Patent Application
20100003959
When emergencies occur or other help is needed, people will reach out to emergency services, such as 911, for assistance. Traditionally, in order to request emergency services, a person places a telephone call to 911 or another emergency telephone number. As cellular and Internet-based phones rival traditional telephones connected to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) in popularity, emergency call centers are receiving calls from an increasing variety of sources. Because different sources for requesting emergency services may have different capabilities, there is a need for emergency call centers to be able to move beyond ordinary PSTN telephone capabilities. For example, text messaging, e-mail, and various other features have become more common on cellular telephones.
In order to provide an emergency call center, such as a 911 Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP), with complete information in the event a text message or other similar emergency communication is sent to the PSAP, a preformatted emergency text message may be generated on a wireless communications device and communicated via a communications network. An appropriate emergency call center may be determined on the communications network and the generated preformatted emergency text message may be communicated to the appropriate PSAP.
One embodiment of a method for generating an emergency text message includes, in response to receiving a request to communicate an emergency text message, accessing stored personal data for use in generating content of the emergency text message. A determination may be made as to whether current location coordinates are available. If available, the emergency text message may be populated with the accessed stored personal data and the current location coordinates. The populated emergency text message may be communicated over a communications network to a public safety answering point.
Illustrative embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the attached drawing figures, which are incorporated by reference herein and wherein:
In one embodiment, the wireless communications device 104 communicates the emergency text message 106 over the wireless communications network 108 to emergency message router 110. The emergency message router 110 may be in communication with the communications network 108 and be configured to receive and distribute emergency text messages, such as emergency text message 106. Some data that the emergency message router 110 may use to route emergency text messages to the appropriate PSAP includes current user location information, such as a cell site ID code (CCID), also referred to as cell site coordinates, global positioning system (GPS) coordinates, or other available information in the emergency text message 106. Along with information stored in the emergency message router 110, as well as available on remote sources, the emergency message router 110 may then choose the most appropriate PSAP for message delivery. Given that there are many thousands of PSAPs, selection of the most appropriate or closest PSAP to the current location of the user who sent the emergency text message can be helpful to emergency personnel.
As not all wireless communications devices are configured to generate preformatted emergency data messages, a user may generate and communicate a freeform emergency data message (e.g., text message, e-mail, instant message, image message) to a network address, such as Internet domain name “911.911,” for routing to a PSAP local to the user. A freeform emergency data message is any data message that is addressed and communicated to a network address for routing to a PSAP local to the user
The PSAPs have a wide variety of capabilities depending upon the equipment and level of sophistication of the PSAP 112. For instance, some of the PSAPs 112 may have limited capabilities and be capable of receiving address information, call back number, and a person's name to which the calling phone number is registered. Other, more sophisticated PSAPs 112, may have the ability to receive GPS location coordinates, as well as other more detailed information. The emergency message router 110 may have knowledge of the capabilities of each of the PSAPs 112 and use this knowledge, in addition to distance or other location information, to determine the most appropriate PSAP for the message. Having an emergency message router 110 allows for a stored emergency network address, such as “911.911”, to be used as a generic address, rather than individual users 102 having to input a specific PSAP address each time their location changes. Without the emergency message router 110, an emergency text message 106 may be delivered to a PSAP which either does not have the capability of receiving text messages or may not be the closest PSAP to the user 102. Within the PSAP may be one or more terminals having a PSAP display screen 114 for displaying the emergency text message 106. Any known or related information to the user who sent the emergency text message 106 may also be displayed on the PSAP display screen 114 upon receipt.
A message text field 206 may also be pre-populated with a default message, such as, “need emergency/911 help.” In an alternative embodiment, the message text field may be entered manually and edited by the user. Alternatively, the message text field may be selected from a list of pre-defined emergency messages. A name field 208 may also be included for indicating the name of the person associated with a wireless communications device 200 that is communicating the emergency text message. In an alternative embodiment, the name field 208 may also be edited by the user replacing any default name in the field. A call back number field 210 may provide a PSAP with a number for contacting the user for more information regarding an emergency. The call back number 210 may not necessarily be a number directly associated with the wireless communication device 200, but rather may be a number associated with an emergency contact, such as a family member or friend. For example, some wireless communications devices 200 may have text capability, but not voice capability. Therefore, an attempt to call the wireless communication device may not work. Providing the call back number 210 belonging to a friend or family member may allow a person at the PSAP to obtain additional information that could prove helpful.
A current location field 212 may be populated by the user prior to communicating the emergency text message. Alternatively, the current location field 212 may be blank if the user chooses or does not have time to populate the current location field 212. While the current location field 212 may be useful in providing the PSAP with location information, it may not always be possible to have the current location field 212 updated or entered prior to sending the emergency text message. Because the current location field 212 may be blank, a permanent address field 214 may also be provided to send the PSAP. The permanent address may be the user's home or office, where additional information may likely be found. Even if the wireless communications device 200 is not located at the permanent address found in the permanent address field 212, having a permanent contact address may prove to be useful in the event an investigation or other information needs to be obtained at a later time.
