Personal Safety Beacon for Automatic Hazard Alerting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing personal safety devices, such as two-way radios and GPS alert systems, are often costly, subscription-reliant, and unsuitable for recreational activities, making it difficult for individuals to alert others to emergencies without visually accessing their mobile devices, which are hard to use in concealed or hidden situations.
Innovation Solution
A Personal Safety Beacon (PSB) device that measures environmental conditions and transmits a unique identifier to portable electronic devices, enabling continuous monitoring and alerting users to hazardous conditions without requiring manual operation or visibility, using wireless protocols like Bluetooth and NFC.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If mobile devices are used for personal safety monitoring, then safety monitoring capability is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates because users need to visually look at the device to use it
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables self-service operation through automatic background monitoring where the monitoring application runs continuously without requiring user interaction. The device automatically detects hazardous conditions, determines user location, and sends alerts without needing the user to visually access or manually operate the device.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary action by continuously monitoring environmental conditions and user status in the background before any emergency occurs. The monitoring application is pre-configured to automatically detect hazards and initiate alert procedures, eliminating the need for manual activation during critical moments.
2Weight of moving object
If mobile devices are concealed in pockets or bags for safety, then portability is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates because it becomes difficult to access and use the device
Solution Approach 1:
The device operates autonomously while concealed, with the monitoring application running in the background without requiring user retrieval or manual interaction. The system self-monitors environmental conditions, self-determines location, and self-initiates alerts, making the device as easy to carry as any other mobile device while eliminating operational complexity.
3Reliability
If existing safety devices like two-way radios and GPS alert systems are used, then safety monitoring capability is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention leverages the universal capabilities of standard mobile devices (processors, sensors, communication modules, GPS) to perform multiple functions including environmental monitoring, location tracking, hazard detection, and emergency alerting. This eliminates the need for specialized safety devices and reduces overall system complexity while maintaining comprehensive safety monitoring capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system merges safety monitoring functions with the existing mobile device infrastructure, combining environmental sensors, location services, communication capabilities, and user interface elements into a single integrated system. This consolidation reduces device complexity by eliminating separate specialized safety equipment while maintaining all necessary safety functions.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for enhancing the safety of one or more persons includes a Personal Safety Beacon (PSB) device that is coupled with a person being monitored. The PSB device is configured to perform a plurality of measurements indicative of environmental conditions encountered by the person being monitored. The PSB device is also configured to transmit a unique identifier associated with the PSB device. The system further includes one or more portable electronic devices that are in continuous communication with the PSB device. The one or more portable electronic device hosts a monitoring application that monitors the person. The monitoring application is configured to notify a user upon detecting one or more hazardous or unsafe conditions based on the information provided by the PSB device.