Systems and methods for providing victim location information during an emergency situation

• US 20070150460A1
• Filed: 12/27/2005
• Published: 06/28/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Electric Works Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Electric Works Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Evans, Raymond
• Granted Patent: US 7,865,512 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 29/021 Means for indicating the location of accidentally buried, e.g. snow-buried, persons
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0272 System arrangements wherein the object is to detect exact location of child or item using triangulation other than GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0275 Electronic Article Surveillance [EAS] tag technology used for parent or child unit, e.g. same transmission technology, magnetic tag, RF tag, RFID

Abstract

A monitoring system receives data from embedded systems that are located within a building. The embedded systems may be contained within components (e.g., sensors, switches, etc.) that are situated within the building. Rules are defined for interpreting the data. The monitoring system interprets the data based on the defined rules to obtain location information and/or event information. The location information includes possible locations of victims within the building. The event information includes events that have been detected by components within the building. The location information and the event information may be provided to one or more emergency response systems.

Claims

1. A method for providing information about the possible location of victims within a building during an emergency situation, the method being implemented by a monitoring system, the method comprising:

receiving data from embedded systems that are located within a building;

defining rules for interpreting the data;

interpreting the data based on the defined rules to obtain location information that comprises possible locations of victims within the building; and

providing the location information to one or more emergency response systems.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving at least one request for the location information from the one or more emergency response systems, and wherein the location information is provided to the one or more emergency response systems in response to the at least one request.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising interpreting the data based on the defined rules to obtain event information that comprises events that have been detected by components within the building.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising storing the event information in a database.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving notification about the occurrence of an emergency event;

in response to the notification, notifying the one or more emergency response systems about the emergency event.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising modifying behavior of the monitoring system based on the occurrence of an emergency event.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the rules comprise:

a triggering event; and

one or more actions that are performed in response to the triggering event.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the rules comprise:

a triggering event;

at least one condition; and

one or more actions that are performed if the triggering event occurs and the at least one condition is satisfied.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the location information in a database.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the data is received from the embedded systems via a controller system that serves as an interface between the embedded systems and the monitoring system.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the data is received directly from the embedded systems.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the monitoring system is located within the building.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the monitoring system is located outside of the building.

14. A monitoring system that is configured to implement a method for providing information about the possible location of victims within a building during an emergency situation, comprising:

a processor;

memory in electronic communication with the processor;

instructions stored in the memory, the instructions being executable to implement a method comprising;

receiving data from embedded systems that are located within a building;

defining rules for interpreting the data;

interpreting the data based on the defined rules to obtain location information that comprises possible locations of victims within the building; and

providing the location information to one or more emergency response systems.

15. The monitoring system of claim 14, wherein the method further comprises receiving at least one request for the location information from the one or more emergency response systems, and wherein the location information is provided to the one or more emergency response systems in response to the at least one request.

16. The monitoring system of claim 14, wherein the method further comprises interpreting the data based on the defined rules to obtain event information that comprises events that have been detected by components within the building.

17. The monitoring system of claim 14, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving notification about the occurrence of an emergency event;

in response to the notification, notifying the one or more emergency response systems about the emergency event.

18. A computer-readable medium comprising executable instructions for implementing a method for providing information about the possible location of victims within a building during an emergency situation, the method comprising:

receiving data from embedded systems that are located within a building;

defining rules for interpreting the data;

interpreting the data based on the defined rules to obtain location information that comprises possible locations of victims within the building; and

providing the location information to one or more emergency response systems.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the method further comprises receiving at least one request for the location information from the one or more emergency response systems, and wherein the location information is provided to the one or more emergency response systems in response to the at least one request.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the method further comprises interpreting the data based on the defined rules to obtain event information that comprises events that have been detected by components within the building.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving notification about the occurrence of an emergency event;

in response to the notification, notifying the one or more emergency response systems about the emergency event.