Electronic monitoring system including low energy button with crowd sourced alarm and dispatch service
A method and an electronic monitoring system are provided. The electronic monitoring system includes a button having an actuatable actuator and an identity. The button is configured to encrypt a data packet corresponding to the identity of the button and broadcast the encrypted data packet over a wireless Personal Area Network (PAN), either periodically or in response to actuation of the actuatable actuator. The encrypted data packet is received with one of a plurality of user devices having a corresponding software application running thereon and is re-transmitted, along with a location of the user device, by the user device which received the encrypted data packet to a cloud-based control service. In response to the data packet received, the cloud-based control system either stores the location of the user device for future reference or generates an action in response thereto.
1 . An electronic monitoring system, comprising:
a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) operating environment comprising a gateway and at least one bridge device, the at least one bridge device comprising:
(i) a primary radio that communicates with the gateway at a first frequency first frequency in the absence of a disruption in communication between the primary radio and the gateway,
(ii) a secondary radio that communicates with the gateway at a second frequency when communication between the primary radio and gateway is disrupted, the second frequency being lower than the first frequency, and
(iii) a Personal Area Network (PAN) module configured to communicate with a low energy device over a wireless Personal Area Network (PAN)
the low energy device being a button having an actuatable actuator and an identity, the button configured for crowd sourced tracking utilizing short range wireless communication; and
a processor operatively connected to the button and being configured to:
encrypt a first data packet corresponding to the identity of the button and periodically broadcast the encrypted first data packet over a wireless Personal Area Network (PAN wherein the encrypted first data packed is configured to be received over the PAN by one of a plurality of devices selected from a group comprising the WLAN bridge devices and user devices,
encrypt a second data packet corresponding to a service request and the identity of the button in response to actuation of the actuator; and
broadcast the encrypted second data packet over a communications network.
2 . The electronic monitoring system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a cloud-based control service;
a first user device including a processor and a software application stored in computer-readable memory, the button being associated with the first user device and the software application allowing a user to communicate with and configure the button; and
a plurality of non-associated user devices, each non-associated user device including a processor and the software application stored in computer-readable memory; wherein each of the plurality of non-associated user devices is configured to:
receive the encrypted first data packet and generate a third data packet including the encrypted first data packet and a location of the non-associated user device;
encrypt the third data packet; and
transmit the encrypted third data packet to the cloud-based control service.
3 . The electronic monitoring system of claim 2 , wherein each of the plurality of non-associated user devices is configured to:
receive the encrypted second data packet and generate a fourth data packet including the encrypted second data packet and the location of the non-associated user device;
encrypt the fourth data packet; and
transmit the encrypted fourth data packet to the cloud-based control service.
4 . The electronic monitoring system of claim 2 , wherein the cloud-based control service includes a processor and computer-readable memory, the processor of the cloud-based control service is configured to decrypt the first and third data packets, the identity of the button and location of the non-associated user device being stored in the computer-readable memory of the cloud-based control service for future reference.
5 . The electronic monitoring system of claim 4 , wherein the processor of the cloud-based control service is configured to decrypt the second and fourth data packets, the cloud-based control service generating an action in response to the service request, the identity of the button and locations received from each of the non-associated user devices.
6 . The electronic monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the first frequency is at least 2.4 MHz.
7 . The electronic monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the second frequency is less than one MHz.
8 . The electronic monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the first frequency is at least 2.4 MHz, and the second frequency is less than one MHz.
9 . The electronic monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the disruption is a jamming of the communication.
10 . The electronic monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the disruption constitutes one or more of a failure to connect at the first frequency upon low energy device startup and a cessation or break in connection at the first frequency after an initial successful connection at the first frequency.