Wearable device for automatic detection of emergency situations

• US 9,881,486 B2
• Filed: 06/26/2015
• Issued: 01/30/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bharti, Harish, Choudhury, Sanjib
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, An T
• Application Number:
  US14/751,670
• Publication Number:
  US 20160379473A1
• Time in Patent Office: 949 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/182 Level alarms, e.g. alarms responsive to variables exceeding a threshold
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/016 Personal emergency signalling and security systems emergency non-personal manually actuated alarm activators G08B25/12
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/08 using communication transmission lines G08B13/19658, G08B21/0286, G08B25/016 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/385 Transceivers carried on the body, e.g. in helmets
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

A portion of data is received from each sensor of a plurality of sensors. An emergency level corresponding to each metric of a plurality of metrics is calculated, where the calculated emergency level is determined based on the portion of data received from the sensors. A total emergency level corresponding to the current situation is calculated, where the calculation of the total emergency level is based on the emergency level calculated for each metric. It is determined whether the total emergency level is above a critical threshold, where the critical threshold is selected by the user. If it is determined that the total emergency level is above the critical threshold, an alert is sent to a party such as one or more local authorities.

Claims

1. A method for identifying a situation and sending an alert, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving, by one or more processors, data from at least one sensor of a plurality of sensors included within a wearable computing device, wherein the plurality of sensors includes at least one of a microphone and a video camera;

calculating, by one or more processors, one or more emergency levels based, at least in part, on the data received from the at least one sensor and a comparison to data in a user profile, wherein;

the user profile includes of information related to the average volume and sound of the voice of the user and information related to the average volume and sound of the voice of a person known by the user; and

each emergency level of the one or more emergency levels corresponds to at least one metric of a plurality of metrics;

calculating, by one or more processors, a total emergency level based, at least in part, on the one or more emergency levels;

determining, by one or more processors, that the total emergency level is above a preselected critical threshold; and

responsive to determining that the total emergency level is above a preselected critical threshold, causing, by one or more processors, an alert to be sent to a party, wherein the alert includes at least one of audio information captured by the microphone and video information captured by the video camera.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the wearable computing device is worn by a user and is in contact with at least a portion of the user'"'"'s skin.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of sensors further includes a proximity sensor.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the plurality of metrics are selected from the group consisting of:

number and size of objects in proximity to the user;

an indication of a panicked voice;

an identification of a user yelling “

help”

; and

an identification of a person known by the user.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the alert further includes proximity sensor information comprising the number and size of objects in proximity to the user.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the calculation of the total emergency level is based, at least in part, on the one or more emergency levels and a weight associated with each emergency level.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the party comprises one or more of:

a parent of a user;

a relative of a user;

a guardian of a user;

a close friend of a user;

a medical professional associated with the user;

a police department;

a fire department; and

emergency medical personnel.

8. A computer program product for identifying a situation and sending an alert, the computer program product comprising:

one or more computer readable storage media and program instructions stored on the one or more computer readable storage media, the program instructions comprising;

program instructions to receive data from at least one sensor of a plurality of sensors included within a wearable computing device, wherein the plurality of sensors includes at least one of a microphone and a video camera;

program instructions to calculate one or more emergency levels based, at least in part, on the data received from the at least one sensors and a comparison to data in a user profile, wherein;

the user profile includes of information related the average volume and sound of the voice of the user and information related to the average volume and sound of the voice of a person known by the user; and

each emergency level of the one or more emergency levels corresponds to at least one metric of a plurality of metrics;

program instructions to calculate at total emergency level based, at least in part, on the one or more emergency levels;

program instructions to determine that the total emergency level is above a preselected critical threshold; and

program instructions to cause, responsive to determining that the total emergency level is above the preselected critical threshold, an alert to be sent to a party, wherein the alert includes at least one of audio information captured by the microphone and video information captured by the video camera.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the wearable computing device is worn by a user and is in contact with at least a portion of the user'"'"'s skin.

10. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the plurality of sensors further includes a proximity sensor.

11. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the plurality of metrics are selected from the group consisting of:

number and size of objects in proximity to the user;

an indication of a panicked voice;

an identification of a user yelling “

help”

; and

an identification of a person known by the user.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the alert further includes proximity sensor information comprising the number and size of objects in proximity to the user.

13. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the calculation of the total emergency level is based, at least in part, on the one or more emergency levels and a weight associated with each emergency level.

14. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the party comprises one or more of:

a parent of a user;

a relative of a user;

a guardian of a user;

a close friend of a user;

a medical professional associated with the user;

a police department;

a fire department; and

emergency medical personnel.

15. A computer system for identifying a situation and sending an alert, the computer system comprising:

one or more computer processors, one or more computer readable storage media, and program instructions stored on the one or more computer readable storage media for execution by at least one of the more or more processors, the program instructions comprising;

program instructions to receive data from at least one sensor of a plurality of sensors included within a wearable computing device, wherein the plurality of sensors includes at least one of a microphone and a video camera;

program instructions to calculate one or more emergency levels based, at least in part, on the data received from the at least one sensors and a comparison to data in a user profile, wherein;

the user profile includes information related to the average volume and sound of the voice of the user and information related to the average volume and sound of the voice of a person known by the user; and

each emergency level of the one or more emergency levels corresponds to at least one metric of a plurality of metrics;

program instructions to calculate at total emergency level based, at least in part, on the one or more emergency levels;

program instructions to determine that the total emergency level is above a preselected critical threshold; and

program instructions to cause, responsive to determining that the total emergency level is above the preselected critical threshold, an alert to be sent to a party, wherein the alert includes at least one of audio information captured by a microphone included on the wearable computing device and video information captured by a video camera included on the wearable computing device.

16. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the wearable computing device is worn by a user and is in contact with at least a portion of the user'"'"'s skin.

17. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the plurality of sensors further includes a proximity sensor.

18. The computer system of claim 16, wherein the plurality of metrics are selected from the group consisting of:

number and size of objects in proximity to the user;

sample an indication of a panicked voice;

an identification of a user yelling “

help”

; and

an identification of a person known by the user.

19. The computer system of claim 18, wherein the alert further includes proximity sensor information comprising the number and size of objects in proximity to the user.