Mobile communication terminal, and system and method for safety service using same

• US 9,462,445 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2011
• Issued: 10/04/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thinkware Systems Corporation
• Original Assignee: Thinkware Corporation
• Inventors: Jo, Yongrae, Yoo, Junghwa, Yoo, Jihyun
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, David Q
• Application Number:
  US13/876,906
• Publication Number:
  US 20130303105A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,831 Days
• Field of Search: 405/404.1, 405/556.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/22 Matching criteria, e.g. proximity measures
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00307 with a mobile telephone apparatus constructional features of portable telephone sets H04M1/0202; mobile radio systems H04W84/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/661 Transmitting camera control signals through networks, e.g. control via the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/69 Control of means for changing angle of the field of view, e.g. optical zoom objectives or electronic zooming
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/695 Control of camera direction for changing a field of view, e.g. pan, tilt or based on tracking of objects
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/183 for receiving images from a single remote source
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/185 from a mobile camera, e.g. for remote control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

A mobile communication terminal and a system and a method for safety service using the terminal for checking the user'"'"'s location and a situation of the surroundings of the user at the time of an emergency such as kidnapping, accident, and so on, are provided. The mobile communication terminal includes a camera, an angle-of-view changing unit which changes angle-of-view of the camera, and a controller which controls the angle-of-view changing unit to change the angle-of-view of the camera and controls the camera to capture the surroundings corresponding to the angle-of-view at the time of emergency mode.

Claims

1. A mobile communication terminal comprising:

a camera;

a transmit unit;

an angle-of-view changing unit which changes an angle-of-view of the camera; and

a controller which controls the angle-of-view changing unit to change a position of the angle-of-view of the camera from a first angle-of-view to a second angle-of-view along a specific direction and controls the camera to capture the surroundings corresponding to the angle-of-view and controls the transmit unit to transmit image data captured by the camera to a server, at the time of an emergency mode,

wherein when an angle-of-view change command is received from the server, the controller controls the angle-of-view changing unit to change the angle-of-view of the camera.

2. The mobile communication terminal of claim 1, wherein the first angle-of-view and the second angle-of-view overlap with each other.

3. The mobile communication terminal of claim 1, further comprising the transmit unit which transmits the image data captured by the camera to the server or another terminal, wherein the transmit unit transmits the image data to the server or another terminal independently of a user'"'"'s command input at the time of the emergency mode.

4. The mobile communication terminal of claim 1, further comprising a storing unit which stores image data captured by the camera, wherein the storing unit comprises a first storing unit which stores image data captured by the camera at the time of the emergency mode and a second storing unit which stores image data captured by the camera at the time of a normal mode.

5. The mobile communication terminal of claim 4, wherein image data captured by the camera is stored in the first storing unit after encryption.

6. The mobile communication terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller controls the camera through wireless communication, and wherein the controller is implemented as a module separately from the camera.

7. The mobile communication terminal of claim 1, further comprising a first power supply providing power at the time of a normal mode and the emergency mode and a second power supply providing power at the time of the emergency mode, wherein power of the second power supply is smaller than that of the first power supply.

8. The mobile communication terminal of claim 1, further comprising a power supply providing power, where the power supply is divided into a main power and an auxiliary power and the power supply provides the auxiliary power when the emergency mode is activated while the main power is used up.

9. The mobile communication terminal of claim 1, wherein the emergency mode is set when a user leaves a predetermined safety zone.

10. The mobile communication terminal of claim 1, wherein the emergency mode is set when a user enters a predetermined dangerous zone.

11. The mobile communication terminal of claim 1, wherein the emergency mode is set when a user leaves a predetermine route.

12. The mobile communication terminal of claim 1, wherein the emergency mode is set when a user leaves a trajectory on a predetermined route.

13. The mobile communication terminal of claim 1, wherein the emergency mode is set when a user enters an emergency mode set-up command.

14. The mobile communication terminal of claim 1, wherein the emergency mode is set when an emergency mode set-up command is received wirelessly from the outside.

15. The mobile communication terminal of claim 1, wherein the emergency mode is set when an impact larger than a predetermined critical value is applied from the outside.

16. The mobile communication terminal of claim 1, further comprising an alarm unit informing a user about activation of an emergency mode at the time of the emergency mode.

17. The mobile communication terminal of claim 1, wherein the terminal further comprises a position moving unit changing a position of the camera along the specific direction.

18. The mobile communication terminal of claim 17, wherein the position moving unit changes the position of the camera in upward, downward, left, and right directions or to tilt the camera with respect to an axis thereof.

19. The mobile communication terminal of claim 1, wherein the server compares the image data captured by the camera with a pre-stored image and transmits location information of a user to another terminal or server if the image data matches the pre-stored image.

20. The mobile communication terminal of claim 19, wherein the server compares the image data captured by the camera with a first pre-stored image within a first radius from an estimated position of the user calculated based on a telecommunication base station, and if the image data does not match the first pre-stored image, the server compares the image data captured by the camera with a second pre-stored image within a second radius from the estimated position of the user so as to find the location information of the user, wherein the second radius is larger than the first radius.