Context-dependent emergency situation report

• US 9,986,405 B1
• Filed: 03/16/2017
• Issued: 05/29/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Cardonha, Carlos Henrique, Grave, Marcelo Carpinette, Moraes, Fabiano Marcon de, Pereira, Debora Lina Nascimento Ciriaco
• Primary Examiner(s): Bhattacharya, Sam
• Application Number:
  US15/460,528
• Time in Patent Office: 439 Days
• Field of Search: 4554041, 4554042, 455418, 4554561
• 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: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

A method for context-dependent emergency reporting includes receiving at a processor of a cellular phone a signal indicative of detecting a contextual cue. The exemplary method also includes receiving at the processor of the cellular phone a signal indicative of detecting a confirmatory cue. The exemplary method further includes the processor of the cellular phone identifying an emergency in response to detecting both the confirmatory cue and the contextual cue; and, in response to identifying the emergency, the processor of the cellular phone alerting a pre-registered recipient of the emergency via a wireless communication module of the cellular phone.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a processor coupled in communication with first and second sensors;

a wireless communication module coupled in communication with the processor; and

a memory coupled in communication with the processor, the memory embodying distinct software modules that comprise a contextual module, a confirmatory module, and an alarm module, wherein;

the processor is configured to receive signals from the first sensor and the second sensor, to compare the signal from the first sensor to values stored in the memory, to trigger a signal indicative of detecting a contextual cue in response to the signal from the first sensor matching a corresponding stored value within a corresponding accuracy, to compare the signal from the second sensor to template sequences stored in the memory, and to trigger a signal indicative of detecting a confirmatory cue in response to the signal from the second sensor matching a corresponding template sequence;

the contextual module executes on the processor to facilitate receiving the signal from the first sensor and triggering the signal indicative of detecting the contextual cue;

the confirmatory module executes on the processor to facilitate receiving the signal from the second sensor, triggering the signal indicative of detecting the confirmatory cue by the second sensor, and identifying an emergency in response to detecting both the confirmatory cue and the contextual cue; and

the alarm module executes on the processor to facilitate selecting a pre-registered recipient from a plurality of potential recipients of an alert, responsive to the contextual cue, and alerting the pre-registered recipient of the emergency, via the wireless communication module, in response to identifying the emergency.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising the first sensor, wherein the first sensor is selected from the group consisting of a thermometer, a microphone, an accelerometer, a GPS receiver, a photodiode, a pulse oximeter, a sphygmomanometer, a galvanometer, and an electromyography sensor.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 further comprising a wearable sensor module to be worn by a user of the apparatus, wherein the first sensor is housed in the wearable sensor module.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 further comprising a second wireless communication module by which the processor is coupled in communication with the first sensor.

5. A method comprising:

receiving at a processor of a cellular phone a signal indicative of detecting a contextual cue;

receiving at the processor of the cellular phone a signal indicative of detecting a confirmatory cue;

the processor of the cellular phone identifying an emergency in response to detecting both the confirmatory cue and the contextual cue;

the processor of the cellular phone selecting a pre-registered recipient from a plurality of potential recipients of an alert, responsive to the contextual cue; and

in response to identifying the emergency, the processor of the cellular phone alerting the pre-registered recipient of the emergency via a wireless communication module of the cellular phone.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the contextual cue is a sound level.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the contextual cue is a rate of change of a sound level.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein the contextual cue is a temperature.

9. The method of claim 5 wherein the contextual cue is a physiologic cue of a user of the cellular phone.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the contextual cue is detected by a pulse oximeter.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the contextual cue is detected by a galvanometer.

12. The method of claim 5 wherein the confirmatory cue is a gesture made by a user of the cellular phone.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the confirmatory cue is detected by a sensor of a wearable item worn by the user of the cellular phone.

14. The method of claim 5, further comprising providing distinct software modules, each of the distinct software modules being embodied on a computer-readable storage medium of the cellular phone, wherein the distinct software modules comprise a contextual module, a confirmatory module, and an alarm module, wherein:

the contextual module executes on the cellular phone to facilitate receiving a signal indicative of detecting a contextual cue;

the confirmatory module executes on the cellular phone to facilitate receiving a signal indicative of detecting a confirmatory cue and to facilitate identifying an emergency in response to detecting both the confirmatory cue and the contextual cue; and

the alarm module executes on the cellular phone to facilitate alerting the pre-registered recipient in response to identifying the emergency.

15. The method of claim 5 further comprising pre-registering the plurality of potential recipients of the alert.

16. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium embodying computer executable instructions which when executed by a cellular phone cause the cellular phone to facilitate a method of:

receiving a signal indicative of detecting a contextual cue;

receiving a signal indicative of detecting a confirmatory cue;

identifying an emergency in response to detecting both the confirmatory cue and the contextual cue;

selecting a pre-registered recipient from a plurality of potential recipients of an alert, responsive to the contextual cue; and

alerting the pre-registered recipient in response to identifying the emergency.

17. The product of claim 16, further embodying computer executable instructions which when executed by the cellular phone cause the cellular phone to facilitate:

establishing wireless communication with a sensor for detecting one of the contextual cue or the confirmatory cue.

18. The product of claim 16, further embodying computer executable instructions which when executed by the cellular phone cause the cellular phone to facilitate:

pre-registering the plurality of potential recipients of the alert.

19. The product of claim 16, further embodying computer executable instructions which when executed by the cellular phone cause the cellular phone to facilitate:

establishing reference values of sensor values corresponding to one or more contextual cues.

20. The product of claim 16, further embodying computer executable instructions which when executed by the cellular phone cause the cellular phone to facilitate:

establishing a confirmatory gesture input.