Method and means to perform a surveillance or a reporting task The invention relates to a group of at least three transmitter/receiver units on the one hand, and to a method to perform a surveillance or a reporting task on the other hand, in which at least three persons are provided with a transmitter/receiver unit according to the invention, and in which one person noticing a fact or an event to be reported, will inform all other persons of the group.

In today's human society, security becomes increasingly important, more and more citizens have an unsafe feeling in their on neighbourhood. Numerous factors are lying at the basis of this feeling of insecurity in particular in road traffic: maladjusted speed, aggressive behaviour in road traffic ; burglary in private houses (homejacking); a clean and tidy neighbourhood; etc.

The feeling of insecurity makes that many citizens have adopted an attitude of avoidance such as, for instance, not to answer the door to unknown persons, to lock up valuables in a safe place, or to be worried when the children are out. The German patent DE 199 24 455 is an attempt to offer a solution to this last problem, by providing children with cell phones that have one (preferably three) alarm buttons. To each of these alarm buttons a telephone number may be assigned, so that in case of an emergency the children may immediately get in touch, for instance, with their parents, by pressing the

alarm button. This invention is able to take the feeling of insecurity away from the parents, but is not yet always the solution to the most important kinds of crime, in particular burglaries in private houses, (homejacking) and raids on commercial enterprises, banks, transports of money, etc.

After having informed the police of the burglary, the results of the action are not always positive, and consequently, there is a constantly increasing feeling of insecurity. Most of the time, lack of action and failing results can be put down to a lack of information. To this problem the invention according to this patent application will try to offer a solution.

In this respect may be noted that, from the European patent application EP 1 239 435 and the British patent application GB 2 343 975 in themselves, alarm systems are known in which in case of an emergency (e. g. detection of an intruder in a house) a signal is sent to a central communication unit. Subsequently the central unit in turn sends out a signal to the various units of the alarm system (for instance, the cell phones of the owners of the neighbouring houses). This known system has the disadvantage that a central communication unit is always required and that the various units are not in direct contact with one another. It is likewise so that in EP 1 239 435 an alarm system with various detectors has to be provided, because of which the whole system becomes very expensive.

The purpose of this invention is to provide a method to perform a surveillance or a reporting task where at least three persons are provided with a transmitter/receiver unit according to the invention and where a person having a fact to be reported, is the victim of a raid or notices an event, will inform all other persons of the group.

The purpose of the invention is attained by providing a group of at least three transmitter/receiver units, each unit being provided, as a result of one single operating action, to send a direct signal to all other transmitter/receiver units of the group, in order to perform a surveillance or a reporting task, without the use of a central communication unit. Preferably, the signal is a visual and/or an auditive and/or a physical signal.

In a preferred embodiment of the group of at least three transmitter/receiver units according to the invention, each unit is provided with a push-button, only this push- button having to be pushed to perform the said operating action. After having pushed the button, all other users will receive the signal shortly afterwards.

Thus, in case of a homejacking for instance, the resident of the house concerned may push the button, because of which the other users of the said units according to the invention will be immediately informed. In their turn, they may inform the emergency services and be attentive, so that they may obtain valuable information, because of

which it will be easier for the police to find the perpetrators.

In a more preferred embodiment of the group of at least three transmitter/receiver units according to the invention, each unit is equipped with a speech or sound recognition system, and the said operating action may be performed by pronouncing a particular word or producing a particular sound. It may be possible to perform the operating action by means of external touches or sensors which may be connected to inputs provided on the transmitter/receiver units.

In a more particular preferred embodiment of the group of at least three transmitter/receiver units according to the invention, each said transmitter/receiver unit comprises mobile telephone technology. Because of which the said signal preferably is an SMS (short Message Service) or an MMS (Multi Message Service). Preferably a pre-programmed SMS-message is sent, peculiar to the user of the transmitter/receiver unit.

Another object of the present invention is a method to perform a surveillance or a reporting task where at least three persons are provided with a respective transmitter/receiver unit and where a person having noticed a fact or an event to be reported, informs all other persons of the group, each unit being adjusted or programmed to send a direct signal to the other transmitter/receiver units of the group as a result of the

same operating action, without using a central communication unit.

In a preferred embodiment of the method to perform a surveillance or reporting task according to the invention, the said surveillance is a local surveillance of the neighbourhood and the said persons are residents of the same neighbourhood.

In this patent application, by'neighbourhood'is meant a street, a district, a surrounding area, a building such as, for instance, a block of flats, a commercial enterprise, a bank, a public building, etc.

In a most preferred embodiment of the method to perform a surveillance or a reporting task according to the invention, use is made of a group of at least three transmitter/receiver units according to any one of the claims 1 up to and including 6.

In order to further clarify the characteristics of the present invention and to designate its additional advantages and particulars, a more detailed description of a transmitter/receiver unit according to the invention and of the method applied, will now follow. It may be obvious that nothing in the following description may be interpreted as a restriction of the protection of the present invention, as demanded for in the claims.

