Patent ID: 8718594

Claim:
A method for monitoring a status of a subject, the method including: storing, at a monitoring station, in a memory, a stored status including a set of information related to the status of the subject including a time of last response from the subject, a first personal identifier associated with the subject and at least one of the group of: a last known task of the subject, a last known task status, a job number and a schedule of jobs; communicating a first request from a first communication means associated with the monitoring station to a second communication means associated with the subject; one of communicating a response from the second communication means to the first communication means before a predetermined period of time has elapsed, and in the absence of the response, updating the stored status to include an alert condition, and communicating an alert message, including the time of last response from the subject and at least one of the group of: the last known task of the subject, the last known task status, the job number, and the schedule of jobs from the first communication means to one or more further communication means; wherein communicating a response from the second communication means to the first communication means includes communicating a second personal identifier; the response is determined to be invalid if the second personal identifier does not match the first personal identifier; and, if the response is invalid, then sending a second request, from the first communication means to the second communication means, for the second personal identifier.