SYSTEM AND METHOD OF PROVIDING REAL-TIME SITE SPECIFIC INFORMATION

• US 20110128144A1
• Filed: 11/30/2009
• Published: 06/02/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Baron Services Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Baron Services Incorporated
• Inventors: Baron, Robert O. SR., Dreisewerd, Robert J. JR., Thompson, Thomas S., Benson, Tony L., Jones, Erick C.
• Granted Patent: US 8,264,345 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/539.3
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 2203/00 Application of thermometers in cryogenics
• CPC Class Codes: G01W 1/00 Meteorology
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/10 responsive to calamitous events, e.g. tornados or earthquakes
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/18 Status alarms G08B21/02 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 90/10 Information and communication technologies [ICT] supporting adaptation to climate change, e.g. for weather forecasting or climate simulation

Abstract

A weather alert manager is used to provide real-time, site specific information to a user regarding weather and possibly other hazards. The weather alert manager compares meteorological data, a user profile including information on points of interest to the user, and geographical data to determine if weather will impact one or more of the user'"'"'s points of interest. The user'"'"'s points of interest include at least one mobile point of interest, which periodically transmits its location. The weather alert manager transmits a user alert message if one is needed, and a remote receiver notifies the user that a message has been received.

Claims

1. A method of providing real-time site specific information comprising:

(a) providing a weather alert manager having memory comprising a machine readable storage device, the memory including a weather alert manager program to correlate meteorological data with geographic data to produce a storm affected area defined by geo-referenced coordinates;

(b) establishing a user profile comprising a plurality of points of interest, remote receiver contact information associated with a remote receiver, and user preferences, each of said plurality of points of interest having a point of interest location, and where the points of interest include at least one mobile point of interest having a geographic position indicator and a transmitter for transmitting a mobile point of interest location, and where the weather alert manager has access to the user profile;

(c) transmitting the mobile point of interest location from the mobile point of interest to the weather alert manager when the mobile point of interest location has changed by a set distance;

(d) accessing the mobile point of interest location by the weather alert manager;

(e) comparing the storm affected area produced by the weather alert manager with the point of interest locations, including said mobile point of interest location, and the user preferences to determine if a user alert message is needed;

(f) transmitting a user alert message using the remote receiver contact information associated with a remote receiver when a user alert message is needed;

(g) receiving the user alert message in the remote receiver; and

(h) notifying a user of the user alert message received by the remote receiver.

2. The method of claim 1 where the location of the point of interest is established using a geo-referenced coordinate system, the storm affected area is determined by corner data points using the geo-referenced coordinate system, and the position of the point of interest within the storm affected area is determined by calculations utilizing the storm affected area corner data points and the point of interest location.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

generating a website which includes a display of the storm affected area; and

including a link to the website in the user alert message.

4. A method of providing real-time, site specific hazard information comprising:

providing a remote receiver having a geographic position indicator and a transmitter;

transmitting a remote receiver location only when the location of the remote receiver has changed more than a set distance;

receiving a user alert message from a weather alert manager; and

notifying a user of the received user alert message.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

providing a power save mode which activates the remote receiver only transmitting the remote receiver location when the location of the remote receiver has changed more than a set distance.

6. The method of claim 4 where the remote receiver transmits the remote receiver location to the weather alert manager, and where the weather alert manager is configured to determine if the mobile point of interest location is within a environmentally affected area.

7. A method for providing real-time, site specific hazard information comprising:

(a) providing a weather alert manager comprising a computer having memory with a weather alert manager program to receive and process environmental data to produce an environmentally affected area defined by geo-referenced coordinates, where the memory comprises a machine readable storage device;

(b) accessing a plurality of user profiles, where the user profiles comprise a plurality of point of interest locations, user preferences, and contact information for a remote receiver, and where the plurality of point of interest locations include at least on mobile point of interest location associated with a mobile point of interest, and where the mobile point of interest transmits its mobile point of interest location;

(c) determining the point of interest locations that are located within the environmentally affected area;

(d) comparing the user preferences associated with the point of interest locations within the environmentally affected area to determine if an alert message is needed; and

(e) transmitting the needed alert message using the remote receiver contact information.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

generating a website which includes a display of the environmentally affected area; and

including a link to the website in the user alert message.

9. The method of claim 7 where the mobile point of interest transmits its mobile point of interest location only when the mobile point of interest location has changed by at least a set distance.

10. The method of claim 7 further comprising customizing the user alert message using the user profile.

11. The method of claim 7 where the mobile point of interest transmits its mobile point of interest location at set time intervals.

12. The method of claim 7 where the mobile point of interest is a cellular phone having a geographic position indicator.

13. The method of claim 7 where the environmental data includes meteorological data.

14. The method of claim 13 where the environmental data includes hazard data.

15. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

calculating a predicted future mobile point of interest location based on current and historical locations of the mobile point of interest; and

comparing the environmentally affected area with the predicted future mobile point of interest location and the user profile to determine if a user alert message is needed.

16. The method of claim 7 where at least one point of interest is stationary.

17. The method of claim 7 where the point of interest locations use the same geo-referenced coordinate system as the storm affected area.

18. The method of claim 7 where at least one mobile point of interest is a remote receiver.

19. The method of claim 7 where the alert message comprises a text message and a link to a website containing a visual display of the environmentally affected area.

20. A system for providing real-time site specific information comprising:

(a) a weather alert manager having access to a plurality of user profiles, where the user profiles comprise a plurality of point of interest locations and contact information for a remote receiver, and where the point of interest locations include at least one mobile point of interest location associated with a mobile point of interest, and wherein said weather alert manager memory is programmed to;

(i) receive the mobile point of interest locations from the mobile point of interest when the mobile point of interest location has changed by at least a set distance;

(ii) receive and process meteorological data to produce a storm affected area;

(iii) determine the point of interest locations that are located within the storm affected area;

(iv) prepare an alert message for the remote receiver associated with the point of interest location within the storm affected area; and

(v) transmit the alert message to the remote receiver using the remote receiver contact information.

21. The system of claim 20 where the weather alert manager is configured to generate a website which includes a display of the storm affected area, and to include a link to the website in the alert message.

22. The system of claim 21 where the alert message further comprises a text message.

23. The system of claim 20 where the storm affected area is defined by geo-referenced coordinates.

24. The system of claim 20 where the storm affected area is defined by grid cells.

25. The system of claim 20 where the user profiles further comprise a user preference, and the alert message is customized using the user preference.

26. The system of claim 20 where at least one point of interest location is stationary.