CARE EVENT DETECTION AND ALERTS

• US 20160071392A1
• Filed: 09/09/2015
• Published: 03/10/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Hankey, Martha E., Foster, James
• Granted Patent: US 10,593,186 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0205 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0211 Combination with medical sensor, e.g. for measuring heart rate, temperature
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/043 detecting an emergency event, e.g. a fall
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0446 worn on the body to detect changes of posture, e.g. a fall, inclination, acceleration, gait
• 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 25/005 Alarm destination chosen according to a hierarchy of available destinations, e.g. if hospital does not answer send to police station
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/016 Personal emergency signalling and security systems emergency non-personal manually actuated alarm activators G08B25/12

Abstract

An occurrence of one or more “care events” is detected by an electronic device monitoring environmental data and/or user data from one or more sensors. The electronic device transmits one or more alerts regarding the detected occurrence to at least one other electronic device. In some cases, the electronic device may cooperate with at least one other electronic device in monitoring, detecting, and/or transmitting. For example, the electronic device may detect the occurrence based on sensor data received from a cooperative electronic device or such data in combination with the electronic device'"'"'s sensor data. By way of another example, the electronic device may detect the occurrence and signal a cooperative electronic device to transmit one or more alerts.

Claims

1. A system for providing alerts regarding a care event, comprising:

an electronic device, comprising;

at least one non transitory storage medium that stores instructions; and

at least one processing unit that executes the instructions to;

detect occurrence of at least one care event by monitoring at least one of environment data or user data from at least one sensor; and

transmit at least one alert regarding the detected occurrence to at least one other electronic device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic device cooperates with at least one other electronic device to perform at least one of the detection of the occurrence or the transmitting of the at least one alert.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing unit presents at least one prompt upon detection of the occurrence and transmits the at least one alert if a negative response to the at least one prompt is not received within a timeout period.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor comprises at least one of an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a camera, an altimeter, a microphone, a motion sensor, a photoplethysmogram sensor, a galvanic skin detector, a global positioning system device, a communication component, a heart rate monitor, a respiratory system monitor, a blood pressure monitor, or a temperature sensor.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the environmental data comprises at least one of failure to receive a signal from a monitored electronic device within a period of time, determination that the monitored electronic device is more than a threshold distance from the electronic device, or the electronic device has crossed a geographical boundary.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processing unit presents at least one notification regarding the occurrence of the event.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the at least one notification comprises at least one of medical information, a haptic output, or a combination thereof.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processing unit transmits the at least one alert to members of a user defined care list.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the at least one processing unit transmits the at least one alert to a first set of the members of the user defined care list and then to a second set of the members of the user defined care list upon occurrence of an escalation condition.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein escalation condition comprises elapse of a timeout period.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the user defined care list includes an emergency service provider.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processing unit transmits the at least one alert periodically.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one alert includes at least a portion of the at least one of the environment data or the user data.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one alert includes at least one of medical information or the detected occurrence.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processing unit puts the electronic device into at least one power saving mode upon detection of the occurrence.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein a communication medium utilized by the at least one processing unit to transmit the at least one alert is dependent on a communication media status of the electronic device.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein detection of the occurrence is dependent upon at least one of a detected location of the electronic device or a detected speed of travel of the electronic device.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one other electronic device to which the at least one alert is transmitted is dependent upon a context of the electronic device.

19. An electronic device, comprising:

at least one non transitory storage medium that stores instructions; and

at least one processing unit that executes the instructions to;

detect occurrence of at least one care event by monitoring at least one of environment data or user data from at least one sensor; and

transmit at least one alert regarding the detected occurrence to at least one other electronic device.

20. A method for providing alerts regarding a care event, comprising:

detecting occurrence of at least one care event utilizing an electronic device by monitoring at least one of environment data or user data from at least one sensor; and

transmitting at least one alert regarding the detected occurrence to at least one other electronic device.