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Web Posted on: August 4, 1998


The Mobile Rescue Phone Project

(MORE / DE 3006)

Jukka Mäki
Benefon-Oy, Meriniitynkatu 11,
FIN-24101,
Salo, Finland
tel: +358 2 77 400,
fax: + 358 2 77 40 333,
email: jukka.maki@benefon.fi

Gerhard Klause
Institut für Mikroelektronik Stuttgart,
Allmandring 30a, D-70569,
Stuttgart, Deutschland
>tel: + 49 711 685 5919,
fax: + 49 711 685 5930,
email: klause@mikro.uni-stuttgart.de

Wolfgang L. Zagler
fortec Institut für Allgemeine Elektrotechnik und Elektronik,
TU-Wien
Gusshaussstrasse 27/359-3B, A-1040,
Wien, Österreich
tel: +43 1 504 1830 11,
fax: + 43 1 504 1830 12,
email: zw@fortec.tuwien.ac.at


1. Summary

The project aims at integrating the non-uniform group of disabled and elderly potential customers into the mobile phone users society for interpersonal communication. The GSM1 services have great potential for enhancing autonomy and quality of their life.

Among the EU population of some 370 million people the 95 million elderly and disabled persons will benefit from better individual mobility, communications and safety by utilizing the equipment developed by the MORE project:

  • the MORE-Phone which is more than just another mobile phone and
  • the MORE specific service centres are utilizing common infrastructure of public and private services e.g. for nursing and also for rescue.

The MORE-Phone in a single device integrates GSM functions for mobile telecommunications and GPS2 functions for localization of a user in trouble asking for help.



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2. The Objectives

The main objective is to design a mobile phone with simplified user interface to meet the manifold needs of elderly and disabled people and make wide spread mobile phone services accessible for them.

A second objective is to realise an efficient access to emergency services, i.e. to provide a foolproof and failsafe emergency operating procedure with integrated semiautomatic GPS-localization features.

A third objective is to provide an interface to add-on equipment e.g. for hearing impaired persons: Text telephony, awareness of public alarms, speech intelligibility enhancement, and a link to hearing aids.

A specific objective is to provide an interface to integrate results from TIDE projects SICONA and DEFIE, and to solve the today's severe interference impact of digital mobile phones on hearing aids.



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3. Introduction

The anticipated result of the project is the Mobile Rescue Phone and the MORE Service Centre system:

The basic MORE-Phone is a mobile phone with integrated GPS location finding and simplified user interface, forming the 'application core' with customizing features by optional multimodal i/o add-ons. GSM standard infrastructure is used.

Existing public and private service centres will be upgraded with GPS and computerized mapping equipment and software.

Fig. 1 presents a wheelchair user in trouble.


Fig. 1: MORE-Phone user, an example




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4. The MORE-Phone


The MO bile RE scue Phone from the user's point of view will form the core of the whole MORE-System. It is an extraordinary mobile telephone (GSM) with integrated GPS functions and with specific emergency and ergonomic features. It is optimized for most of the conceivable user groups, especially those of elderly and disabled persons. It gives them access to ubiquitous GSM mobile telecommunication services.

In addition to normal mobile telephone and message services the MORE-Phone enables users to communicate efficiently with public and private service centres and in an emergency to call for help from any place covered by GSM. In such case the MORE-Phone enables the automatic localization of the person in need for help in any place covered by GPS.

The MORE-Phone can be adapted to specific needs of nearly any of the conceivable user groups of disabled and elderly people, including brain injured people, because of it's:

  • optimized modular design structure, hardware and software;
  • manifold customizing features;
  • optional MORE Hook-On, realized for hearing aid users;
  • built-in interface for specific add-ons, e.g. PC based text telephones, external alarm-giving sensors, and other various devices for future developments.
  • the optional GPS localization feature will assist the public and private service teams to localize and find the person in trouble very quickly.

For persons without speech and text communication ability the MORE-Phone in emergency situations would be the only possible way to call for help.
As good design for disabled and elderly users means good design for all, the MORE-Phone will benefit non disabled groups, too, e.g. climbers, hikers, lonely walkers.
Fig. 2 shows the structure of the MORE-Phone:




Fig. 2: The MORE-Phone



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5. The MORE-System


In total the MORE-System consists of:

  • the MORE-Phone family with accessories;
  • alarm phone services at public and private MORE Service Centres e.g. located in clinics, alarm centres, Red Cross, Johanniter, residences and even private homes;
  • emergency services via the existing Public Switching Telephone Network (PSTN), e.g. utilizing the public emergency call service centres in Europe, addressed via the standardized dialling number 112. This number is used in most of the European countries and often handled by the fire brigade;
  • the existing digital mobile telecommunications network (GSM);
  • the existing Global Positioning System (GPS) for localization.


Having the MORE-Phone for the elderly and disabled potential user means being fully integrated into the ,Mobile Teleinformatic Society";

The scheme in fig. 3 shows the whole MORE-System:



Fig. 3: The MORE-System



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6. The MORE Partnership



6.1 The eight core members forming the MORE steering board

IMS = Institut für Mikroelektronik Stuttgart (DE), project management;

BENEFON-OY, Salo (FI);

SERPE-IESM, Guidel (FR);

CSELT, Torino (IT);

FORTEC, Vienna University of Technology (AT);

STAKES, Helsinki (FI);

IfADo, Institut für Arbeitsphysiologie Dortmund (DE);

RIGEL Engineering, Brussels (BE).

6.2 The MORE user club

All conceivable user categories are integrated in the project from the beginning - via the test site partners in the 'MORE user club'. They have defined the user requirements covering basic future mobile multimedia and design for all aspects. They will test the demonstrators:

DAV = Deutscher Alpenverein, München (DE);

FRI = Ufficio di Piano - Servicio per i Rapporti , Udine (IT);

JUH = Johanniter Unfallhilfe, Wien (AT);

KLS = Kliniken Schmieder, Allensbach (DE);

KOT = Kotiranta Service Centre, Joensuu (FI);

OBH = Oberlinhaus, Potsdam (DE).

6.3 The usability qualification review group

Five well known experts from the field of telematic and disability guide the Project with respect to optimized usability of the MORE-System for elderly and disabled users.

6.4 Other partners

EHIMA (European Hearing Instruments Manufacturing Association) is also a partner in the project. The MORE-Phone will be used also by the alarm centres developed by the EU project SAFE21 with using the same transmission procedures.



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7. Conclusion: The MORE Future and Strategy

By using the MORE-Phone elderly and disabled citizens can call for individual help or initiate rescue at any time from any place covered by GSM. In the emergency call mode the efficiency of rescue activities will increase remarkably due to precise localisation of the user in places covered by GPS.

Disabled and elderly people further will gain general access to mobile telecommunications and get the presently missing support for spontaneous safe-guarded moving around. Support is provided for those European households/residences which take care of elderly or disabled persons.

The MORE-Phone is aimed as an innovative product family and puts the European industry ahead of international competition in assistive technology. The industrial partners intend to produce a first production run very soon after the project.

The project is user driven. The MORE-System improves the autonomy of life for elderly and disabled people, covering the manifold user categories with the basic MORE-Phone, thus meeting the 'ARTICLE 100A DIRECTIVE'. The consortium is co-operating with SAFE21 and integrates results from TIDE projects SICONA and DEFIE.


1 GSM = Global System for Mobile Communications
2 GPS = Global Positioning System



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