Determining the geographical location from which an emergency call originates in a packet-based communications network
First Claim
1. A method of providing a routing key for routing an emergency call from a packet-based communications network node to an emergency services network node in a switched telephone network, said method comprising the steps of:
- (i) at a node in the packet-based communications network, receiving information about the geographical location from which the emergency call originates;
(ii) generating a routing key on the basis of the received information and pre-specified information about geographical locations served by particular emergency service network nodes.
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Accused Products
Abstract
In order that emergency service vehicles can be dispatched to the correct destination promptly, accurate information about the location of the caller is needed. Another problem concerns routing emergency calls to the correct destination. For emergency calls a universal code is used such as 911 in North America and 112 in Europe. This universal code cannot be used to identify the destination of the call. These problems are particularly acute for nomadic communications systems such as voice over internet protocol communications networks. That is because user terminals change network location. These problems are solved by enabling the geographical location of the emergency caller to be determined by entities within a packet-based network without the need for modification of existing emergency services network infrastructure.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A method of providing a routing key for routing an emergency call from a packet-based communications network node to an emergency services network node in a switched telephone network, said method comprising the steps of:
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(i) at a node in the packet-based communications network, receiving information about the geographical location from which the emergency call originates;
(ii) generating a routing key on the basis of the received information and pre-specified information about geographical locations served by particular emergency service network nodes. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 16)
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6. A packet-based communications network node for providing a routing key for routing an emergency call from the packet-based communications network to an emergency services network node in a switched telephone network, said node comprising:
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(i) an input arranged to receive information about the geographical location from which the emergency call originates;
(ii) a processor arranged to generate a routing key on the basis of the received information and pre-specified information about geographical locations served by particular emergency service network nodes. - View Dependent Claims (7)
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8. A method of routing an incoming emergency call in a packet-based communications network to an appropriate emergency services answering point in a switched telephone network, said method comprising:
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(i) at a packet-based call server, receiving the emergency call;
(ii) at a location gateway server, receiving a geographical location from which the call originated and using that to generate a routing key;
(iii) at the call server, routing the emergency call using the generated routing key. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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Specification