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Apple Researching Methods for Facilitating Emergency Phone Calls

Some very interesting potential & impressive thoughtfulness, Apple.

Safe to assume users could customize the emergency phrase buttons to fit their potential condition(s)?
 
GREAT FEATURES... however

the iphone isn't supported on a larger network (like a verizon) and is limited to ATT. Guess you'll have to be near a major metro area to use this feature within the network.

For the majority of users - great idea and features.
 
iOrlando said:
i want my iphone to connect to my internal body measurements and if something goes wrong, 911 is automatically called with my location and a robot voice says to the 911 operator what is wrong with me.

thanks apple..get on this ok...by 2011 thanks
Click to expand...

apparently you aren't familiar with Japanese cell phones. (only half joking. they really do have tech built into their everyday objects like toilets that measures health-related things about their bodies)

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...um=100&q=japanese+toilet+health&aq=f&oq=&aqi=
 
xanadeath said:
This would be really smart of apple to add to the iPhone. Now everybody's first thought during an asthma attack will be to reach for their iPhone...lol
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As someone who lives with asthma, this feature gives me that warm tingly feeling inside :D

nagromme said:
Your Nike snowboard sensor tells you your best air time is 10 seconds. Then 11. You KNOW you can beat that! And you end up at 15 seconds with your own femur stuck through your lung. You want to laugh, but you can't even talk to 911! iPhone to the rescue. Another Apple customer alive to buy more!
Click to expand...

Must have been one HELLUVA jump! :eek:


I'd also like to see iPhone querying the status of someone's pacemaker and in the oft chance that things aren't looking so well, auto-dials 911, bam! another life saved
 
Maybe there is another reason for a patent

DSG said:
I know its business, but should stuff like this really be the subject of IP protection? Sounds excellent and the kind of thing that should be on every mobile, rather than being a potential selling point.
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I have no inside knowledge, and I am not saying this is the case, but...
Maybe Apple wants to patent it, not for profit, but for protection. I think Mercedes Benz did this with either seat-belts or airbags. They wanted everyone to have it with no royalties, but they didn't want someone else to patent it and then charge for it.

We certainly have seen plenty of patent squatters who have a great idea or "borrow" one, but have no know-how or resources to implement it and just sit idly by until someone does make it and then they swoop in for their royalties.

I am not so naive as to believe that Apple is completely altruistic. They are a for-profit company and have to answer to their shareholders, but this could be the case. At least, I wouldn't be surprised, and I wouldn't want to assume less-than-good purposes for the patent application. :D
 
Should be patentable

The suggestions that this should not be patentable or that there should be a compulsory license to other cell phone manufacturers are appealing at first glance, but a more critical analysis should demonstrate why those suggestions are not the best policy.

First, it is true that this could be a life-saving feature, but that is not a reason to exempt it from patentability. A cure for a fatal disease is a life-saving medical treatment, but few would argue against the patentability of drugs. The invention of the automatic defibrillator also saves lives, but again few would suggest that it should have been unpatentable.

Second, as another poster pointed out, this is another example of Apple solving a problem people didn't even realize they had, which is one of the best kinds of creativity and inventiveness. If we take away the incentive that patents represent, Apple and other companies will put much less effort into developing these kinds of features.

Third, other smart phones and even not-so-smart phones have had the potential to do this for years. There is nothing special about the iPhone hardware that makes this possible, although the large touch screen does make it easier. That other phone manufacturers have not thought of this further argues in favor of this being a nonobvious invention worthy of protection.

Finally, we don't yet know that Apple will refuse to license this to other manufacturers. Although Apple usually holds its patents close to its chest, it could make an exception and we shouldn't second-guess that before the patent has even been granted.

As a policy matter, we shouldn't prejudge the kinds of inventions that are or are not deserving of patent protection. The patent system works best when any new, nonobvious, and useful invention can be patented and the market is allowed to work out the value of that invention.
 
One of my previous cell phones had some of this functionality (I believe it was a Samsung from around 2001). I remember that when I dialed 911 on a few occasions, I couldn't end the call with the "End Call" button, but rather, I had to hold down two keys to end the call.
 
