Bleep Clusters: a new approach to social welfare & security costs

Or how to provide welfare & security insurance via wireless networking

It seems that the costs of providing services & support to elders is one of the main challenges for the coming decades. One only has to take a look at the tool Gapminder to grasp the global market. To tackle this dilemma one should take into account the various costs. The main ones are the diagnoses and treatments.

It is obvious that for a good number of caritas services, the diagnosis only requires basic surveillance, but still remains one of the major costs.

People loose focus or get demented but their bodies remain active sensors. If one could gather & relay specific data such as heart beat & temperatures alone ... most heart attacks, or more simple things such as agony would show up, even if the individual is unable to communicate his despair. Not everyone has the luxury of a private nurse.

I would suggest developing a device that has the combined abilities of a health watch & Bluetooth: the node. It registers the required information & relays info to a network gate: the hub. Current advances in wireless networks & chemo receptive electronics, can be result in an affordable lifeline.

When the monitor reaches threshold input, it sends out, or stops sending, a signal: the bleep, wich alerts other assigned nodes. The signal can be relayed by tuned servers. The node should also be able to activate an alarm if certain signals are received. It should allow costumers to sign up on watch list, or form watch groups themselves.

The monitor could be worn as a watch, necklace, earplug or bracelet. It simply requires skin contact.

Some possible market segments:

- Retired couples
- Hospital wards
- Soft security
- Families, as a way to keep a line open to the baby
- Policemen or citizens, in hazardous environments

The question is not the demand, it is is how to provide a simple & attractive platform that can be easily adopted by new users. To achieve this, some basic requirements would be:

- a node can teach another node to guard him
- affinity can be removed
- a node can attract attention
- build in alarm or activate an external device
- a node can easily be taken of
- the node could minimize power consumption & size by
- reducing intervals or signal strength & employing more hubs
- limiting the data stream to basic signal keys
- a node can be interfaced via wireless login in order to
- tune the threshold parameters
- tune transmission intervals
the software shell depends on application

People like to keep an eye out for their kindred. But our beloved ones are not always in sight. Network technology can provide partial solutions in this matter. The node can be designed user friendly and possibly be integrated with other P2P or PCB networks: mobiles & the internet (this would only be required for more advanced applications).

First market introduction should focus on elder couples & health institutions. If a device can be introduced that is simple enough for their needs, the unions might find the pill less hard to swallow. The tech is there, all it needs is some charm.

k

anno 16-1-08: patent application