Abstract:
A safety alert system  10  is provided which allows the user to initiate a series of telephone communications by activating a pre-programmed control hub  12  by signaling the control hub  12  from a remote activation pendant  14  carried by the user to activate the control hub  12  to begin the control hub  12  dialing multiple pre-selected telephone numbers of pre-selected recipients to inform the recipients of the existence of an emergency situation involving the user, the control hub  12  also determining if the telephone communication has been answered and if the telephone communication has been answered by a person and not a mechanical device.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION  
       [0001]     This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) and 37 C.F.R. 1.78(a)(4) based upon copending U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/838,536 for Safety Alert System filed Aug. 11, 2006 and which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     The present invention relates to the field of emergency notification devices, in particular, health and accident and safety notification devices for use in a dwelling to allow a person to rapidly communicate with pre-selected emergency responders.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003]     The number of individuals living by themselves is increasing substantially each year in the United States. The need for these individuals to have an emergency means of communication with selected relatives or the emergency services departments of their local community also increases. With the population aging, and more aging persons living by themselves, the potential for individuals living alone to become hurt or incapacitated and unable to physically reach a telephone or cell phone or to manipulate that instrument to obtain help and assistance increases.  
         [0004]     Therefore, it would be a benefit if a device existed which permitted individuals, while hurt or incapacitated or immobilized, to initiate a series of telephone communications and which could cycle through a series of preprogrammed telephone numbers in an attempt to contact one or more emergency service providers or personal assistance providers as selected by the owner of the device.  
         [0005]     It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that such a device may be used in health emergencies as well as safety emergencies (police or fire) and will be most useful to those individuals who have limited physical capacities and/or who are unable to easily manipulate a standard telephone apparatus or who may be incapable of manipulating a telephone apparatus if injured or incapacitated.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     A safety alert system  10  comprised of a control base or hub  12  and one or more mobile pendants  14  is provided which allows a user to transmit a radio frequency signal from a pendant  14  to the control hub or control base  12  to active the base  12  to begin the initiation of a series of telephone communications. By activating control base or hub  12  a series of user pre-programmed telephone numbers are sequentially dialed by control hub  12 . The remote activation pendant  14  carried by the user to activate the control hub  12  can be operated to active control hub  12  from a distance of approximately 100 feet.  
         [0007]     Once activated control hub  12  begins sequentially dialing user pre-selected and pre-stored telephone numbers that reside in the memory  72  of control hub  12 . The dialing of the user pre-selected and pre-stored telephone numbers serves to telephonically contact pre-determined telephone call recipients to inform the call recipients, by the playing of a prerecorded message, of the existence of an emergency situation involving the user. The control hub  12  also can determine if the telephone communication has been answered and if the telephone communication has been answered by a person and not a mechanical device. This is accomplished by the interaction between pre-recorded message played by control hub  12  and the control hub  12  expecting to receive pre-determined audio responses from the call recipient upon the cessation of ring tones. The control base or hub  12 , during the playing of its pre-recorded message, requests the party answering the telephone call to press particular buttons on the call recipient&#39;s telephone. The controller  70  of control hub  12 , upon receiving the expected, requested tone from the call recipient&#39;s telephone, recognizes that a human being and not a machine has responded to the pre-recorded message and therefore to the telephone call. The software operated on controller  70  of control hub  12  then determines to cease to continue to sequentially call the remaining pre-selected and pre-stored telephone numbers held in the memory  72  of control hub  12 .  
         [0008]     The foregoing and other objects are intended to be illustrative of the invention and are not meant in a limiting sense. Many possible embodiments of the invention may be made and will be readily evident upon a study of the following specification and accompanying drawings comprising a part thereof. Various features and subcombinations of invention may be employed without reference to other features and subcombinations. Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein is set forth by way of illustration and example, an embodiment of this invention. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0009]     Preferred embodiments of the invention, illustrative of the best modes in which the applicant has contemplated applying the principles, are set forth in the following description and are shown in the drawings and are particularly and distinctly pointed out and set forth in the appended claims.  
