System and method of providing an emergency contact party line

• US 8,600,008 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2011
• Issued: 12/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mark Kraus, Paul Toenjes
• Original Assignee: Mark Kraus, Paul Toenjes
• Inventors: Kraus, Mark, Toenjes, Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): TRAN, QUOC DUC
• Application Number:
  US13/172,997
• Publication Number:
  US 20120002791A1
• Time in Patent Office: 887 Days
• Field of Search: 379 37- 40, 379/42, 340/500, 340/502, 340/506
• US Class Current: 379/37
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2749 Automatic dialling or redialling systems, e.g. on off-hook or redial on busy
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72418 for supporting emergency services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/04 with alarm systems, e.g. fire, police or burglar alarm systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/10 including a GPS signal receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion telephones including GPS signal receivers H04M2250/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/024 Guidance 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 system and method for providing an emergency contact party telephone line in response to an emergency. The system includes a user device (21) and a monitoring database (22), which communicate with one another over the Internet (23). A plurality of contacts and contact methods are stored on the monitoring database (22). The contact methods for each contact are arranged in a hierarchy according to priority. When the user device (21) establishes an emergency condition, it communicates the emergency condition to the monitoring database (22). The monitoring database (22) then establishes a support line, similar to a conference call line. Once the support line is set up, the monitoring database (22) sends a notification message of the emergency to the contacts through a first contact method. The monitoring database (22) then sends another notification message through a second contact method different to the first contact method to each of the contacts who did not respond to the first notification message.

Claims

1. A method of providing an emergency contact party telephone line in response to an emergency comprising the steps of:

providing a user device (21),

providing a monitoring database (22) including a plurality of contacts and including a first contact method for contacting each contact,

establishing communication between the user device (21) and the monitoring database (22),

establishing an emergency condition with the user device (21),

sending an emergency notification from the user device (21) to the monitoring database (22),

automatically establishing a support line with the monitoring database (22),

automatically sending a notification message to each of the contacts with the first contact method,

automatically providing each of the contacts that accepted the notification message through the first contact method with a route to connect to the support line,

and characterized by

automatically sending a notification message through the second contact method different than the first contact method to each of the contacts that failed to respond to the notification message sent through the first contact method; and

automatically providing each of the contacts that accepted the notification message through the second contact method with a route to connect to the support line through the second contact method.

2. The method as set forth in claim 1 further including the step of arranging the contact methods for each contact into a hierarchy including the first contact method and the second contact method.

3. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the user device (21) includes a user input (54) and wherein the step of establishing the emergency condition is further defined as establishing an emergency condition with the user device (21) in response to the user signaling an emergency condition with the user input (54).

4. The method as set forth in claim 1 further including the step of providing at biometric equipment (26) for sensing an emergency and wherein the step of establishing the emergency condition is further defined as establishing an emergency condition with the user device (21) in response to the biometric equipment (26) sensing an emergency condition.

5. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the user device (21) includes a GPS receiver (24) and further including the step of establishing a geofence of longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates for containing the user device (21) and wherein the step of establishing the emergency condition is further defined as establishing an emergency condition with the user device (21) in response to the user device (21) leaving the geofence.

6. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the route to connect to the support line is a call-in number and a password.

7. The method as set forth in claim 1 further including the step of establishing an Internet (23) Protocol (IP) address for the user device (21) to connect the user device (21) to the Internet (23).

8. The method as set forth in claim 7 further including the step of establishing an Internet (23) Protocol (IP) address for the monitoring database (22) to connect the monitoring database (22) to the Internet (23).

9. The method as set forth in claim 7 wherein the step of establishing an Internet (23) Protocol (IP) address for the user device (21) is further defined as establishing an Internet (23) Protocol (IP) address for the user device (21) through at least one of a cellular network connection and a satellite (33) connection and a cradle (34) connection.

10. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the plurality of contact methods include at least two of a phone number for calling the contact and a phone number for sending an SMS message to the contact and a pager (39) number for sending a pager (39) message to the contact and an email address for sending an email message to the contact.

11. A method of providing an emergency contact party telephone line in response to an emergency comprising the steps of:

providing a user device (21) including a power supply (52) and including a user input (54) for signaling an emergency condition and including biometric equipment (26) and including a GPS receiver (24) and including a microphone and including a speaker,

establishing a geofence of longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates for containing the user device (21),

establishing an Internet Protocol (IP) address for the user device (21) through at least one of a cellular network connection and a satellite (33) connection and a cradle (34) connection to connect the user device (21) to the Internet (23),

providing a monitoring database (22),

storing a plurality of contacts and a plurality of contact methods for contacting each contact and wherein the plurality of contact methods includes at least two of a phone number for calling the contact and a phone number for sending an SMS message to the contact and a pager number for sending a pager message to the contact and an email address for sending an email message to the contact,

arranging the contact methods for each contact into a hierarchy including a first contact method and a second contact method,

establishing an Internet Protocol (IP) address for the monitoring database (22) to connect the monitoring database (22) to the Internet (23),

connecting the monitoring database (22) to the public switch telephone network,

establishing communication over the Internet (23) between the monitoring database (22) and the user device (21),

determining the longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates of the user device (21) with the GPS receiver (24),

comparing the longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates of the user device (21) to the geofence,

sensing a medical condition with the biometric equipment (26),

establishing an emergency condition with the user device (21) in response to at least one of the user of the user device (21) signaling an emergency condition with the user input (54) and one of the sensors sensing an emergency and the GPS receiver (24) sensing the user device (21) leaving the geofence,

sending an emergency notification through the Internet (23) from the user device (21) to the monitoring database (22),

automatically establishing a support line with the monitoring database (22) and associating a call-in number and a password with the support line,

automatically sending a notification message with the monitoring database (22) to each of the contacts with the first contact method,

receiving with the monitoring database (22) one of an accepted response and a rejected response from the contacts,

automatically sending the call-in number and the password of the support line with the first contact method to each of the contacts that accepted the notification message through the first contact method,

and characterized by

automatically sending the notification message with the monitoring database (22) through a second contact method to each of the contacts that failed to respond within a predetermined amount of time,

receiving with the monitoring database (22) one of an accepted response and a rejected response from the contacts,

automatically sending the call-in number and the password of the support line with the second contact method to each of the contacts that accepted the notification message through the second contact method, and

connecting the user device (21) to the support line.