Personal mobile surveillance systems and methods

• US 8,976,244 B2
• Filed: 09/02/2011
• Issued: 03/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Felt, Michelle, Roberts, Brian F., Relyea, Donald H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ustaris, Joseph
• Assistant Examiner(s): MCINNISH, KEVIN K
• Application Number:
  US13/225,178
• Publication Number:
  US 20130057696A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,285 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 348/143
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0283 via a telephone network, e.g. cellular GSM
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/016 Personal emergency signalling and security systems emergency non-personal manually actuated alarm activators G08B25/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/186 Video door telephones
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

An exemplary method includes a mobile user device subsystem 1) acquiring, during operation in a normal surveillance mode, a first set of surveillance data, 2) transmitting, during operation in the normal surveillance mode, the first set of surveillance data to a server subsystem, 3) detecting, during operation in the normal surveillance mode, a trigger event, 4) transitioning, in response to the detecting of the trigger event, from operation in the normal surveillance mode to operation in an enhanced surveillance mode, 5) acquiring, during operation in the enhanced surveillance mode, a second set of surveillance data; and 6) transmitting, during operation in the enhanced surveillance mode, the second set of surveillance data to the server subsystem, wherein the second set of surveillance data comprises an enhanced set of data compared to the first set of surveillance data. Corresponding systems and methods are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

acquiring, by a mobile user device subsystem during operation in accordance with a normal surveillance mode, a first set of surveillance data;

transmitting, by the mobile user device subsystem during operation in accordance with the normal surveillance mode, the first set of surveillance data to a server subsystem;

detecting, by the mobile user device subsystem during operation in accordance with the normal surveillance mode, a trigger event that includes a change in usage of resources of the mobile user device subsystem;

determining, by the mobile user device subsystem in response to the detecting of the trigger event and based on the change in the usage of the resources of the mobile user device subsystem, that there are not sufficient available resources of the mobile user device subsystem for operation in accordance with an enhanced surveillance mode;

stopping, by the mobile user device subsystem in response to the determining that there are not sufficient available resources, one or more processes operating by way of the mobile user device subsystem to ensure that there are sufficient resources to operate in the enhanced surveillance mode;

transitioning, by the mobile user device subsystem after stopping the one or more processes, from operation in accordance with the normal surveillance mode to operation in accordance with the enhanced surveillance mode;

acquiring, by the mobile user device subsystem during operation in accordance with the enhanced surveillance mode, a second set of surveillance data; and

transmitting, by the mobile user device subsystem during operation in accordance with the enhanced surveillance mode, the second set of surveillance data to the server subsystem;

wherein the second set of surveillance data comprises an enhanced set of data compared to the first set of surveillance data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the mobile user device subsystem transmits data to the server subsystem by way of a wireless network; and

the transmitting of the second set of surveillance data to the server subsystem consumes more bandwidth of the wireless network than is consumed by the transmitting of the first set of surveillance data to the server subsystem.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the acquiring of the first set of surveillance data during operation in accordance with the normal surveillance mode comprises periodically acquiring a value for a surveillance data parameter; and

the acquiring of the second set of surveillance data during operation in accordance with the enhanced surveillance mode comprises continuously acquiring a value for the same surveillance data parameter.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the acquiring of the first set of surveillance data during operation in accordance with the normal surveillance mode comprises periodically capturing still-shot camera images of an environment of the mobile user device subsystem; and

the acquiring of the second set of surveillance data during operation in accordance with the enhanced surveillance mode comprises capturing video images of the environment of the mobile user device subsystem.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the first set of surveillance data does not include user environment data representative of a condition of an environment of the mobile user device subsystem; and

the second set of surveillance data includes user environment data representative of the condition of the environment of the mobile user device subsystem.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the second set of surveillance data includes user device status data, user condition data representative of a physical condition of a user associated with the mobile user device subsystem, and user environment data representative of a condition of an environment of the mobile user device subsystem.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile user device subsystem comprises a mobile phone device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile user device subsystem comprises a discrete user-wearable device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile user device subsystem comprises a combination of a mobile phone device that communicates with the server subsystem by way of a wireless network and one or more discrete user-wearable devices that capture user environment data representative of a condition of an environment of the mobile user device subsystem and to provide the captured user environment data to the mobile phone device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein:

the one or more discrete user-wearable devices comprise one or more camera devices; and

the user environment data comprises one or more images of at least a portion of the environment.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the trigger event is indicative of potential danger to a user of the mobile user device subsystem.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing, by the mobile user device subsystem in response to the detecting of the trigger event, a user interface including an option that initiates a sending of an emergency communication when the option is selected by a user of the mobile user device subsystem.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the server subsystem, the first set of surveillance data and the second set of surveillance data from the mobile user device subsystem by way of a wireless network;