         [0010]      FIG. 1  is a front elevation view of the safety alert system  10  including control hub  12  and pendant  14 ;  
         [0011]      FIG. 2  is a diagrammatic representation of the front elevation view of the control hub  12  of the safety alert system  10 ;  
         [0012]      FIG. 3  is a front and bottom and right side perspective view of pendant  14 ; and  
         [0013]      FIG. 4  is an exploded view of pendant  14 ; and  
         [0014]      FIG. 5  is an exploded view of control hub  12 .  
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0015]     As required, detailed embodiments of the safety alert system are disclosed herein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, which may be embodied in various forms. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the safety alert system in virtually any appropriately detailed structure.  
         [0016]     First referring to  FIG. 1  the general structure of the safety alert system  10  will be discussed. The alert system  10  is comprised of a control hub  12  and one or more user pendants  14 . In general, the control hub  12  is mounted in a central location of a dwelling so it may be conveniently attached to a power line  16  and to a telephone line  18  and/or other communication line  20 . Pendant  14  provides a radio frequency (rf) signal to control hub  12  which receives the rf signal and activates the series of processes programmed into controller  70  and EEPROM  72  of control hub  12  upon the user pressing activation button  22  of pendant  14  in an emergency situation. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that, in general, upon activation of pendant  14  by the depressing of activation button  22 , that a radio frequency signal is transmitted to control hub  12 . Control hub  12  receives the rf signal via receiver  74  ( FIG. 5 ) and this initiates a series of preprogrammed telephone dialing and message playback activities designed to send notification to one or more emergency locations via a telephone transmission.  
         [0017]     Referring now to  FIG. 2 , the operational aspects provided in control hub  12  will be described. Control hub  12  is approximately 3.5 inches by 4.5 inches by 1 inch in size and provides the user with keypad  24  and display  26  and four-way selector button  28  for use in programming control hub  12 . The programming of control hub  12  will be described hereinafter. As previously described, control hub  12  is provided with a power supply jack  16  and telephone cable jack  18  and a second jack for communications line  20 . Control hub  12  is provided with display  26  which allows the user to monitor the current state of functioning of control hub  12  as well as to monitor the current state of programming of control hub  12 . In addition, display  26  allows the user to review the programming and operational status of control hub  12  at any time.  
         [0018]     Again referring to  FIG. 2 , control hub  12  permits the entry into a memory, such as an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM)  72  ( FIG. 5 ), of control hub  12 , three sets of phone numbers each of which may be up to 14 digits in length. During the programming procedure, the particular phone number being programmed into control hub  12  is indicated by the illumination of telephone memory indicators  30 . To program a telephone number into control hub  12 , the user presses four-way selector  28  and selects the bottom position marked “PROG” to initiate programming of control hub  12 . The “PROG” button should be held for three seconds after the tone is heard, LCD  30  on control hub  12  then will begin to flash, and the user then is to enter the phone number desired to be saved into memory. After entry of the telephone number, the user should then press on keypad  24  one of the memory positions marked as “M1, M2, or M3” to select the memory position of the number just entered into memory. The depressing and holding of buttons marked “M1, M2 or M3” will save the telephone number entered by the user into memory  72  of control hub  12 . Should the user have made an error in entry of the telephone number, the user can depress the “delete” button (“DEL”) of four-way selector  28  to return to the number previously stored. If, during the programming process, the user fails to depress either of buttons “M1, M2 or M3” within ten (10) seconds of entry of telephone digits, control hub  12  will revert to standby mode and be active should an emergency signal be sent by the depressing of activation button  22  on pendant  24 .  
         [0019]     Should the user wish to review telephone numbers that have been saved into control hub  12 , the user can press the buttons marked “M1, M2 or M3” while control hub  12  is in standby mode, and the telephone stored in that particular memory position will be displayed on display  26 . If the user wishes to delete the telephone number stored in any of the memory positions “M1, M2 or M3,” the user first selects the memory position while control hub  12  is in the standby mode and then immediately depresses and holds the delete button on four-way selector  28  for three seconds to delete the phone number from the memory of control hub  12 . The sounding of a long “beep” tone means that the memory position has been cleared.  
