Personal safety and emergency services

Abstract

A safety event is determined as affecting a user based at least in part context data collected at a user device associated with the user. In some aspects, context data is detected from sensors on the client device, the context data describing a present context of the user. A deviation of the present context from a historical context is determined to be beyond a threshold. Determining that the deviation is beyond the threshold can be determined to correspond to a safety event potentially jeopardizing safety of the user. In some aspects, an action can be launched in response to determining the safety event.

1 - 117 . (canceled) 
     
     
         118 . At least one machine accessible storage medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions when executed on a machine, cause the machine to:
 identify one or more historical contexts for a user from historical context data, wherein at least a portion of the historical context data was collected from sensors on a client device associated with the user;   detect context data from sensors on the client device, the context data describing a present context of the user;   determine that the present context deviates from the historical context beyond a threshold; and   determine that the deviation corresponds to an event jeopardizing safety of the user based on the determination that the present context deviates from the historical context beyond the threshold.   
     
     
         119 . The storage medium of  claim 118 , wherein the instructions when executed further cause the machine to launch an action based on the determined event. 
     
     
         120 . The storage medium of  claim 119 , wherein the action includes at least one of initiating a priority call, collecting additional context data at the client device, and alerting an emergency contact. 
     
     
         121 . The storage medium of  claim 120 , wherein the action is determined based on the context data. 
     
     
         122 . The storage medium of  claim 118 , wherein the context data includes one or more of location context data, device context data, ambient context data, user context data, and security context data. 
     
     
         123 . The storage medium of  claim 122 , wherein user context data includes user profile data and user state data. 
     
     
         124 . The storage medium of  claim 118 , wherein the context data is received from the client device. 
     
     
         125 . The storage medium of  claim 118 , wherein the received context data is encrypted with a temporary key. 
     
     
         126 . The storage medium of  claim 118 , wherein the context data is received from a source external to the client device. 
     
     
         127 . The storage medium of  claim 126 , wherein the context data further comprises context data received from the client device. 
     
     
         128 . The storage medium of  claim 126 , wherein the historical context data include historical context data collected from the external source. 
     
     
         129 . The storage medium of  claim 118 , wherein detecting the deviation includes determining a context-specific deviation for each of a set of context types and determining a net deviation from the context-specific deviations. 
     
     
         130 . The storage medium of  claim 129 , wherein the set of context types includes location context data, device context data, ambient context data, user context data, and security context data. 
     
     
         131 . The storage medium of  claim 129 , wherein determining a context-specific deviation includes identifying a weighting for the context type and applying the weighting to the corresponding context-specific deviation. 
     
     
         132 . A method comprising:
 identifying one or more historical contexts for a user from historical context data, wherein at least a portion of the historical context data was collected from sensors on a client device associated with the user;   detecting context data from sensors on the client device, the context data describing a present context of the user,   determining that the present context deviates from the historical context beyond a threshold; and   determining that the deviation corresponds to an event jeopardizing safety of the user based on the determination that the present context deviates from the historical context beyond the threshold.   
     
     
         133 . The method of  claim 132 , wherein the method is performed at least in part by the client device. 
     
     
         134 . The method of  claim 132 , wherein the method is performed at least in part by a personal safety server external to the client device. 
     
     
         135 . The method of  claim 132 , further comprising launching an action based on the determined event. 
     
     
         136 . The method of  claim 135 , wherein the action comprises initiating a priority call, wherein the priority call includes a telephonic component and a text-based component and the text-based component describes the present context. 
     
     
         137 . The method of  claim 135 , wherein the action comprises causing additional context information to be collected from the client device. 
     
     
         138 . A system comprising:
 at least one processor device;   at least one memory element; and   a personal safety engine, adapted when executed by the at least one processor device to:
 identify one or more historical contexts for a user from historical context data, wherein at least a portion of the historical context data was collected from sensors on a client device associated with the user, 
 detect context data from sensors on the client device, the context data describing a present context of the user, 
 determine that the present context deviates from the historical context beyond a threshold; and 
 determine that the deviation corresponds to an event jeopardizing safety of the user based on the determination that the present context deviates from the historical context beyond the threshold 
   
     
     
         139 . The system of  claim 138 , wherein at least a portion of the personal safety engine is hosted on the client device. 
     
     
         140 . The system of  claim 138 , wherein at least a portion of the personal safety engine is hosted on a server system external to the client device.