Patent Issued for Method and system to reduce infrastructure costs with simplified indoor location and reliable communications (USPTO 11382511): Logicmark Inc.

2022 AUG 03 (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 Tunnell, David (Palm Bay, FL, US), Tunnell, Hannah (Palm Bay, FL, US), filed on November 11, 2019, was published online on July 12, 2022.

The assignee for this patent, patent number 11382511, is Logicmark Inc. (Louisville, Kentucky, United States).

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Remote personal monitoring typically consists of centralized call centers that monitor the status of one or more persons. While personal monitoring spans a number of industries, it can be generally described to fall into two primary categories; Health Management and Safety. Typically, an alert generated by a central notification device in response to a detected event sends a signal to the call or crisis center for assistance. Mechanisms that facilitate alerts typically span a person manually pressing a panic button to sensing changes in a person’s physiology. Alerts are also initiated responsive to detection of a fall or an indication that a person has lapsed into a non-responsive state.

“Of the 35 million Americans over 65, about 1 in 3 will fall in a given year, and 50% of those people who fall require assistance from someone to get back up. Seniors are hospitalized for fall-related injuries 5 times more often than they are for injuries from all other causes. Falls are the leading cause of accidental death for seniors. Research shows that with prompt attention and assistance, the survival rate for the individual is higher. The ability to summon and receive assistance easily and quickly encourages seniors to live independently. But the longer a person spends in a helpless situation, unable to summon and receive help, the greater the likelihood that he/she will require treatment at a supportive care facility.

“Fall detection is also important for many other applications such as the “lone worker” where no one is present to detect when an individual has fallen or become incapacitated. For elderly people who live alone, suffering an incapacitated condition and unable to summon help is a common worry, which usually marks the end of his/her independent living arrangement. Statistics have shown that after a fall or other emergency, 90% of people who receive assistance within one hour will continue independent living after receiving treatment, but for those receiving help after 12 hours, only 10% continue to live independently.

“Fall detectors currently exist and typically fall into three categories: shock detection, non-movement, and orientation sensing. In the first shock detection category, the unit detects a shock triggered by the fall event. The second non-movement category is typically detected using a motion sensor, such as an accelerometer. The third category typically employs a tilt switch (e.g., a mercury switch or equivalent) embedded in an object that is worn on the person. When the person and the object fall, for example, into a horizontal orientation, the tilt switch is triggered.

“However, a shock can also be detected by a shock sensor worn on a person, for example when the person inadvertently bumps into a counter while walking around the home. Also, when one has a serious event (e.g., a sudden cardiac arrest), the person may not fall violently to the ground. Instead, the person may simply slowly collapse to the ground such that the shock sensor is not triggered. The tilt sensor likewise has drawbacks including disabling it each time the wearer wants to lie down (e.g., to take a nap or go to bed for the evening).

“Other health related events such as but not limited to blood sugar, blood pressure, pulse variations (referred to as medical related parameters) and the like may contribute to the overall health management of seniors. Likewise, simple “panic buttons” are frequently used to alert another party of a potential or actual problem (medically related or safety related) of the wearer.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “Such event detection systems or devices (also referred to herein as sensing devices, panic buttons, or pendants) may comprise one or more devices that perform various functions of sensing, triggering, alerting, notifying, and responding. Devices may take many forms such as but not limited to wearables, mobile, portable, or other form-factors that can be hung on a wall and/or embedded into other devices such as but not limited to door knobs, picture frames and the like. Some devices may be comprised of one or more of the following: an MCU (micro-controller unit); various sensors; communication devices and channels, methods, and networks; RF, antennas, motion detectors, microphones, speakers, indicators such as LEDs, speakers, displays and the like. Devices that collect data and/or contain one or more buttons and or sensors are called “event detection devices” or “sensing devices” herein.

“Devices and/or services that may send alerts to one or more devices or services are called “alerting devices” herein. Devices and/or services that notify other devices are called “notification devices” herein. Responding devices that receive notifications or alerts and/or take some action are called “responding devices” herein. The responding devices or entities are typically determined by the nature of the event and the types of sensors that initiated the alert. In some embodiments, one device may provide the functionality of all features described above, or a combination of those features.

“As described herein, the nouns vitals, metrics, and measurements are generally used interchangeably to refer to a condition or parameter that may be influenced by the occurrence of an event; in particular, by a health-related event.

