Methods for remote assistance of disabled persons having at least two remote individuals which receive different indications

• US 9,202,360 B1
• Filed: 02/11/2014
• Issued: 12/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Handhold Adaptive LLC
• Original Assignee: Handhold Adaptive LLC
• Inventors: Tedesco, Daniel E., Tedesco, Robert C., Jorasch, James A.
• Primary Examiner(s): HOFSASS, JEFFERY A
• Application Number:
  US14/177,754
• Time in Patent Office: 658 Days
• Field of Search: 340/573.1, 3405391-5392, 340/573.4
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1118 Determining activity level
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14532 for measuring glucose, e.g. by tissue impedance measurement
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1468 using chemical or electrochemical methods, e.g. by polarographic means A61B5/1486 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/318 Heart-related electrical modalities, e.g. electrocardiography [ECG]
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/02 Alarms for ensuring the safety of persons
• 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 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
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 80/00 ICT specially adapted for facilitating communication between medical practitioners or patients, e.g. for collaborative diagnosis, therapy or health monitoring

Abstract

A mobile terminal is used to assist individuals with disabilities. A mobile terminal such as a “smartphone”, tablet or other commercially available wireless handheld device may be loaded with software. The software may be configured to: (i) store criteria for managing communications between a disabled user of the mobile terminal and a remote caregiver and a second remote individual, (ii) determine whether a criterion is satisfied, and if so (iii) initiate a communication from the mobile terminal to the remote caregiver, and (iv) initiate a second alert to the second remote individual via a second alert type. Thus, through this software, the mobile terminal may dynamically facilitate communications with specific remote caregivers based on specific situations that may confront disabled individuals.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising software with instructions for a telephonically enabled mobile terminal to:

store in memory of the mobile terminal a profile for a user, the profile comprising;

criteria for facilitating communications between the mobile terminal, a first remote individual, and a second remote individual;

determine whether a criterion of the criteria has been met;

initiate a first alert to the first remote individual without intervention by the user when one of the criteria has been met, wherein the first remote individual receives a first notification via a first alert type; and

initiate a second alert to the second remote individual without intervention by the user when the one of the criteria has been met, wherein the second remote individual receives a second notification via a second alert type.

2. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein an alert type used for initiated first and second alerts comprises:

a modality, which is selected from the group consisting of;

a phone call, a text message, an instant message, an email, a post to a public website, and a post to a private online server; and

a media preference, which specifies a format, text, audio, and/or video associated with a communication.

3. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the software further comprises instructions to use at least one sensor of the mobile terminal to detect conditions related to the criterion.

4. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the software further comprises instructions to use a remotely positioned sensor communicatively coupled to the mobile terminal to detect conditions related to the criterion.

5. The computer readable medium of claim 4 wherein the software further comprises instructions to compare an output of the remotely positioned sensor to a predefined threshold.

6. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the instructions to determine whether the criterion has been met comprise instructions to evaluate a current position of the mobile terminal relative to a predefined geographical zone.

7. The computer readable medium of claim 6 further comprising instructions to poll a GPS service to determine the current position of the mobile terminal.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 6 wherein the predefined geographical zone is defined by selecting a point on a map and then specifying a radius in association with the point.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 6 wherein a predefined geographical zone is associated with a text label specified by the user.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the profile for the user stores baseline geographic data measured in association with the user.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 9 wherein the determination of whether a criterion of the criteria has been met is based at least in part on baseline geographic data.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the alert comprises a link to additional information about the user.

13. A method comprising:

storing in memory of a telephonically enabled mobile terminal a profile for a user, the profile comprising;

criteria for facilitating communications between the mobile terminal, a first remote individual, and a second remote individual;

determining whether a criterion of the criteria has been met;

initiating an alert to the first remote individual without intervention by the user when one of the criteria has been met, wherein the first remote individual receives a notification via a first alert type; and

initiating an alert to the second remote individual without intervention by the user when one of the criteria has been met, wherein the second remote individual receives a notification via a second alert type.

14. A method comprising:

receiving first input from a user regarding a criterion;

receiving second input from the user regarding a plurality of remote individuals, wherein the second input specifies means for contacting each remote individual of the plurality of remote individuals;

receiving third input from one or more sensors associated with a mobile terminal;

comparing the third input from the one or more sensors to the criterion;

based at least in part on the comparing, determining that an event has occurred;

causing a signal to be sent to a first remote individual without intervention by the user in response to the occurrence of the event, wherein the signal to be sent to the first remote individual is associated with a first format; and

causing a signal to be sent to a second remote individual without intervention by the user in response to the occurrence of the event, wherein the signal to be sent to the second remote individual is associated with a second format.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein receiving the first input comprises receiving the first input through a user interface on a mobile terminal.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein receiving the first input comprises receiving the first input through a user interface on a computer and transmitting it to a mobile terminal.

17. The method of claim 14 wherein receiving the third input comprises receiving the third input from a GPS service to determine a current location of the mobile terminal.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein comparing the third input from the GPS service comprises determining if the mobile terminal is within a predefined zone.

19. The method of claim 14 wherein the event comprises a change in geographic location.

20. A method comprising:

storing a first criterion for facilitating communications between a user of a mobile terminal and a first remote individual, wherein the first criterion is associated with a first alert style;

storing a second criterion for facilitating communications between the user of the mobile terminal and a second remote individual, wherein the second criterion is associated with a second alert style;

determining whether the first criterion or the second criterion has been satisfied; and

establishing a communication to either the first remote individual or the second remote individual based on the result of the determining step.