EMERGENCY CALL FORKING AND NOTIFICATION

• US 20090291663A1
• Filed: 05/21/2008
• Published: 11/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Business Network Services, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Sartini, Robert A., Schultz, Paul T., McKee, Martin W.
• Granted Patent: US 8,090,322 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/404.2
• 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 3/465 Arrangements for simultaneously calling a number of substations until an answer is obtained
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/18 Negotiating wireless communication parameters
• 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 68/00 User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/50 for emergency connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/20 Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

A method includes receiving subscriber configuration information for an emergency forking/notification service, the subscriber configuration information including criteria for initiating the forking/notification service and contact information for a recipient of the forking/notification service; receiving an emergency call from a calling device; routing the emergency call to a public safety answering point (PSAP); identifying the emergency call as a candidate for the emergency forking/notification service based on information associated with the calling device and the criteria for initiating the forking/notification service; and automatically initiating a forking/notification session to notify the recipient that an emergency call has been initiated from the calling device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving subscriber configuration information for an emergency forking/notification service, the subscriber configuration information including criteria for initiating the forking/notification service and contact information for a recipient of the forking/notification service;

receiving an emergency call from a calling device;

routing the emergency call to a public safety answering point (PSAP);

identifying the emergency call as a candidate for the emergency forking/notification service based on information associated with the calling device and the criteria for initiating the forking/notification service; and

automatically initiating a forking/notification session to notify the recipient that an emergency call has been initiated from the calling device.

2. The method of claim 1, where the forking/notification session requests an authentication indication before notifying the recipient.

3. The method of claim 1, where the forking/notification session further includes sending the audible portion of the emergency call to the recipient to allow the recipient to listen to the emergency call between the calling device and the PSAP.

4. The method of claim 1, where the forking/notification session includes identifying the location of the calling device.

5. The method of claim 4, where the forking/notification session initiates a supplementary session to query for additional information that may be relevant to the emergency call based on the location of the calling device.

6. The method of claim 1, where the forking/notification session automatically records voice data and session information for the emergency call between the calling device and the PSAP.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving supplementary emergency response information relevant to a location associated with a calling device; and

associating the supplementary emergency response information with the recorded voice data and session information for the emergency call.

8. The method of claim 1, where the criteria for initiating the forking/notification service includes one or more of the location of the calling device or the telephone number of the calling device.

9. A system, comprising:

a first device to receive and store subscriber criteria for initiating a forking/notification service and contact information for one or more authorized recipients of the forking/notification service;

a second device to receive an indication of an emergency call being placed by a calling device over a network, the emergency call being routed from the calling device to a public safety answering point (PSAP); and

a notification server to automatically select one of the one or more authorized recipients being based on the subscriber criteria and notify the selected authorized recipient that an emergency call has been initiated from the calling device.

10. The system of claim 9, where the notification server queries a device associated with the selected authorized recipient for an authentication indication before notifying the selected recipient.

11. The system of claim 9, further comprising a media tapping server to send an audio signal associated with the emergency call to the at least one or more authorized recipients enable the at least one of the one or more authorized recipients to listen to the emergency call between the calling device and the PSAP.

12. The system of claim 9, further comprising a location server to identify the location of the calling device.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising a supplementary session server to initiate a query for additional information that may be relevant to the emergency call based on the location of the calling device.

14. The system of claim 9, further comprising a recording device to record the audible conversation and data related to the emergency call between the calling device and the PSAP.

15. The system of claim 14, where the system receives information from a supplementary server, the information being relevant to a location associated with a calling device, and associates the information with the recorded emergency call.

16. The system of claim 9, where the subscriber criteria includes one or more of the location of the calling device or an assigned telephone number of the calling device.

17. A computer-readable memory comprising computer-executable instructions, the computer-readable memory comprising:

one or more instructions for receiving and storing subscriber criteria to notify a recipient of an emergency call;

one or more instructions for receiving an indication of an emergency call being initiated from a calling device to a public safety answering point (PSAP);

one or more instructions for comparing information associated with the calling device with the subscriber criteria; and

one or more instructions for automatically notifying the recipient that an emergency call has been initiated from the calling device if the information about the calling device meets the subscriber criteria.

18. The computer-readable memory of claim 17, where the subscriber criteria includes at least one of the location or assigned telephone number of the calling device.

19. A method comprising:

receiving and storing subscriber criteria to notify a recipient of an emergency call, the subscriber criteria including the originating location of an emergency call;

receiving an indication of an emergency call placed from a calling device to a public safety answering point (PSAP);

comparing the location of the calling device with the subscriber criteria; and

automatically notifying the recipient that an emergency call has been initiated from the calling device if the information about the calling device meets the subscriber criteria.

20. A system comprising:

means for storing subscriber criteria for initiating a forking/notification service;

means for storing contact information for one or more recipients of the forking/notification service;

means for receiving an indication of an emergency call being placed from a calling device to a public safety answering point (PSAP);

means for automatically selecting one of the one or more recipients based on the subscriber criteria; and

means for sending an audible portion of the emergency call to permit the selected recipient to listen to the emergency call between the calling device and the PSAP.