Systems and methods for providing victim location information during an emergency situation
View Patent ↗A monitoring system receives data from embedded systems that are located within a building. The embedded systems may be contained within components (e.g., sensors, switches, etc.) that are situated within the building. Rules are defined for interpreting the data. The monitoring system interprets the data based on the defined rules to obtain location information and/or event information. The location information includes possible locations of victims within the building. The event information includes events that have been detected by components within the building. The location information and the event information may be provided to one or more emergency response systems.
1. A method for providing information about the possible location of victims within a building during an emergency situation, the method being implemented by a monitoring system, the method comprising:
receiving data from embedded systems that are located within a building,
wherein the data comprises data from a controller system for the building indicating whether a particular device has been turned on or off;
defining rules for interpreting the data, wherein each rule comprises:
a triggering event, wherein the triggering event includes an action by a building occupant, wherein the action by the building occupant comprises:
opening or closing a door, or turning on or turning off a device, or plugging in or unplugging a device, or turning a light on or turning a light off, or the occupant moving within the building; and
one or more actions that are performed in response to the triggering event;
interpreting the data based on the defined rules to obtain location information that comprises possible locations of victims within the building, wherein the possible locations of victims are based upon the actions by the building occupant;
storing the location information in a database automatically based on the actions of the building occupant, wherein the location information for a particular room comprises either a first value or a second value, wherein the first value indicates that the room is likely occupied and the second value indicates that the room is likely not occupied;
providing the location information to one or more emergency response systems;
receiving notification about the occurrence of an emergency event;
in response to the notification, notifying the one or more emergency response systems about the emergency event; and
modifying behavior of the monitoring system based on the occurrence of the emergency event.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving at least one request for the location information from the one or more emergency response systems, and wherein the location information is provided to the one or more emergency response systems in response to the at least one request.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising interpreting the data based on the defined rules to obtain event information that comprises events that have been detected by components within the building.
4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising storing the event information in a database.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least some of the rules comprise:
at least one condition; and
one or more actions that are performed if the triggering event occurs and the at least one condition is satisfied.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data is received from the embedded systems via a controller system that serves as an interface between the embedded systems and the monitoring system.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the monitoring system is located within the building.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the monitoring system is located outside of the building.
9. A monitoring system that is configured to provide information about the possible location of victims within a building during an emergency situation, comprising:
a processor;
memory in electronic communication with the processor;
instructions stored in the memory, the instructions being executable to:
receive data from embedded systems that are located within a building, wherein the data comprises data from a controller system for the building indicating whether a particular device has been turned on or off;
define rules for interpreting the data, wherein each rule comprises:
a triggering event, wherein the triggering event includes an action by a building occupant, wherein the action by the building occupant comprises:
opening or closing a door, or turning on or turning off a device, or plugging in or unplugging a device, or turning a light on or turning a light off, or the occupant moving within the building; and
one or more actions that are performed in response to the triggering event;
interpret the data based on the defined rules to obtain location information that comprises possible locations of victims within the building, wherein the possible locations of victims are based upon the actions by the building occupant;
store the location information in a database automatically based on the actions of the building occupant, wherein the location information for a particular room comprises either a first value or a second value, wherein the first value indicates that the room is likely occupied and the second value indicates that the room is likely not occupied;
provide the location information to one or more emergency response systems;
receive notification about the occurrence of an emergency event;
in response to the notification, notify the one or more emergency response systems about the emergency event; and
modify behavior of the monitoring system based on the occurrence of the emergency event.
10. The monitoring system of claim 9 , wherein the instructions are further executable to receive at least one request for the location information from the one or more emergency response systems, and wherein the location information is provided to the one or more emergency response systems in response to the at least one request.
11. The monitoring system of claim 9 , wherein the instructions are further executable to interpret the data based on the defined rules to obtain event information that comprises events that have been detected by components within the building.
12. A storage medium comprising executable instructions for providing information about the possible location of victims within a building during an emergency situation, the instructions being executable to:
receive data from embedded systems that are located within a building, wherein the data comprises data from a controller system for the building indicating whether a particular device has been turned on or off;
define rules for interpreting the data, wherein each rule comprises:
a triggering event, wherein the triggering event includes an action by a building occupant, wherein the action by the building occupant comprises:
opening or closing a door, or turning on or turning off a device, or plugging in or unplugging a device, or turning a light on or turning a light off, or the occupant moving within the building; and
one or more actions that are performed in response to the triggering event;
interpret the data based on the defined rules to obtain location information that comprises possible locations of victims within the building, wherein the possible locations of victims are based upon the actions by the building occupant;
store the location information in a database automatically based on the actions of the building occupant, wherein the location information for a particular room comprises either a first value or a second value, wherein the first value indicates that the room is likely occupied and the second value indicates that the room is likely not occupied;
provide the location information to one or more emergency response systems;
receive notification about the occurrence of an emergency event;
in response to the notification, notify the one or more emergency response systems about the emergency event; and
modify behavior of the monitoring system based on the occurrence of the emergency event.
13. The storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the instructions are further executable to receive at least one request for the location information from the one or more emergency response systems, and wherein the location information is provided to the one or more emergency response systems in response to the at least one request.
14. The storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the instructions are further executable to interpret the data based on the defined rules to obtain event information that comprises events that have been detected by components within the building.
15. The storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the instructions are further executable to:
receive at least one request for the location information from the one or more emergency response systems, and wherein the location information is provided to the one or more emergency response systems in response to the at least one request; and
interpret the data based on the defined rules to obtain event information that comprises events that have been detected by components within the building.
16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the rule is defined such that the triggering event comprises a command to the database to begin periodic backups of the database.