SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SENDING AN EMERGENCY MESSAGE SELECTED FROM AMONG MULTIPLE EMERGENCY MESSAGE TYPES FROM A WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS DEVICE

• US 20100003960A1
• Filed: 10/24/2008
• Published: 01/07/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/03/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Embarq Holdings Company LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Greene, Lynn T., Ray, Amar Nath, Coppage, Carl M.
• Granted Patent: US 8,489,062 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/404.2
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/00 Speech synthesis; Text to speech systems
• 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: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• 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 52/0261 managing power supply demand, e.g. depending on battery level
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0296 switching to a backup power supply
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/50 for emergency connections
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A wireless communications device and method for communicating an emergency message to a public safety answering point (PSAP) may include storing (i) data representative of a plurality of emergency messages being of different message types and (ii) a network address associated with each emergency message. In response to a user selecting one of the emergency messages, the selected emergency message and associated network address may be established as defaults for communication of the default emergency message to a PSAP over the communications network. In response to the user requesting to send an emergency message, the default emergency message may be generated by using the default network address to communicate the emergency message and communicated over the communications network to the default network address for routing the default emergency message to a PSAP local to the user.

Claims

1. A wireless communications device for communicating an emergency message to a public safety answering point (PSAP), said wireless communications device comprising:

a memory storing (i) data representative of a plurality of emergency messages being of different message types and (ii) a network address associated with each respective emergency message;

an input/output (I/O) unit configured to wirelessly communicate with a communications network;

a processing unit in communication with said memory and I/O unit; and

a user interface in communication with said processing unit, and configured to cause said processing unit to;

in response to a user selecting one of the emergency messages, establish the selected emergency message and associated network address as defaults for communication of the default emergency message to a PSAP over the communications network; and

in response to the user requesting to send an emergency message;

generate the default emergency message by using the default network address as an address to which to communicate the emergency message; and

communicate the default emergency message via said I/O unit over the communications network to the default network address for routing the default emergency message to a PSAP local to the user.

2. The wireless communications device according to claim 1, wherein the data representative of the emergency message includes at least two of text message data, prerecorded speech data, email message data, instant message data, and data for speech synthesis communication.

3. The wireless communications device according to claim 2, wherein said user interface includes at least one preference selection to enable the user to select which of the at least two emergency messages to generate and communicate in response to the user requesting to send an emergency message.

4. The wireless communications device according to claim 1, wherein said user interface includes an emergency message button that, when activated to indicate a user request, causes said processing unit to generate and communicate the default emergency message using a communications protocol available to be used to communicate a type of message of which the default emergency message is classified.

5. The wireless communications device according to claim 4, wherein the communications protocol is short message service and the default emergency message is a text message.

6. The wireless communications device according to claim 4, wherein the emergency message button is a hard-button.

7. The wireless communications device according to claim 4, wherein said processing unit is further configured to identify the user request by the emergency message button being activated three times in a second.

8. The wireless communications device according to claim 1, wherein said processing unit is further configured to speech synthesize data of the default emergency message to notify an operator at the PSAP of an emergency situation.

9. The wireless communications device according to claim 1, wherein said processing unit is further configured to include geographic coordinates of a current location of the wireless communications device in the default emergency message.

10. The wireless communications device according to claim 9, wherein said processing unit is further configured to communicate the default emergency message without the geographic coordinates if not available when the default emergency message is generated and, when available, generate and communicate another default emergency message with the geographic coordinates.

11. A method for communicating an emergency message to a public safety answering point (PSAP), said wireless communications device comprising:

storing (i) data representative of a plurality of emergency messages being of different message types and (ii) a network address associated with each emergency message;

in response to a user selecting one of the emergency messages, establish the selected emergency message and associated network address as defaults for communication of the default emergency message to a PSAP over the communications network; and

in response to the user requesting to send an emergency message;

generating the default emergency message by using the default network address as an address to which to communicate the emergency message; and

communicating the default emergency message via said I/O unit over the communications network to the default network address for routing the default emergency message to a PSAP local to the user.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein storing the data representative of the emergency message includes storing at least two of text message data, prerecorded speech data, email message data, instant message data, and data for speech synthesis communication.

13. The method according to claim 12, further comprising providing a user interface that includes at least one preference selection to enable the user to select which of the at least two emergency messages to generate and communicate in response to the user requesting to send an emergency message.

14. The method according to claim 11, wherein providing a user interface includes providing an emergency message button that, when activated to indicate a user request, causes generating and communicating the default emergency message using a communications protocol available to be used to communicate a type of message of which the default emergency message is classified.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein communicating the communications protocol includes using short message service to communicate the default emergency message as a text message.

16. The method according to claim 14, wherein providing the emergency message button includes providing a hard-button.

17. The method according to claim 14, further comprising identifying the user request by the emergency message button being activated three times in a second.

18. The method according to claim 11, further comprising speech synthesizing data of the default emergency message to notify an operator at the PSAP of an emergency situation.

19. The method according to claim 11, further comprising including geographic coordinates of a current location of the wireless communications device in the default emergency message.

20. The method according to claim 19, further comprising communicating the default emergency message without the geographic coordinates if not available when the default emergency message is generated and, when available, generating and communicating another default emergency message with the geographic coordinates.