Wearable device for safety monitoring of a user

• US 10,249,172 B2
• Filed: 06/26/2017
• Issued: 04/02/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Titan (L3Harris Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: M/S. Hug Innovations Corp.
• Inventors: Neravati, Raja Sekhar, Gangalakurti, Manohar, Panjala, Dileep Kumar
• Primary Examiner(s): Yang, James J
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lau, Kevin
• Application Number:
  US15/633,391
• Publication Number:
  US 20170372592A1
• Time in Patent Office: 645 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0446 worn on the body to detect changes of posture, e.g. a fall, inclination, acceleration, gait
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0453 worn on the body to detect health condition by physiological monitoring, e.g. electrocardiogram, temperature, breathing detecting, measuring or recording for diagnostic purposes A61B5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0492 Sensor dual technology, i.e. two or more technologies collaborate to extract unsafe condition, e.g. video tracking and RFID tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/001 Alarm cancelling procedures or alarm forwarding decisions, e.g. based on absence of alarm confirmation
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/004 Alarm propagated along alternative communication path or using alternative communication medium according to a hierarchy of available ways to communicate, e.g. if Wi-Fi not available use 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: G08B 25/08 using communication transmission lines G08B13/19658, G08B21/0286, G08B25/016 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/10 using wireless transmission systems G08B25/009 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 27/008 with transmission via TV or radio broadcast

Abstract

A precise, gesture-based, safety monitoring system, method and device. The present invention comprises a controller, wherein the controller upon detection of a distress signal, sends an alert signal along with the Location information of the user to a Remote Server. The Remote Server, upon receiving an alert signal sends an SMS and e-mail along with the Location information to a Mobile device of the registered emergency numbers of the user and responds in real-time.

Claims

1. A precise, gesture-based, safety monitoring wearable device for a user having, (a) a cover, (b) side keys, (c) a laser etching, (d) a heart-rate monitor, (e) a charging port, (f) a controller, (g) a mobile device, (h) a Remote Server, (i) a battery, (j) an SOS battery, (k) distress signal, (l) a light emitting diode (LED), (m) a vibration motor, (n) 9-axis inertial measurement unit (IMU), (o) one or more alert signals, (p) a Bluetooth module and, (q) a processor, wherein:

a) the cover is located on top front portion;

b) the laser etching, the heart-rate monitor and the charging port are on the backside of the wearable device;

c) the battery is molded into a design for maximum safety;

d) the SOS battery reserve is used to send the distress signal;

e) the light emitting diode has a TFT display screen to display time under normal operating conditions;

f) the vibration motor is located away from the 9-axis inertial measurement unit and is configured as a silent alarm using a vibration module such that the motor configured to vibrate upon generation of a distress gesture to indicate to a user that the alert signal has been sent to registered emergency numbers of the user;

g) the alert signal from the user is in the form of gestures, and the IMU is utilized to get 3D position and orientation of the wearable device that aids in extracting meaningful gestures;

h) the controller is a microcontroller configured for storing necessary instructions required for generating distress signal and for transmitting an alert signal along with location information of the user to the remote server and it co-ordinates various modules in the wearable device and initiates different modules based on the gestures recognized by the IMU, and executes necessary actions including gesture recognition, configuration, communication and storage; and

i) the IMU acts as a high accuracy motion tracking unit to recognize gestures and is of small size with low power consumption, and comprises a 3-axis accelerometer, 3-axis gyroscope, and 3-axis magnetometer, each with 9 degrees of freedom, wherein;

i) hand gestures are tracked by the 3-axis accelerometer and gyroscope from which alphabets are created for the gestures, each alphabet represents a particular action and each action is configured by the user using either the Bluetooth or a web-based application;

ii) the 3-axis accelerometer measures acceleration of the user, whereas, the 3-axis magnetometer measures magnetic field associated with the user'"'"'s change of orientation;

iii) the 3-axis gyroscope is used along with the 3-axis accelerometer for more precise determination of an orientation of the user;

iv) the 9-axis inertial measurement unit automatically identifies a type of distress by calculating the change of orientation of the user from the 3-axis accelerometer, the 3-axis gyroscope, and the 3-axis magnetometer; and

v) to reduce false activations which might be performed while performing daily activities, an activation gesture is performed by the user to activate the actual gestures pre-configured by the user.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the device contains an OLED display and an LED display.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the wearable device allows the user to pre-configure one or more gestures such that:

a) the user can configure gestures in an x-y plane, x-z plane and also with varying angular velocities,

wherein, upon detection of a gesture hit in the x-y plane, x-z plane, or with varied angular velocity pre-configured by the user, the controller activates action associated with the pre-configured gesture set by the user.

