Method and apparatus for providing location information for an emergency service

• US 20070189469A1
• Filed: 01/31/2006
• Published: 08/16/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Croak, Marian, Eslambolchi, Hossein
• Application Number:
  US11/344,643
• Publication Number:
  US 20070189469A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1016 IP multimedia subsystem [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/401 wherein the services involve a main real-time session and one or more additional parallel real-time or time sensitive sessions, e.g. white board sharing or spawning of a subconference
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/04 for emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/14 with services dependent on location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42357 where the information is provided to a monitoring entity such as a potential calling party or a call processing server
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5116 for emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0075 Details of addressing, directories or routing tables

Abstract

A method and apparatus for providing an update reminder with an embedded hotlink to a subscriber to update their actual physical location information each time a change in actual physical location is detected by the network are disclosed. For example, subscribers must either enter their new physical location address information or willingly decline to provide such information before a phone call can be placed from their software based client device.

Claims

1. A method for providing location information for an emergency service in a communication network, comprising:

receiving a registration from a soft phone client used by a subscriber;

determining if a change of physical location of said soft phone client is detected; and

presenting a prompt to said subscriber for updating said physical location of said soft phone client if said change of said physical location of said soft phone client is detected.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said communication network is a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network or a Service over Internet Protocol (SoIP) network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said emergency service is an Enhanced 911 (E911) service.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said registration comprises at least one of:

an Internet Protocol (IP) address, a Media Access Control (MAC) address, or a phone number associated with said soft phone client.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said change of physical location is determined by an E911 Application Server.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling said soft phone client to gain service access to said communication network only after said subscriber provides a predefined response to said prompt.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said presenting comprises:

presenting said prompt that allows said subscriber to update a physical address, to decline voluntarily to update said physical address or to refuse to provide a response.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said enabling comprises:

allowing said soft phone client to gain service access to said communication network if said predefined response is to update said physical address or to decline voluntarily to update said physical address; and

blocking said soft phone client to gain service access to said communication network if said subscriber has chosen to refuse to provide said response.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said prompt is a pop up window.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein said soft phone client is enabled to gain service access to said communication network via an E911 Application Server.

11. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions, the plurality of instructions including instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the steps of a method for providing location information for an emergency service in a communication network, comprising:

receiving a registration from a soft phone client used by a subscriber;

determining if a change of physical location of said soft phone client is detected; and

presenting a prompt to said subscriber for updating said physical location of said soft phone client if said change of said physical location of said soft phone client is detected.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein said communication network is a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network or a Service over Internet Protocol (SoIP) network.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein said emergency service is an Enhanced 911 (E911) service.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein said registration comprises at least one of:

an Internet Protocol (IP) address, a Media Access Control (MAC) address, or a phone number associated with said soft phone client.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein said change of physical location is determined by an E911 Application Server.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, further comprising:

enabling said soft phone client to gain service access to said communication network only after said subscriber provides a predefined response to said prompt.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein said presenting comprises:

presenting said prompt that allows said subscriber to update a physical address, to decline voluntarily to update said physical address or to refuse to provide a response.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein said enabling comprises:

allowing said soft phone client to gain service access to said communication network if said predefined response is to update said physical address or to decline voluntarily to update said physical address; and

blocking said soft phone client to gain service access to said communication network if said subscriber has chosen to refuse to provide said response.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein said prompt is a pop up window.

20. An apparatus for providing location information for an emergency service in a communication network, comprising:

means for receiving a registration from a soft phone client used by a subscriber;

means for determining if a change of physical location of said soft phone client is detected; and

means for presenting a prompt to said subscriber for updating said physical location of said soft phone client if said change of said physical location of said soft phone client is detected.