Auto-discovery of diverse communications devices for alert broadcasting

• US 20100199188A1
• Filed: 04/09/2010
• Published: 08/05/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Genasys, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Kenneth E. Grigg, Suhayya Abu-Hakima
• Inventors: Christie, Colin, Piskorz, Oskar, McFarland, Connie, Guevremont, Vince, Grigg, Kenneth E., Abu-Hakima, Suhayya
• Granted Patent: US 9,215,217 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/733
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1895 for short real-time information, e.g. alarms, notifications, alerts, updates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Methods and systems for communicating messages to target communications devices in a target physical location are disclosed. Network sources are queried for logical locations accessible to the network source. A specification of a physical location associated with each logical location is received. Each logical location specification is stored in a data store in association with the associated physical location specification. A specification of the target physical location is received. Those logical location specifications associated with the target physical location are retrieved from the data store, thereby identifying target logical locations. For each target logical location, at least one of the network sources accessible to that logical location is queried for specifications of communications devices accessible to that logical location, thereby identifying the communications devices in the target physical location. The message is communicated to the target communications devices in the target physical location via at least one of the target logical locations.

Claims

1. A method of communicating a message to a target communications device in a target physical location, the method comprising:

querying a network source for logical locations accessible to the network source;

receiving, for each of the logical locations, a specification of a physical location associated with that logical location;

storing, in a database, each logical location specification in association with the associated physical location specification;

receiving a specification of the target physical location;

retrieving from the database those logical location specifications associated with the target physical location, thereby identifying target logical locations;

for each target logical location, querying at least one of the network sources accessible to that logical location for specifications of communications devices accessible to that logical location, thereby identifying the communications devices in the target physical location, the target communications device being one of the communications devices in the target physical location; and

communicating the message to the target communications device in the target physical location via at least one of the target logical locations.

2. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a specification of a target grouping identifying group member communications devices, the target communications device being one of the group member communications devices; and

before communicating the message to the target communications device, determining that the target communications device is one of the group communications devices of the target grouping.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein each logical location comprises at least part of a network.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one logical location comprises a subnet, a VLAN, an access point, a switch port, a cell tower, or an Internet hub.

5. The method according to claim 2, wherein the target grouping identifies a set of logically associated users, each user being associated with at least one of the group communications devices.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the set of logically associated users comprises a distribution list in a directory or a list of users sharing a network service.

7. The method according to claim 1 wherein the specification of the physical location associated with each logical location is received from a particular communications device representing that logical location or from at least one of the network sources accessible to that logical location.

8. The method according to claim 1 wherein the network source comprises a wired LAN controller, a wireless LAN controller, a DHCP server, a DNS server, an SNMP server, an e-mail server, a geo-location service, a cellular location service, a VoIP call server, an intelligent switch, a router, a directory, a database, a gateway, or a protocol packet.

9. The method according to claim 1 wherein the network source provides hostnames of communications devices associated with the logical locations accessible to the network source, and receiving the physical location associated with a particular one of the logical locations accessible to that network source comprises resolving the physical location from a hostname of at least one of the communications devices associated with that logical location.

10. The method according to claim 1 wherein the network source is a wired or wireless IP network, and wherein querying that IP network for the logical locations accessible to that IP network comprises monitoring that IP network for DHCP IP address lease allocation and de-allocation packets, and determining therefrom a list of subnets or VLANs with active IP leases.

11. The method according to claim 1 wherein the network source is a wired or wireless IP network, and wherein querying that IP network for the logical locations accessible to that IP network comprises monitoring that IP network for SNMP packets.

12. The method according to claim 1 wherein the network source is a wired or wireless IP network, and querying that IP network for the logical locations accessible to that IP network comprises querying a call manager to identify voice-over-IP (“

VoIP”

) phones or groupings, or monitoring that IP network for VoIP protocol call server registrations and de-registrations to identify VoIP phones or groupings.

