Personal alerting apparatus and methods

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention includes methods and apparatus for detecting an event, and for alerting a user of the occurrence of the event by way of a message, wherein the user can be at nearly any local or remote location, and wherein the user can establish criteria for the routing of the message as well as the mode in which the message is presented.
Turning to FIG.
1, a schematic diagram is shown which depicts an apparatus 100 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
The apparatus 100 is generally configured as an alerting system.
That is, the apparatus 100 is generally configured to both detect the occurrence of at least one predefined event, and transmit a signal in response to the occurrence of the event in order to alert an intended individual, or entity of the event.
The apparatus 100 comprises at least one sensor 102.
The sensor 102 will be more fully described below.
The apparatus 100 also comprises a controller 104 which can be a personal computer or the like.
However, it is understood that the controller 104 can be any of a number of devices that are configured to operate as a controller.
For example, the controller 104 can be a micro-processor or the like.
The sensors 102 and the controller 104 are configured to connect with one another in signal communication there between.
The controller 104 preferably contains a series of computer-executable steps 106 which can be executed to perform any of a number of procedures and/or processes.
The controller 104 as well as the computer-executable steps 106 will be explained below in greater detail.
Although the sensor 102 and controller 104 are shown in the accompanying figures as separate items, it is understood that the sensor and controller can be combined into a single unit.
For example, a sensor device (not shown) can incorporate therein a micro-processor that is configured to operate as a controller.
Thus, each sensor 102 can be alternatively configured to have its own integral, dedicated controller 104