Systems, methods, devices and arrangements for emergency call services and emergency broadcasts

• US 10,002,327 B1
• Filed: 03/15/2016
• Issued: 06/19/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: 8X8, Inc.
• Original Assignee: 8X8, Inc.
• Inventors: Martin, Bryan, Judge, Garth
• Primary Examiner(s): Kassim, Khaled
• Application Number:
  US15/070,986
• Time in Patent Office: 826 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/17 Emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2205/06 Emergency
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0231 Emergency, distress or locator beacons
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0244 Accuracy or reliability of position solution or of measurements contributing thereto
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/02 Knowledge representation; Symbolic representation
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 7/01 Probabilistic graphical models, e.g. probabilistic networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

A variety of methods, systems, devices and arrangements are implemented for emergency call centers. According to one such method, a location database is populated from a plurality of endpoint devices. The location database determines locations for nodes in a data transmission route from information received from the endpoint devices. Emergency calls using these nodes are located using the populated database.

Claims

1. A computer system comprising:

one or more computer processor circuits, and

one or more non-transitory tangible storage mediums storing a set of instructions that when executed by the one or more computer processor circuits, cause the computer system to;

receive, from a first endpoint device, at least one data packet containing location information specifying a physical location of the first endpoint device;

identify a logical sequence of at least two nodes in a transmission path between the first endpoint device and the one or more computer processor circuits;

determine, for each of the identified nodes and based upon the specified physical location of the first endpoint device, a corresponding physical location as a function of a logical distance between the nodes and the first endpoint device;

determine, for each of the determined physical locations, a confidence level that the respective determined physical location is correct;

set, for each of the nodes and the determined physical locations, a weight that corresponds to the confidence level and that is indicative of whether the respective determined physical location of the node is susceptible to change;

receive subsequent location information specifying another physical location for a second endpoint device; and

adjust, in response to the subsequent location information and based upon a corresponding weight, a determined physical location for at least one of the nodes.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the determined physical locations for each node represent a geographic area that is based upon a probability that an endpoint device using the node is within the geographic area.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer system is configured to determine a physical location for a Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) call by:

identifying nodes in a transmission path used by the VoIP call; and

calculating the physical location for the VoIP call based upon the determined location for at least one of the nodes.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the computer system is configured to determine a confidence factor that indicates a probability that the physical location for the VoIP call is correct.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the computer system is configured to display the determined confidence factor to an emergency operator along with the determined physical location for the VoIP call.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer system is configured to identify the nodes in the transmission path using identifiers that do not correspond to Internet Protocol or MAC addresses for the nodes.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the identifiers are pseudorandom numbers.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer system is configured to determine the confidence levels for each of the determined physical locations based upon a logical distance between the nodes and the first endpoint device.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer system is configured to set, for each of the nodes and the determined physical locations, the weight that corresponds to the confidence level based on information provided by at least a portion of the nodes, the information being indicative of associations between nodes.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer system is configured to set the weights that corresponds to the confidence level and that are indicative of whether the respective determined physical location of the nodes are resistant to or susceptible to change.

11. A method used with one or more computer processor circuits, the method comprising:

receiving, from an first endpoint device, at least one data packet containing location information specifying a geographic location of the first endpoint device;

identifying nodes in a transmission path between the first endpoint device and the one or more computer processor circuits;

determining, for each of the identified nodes and based upon the specified geographic location of the first endpoint device, a physical location;

determining, for each of the determined physical locations, a confidence level that the respective determined physical location is correct;

setting, for each of the nodes and determined physical locations, a weight that corresponds to the confidence level and is indicative of whether the respective determined physical location of the node is susceptible to change;

receiving subsequent location information specifying another geographic location for a second endpoint device; and

adjusting, in response to the subsequent location information and based upon a corresponding weight, the determined physical location for at least one of the nodes.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the determining physical locations include determining a geographic area that is based upon a probability that an endpoint device using a corresponding node is within the geographic area.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising determining a geographic location for a Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) call by:

identifying nodes in a transmission path used by the VoIP call; and

calculating a geographic location for the VoIP call based upon the determined geographic location for at least one of the nodes.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising determining a confidence factor that indicates a probability that the geographic location for the VoIP call is correct.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising displaying the determined confidence factor to an emergency operator along with the determined location for the VoIP call.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the identifying nodes in the transmission path includes using identifiers for the nodes, wherein the identifiers do not correspond to Internet Protocol or MAC addresses for the nodes.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the identifiers are pseudorandom numbers.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein determining the confidence levels for each of the determined physical locations includes using a logical distance between the nodes and the first endpoint device.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein identifying the nodes in the transmission path between the first endpoint device and the one or more computer processor circuits includes identifying a series of connections of at least two devices in the transmission path between the first endpoint device and the one or more computer processor circuits.