System and method for providing location information to a public safety answering point during an emergency 911 call from a softphone

• US 20090097474A1
• Filed: 10/16/2007
• Published: 04/16/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2007
• 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 8,289,953 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/306 Route determination based on the nature of the carried application
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5014 using dynamic host configuration protocol [DHCP] or bootstrap protocol [BOOTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42042 Notifying the called party of information on the calling party details within substation equipment H04M1/57, signalling details H04Q3/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42348 Location-based services which utilize the location information of a target
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5116 for emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42
• 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

A system and method for providing location information to a public safety answering point from a softphone may include receiving, at a network access point, an emergency 911 call from the softphone. The emergency 911 call may be communicated to a public safety answering point. In response to a call connection message being received, an address location of the network access point to which the softphone is in communication in placing the emergency 911 call to the public safety answering point may be communicated in a type II caller ID data packet. The softphone may generate the type II caller ID data packet with the address location in a data field, such as a data field typically used for name information of a caller.

Claims

1. A system for providing location information to a public-safety answering point during an emergency 911 call from a softphone, said system comprising:

a network access point configured to receive calls from softphones;

a soft-switch in communication with said network access point, said network access point configured to communicate a call from a softphone to said soft-switch;

a database configured to store network address information of selective routers on a network through which information is communicated to public safety answering points operating to service emergency 911 calls; and

a gateway in communication with said network access point, soft-switch, and database, and, in response to receiving an emergency 911 call from the softphone via said soft-switch, request selective router information, from said database, of a selective router through which information is to be sent to a public safety answering point servicing an area including said network access point during the emergency 911 call, the softphone, in response to receiving an indication that an emergency 911 call is connected with a public safety answering point, being configured to communicate address location information of the softphone to the public safety answering point.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the address location information is communicated in a type II caller ID data packet.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the softphone is configured to update the address location information in response to determining a change in position or IP address.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the softphone is configured to enable a user to enter an updated address in response to a DHCP server issuing a new IP address to the softphone.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein said network access point is a WiFi network access point.

6. The system according to claim 5, wherein the WiFi network access point is configured to receive VoIP calls from the softphones.

7. A method for providing location information to a public safety answering point from a softphone, said method comprising:

receiving, at a network access point, an emergency 911 call from a softphone;

communicating the emergency 911 call to a public safety answering point; and

communicating, in response to a call connection message being received, an address location of the network access point to which the softphone is in communication in placing the emergency 911 call to the public safety answering point, the address location being communicated in a type II caller ID data packet.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein communicating the address location in a type II caller ID data packet includes communicating type II caller ID data packet from the softphone.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein communicating the address location information in a Type II caller ID data packet includes replacing a name field of the Type II caller ID data packet with the address location information.

10. The method according to claim 7, further comprising routing the emergency 911 call via a soft-switch to a gateway.

11. The method according to claim 7, further comprising looking up a network address of a selective router to which the public safety answering point is in communication.

12. The method according to claim 7, further comprising communicating GPS information received from the softphone to the public safety answering point.

13. The method according to claim 7, wherein receiving the emergency 911 call includes receiving the emergency 911 call using a WiFi communications protocol.

14. The method according to claim 7, further comprising updating the address location of the network access point in response to determining that the location of the softphone has changed.

15. A softphone operating on a computing device, said softphone comprising:

a telephone module configured to enable a user to place emergency 911 telephone calls;

an address location update module configured to;

determine that location of the softphone has changed;

request a current address location from a user of the softphone;

update the current address location; and

store the updated current address location;

said telephone module further configured to;

look-up the current address location in response to receiving notification that an emergency 911 call is connected with a public safety answering point; and

communicate the current address location to the public safety answering point.

16. The softphone according to claim 15, further comprising a type II caller ID module configured to generate a type II caller ID data packet with the address location information in place of name information.

17. The softphone according to claim 15, wherein the address location update module is further configured to present previous address locations at which the softphone was located to enable a user to select from the previous address locations to identify a current address location.

18. A method for identifying location of a softphone fur use in placing emergency 911 calls, said method comprising:

enabling a user to place a telephone call including emergency 911 telephone calls from a softphone;

determining that location of the softphone has changed;

requesting a current address location from a user of the softphone;

storing the current address location;

looking-up the current address location in response to receiving notification that an emergency 911 call is connected with a public safety answering point; and

communicating the current address location to the public safety answering point.

19. The method according to claim 18, further comprising generating a type II caller ID data packet with the address location information in place of name information.

20. The method according to claim 18, further comprising presenting previous address locations at which the softphone was located to enable a user to select from the previous address locations to identify a current address location.