Patent Application
20060226973
The present invention relates generally to devices, systems, and methods for providing warnings of detected hazards, and, more particularly, to a wearable mobile device that alerts a user of the detected hazard.
Most home or commercial structures are commonly installed with an alarm system that is intended to protect occupants from harm. As is well known in the art, these conventional alarm systems are adapted to send audible warnings to alert the occupants of various local hazards detected within the environment. These local hazards may include harmful elements, such as intruders, smoke, fire, and/or carbon monoxide poisoning. Other alarm systems may provide alerts for more regional hazards, e.g. weather alerts for particular counties, etc. When the alarm system detects the hazard, it typically sounds an audible alarm that is meant to draw the occupants' attention to the existence of the hazard so that appropriate action may be taken by the occupants to avoid harm.
One problem with such conventional alarm systems is that some occupants may not hear the audible alarm because of a health condition, because they are sleeping, because they are located a distance from the detector that is sounding the alarm, etc. In fact, many people are injured in home fires, tornados, etc. because they slept through the standard alarm warnings. While various alerting devices are used to overcome these problems, each suffers from problems which limit their effectiveness. For example, some alerting devices directed to the hearing impaired uses bright flashing white xenon strobe lights in addition to an audible warning to alert people of the detected hazard. However, the flashing lights may not be seen or may not be enough of a distraction to wake a person from deep sleep. Another prior alerting system utilizes a vibrating pad that is placed under the pillow. However, this method is also inadequate because the occupant may not be sleeping on the pillow when the hazard is detected because the pillow or the pad may have moved or fallen on the floor, or because the occupant is simply not sleeping with his or her head on the pillow. Further, depending on the thickness and material of the pillow, the vibrations may be dampened sufficiently so that the occupant does not feel them.
Another problem with current hazard detecting and alerting systems is that the occupants do not have or may not have access to any information of the location or type of the detected local hazard. While centralized systems may include a central terminal on which such information may be displayed, this is little help for the occupant who is not in proximity to such central terminal. As a result, the occupant may actually move toward the direction of the local hazard instead of trying to get away from the hazard, or may take action that is inappropriate for one type of hazard because they mistake the alarm for another hazard.
There exists, therefore, a need in the art for a new and improved alarm system that can interface with hazard detecting and alarming systems, and that can alert an occupant of a detected hazardous condition despite the occupants' sleeping pattern and/or health conditions. Further, there exists a need for such an alarm system that may provide the occupants with helpful information during this critical situation.
In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved alarm system that can address these and other shortcomings of the prior systems and methods. More particularly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved mobile alerting device that may be worn by an individual. Still further, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved mobile alerting device that is capable of receiving hazard warnings and alerting the wearer of the warning in such a manner so as to overcome the above described and/or other problems existing in the art.
In one embodiment of the present invention, a wearable mobile device includes a receiver that receives a warning transmission from a hazardous condition detection system. This transmission may take various forms, including radio frequency (RF), infrared (IR), auditory, etc., and may take the form of a proprietary protocol, e.g. a wireless smoke detector system, or public frequency, e.g. weather radio band. Information regarding the type of hazard warning and/or instructions for the wearer is displayed to the user using a display on the device. Preferably, responsive to the transmission a vibrator, electrical circuit, thermal circuit, etc. provides a physical sensation to the wearer, in addition to or as an alternative to an audible alarm. Such stimuli may be sequenced, repetitive, variable in intensity, etc. so as to maximize the probability of alerting the wearer. In this way, the wearer may be alerted of the received transmission and detected hazard, even if the wearer is asleep when the hazard is detected.
In a further embodiment of the present invention, the device includes a user interface that enables the user to set/access various control and alerting functions. In a preferred embodiment, these functions may include general pager functions, text messaging, silent ring alerts, security alerts, and all standard wrist watch functions. Through the inclusion of a wireless transmitter, the user may also send control signals to the hazard detection and alerting system to query for information, enable hush and locate control functions, etc.
