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EP-4741881-A1 - GEOLOCATION SYSTEM AND METHOD IN DISTRESS SITUATIONS

EP4741881A1EP 4741881 A1EP4741881 A1EP 4741881A1EP-4741881-A1

Abstract

A geolocation system in distress situations comprising an electronic device (1) worn by a user with the particularity that it comprises an antenna for receiving signals from satellite systems (2), an antenna for receiving signals from access points (3), an antenna for sending and receiving mobile signals (4) for the transmission of position data, a charging dock (10) which is associated with the aforementioned electronic device and which has its location registered and has the particularity of comprising a WiFi type controller that emits an identification message and a network name to the electronic device; and a cloud platform (15) comprising an association database (16) between beacons and geographical position, and that is in connection with an assistance centre (17); and a geolocation method that is carried out with the aforementioned system.

Inventors

  • Cura González, Jaime

Assignees

  • SENIOR TELECOMUNICACIONES Y SERVICIOS AVANZADOS, S.L.

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20251029

Claims (17)

  1. A geolocation system in distress situations, characterised in that it comprises: an electronic device (1) worn by a user that comprises: an antenna for receiving signals from satellite systems (2); an antenna for receiving signals from access points (3); an antenna for sending and receiving mobile signals (4) for the transmission of position data and maintaining communication between a user and an assistance centre; a programmable control module (5) that manages the operation of the three antennas; and a rechargeable electrical power supply module (8); a charging dock (10), which is associated with said portable electronic device (1) and has its location registered, comprising: an electrical charger (11); and a WiFi type controller (13) that emits a WiFi identification message "BSSID" and a network name "SSID" to the electronic device (1); and a cloud platform (15) comprising an association database (16) between beacons and geographical position and which is in connection with an assistance centre (17), the platform comprising: means for receiving the data that the electronic device (1) has captured, compiled, and sent to the database; and a computer programme for geolocating the electronic device based on that data.
  2. A system according to claim 1, wherein the signals received by the antenna for receiving signals from satellite systems (2) are GPS, GLONASS, Galileo or Beidou signals.
  3. A system according to claim 1, wherein the signals received by an antenna for receiving signals from access points (3) are WiFi or Bluetooth signals.
  4. A system according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device (1) comprises a means of attachment (7) to the user.
  5. A system according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device (1) is a watch, bracelet or pendant.
  6. A system according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device (1) comprises at least one emergency push button (6) that activates an alarm signal and that is in connection with the control module.
  7. A system according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device (1) comprises electrical connectors (9).
  8. A system according to claim 1, wherein the WiFi type controller (13) emits a message every 60 milliseconds in a band ranging from 2426 Mhz to 2448 Mhz.
  9. A system according to claim 1, wherein the electrical charger (11) comprises two points of contact points (12) with the electronic device (1).
  10. A system according to claim 9, wherein the contact points (12) are of the "Pogo" type.
  11. A system according to claim 1, wherein the controller (13) emits a unique "BSSID" identifier, and which is composed of a maximum of 6 octets.
  12. A system according to claim 1, wherein the controller (13) emits an identifier "SSID" which is an arbitrary byte string c with a maximum of 32 bytes.
  13. A system according to claim 1, wherein the charging dock (10) comprises an electrical connector (14) to the mains.
  14. A system according to claim 13, wherein the electrical connector (14) is of the USB-C type.
  15. A system according to claim 1, wherein the charging dock (10) comprises an upper casing (18) and a lower casing (19) which are fixed to each other.
  16. A system according to claim 1, wherein the charging dock (10) internally comprises magnets (22) for positioning the electronic device during charging.
  17. A geolocation method in distress situations, which is carried out using a system according to any one of claims 1 - 16, comprising the steps of - sending a distress signal to the platform from the electronic device worn by the user; - determining whether there is a satellite position ∘ if no, determining whether there is beacon data and performing geolocation using the position of the beacon ∘ if yes, determining whether there is beacon data, updating the position of the beacon, and performing geolocation using the satellite position and beacon position.

Description

Object of the invention The present invention relates to a new type of geolocation system in distress situations, specifically for users who are in a vulnerable situation, such as people living alone and/or people with mobility problems and, moreover, in remote or rural areas where there is no good telecommunications network coverage, and it is a system that allows an exact geolocation of the aforementioned user automatically. The invention also relates to a geolocation method based on the use of the system. The invention falls within the industrial sector related to telecommunications and, more specifically, to systems and equipment for communicating distress signals. Background of the invention It is well known that, in the context of this industrial sector, the technological developments in telecommunications that have been experienced over the last two decades have led to the availability of a wide variety of devices that allow wireless communication in practically any location on the planet. These advances enable the incorporation of mobile communications into new devices, including those intended for emergency or distress signal propagation. Specifically, developments based on such devices that are or can be permanently connected and/or send signals wirelessly make it possible to open up new potential solutions to problems that were previously very limited. Thus, the development and use of electronic watches, bracelets or pendants that are permanently connected even when the users of these devices are not in their homes or near wired network access points is well known. It is well known that the mobility enabled by these devices makes it feasible that, when a person is away from home, they can call for help or call emergency services using a device the size of a watch or pendant; however, this introduces new challenges that were not present before. If users are able to move around and leave their homes with their devices, the call centres where requests for help are received cannot determine the location of the users. As this is a key aspect of being able to offer assistance or emergency services, it becomes essential to find a solution to provide accurate location in any context of the device and by extension of the user of the device at all times. In this respect, the types of solutions can be divided into three main groups: satellite geolocation systems (Global Navigation Satellite System or GNSS); beacon-based localization systems; and device communication network localization systems. Satellite geolocation systems are characterised by providing a geographical position with the support of a satellite system orbiting around the planet. These satellites are permanently emitting information which, when it reaches a device prepared to detect these signals, allows it to triangulate its geographical position with an error range of less than 10 m. This accuracy is the highest of the three groups. Another advantage of this type of system is that the device has all the necessary information to triangulate its geographical position and does not require an external system. However, the major and serious drawbacks of satellite geopositioning systems are the high-power consumption required to process the satellite signal to calculate a position and that the devices must be in the line-of-sight of the satellites. This is a serious problem, as these systems stop working when the device is under a roof or inside any building, such as a user's home, a shopping centre, a hospital or a social centre. Beacon geolocation systems are based on the identification of devices by radio signals, typically signals that follow standards such as Bluetooth or WiFi, although there are also solutions that use proprietary protocols in the bands using ISM (Industrial, Scientific, Medical) bands reserved for this type of application. In this case, the user device initiates the procedure by searching for signals emitted by a base station (beacon). The signal emitted by the beacons must contain a unique identifier that allows for the unambiguous identification of the corresponding beacon. With this information, the user device must search a database for the position of the beacon that is emitting that unique identifier and, by extension, the geographical position of the device that is capturing the beacon signal. The major advantages of this geographical localization method are its accuracy, which will depend on the number of devices and the reach of the signal emitted by the beacons and could exceed 5 m, it works both outdoors and indoors and its energy consumption can be very low when compared to satellite systems. However, the major disadvantages come in the deployment itself, the limitation of the location scope, since in order to locate, beacons must be installed, positions must be noted, and if the devices used as beacons are in motion, the data must be constantly updated, requiring additional effort that increases depending on t