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Leandra Vicci often finds good ideas popping into her head at the most
unpredictable times and places -- like while showering in the morning. One day
last year, between the soap suds and the final rinse, the Carolina computer
scientist came up with an idea that just about everyone would agree was
great.
"I had read about several attempted rapes in Chapel Hill, and that seemed like
such a terrible thing," Vicci said. "When you are accosted, you just don't have
time to pull out your cell phone, dial 911 and tell people exactly where you
are and what's happening.
"It occurred to me that the technologies existed to report such emergencies
automatically," she said. "These were GPS for location, cell phones for
communication and GIS for translation, with a microphone to hear what was
happening and a microprocessor to run things."
Her idea was to marry a global positioning system (GPS) receiver, which
provides precise coordinates of its location, with a microprocessor and cell
phone chips to make wireless connection with a geographic information system
(GIS) server. The server in turn translates geographic coordinates into
locations understandable in plain language and can notify an emergency response
service such as 911.
For example, the 911 operator would hear, "This is an automated report of an
emergency occurring at 100 feet north of the intersection of Rosemary and
Graham streets in Chapel Hill. What you will hear is from a microphone at the
scene of the emergency."
The U.S. Patent Office has just issued the University and Vicci a patent on the
idea for the "automatic emergency and position indicator."
The scientist, who directs the microelectronics systems laboratory and does
computer hardware research, has not yet built a working model of the device,
but hopes to find a company to do that soon.
One form she envisions for it is a pendant on a necklace or lanyard that a
person could simply yank on if danger threatens.
"Once triggered, the device, which has been continuously logging your GPS
coordinates, contacts the GPS server by wireless cell phone, immediately
reports your location and opens its microphone to transmit whatever is
happening," Vicci said. "But it remains locally mute so an assailant does not
become aware of it."
The device will be much smaller than a cell phone or a GPS navigator because
the electronic chips required are so small, she said. Telephones and GPS units
now are as big as they are just for convenience of use. Keypads, displays and
telephone handsets can't be made much smaller and still be usable, but her
device does not need them.
"My motivation was providing a tool to help potential rape victims and that was
the original idea," she said. "But it seemed like this thing could be useful in
many other situations where people could get into trouble. I can imagine
someone who is out horseback riding or walking in the woods by herself or
himself having trouble and then activating this thing to get help. Our goal is
to provide something which is essentially a tool or service to make the world a
safer place for people."
Robert Pozner of the Office of Technology Development will manage the process
of contacting companies to see who might be interested in developing and
marketing the invention.
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