Alerting method, apparatus, server, and system

• US 20080117075A1
• Filed: 11/20/2006
• Published: 05/22/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tamiras Per Pte Ltd LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Solana Networks Inc.
• Inventors: Seddigh, Nabil, Makkar, Rupinder Singh, Nandy, Biswajit, Bennett, Donald William Arthur
• Granted Patent: US 7,557,689 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/825.36
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 27/005 with transmission via computer network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1895 for short real-time information, e.g. alarms, notifications, alerts, updates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

An alert system for a communications network has a plurality of client devices and a plurality of alert servers each adapted to provide alerts to a respective subset of the client devices to provide scalability. Users at the client devices subscribe to receive alerts by selecting a scope of distribution of alerts. The selection involves selecting a type of alert to receive, a level of severity of alerts to receive, and a geographic scope. In response to receiving a request to issue an alert, an alert server notifies the other alert servers of the alert. Each alert server determines which client devices of the respective subset of client devices are to receive the alert. Each alert server then sends an alert message to its client devices that are to receive the alert.

Claims

1. An alert server comprising:

an alert manager having a processor and a memory containing program instructions executable by the processor for alerting, the alert manager comprising;

i) a receiver unit for receiving requests to issue alerts;

ii) a peer communications unit for notifying at least one other alert server of the alerts;

iii) a distribution unit for determining from a plurality of subscribers which of the plurality of subscribers are to receive the alerts; and

,

iv) a transmitter unit for sending alert messages to the subscribers that are to receive the alerts.

2. An alert server according to claim 1 wherein the peer communications unit comprises means for maintaining a list of active alert servers and for distributing the list of active alert servers to the active alert servers.

3. An alert server according to claim 1 wherein the peer communications unit comprises means for updating the list of active alert servers to include an other alert server in response to receiving a registration request from the other alert server.

4. An alert server according to claim 3 comprising an administration manager for assigning to the other alert server another plurality subscribers to be alerted by the other alert server.

5. An alert server according to claim 3 comprising an administration manager for assigning to the other alert server a geographic region over which the other alert server is to provide alerting functionality.

6. An alert server according to claim 1 wherein the alert manager comprises a backup unit for providing backup alerting functionality on behalf of another alert server.

7. An alert server according to claim 1 comprising a user manager for receiving subscription requests from the plurality of subscribers, each subscription request containing a respective request to receive alerts of a particular scope of distribution, the particular scope of distribution comprising at least one of a type of alert, a level of severity, and a geographic scope,

wherein the alert manager comprises a distribution unit for:

for each subscription request, sending alerts within the particular scope of distribution.

8. An alert server according to claim 1 comprising a user manager for receiving subscription requests from the plurality of subscribers, each subscription request containing a respective request to receive alerts of a particular level of severity,

wherein the alert manager comprises a distribution unit for:

for each subscription request, sending alerts having the particular level of severity and alerts having a level of severity higher than the particular level of severity.

9. An alert server according to claim 1 comprising a user manager for receiving subscription requests from the plurality of subscribers, each subscription request containing a respective request to receive alerts of a particular geographic scope,

wherein the alert manager comprises a distribution unit for:

for each subscription request, sending alerts having the particular geographic scope and alerts having a larger geographic scope that covers the particular geographic scope.

10. An alert server according to claim 1 wherein the alert server comprises means for receiving requests to issue alerts from issuers of alerts, the alert server comprising:

a security manager for determining whether the issuers of alerts have a necessary security clearance level to issue the alerts, and for instructing the alert manager to issue the alerts in response to a determination that the issuers of alerts have the necessary security clearance level.

11. An alert server according to claim 1 wherein the alert manager comprises a UDP (User Datagram Protocol) unit for sending the alert messages using a UDP-based transport protocol.

12. An alert server according to claim 11 wherein each alert message comprises a plurality of data packets and wherein the alert manager comprises a NACK (Negative ACKnowledgement) unit for sending the alert message to a client device in response to receiving a NACK message from the client device indicating that at least one of the data packets have not been received.

13. An alert server according to claim 1 wherein the alert manager comprises a messaging reliability unit comprising:

i) means for receiving a message containing alert information from a client device;

ii) means for determining whether the client device has received the alert message using the alert information; and

,

iii) means for re-sending the alert message to the client device in response to a determination that the client device has not received the alert message.

14. An alert server according to claim 1 wherein each alert message comprises alerting information in at least one of a plurality of media formats consisting of a text media format, a video media format, and an audio media format.

15. An apparatus for receiving alerts comprising:

a) a registration handler having a processor and a memory containing program instructions executable by the processor for alerting, the registration handler comprising;

i) an account creation unit for creating a user account with an alert server in response to receiving instructions to create the user account with the alert server; and

,

ii) a subscription unit for subscribing with the alert server to receive alerts;

b) a session registration unit for registering with the alert server to establish a connection with the alert server and receive alert messages; and

,

c) an alert handler for providing alerts in response to receiving the alert messages.

16. An apparatus according to claim 15 wherein the apparatus comprises any one of a PC (Personal Computer), a phone, a cell phone, and a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant).

17. An apparatus according to claim 15 wherein the subscription unit comprises means for subscribing with the alert server to receive alerts having a particular scope of distribution in response to receiving user instructions to receive alerts of the particular scope of distribution.

18. An apparatus according to claim 15 wherein the session registration handler comprises means for registering with a backup alert server to establish a connection with the backup alert server and receive alert messages when the backup alert server provides backup alerting functionality for the alert server.

19. An alert system for a communications network comprising:

a plurality of client devices;

a plurality of alert servers, each for providing alerts to a respective subset of the client devices in response to receiving requests to issue alerts, each alert server comprising;

i) means for notifying the other alert servers of the alerts;

ii) means for determining which client devices of the respective subset of the client devices are to receive the alerts; and

,

iii) means for sending alert messages to the client devices that are to receive the alerts.

20. A method of alerting comprising:

at an alert server;

i) receiving requests to issue alerts;

ii) notifying at least one other alert server of the alerts;

iii) from a plurality of subscribers, determining which of the plurality of subscribers are to receive the alerts; and

,

iv) sending alert messages to the subscribers that are to receive the alerts.