In this description, by means of reference numbers, reference is made to the attached drawings of which:

-figure 1 is a representation of the sending of an SMS from a transmitter/receiver unit to a service centre, inside one group; -figure 2 is a representation of the simultaneous sending of an SMS from the service centre to all other transmitter/receiver units inside one group ; -figure 3 is a representation of the two-way sending of an SMS between transmitter/receiver units inside one group; -figure 4 is a representation of several transmitter/receiver units in several groups, in two countries, where the service centres are mutually linked; -figure 5 is a representation of several transmitter/receiver units in several groups, in one country with one service centre.

In order to perform a surveillance or a reporting task a group (1) is formed in which at least three persons (users) are provided with a transmitter/receiver (2) unit according to the invention. The number of groups (1) that may be formed is unlimited. Through the hard and software of a service centre (3) all groups (1) and users can be interconnected simultaneously. The number of service centres (3) is unlimited.

Now the situation is, that when a person who has noticed a fact or an event to be reported, this person will inform all other persons of the group (1), each unit being adjusted or programmed to send, as a result of one same operating action, a direct signal to the other transmitter/receiver units (2) of the roup (1), without the use of a central communication unit.

Preferably, the signal is a pre-programmed SMS-message containing, for instance, the address of the user. If one user of a group (1) calls for a message to be sent, i. e. sends an SMS-message to the service centre (3), for instance though a line (4) that has been leased, than this service centre (3) will pass this message through to all other users inside the group (1).

The distance between the group (1) of users and the service centre (3) is unlimited and worldwide possible.

All existing networks, such as, for instance, GSM, SMS, SMS-C, GPRS, UMTS as well as all future networks may be used.

Each transmitter/receiver unit (2) is a wireless electronic appliance or a wireless communication unit, communicating by means of radio frequencies. Communication occurs through the standard radio frequency- communication-operators in all countries.

The transmitter/receiver unit (2) is autonomous and may be used in all places where a radio-frequency based communication network is available. The transmitter/receiver unit (2) is able to pass the message through to a service centre (3) (see figure 1), for instance, via the transmitting/receiving pylons (9) of all existing and future RF-data communication standards and, for instance, via a line (4) that has been leased.

The transmitter/receiver unit (2) supports all existing standards, such as for instance GSM SMS, SMS-C, GPRS, UMTS,..., and future GSM communication standards.

Communicating and sending a message may be activated on the transmitter/receiver unit (2) in various manners: -by pressing a button (5) on the transmitter/receiver unit (2) by the user; -by speech-controlled activation or word recognition (each user of the transmitter/receiver unit may record a word in order to start the communication and to have the message sent off) ; -By external touches or sensors which may be connected to the transmitter/receiver unit via inputs and because of which the communication may be started and the message sent off.

On receiving the message, the users inside the group (1) may be informed in an auditive, visual or physical way that the message has been received. In an auditive manner, this can be done by means of a buzzer on the transmitter/receiver unit (2) ; visually, this may be done, for instance, by means of an LED, lighting up on the transmitter/receiver unit; physically by means of a vibration. If necessary, the transmitter/receiver unit (2) may be additionally provided with a safety switch (7) in order to render sending of improper SMS-messages impossible.

Once the users of a group (1) have been informed visually and/or physically and/or auditively, the message received will appear on the screen (6) (for instance an LED-screen) of the transmitter/receiver unit (2).

If a transmitter/receiver unit (2) is simultaneously receiving messages, the transmitter/receiver unit will store these messages in its memory. If the user is reading on the screen (6) of his transmitter/receiving unit the message first received, he will be informed that other messages have been received and stored in the buffer storage of the transmitter/receiver unit (2). Again, this information may be given in an auditive, visual and/or physical manner. In their turn, the messages received will appear on the screen (6) until the user presses the ACCEPT-touch, and the following message will appear. The messages are automatically removed, after having pressed the ACCEPT-touch.

Figure 4 is a representation of several transmitter/receiver units in several groups, for instance, in two countries, the service centres (3) being interconnected, for instance, through a leased line (4), that is a line that will be permanently open for communication so that it is not necessary to phone in.

Thus, message may be sent, for instance, from the service centre (3) to several or all transmitter/receiver units of several or all groups.

Figure 5 is a representation of several transmitter/receiver units in several groups, in one

country with one service centre (3). By this arrangement it will be possible to send a message, for instance, from a service centre (3) to several or all transmitter/receiver units of several or all groups.

The group (1) may be situated, for instance, in an area or street where the residents of the houses are the users.

Now when one resident is a victim of an irregularity such as, for instance, a theft or a hold-up, than, by pressing the button (5) on his transmitter/receiver unit (2) he will be able to send an SMS containing his address, for instance'7 Hold-up street'. Now the other members of the group (2), in this case his neighbours will know that something his going on at the address'7 Hold-up street'.

In turn they may inform the emergency services and watch the situation, so that useful information (such as, for instance, a personal description of the perpetrators, the number of perpetrators, the direction in which they have fled,...) may be collected for the police to be used.

Various applications of the invention are possible, so it will be possible that the group consists of the members of a group transporting money, or residents of the same building, employees of a same firm, proprietor and neighbours of a commercial enterprise, etc...).