EMERGENCY RESPONSE SYSTEM

• US 20090197563A1
• Filed: 01/31/2008
• Published: 08/06/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ku, Bernard, Yasrebi, Mehrad, Qiu, Chaoxin
• Granted Patent: US 8,135,378 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/404.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/40 Support for services or applications
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/30 Determination of the location of a subscriber
• 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 3/523 with call distribution or queueing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/50 for emergency connections

Abstract

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a computer-readable storage medium including computer instructions for receiving an emergency request to assist a subscriber, retrieving presence information of each of a plurality of parties that serve as emergency contacts for the subscriber, selecting a communication identifier of at least one of the plurality of parties according to the presence information, and notifying the at least one party of the emergency request. Additional embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A computer-readable storage medium operating in an emergency response system, comprising computer instructions for:

recording a plurality of communication identifiers of one or more emergency contacts in an emergency response account of a subscriber, wherein each communication identifier can be used to establish communication with a select one of the emergency contacts;

receiving an emergency request to assist the subscriber;

retrieving presence information for the one or more emergency contacts;

selecting at least one of the plurality of communication identifiers according to the presence information; and

establishing communications with at least one of the one or more emergency contacts according to the at least one communication identifier.

2. The storage medium of claim 1, comprising computer instructions for:

recording biometric information of the subscriber;

associating the biometric information with the emergency response account of the subscriber;

receiving biometric information with the emergency request;

comparing the received biometric information with the recorded biometric information; and

identifying the emergency response account of the subscriber responsive to detecting a match between the received biometric information and the recorded biometric information.

3. The storage medium of claim 2, comprising computer instructions for:

recording medical information in the emergency response account of the subscriber;

retrieving the medical information from the emergency response account of the subscriber responsive to detecting the match between the received biometric information and the recorded biometric information; and

transmitting the medical information to the at least one of the one or more emergency contacts.

4. The storage medium of claim 3, wherein the medical information includes medical information about the subscriber and family contact information, and wherein the biometric information comprises one among a fingerprint, and a retinal scan.

5. The storage medium of claim 1, wherein the emergency request identifies the emergency response account of the subscriber, wherein the emergency request is received from a communication device of one among the subscriber and a party assisting the subscriber, and wherein the communication device corresponds to one among a portable telephone, a fixed line telephone, and a medical emergency alert device that detects medical emergencies associated with the subscriber.

6. The storage medium of claim 1, wherein the emergency response system operates in at least one among a circuit-switched communication network, and a packet-switched communication network.

7. The storage medium of claim 6, wherein the circuit-switched communication network corresponds to a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), and wherein the packet-switched communication network corresponds to an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) supporting Voice over IP (VoIP) and PSTN communications.

8. The storage medium of claim 1, wherein the plurality of communication identifiers correspond to at least one among an E.164 number, a Session Initiation Protocol Uniform Resource Identifier (SIP URI), an instant messaging address, and an email address.

9. A computer-readable storage medium, comprising computer instructions for:

receiving an emergency request to assist a subscriber;

retrieving presence information of each of a plurality of parties that serve as emergency contacts for the subscriber;

selecting one or more communication identifiers of at least one of the plurality of parties according to the presence information; and

notifying the at least one party of the emergency request.

10. The storage medium of claim 9, comprising computer instructions for recording for each of the plurality of parties in an emergency response account of the subscriber one or more communication identifiers and contact information of a corresponding presence system.

11. The storage medium of claim 10, wherein the presence system monitors communication activities of a party, and generates presence information to determine a likelihood of communicating with the party with each one or more communication identifiers.

12. The storage medium of claim 10, comprising computer instructions for:

recording biometric information of the subscriber;

associating the biometric information with the emergency response account of the subscriber;

receiving biometric information in the emergency request;

comparing the received biometric information with the recorded biometric information; and

identifying the emergency response account of the subscriber responsive to detecting a match between the received biometric information and the recorded biometric information.

13. The storage medium of claim 10, comprising computer instructions for:

recording medical information in the emergency response account of the subscriber;

retrieving the medical information from the emergency response account of the subscriber responsive to detecting the match between the received biometric information and the recorded biometric information; and

transmitting the medical information to the one of the one or more parties providing the subscriber emergency support.

14. The storage medium of claim 13, wherein the medical information includes medical information about the subscriber and family contact information.

15. The storage medium of claim 9, wherein the emergency request is received from a communication device of one among the subscriber and a party assisting the subscriber, and wherein the communication device corresponds to one among a portable telephone, a fixed line telephone, and a medical emergency alert device that detects medical emergencies associated with the subscriber.

16. The storage medium of claim 9, wherein the computer-readable storage medium operates as an emergency response system in at least as one among a circuit-switched communication network, and a packet-switched communication network.

17. The storage medium of claim 16, wherein the circuit-switched communication network corresponds to a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), and wherein the packet-switched communication network corresponds to an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) supporting Voice over IP (VoIP) and PSTN communications.

18. The storage medium of claim 10, wherein the plurality of communication identifiers correspond to at least one among an E.164 number, a Session Initiation Protocol Uniform Resource Identifier (SIP URI), an instant messaging address, and an email address.

19. The storage medium of claim 9, wherein the emergency request comprises a description of an emergency occurring with the subscriber, and wherein the storage medium comprises computer instructions for selecting the one or more communication identifiers of the at least one party based on a severity of said description.

20. The storage medium of claim 9, comprising computer instructions for selecting the at least one party according to a priority of communication established for the plurality of parties serving as emergency contacts for the subscriber.

21. The storage medium of claim 9, comprising computer instructions for:

storing the one or more communication identifiers of each of the plurality of parties in an emergency response account of the subscriber; and

retrieving from the emergency request an identification of the emergency response account.

22. The storage medium of claim 21, comprising computer instructions for:

retrieving authentication data from the emergency request; and

authenticating at least one among the subscriber or a party assisting the subscriber according to said authentication data.

23. A presence system, comprising a controller to:

monitor communication activity of one or more parties providing emergency support to a subscriber of an emergency response system;

receiving from the emergency response system a request for presence information of at least one of the one or more parties providing emergency support to the subscriber; and

submitting to the emergency response system the requested presence information.

24. The presence server of claim 23, wherein the presence information comprises a likelihood of responsive communications for each of a plurality of communication identifiers of the one or more parties.