Systems and methods for providing emergency contact services

• US 20070064882A1
• Filed: 12/28/2005
• Published: 03/22/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: MCI Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Ger, Shanyu, Alihassan, Ayat, McKiel, Frank
• Granted Patent: US 7,573,984 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/33
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72418 for supporting emergency services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/04 for emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/493 Interactive information services, e.g. directory enquiries ; Arrangements therefor, e.g. interactive voice response [IVR] systems or voice portals

Abstract

An emergency contact platform provides emergency contact services where usual communications have been disrupted. The emergency contact platform may include a server to receive registration information including a phone number associated with a phone when communication using the phone is impracticable. The server may also be configured to receive an information request identifying the phone number. The emergency contact platform may also include a database to store the received registration information. The server may be also configured to perform a lookup in the database based on the phone number and provide a result of the lookup based on the received information request.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by an emergency contact platform, an inquiry from a first party when a second party is unable to receive communications via a telephone number associated with the second party, wherein the inquiry identifies the telephone number;

performing a lookup in a database based on the telephone number;

determining whether contact information associated with the telephone number is stored in the database based on a result of the lookup; and

selectively receiving notification information from the first party when the result indicates that the contact information is not stored in the database.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, after the receiving the notification information from the first party, the contact information associated with the telephone number; and

storing the received contact information in the database.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

generating a notification to the first party when the contact information is received.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

informing the second party of the inquiry from the first party.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the receiving the contact information is via a first toll-free telephone number.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the receiving the inquiry is via a second toll-free telephone number.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing the contact information to the first party when it is determined that the contact information is stored in the database.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the contact information includes an alternate telephone number associated with the second party, the method further comprising:

establishing a communication connection between the first party and the telephone number when it is determined that the alternate contact information is stored in the database.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the contact information includes an audio message associated with the second party, the method further comprising:

communicating the audio message to the first party when it is determined that the contact information is stored in the database.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein the contact information includes screening information, the method further comprising:

verifying that the first party has access to the contact information based on the screening information; and

providing the contact information to the first party based on the verification.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the inquiry is via call forwarding of a call placed to the telephone number.

12. A system comprising:

an emergency contact platform including;

a server to receive registration information including a phone number associated with a phone when communication using the phone is impracticable, and receive an information request identifying the phone number; and

a database to store the received registration information, wherein the server is configured to perform a lookup in the database based on the phone number and provide a result of the lookup based on the received information request.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the server is configured to receive the registration information via a toll-free call.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the server is configured to receive the information request via a toll-free call.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the registration information includes alternate contact information, and wherein the server is further configured to establish a communication link to the alternate contact information based on the result of the lookup and the received information request.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the information request includes contact information, and wherein the database is further configured to store the contact information when the receiving of the information request precedes the receiving of the registration information.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the server is further configured to generate a notification based on the contact information when the server subsequently receives the registration information.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the information request is received via a call placed to the phone number, and wherein the server receives the call based on at least one of an area code, an exchange, or a geographic location associated with the phone number.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the registration information includes screening information, wherein the database is further configured to store the screening information, and wherein the server is further configured to screen the information request based on the stored screening information.

20. A communications platform comprising:

means for registering a telephone number associated with a registrant, wherein the registration includes alternate contact information associated with the registrant;

means for storing the alternate contact information;

means for receiving an inquiry for the alternate contact information from an inquirer, wherein the inquiry identifies at least one of the registrant or the telephone number;

means for retrieving the stored alternate contact information based on the inquiry;

means for providing the retrieved alternate contact information to the inquirer; and

means for enabling communication between the registrant and the inquirer.