Technical Field
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a method and system for providing seamless assistance to a user, and more specifically, but not limited to, a system and method for providing such seamless assistance to a user in need of medical help.
Background
The benefits of providing timely treatment to the injured or patients in like medical emergency situations cannot be overemphasized.
Delayed or well-intentioned but inappropriate first aid, can result in death or permanent disability.
It has been observed that about 50 percent of road traffic deaths happen within 15 minutes of the accident as a result of injuries to the brain, heart, and large blood vessels. A further 35 percent die in the next 1-2 hours of head and chest injuries, and 15 percent over the next 30 days from sepsis and organ failure. The time between injury and initial stabilization is the single most important factor in patient survival, with the first 30- 60 minutes being the most important.
Similarly, patients of heart attack need immediate assistance without undue delay.
With an aim to provide medical assistance to persons, various solutions have been proposed in the existing art. For example, government of Ranchi, India came up with a “new medical” assistance system referred to as “Golden Hour System “that intends to ensure immediate medical help.
Under the “Golden Hour System”, any witness to an accident can call up police control room on designate numbers and report about the medical emergency. A register will be maintained in the control room which will have the contact number of the hospitals situated close to the site of the accident. The officer at police control room will call up the concerned hospital and an ambulance will be immediately sent to the spot.
However, such a system may not be of help to a user who is not in public view at the time of medical emergency. Also, hospital may not have advanced medical information about the patient for expeditious action.
Also, ambulance services so provided may not be as appropriate or effective due to at least one of the following reasons
- lack of an effective communication network preventing ambulance services from being notified of medical emergencies
- Lack of effective communication network among person in need of medical help, ambulance and the hospital.
There is a long felt need to provide a seamless and efficient assistance mechanism for receiving requests from persons in need of help from other emergency services, for coordinating the dispatch of vehicles and crew, communication between the emergency department of the receiving hospitals and the ambulance service allowing ambulances to send details of injuries and any special medical treatment as required by the person in need of medical help.
Summary
For purposes of summarizing, certain aspects, advantages, and novel features of the disclosure have been described herein. It is to be understood that not necessarily all such advantages may be achieved in accordance with any one particular embodiment of the disclosure. Thus, the present disclosure may be embodied or carried out in a manner that achieves or optimizes one advantage or
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group of advantages as taught herein without necessarily achieving other advantages as may be taught suggested herein.
In an embodiment of the present invention provides a METHOD and SYSTEM for providing seamless medical assistance by registering a user (100) of a mobile device (101) with a server (102) via a FIRST REQUEST MESSAGE sent via a client application executing over said mobile device (101), triggering a SECOND request MESSAGE, by said registered user via said client APPLICATION, to a service provider (102) having a command centre (104 a) comprising of a one or more of command terminals (104 a), receiving said SECOND REQUEST MESSAGE at at least one of said terminal of said command centre (104 a), assigning an emergency VEHICLE (103) to said REGISTERED user (100) by the command centre (104 a) in response to said receipt of said SECOND REQUEST MESSAGE so triggered, notifying successful assignment of the emergency vehicle (103) to the REGISTERED user and to an inbuilt device (103) of the EMERGENCY vehicle (103), receiving profile information comprising location of THE REGISTERED USER by in built device (103 a) from server (102), communicating and forwarding said received profile information to medical assistance centre by server (102) and informing medical assistance centre about likely arrival of said REGISTERED USER.
A system for providing seamless medical assistance, comprising a mobile device (101) operated by a user and configured for sending a FIRST REQUEST MESSAGE sent via a client application executing over said mobile device (101);triggering a SECOND request MESSAGE, by said registered user via said client APPLICATION, a service provider (102) comprising a server (102) having a command centre (104 a) with one or more command terminals (104 a), the command terminals (104 A) configured for receiving said SECOND REQUEST MESSAGE at at least one of said terminal of said command centre (104 a); assigning an emergency VEHICLE (103) to said REGISTERED user (100) in response to said receipt of said SECOND REQUEST MESSAGE so triggered and; notifying successful assignment of the emergency vehicle (103) to the REGISTERED user and to an inbuilt device (103) of the EMERGENCY vehicle (103) the inbuilt device (103 A) receiving profile information comprising location of THE REGISTERED USER from SERVER; sending profile information comprising location of THE REGISTERED USER; communicating and forwarding said received profile information to medical assistance centre and informing medical assistance centre about likely arrival of said REGISTERED USER.
The present invention provides for a method and system that allows a user to place a request of
assistance to the geographically nearest available ambulance service provider via a handheld device.
