Automatic emergency call notification to pre-designated personal emergency contacts

• US 20080304630A1
• Filed: 09/11/2007
• Published: 12/11/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/11/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TeleCommunication Systems Inc (Comtech Telecommunications Corporation)
• Original Assignee: TeleCommunication Systems Inc (Comtech Telecommunications Corporation)
• Inventors: Nguyen, Brandon, Townsdin, Elisabeth
• Granted Patent: US 8,295,445 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/45
• 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: H04M 11/04 with alarm systems, e.g. fire, police or burglar alarm systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/04 for emergency applications

Abstract

Automatic notification is provided to pre-designated emergency contacts for a given wireless subscriber upon the occurrence of an emergency call from the subscriber. Triggering for the automatic notification may take place at an appropriate time in the emergency call, e.g., at a time the emergency call is received, at a time during the emergency call after a current location of the emergency caller is obtained by the emergency network, once the emergency call terminates, after a set amount of time after the emergency call is received, terminates, etc. The automatic notification is preferably made using voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), but may instead be pre-designated by the subscriber to be in an alternative mode, e.g., by SMS, switched telephone, etc. An option is included for the emergency caller to cancel the automatic notification. The location of the emergency caller may be configurably provided to a notified emergency contact.

Claims

1. A method of automatically notifying a pre-designated emergency contact relating to an emergency call, comprising:

receiving an emergency call from a given subscriber;

determining at least one pre-designated emergency contact to be automatically contacted subsequent to said receipt of said emergency call;

generating a notification message to be sent to said at least one pre-designated emergency contact; and

sending said generated notification message to said at least one pre-designated emergency contact.

2. The method of automatically notifying a pre-designated emergency contact relating to an emergency call according to claim 1, wherein:

said generated notification message is sent via a pre-configured method.

3. The method of automatically notifying a pre-designated emergency contact relating to an emergency call according to claim 2, wherein:

said pre-configured method is one of SMS message, email and a voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) call with pre-recorded message payload.

4. The method of automatically notifying a pre-designated emergency contact relating to an emergency call according to claim 2, wherein:

said pre-configured method is an SMS message.

5. The method of automatically notifying a pre-designated emergency contact relating to an emergency call according to claim 2, wherein:

said pre-configured method is an email.

6. The method of automatically notifying a pre-designated emergency contact relating to an emergency call according to claim 2, wherein:

said pre-configured method is a voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) call with pre-recorded message payload.

7. The method of automatically notifying a pre-designated emergency contact relating to an emergency call according to claim 1, wherein:

said emergency call is received over a voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network.

8. The method of automatically notifying a pre-designated emergency contact relating to an emergency call according to claim 1, wherein:

said notification message is sent via a voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network.

9. The method of automatically notifying a pre-designated emergency contact relating to an emergency call according to claim 1, wherein:

said at least one pre-designated emergency contact is at least three emergency contacts.

10. The method of automatically notifying a pre-designated emergency contact relating to an emergency call according to claim 1, further comprising:

before said step of sending said generated notification message to said at least one pre-designated emergency contact, providing said emergency caller an option to cancel said sending of said generated notification message.

11. Apparatus for automatically notifying a pre-designated emergency contact relating to an emergency call, comprising:

means for receiving an emergency call from a given subscriber;

means for determining at least one pre-designated emergency contact to be automatically contacted subsequent to said receipt of said emergency call;

means for generating a notification message to be sent to said at least one pre-designated emergency contact; and

means for sending said generated notification message to said at least one pre-designated emergency contact.

12. The apparatus for automatically notifying a pre-designated emergency contact relating to an emergency call according to claim 11, wherein:

said generated notification message is sent via a pre-configured method.

13. The apparatus for automatically notifying a pre-designated emergency contact relating to an emergency call according to claim 12, wherein:

said pre-configured method is one of SMS message, email and a voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) call with pre-recorded message payload.

14. The apparatus for automatically notifying a pre-designated emergency contact relating to an emergency call according to claim 12, wherein:

said pre-configured method is an SMS message.

15. The apparatus for automatically notifying a pre-designated emergency contact relating to an emergency call according to claim 12, wherein:

said pre-configured method is an email.

16. The apparatus for automatically notifying a pre-designated emergency contact relating to an emergency call according to claim 12, wherein:

said pre-configured method is a voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) call with pre-recorded message payload.

17. The apparatus for automatically notifying a pre-designated emergency contact relating to an emergency call according to claim 11, wherein:

said emergency call is received over a voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network.

18. The apparatus for automatically notifying a pre-designated emergency contact relating to an emergency call according to claim 11, wherein:

said notification message is sent via a voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network.

19. The apparatus for automatically notifying a pre-designated emergency contact relating to an emergency call according to claim 11, wherein:

said at least one pre-designated emergency contact is at least three emergency contacts.

20. The apparatus for automatically notifying a pre-designated emergency contact relating to an emergency call according to claim 11, further comprising:

means for providing, before said step of sending said generated notification message to said at least one pre-designated emergency contact, said emergency caller an option to cancel said sending of said generated notification message.