receiving, by the server subsystem, additional surveillance data from one or more additional mobile user device subsystems by way of the wireless network;

detecting, by the server subsystem based on the received surveillance data, a mass emergency event; and

sending, by the server subsystem in response to the detecting of the mass emergency event, an alert message.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting, by the mobile user device subsystem during operation in accordance with the enhanced surveillance mode, an additional trigger event;

transitioning, by the mobile user device subsystem in response to the detecting of the additional trigger event, from operation in accordance with the enhanced surveillance mode back to operation in accordance with the normal surveillance mode;

acquiring, by the mobile user device subsystem during resumed operation in accordance with the normal surveillance mode, the first set of surveillance data; and

transmitting, by the mobile user device subsystem during resumed operation in accordance with the normal surveillance mode, the first set of surveillance data to the server subsystem.

15. The method of claim 1, embodied as computer-executable instructions on at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the mobile user device subsystem comprises a combination of

a mobile phone device that communicates with the server subsystem by way of a wireless network, and

one or more discrete user-wearable devices that capture user environment data representative of a condition of an environment of the mobile user device subsystem and that provide the captured user environment data to the mobile phone device; and

the mobile phone device and the one or more discrete user-wearable devices are each associated with one user of the mobile user device subsystem.

17. A method comprising:

receiving, by a server subsystem from a mobile user device subsystem operating in accordance with a normal surveillance mode, a first set of surveillance data;

storing, by the server subsystem, the first set of surveillance data;

detecting, by the server subsystem based on the first set of surveillance data, a predefined trigger event that includes a change in usage of resources of the mobile user device subsystem;

determining, by the server subsystem in response to the detecting of the trigger event and based on the change in the usage of the resources of the mobile user device subsystem, that there are not sufficient available resources of the mobile user device subsystem for operation in accordance with an enhanced surveillance mode;

instructing, by the server subsystem in response to the determining that there are not sufficient available resources, the mobile user device subsystem to stop one or more processes operating by way of the mobile user device subsystem to ensure that there are sufficient resources to operate in the enhanced surveillance mode;

instructing, by the server subsystem after the mobile user device subsystem stops the one or more processes, the mobile user device subsystem to transition from operating in accordance with the normal surveillance mode to operating in accordance with the enhanced surveillance mode;

receiving, by the server subsystem from the mobile user device subsystem operating in accordance with the enhanced surveillance mode, a second set of surveillance data; and

storing, by the server subsystem, the second set of surveillance data;

wherein the second set of surveillance data comprises an enhanced set of data compared to the first set of surveillance data.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the trigger event is indicative of potential danger to a user of the mobile user device subsystem.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

receiving, by the server subsystem, additional surveillance data from one or more additional mobile user device subsystems; and

detecting, by the server subsystem based on the received surveillance data, a mass emergency event; and

sending, by the server subsystem in response to the detecting of the mass emergency event, an alert message.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

detecting, by the server subsystem based on the second set of surveillance data, an additional predefined trigger event; and

instructing, by the server subsystem in response to the detecting of the additional predefined trigger event, the mobile user device subsystem to transition back from operating in accordance with the enhanced surveillance mode to operating in accordance with the normal surveillance mode.

21. The method of claim 17, embodied as computer-executable instructions on at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium.

22. A system comprising:

a server subsystem comprising at least one server device; and

a mobile user device subsystem that comprises at least one user device, that is communicatively coupled to the server subsystem by way of a wireless network, and that

acquires and transmits a first set of surveillance data to the server subsystem,

detects a trigger event indicative of potential danger to a user associated with the mobile user device subsystem,

determines, in response to the detection of the trigger event and based on a change in usage of resources of the mobile user device subsystem, that there are not sufficient available resources of the mobile user device subsystem to acquire a second set of surveillance data,

stops, in response to the determining that there are not sufficient available resources, one or more processes operating by way of the mobile user device subsystem to ensure that there are sufficient resources to acquire the second set of surveillance data, and

acquires and transmits, after the stopping of the one or more processes, the second set of surveillance data to the server subsystem,

wherein the second set of surveillance data comprises an enhanced set of data compared to the first set of surveillance data.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the server subsystem

receives the first set of surveillance data and the second set of surveillance data from the mobile user device subsystem by way of the wireless network,

receives additional surveillance data from one or more additional mobile user device subsystems by way of the wireless network,

detects, based on the received surveillance data, a mass emergency event, and

sends, in response to the detection of the mass emergency event, an alert message.