LOCATOR BEACON SYSTEM HAVING GLOBAL COMMUNICATION CAPABILITY

• US 20090224966A1
• Filed: 03/29/2007
• Published: 09/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PROCON Incorporated (RCM Technologies Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: PROCON Incorporated (RCM Technologies Incorporated)
• Inventors: Boling, Brian M., Bishop, Ronald D.
• Granted Patent: US 7,830,305 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 342/357.310
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/17 Emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/001 Alarm cancelling procedures or alarm forwarding decisions, e.g. based on absence of alarm confirmation
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/002 Generating a prealarm to the central station
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/004 Alarm propagated along alternative communication path or using alternative communication medium according to a hierarchy of available ways to communicate, e.g. if Wi-Fi not available use GSM
• 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 27/00 Alarm systems in which the alarm condition is signalled from a central station to a plurality of substations

Abstract

The invention provides an emergency communication device capable of transmitting an emergency alert signal using more than one wireless communication system. When a commercial wireless carrier network is available, the device transmits the emergency alert signal to a central monitoring service via the wireless carrier network. When no wireless carrier network is available, the device transmits the emergency alert signal to an emergency search and rescue (SAR) satellite system. The device includes a first transmitter for transmitting the emergency alert signal to the SAR satellite system, a receiver for receiving location determination signals from Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites, and a second transmitter for transmitting the emergency alert signal by way of the wireless carrier network. In preferred embodiments, the first transmitter is a personal locator beacon transmitter compatible with the Cospas-Sarsat satellite system and the second transmitter is a Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) transmitter.

Claims

1. An emergency communication apparatus for transmitting an emergency alert signal in an emergency situation, the apparatus comprising:

a first transmitter for transmitting the emergency alert signal to a first satellite system used in providing assistance in search and rescue operations;

a receiver for receiving location determination signals from a second satellite system used in determining location information; and

a second transmitter for transmitting the emergency alert signal by way of a wireless communication network.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first transmitter further comprises a personal locator beacon transmitter for transmitting the emergency alert signal at about 406 megahertz.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the receiver further comprises a Global Positioning System receiver.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the second transmitter further comprises a Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) transmitter.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising the first transmitter for transmitting the emergency alert signal including a code for identifying the first transmitter.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising the first transmitter for transmitting the emergency alert signal including location information based on the location determination signals received by the receiver.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising the first transmitter for transmitting the emergency alert signal including an event code for providing information regarding the emergency situation.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first satellite system comprises a Cospas-Sarsat search and rescue satellite system.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising means for determining whether the wireless communication network is available to communicate the emergency alert signal from the second transmitter to a wireless communication service provider.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the means for determining whether the wireless communication network is available further comprises:

a second receiver for receiving wireless communication signals from the wireless communication network; and

a logic module for determining whether the wireless communication network is available based on the signals received by the second receiver.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the second transmitter and second receiver are components of a wireless communication transceiver module.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the wireless communication transceiver module comprises a Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) transceiver module.

13. The apparatus of claim 9 further comprising the first transmitter for transmitting the emergency alert signal when the means for determining whether the wireless communication network is available determines that the wireless communication network is unavailable.

14. The apparatus of claim 9 further comprising the second transmitter for transmitting the emergency alert signal when the means for determining whether the wireless communication network is available determines that the wireless communication network is available.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a single activation button for initiating activation of the apparatus to transmit the emergency alert signal.

16. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a microphone and a recording device for recording audio signals received by the microphone.

17. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:

a sensor interface for receiving at least one sensor signal indicative of whether an emergency situation exists; and

a logic module for initiating activation of the apparatus to transmit the emergency alert signal when the at least one sensor signal indicates the existence of an emergency situation.

18. An emergency communication apparatus for transmitting an emergency alert signal in an emergency situation, the apparatus comprising:

a personal locator beacon transmitter for transmitting the emergency alert signal to one or more Cospas-Sarsat satellites;

a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver for receiving location determination signals from one or more Global Positioning System satellites; and

a wireless transceiver for transmitting the emergency alert signal by way of a wireless communication network.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the wireless transceiver comprises a Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) transceiver.

20. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the personal locator beacon transmitter transmits the emergency alert signal at about 406 MHz.

21. An emergency communication apparatus for transmitting emergency alert signals in an emergency situation, the apparatus comprising:

a logic module for determining an event code indicative of the nature of the emergency situation; and

a personal locator beacon transmitter for transmitting the emergency alert signals to one or more satellites that are components of a satellite system for providing assistance in search and rescue operations, wherein one or more of the emergency alert signals include information for identifying the personal locator beacon transmitter and one or more of the emergency alert signals include the event code.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 further comprising an input device for inputting information regarding the nature of the emergency situation, wherein the logic module determines the event code based at least in part on the information from the input device.

23. A search and rescue coordination computer system for processing emergency alert information related to emergency alert signals transmitted from an emergency beacon unit during an emergency situation in an emergency location, where depending on availability of communication resources, the emergency beacon unit may transmit the emergency alert signals to satellites in a search and rescue satellite system to be relayed to a government rescue coordination center, or the emergency beacon unit may transmit the emergency alert signals via a wireless communication network, the search and rescue coordination computer system comprising:

means for communicating with the government rescue coordination center and receiving the emergency alert information there from;

means for communicating with the wireless communication network and receiving the emergency alert information there from;

means for determining emergency beacon identification information based on the emergency alert information;

means for determining information regarding a registered user of the emergency beacon unit based on the emergency beacon identification information;

means for determining the emergency location based on the emergency alert information;

means for determining a designated local search and rescue agency having responsibility for search and rescue operations based at least in part on the emergency location; and

means for communicating information regarding the emergency situation with the designated local search and rescue agency having responsibility for search and rescue operations.

24. The search and rescue coordination computer system of claim 23 wherein the means for communicating with the government rescue coordination center further comprises a virtual private network connection to an Air Force Rescue Coordination Center computer system.

25. The search and rescue coordination computer system of claim 23 wherein the means for communicating with the wireless communication network further comprises means for communicating with a Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) wireless service provider network.

26. The search and rescue coordination computer system of claim 23 wherein the means for determining the emergency beacon identification information comprises a computer processor for extracting the identification information from a Unique Identification Number (UIN) string that is assigned to the emergency beacon unit and transmitted as part of the emergency alert information.

27. The search and rescue coordination computer system of claim 23 further comprising means for extracting an event code from the emergency alert information transmitted by the emergency beacon unit, where the event code provides information regarding the emergency situation.

28. A method for transmitting an emergency alert signal from an emergency beacon device in an emergency situation at an emergency location, the method comprising:

(a) determining whether a wireless communication network is available at the emergency location; and

(b) when it is determined that a wireless communication network is unavailable at the emergency location, transmitting the emergency alert signal from the emergency beacon device to a satellite system used in providing assistance in search and rescue operations.

29. The method of claim 28 further comprising (c) transmitting the emergency alert signal by way of the wireless communication network when it is determined that the wireless communication network is available at the emergency location.

30. The method of claim 29 wherein:

step (a) further comprises determining whether a Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) wireless service provider network is available at the emergency location; and

step (c) further comprises transmitting the emergency alert signal by way of the GSM wireless service provider network.

31. The method of claim 28 wherein step (b) further comprises transmitting the emergency alert signal from the emergency beacon device to one or more Cospas-Sarsat satellites.