4. A gesture-based system having (a) a wearable A comprising a wearable and a mobile application, (b) location services B comprising location services and a location processor, (c) services C comprising a redis cluster, an application gateway, user services, health services and safety services, and (d) customer services D, comprising a customer service relationship (CSR) office, website, CSR services with site-to-site (STS) VPN and a load balancer, with data processing apparatus programmed to perform precise safety monitoring operations comprising:

a) detecting one or more user inputs from the wearable A and performing measurements;

b) triggering one or more SOS signals based on the user input;

c) communicating between the wearable A and services C;

d) initiating the SOS after eliminating false alarms; and

e) detecting a user'"'"'s location and contacting safety services and responding in real-time;

wherein the wearable A comprises;

a) a cover;

b) side keys;

c) a laser etching;

d) a heart-rate monitor;

e) a charging port;

f) a controller;

g) a mobile device;

h) a remote server;

i) a battery;

j) an SOS battery;

k) distress signal;

l) a display screen;

m) a vibration motor;

n) 9-axis inertial measurement unit (IMU);

o) one or more alert signals;

p) a Bluetooth module; and

q) a processor,

wherein the vibration motor is located away from the 9-axis inertial measurement unit and is configured as a silent alarm using a vibration module such that the motor configured to vibrate upon generation of a distress gesture to indicate to the user that the alert signal has been sent to registered emergency numbers of the user,

wherein the one or more alert signals from the user is in the form of gestures, and the IMU is utilized to get 3D position and orientation of the wearable device that aids in extracting meaningful gestures;

wherein the IMU acts as a high accuracy motion tracking unit to recognize gestures and is of small size with low power consumption, comprises of a 3-axis accelerometer, 3-axis gyroscope, and 3-axis magnetometer, thus with 9 degrees of freedom, wherein;

i) hand gestures are tracked by the 3-axis accelerometer and gyroscope from which alphabets are created for the gestures, each alphabet represents a particular action and configured by the user using either the Bluetooth or a web-based application;

ii) the 3-axis accelerometer measures acceleration of the user, whereas, the 3-axis magnetometer measures magnetic field associated with the user'"'"'s change of orientation;

iii) the 3-axis gyroscope along with the 3-axis accelerometer is utilized for precise determination of an orientation of the user;

iv) the 9-axis inertial measurement unit automatically identifies a type of distress by calculating the change of orientation of the user from the 3-axis accelerometer, the 3-axis gyroscope, and the 3-axis magnetometer; and

v) to reduce false activations which might be performed while performing daily activities, an activation gesture is performed by the user to activate the actual gestures pre-configured by the user;

wherein the controller is a microcontroller which is capable of storing necessary instructions required for generating distress signal and for transmitting an alert signal along with location information of the user to the remote server, and the controller co-ordinates various modules in the wearable device and initiates different modules based on the gestures recognized by the IMU, and executes necessary actions including gesture recognition, configuration, communication and storage; and

wherein the display screen is either a light-emitting diode (LED) screen or an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) or liquid crystal display (LCD), used to indicate information and notifications.

