Targeted alert system with location-based and role-based alert distribution

• US 10,667,096 B2
• Filed: 02/28/2019
• Issued: 05/26/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 05/03/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company (Johnson Controls International plc)
• Original Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company (Johnson Controls International plc)
• Inventors: Oliver, Alma Liseth, Kancharla, Akhila, Aral, Ozgur, Balakrishnan, Deepa, Gilreath, Wiley B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Aziz, Adnan
• Application Number:
  US16/289,309
• Publication Number:
  US 20190200180A1
• Time in Patent Office: 453 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 19/005 combined burglary and fire alarm systems
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0272 System arrangements wherein the object is to detect exact location of child or item using triangulation other than GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/10 using wireless transmission systems G08B25/009 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 27/001 Signalling to an emergency team, e.g. firemen
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 27/005 with transmission via computer network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/30 Services specially adapted for particular environments, situations or purposes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings

Abstract

A system for distributing targeted alerts to building occupants includes building equipment and a targeted alert system. The building equipment are configured to detect an event within a building and generate an alert identifying the event. The targeted alert system is configured to receive the alert from the building equipment, identify a location within the building of each of a plurality of building occupants, identify a role performed by each of the plurality of building occupants, select one or more of the building occupants to receive the alert based on at least one of the location of each building occupant and the role performed by each building occupant, and distribute the alert to the selected building occupants.

Claims

1. A system to distribute alerts to individuals, the system comprising:

building equipment configured to detect an event within a building and generate an alert identifying the event; and

a targeted alert system configured to;

receive the alert from the building equipment;

identify a location within the building at which the event occurs;

identify a location within the building of one or more of a plurality of individuals based on location information measured by mobile devices, each of the mobile devices associated with one of the individuals;

determine a location trajectory of one or more of the mobile devices, each location trajectory comprising a future location of one of the mobile devices;

identify a role performed by one or more of the individuals;

select one or more of the individuals based on one or more of the location trajectories to receive the alert based on the role performed by one or more of the individuals; and

distribute the alert to the one or more selected individuals.

2. The system of claim 1, comprising a locations database configured to store location information indicating the location within the building of one or more of the individuals;

wherein the targeted alert system is configured to identify the location within the building of one or more of the individuals by accessing the location information in the locations database.

3. The system of claim 1, comprising a roles database configured to store role information indicating the role performed by one or more of the individuals;

wherein the targeted alert system to identify the role performed by one or more of the individuals by accessing the role information in the roles database.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the targeted alert system configured to select the one or more individuals to receive the alert based on identification of one or more roles associated with the event; and

the one or more individuals are selected based on the identified one or more roles.

5. The system of claim 1,

wherein the targeted alert system configured to select the one or more individuals to receive the alert based on a distance between the location within the building at which the event occurs and the location within the building of one or more of the individuals.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the targeted alert system is configured to:

identify one or more of the individuals having a role associated with responding to the event;

determine a distance between the location within the building at which the event occurs and the location within the building of each of the one or more identified individuals; and

select one of the one or more identified individuals that has a minimum distance between the location within the building at which the event occurs and the location within the building of the one of the one or more identified individuals.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the targeted alert system configured to:

determine a location of the building equipment;

determine a distance between the location of the building equipment and the location within the building of each of the one or more identified individuals; and

select one or more of the one or more individuals within a threshold distance of the location of the building equipment.

8. The system of claim 1, comprising a plurality of wireless emitters within the building;

wherein the targeted alert system is configured to determine the location within the building of one or more of the individuals based on which of the wireless emitters are detected by one of the mobile devices.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the targeted alert system configured to:

identify one or more of the individuals having a role associated with the event;

determine whether each of the one or more identified individuals is located within the building; and

select the one or more identified individuals that are determined to be located within the building.

10. A targeted alert system to distribute alerts to individuals, the targeted alert system configured to:

receive an alert from building equipment, the alert corresponding to an event within a building;

identify a location within the building at which the event occurs;

identify a location within the building of one or more of a plurality of individuals based on location information measured by mobile devices, each of the mobile devices associated with one of the individuals;

determine a location trajectory of one or more of the mobile devices, each location trajectory comprising a future location of one of the mobile devices;

identify a role performed by one or more of the individuals;

select one or more of the individuals based on one or more of the location trajectories to receive the alert based on the role performed by one or more of the individuals; and

distribute the alert to the one or more selected individuals.

11. The targeted alert system of claim 10 configured to:

identify one or more of the individuals having a role associated with the event;

determine whether each of the one or more identified individuals is located within the building; and

select the one or more identified individuals that are determined to be located within the building.

12. A method of distributing alerts to individuals, the method comprising:

receiving an alert identifying an event within a building;

identifying a location within the building at which the event occurs;

identifying a location within the building of one or more of a plurality of individuals based on location information measured by mobile devices, each of the mobile devices associated with one of the individuals;

determining a location trajectory of one or more of the mobile devices, each location trajectory comprising a future location of one of the mobile devices;

identifying a role performed by one or more of the individuals;

selecting one or more of the individuals based on one or more of the location trajectories to receive the alert based on the role performed by one or more of the individuals; and

distributing the alert to the one or more selected individuals.

13. The method of claim 12, comprising:

storing location information within a locations database, the location information indicating the location within the building of one or more of the individuals;

wherein identifying the location within the building of one or more of the individuals comprises accessing the location information in the locations database.

14. The method of claim 12, comprising:

storing role information within a roles database, the role information indicating the role performed by one or more of the individuals;

wherein identifying the role performed by one or more of the individuals comprises accessing the role information in the roles database.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein selecting the one or more individuals to receive the alert comprises:

identifying one or more roles associated with the event; and

selecting one or more of the individuals that perform the one or more identified roles.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein selecting the one or more individuals to receive the alert comprises:

selecting one or more of the individuals based on a distance between the location within the building at which the event occurs and the location within the building of one or more of the individuals.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein selecting the one or more individuals to receive the alert comprises:

identifying one or more of the individuals having a role associated with responding to the event;

determining a distance between the location within the building at which the event occurs and the location within the building of each of the one or more identified individuals; and

selecting one of the one or more identified individuals that has a minimum distance between the location within the building at which the event occurs and the location within the building of the one of the one or more identified individuals.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein selecting the one or more individuals to receive the alert comprises:

determining a location of building equipment;

determining a distance between the location of the building equipment and the location within the building of each of the one or more identified individuals; and

selecting one or more of the individuals within a threshold distance of the location of the building equipment.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein selecting the one or more individuals to receive the alert comprises:

identifying one or more of the individuals having a role associated with the event;

determining whether each of the one or more identified individuals is located within the building; and

selecting one or more of the one or more identified individuals that are determined to be located within the building.

20. The method of claim 12, comprising:

identifying a location of each of a plurality of wireless emitters within the building; and

determining the location within the building of one or more of the individuals based on which of the wireless emitters are detected by one of the mobile devices.