         [0020]     Still referring to  FIG. 2 , when the user wishes to set the correct time of day on control hub  12 , the user depresses the four-way selector position marked with the face of a clock on selector  28 . The display position for the month will begin flashing. The user then uses the up or down arrow buttons of four-way selector  28  to change the indicated month. To move to the day of the month, the user again depresses the clock face button, or the right hand button, of four-way selector  28 , and the date will begin to flash in display  26 , and again the user will use the up and down arrow buttons of four-way selector  28  to change the date that is being displayed on display  26 . Once the user has entered the month and day, the user presses the right hand button of four-way selector  28  having the clock face thereon for a final time to confirm the month and day date setting and to exit that function of control hub  12 .  
         [0021]     To link or make the connection between control hub  12  and pendant  14  it is necessary to register the hub  12  and the pendant  14  with one another. This function is accomplished by the user pressing the top button of a four-way selector  28  marked “REG” to be in the registration mode. After depressing the “REG” button, the user should hold the button for three seconds at which point the control hub LED will begin to flash indicating that it is ready to receive the rf signal from pendant  14  to register the pendant with control hub  12 . The user then presses activation button  22  on pendant  14  and holds the button for three seconds to execute the registration of the pendant  14  with control hub  12 . When registration has been successfully completed, control hub  12  will “beep” two times to confirm the registration of pendant  14  with control hub  12 . Control hub  12  is further provided with an AC power detector icon  27  which is shown in  FIG. 2  in the form of an electrical plug in a circle. This indicator light will show the presence of a low battery condition in control hub  12  and remind the user to connect the control hub to power supply. It will be appreciated that control hub  12  is intended to operate off line voltage available in the building but that battery power supply is included within control hub  12  to allow the invention to remain operational during power outages.  
         [0022]     Control hub  12  also detects the proper connection of a telephone line into the telephone line in jack  18  of control hub  12 . If no telephone line is detected, the telephone icon  29  shown in  FIG. 2  will illuminate to remind the user to plug the telephone line into control hub  12 . Control hub  12  also will detect whether or not emergency telephone numbers have been entered into the system. If no emergency number has been saved in control hub  12 , the icon  31  shown in  FIG. 3  representing the dial of a telephone will remind the user to enter an emergency telephone number into control hub memory. When the safety alert system is activated to begin calling the pre-stored telephone numbers, LED&#39;s light up behind window  41  below the number pad when the alarm is activated.  
         [0023]     An integral part of the safety alert system is the provision of an outgoing message (OGM) which is played upon detection that the telephone number dialed from memory, “M1, M2 or M3” of control hub  12 , has been answered. Specifically, when control hub  12  is activated, hub  12  dials the number stored in memory position M 1 . Control hub  12  detects that the telephone has been answered by a cessation in the telephone ringing the dialed number. Once a cessation in telephone ringing has been detected, the control hub begins to play the prerecorded message. The outgoing message can be up to 10 seconds in length and is recorded by the user speaking into microphone  43 . The message is intended to inform the party answering the telephone that has been dialed from the memory of control hub  12  of the identity of the individual who is unable to personally telephone and other typical emergency information about the incapacitated individual. This information should include the address, other individuals to contract and/or the telephone numbers of the police and fire departments or ambulance service in the event these emergency services do not respond to recorded messages. The outgoing message is recorded onto an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) to ensure that the outgoing message and emergency telephone numbers will not be lost if power to control hub  12  is interrupted.  
         [0024]     The user may record the outgoing message by pressing the button marked “Rec OGM”  33  on keypad  24 . The user presses the “Rec OGM” button  33  for three seconds after which a beep sounds, and the user may speak into microphone  43  to record the outgoing message. Once the user has completed the outgoing message, the user presses the “Rec OGM” button  33  for a second time to stop recording, at which point, the system will automatically play back the message that has been recorded. If the user wishes to play back the outgoing message at any time, the user depresses the button on keypad  24  marked “Playback OGM”  35 . This will initiate playback of the outgoing message through the speaker  37  contained in control hub  12 . If receiving a telephone call, the hub may be used as a speaker phone by depressing the button marked “Spkr”  39  on keypad  24  to allow use of the speaker phone feature of control hub  12 . It will be appreciated that control hub  12  is equipped with a default outgoing message. Should the personally recorded outgoing message become deleted, or should the user not wish to personally record an outgoing message, the default outgoing message will be transmitted when control hub  12  is activated.  