5. The system of claim 4, further comprising (a) service bus queues, (b) a SQL database, (c) solr search engine, (d) mongo database, (e) telephony services, (f) notification services, and (g) one or more load balancers, wherein:

a) the SQL database feeds user data configured as the registered wellwisher'"'"'s details and local emergency contacts, to enable an efficient system performance;

b) the solr search engine and redis cluster are assimilated into the system;

c) the services requested are lined-up and processed by the service bus queues;

d) the telephony services and notification services which can be used by a user accordingly as and when required either to alert their network members or to dismiss the alert signal generated during an emergency; and

e) dismissal of an SOS triggered during an emergency is done through either a Call-center or a Mobile application, which will be dealt with the CSR office.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the wearable A allows the user to pre-configure one or more gestures such that:

a) the user can configure gestures in an x-y plane, x-z plane, and also with varying angular velocities,

wherein, upon detection of a gesture hit in the x-y plane, x-z plane, or with varied angular velocity, pre-configured by the user, the controller activates action associated with the pre-configured gesture set by the user.

7. A computer-implemented method comprising the steps of:

a) detecting one or more user input from a wearable device including (a) button press, (b) force detection, (c) auto-accident collision detection, (d) stress and fatigue detection, and (e) hand gestures;

b) performing one or more measurements based on a user'"'"'s input by detecting a button press, enabling force detection, measuring inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor data, and detecting patterns from hand gestures;

c) triggering SOS based on the user input;

d) communicating between the wearable device and a remote server;

e) initiating the SOS by the remote server;

f) verifying a false alarm;

g) calculating location and contacting emergency services; and

h) dismissing the SOS triggered by the user,

wherein the step of performing measurements further comprises;

a) for a button press input;

i) pressing a SOS button present in the wearable device;

ii) verifying a period of button press by the controller, further;

A) pressing the button for longer than one second vibrates the wearable and triggers the SOS and;

B) pressing the button for a period less than one second, awaits SOS button press again;

b) for a force detection;

i) enabling force detection;

ii) triggering a proximity sensor upon enabling the force detection;

iii) measuring proximity value by the proximity sensor and checking a position of the wearable device;

iv) vibrating the wearable device and initiating of the SOS, if the wearable device is not attached to a user'"'"'s wrist; and

v) monitoring proximity value and attachment of the wearable device to the wrist, in the case of the wearable device safely attached to the user'"'"'s wrist;

c) for an auto-accident collision detection;

i) enabling force detection;

ii) measuring G-force value from a sensor on receiving the user input;

iii) enabling vibrate mode of the wearable device thus initiating the SOS once the G-Force value exceeds a threshold value; and

iv) non-initiating the action for G-force value lesser than the threshold value;

d) for a stress and fatigue detection;

i) measuring an IMU sensor data on detection of the fall of a user;

ii) measuring the proximity if there is a fall detected, else step ‘

i’

is repeated;

iii) measuring the heart rate monitor (HRM) data if the wearable is attached to the wrist else no action is taken;

iv) vibrating the wearable if the HRM data is not stable and initiating the SOS, else starting the timer for sixty seconds and if moving of the user is detected, then no action is taken; and

v) moving of the user when not detected, wearable is vibrated and initiating the SOS; and

e) for hand gestures;

i) oscillating of hand by the user for a configurable number of times continuously, and detecting a pattern of hand gesture by the wearable device;

ii) comparing a pattern detected by the sensor with a user-defined pattern which are pre-defined by the user; and

iii) vibrating the wearable and sending notifications to raise SOS, if the pattern of hand gesture is valid, else no action is taken.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of communicating between the wearable device and the remote server further comprises:

a) receiving an SOS by the wearable device;

b) transmitting the signals to remote server via cellular network to a mobile device, when the wearable has connectivity;

c) saving the SOS and waiting till connectivity is back, when no connectivity in wearable device;

d) if a mobile device is present in the system then,

i) receiving an SOS by the wearable device;

ii) transmitting the signals to the remote server through the mobile device, when the wearable has connectivity; and

iii) saving the SOS and waiting till connectivity is back, when no connectivity in wearable device;

e) receiving the signals by the remote server; and

f) initiating the SOS by the remove server.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of verifying a false alarm further comprises:

a) checking the user'"'"'s preferences by the controller;

b) verifying the false alarm before raising the SOS based on a user'"'"'s preference provided, initiating a call back to the user, before proceeding to the next step ‘

c’

