Safety notification service

• US 8,977,237 B1
• Filed: 03/14/2013
• Issued: 03/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate Corporation)
• Inventors: Ramirez, Philip Peter, Loo, William, Sander, David R.
• Primary Examiner(s): WASHINGTON, ERIKA ALISE
• Application Number:
  US13/803,575
• Time in Patent Office: 726 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 455/411
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

An automated safety notification system is proposed herein in which one or more safe zone access points may be physically deployed to one or more safe zones associated with a disaster area. If a person with a mobile phone or other mobile device enters the safe zone, the safe zone access point may detect the presence of the mobile device and perform certain functions in response to the detection. For example, the safe zone access point may initiate contact of a predetermined plurality of contacts that the person may have already designated before the disaster. The safe zone access point may also be used to initiate an insurance claim.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

determining, by a system comprising at least one computing device, a disaster area;

determining, via a wireless sensor, that a mobile device in a safe zone is associated with a person who resides in the disaster area or who has property in the disaster area; and

responsive to determining that the mobile device is registered to the person who resides in the disaster area or who has property in the disaster area, sending, by the system, a message to a plurality of contacts.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting the plurality of contacts based on an identity of the mobile device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether the person is an emergency responder, wherein the sending the message to the plurality of contacts is performed also responsive to determining that the person is not an emergency responder.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the disaster area comprises—

determining the disaster area based on a plurality of insurance claims.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising using the mobile device and at least one computing device to initiate an insurance claim.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining whether the mobile device in the safe zone is associated with a person who resides in the disaster area or who has property in the disaster area is performed based on predetermined profile data associated with the person.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining an age of the person; and

selecting the plurality of contacts based on the age of the person.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining the safe zone based on the disaster area; and

deploying the wireless sensor to wirelessly monitor the safe zone.

9. A system, comprising:

a disaster tracking system configured to determine a disaster area;

an access point comprising at least one computing device and at least one wireless sensor, the access point being configured to wirelessly detect the presence of a mobile device in a safe zone, and to send a message over a network indicating the detected presence; and

a notification manager communicatively coupled to the access point via the network and comprising at least one computing device, the notification manager being configured to receive the message, determine whether the mobile device is associated with a person who resides in the disaster area or who has property in the disaster area, and, if so, send a message to a plurality of contacts.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the access point is configured to wirelessly communicate with the mobile device to initiate an insurance claim.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the notification manager is configured to select the plurality of contacts based on an identity of the mobile device.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the notification manager is configured to receive data identifying the plurality of contacts, associate the data with the mobile device, and after the receiving, notify the disaster tracking system.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the notification manager is configured to determine whether the person is an emergency responder, and to send the message to the plurality of contacts also if it is determined that the person is not an emergency responder.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the disaster tracking system is configured to determine the disaster area based on a plurality of insurance claims.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the wireless sensor comprises a near-field communication (NFC) circuit configured to wirelessly detect the presence of the mobile device.

16. A method, comprising:

determining, by a system comprising at least one computing device, a disaster area;

determining, via a wireless sensor, that a mobile device in a safe zone is associated with a person who is not an emergency responder, who does not reside in the disaster area, and who does not have property in the disaster area; and

responsive to determining that the person is not an emergency responder, does not reside in a disaster area, and does not have property in the disaster area, sending, by the system, a message to a plurality of contacts.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising determining the plurality of contacts based on an identity of the mobile device.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising determining an age of the person, wherein the determining the plurality of contacts comprises determining the plurality of contacts based on the age of the person and the identity of the mobile device.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising recording a video message of the person, wherein the sending the message comprises sending the video message.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

determining the safe zone based on the disaster area; and

deploying the wireless sensor to wirelessly monitor the safe zone.