BACKGROUND

1. Field

The present general inventive concept relates generally to an application to alert a third party, and particularly, to a system and application to alert a third party during an emergency.

2. Description of the Related Art

Ridesharing is a service provided by a ridesharing company (a.k.a. a transportation network company, ride-hailing) that matches a passenger with a vehicle using a software application (e.g., a mobile app) and/or a website. Ridesharing has become a popular innovation allowing a user (i.e. a potential passenger) to often use a mobile device (e.g., a smartphone) to request a ride. In most cases, at least one driver using the same software application will respond, and thereby accept providing the user transportation to a desired destination of the user. Moreover, the vehicle operated by the driver is usually owned by the driver, and not commercially owned.

Very often, media outlets focus on incidents where passengers commuting via rideshare companies have bad experiences that threaten their safety. As a result, many measures are put into place to enhance security of the passengers.

Conversely, drivers providing rideshare service for the passengers are sometimes overlooked by the media outlets because drivers are not considered victims. However, several media outlets have reported assault occurrences for both drivers and passengers. For example, Uber recently reported approximately the same amount of assault over two years for drivers as did passengers, which numbered approximately three thousand cases each, or a total of six thousand. This reflects the need for placing just as much emphasis on driver safety as is placed on passenger safety.

Currently, the most common solution attempted by drivers that feel threatened is to dial 911 to request emergency assistance, such as police. Unfortunately, this solution presents some problems including: (1) it is not discreet and might instigate an actual physical and/or verbal attack from a potential attacker, (2) unlocking a phone and dialing 911, correctly, while panicking might take longer than usual, and (3) even if the driver successfully dials 911, the driver might be facing a hostile situation from the passenger, such that the driver cannot brief the dispatcher on the situation.

Some ridesharing companies, such as Uber, provide the driver a safety tool kit option within their app, which enables the driver to perform a swipe on the mobile device of the driver to call and/or text 911. However, the disadvantages of the safety tool kit are the same as the problems discussed above.

Another alternative solution is physical confrontation by the driver. Apart from the fact that physical confrontation is a test of strength, speed, agility, and luck, the driver with back seat passengers are put at an immediate disadvantage based on position, as it would be very difficult to maintain control of the vehicle and fight off an attacker seated behind them.

Therefore, there is a need for a system and application to alert a third party during an emergency, such as police and additional people selected by the driver.

SUMMARY

The present general inventive concept provides a system and application to alert a third party during an emergency.

Additional features and utilities of the present general inventive concept will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the general inventive concept.

The foregoing and/or other features and utilities of the present general inventive concept may be achieved by providing a system connected to an external computing device running a program thereon alert a third party during an emergency, the system including a discreet notification device removably disposed on at least a portion of a steering wheel of a vehicle running the program thereon, the discreet notification device including a body, a primary emergency button disposed on at least a portion of the body to transmit an emergency signal to the external computing device to make an emergency call based on determination of at least one of an intentional press and an accidental press of the primary emergency button, and a deactivation button disposed on at least a portion of the body, and a foot notification device disposed on at least a portion of a floor of the vehicle running the program thereon, the foot notification device including another body, and a secondary emergency button removably disposed on at least a portion of the another body to transmit the emergency signal to the external computing device to make the emergency call to at least one third party in response to depressing the secondary emergency button.

The discreet notification device may further include an audio unit disposed on at least a portion of the body to receive at least one sound input therein, and emit at least one other sound therefrom, and an intercom switch springingly disposed on at least a portion of the body to allow sound to be emitted from the audio unit in response to moving to on in a first position, and preventing sound from being emitted from the audio unit in response to moving to off in a second position.

The discreet notification device may further include a pressure sensor disposed within at least a portion of the body to detect at least one of a pressure level and a duration of time depressed on the primary emergency button.

The discreet notification device may further include a control unit disposed within at least a portion of the body to compare the pressure level to a predetermined pressure level and the duration of time depressed to a predetermined duration of time depressed.

The control unit may confirm the intentional press and transmits the emergency signal using the program to the external computing device to make the emergency call to the at least one third party in response to determining the pressure level exceeding the predetermined pressure level and the duration of time depressed exceeds the predetermined duration of time depressed on the primary emergency button.

The control unit may confirm the accidental press and monitors a predetermined countdown.

The control unit may vibrate during the predetermined countdown.

The control unit may prevent transmission of the emergency signal in response to depression of the deactivation button.

The control unit may transmit the emergency signal in response to receiving predetermined consecutive depresses of the primary emergency button.

The control unit may transmit the emergency signal in response to expiration of the predetermined countdown.

The intercom switch may automatically move to off after the emergency call has completed.

At least one of the discreet notification device and the foot notification device may use the program to determine the at least one third party is at least one of at least one first responder and a predetermined number of people from a contact list.

At least one of the discreet notification device and the foot notification device may use the program to determine the predetermined number of people from the contact list are ranked by priority.

At least one of the discreet notification device and the foot notification device may use the program to perform at least one of silence at least one incoming call and transfer the at least one incoming call to voicemail.

At least one of the discreet notification device and the foot notification device may use the program to provide a geographical location to the external computing device.

The discreet notification device may receive at least one vocal input for the program to use a code phrase to transmit the emergency signal to the external computing device to make the emergency call.

The system may further include an attacker deterrent unit removably disposed on at least a portion of a rear passenger area of the vehicle to emit a high-pitched buzzing sound in response to depressing the primary emergency button and the secondary emergency button, such that the high-pitched buzzing sound has a frequency level and a signal-to-noise ratio level intolerable to people.