In another embodiment of the invention, the wearable mobile device is integrated into an alarm system that includes a hazard detector to detect hazardous conditions within an environment. The hazardous condition detector sends a warning transmission responsive to the hazardous condition detected. A control panel receives the transmission and appropriately sends out instructions responsive to the transmission. In response to the instructions from the control panel, an alarm is sounded within the environment to alert occupants of the warning. Also in addition to the transmission from the control panel, the wearable mobile device sends a physical sensation to a user wearing the device.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention, a method for providing hazard warnings is provided that includes the steps of receiving a warning transmission, displaying a message related to the warning transmission to a user, and sending a physical sensation to alert the user of the received warning transmission, wherein the physical sensation is of a sufficient magnitude to wake the user from sleep.
The accompanying drawings incorporated in and forming a part of the specification illustrate several aspects of the present invention, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention. In the drawings:
While the invention will be described in connection with certain preferred embodiments, there is no intent to limit it to those embodiments. On the contrary, the intent is to cover all alternatives, modifications and equivalents as included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
The home environment 100 of
In the present invention, local hazards refer to any type of hazardous condition that may harm either the occupants or structure within the environment. In particular, local hazards may include a variety of harmful elements, such as intrusion, fire, smoke, carbon monoxide gas, gas poisoning, and flammable vapor, but these examples of local hazards are not exclusive. Other harmful elements are contemplated, and they are within the scope of the present invention. Moreover, the proximity of the local hazards can be customized according to the various environments and needs of the implementation. It can be as simple as the home environment 100 shown in
To illustrate the functionality of the present invention,
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, the control panel 114 sends a transmission 120, preferably a wireless transmission, to a wearable mobile device 200. Alternatively, and to allow for greater applicability of the mobile device 200 of the present invention, this device 200 may simply receive a wireless signal transmission to the alarm 116 from the controller 114, without requiring a separate signal transmission. Control logic within the device 200 will decode the wireless transmission to determine the type of threat detected. Based on this information, the mobile device 200 of the present invention provides an appropriate or programmed alert, which may include a physical, audible, etc. alarm and information displayed on the device's screen as will be discussed more fully below.
As discussed above, the device 200 of the present invention may also receive transmissions from stand alone hazardous condition detectors that include wireless transmission capability. The control logic within the device 200 decodes the information in the transmission and provided the appropriate or programmed response. By appropriate response it is meant that the device 200 provides, e.g., a carbon monoxide warning when a carbon monoxide condition is sensed by a detector, a smoke warning when a smoke condition is detected by a detector, etc. By programmed response it is meant that the device 200 provides the ability for the user to select the type of alarm, e.g. audible, physical, etc., that will be provided when a detected hazard is signaled, as will be described more fully below.
Although
In response to the wireless transmission of the detected local hazard, depending on the source of the transmission, the wearable mobile device 200 worn by the occupant 108 sends a physical sensation 202 in order to wake up and alert the occupant 108 of the hazard warning. To distinguish different occupants in the home environment 100, for clarity, an occupant who is wearing the device 200 will herein be referred to as a user.
Turning next to
As indicated above, the device 200 can provide other alerts, such as audible alerts including tone patterns and synthesized or recorded voice messages, flashing lights, illumination of the display, etc. Further, the physical sensation provided in the preferred embodiment can be a vibration, shock, temperature, or combination of any of these physical alerts. In another embodiment of the present invention, the device 200 provides its alerting according to the importance of the transmitted data to the device 200. The varying levels of importance or priority can be retained in the device 200 as manufactured, or alternatively, the user can modify the priority or response to the transmission. In one example, a life threatening condition would activate the higher levels of alarm response, which may include loud sounds in appropriate frequency ranges, recorded voice messages, audible messages stating the nature of the hazard, and physical sensations emitted in multiple strengths, while a non-life threatening alert could be restricted to non-audible alarms or audible alarms that are only activated when the user is not asleep. Such determination may be made by the time of day, programmed by the user, or sensed by the device 200 based on user movement, etc.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the wearable mobile device 200 is implemented as a wristwatch, such as illustrated in
With the use of the device 200, all alerts could be scaled back for the initial warning, meaning the alert on the device can get stronger as the alert continues, which would allow the user to avoid an undesirable alert. To ensure that a user does not simply ignore the alert, e.g. if the user is sleeping, it is preferable that the alert be repeated until a conscious, intelligent response can be obtained. Such a response may utilize any one of the user input buttons 204a, 204b, 204c, 204d, 204e, and 204f, a touch screen 210, or soft keys on the device 200. In this embodiment the wristwatch 200 includes a main watch body portion 206 and a wristband portion 208. In this configuration the physical sensation 202 generated during an alert condition can be generated by the main watch body portion 206, the wristband 208, or both to ensure that the user feels the physical sensation. As described previously, the physical sensation 202 can include any contact that can alert the user of the hazard warning. Moreover, the device 200 may also include additional alerting mechanisms, such as a sounds or lights. The response and the intensity of these alerts on the device 200 can also be customized according to the transmission 120 received by the device, set by the user, or default settings as manufactured.
The wearable mobile device 200 is preferably implemented with a display 210 for displaying messages included with the transmission or in response to the transmission. These displayed messages preferably provide users with helpful information relating to the transmission. The screen display 210 is preferably illuminated during such an alerting messaging condition to aid the user in reading the message.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the device 200 contains active circuitry for conducting ongoing self-diagnostics for reporting malfunction of the device. The self-diagnostics may include a warning of typical malfunctions, such as low battery, failed diagnostic tests, out of range conditions, or any other faults that compromise the functioning of the device and the alarm system. Similarly, in systems where the control panel 114 shown in
Aside from maintenance related messages, the display 210 is especially useful for life threatening messages. However, it is recognized that the device 200 may receive more than one message at a time. In one embodiment, therefore, all competing messages are prioritized such that the life threatening messages are preferably displayed in a font size and in an order that is readable and relays the importance of the message. Such messages take priority over other messages that are not as urgent. As these messages are acknowledged, the lower priority messages may then be displayed.
Along with the basic alert warning, additional information or instructions that would be helpful can be included. For example, displaying the location and the type of hazard can assist the user to avoid walking towards the hazard or the exact location that needs to be addressed. The content of the messages could be preprogrammed with additional instructions edited as needed on the device or from the source of the network transmission. Additional information can also be extracted from the transmission and inserted when it is useful.
In embodiments of the present invention particularly suited for children, a non-silenceable audible alarm could also be activated to assist a parent or rescue worker in locating the user in an emergency. A preferred embodiment of the device 200 includes a wrist strap latching mechanism that is difficult to remove without special tools. This would help keep the device with a person, such as a child, who may require searching to be located during an emergency.
Two exemplary life-threatening messages are shown in
Other messages can also include the following type of information: (1) FIRE ALARM!! UPSTAIRS FIRE ALARM!! LEAVE THE BUILDING; (2) CARBON MONOXIDE ALARM FAMILY ROOM CO DETECTED OPEN WINDOWS MOVE TO FRESH AIR; (3) FLAMMABLE VAPOR DETECTED AT WATER HEATER CAUTION NO SPARKS; (4) HIGH TEMPERATURE 90 DEG. BABY'S ROOM; (5) WATER ALARM BASEMENT; and (6) FREEZE WARNING GARAGE. These exemplary messages are included to show the type of messages that can be included with the present invention, and they should be taken as exemplary of the present invention, and not limiting thereof. Thus, other messages are contemplated and within the scope of the invention.
Turning now to
The use of the terms “a” and “an” and “the” and similar referents in the context of describing the invention (especially in the context of the following claims) is to be construed to cover both the singular and the plural, unless otherwise indicated herein or clearly contradicted by context. The terms “comprising,” “having,” “including,” and “containing” are to be construed as open-ended terms (i.e., meaning “including, but not limited to,”) unless otherwise noted. Recitation of ranges of values herein are merely intended to serve as a shorthand method of referring individually to each separate value falling within the range, unless otherwise indicated herein, and each separate value is incorporated into the specification as if it were individually recited herein. All methods described herein can be performed in any suitable order unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context. The use of any and all examples, or exemplary language (e.g., “such as”) provided herein, is intended merely to better illuminate the invention and does not pose a limitation on the scope of the invention unless otherwise claimed. No language in the specification should be construed as indicating any non-claimed element as essential to the practice of the invention.
Preferred embodiments of this invention are described herein, including the best mode known to the inventors for carrying out the invention. Variations of those preferred embodiments may become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading the foregoing description. The inventors expect skilled artisans to employ such variations as appropriate, and the inventors intend for the invention to be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein. Accordingly, this invention includes all modifications and equivalents of the subject matter recited in the claims appended hereto as permitted by applicable law. Moreover, any combination of the above-described elements in all possible variations thereof is encompassed by the invention unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context.
