Utilization of SMS and/or cellular broadcast to receive multimedia alerts

• US 10,009,742 B2
• Filed: 06/25/2015
• Issued: 06/26/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.), Cingular Wireless II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sennett, DeWayne Allan, Daly, Brian K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Congvan
• Application Number:
  US14/750,410
• Publication Number:
  US 20150296361A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,097 Days
• Field of Search: 455403, 4554011, 4554042, 4554121-4122, 455413, 4554141-4142, 4554144, 455466
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

An indication of the location of multimedia information for an emergency alert is distributed via text based protocols such as a Cell Broadcast Service (CBS) and/or a Short Message Service (SMS). Multimedia information can include maps, graphics, video clips, audio clips, still pictures, and the like. A text based alert message along with an indication of the location of the associated multimedia is distributed to users. The indication can comprise a link to a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), or the like, from which the multimedia can be retrieved. The indication can comprise a pointer to a link. For example, the alert message can comprise an address in storage of a user device, and the address can contain the link to the URL. Further, the multimedia can be retrieved automatically or manually.

Claims

1. A computer-readable storage medium that is not a propagating signal, the computer-readable storage medium comprising executable instructions that when executed by a processor cause the processor to effectuate operations comprising:

prior to an indication of an emergency, sending, by a network device to a mobile device, uniform resource locators that link to multimedia emergency alert information;

determining the emergency;

based on determining the emergency, automatically sending via a wireless text based delivery protocol, an indication of the emergency, the indication of the emergency comprising a plurality of links to one more addresses within a storage medium of a mobile device, the one more addresses of the storage medium corresponding to respective uniform resource locators, content accessible via each link of the plurality of links comprising multimedia indicative of a respective aspect of the emergency; and

providing an indication of the selected link of the plurality of links.

2. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the indication of the emergency is provided via at least one of a short message service or a wireless broadcast service.

3. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the indication of the emergency comprises a pointer to a link of the plurality of links.

4. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, further comprising automatically providing multimedia via a link of the plurality of links.

5. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the indication of the emergency comprises an alert message associated with the emergency.

6. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein the alert message is in a format applicable for rendering in a textual format.

7. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein content comprises at least one of graphic content, video content, or audio content.

8. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

memory coupled with the processor, the memory comprising executable instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to effectuate operations comprising;

prior to an indication of an emergency, sending, by a network device to a mobile device, uniform resource locators that link to multimedia emergency alert information;

determining the emergency;

based on determining the emergency, sending via a wireless text based delivery protocol, an indication of an emergency, the indication of the emergency comprising a plurality of links to one more addresses within a storage medium of a mobile device, the one more addresses of the storage medium comprising respective uniform resource locators, content accessible via each link of the plurality of links comprising multimedia indicative of a respective aspect of the emergency; and

providing an indication of a selected link of the plurality of links.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the indication of the emergency is provided via at least one of a short message service or a wireless broadcast service.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the indication of the emergency comprises a pointer to the link to the URL.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, the operations further comprising, automatically providing multimedia via a link of the plurality of links.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, the operations further comprising rendering an indication of the selected link.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, the operations further comprising rendering, on a display of the apparatus, the received multimedia.

14. The apparatus of claim 8, the operations further comprising:

receiving an alert message associated with the emergency; and

rendering, in a text format on a display of the apparatus, the received alert message.