Information system

• US 20040225681A1
• Filed: 05/09/2003
• Published: 11/11/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Lenit, LLC
• Original Assignee: Lenit, LLC
• Inventors: Miner, Michael Herbert, Chaney, Donald Lewis, Paramanandam, Ivan Samuel
• Application Number:
  US10/435,568
• Publication Number:
  US 20040225681A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/104.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/40 of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data retrieval of still image data G06F16/50; retrieval of audio data G06F16/60; retrieval of video data G06F16/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

An information system and method are provided for sharing information between a plurality of entities, such as law enforcement agencies. Further, an information system and method for issuing alerts to at least a portion of a plurality of subscribers is provided, the alerts in one example being related to law enforcement information.

Claims

1. A method for issuing alerts to a plurality of subscribers, each of the subscribers having access to at least one network, the alert being issued by at least one of a plurality of law enforcement agencies, each of the plurality of law enforcement agencies having a computing device configured to share information over the at least one network, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a computing device adapted to share information over the at least network, the computing device configured to access a plurality of databases including information provided by the plurality of law enforcement agencies over the at least one network;

receiving alert information including an alert criteria from at least one of the plurality of law enforcement agencies over the at least one network;

determining which subscribers of the plurality of subscribers are to receive the alert information based on the alert criteria; and

providing an alert to the subscribers of the plurality of subscribers whom were determined to receive the alert information based on the alert criteria.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the alert criteria is specified by the respective subscriber.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the alert criteria is specified by the respective law enforcement agency which provided the alert information.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the alert criteria is selected from the group of geographical criteria, temporal criteria, and event criteria.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the alert criteria is selected from the group of geographical criteria, temporal criteria, and event criteria.

6. An information system for issuing alerts to a plurality of subscribers, each of the subscribers having access to a network, the plurality of subscribers including a first group of subscribers associated with a first law enforcement agency and a second group of subscribers associated with a second law enforcement agency, the first and second law enforcement agencies including first and second computing devices, respectively, the information system comprising:

at least a third computing device adapted to share information over the network;

a plurality of databases accessible by the at least third computing device, each database including one or more records, the plurality of databases including a subscriber member database, including subscriber records related to the plurality of subscribers, each subscriber record including at least one subscriber contact address and at least one subscriber group designator; and

an information management system configured to be executed by the at least third computing device, the information management system comprising;

a login component configured to receive login information provided across the network from at least one of the first law enforcement agency and the second law enforcement agency and to compare the received login information to one or more user records associated with authorized personnel of at least one of the first law enforcement agency and the second law enforcement agency in a user information database to determine if the login information corresponds to at least one of the user records associated with authorized personnel of at least one of the first law enforcement agency and the second law enforcement agency;

a data input component configured to receive alert data provided across the network from at least one of the first law enforcement agency and the second law enforcement agency; and

an alert component configured to create an alert to be sent to subscribers which satisfy an alert criteria, the alert containing information related to the alert data provided across the network from at least one of the first law enforcement agency and the second law enforcement agency.

7. The information system of claim 6, wherein the alert criteria is specified by the respective subscriber.

8. The information system of claim 6, wherein the alert criteria is specified by the respective law enforcement agency which provided the alert information.

9. The information system of claim 7, wherein the alert criteria is selected from the group of geographical criteria, temporal criteria, and event criteria.

10. The information system of claim 8, wherein the alert criteria is selected from the group of geographical criteria, temporal criteria, and event criteria.

11. The information system of claim 6, wherein the alert criteria is a designator identifying one of the first law enforcement agency and the second law enforcement agency such that the alert is sent to the first group of subscribers when the designator identifies the first law enforcement agency and is sent to the second group of subscribers when the designator identifies the second law enforcement agency.

12. The information system of claim 10, wherein the geographical criteria is defined as a circle whose center is the location of one of an accident or a crime.

13. The information system of claim 12, wherein the radius of the circle is set to a distance a suspect of the crime is believed to be within.

14. The information system of claim 6, wherein the alert is sent to each subscriber satisfying the alert criteria at the at least one subscriber contact address provided in the subscriber member database.

15. The information system of claim 14, wherein the subscriber contact address is selected from a telephone number, an e-mail address, a pager number, a fax number, and a network address.

16. An information system for sharing of information between a plurality of law enforcement agencies, including a first law enforcement agency having a first computing device and a second law enforcement agency having a second computing device, both the first and second computing devices being configured to share information over at least one network, the information system, comprising:

at least a third computing device adapted to share information over the at least one network;

a plurality of databases accessible by the third computing device, each database including one or more records; and

an information management system configured to be executed by the at least third computing device, the information management system comprising;

a login component configured to receive login information provided across the at least one network and to compare the received login information to one or more user records in a user information database to determine if the login information corresponds to at least one of the user records;

a data input component configured to receive data provided across the at least one network and to create or update the one or more records of one or more of the plurality of databases based on the received information; and

a data searching component configured to receive a request containing search criteria provided across the network and configured to search one or more databases of the plurality of databases, the databases created or updated with the data input component based on information provided by the plurality of law enforcement agencies, for one or more records that satisfy the search criteria of the request, and to provide at least a portion of the information related to the one or more records.

17. The information system of claim 16, wherein the information related to the one or more records is provided as a web page generated by the information management system.

18. The information system of claim 16, wherein the data input component generates a data input form in response to receiving a request across the at least one network for the creation of a new record in at least one of the plurality of databases from one of the plurality of law enforcement agencies.

19. The information system of claim 16, wherein the plurality of databases includes at least one of a missing persons database, a missing children database, and a wanted persons database.

20. The information system of claim 16, wherein the plurality of databases includes a criminal profiling database including one or more records, wherein the first law enforcement provides information related to a type of crime in a first record and the second law enforcement agency provides additional information related to the type of crime, the additional information being associated with the first record.

21. A method for searching information related to at least one of a plurality of law enforcement agencies, including a first law enforcement agency having a first computing device and a second law enforcement agency having a second computing device, both the first and second computing devices being configured to provide and receive information over a network, the method comprising the steps of:

connecting a third computing device to the network;

providing a plurality of databases accessible by the third computing device and including a user information database, each database including one or more records created or modified based on information received from the first computing device and the second computing device;

receiving a request from at least one of the first computing device and the second computing device containing search criteria provided across the network;

searching the records created or modified based on information received from the first computing device and the second computing device of at least one of the plurality of databases for one or more records that satisfy the search criteria of the request; and

providing at least a portion of the information related to the one or more records to the at least one of the first computing device and the second computing device that generated the request.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the one or more records in at least one of the plurality of databases is created by the a method comprising the steps of:

receiving login information provided across the network from either the first computing device or the second computing device;

comparing the received login information to one or more user records in the user information database to determine if the login information corresponds to at least one of the user records;

receiving a request to create a new record in a first database of the plurality of databases, the first database including records created based on information received from the first computing device and the second computing device;

providing a data input mechanism configured to receive information related to the new record;

receiving the information related to the new record provided to the data input mechanism;

verifying that the information related to the new record satisfies a defined record structure of the first database; and

updating the first database to include the new record.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the provided portion of the information related to the one or more records is provided as a web page.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the data input mechanism is a data input form, the data input form being configured to obtain information for the defined database structure of the first database.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein at least one of the plurality of databases is searchable across the network by a fourth computing device not affiliated with the plurality of law enforcement agencies.