IP Library Granted Patent US 12,620,042
Granted Patent B1
US 12,620,042 · App. 19/046,900 · Granted May 5, 2026

Network based reunification management using portable devices

Inventors: James J. Vesterman (Houston, TX); Gary Kincade (Houston, TX); David Van Camp (Houston, TX); Peter J. Trate (Houston, TX)
Assignee: Raptor Technologies LLC
G06Q50/20G06Q10/101G08B1/00G08B21/0205
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,620,042
App. No.
19/046,900
Granted
May 5, 2026
Kind
B1
Abstract

An emergency management system for a school includes: one or more computers; and a wearable device including a button, wherein engagement of the button by a user causes the emergency management system to initiate an emergency response to an incident at the school, including by sending, from the wearable device and to the one or more computers in response to the engagement of the button, a signal indicating a request to initiate the emergency response to the incident at the school, the one or more computers being configured to perform operations comprising: receiving, from the wearable device and by the one or more computers, the signal indicating the request to initiate the emergency response to the incident at the school; and in response to receiving the signal from the wearable device, activating one or more emergency response protocols at the school.

Claims (36)

1 . An emergency management system for a school, comprising:

one or more computers; and

a wearable device including a button, wherein engagement of the button by a user causes the emergency management system to initiate an emergency response to an incident at the school, including by sending, from the wearable device and to the one or more computers in response to the engagement of the button, a signal indicating (i) a request to initiate the emergency response to the incident at the school and (ii) a particular type of the emergency response,

the one or more computers being configured to perform operations comprising:

receiving, from the wearable device and by the one or more computers, the signal indicating the request to initiate the emergency response to the incident at the school; and

in response to receiving the signal from the wearable device:

activating one or more emergency response protocols at the school;

identifying, based on the particular type of emergency response, a group of users associated with the incident; and

transmitting a notification to the group of users indicating occurrence of the incident at the school.

2 . The emergency management system of claim 1 , wherein the wearable device comprises a wearable computer.

3 . The emergency management system of claim 2 , wherein the wearable device includes a display, and the button comprises a user-selectable icon presented through a user interface on the display.

4 . The emergency management system of claim 1 , wherein the button is associated with the particular type of emergency response.

5 . The emergency management system of claim 1 , wherein the particular type of emergency response includes lockout, lockdown, evacuation, shelter, hold, or team assist.

6 . The emergency management system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more emergency response protocols are designated for the particular type of emergency response.

7 . The emergency management system of claim 1 , wherein:

the particular type of emergency response is selected based on characteristics of user engagement of the button,

the particular type of emergency response includes lockout, lockdown, evacuation, shelter, hold, or team assist, and

the one or more emergency response protocols are designated for the particular type of emergency response.

8 . The emergency management system of claim 7 , wherein the characteristics of the user engagement of the button include a number of presses of the button.

9 . The emergency management system of claim 1 , wherein the signal indicates a location of the wearable device with reference to a school map at a time of the engagement of the button by the user.

10 . The emergency management system of claim 9 , wherein the location of the wearable device at the time of the engagement of the button by the user is determined by triangulation using radio signals.

11 . The emergency management system of claim 7 , wherein the notification indicates a location of the wearable device with reference to a school map at a time of the engagement of the button by the user.

12 . A wearable device including a button, wherein engagement of the button by a user causes initiation of an emergency response to an incident at a school, including by sending, from the wearable device and to one or more computers in response to the engagement of the button, a signal indicating (i) a request to initiate the emergency response to the incident at the school and (ii) a particular type of the emergency response, wherein the signal causes the one or more computers to;

activate one or more emergency protocols at the school;

identify, based on the particular type of emergency response, a group of users associated with the incident; and

transmit a notification to the group of users indicating occurrence of the incident at the school.

13 . The wearable device of claim 12 , comprising a wearable computer including a display, wherein the button comprises a user-selectable icon presented on the display.

14 . The wearable device of claim 12 , wherein the signal indicates a particular type of emergency response is selected based on characteristics of user engagement of the button.

15 . The wearable device of claim 12 , wherein the particular type of emergency response includes lockout, lockdown, evacuation, shelter, hold, or team assist.

16 . The wearable device of claim 12 , wherein the signal indicates a location of the wearable device with reference to a school map at a time of the engagement of the button by the user.

17 . The wearable device of claim 16 , wherein the location of the wearable device at the time of the engagement of the button by the user is determined by triangulation using radio signals.

18 . The wearable device of claim 12 , wherein sending the signal to the one or more computers is further responsive to authenticating the user.

19 . The emergency management system of claim 1 , the operations comprising:

storing data representing a plurality of groups of users, each user having a profile registered with the emergency management system,

wherein identifying the group of users associated with the incident comprises identifying the group of users from the plurality of groups of users.

20 . The wearable device of claim 12 , wherein identifying the group of users associated with the incident comprises identifying the group of users from a plurality of groups of users, each user having a profile registered with an emergency management system for the school.