         [0025]     During operation of the safety alert system, the user will be able to activate control hub  12  from any location within  100  feet of control hub  12  by depressing activation  22  on pendant  14 . The pendant  14  is intended to accompany the user to any location about the premises in which the safety alert system is installed. Upon depressing activation button  22 , a radio frequency (rf) signal is transmitted from pendant  14  to control hub  12 . Control hub  12  then becomes activated and begins dialing the first telephone number recorded at the “M1” memory location. If the control hub  12  does not receive a response to the first dialed number within one minute, the control hub will automatically disconnect that call and will dial the second telephone number recorded at the “M2” memory position. Control hub  12  will then allow that second dialed number to ring for up to one minute. If no answer is received at the phone recorded at the second memory position, the control hub will proceed to dial the telephone number contained on the third memory position “M3”.  
         [0026]     In the event the dialed telephone number ceases to ring because the call is answered by an answering machine or facsimile machine or a non-responsive operator or the phone is busy or the other party picks up the phone and fails to properly respond, the control hub will detect this as a non-responsive dialing attempt. The control hub  12  then will proceed to dial the next number in memory in an attempt to receive a satisfactory response. A satisfactory response is generated by a human being answering the telephone call generated by the hub memory and responding to the recorded outgoing message which, in addition to providing information to the individual answering the phone, also requests that the individual press a particular number on the recipient keypad (such as # sign) in order to acknowledge receipt of the message. Alternatively, the recipient of the telephone call is instructed to press a different number (for example the *) if they understand that the message can be disregarded. In the event the control hub  12  does not receive a command from any of the telephone numbers called, the hub  12  then will try two more cycles for three attempts for each number and then cease dialing.  
         [0027]     Referring now to  FIG. 4 , an exploded view of pendant  14  ( FIG. 3 ) is shown. Pendant  14  is comprised of top housing  40  and bottom housing  46  which contain circuit board  44 , battery or power source  48 , activation LED  42 , and rf transmitter  52  on circuit board  44 . As previously described, activation button  22  is provided to activate rf transmitter  52  to thereby send a radio frequency signal to control hub  12  to activate the invention. Battery  48  is retained within housing  40 ,  46  by cap  50 .  
         [0028]     Referring now to  FIG. 5 , the components of control hub  12  will be described. Control hub  12  is comprised of front housing  60  and back housing  62  within which is contained circuit board  64  having display  26  and keypad buttons  68  thereon. The rf signal transmitted from pendant  14  is received by antenna  66  of control hub  12 . Battery  73  is inserted into back housing  62  and retained therein by cover  70 . A controller  70  also is provided on circuit board  64  with EEPROM  72 . EEPROM  72  stores the outgoing message (OGM) and telephone numbers entered and saved by the user and controller  70  and its software operate the dialing and response monitoring functions previously described.  
         [0029]     In the foregoing description, certain terms have been used for brevity, clearness and understanding; but no unnecessary limitations are to be implied therefrom beyond the requirements of the prior art, because such terms are used for descriptive purposes and are intended to be broadly construed. Moreover, the description and illustration of the inventions is by way of example, and the scope of the inventions is not limited to the exact details shown or described.  
         [0030]     Certain changes may be made in embodying the above invention, and in the construction thereof, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is intended that all matter contained in the above description and shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not meant in a limiting sense.  
         [0031]     Having now described the features, discoveries and principles of the invention, the manner in which the inventive safety alert system is constructed and used, the characteristics of the construction, and advantageous, new and useful results obtained; the new and useful structures, devices, elements, arrangements, parts and combinations, are set forth in the appended claims.  
         [0032]     It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.