GPS coordinate fields 216 may also be included to provide GPS coordinates to the PSAP if the wireless communications device 200 is GPS enabled. If the wireless communications device 200 is GPS enabled, latitude and longitude coordinates may be included in the emergency text message and communicated within the emergency text message to provide specific location information for locating the user with the wireless communications device 200. Frequently, GPS coordinate information will not be available because of location or environmental factors, such as being in a basement or a thickly walled building. Therefore, GPS coordinate information may not be available, even if the wireless communications device 200 is GPS enabled. Additionally, GPS coordinates may be requested from the communications network, as is described below in reference to
A memory 508 may also be located within the wireless communications device 501 for storing data being processed by the processor 502, as well as user data (not shown) for use in generating a preformatted emergency text message 509. The memory 508 may be RAM, FLASH, or any other memory configured to operate in the wireless communication device 501. In addition to data being processed and the user data, the memory 508 may also store menu information 510 used in displaying menus for guiding a user of the wireless communications device 501 through creation of an emergency text message. Templates 511 that define structure of text messages that are used to report different types of emergencies may also be stored in the memory 508. Depending on selections made by the user using the menus 510, a particular one of the templates 511 may be selected for use in generating an emergency text message. Having different emergency text message templates 511 allows different information to be included or not included depending on the particular type of emergency selected by the user via the menus 510. For example, a fire emergency away from a user's home may not include the user's home address as would a medical emergency occurring at the user's home.
A display 512 for viewing data from the wireless communications device 501 may also be provided. The display 512 may also allow for a user to view an emergency text message that has been generated, edit the message, read replies, and perform many other functions of a display 512.
A GPS device 514 may also be provided within the wireless communications device 501. The GPS device 514 may be an electronic component or some other hardware, either integrated into the wireless communications device or in communication with the wireless communications device 501, which provides GPS enablement to the wireless communications device 501. GPS enablement allows for the wireless communications device 501 to be able to generate current GPS coordinates, which may be used within the emergency text message.
In step 806, a determination is made as to whether GPS coordinate data is available. If the wireless communications device is GPS enabled and the GPS coordinates are available, then at step 808, an emergency text message is populated with the GPS coordinates. The emergency text message is also populated with the stored information. In step 809, the emergency text message is sent to emergency services, such as a PSAP via a network router configured to identify and route the emergency message to a PSAP local to the user.
If the GPS coordinate data was not available in step 806, in step 810 a request may be made for coordinates that may be available from the network. Triangulation or another commonly known method may be used by the network to determine GPS coordinate data. In step 812, a determination is made as to whether the current GPS coordinates are available within a predetermined time window. The predetermined time window may be anytime from a fraction of a second to multiple seconds and should provide sufficient time for coordinates to be made available from the network. If the current GPS coordinates are available within the predetermined time window from step 812, the emergency text message may be populated and then sent to emergency services complete with GPS coordinate data as described previously in steps 808 and 809. If the current GPS coordinates were not available within the predetermined time window, the emergency text message may be sent without GPS coordinate data in step 809. In step 814, a determination is made as to whether the GPS coordinate data was sent. If the GPS coordinate data was sent, the process ends. If the current GPS coordinates data were not sent, a second time window may be granted. In step 816, it may be determined whether GPS coordinates were available within the second time window. If the GPS coordinates data were available within the predetermined second time window, the emergency text message may be populated with the current GPS coordinates and sent to emergency services as described in steps 808 and 809. If the GPS coordinates were not available within the second time window, the process ends.
Although the principles of the present have primarily been described with regard to wireless communications devices, it should be understood that wired communications devices, including wired/wireless computers, may be adapted to include emergency messaging, as described herein. One or more buttons or other initiation devices may be provided on the wired communications devices to generate and communicate an emergency data message to a network location for routing to a PSAP local to the user. In adapting the wired communications devices, software may be included in the devices to generate and communicate an emergency data message (e.g., text message or email) using a communications protocol that is capable of being communicated over the communications network (e.g., public switched telephone network, cable network, Internet), as understood in the art. Information specific to the user, location of the user, or otherwise may be included in the emergency data message. For example, name, address, number of people in residence, photograph, medical conditions, or any other information may be pre-established for retrieval and inclusion in the emergency data message, thereby providing information to an operator at a PSAP to provide emergency personnel, such as police, firemen, or medical personnel.
The previous detailed description is of a small number of embodiments for implementing the invention and is not intended to be limiting in scope. One of skill in this art will immediately envisage the methods and variations used to implement this invention in other areas than those described in detail. The following claims set forth a number of the embodiments of the invention disclosed with greater particularity.
This Application claims priority to co-pending Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/078,123, entitled: Emergency 911 Text Messaging Services, was filed on Jul. 3, 2008; the entire teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61078123 | Jul 2008 | US |
