System and method for providing location information for addressed based E-911 calls to public safety answering points

• US 20080144779A1
• Filed: 12/18/2006
• Published: 06/19/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Embarq Holdings Company LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chakravarthy, Cadathur V., Ray, Amar N.
• Granted Patent: US 9,031,207 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways

Abstract

A system and method for communicating location information of a VoIP subscriber to a public-safety answering point may include receiving an E-911 telephone call from a VoIP telephone. Location information associated with the VoIP telephone stored in a database may be requested. The location information may be received in a signal formatted substantially the same as a signal format for communicating caller identification information. The location information may be displayed at a public-safety answering point. In one embodiment, the location information may be displayed on a video display.

Claims

1. A system for providing location information to a public-safety answering point during an E-911 telephone call by a person using a voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone, said system comprising:

a database configured to store location information associated with subscribers of a VoIP telephone service;

a database access server in communication with said database;

a media gateway in communication with an Internet protocol (IP) network;

an emergency service gateway in communication with the IP network;

a telephone switch in communication with said database access server, said media gateway, and said emergency service gateway;

a selective router in communication with said telephone switch;

a public-safety answering point in communication with said selective router;

a call server in communication with a VoIP telephone and configured to;

receive a telephone call from a VoIP telephone;

determine if the call is a non-emergency call or an E-911 call, and

if the call is a non-emergency call, then route the call to the media gateway,

otherwise, route the call to the emergency service gateway to cause the VoIP telephone to be in communication with said public-safety answering point; and

in response to receiving the E-911 call, said public-safety answering point is further configured to;

request location information associated with the VoIP telephone from said database via said telephone switch and database access server;

receive the location information associated with the VoIP telephone; and

display the location information.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein said telephone switch is a class 5 switch.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein said database access server is configured to receive the location information from said database and communicate the address information in data packets to said telephone switch.

4. The system according to claim 3, wherein said telephone switch is configured to receive the location information from said database access server and communicate the location information to said public-safety access provider via a frequency shift keying signal.

5. The system according to claim 4, wherein the frequency shift keying signal is configured with data fields the same as used to communicate caller ID information.

6. The system according to claim 5, wherein the data fields are filled with the location information.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein said database is not managed by a telecommunications carrier.

8. The system according to claim 1, further comprising an interactive voice response system in communication with said database, said interactive voice response system operable to prompt a subscriber using the VoIP telephone for the location information and configured to store the location information in said database.

9. A method for communicating location information of a VoIP subscriber to a public-safety answering point, said method comprising:

receiving an E-911 telephone call from a VoIP telephone;

requesting location information associated with the VoIP telephone stored in a database;

receiving the location information in a signal formatted substantially the same as a signal format for communicating caller identification information; and

displaying the location information at a public-safety answering point.

10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising prompting a subscriber of a telecommunications provider using a VoIP telephone with an interactive voice response prompt to request the location information.

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein requesting location information is performed by the public-safety answering point.

12. The method according to claim 9, wherein requesting the location information includes communicating a request via a telephone switch and database access server to a database storing the location information associated with the VoIP telephone.

13. A system for providing location information to a public-safety answering point during an E-911 telephone call by a person using a voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone, said system comprising:

a database access server configured in communication with an Internet protocol (IP) network and configured to;

receive a request from a public-safety answering point in communication with the public switched telephone network (PSTN) to obtain location information of a user of a VoIP telephone;

request location information of the VoIP telephone from a database;

receive the location information from the database; and

communicate the location information to the public-safety answering point.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein database access server communicates the location information to the public-safety answering point via the IP network and PSTN.

15. The system according to claim 13, wherein said database access server is managed by a telecommunications carrier.

16. The system according to claim 13, wherein the location information is communicated to the public-safety answering point via a telephone switch configured to convent data packets including the location information into a signal compatible with telecommunications equipment for displaying caller identification information.

17. The system according to claim 16, wherein the signal is a frequency shift keying signal.