Method and system to reduce infrastructure costs with simplified indoor location and reliable commumications

Abstract

A system for issuing a notification responsive to the occurrence of an event affecting a monitored person. The system has a monitoring device that determines occurrence of an event related to the health or safety of the person and produces a first signal when the event occurs. A first communications device issues a second signal upon receiving the first signal and a second communications device issues a notification signal upon receiving the second signal. The notification signal is issued to one or more entities and advises that an event has occurred. The first communications device has a shorter communications range than the second communications device. Also, the second communications device operating at a higher power level or a greater signal bandwidth than the first communications device.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A smart television system for issuing a notification responsive to occurrence of an event affecting a person proximate the smart television, the smart television comprising:
 television signal receiving components;   first sensors for monitoring physiological conditions of the person and for issuing a first signal when certain physiological conditions indicate occurrence of an event;   second sensors for monitoring environmental conditions proximate the person, and for issuing the first signal when environmental conditions indicate of occurrence of an event;   a communications component operating on a communications network, responsive to the first signal for issuing a notification signal for carrying over the communications network for receiving by predetermined entities on the communications network.   
     
     
         2 . The smart television of  claim 1 , wherein the communications network comprises an internet or a cellular network. 
     
     
         3 . The smart television system of  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the first sensors are embedded in a wearable item worn by the person. 
     
     
         4 . The smart television system of  claim 1 , further comprising one or both of a microphone responsive to audio information for producing an audio signal and a camera responsive to video information for producing a video signal, one or both of the audio signal and the video signal included in the notification signal. 
     
     
         5 . The smart television system of  claim 1 , wherein the event comprises the person suffering a health-related event, or the event comprises the physiological conditions indicating an impending health related event, or the event comprises a dangerous environmental condition proximate the person. 
     
     
         6 . The smart television system of  claim 1 , wherein the communications component receives multimedia content from the communications network and displays the multimedia content on a display screen of the smart television system. 
     
     
         7 . The smart television system of  claim 1 , wherein the communications network receives audio content from the communications network and supplies the audio content to a speaker of the smart television system. 
     
     
         8 . A system for issuing a notification responsive to the occurrence of an event, the system comprising:
 a plurality of signal transmitting devices each one for transmitting a signal, the signal including a location of each one of the plurality of signal transmitting devices;   a monitoring device for determining occurrence of the event, for receiving one or more of the signals, and for determining a power level of each received signal;   the monitoring device for determining its location as proximate the signal transmitting device transmitting a received signal having a highest power level; and   the monitoring device issuing a notification signal advising occurrence of the event and including the location of the monitoring device.   
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the notification signal is sent over a communications link comprising a VOIP, a point-to-point link, a peer-to-peer link, or a mesh network, an internet link, or a personal area network. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the monitoring device comprises a plurality of environmental monitoring devices disposed at different locations or the monitoring device comprises a plurality of sensors worn by a person for determining health related parameters of the monitored person, the event determined to have occurred responsive to environmental parameters or health-related parameters outside of a outside a predetermined range.