Enabling a person in distress to covertly communicate with an emergency response center

• US 7,750,799 B2
• Filed: 11/01/2006
• Issued: 07/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kumhyr, David Bruce, Watt, Stephen James, Childress, Rhonda L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wu; Daniel
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tang; Son M
• Application Number:
  US11/555,293
• Publication Number:
  US 20080102785A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,343 Days
• Field of Search: 340/574, 3405391-53918, 455/404.1, 455/521
• US Class Current: 340/539.13
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2205/006 for emergency situations
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0027 of actual mobile position, i.e. position determined on mobile
• 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: H04L 12/1895 for short real-time information, e.g. alarms, notifications, alerts, updates
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/04 with alarm systems, e.g. fire, police or burglar alarm systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/50 for emergency connections

Abstract

A means for a person in distress to use a mobile device to communicate covertly with an Emergency Response Center is provided. The means contains a response designed not to alert an abductor of the communication as well as to indicate whether the person is indeed in distress. The means also allows the Emergency Response Center to locate both the distressed person and a mobile device using GPS or triangulation. The device may be in regular operation mode or in distress mode. When the device is in the distress mode, it will appear to be in normal operating mode if in operation or it will appear to be off if off. In addition, the device may be used for forensic purposes since it may provide voice and video data of the situation at an emergency location to the Emergency Response Center.

Claims

1. A method of covertly communicating between a person in distress and an Emergency Response Center using a mobile device, the method comprising the steps of:

sending by the person in distress an alert indicating an emergency situation to the Emergency Response Center using the mobile device;

receiving, by the mobile device, a first agreed upon message from the Emergency Response Center, the first agreed upon message being from the Emergency Response Center in response to the alert while appearing not to be in response to the alert; and

displaying, by the mobile device, the first agreed upon message to the person in distress;

wherein after receiving the first agreed upon message, the mobile device sends a data to a processor of a personal transmitter, carried and concealed by the person in distress separately from the mobile device, to cause the processor to start transmitting a location identification.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the person in distress responds to the first agreed upon message by a second agreed upon message.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein upon receiving the second agreed upon message, the Emergency Response Center commences rescue procedures.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein sending an alert by the person in distress further comprises:

listening, by the mobile device, for an utterance of a specific phrase in a voice signature of the person in distress, and sending the alert in response to a recognition of the utterance of the specific phrase in the voice signature of the person in distress to the Emergency Response Center; and

sending a data to the personal transmitter worn by the person in distress to cause a processor of the personal transmitter to record an audio information of the emergency situation.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein if the mobile device includes an integrated video camera, a video information is recorded along with the audio information.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein if a cancel alarm signal is not sent to the Emergency Response Center within an agreed upon elapsed time, the Emergency Response Center commences one or more rescue procedures.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the data is a passcode.

8. A computer program product on a computer readable medium for enabling covert communication between a person in distress and an Emergency Response Center using a mobile device, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage medium;

a plurality of instructions stored in the computer readable storage medium, the plurality of instructions configured to cause a processor of a mobile device to perform actions comprising;

enabling the person in distress to send an alert indicating an emergency situation to the Emergency Response Center using the mobile device;

receiving, by the mobile device, a first agreed upon message from the Emergency Response Center, the first agreed upon message being from the Emergency Response Center in response to the alert while appearing not to be in response to the alert;

displaying, by the mobile device, the first agreed upon message to the person in distress;

sending a data to a processor of a personal transmitter, carried separately from the mobile device by the person in distress, to cause the processor to start transmitting a location identification.

9. The computer program product of claim 8 further comprising a code means for enabling the person in distress to respond to the first agreed upon message using a second agreed upon message.

10. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein upon receiving the second agree upon message, the Emergency Response Center commences rescue procedures.

11. The computer program product of claim 10 further comprising:

causing the mobile device to listen for an utterance of a specific phrase in a voice signature of the person in distress, and sending the alert in response to a recognition of the utterance of the specific phrase in the voice signature of the person in distress to the Emergency Response Center; and

causing the mobile device to send a data to the personal transmitter worn by the person in distress to cause the personal transmitter to start transmitting a location identification and to begin to record an audio information of the emergency situation.

12. The computer program product of claim 11 wherein if the mobile device includes an integrated video camera, video information is recorded along with the audio information.

13. The computer program product of claim 8 wherein if a cancel alarm signal is not sent to the Emergency Response Center within an agreed upon elapsed time, the Emergency Response Center commences rescue procedures.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the cancel alarm signal is a passcode.

15. A system for enabling a person in distress to covertly communicate with an Emergency Response Center comprising:

a mobile device, having a first processor, connected to a personal transmitter, having a second processor, and to the Emergency Response Center, wherein the personal transmitter is carried by the person in distress separately from the mobile device;

a storage device connected to a processor of the mobile device;

a plurality of instructions and a plurality of code data stored in the storage device, the plurality of instructions configured to cause the processor, responsive to an action by the person in distress, to send an alert indicating an emergency situation to the Emergency Response Center, to receive a first agreed upon message from the Emergency Response Center, the first agreed upon message being in response to the alert while appearing not to be in response to the alert, to display the first agreed upon message to the person in distress;

responsive to agreed upon message, sending a second message to the Emergency Response Center, and responsive to sending the second message, sending a data to the second processor of the personal transmitter to cause the personal transmitter to start transmitting a location identification.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the person in distress responds to the first agreed upon message by a second agreed upon message.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein upon receiving the second agreed upon message, the Emergency Response Center commences rescue procedures.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the mobile device listens for an utterance of a specific phrase in a voice signature of the person in distress, and sends the alert in response to a recognition of the utterance of the specific phrase in the voice signature of the person in distress to the Emergency Response Center;

and the mobile device sends a data to the personal transmitter worn by the person in distress to start transmitting a location identification and to begin to record audio information of the emergency situation.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein if the mobile device includes an integrated video camera, video information is recorded along with the audio information.

20. The system of claim 15 wherein if a cancel alarm signal is not sent to the Emergency Response Center within an agreed upon elapsed time, the Emergency Response Center commences rescue procedures.