In an embodiment the present invention determines geographical location of the handheld device.
In another embodiment the present invention, medical records of the registered user of the handheld device are sent to an in-built device of the ambulance and / or the Hospital.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the registered user is allowed to “self-drive” to the hospital wherein medical records and like data of the user are forwarded to the cloud based terminals of the hospital.
In another embodiment of the present invention, an alert is sent to emergency contact list of the registered user.
These and other embodiments of the present disclosure will also become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the embodiments having reference to the attached figures, the disclosure not being limited to any particular embodiments disclosed.
Brief Description of the Drawings
For a better understanding of the embodiments of the systems and methods described herein, and to show more clearly how they may be carried into effect, reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
FIGURE 1 illustrates a diagrammatic representation of an environment in which a system may operate, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.
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Detailed Description
Exemplary embodiments now will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey its scope to those skilled in the art. The terminology used in the detailed description of the particular exemplary embodiments illustrated in the accompanying drawings is not intended to be limiting. In the drawings, like numbers refer to like elements.
The specification may refer to “an”, “one” or “some” embodiment(s) in several locations. This does not necessarily imply that each such reference is to the same embodiment(s), or that the feature only applies to a single embodiment. Single features of different embodiments may also be combined to provide other embodiments.
As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless expressly stated otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “includes”, “comprises”, “including” and/or “comprising” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being “connected” or “coupled” to another element, it can be directly connected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements may be present. Furthermore, “connected” or “coupled” as used herein may include operatively connected or coupled. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations and arrangements of one or more of the associated listed items.
Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure pertains. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.
The illustrative embodiment provides a method and a system to provide immediate medical assistance to a registered user.
The present invention provides for an in built ambulance device/cloud based terminal (103 (a)) that is configured to receive alert(s) as triggers from the handheld device (101) of a user (registered) (100). The alert(s) triggers are also received at one or more terminal(s) (103 (a)) acting as a cloud terminal (104 (a)) at hospital (103).
The inbuilt device 103 (a) is also configured to receive a download of the user (patient’s) (100) medical records.
Further, the inbuilt device (103 (a)) enables the ambulance to contact available hospitals (103) and prepare them for the arrival of the patient (100).
In a typical embodiment of the present invention, a user (100) of a mobile device (101) downloads a web application and uses said application to send a registration request to a server (102) generally located at a remote location in a distributed manner.
The server (102) is configured to receive a registration request, receive profile data (medical history) of the user (100) and store said profile data in a local or remote repository.
The server (102) is also configured to send a response to the user regarding success of registration and thereafter remains selectively coupled with the mobile device (101) of the user (100). The web
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application now acts as a client application (101) executing at the mobile device (101) of the user (100).
The registered user (100) of the mobile device (101) whenever required, e.g. in a medical emergency, may trigger i.e. send a request to an ambulance service provider using the client application (101).
In an embodiment of the present invention, the registered user of the mobile device (101) is provided with a selectable option for selecting Hospitals/ Standalone Ambulance Companies based on proximity. The client application (101) is configured to allow the user (100) to select a particular service provider.
Thus, registered user of the mobile device is allowed for selecting medical emergency vehicles i.e. ambulances, hospitals based on proximity.
Also, a Hospital Command Centre (104 (a)) manages the fleet of the ambulances, receives alert and information via its Cloud based terminal (104 (a). The Command Centre (104 (a)) is configured to assign ambulance to receive medical records, current location of user and like information.
The client application (101) is configured to optimize said request and forwards it to a nearest available ambulance service provider based on current location of the mobile device (101). The client application (101) forwards location data of the requesting mobile device (101) to the ambulance service provider.
The client application is configured for forwarding location data of the mobile device to server and optimizing said request for forwarding to nearest available service provider based on current location of mobile device.
Further, in line with an embodiment of the invention, the registered user (100) is allowed the use the client application (100) to specify that he/she (user) intends to self-drive to the hospital (103). In such a scenario the hospital cloud based terminal (104 (a)) is directly provided with the information relating to medical records of the user (100), current location of the user (100) etc. over a user interface of the dashboard of Command Centre. This information is pushed to hospital cloud based terminal (104 (a)) and shall allow the hospital (103) to be prepared in advance.
In line with an embodiment(s) of the present invention, a request for an emergency vehicle (ambulance) (103) is forwarded to at least one terminal of a command Centre (104 (a)) operatively residing at a hospital (103).
On receipt of such request, the user interface of the dashboard of the command Centre displays an alert indicating receipt of such request and data as received/pushed along with the request.