Assignments (2)
TERMINATION AND RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENT COLLATERAL AT REEL/FRAME 071567/0725 Recorded Jan 23, 2026
From: ARES CAPITAL CORPORATION
To: RAPTOR TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
Reel/Frame 074494/0071 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 9, 2025
From: VESTERMAN, JAMES J.; KINCADE, GARY; VAN CAMP, DAVID; TRATE, PETER J.
To: RAPTOR TECHNOLOGIES LLC
Reel/Frame 073153/0702 →
Continuity (7)
Continuation 18597456 · Mar 6, 2024
Continuation 18158300 · Jan 23, 2023
Continuation 17239401 · Apr 23, 2021
Continuation 16563685 · Sep 6, 2019
Continuation 16208032 · Dec 3, 2018
Continuation 15298948 · Oct 20, 2016
Provisional Application 62244619 · Oct 21, 2015
References Cited (79)
US 5218344A · Ricketts · 1993 [cited by examiner]
US 7221928B2 · Laird · 2007 [cited by examiner]
US 7652571B2 · Parkulo · 2010 [cited by examiner]
US 7733224B2 · Tran · 2010 [cited by examiner]
US 8004399B2 · Reyes et al. · 2011 [cited by applicant]
US 8588733B2 · Ferguson et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 8923799B2 · Cordero · 2014 [cited by applicant]
US 9443415B2 · Nepo · 2016 [cited by examiner]
US 9489825B1 · McDonnell · 2016 [cited by examiner]
US 9564041B1 · Dedeaux · 2017 [cited by examiner]
US 9799205B2 · Wedig · 2017 [cited by examiner]
US 9867023B2 · Rauner · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 10129704B1 · Huseth et al. · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 10147304B1 · Lazarski · 2018 [cited by examiner]
US 10176692B1 · Vesterman · 2019 [cited by examiner]
US 10178537B2 · Rauner · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 10192411B2 · Wedig · 2019 [cited by examiner]
US 10313144B2 · Franks · 2019 [cited by examiner]
US 10410495B1 · Vesterman · 2019 [cited by examiner]
US 10446005B1 · Vesterman · 2019 [cited by examiner]
US 10643459B2 · Allen · 2020 [cited by examiner]
US 10679480B2 · Eckert · 2020 [cited by examiner]
US 10872518B2 · Allen · 2020 [cited by examiner]
US 10904735B2 · Sethi et al. · 2021 [cited by applicant]
US 10991226B1 · Vesterman · 2021 [cited by examiner]
US 11087614B2 · Kurani et al. · 2021 [cited by applicant]
US 11194681B2 · Austin et al. · 2021 [cited by applicant]
US 11288936B1 · Kumar et al. · 2022 [cited by applicant]
US 11501629B2 · Delgado · 2022 [cited by examiner]
US 11527149B2 · Davies et al. · 2022 [cited by applicant]
US 11557197B2 · Delgado · 2023 [cited by examiner]
US 11562452B1 · Vesterman · 2023 [cited by examiner]
US 11596814B2 · White · 2023 [cited by examiner]
US 11954748B1 · Vesterman · 2024 [cited by examiner]
US 11995736B2 · Jeong et al. · 2024 [cited by applicant]
US 12073058B1 · Vesterman et al. · 2024 [cited by applicant]
US 12214283B2 · Delmonico et al. · 2025 [cited by applicant]
US 20030050040A1 · Yamazaki et al. · 2003 [cited by applicant]
US 20050001720A1 · Mason · 2005 [cited by examiner]
US 20050075116A1 · Laird · 2005 [cited by examiner]
US 20050242944A1 · Bankert · 2005 [cited by examiner]
US 20050253727A1 · Gonzalez · 2005 [cited by examiner]
US 20060017558A1 · Albert · 2006 [cited by examiner]
US 20060017559A1 · Albert · 2006 [cited by examiner]
US 20060017560A1 · Albert · 2006 [cited by examiner]
US 20060017561A1 · Albert · 2006 [cited by examiner]
US 20060232429A1 · Gonzalez · 2006 [cited by examiner]
US 20060250260A1 · Albert · 2006 [cited by examiner]
US 20070200716A1 · Haase · 2007 [cited by examiner]
US 20070296575A1 · Eisold · 2007 [cited by examiner]
US 20080001735A1 · Tran · 2008 [cited by examiner]
US 20080007396A1 · Parkulo · 2008 [cited by examiner]
US 20100267361A1 · Sullivan · 2010 [cited by examiner]
US 20110181422A1 · Tran · 2011 [cited by examiner]
US 20120218102A1 · Bivens et al. · 2012 [cited by applicant]
US 20130143519A1 · Doezema · 2013 [cited by examiner]
US 20140114691A1 · Pearce · 2014 [cited by examiner]
US 20140114692A1 · Pearce · 2014 [cited by examiner]
US 20140167969A1 · Wedig · 2014 [cited by examiner]
US 20140266787A1 · Tran · 2014 [cited by examiner]
US 20140365574A1 · Franks · 2014 [cited by examiner]
US 20150015401A1 · Wedig · 2015 [cited by examiner]
US 20150137967A1 · Wedig · 2015 [cited by examiner]
US 20150161876A1 · Castillo · 2015 [cited by examiner]
US 20160335882A1 · McDonnell · 2016 [cited by examiner]
US 20170153790A1 · Mohanam et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 20170180964A1 · Mehta · 2017 [cited by examiner]
US 20170278031A1 · Hautala et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 20170320705A1 · Honda · 2017 [cited by examiner]
US 20180199179A1 · Rauner · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 20190164411A1 · Allen · 2019 [cited by examiner]
US 20190164413A1 · Allen · 2019 [cited by examiner]
US 20200160691A1 · Allen · 2020 [cited by examiner]
US 20200226915A1 · Allen · 2020 [cited by examiner]
US 20210358291A1 · Allen · 2021 [cited by examiner]
US 20230394954A1 · Poulin · 2023 [cited by examiner]
US 20240082720A1 · Delmonico et al. · 2024 [cited by applicant]
US 20250126437A1 · Calzada · 2025 [cited by examiner]
Centegix.com [online], “Wearable Mobile Panic Button for Rapid Incident Response,” retrieved on Mar. 19, 2025, retrieved from URL <https://www.centegix.com/crisisalert/>, 20 pages. [cited by applicant]