Patent ID: 7315736

Claim:
A personal emergency response communications system, comprising: a portable communications unit intended to be carried by a user who may require emergency attention, including (1) a wireless transmitter and a wireless receiver for respectively transmitting and receiving communication signals, (2) a call button actuatable by the user to initiate a call request signal that will result in placing the user in voice communication with an emergency response provider; a base communications unit coupled with a dial-up telephone system for establishing voice communication between the user and the emergency response provider, the base unit including (1) a wireless transmitter and a wireless receiver for respectively transmitting and receiving communication signals, and (2) a dialer for dialing the emergency response provider telephone number, a memory for storing a telephone number of the emergency response provider in one of the portable communications unit and the base communications unit, and a controller responsive to the call request signal for controlling the dialer to dial the emergency response provider telephone number, wherein the memory stores electrical signals convertible into preselected voice messages, a speech synthesizer is provided for reproducing the preselected voice messages from the stored signals indicative of the status of the call request, and the controller is operative to deliver the preselected voice messages to the portable unit, and wherein the preselected voice messages include a first voice message indicating that the emergency response provider number is being dialed, and a second voice message indicating that the call to the provider is being terminated.