Patent ID: 7848732

Claim:
A mobile communications device, comprising: a portable body; a transceiver within the portable body that sends and receives wireless communication signals to a mobile communications network; an environmental hazard sensor within the portable body that produces a signal value based on sensing at least one characteristic of an environmental hazard; a processor that interacts with the transceiver to establish communications with the mobile communications network and that interacts with the environmental hazard sensor to analyze the signal value against a reference and to originate an outbound communication to the mobile communications network upon detecting that the signal value exceeds the reference; a portable power source that is affixed to the portable body and that provides electrical power to the transceiver, the environmental sensor, and the processor; and an input component within the portable body that receives user input, and wherein the processor interacts with the input component to receive and act upon the user input; and wherein the processor maintains a home location and provides an indicator of whether the home location or a custom location is active, and wherein the processor receives the user input via the input component to activate the home location or the custom location.