La Porta said:
If you are ever in that rare situation where you can't actually speak because an intruder is lurking in your home, or you are hiding somewhere, this could be very useful. I think it is wonderful that they thought of such a thing, esepcially since it is nowhere near a standard for such things to be thought of in such a product.
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If someone is lurking in your home, you shouldn't reach for your iPhone first, you should be reaching for a gun. Then get your phone.:D

But I like this idea of emergency calls. It's a great idea for making sure you don't get disconnected. Especially since, in an emergency, your adrenaline is usually pumping, and your fingers might be shaky and you might push buttons you didn't mean to push. Good Job Apple!!!
 
phillipjfry said:
I'd also like to see iPhone querying the status of someone's pacemaker and in the oft chance that things aren't looking so well, auto-dials 911, bam! another life saved
Click to expand...

(Cue iPhone commercial Music ) Want to watch the highlights of the game, there's an app for that. Want your phone to dial 911 when your pacemaker stops working, there's an app for that. :D:D:D
 
mbraase said:
If someone is lurking in your home, you shouldn't reach for your iPhone first, you should be reaching for a gun. Then get your phone.:D
Click to expand...

Good point. I'll bet Apple is also working on a .357 Magnum accessory that snaps on to the back of the iPhone and digitally connects via the dock connector. Then you just get a prompt: =>slide to unload
 
Say you're in the remote wilderness and you feel a crushing pain in your chest that's now spreading through your arms, your heart is racing, and you can't even catch your breath or talk. You call 911 but the dispatch operator doesn't believe you have a problem and is about to hang up on you. Well now, there's an app for that! Just press the send me a damn ambulance b*tch button, and you're done. Only only on the iPhone.

Say you've just been mauled by a bear that practically did a tracheotomy on you! And oh no, what's this? The bear took out your voice box too! Well, luckily, on the iPhone, there's an app for that! Just press the Bear mauled me and took my voice box button, and you're done. Only on the iPhone.

Say you're a bear, and you just made sick after eating a human's throat...

/If only ATT worked in remote wildernesses ;)
 
That is brilliant. I don't think I'll ever need a feature like this, but it is great to know that I can count on an iPhone if I were ever in one of those situations.
 
xanadeath said:
This would be really smart of apple to add to the iPhone. Now everybody's first thought during an asthma attack will be to reach for their iPhone...lol
Click to expand...

Uh, No! As an Asthmatic, I can assure you that I would:

First: Think of my inhaler, and start taking puffs.
Second: Think of sitting down - on the floor with my back supported by a wall. Can't take medication of summon help if you get light headed, fall and knock yourself unconscious!
Third: Think of the iPhone, to summon help.

Still - a pretty nifty idea.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7A341 Safari/528.16)

This is fabulous to help deaf people make 911 calls until there finally is an ability to text 911.
 
jsw said:
Well, if they'd implement that and license the patent I filed at Nokia, people would be all sorts of safe. ;)

Yes, it's my patent, and no, they never put it into a phone. Oh well.
Click to expand...

It's a damn good idea! When I first started reading about this apple patent, it's exactly what I started thinking about - some sort of recessed panic button. But it would have to located where it couldn't accidentally be triggered of course... but I like it! :)
 
mbraase said:
If someone is lurking in your home, you shouldn't reach for your iPhone first, you should be reaching for a gun. Then get your phone.:D

But I like this idea of emergency calls. It's a great idea for making sure you don't get disconnected. Especially since, in an emergency, your adrenaline is usually pumping, and your fingers might be shaky and you might push buttons you didn't mean to push. Good Job Apple!!!
Click to expand...

Dont worry...in the near future all of our iPhones will be able to transform into anything we need them to be...a glass of water...an apple....an AK-47....a rocket launcher....
 
This is kind of a "if the black box can survive a crash, why don't they build the whole plane out of that" comment, but it would be nice if they would work on the call quality/dropped calls (ehem, with AT&T).

Very interesting stuff, though. It would be good if it also let you roam/search for other networks when emergency calls initiated. I can already hear the "there's an app for that" commercial playing for this, :p
 
PLEASE STATE THE NATURE OF YOUR MEDICAL EMERGENCY:

[Ashthma Attack]
[Heart Attack]
[AT&T Wallet Attack]
​
 
DSG said:
I know its business, but should stuff like this really be the subject of IP protection? Sounds excellent and the kind of thing that should be on every mobile, rather than being a potential selling point.
Click to expand...

I hope that Apple won't restrict the use of this IP. However, by not filing a patent, they would be opening themselves up to scam-shops who could try to patent this stuff and then sue every phone company that has a 911 feature.
 
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