is configured to initiate the first rule based upon the identification of the first sensor activation wherein the first rule states that if the first sensor activation is detected, wait the predetermined time for the second sensor activation.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the first rule further states, if the at least one second activation is not received then initiate the action.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the rule further states, if the at least one second activation is received then reset the second timer.

16. A system for monitoring activity, comprising:

a number of sensors configured to be activated by an individual; and

a logic component, configured to communicate with the number of sensors, having computer-executable instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium executed by a processor to;

initiate a first rule based upon an identification of a first sensor activation of the number of sensors;

initiate a timer for monitoring the time between the first sensor activation and at least one second sensor activation according to the first rule; and

determine whether an action should be initiated based upon the analysis of whether the first rule has been met, wherein the action is initiated in response to the at least one second sensor activation occurring before a timer value associated with the first timer expires.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the logic component is designed to initiate the timer for monitoring the time between the first sensor activation in a first group of sensors and at least one second sensor activation within the sensors of the first group.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the logic component is designed to initiate the timer for monitoring the time between the first sensor activation in a first group of sensors and at least one second sensor activation from a sensor of a second group.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the logic component changes the first rule based upon the at least one second sensor activation.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the number of sensors includes a portable sensor that can be located based upon a communication signal.