;

c) confirming SOS situation by the controller to the remote server to send let or long every Q seconds to the remote server, if there is no false alarm.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of calculating location and contacting emergency services further comprises:

a) creating a dynamic URL by the remote server to track the user;

b) calculating the nearest R users within S meters radius of the proximity from an incident Location by the remote server; and

c) sending the alert signals by the remote server to well-wishers, nearest R users, and emergency services.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of dismissing the SOS signals further comprises:

a) confirming the information to the well-wishers, even when the user is fine, then the user dismiss the SOS alert; and

b) initiating the dismissal of SOS either by calling the customer service or by using the mobile application, after taking user input as follows;

i) dismissal of SOS by calling the customer service;

A) initiating a call to a customer service by the user and providing authentication details to a customer service representative (CSR), a session remains active for invalid authentication;

B) triggering a dismissal of the session by the CSR by sending a notification to the remote server upon successful authentication, thus ending transmission of the location and disabling the session in the remote server; and

C) sending an SMS and e-mail by the remote server to the user and to those whom earlier the alert signal was forwarded, confirming the safety of the affected user and ending the process; and

ii) dismissal of SOS through the mobile application;

A) selecting an “

I am Safe”

option in the mobile application to dismiss the SOS alert initiated, that requires entering a passcode to enable, the dismissal configured to not be initiated until a valid passcode is provided;

B) sending a notification to the remote server which stops to transmit the location and disables the session in the remote server; and

C) initiating an SMS and e-mail by the remote server to all those who were alerted in the method to inform about the safety of the affected user and ending the process.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein a process of the triggered SOS signal to protect an affected user further comprises:

a) communicating with the remote server by the wearable device;

i) receiving the SOS at the wearable device and forwarding the same to the remove server via cellular network if wearable has connectivity;

ii) if no connectivity in the wearable then saving the SOS and waiting till the connectivity is back;

iii) if a mobile device is present in the system, then;

A) receiving the SOS at the wearable device and forwarding the same to the remote server through the mobile device if wearable has connectivity; and

B) if no connectivity in the wearable then saving the SOS and waiting till the connectivity is back; and

iv) receiving signals by the remote server and initiating the SOS;

b) triggering of SOS to process the alert signal;

c) verifying for false alarm by the controller;

i) checking the user'"'"'s preference provided for “

verify for false alarm before raising SOS”

;

ii) confirming the SOS situation to the remote server directly if the user does not prefer for any verification, else further comprises;

A) initiating IVR call to check false SOS for a configurable number of times if not answered for first time;

B) prompting the user to enter a passcode if the call is answered to ensure that the user is in real trouble, a valid passcode indicates no harm to the user, and hence the process ends ignoring the SOS trigger; and

C) confirming the SOS situation to the remote server for an invalid passcode entry; and

iii) forwarding SOS notification to the remote server and sending either a let or long every configurable second to the remote server continuously;

d) calculating the Location and contacting of emergency services;

i) creating a dynamic URL by the remote server to track the user and, also calculating the nearest R configurable users within configurable meters radius of proximity from the incident location;

ii) sending an alert signal by the remote server to registered wellwishers and nearest R users in a network and local emergency services, the remote server sends only basic details but not entire details while alerting nearest R users if they are not part of the affected user'"'"'s network, to avoid any unnecessary trouble to the user during an emergency or later;

iii) refreshing the location by the remote server based on the input received from the wearable device time-to-time; and

iv) identifying the network type of the users as 3G, 4G, Edge or SMS by the Remote Server to forward the details;

A) forwarding real-time Location for 3G, 4G users, and 2G users receiving the location with slow refresh;

B) receiving of SMS Location for users without 3G, 4G and 2G, which undergoes cell triangulation and showing the nearest proximity based on available cell tower; and

C) monitoring continuously for the signal of those users who do not come under any of the above-mentioned network facility to whom the location could not be shared, on identifying the signal performs a check for network identification and forwarding the details accordingly.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein the wearable device allows the user to pre-configure one or more gestures such that:

a) the user can configure gestures in an x-y plane, x-z plane, and also with varying angular velocities,

wherein, upon detection of a gesture hit in the x-y plane, x-z plane, or with varied angular velocity, pre-configured by the user, the controller activates action associated with the pre-configured gesture set by the user.