Monitoring activity of an individual

• US 20070152837A1
• Filed: 12/30/2005
• Published: 07/05/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Best Buy Health Incorporated (Best Buy Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Red Sky Technologies Incorporated
• Inventors: Bischoff, Brian, Shilepsky, Alan, Long, Lina
• Granted Patent: US 7,589,637 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/573.100
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0288 Attachment of child unit to child/article
• 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 25/005 Alarm destination chosen according to a hierarchy of available destinations, e.g. if hospital does not answer send to police station
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/006 Alarm destination chosen according to type of event, e.g. in case of fire phone the fire service, in case of medical emergency phone the ambulance
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/016 Personal emergency signalling and security systems emergency non-personal manually actuated alarm activators G08B25/12
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention relate to methods, devices, and systems to monitor activity. One method to monitor activity includes monitoring activity of an individual including detecting a sensor activated by an individual during the individual'"'"'s daily activities. The embodiment also includes comparing the sensor activation to a predetermined sensor activation timeframe, determining whether to initiate an alert based upon the comparison, and checking for at least one other sensor activation to confirm whether an alert should be initiated.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring activity of an individual, comprising:

monitoring multiple sensors to identify activations of at least one sensor;

associating a number of rules defining a number of actions to be taken based upon activations of the at least one sensor; and

applying a rule associated with the activation of the at least one sensor to determine whether to take an action wherein the rule includes checking for at least one other sensor activation to confirm whether the action should be initiated.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method includes grouping a number of the multiple sensors into one or more groups.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the method includes regrouping a number of the multiple sensors into one or more different groups.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein checking for at least one other sensor activation includes checking for a sensor activation from another sensor within the same group as a first sensor activation.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the grouping a number of sensors into one or more groups is based upon one or more rules used to determine whether the action should be initiated.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein detecting a sensor includes detecting a first sensor in a first group of sensors and wherein checking for at least one other sensor activation includes checking for a sensor activation from a sensor within a second group.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein checking for at least one other sensor activation includes checking for a sensor activation from a sensor within a second group of sensors that includes all sensors except the first group.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein checking for at least one other sensor activation includes checking for a sensor activation from a sensor within a group of sensors that includes all sensors except the first sensor.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring a number of sensors to identify activations of at least one sensor includes detecting activation of a sensor in a group of sensors defined by a daily living activity and wherein checking for at least one other sensor activation includes checking for a sensor activation from another group defined by another daily living activity.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring a number of sensors to identify activations of at least one sensor includes detecting absence of a home/away sensor and wherein checking for at least one other sensor activation includes checking for a sensor activation from a sensor indicating an exit.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the method includes utilizing a number of timers to determine whether to take the action.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the method includes utilizing a number of timers to monitor whether a sensor activation occurs within a time period in order to determine whether to take the action.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the method includes utilizing a number of timers to monitor whether a client response occurs within a time period in order to determine whether to take the action.

14. A system for monitoring activity, comprising:

a number of sensors to be activated by an individual;

a logic component to;

institute multiple rules for determining whether to initiate an alert based upon one or more activations of the sensors;

initiate a first rule based upon an identification of a first sensor activation;

initiate a first timer for monitoring a sensor activation according to the first rule;

initiate a second timer for monitoring the time between a first sensor activation and at least one second sensor activation according to the first rule; and

determine whether an action should be initiated based upon the analysis of whether the first rule has been met.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the logic component is designed to initiate a second rule, associating a simultaneous activation of the first sensor and the second sensor.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the logic component is designed to initiate a first rule based upon the identification of the first sensor activation wherein the rule states that if a first activation is detected, wait a predetermined time for a second activation.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the rule further states, if a second activation is not received then initiate an action.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the rule further states, if a second activation is received then reset the second timer.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the first sensor is a home/away sensor and wherein the logic component is designed to initiate a first rule based upon the identification of absence of the home/away sensor.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the rule states that if the home/away sensor is absent, then check whether an associated sensor has been activated.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein an associated sensor is a sensor indicating an exit.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein if the home/away sensor is out of range to communicate with a base station, then an out-of-range message is displayed on a portable device.

23. The system of claim 14, wherein the first rule states if an emergency sensor is activated, then wait a predetermined period for receipt of a cancellation request, if no cancellation request is received, then initiate an action.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the action is to initiate contact to a remote site.

25. A system for monitoring activity, comprising:

a number of sensors to be activated by an individual;

a logic component to;

institute multiple rules for determining whether to initiate an action based upon one or more activations of the sensors;

initiate a first rule based upon an identification of a first sensor activation of the number of sensors;

initiate a timer for monitoring the time between the first sensor activation and at least one second sensor activation according to at least one rule; and

determine whether an action should be initiated based upon the analysis of whether at least one rule has been met.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the logic component is designed to initiate a timer for monitoring the time between the first sensor activation in a first group of sensors and at least one second sensor activation within the sensors of the first group.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the logic component is designed to initiate a timer for monitoring the time between the first sensor activation in a first group of sensors and at least one second sensor activation from a sensor of a second group.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the second group of sensors is all sensors associated with the system.

29. The system of claim 27, wherein the second group of sensors is all sensors associated with the system except the sensor associated with the first sensor activation.

30. The system of claim 27, wherein the second group of sensors is all sensors associated with the system except the sensors associated with the group of sensors in which the first sensor activation was detected.

31. The system of claim 25, wherein the logic component changes a timer value in order to keep the value within an acceptable range.

32. The system of claim 25, wherein the logic component changes one or more of the multiple rules.

33. The system of claim 25, wherein the number of sensors includes a portable sensor that can be located based upon a communication signal.

34. The system of claim 25, wherein the system includes a portable device that utilizes a short range communication signal and a long range communication signal.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein the short range communication signal is provided by the portable device and the long range communication signal is accessed via another device.