Locality based alert method and apparatus

• US 20060273893A1
• Filed: 06/06/2005
• Published: 12/07/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AA LLC
• Original Assignee: AA LLC
• Inventors: Warner, Chris J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,603,432 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/531
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/006 Alarm destination chosen according to type of event, e.g. in case of fire phone the fire service, in case of medical emergency phone the ambulance
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/14 Central alarm receiver or annunciator arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 27/005 with transmission via computer network
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 27/006 with transmission via telephone network

Abstract

Information about emergency situations is securely collected and processed by an agency, such as the local police force. When the information is approved for distribution as an emergency alert of a particular type, the alert is transmitted to a server. The server in turn facilitates the distribution of information widely to the public, and on a locality by locality basis. The server may format the emergency alert message or information for a variety of devices and send the information to those devices to convey the information to the public. The devices may include, for example, wireless devices, such as cell phones, personal digital assistants or any other type of wireless device; computers; electronic road signs; EAS equipment; computers and webpages; and any other type of output device. The server may also act as a web portal to disseminate information to the public and to allow members of the public to sign up to receive emergency alerts in particular localities, for example by zip code, at no cost to government or the public.

Claims

1. A method of distributing emergency alerts, comprising:

receiving emergency information from an agency having a predetermined format;

authenticating securely the emergency information; and

creating and distributing a URL associated with the emergency information.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

translating the emergency information into different formats associated with a plurality of different devices; and

transmitting the formatted emergency information to each of the respective plurality of different devices.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

storing information identifying user devices that are associated with alerts in different localities; and

performing the translating and transmitting with respect to each user device.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

determining at least one affected locality associated with emergency information; and

performing the translating and transmitting with respect to each user device associated with the affected locality.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the at least one affected locality is determined to change over time.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the emergency information includes information about an abduction of a child.

7. The method according to claim 5, wherein the emergency information includes information about an abduction of a child.

8. A method of handling an emergency, comprising:

collecting information on an emergency;

storing the information according to a predetermined format;

authenticating the emergency; and

transmitting the emergency information and authorization to a server for distribution of the emergency information to a plurality of devices.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the emergency information includes information about an abduction of a child.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving a storage media including information describing the child.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

wherein the storage media includes an image of the child and is encrypted.

12. A method of distributing emergency alerts to the public, comprising:

receiving information identifying at least one user device on which to receive emergency alerts and localities;

receiving emergency information from an agency having a predetermined format;

translating the emergency information into another format usable by each of the user devices; and

transmitting the translated emergency information to the devices.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the emergency information includes information about an abduction of a child.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the at least one user device includes a wireless device.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the wireless device is a mobile telephone.

16. A system for handling emergency alert distribution, comprising:

a user alert database accessible via a network that stores information identifying user devices and localities;

an emergency information database accessible via the network that stores emergency information;

a server coupled to the databases that allowing users to access and identify user devices and localities and that allows agencies to authenticate the emergency information for distribution as an emergency alert.

17. The system according to claim 16, wherein the server further includes software that translates emergency information stored in a predetermined format into a plurality of different formats associated with different devices.

18. The system according to claim 17, wherein one of the formats includes an EAS system format.

19. The system according to claim 17, wherein one of the formats includes at least one format associated with an electronic traffic sign.

20. The system according to claim 17, wherein one of the formats includes a web page format associated with a URL for an emergency corresponding to the emergency information.

21. The system according to claim 17, wherein one of the formats includes an electronic mail format for an emergency corresponding to the emergency information.

22. The system according to claim 17, wherein one of the formats includes at least one wireless device format for an emergency corresponding to the emergency information.

23. The system according to claim 17, the at least one wireless device includes a mobile telephone.