Remote device for a monitoring system

• US 7,701,332 B2
• Filed: 07/19/2006
• Issued: 04/20/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Best Buy Health Incorporated (Best Buy Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Healthsense, Inc. (Best Buy Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Anderson, David T.
• Primary Examiner(s): POPE, DARYL C
• Application Number:
  US11/488,963
• Publication Number:
  US 20070152811A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,371 Days
• Field of Search: 340/506, 340/539.1, 340/539.13, 340/825.36, 340/825.49
• US Class Current: 340/539.11
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0288 Attachment of child unit to child/article
• 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 21/0492 Sensor dual technology, i.e. two or more technologies collaborate to extract unsafe condition, e.g. video tracking and RFID tracking
• 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 25/016 Personal emergency signalling and security systems emergency non-personal manually actuated alarm activators G08B25/12
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention relate to methods, devices, and systems to monitor activity. One system to monitor activity includes a remote device including a home/away sensor and a transmitter. The embodiment also includes a local interface that receives a wireless signal from the transmitter and a base station operably coupled to the local interface. The base station can include a receiver for receiving signals from a number of sensors and a logic component that institutes rules to determine whether to initiate an alert based on one or more activations of the home/away sensor.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring activity, comprising:

a remote device comprising;

a home/away sensor to be activated by an individual, wherein the individual is considered present when the base station receives signals from the home/away sensor and another sensor indicates the presence of the individual in a dwelling and the individual is considered absent when the base station does not receive signals from the home/away sensor and another sensor indicates an exit of the individual from the dwelling; and

a transmitter actuated by the home/away sensor for transmitting a wireless signal indicative of an activation of the home/away sensor;

a local interface, where the local interface receives the wireless signal from the transmitter associated with the remote device; and

a base station operably coupled to the local interface, comprising;

a receiver for receiving signals from a number of sensors to be activated by an individual; and

a logic component to;

institute multiple rules for determining whether to initiate an alert based upon one or more activations of the home/away sensor.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the logic component is designed to:

initiate a first rule based upon an identification of a first sensor activation;

initiate a first timer for monitoring a sensor activation according to the first rule;

initiate a second timer for monitoring the time between a first sensor activation and at least one second sensor activation according to the first rule; and

determine whether an action should be initiated based upon the analysis of whether the first rule has been met.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the logic component is designed to initiate the first rule based upon the identification of the first sensor activation wherein the first rule states that if the first sensor activation is detected, wait a predetermined time for a second sensor activation.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the first rule further states, if the second sensor activation is not received then initiate an action in the form of a warning message displayed on the remote device.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the first sensor is the home/away sensor and wherein the logic component is designed to initiate the first rule based upon the identification of absence of the home/away sensor.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the first rule states that if the home/away sensor is absent, then initiate a first action.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the first action is locking a door.

8. The system of claim 2, wherein the first sensor is the home/away sensor and wherein the logic component is designed to initiate the first rule based upon the identification of presence of the home/away sensor.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the first rule states that if the home/away sensor is present, then initiate a first action.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the first action is unlocking a door.

11. The system of claim 2, wherein the number of sensors can measure a signal strength between the number of sensors and the home/away sensor.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the logic component is designed to locate the individual based on the largest signal strength between the number of sensors and the home/away sensor.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the individual is assigned a task and the number of sensors includes a task sensor, wherein the logic component is designed to couple the task to the task sensor and initiate a task-complete action when the task sensor is activated.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the home/away sensor includes a first identification tag, where the logic component is designed to initiate the task-complete action when the task sensor is activated and the signal strength between the home/away sensor with the first identification tag and the task sensor is larger than the signal strength between the home/away sensor with a second identification tag and the task sensor.

15. The system of claim 2, wherein the logic component is designed to initiate a check-in rule, where a first action is initiated at a predetermined time interval.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the first action is a warning message displayed on the remote device, and the remote device further comprises an acknowledgement mechanism that when activated transmits an acknowledgement to the base station.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the check-in rule further states:

if no acknowledgement is received, then wait a first predetermined time period before initiating the first action again;

if no acknowledgement is received after initiating a first predefined number of actions, then wait a second predetermined time period before initiating the first action again;

if no acknowledgement is received after initiating a second predefined number of actions, then a second action is initiated, where the second action is to initiate contact to a remote site.

18. A portable remote device, comprising:

a home/away sensor to be activated by an individual;

a transmitter actuated when the home/away sensor is activated for transmitting a wireless signal indicative of an activation of the home/away sensor to a base station, where the transmitter transmits signals from the home/away sensor for a defined duration during a time period and transmits signals for a shorted defined duration during an extended time period when the base station has not received the previous three signal transmissions;

a receiver for receiving a wireless signal from the base station; and

a display, where the display communicates messages indicative of the wireless signal received from the base station and the portable remote device is worn on a body of the individual.

19. The portable remote device of claim 18, wherein the portable remote device further comprises an emergency call mechanism that when activated transmits a wireless signal indicative of an emergency to the base station.

20. The portable remote device of claim 19, wherein the receiver receives an acknowledgement from the base station that the wireless signal indicative of an emergency was received and an acknowledgement message indicative of a call having been made to a third party is displayed on the portable remote device.

21. The portable remote device of claim 18, wherein the home/away sensor is activated by the individual when the home/away sensor is at least a predetermined distance from the base station.

22. The portable remote device of claim 18, wherein the portable remote device communicates with a mobile telephone.

23. The portable remote device of claim 18, wherein the portable remote device further includes a motion sensor and an emergency call mechanism that is activated after a predetermined amount of time if the motion sensor has not been activated within the predetermined amount of time.

24. A method for monitoring activity of an individual comprising:

initiating a communication signal from a remote device to a base station for monitoring whether the remote device is within a distance of the base station; and

receiving the communication signal at the base station;

considering an individual present when the base station receives signals from the home/away sensor and another sensor indicates the presence of the individual in the dwelling; and

considering the individual absent when the base station does not receive signals from the home/away sensor and another sensor indicates an exit of the individual from the dwelling.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein receiving the communication signal includes receiving information identifying a location of the remote device.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the location of the remote device is identified by triangulation of a mobile telephone.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein the method includes initiating the communication signal using a short range wireless signal and translating the short range communication signal into a long range wireless signal.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the long range wireless signal is sent to the base station using a mobile telephone.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the short range communication signal is translated into a long range wireless signal if a distance between the remote device and the base station is greater than a distance between the remote device and the mobile telephone.

30. The method of claim 24, wherein the method includes initiating a confirmation signal from the base station to the remote device indicating the receipt of the communication signal;

and

receiving the confirmation signal at the remote device.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein initiating the communication signal from the remote device includes sending the communication signal for a first predetermined amount of time at a first predefined time interval.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein initiating the communication signal from the remote device further includes sending the communication signal for a second predetermined amount of time at a second predefined interval when the confirmation signal from the base station is not received, and the second predetermined amount of time is less than the first predetermined amount of time.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the remote device further includes an awaken mechanism where activating the awaken mechanism transmits a wireless signal indicative of a return of the remote device to within the distance of the base station and where the communication signal is sent at the first predetermined amount of time at the first predetermined time interval.

34. The method of claim 24, wherein the method further includes initiating a message-sent indication at the remote device indicating an emergency signal was sent to the base station;

initiating a message-received signal from the base station to the remote device indicating the receipt of the emergency signal;

receiving the message-received signal indication at the remote device;

initiating a message-relayed signal from the base station to the remote device indicating a call has been made to a third party; and

receiving the message-relayed signal indication at the remote device.