The command Centre (104 (a)) in response to said request, directs allotment of a particular ambulance (103), and forwards the allotted information to the registered user (100).
Also, within the purview of the present invention, a registered user (100) is allowed to forward a request directly to a particular ambulance (103) provider application.
In this exemplary scenario, wherein emergency vehicles (103) are directly contacted by the registered user, the command centre is not entirely bypassed but is kept in loop.
Thus, command Centre (104 (a)) at all times is informed of the request from the registered user (100), allotment of the ambulance (103) to the registered user (103) though such and like communication not being directed to Command Centre itself (104 (a)).
The service provider decides whether a registered user is allowed to contact a Command Centre (for allocation of ambulances) or whether the user directly contacts an ambulance provider application.
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Additionally, the client application (101) sends alert messages to a subset of contact list of users mobile device (101) that are registered to receive contextual information relating to such occurrence of medical emergency, current location of user etc.
The server (102) of the ambulance service provider (102) is configured to receive request from the user of the mobile device (101) and assign an ambulance (103) to the requesting user (100). Said assignment of ambulance (103) is optimized based on at least current location and availability of ambulances and current location of mobile device (101) sending the request.
The successful assignment of ambulance (103) is notified to (user (100) of a) a mobile device (101) in the form of message and/or an audio-visual signal.
The assigned ambulance (103) is therefore dispatched to the location of user of mobile device (101).
Simultaneously successful assignment of the ambulance (103) is also forwarded to a device 103 (a) associated with the ambulance (103). This device 103 (a) is an in-built ambulance device 103 (a) that receives assignment alert from the server (102) of the ambulance service provider (102).
A person ordinary skilled in the art would appreciate that in an embodiment essentially assigning an emergency VEHICLE (Ambulance) (103) to said REGISTERED user (100) by the command Centre (104 a) is optional and registered USER is allowed via client application, for and also for additionally specifying that user shall be self-driven to medical emergency Centre AND/OR by a vehicle of friends and/or relatives.
The in-built device (103 (a)) also receives (medical) profile information including current location of the registered user (100) who requested for the ambulance from server (102) of ambulance server provider (102).
The in-built device 103 (a) of the assigned ambulance (103) is configured to contact the nearby hospitals and send information regarding likely arrival of the registered user of the mobile device (101).
Further, in line with the present invention, a registered user (100) may carry out above steps on behalf of his/her dependents that have also been registered. For example, a registered user (100) is allowed to place a request for an ambulance (103) on behalf of his/her parents, children etc., to access and/or forward medical records for such dependents.
Also medical emergency Centre comprises of a hospital and medical emergency vehicle comprises of an ambulance.
The figures depict a simplified structure only showing some elements and functional entities, all being logical units whose implementation may differ from what is shown. The connections shown are logical connections; the actual physical connections may be different. It is apparent to a person skilled in the art that the structure may also comprise other functions and structures. It should be appreciated that the functions, structures, elements and the protocols used in communication are irrelevant to the present disclosure. Therefore, they need not be discussed in more detail here.
Also, all logical units described and depicted in the figures include the software and/or hardware components required for the unit to function. Further, each unit may comprise within itself one or more components which are implicitly understood. These components may be operatively coupled to each other and be configured to communicate with each other to perform the function of the said unit.
The features provided by the disclosed system in the present disclosure, may be wirelessly accessed remotely, in one or more embodiments, and/or through a wireless network. Such types of wireless network service providers operate and maintain the computing systems and environment, such as server system and architectures. Typically, server architecture includes the infrastructure (e.g. hardware, software, and communication lines) that offers wireless network services.
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For the most part, the operations described herein are operations performed by a handset, computer or a machine in conjunction with a human operator or user that interacts with the computer or the machine. The programs, modules, processes, methods, and the like, described herein are but an exemplary implementation and are not related, or limited, to any particular computer, apparatus, or computer language. Rather, various types of general purpose computing machines or devices may be used with programs constructed in accordance with the teachings described herein.
It will be apparent to those having ordinary skill in this art that various modifications and variations may be made to the embodiments disclosed herein, consistent with the present disclosure, without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.
Other embodiments consistent with the present disclosure will become apparent from consideration of the specification and the practice of the description disclosed herein.

