Personal locator and locating method

• US 8,106,820 B2
• Filed: 06/27/2008
• Issued: 01/31/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Globalstar Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Globalstar Incorporated
• Inventors: Bennett, Robert S., Rembert, Joseph III, Monte, Paul A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tarcza, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Vigushin, John
• Application Number:
  US12/215,462
• Publication Number:
  US 20090121930A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,313 Days
• Field of Search: 342/357.55, 342/357.75, 342/357.76, 342/357.77, 342/357.52, 715/864, 455/3.02, 455/404.1, 455/404.2, 455/414.1, 455/414.2, 455/427, 455/456.6
• US Class Current: 342/357.52
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/35 Constructional details or hardware or software details of the signal processing chain
• 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 25/006 Alarm destination chosen according to type of event, e.g. in case of fire phone the fire service, in case of medical emergency phone the ambulance
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/016 Personal emergency signalling and security systems emergency non-personal manually actuated alarm activators G08B25/12

Abstract

Disclosed are systems; apparatus and methods for tracking or locating a person that is lost or has an emergency. Personal locating apparatus is employed comprising a plurality of buttons, and/or a keypad and display, that define an on/off element, an OK element, a help element and a 911 emergency element, wherein the elements are used to select and deselect one of a predetermined number of operational modes. A global positioning system (GPS) receiver in the apparatus processes GPS signals received from GPS satellites to generate location data indicative of the location of the apparatus. A satellite transmitter is coupled to the processor that transmits the location data and a desired operational mode signal to a remotely located processing center via one or more communication satellites. A processor is coupled to the GPS receiver and the satellite transmitter that is programmed to respond to user selections to generate the desired operational mode signal, process the location signals from the GPS receiver, the desired operational mode signal, and optionally a user message, generate a signal for transmission to the processing center, and transmit the signal to the remotely located processing center via one or more communication satellites. The message is processed at the processing center and sent as an email message to one or more designated email addresses, as a short message service (SMS) message to one or more designated cell phones, or as a message to a 911 emergency center.

Claims

1. Personal locating apparatus comprising:

a housing;

a plurality of buttons Including an on/off button for turning the apparatus on and off, and a plurality of selectable buttons, that are selectable to select and deselect one of a predetermined number of operational modes of the apparatus;

a global positioning system (GPS) receiver for processing GPS signals received from GPS satellites to generate location data indicative of the location of the apparatus;

a satellite transmitter coupled to the processor for transmitting a personal location signal including the location data and the selected operational mode signal of a number of different operational mode signals of the apparatus to a remote location via one or more communication satellites, wherein the remote location is configured to create and forward a corresponding message to one or more designated locations based upon the selected operational mode;

a processor coupled to the GPS receiver and the satellite transmitter that is programmed to respond to the buttons that are selected to generate the selected operational mode signal, process the location signals from the GPS receiver and the selected operational mode signal to generate the personal location signal for transmission to the remote location, and for transmitting the personal location signal to the remote location via the one or more communication satellites, wherein said remote location is configured to generate the corresponding message from the location data and the selected operational mode and forward the corresponding message to recipients selected from a list of designated recipients associated with the selected operational mode.

2. The apparatus recited in claim 1 further comprising a plurality of indicator lights that are respectively associated with the plurality of selectable buttons.

3. The apparatus recited in claim 1 wherein the plurality of selectable buttons comprise art OK button, a help button and an emergency button.

4. The apparatus recited in claim 1 wherein the personal location signal comprises one of a plurality of preprogrammed signals indicative of the status of a user of the apparatus.

5. The apparatus recited in claim 1 wherein the selectable buttons comprise a keypad and selection buttons for selecting and deselecting the operational modes, and wherein the apparatus further comprises a display that presents a plurality of selectable function icons.

6. The apparatus recited in claim 1 wherein the personal locating signal comprises one of a plurality of preprogrammed messages indicative of the status of a user of the apparatus or a message that is entered by way of the keypad by the user.

7. A personal locating system comprising:

a plurality of GPS satellites for generating GPS signals that are used to determine position;

one or more communication satellites for transmitting a personal locating signal;

a remotely located processing center configured for receiving and processing the personal locating signal and for creating and forwarding a corresponding message to at least one designated location based upon one selectable operational mode of a number of different selectable operational modes; and

a locating device comprising a plurality of selectable elements that are selectable to select and deselect one of said number of different selectable operational modes of the locating device;

a global positioning system (GPS) receiver for processing GPS signals received from the GPS satellites to generate location data indicative of the location of the locating device, a satellite transmitter coupled to the processor for transmitting the personal locating signal including the location data and the selected operational mode of the locating device; and

processor coupled to the GPS receiver and the satellite transmitter that is programmed to respond to the elements that are selected to generate the selected operational mode signal, process the location signals from the GPS receiver and the selected operational mode signal to generate the personal locating signal for transmission to the remotely located processing center, and for transmitting the personal locating signal to the remotely located processing center via the one or more communication satellites;

wherein said remotely located processing center is configured to generate the corresponding message from the location data and the selected operational mode and forward the corresponding message to recipients selected from a list of designated recipients associated with the selected operational mode.

8. The system recited in claim 7 wherein the remotely located processing center forwards an email message to one or more email addresses.

9. The system recited in claim 7 wherein the remotely located processing center forwards a short message service (SMS) message to one or more selected cell phones.

10. The system recited in claim 7 wherein the remotely located processing center notifies a 911 emergency service with at least the location of the emergency.

11. The system recited in claim 7 wherein the personal locating signal is transmitted by way of the one or more communication satellites to multiple remote locations.

12. The system recited in claim 7 wherein the selectable elements comprise a keypad and selection buttons for selecting and deselecting the operational modes, and wherein the device further comprises a display that presents a plurality of selectable function icons.

13. The system recited in claim 12 wherein the locating device further comprises a receiver for receiving a remotely-generated message, which remotely-generated message is displayed on the display.

14. The system recited in claim 7 wherein the personal locating signal comprises one of a plurality of preprogrammed messages indicative of the status of a user of the device or a message that is entered by way of the keypad by the user.

15. A personal locating method comprising:

programming a personal locator comprising a processor coupled to a plurality of selection elements that are selectable to define different operational modes and that create a message for transmission depending upon the selection elements that are depressed;

receiving and processing GPS signals to generate location data indicative of the location of the personal locator;

selecting one or more of the selection elements to select one of a number of different message modes;

processing the selected message mode and the location data regarding the current location of the personal locator to generate a personal locating message;

transmitting the personal locating message via one or more communication satellites to a remotely located processing center;

processing the transmitted message at the remotely located processing center to generate and forward a different message including the location data and the selected message mode to one or more designated recipients based upon said selected message mode.

16. The method recited in claim 15 wherein the remotely located processing center forwards an email message to one or more email addresses.

17. The method recited in claim 15 wherein the remotely located processing center forwards a short message service (SMS) message to one or more selected cell phones.

18. The method recited in claim 15 wherein the remotely located processing center forwards a short message service (SMS) message to a 911 emergency service.

19. The method recited in claim 15 wherein the personal locating message is transmitted by way of the one or more communication satellites to multiple remote locations.

20. The method recited in claim 15 wherein the selection elements comprise a keypad and selection elements for selecting and deselecting the operational modes, and wherein the personal locator further comprises a display that presents a plurality of selectable function elements.

21. The method recited in claim 20 further comprising:

receiving and displaying a remotely-generated message.

22. The method recited in claim 15 wherein the locating message comprises one of a plurality of preprogrammed messages indicative of the status of a user of the apparatus or a message that is entered by way of the keypad by the user.