“Summary of Sensors

“To accomplish their objectives, devices may sense various parameters related to biometrics, knowledge metrics, electronic metrics, physical activities, behavior metrics (e.g. behaviors), and/or psychological indicators of a subject. These parameters can be sensed, analyzed and/or stored locally and/or remotely on another server, cloud, and/or portal. The collected data may be analyzed to invoke an indicated response on behalf of the entity, and/or retrieved and viewed to manage the care and/or alerts of an entity.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A system for issuing a notification responsive to the occurrence of an event affecting a monitored person, the system comprising: a monitoring device for determining occurrence of an event related to the health or safety of the monitored person, the monitoring device further comprising: a first component for storing first and second reference parameter values both for use in determining occurrence of the event; a first sensor for determining first real-time parameter values; a second sensor for determining second real-time parameter values; an analysis component for analyzing the first real-time parameter values relative to the first reference parameter values, and responsive to determining a first predetermined relationship therebetween, then activating the second sensor and analyzing the second real-time parameter values relative to the second reference parameter values; responsive to results of analysis of the first and second real-time parameter values indicating that an event has occurred, the monitoring device for issuing the first signal; the monitoring device further for determining one or both of an event type and an event severity, the first signal indicating one or both of the event type and the event severity, the event type including a health-related event or a safety-related event; a first communications device having a first communications range for transmitted signals; a second communications device having a second communications range greater than the first communications range; the first communications device for receiving the first signal and for issuing a second signal responsive thereto, the second signal indicating one or both of the event type and the event severity; and the second communications device for receiving the second signal and for issuing a notification signal responsive thereto, the notification signal issued to predetermined entities and indicating one or both of the event type and the event severity, the predetermined entities receiving the notification signal based on the event type and the event severity.

“2. The system of claim 1, wherein the monitoring device comprises sensors for measuring physiological parameters of the monitored person and for producing the first signal responsive to occurrence of the event and when one or more of the physiological parameters is within a range of values indicative of an imminent medically-related event.

“3. The system of claim 1, wherein the notification signal is sent over a first communications channel to the one or more entities and thereafter sent over a second communications channel to the one or more entities, the first communications channel different from the second communications channel.

“4. The system of claim 1, wherein the notification signal is repeatedly sent to the one or more entities using different communications protocols or different networks for each transmission of the notification signal.

“5. The system of claim 4, wherein the different communications protocols or different networks comprise, a voice message or a text message over a cellular network, an email message over an Internet, a voice call over a public switched telephone network, a server-based communications network, or a private communications network.

“6. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more entities comprises a first and a second entity, the notification signal issued to the first entity and if the first entity does not respond to the notification signal after a predetermined roll-over time, the notification signal is issued to the second entity.

“7. The system of claim 1, wherein the monitoring device and the first communications device are disposed in a pendant, a wearable, a wristwatch, a mobile phone, a panic button assembly, or an Internet-of-things device.

“8. The system of claim 1, further comprising one of the one or more entities providing a reply signal responsive to receipt of the notification signal, the reply signal including an estimated time of arrival at a location of the monitored person.

“9. The system of claim 1, wherein the notification signal includes measured parameters related to a physiological condition, a physical condition, or a physical orientation of the monitored person, the measured parameters measured by one or more sensors proximate or attached to the monitored person.

“10. The system of claim 9, wherein access to the measured parameters is governed by a blockchain.

“11. The system of claim 1, wherein the notification signal is sent on a communications channel or according to a communications protocol based on characteristics of the notification signal and based on communications channels and communications protocols available to the one or more entities receiving the notification signal.

“12. The system of claim 1, the monitored person receiving information that an entity receiving the notification signal is in process of providing assistance to the monitored person.

“13. The system of claim 1, wherein the notification signal includes medications administered during a prior time period of predetermined length and a time the medication was administered.

“14. The system of claim 1, wherein the event comprises a fall and the notification signal includes measurements of physiological parameters of the monitored person, the measurements acquired before or after the fall.

“15. The system of claim 1, further comprising a location-determining component such that upon occurrence of an event a location of the monitored person is determined, and the location included within the notification signal.

“16. The system of claim 1, an app resident on a personal electronic device of the one or more entities, the app for receiving the notification signal, communicating with the monitored person, and notifying other entities of occurrence of the event.

“17. The system of claim 1, wherein the second communications device comprises a mobile phone and the predetermined entities are identified in lists of contact information, the lists stored in the mobile phone.

“18. The system of claim 1, wherein the notification signal is issued only when the monitored person is within a first predetermined area or the notification signal is not issued when the monitored person is within a second predetermined area, the first predetermined area different from the second predetermined area.”

For more information, see this patent: Tunnell, David. Method and system to reduce infrastructure costs with simplified indoor location and reliable communications. U.S. Patent Number 11382511, filed November 11, 2019, and published online on July 12, 2022. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=11382511.PN.&OS=PN/11382511RS=PN/11382511

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