Multimedia emergency services
First Claim
1. A method of monitoring a vicinity of a monitoring device, comprising:
- receiving a help request;
directly connecting, via a network, to the monitoring device;
querying the monitoring device to request monitoring capability that the device has, the monitoring capability including at least one of what parameters the monitoring device can monitor, the type of monitored information generated by the monitoring device and the form in which the monitored information is available from the monitoring device;
receiving from the monitoring device the monitoring capability associated with the monitoring device;
remotely activating the monitoring device; and
remotely controlling the monitoring device in response to the monitoring capability to monitor the vicinity.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for remotely controlling one or more monitoring devices in a user'"'"'s household in the event of emergency so as to more productively monitor the emergency situation on a real-time basis. The monitoring devices may include a number of multimedia instruments such as a telephone with an answering machine, a computer with a built-in digital camera, a video recording device, a cellular phone with an integrated digital camera, etc. An emergency service provider may remotely activate the monitoring devices in the user'"'"'s vicinity upon receiving an emergency help request from the user, and receive the information sent by the monitoring devices to enable the service personnel to plan appropriate response to the emergency at hand. Such an arrangement allows for better monitoring of the user'"'"'s vicinity in an emergency situation without the need for prolonged user participation in narrating or describing the emergency situation. Further, the emergency service provider may obtain a better picture of the emergency and its impact by controlling appropriate monitoring devices available in the user'"'"'s vicinity. The remote activation and control of a monitoring device may be accomplished via the Internet.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of monitoring a vicinity of a monitoring device, comprising:
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receiving a help request; directly connecting, via a network, to the monitoring device; querying the monitoring device to request monitoring capability that the device has, the monitoring capability including at least one of what parameters the monitoring device can monitor, the type of monitored information generated by the monitoring device and the form in which the monitored information is available from the monitoring device; receiving from the monitoring device the monitoring capability associated with the monitoring device; remotely activating the monitoring device; and remotely controlling the monitoring device in response to the monitoring capability to monitor the vicinity. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A monitoring device for monitoring a vicinity of a user in response to a help request transmitted by the user to a service center, wherein the monitoring device is configured to:
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directly connect, via a network, to the service center; transmit to the service center in response to a query received therefrom one of the monitoring capability of the monitoring device and a URL address associated with the monitoring capability; the monitoring capability including at least one of what parameters the monitoring device can monitor, the type of monitored information generated by the monitoring device and the form in which the monitored information is available from the monitoring device; activate a monitoring capability in response to a command received from the service center; and transmit monitored information of the user'"'"'s vicinity to the service center. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12)
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13. A computer-readable medium encoded with a plurality of processor-executable instructions for:
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receiving a help request; directly connecting, via a network, to the monitoring device; querying the monitoring device to request monitoring capability that the device has, the monitoring capability including at least one of what parameters the monitoring device can monitor, the type of monitored information generated by the monitoring device and the form in which the monitored information is available from the monitoring device; receiving from the monitoring device the monitoring capability associated with the monitoring device; remotely activating the monitoring device; and remotely controlling the monitoring device in response to the monitoring capability to monitor the vicinity. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification