Patent Issued for Method and system for automatically requesting medical assistance (USPTO 11504074): United Services Automobile Association

2022 DEC 14 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- According to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx journalists, a patent by the inventors Durairaj, Ravi (San Antonio, TX, US), Kwak, Victor (Frisco, TX, US), Lopez, Mark Anthony (Helotes, TX, US), Lyle, Ruthie D. (Durham, NC, US), Meyer, Gregory Brian (San Antonio, TX, US), Russell, Christopher (The Colony, TX, US), Russell, Ryan Thomas (The Colony, TX, US), Serrao, Nolan (Plano, TX, US), filed on July 30, 2020, was published online on November 22, 2022.

The assignee for this patent, patent number 11504074, is United Services Automobile Association (San Antonio, Texas, United States).

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Many phones and wearable devices are able to sense information about a user’s current health. For example, some wearable devices include sensors that can detect irregular heart rhythms. However, these devices lack provisions for helping obtain assistance for the user after a problematic health condition has been detected. In some situations a user is unable to contact emergency services. Even when the user or a bystander are able to contact emergency services, the user often has to wait a significant period of time for the emergency services personnel to arrive and begin assisting the user. Even a delay of just a few minutes in receiving emergency services can mean the difference between life or death, or can result in a diminished quality of life.

“There is a need in the art for a system and method that addresses the shortcomings discussed above.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “In one aspect, a method of requesting assistance for a user experiencing a medical emergency includes steps of receiving sensed information from a sensor disposed in a user device associated with the user, determining that the user is experiencing a medical emergency based on the sensed information, establishing communication with one or more nearby devices, and automatically sending information associated with the medical emergency to the one or more nearby devices.

“In another aspect, a method of requesting assistance for a user experiencing a medical emergency includes steps of determining that a user is experiencing a medical emergency, establishing communication with a nearby device, retrieving a location for the nearby device, determining a route between the user and the nearby device, calculating a route length for the route, retrieving a predetermined distance, and sending information about the medical emergency to the nearby device if the route length is less than or equal to the predetermined distance.

“In another aspect, a user device includes a sensor, a navigation system, and a communication system. The user device determines if a user associated with the user device is experiencing a medical emergency based on sensed information detected by the sensor. The user device establishes communication with a nearby device using the communication system, and the user device receives a location from the nearby device. The user device determines a navigation route between the user device and the location of the nearby device using the navigation system. The user device sends information about the medical emergency to the nearby device when the navigation route is less than a predetermined distance.

“Other systems, methods, features, and advantages of the disclosure will be, or will become, apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following figures and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features, and advantages be included within this description and this summary, be within the scope of the disclosure, and be protected by the following claims.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A method of requesting assistance for a user experiencing a medical emergency, comprising: receiving sensed information from a sensor disposed in a user device associated with the user; determining that the user is experiencing a medical emergency based on the sensed information, by: identifying a medical event; classifying the medical event, using at least one of a clustering algorithm, a decision tree or a neural network; and determining, on the basis of the classification that the medical event is a medical emergency; establishing communication with one or more nearby devices; automatically sending information associated with the medical emergency to the one or more nearby devices; and monitoring a location of at least one nearby device of the one or more nearby devices and confirming that the at least one nearby device has moved near the user.

“2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the user device is a smart watch.

“3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the sensed information includes heart rate information.

“4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the sensed information includes blood glucose level information.

“5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method further includes classifying the medical emergency to determine a type of medical emergency.

“6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the information associated with the medical emergency includes the type of medical emergency and a location of the user device.

“7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the information associated with the medical emergency further includes instructions for assisting the user.

“8. A method of requesting assistance for a user experiencing a medical emergency, comprising: registering a request for notifications from an emergency dispatcher; determining that a user is experiencing a medical emergency; sending a message to the emergency dispatcher indicating that the user is experiencing the medical emergency; transmitting information requesting assistance for the user to nearby devices by: establishing communication with a nearby device; retrieving a location for the nearby device; determining a route between the user and the nearby device; calculating a route length for the route; retrieving a predetermined distance; and sending information about the medical emergency to the nearby device if the route length is less than or equal to the predetermined distance; confirming that the user has been assisted by: monitoring the location of the nearby device; determining if the nearby device has moved close enough to the user to provide assistance; checking for notifications from the emergency dispatcher; wherein upon determining that (i) the nearby device has moved close enough to the user to provide assistance, or (ii) receiving a notification indicating that emergency services have arrived to provide assistance to the user, the method comprises stopping transmitting information requesting assistance; and continuing transmitting information requesting assistance otherwise.

“9. The method according to claim 8, wherein establishing communication with the nearby device includes communicating with the nearby device over a personal area network.

“10. The method according to claim 8, wherein establishing communication with the nearby device includes communicating with the nearby device over a local area network.

“11. The method according to claim 8, wherein establishing communication with the nearby device includes communicating with the nearby device over a wide area network.

“12. The method according to claim 8, wherein the method further includes sending instructions for assisting the user to the nearby device.

“13. A user device, comprising: one or more processors; memory configured to store instructions that are executable by the one or more processors to: register a request for notifications from an emergency dispatcher; determine that a user is experiencing a medical emergency; send a message to the emergency dispatcher indicating that the user is experiencing the medical emergency; transmit information requesting assistance for the user to nearby devices by: establishing communication with a nearby device; retrieving a location for the nearby device; determining a route between the user and the nearby device; calculating a route length for the route; retrieving a predetermined distance; and sending information about the medical emergency to the nearby device if the route length is less than or equal to the predetermined distance; confirm that the user has been assisted by: monitoring the location of the nearby device; determining if the nearby device has moved close enough to the user to provide assistance; checking for notifications from the emergency dispatcher; wherein upon determining that (i) the nearby device has moved close enough to the user to provide assistance, or (ii) receiving a notification indicating that emergency services have arrived to provide assistance to the user, stopping transmitting information requesting assistance; and continuing transmitting information requesting assistance otherwise.

“14. The user device according to claim 13, wherein the user device further includes a sensor, and wherein the instructions are further executable to determine that a user is experiencing a medical emergency by analyzing information received from the sensor.

“15. The user device according to claim 14, wherein the sensor is an oximetry sensor.

“16. The user device according to claim 14, wherein the sensor is a respiration sensor.

“17. The user device according to claim 14, wherein the sensor is a skin conductance sensor.

“18. The user device according to claim 14, wherein the sensor is a blood glucose sensor.

“19. The user device according to claim 14, wherein the sensor is an accelerometer.”

For more information, see this patent: Durairaj, Ravi. Method and system for automatically requesting medical assistance. U.S. Patent Number 11504074, filed July 30, 2020, and published online on November 22, 2022. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11504074)&db=USPAT&type=ids

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)