Method and system for routing emergency data communications

• US 20050265326A1
• Filed: 05/27/2004
• Published: 12/01/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ShoreTel Incorporated (Mitel Networks Corporation)
• Original Assignee: At&T Delaware Intellectual Property, Inc. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Laliberte, Donald R.
• Granted Patent: US 7,580,405 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/389
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/04 for emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/30 Determination of the location of a subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42348 Location-based services which utilize the location information of a target
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided to locate, route, and/or otherwise process an emergency communications signal from a VoIP communication device equipped with a location positioning system and an emergency communications computer software product. The software identifies an emergency Internet Protocol-based communications address, activates the location positioning system, and communicates location coordinates and other emergency information with the emergency communications signal to the emergency Internet Protocol-based communications address via an Internet Protocol-based communications network or via a hybrid communications network that includes the Internet Protocol-based communications network and a telecommunications network.

Claims

1. A method, comprising the following steps:

receiving an Internet Protocol-based communications address from a voice-over Internet Protocol communications device;

querying a database of at least one emergency Internet Protocol-based communications address to determine if the Internet Protocol-based communications address is an emergency Internet Protocol-based communications address; and

if the Internet Protocol-based communications address is an emergency Internet Protocol-based communications address, then;

associating at least one location co-ordinate and an emergency communications profile with an emergency communications signal, the emergency communications profile including at least one of (1) emergency data, (2) an emergency data communications address for accessing the emergency data, and (3) at least one emergency Internet Protocol-based communications address, and

communicating the emergency communications signal to at least one communications network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of communicating the emergency communications signal to at least one communications network comprises communicating the emergency communications signal to a data network, the data network detecting, decoding, and correlating the location co-ordinate to select an emergency response center for the emergency Internet Protocol-based communications address.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of communicating the emergency communications signal to a communications address of the selected emergency response center.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the selected communications address comprises at least one of an electronic data communications address and a telecommunications address.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein if the Internet Protocol-based communications address is an emergency Internet Protocol-based communications address, then further comprising the step of:

accessing the emergency data communications address and associating the emergency data with the emergency communications signal.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of accessing the emergency data communications address and associating the emergency data with the emergency communications signal comprises accessing a remote database and associating the emergency data stored on the remote database with the emergency communications signal.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein if the Internet Protocol-based communications address is an emergency Internet Protocol-based communications address, then further comprising the step of:

if the emergency data is stored in a remote database, then associating the emergency communications signal with a communications link, the communications link executing a command to access and retrieve the emergency data.

8. A communications device, comprising:

a position locating system, the position locating system having the means to provide location co-ordinates of the communications device;

an emergency communications module stored in memory, the emergency communications module accessing a database of at least one emergency communications profile, the emergency communications profile comprising at least one of (1) an emergency Internet Protocol-based communications address, (2) emergency data, and (3) an emergency data communications address for accessing the emergency data; and

a communications interface having the means to communicate an emergency communications signal between the communications device and a communications network, wherein the emergency communications signal comprises at least one of (1) a location co-ordinate of the position locating system, (2) an emergency Internet Protocol-based communications address, (3) a communications signal, (4) the emergency data, and (5) the emergency data communications address.

9. The communications device of claim 8, further comprising:

the communications network having the means to analyze the emergency communications signal to select an Internet Protocol-based communications address of an emergency response center, and further having means to communicate the emergency communications signal to the selected Internet Protocol-based communications address of the emergency response center.

10. The communications device of claim 8, wherein the communications interface communicates the emergency communications signal to a voice and data switch, the voice and data switch establishing a communications connection with at least one of a telecommunications network and a data network.

11. The communications device of claim 10, the data network further communicating the emergency communications signal with the telecommunications network.

12. The communications device of claim 10, the telecommunications network further communicating the emergency communications signal with the data network.

13. The communications device of claim 10, wherein the communications interface comprises at least one of a wireless communications transceiver and a wired communications port.

14. The communications device of claim 13, wherein the wireless communications transceiver communicates a communications signal, the communications signal comprising at least one of:

a voice-over Internet Protocol telephone frequency, a cellular telephone frequency, a satellite telephone frequency, a 2.4-2.5 GHz frequency, and an infrared frequency.

15. The communications device of claim 13, wherein the wireless communications transceiver communicates a communications signal, the communications signal further comprising any frequency signal in the electromagnetic spectrum.

16. The communications device of claim 8, further comprising:

the communications network having the means to analyze the emergency communications signal to detect, decode, and route the emergency communications signal to the emergency Internet Protocol-based communications address via an Internet Protocol-based communications network and having the means to analyze the emergency communications signal to detect, decode, and access an emergency data communications address via a telecommunications network, to retrieve the emergency data, and to route the emergency data via the telecommunications network to the Internet Protocol-based network for communication to the emergency Internet Protocol-based communications address.

17. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable medium; and

an emergency communications module stored on the computer-readable medium, the emergency communications module detecting an emergency Internet Protocol-based communications address, activating a positioning system to determine location co-ordinates, associating the location co-ordinates and an emergency communications profile with an emergency communications signal, and communicating the emergency communications signal to a communications network, the emergency communications profile including at least one of (1) emergency data, (2) an emergency data communications address, and (3) at least one emergency Internet Protocol-based communications address.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the computer-readable medium interfaces with a voice-over Internet Protocol wireless communications device.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the computer-readable medium interfaces with a computer system.