Handheld device for elderly people

• US 20080005301A1
• Filed: 06/30/2006
• Published: 01/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Wen, Yutian, Huang, Bo, Li, Ying
• Granted Patent: US 10,049,077 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• 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 provide emergency locator services when a single key is pressed.

2. The handheld 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 a predefined list of recipients via a network service provider.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the middleware application is configured to operate in an active mode or a passive mode.

6. The device of claim 5, 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.

7. 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.

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

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

10. The device of claim 8, wherein the middleware application is configured to transmit data received from the health data acquisition device to a network service provider in real time.

11. The device of claim 8, wherein the middleware application is configured to identify a health state of a user of the handheld device.

12. The device of claim 11, 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.

13. The device of claim 8, 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.

14. 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.

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

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

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

18. The device of claim 1, wherein the middleware is configured to receive a request for housekeeping/maintenance services.

19. The device of claim 18, wherein the request for housekeeping/maintenance services is transmitted to a housekeeping/maintenance service provider via a network service provider.

20. 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;

a middleware application running on the operating system,

wherein the middleware application has one or more applications running on the middleware application and the one or more applications are configured to communicate with each other.

21. The device of claim 20, wherein the middleware application is configured to permit communication of contact/address information between applications.

22. A middleware application for a handheld device, comprising:

an emergency locator service configured to run in an active mode;

an emergency locator service configured to run in a passive mode;

a digital health monitoring service;

a name card exchange service; and

a housekeeping maintenance service.

23. The middleware application of claim 22, wherein the emergency locator service running in active mode is configured to notify more than one predefined party of an event.

24. The middleware application of claim 23, wherein the event is a medical emergency.

25. The middleware application of claim 22, wherein the emergency locator service running in passive mode is configured to be activated by an instruction received via a network service provider.

26. The middleware application of claim 25, wherein the network service provider is a cellular network service provider.

27. The middleware application of claim 22, wherein the digital health monitoring service is configured to transmit health data via a network service provider in real time.

28. The middleware application of claim 27, wherein the health data comprises heart rate data or blood pressure data.

29. The method of claim 27 wherein the digital health monitoring service is configured to identify a medical emergency, based on an analysis of health data acquired from a health data acquisition device.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the health data acquisition device is a heart rate monitor.

31. A 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;

initiating the service;

determining a geographic location of the computing device;

generating a message including the geographic location of the computing device;

querying a database to identify at least one message recipient; and

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

32. The computer readable storage medium of claim 31, wherein the storage medium comprises a non-volatile memory.

33. The computer readable storage medium of claim 31 wherein the service is an emergency locator service configured to run in active mode.

34. The computer readable storage medium of claim 31 comprising acquiring health data from a probe in electronic communication with the computing device.

35. The computer readable storage medium of claim 31 comprising transmitting health data in real time.

36. The computer readable storage medium of claim 31 comprising displaying health data on the display screen in real time.

37. The computer readable storage medium of claim 34 comprising analyzing the health data and determining a heath status of a user of the computing device.

38. The computer readable storage medium of claim 31 wherein the message includes health data.