Personal monitoring system

#Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods, and devices for facilitating personal monitoring. Among other things, implementations of the present disclosure include personal monitoring devices and associated computing systems for communicating with the personal monitoring devices and receiving and processing data from the personal monitoring devices.

#Personal tracking systems generally enable a remote user to determine the location or similar details regarding a user of a personal tracking device. Such systems have many applications including general monitoring of children, the disabled, the elderly, or other similar individuals and identification and reporting of emergency situations. Among other things, such systems may provide the monitored individual with a greater degree of autonomy (e.g., versus being in a constantly and more directly monitored environment, such as a nursing home) while simultaneously providing the caretaker with the peace of mind that any potentially hazardous situations that may arise will be quickly identified and addressed.

#Conventional tracking and monitoring systems often require a tradeoff between functionality, device format, and battery life. So, for example, small, energy efficient monitoring devices are often have limited functionality, such as the amount and type of data they provide. Conversely, more sophisticated and feature-heavy monitoring devices often require a larger device or a device requiring more power. In light of the foregoing, there is a need for a personal monitoring system having sophisticated features and functionality without significant impact to the form or life of the personal monitoring device.

#The foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of the present disclosure set forth herein will be apparent from the following description of particular implementations of those inventive concepts, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the drawings are not necessarily to scale; however the emphasis instead is being placed on illustrating the principles of the inventive concepts. Also, in the drawings the like reference characters may refer to the same parts or similar throughout the different views. It is intended that the implementations disclosed herein are to be considered illustrative rather than limiting.

#FIG. 1 is a system diagram illustrating an example operational environment for implementations of the present disclosure including a personal monitoring device and a server system;

#FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example implementation of the personal monitoring device of FIG. 1;

#The present disclosure is directed to methods, systems, and devices for personal monitoring. Among other things, implementations of the present disclosure include a personal monitoring device in communication with a server system that receives and processes sensor data (such as, but not limited to, location and acceleration data) from the personal monitoring device. The server system is also accessible by a remote computing device (such as a smartphone, tablet, or personal computer) such that a user of the remote computing device can, among other things, access and evaluate the sensor data provided by the personal monitoring device or be alerted when the sensor data provided by the personal monitoring device indicates the occurrence of certain events.

#Although a wide range of example applications are discussed herein, in one specific example, the personal monitoring device may be provided to a child such that the personal monitoring device periodically provides the location of the child to the server system. A parent operating the remote computing device can subsequently access the location data to determine the location of their child. In such implementations, the server system may also be configured to transmit an alert or other notification to the remote computing device in the event the child exits a defined area, is within proximity of a particular location, or otherwise meets a location-related criteria. In another example implementation, the personal monitoring device may be used by an elderly person and configured to transmit acceleration and location data when an accelerometer of the personal monitoring device measures acceleration above a threshold indicative of a fall. In such implementations, the personal monitoring device and server system may automatically initiate a call to an emergency contact or emergency service, automatically transmit a notification to the remote computing device, or take other similar steps to initiate assistance for the user of the personal monitoring device.

#In implementations of the present disclosure, the personal monitoring device is generally configured to have relatively simple and limited functionality. For example, while the personal monitoring device may measure and store sensor data, processing of the sensor data to determine whether monitoring conditions (e.g., leaving a geographic area, a fall, etc.) have been met is generally handled by the server system. Moreover, personal monitoring devices in accordance with the present disclosure may also include functionality to modify sensor sampling rates or to operate in low-power modes in order to preserve battery charge.