IMPROVED POSITIONAL AWARENESS AND LOCATING SYSTEM FOR COGNITIVELY IMPAIRED INDIVIDUALS AND THEIR CAREGIVERS

• US 20170142246A1
• Filed: 07/14/2015
• Published: 05/18/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/22/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DBI Technologies, LLC
• Original Assignee: Danielle's Buddy, Inc.
• Inventors: ECONOMY, Theodore F., ENGLESSON, II, John George
• Granted Patent: US 10,044,847 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/629 to features or functions of an application
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2111 Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/385 Transceivers carried on the body, e.g. in helmets
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/06 at the transmitting station
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724094 Interfacing with a device worn on the user's body to provide access to telephonic functionalities, e.g. accepting a call, reading or composing a message
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724095 Worn on the wrist, hand or arm
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72475 specially adapted for disabled users
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/022 with dynamic range variability
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

An apparatus and system for minimizing the risk that a cognitively impaired individual will wander or elope, and for locating the individual in case he or she nonetheless successfully wanders or elopes. The system employs a wearable appliance which the cognitively impaired individual should not be able to remove easily. The system also employs a smartphone having an application for use by a care giver. A website and cloud server are employed for communication of data from the wearable appliance to the smartphone and from the smartphone to the website. In an optional embodiment, the smartphone can initiate notifications to other smartphones held by other individuals who can assist in the search.

Claims

1. A system for minimizing the risk that a cognitively impaired individual will wander or elope and for locating the individual in case he or she successfully wanders or elopes, the system comprising:

a wearable appliance that is electronically tethered to a caregiver'"'"'s smartphone by means of received signal strength indicator values for Bluetooth as a primary short range tether and Wi-Fi or cellular data as a secondary mid-range tether,

where a break in the electronic tether causes the wearable appliance to communicate with a website by means of Wi-Fi connectivity or cellular data web service calls thereby transmitting location data to the website, the website then pushes the data to the caregiver'"'"'s smartphone by means of push notifications,

the break in the electronic tether also causes the caregiver'"'"'s smartphone to establish a link with the website and pull location data of the cognitively impaired individual and, optionally, the caregiver'"'"'s smartphone can initiate push notifications to other smartphones which can be used to assist in locating the cognitively impaired individual, and

if the wearable appliance is unable to connect to a known Wi-Fi Access Point, it switches to Access Point Mode thereby establishing a secondary medium range electronic tether as well as functioning as a locating beacon to assist further in the acquisition of the cognitively impaired individual'"'"'s location.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the website allows the caregiver to sign up and register the wearable appliance, set up a secure profile of the cognitively impaired individual and set up a network of other individuals who can assist the caregiver in locating the cognitively unpaired individual.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the secure profile can include photographs of the cognitively impaired individual and/or medical condition and/or medical history.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the website provides access to instantaneous and historical smartphone and wearable appliance locations, battery life, communication capabilities and/or other system status values.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein wearable appliance location data is integrated into a moving map application programming interface display for real-time display of wearable appliance location from the website.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the website employs cloud server architecture and functions as the intelligence for dynamic usage of received data thereby minimizing wearable appliance and smartphone duties and conserving battery life in both the wearable appliance and the smartphone.