Systems and methods for distributing real-time site specific weather information

• US 20020004705A1
• Filed: 04/13/2001
• Published: 01/10/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/1996
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Baron Services Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Baron Services Incorporated
• Inventors: Baron, Robert O. Sr., Benson, Tony L., Thompson, Tom S.
• Granted Patent: US 6,493,633 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/3
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 2203/00 Application of thermometers in cryogenics
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

An event notification system in accordance with the present invention includes a computer system configured to receive data indicative of an event to be warned for and to process the data to define a boundary for an area affected by the event. A distribution site communicates with the computer system to distribute information indicative of the boundary of the area affected by the event to a plurality of devices remote from the distribution site and each other. The plurality of remote devices communicate with the distribution site to receive information indicative of the boundary of the area affected by the event and each is configured to determine if it is affected by the event and to respond accordingly. A method of remotely activating a warning device in response to an event notification is also disclosed.

Claims

1. An event notification system comprising:

a computer system configured to receive data indicative of an event to be warned for and to process the data to define a boundary for an area affected by the event;

a distribution site communicating with said computer system to distribute information indicative of the boundary of the area affected by the event; and

a plurality of receiving devices remote from said distribution site and each other communicating with said distribution site to receive the information indicative of the boundary of the area affected by the event, each of said plurality of devices configured to determine if it is affected by the event and to respond accordingly.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the event to be warned for comprises the location and projected path of a weather phenomenon.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the weather phenomenon comprises a severe storm.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein said distribution site comprises an RF broadcast system constructed and arranged to broadcast the information indicative of the boundary of the area affected by the event over an RF channel selected from the group consisting of a VHF frequency band or a UHF frequency band.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein each of said plurality of receiving devices affected by the event is automatically activated to emit an alert.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein said alert comprises an audible alarm followed by a severity message.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein each of said plurality of receiving devices is geographically coded with latitude and longitude information corresponding to its location, and wherein the boundary of the area affected by the event is defined by latitude and longitude coordinates so that each receiving device can compare its latitude and longitude to the event latitude and longitude to determine if it is affected by the event.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein at least one of said plurality of devices communicates with a GPS to receive updated latitude and longitude information.

9. An event notification system comprising:

a weather alert manager configured to receive data indicative of an event to be warned for and to process said data to define a location of the event;

a distribution site communicating with said weather alert manager to distribute data indicative of the location of the event; and

a plurality of receiving devices remote from said distribution site and each other communicating with said distribution site to receive the data indicative of the location of the event, each of said plurality of devices configured to determine if it is affected by the event and to respond accordingly.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the event to be warned for comprises a storm location.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the storm location comprises the present location of the storm and the projected path of the storm.

12. The system of claim 9 wherein each of said plurality of receiving devices affected by the event is automatically activated to emit an audible alarm followed by a severity message.

13. The system of claim 9 wherein the location of the event is defined by cartesian coordinates and wherein each of said plurality of receiving devices is geographically coded with Cartesian coordinates corresponding to its location such that each receiving device compares its Cartesian coordinates to the Cartesian coordinates of the area affected by the event to determine if it is affected by the event.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein at least one of said plurality of receiving devices communicates with a GPS to receive updated Cartesian coordinate information.

15. A method of remotely activating a device, said method comprising the steps of:

receiving data indicative of an event to be warned for;

processing said received data to define a boundary for an area affected by the event; and

distributing information indicative of the boundary of the area affected by the event to a plurality of remote receiving devices, each of which is configured to determine if it is affected by the event and to respond accordingly.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein said receiving step comprises the step of ingesting NexRad attribute data including the location of a weather phenomenon.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein said processing step comprises the step of determining the latitude and longitude of the boundary defining a projected path of the weather phenomenon.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein said distributing step comprises the step of broadcasting an RF signal including geographically coded information indicative of the boundary of the projected path of the weather phenomenon.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising the step of geographically coding each of said plurality of remote receiving devices with information indicative of its geographical location.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising the steps of receiving the broadcast information at each of said plurality of remote receiving devices, and automatically emitting an alert from the remote receiving devices which determine they are affected by the projected path of the storm.