Voice controlled assistance for monitoring adverse events of a user and/or coordinating emergency actions such as caregiver communication

A system comprising:

• an assistance device communicatively coupled to a voice controlled assistance service over a network, the assistance device comprising:
• a speaker of the assistance device,
• a microphone of the assistance device,
• a processor of the assistance device,
• a presence sensor of the assistance device, to sense a presence of a user of the assistance device within an immediate environment of the assistance device, and
• a memory of the assistance device, comprising computer-executable instructions that when executed on the processor cause the processor to:
• upon sensing the presence of the user, generate a verbal status query to the user comprising an authorization request for execution of an assistance action of an assistance application of the voice controlled assistance service, the assistance action conforming to a voice command protocol of the assistance application;
• invoke the assistance application and initiate the assistance action upon receiving an authorization from the user;
• determine an adverse event of the user based on an event of concern that is at least one of a non-response event of the user to the verbal status query generated by the speaker of the assistance device and a negative response event of the user to the verbal status query generated by the speaker of the assistance device;
• and
• initiate notification to a device of a caregiver of the user based on the determination of the adverse event;
• a sensing pod to expand communication between the user and the assistance device to an extended environment, the sensing pod comprising:
• a microphone of the sensing pod to gather a sound signal from an immediate environment of the sensing pod that may be determined by the assistance device to be at least one of a non-response event of the user to the verbal status query and a negative response event of the user defined as a negative response from the user to the verbal status query;
• a speaker of the sensing pod, optionally to generate the verbal status query;
• a processor of the sensing pod;
• a memory of the sensing pod;
• and
• a wireless transmitter-receiver for communicative coupling with the assistance device over the network to transmit the sound signal;
• a mobile device comprising:
• a processor of the mobile device;
• a memory of the mobile device comprising computer-executable instructions that when executed on the processor cause the processor to:
• receive a status query generated upon the non-response event of the user to the verbal status query generated by the speaker;
• a wearable device, comprising:
• a presence signaler detectable by the presence sensor of the assistance device, and
• a memory of the wearable device comprising computer-executable instructions that when executed on the processor cause the processor to:
• receive the status query generated upon the non-response event of the user to the verbal status query generated by the speaker;
• and
• an emergency server, comprising:
• a processor of the emergency server;
• an emergency speech recognition engine specialized in an emergency speech;
• and
• a memory of the emergency server comprising computer-executable instructions that when executed on the processor cause the processor to:
• receive a set of voice communications of the user re-routed exclusively to the emergency server upon determination of at least one of the event of concern and the adverse event,
• increase a recognition sensitivity to an emergency word of the user,
• generate an alert message for at least one of the emergency server and the device of the caregiver of the user, the alert message comprising a log comprising at least one of the adverse event and the event of concern, and
• upon occurrence of the adverse event, establish an audio feed between the assistance device and at least one of:
• (i) an emergency service and (ii) the device of the caregiver.

A method comprising:

• generating with a speaker a verbal status query to a user at least one of at a predetermined time, at a random time, upon a sensing event in which a presence of the user is sensed, and upon a threshold inactivity of a device of the user;
• initiating a countdown timer set to a time length;
• determining occurrence of an event of concern that is at least one of:
• (i) a negative response event that is a negative response from the user to the verbal status query, the negative response received by a microphone, and (ii) a non-response event that is a failure to receive by the microphone a recognizable response from the user before expiration of the countdown timer;
• referencing a safety profile specifying a condition under which one or more events of concern define an adverse event requiring execution of an emergency action;
• determining occurrence of the adverse event based on the condition of the safety profile and occurrence of the event of concern;
• determining the emergency action requires a notification to at least one of a device of a caregiver of the user and a device of an emergency service;
• generating an alert message for at least one of the emergency service and the device of the caregiver of the user, the alert message comprising a log comprising at least one of the adverse event and the one or more events of concern;
• repeating the verbal status query to the user and increasing a volume of the verbal status query from the speaker following determination of the non-response event of the user;
• upon occurrence of the event of concern, transmitting a status query to the device of the user;
• generating a verbal warning to the user with the speaker that at least one of:
• (i) the user has failed to provide the recognizable response, (ii) the caregiver has been alerted, and (iii) the emergency service has been alerted;
• upon determination of at least one of the event of concern and the adverse event, automatically re-routing a destination of a set of voice communications of the user from a first voice controlled assistance service that provides a general assistance to a second voice controlled assistance service having automated emergency assistance service;
• re-routing a voice command of the user from a speech recognition engine providing a general speech recognition to an emergency speech recognition engine specialized in an emergency speech;
• and
• increasing a recognition sensitivity to an emergency word of the user.