System and method for updating location information of voice-over-internet protocol based devices for E911 service

• US 20090215427A1
• Filed: 02/21/2008
• Published: 08/27/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/21/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Embarq Holdings Company LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hawkins, Johnny D.
• Granted Patent: US 8,364,117 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/404.200
• 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 3/5116 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 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/50 for emergency connections

Abstract

A system and method for updating physical address location information of a wireless device for E911 services. The updating may include determining that the current geographical coordinate location of the wireless device has moved beyond a predetermined distance from a last recorded geographical coordinate location. A physical address location associated with the current geographical coordinate location may then be updated. The physical address location may be updated in the wireless device and/or a data repository operating on a data packet network. The physical address location may be communicated to a public safety answering point (PSAP) in response to an emergency 911 call being placed.

Claims

1. A method for updating physical address location information of a wireless device for E-911 services, said method comprising:

determining a current geographic coordinate location of a wireless device in communication with a data packet communications network; and

in response to determining that the current geographic coordinate location of the wireless device has moved beyond a predetermined distance from a last recorded geographic coordinate location, updating a physical address location associated with the current geographic coordinate location.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein updating the physical address location includes querying a history of previous physical address locations of the wireless device.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:

determining if the physical address location of the wireless device is in the history of previous physical address locations of the wireless device; and

performing a predetermined action in response to determining if the physical address location of the wireless device is in the history of previous physical address locations of the wireless device.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein performing the predetermined action includes:

updating a last recorded physical address location found in the history of previous physical address locations in response to the determination that the physical address location of the wireless device is found in the history of previous physical address locations; and

replacing the last recorded physical address location with the physical address location of the wireless device.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein the predetermined action includes:

connecting to the data packet communications network; and

querying the physical address location based on the geographic coordinate location in response to determining that the physical address location of the wireless device is not found in the history of previous physical address locations of the wireless device.

6. The method according to claim 2, further comprising updating a last recorded physical address location with a current physical address location in response to the physical address location being found.

7. The method according to claim 2, further comprising prompting a user of the wireless device to input the physical address location in response to determining that no physical address location is found by the query.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining a current geographic coordinate location of a wireless device includes determining a current geographic location of a voice over internet protocol (VoIP) device.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein updating the physical address location includes updating the physical address location in response to determining that the current geographic coordinate location of the wireless device is over 100 feet.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising communicating the physical address location to a public safety answering point (PSAP) in response to a user dialing 911.

11. A system for updating physical address location information of a wireless device for E-911 services, said system comprising:

a processing unit configured to;

determine a current geographic coordinate location of a wireless device in communication with a data packet communications network; and

update, in response to determining that the current geographic coordinate location of the wireless device has moved beyond a predetermined distance from a last recorded geographic coordinate location, a physical address location associated with the current geographic coordinate location.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein the processing unit, in updating the physical address location, is further configured to query a history of previous physical address locations stored for the wireless device.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

determine if the physical address location of the wireless device is in the history of previous physical address locations stored for the wireless device; and

perform a predetermined action in response to determining if the physical address location of the wireless device is in the history of previous physical address locations stored for the device.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the processing unit, in performing the predetermined action, is further configured to:

update a last recorded physical address location found in the history of previous physical address locations in response to determining that the physical address location of the wireless device is found in the history of previous physical address locations; and

replace the last recorded physical address location with the physical address location of the wireless device.

15. The system according to claim 13, wherein the predetermined action includes the processing unit connecting to the data packet communications network to query the physical address location based on the geographic coordinate location in response to the determination that the physical address location of the wireless device is not found in the history of previous physical address locations of the wireless device.

16. The system according to claim 13, wherein the processing unit is further configured to prompt a user of the wireless device to input the physical address location in response to determining that no physical address location is found by the query on the data packet network.

17. The system according to claim 11, wherein the wireless device is a VoIP device.

18. The system according to claim 11, wherein the physical address location is updated in response to the processing unit determining that the wireless device has moved beyond a predetermined distance of 100 feet.

19. The system according to claim 11, wherein the physical address location includes a street address.

20. The system according to claim 11, wherein the processing unit is further configured to communicate the physical address location to a PSAP in response to a user dialing 911.