We Claim
1. A method for providing seamless medical assistance , comprising
- registering a USER (100) of a MOBILE DEVICE (101) with a SERVER (102) via a FIRST REQUEST MESSAGE sent via a CLIENT APPLICATION executing over said MOBILE DEVICE (101);
- triggering a SECOND REQUEST MESSAGE, by said REGISTERED USER via said CLIENT APPLICATION, to a SERVICE PROVIDER (102) having a COMMAND CENTRE (104 A) comprising of one or more COMMAND TERMINALS (104 A);
- receiving said SECOND REQUEST MESSAGE at at least one of said TERMINAL of said COMMAND CENTRE (104 A);
- assigning an EMERGENCY VEHICLE (103) to said REGISTERED USER (100) by the COMMAND CENTRE (104 A) in response to said receipt of said SECOND REQUEST MESSAGE so triggered;
- notifying successful assignment of the EMERGENCY VEHICLE (103) to the REGISTERED USER and to an INBUILT DEVICE (103) of the EMERGENCY VEHICLE (103);
- receiving PROFILE INFORMATION comprising location of THE REGISTERED USER by IN BUILT DEVICE (103 A) from SERVER (102);
- communicating and forwarding said received PROFILE INFORMATION to MEDICAL ASSISTANCE CENTRE by SERVER (102) and informing MEDICAL ASSISTANCE CENTRE about likely arrival of said REGISTERED USER.
2. A method for providing seamless medical assistance as claimed in claim 1 wherein the step of registration comprises
- downloading a web application and sending said request for registration to server;
- receiving said request for registration and profile data of the user by said server and storing the profile data at a data store;
- selectively and communicatively coupling said server with mobile device of the user and sending a response to mobile device indicating success of said registration.
3. A method for providing seamless medical assistance as claimed in claim 1 and claim 2 wherein said profile data comprises medical history of said user.
4. A method for providing seamless medical assistance as claimed in claim 1 wherein a registered user of the mobile device is allowed for selecting medical emergency vehicles, hospitals based on proximity.
5. A method for providing seamless medical assistance as claimed in claim 1 and claim 4 wherein client application is configured for
- forwarding location data of the mobile device to server and
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- optmizing said request for forwarding to nearest available service provider based on current location of mobile device
6. A method for providing seamless medical assistance as claimed in claim 1 wherein assigning an emergency VEHICLE (103) to said REGISTERED user (100) by the command centre (104 a) is optional and REGISTERED USER is allowed
, via client application, for
- specifying that user shall be self driven to medical emergency centre AND/OR by a vehicle of friends and/or relatives
7. A method for providing seamless medical assistance as claimed in claim 1 Wherein medical emergency centre is a hospital and medical emergency vehicle is an ambulance.
8. A method for providing seamless medical assistance as claimed in claim 1 wherein client application is configured for
- sending alert messages to Subset of contact list of user said that are registered to receive contextual information regarding occurence of medical emergency and current location of said user.
9. A method for providing seamless medical assistance as claimed in claim 1 wherein said notification comprises of
- a short message service and /or
- an audio visual signal.
10. A method for providing seamless medical assistance as claimed in claims 1 to 9 wherein the registered user performs said steps for on behalf of his/ her dependents, said dependents also registered.
11. A method for providing seamless medical assistance as claimed in claim 6 comprising pushing profile information to medical assistance centre .
12. A system for providing seamless medical assistance, comprising
- a MOBILE DEVICE (101) operated by a USER and configured for
sending a FIRST REQUEST MESSAGE sent via a CLIENT APPLICATION executing over said MOBILE DEVICE (101);
triggering a SECOND REQUEST MESSAGE, by said REGISTERED USER via said CLIENT APPLICATION
- a SERVICE PROVIDER (102) comprising a SERVER (102) having a COMMAND CENTRE (104 A) with one or more COMMAND TERMINALS (104 A), the COMMAND TERMINALS (104 A) configured
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- for receiving said SECOND REQUEST MESSAGE at at least one of said TERMINAL of said COMMAND CENTRE (104 A);
- assigning an EMERGENCY VEHICLE (103) to said REGISTERED USER (100) in response to said receipt of said SECOND REQUEST MESSAGE so triggered and;
- notifying successful assignment of the EMERGENCY VEHICLE (103) to the REGISTERED USER and to an INBUILT DEVICE (103) of the EMERGENCY VEHICLE (103) the INBUILT DEVICE (103 A) receiving PROFILE INFORMATION comprising location of THE REGISTERED USER from SERVER;
- SENDING PROFILE INFORMATION comprising location of THE REGISTERED USER;
- communicating and forwarding said received PROFILE INFORMATION to MEDICAL ASSISTANCE CENTRE and informing MEDICAL ASSISTANCE CENTRE about likely arrival of said REGISTERED USER.
13. A system for providing seamless medical assistance as claimed in claim 12 and configured to perform the steps as claimed 1 to 11.