13. The method according to claim 1 wherein a second target communications device operates a client, the method further comprising:

receiving from the client of the second target communications device a specification of a current physical location associated with the second target communications device, that current physical location being the target physical location; and

storing in the database a specification of the second target communications device in association with the target physical location specification;

and wherein the method further comprises;

retrieving from the database the specification of the second target communications device associated with the target physical location, thereby identifying the second target communications device as being in the target physical location; and

communicating the message to the second target communications device using the client operating on the second target communications device.

14. The method according to claim 1 wherein each of the communications device specifications includes an address of the corresponding communications device.

15. The method according to claim 1 wherein each of the communications device specifications includes a specification of a device type of the corresponding communications device.

16. The method according to claim 1 wherein the physical location associated with at least one of the logical locations is received from at least one of the network sources accessible to that logical location, a user, a geo-location service, or is resolved from the logical location specification.

17. The method according to claim 1 wherein the target communications device is unassociated with the particular logical location which identified that communications device, and communicating the message to the target communications device via that logical location comprises:

providing the message in a network resource accessible to the target communications device; and

transmitting to the target communications device a network service announcement message from a particular network source accessible to the particular logical location, the announcement message containing an instruction for accessing the network resource thereby causing the message to be displayed on the target communications device when the target communications device accesses the network source.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the network resource is a network gateway web page containing the message, and the instruction requests a user of the target communications device to connect to a network controlled by the network gateway and to open a web browser on the target communications device thereby causing the network gateway to cause the web page to display on the target communications device.

19. The method according to claim 1 wherein querying the network source for logical locations accessible to the network source excludes querying the database or another database different from the database.

20. The method according to claim 1 wherein communicating the message to the target communications device constitutes an alert message communication, and wherein the method further comprises storing in the database a record associated with the alert message communication including the message, the target physical location specification, the target logical location specifications, the specifications of the communications devices in the target physical location, the target communications device specification, and any receipt acknowledgement or two-way communications recording.

21. A system for communicating a message to a plurality of communications devices in a selected physical location, each device being a respective one of a plurality of device types, each device having a respective address, the system comprising:

a location discovery module for querying a plurality of network sources for specifications of logical locations accessible to the network sources, for receiving, for each logical location, a specification of a physical location associated with that logical location, and for storing in a database the logical location specifications in association with the physical location specifications;

a recipient discovery module for receiving a specification of the selected physical location, for retrieving from the database the logical location specifications associated with physical location specifications corresponding to the selected physical location, thereby identifying selected logical locations, and for querying the network sources associated with each of the selected logical locations for specifications of all communications devices in the selected physical location, thereby identifying selected communications devices, the specifications of the selected communications devices including, for each communications device, the device type and address of that communications device;

a delivery module for receiving the message, the specifications of the selected communications devices, and for communicating the message to the devices, the delivery module having for each device type a corresponding delivery sub-module for communicating the message to the devices of that device type; and

a database for receiving and storing the message, the specification of the selected physical location, the logical location specifications and associated physical locations, an identifier for each recipient, and the selected communications device specifications including the device types and the device addresses.

22. A system for communicating an alert message to a plurality of communications devices in a selected physical location, each device being a respective one of a plurality of device types, each device having a respective address, the system comprising:

dispatch means for receiving the alert message and for identifying the selected physical location from a plurality of candidate physical locations;

an agent framework operatively connected to the dispatch means, the agent framework operating a plurality of collaborating autonomous agents including;

a location discovery agent for querying a plurality of network sources for specifications of logical locations accessible to the network sources, for receiving, for each logical location, a specification of a physical location associated with that logical location, and for storing in a database the logical location specifications in association with the physical location specifications, these physical location specifications specifying the candidate physical locations;

a recipient discovery agent for receiving a specification of the selected physical location from the dispatch means, for retrieving from the database the logical location specifications associated with the selected physical location specification, thereby identifying selected logical locations, and for querying the network sources associated with each of the selected logical locations for specifications of communications devices in the selected physical location, thereby identifying selected communications devices, the specification of each selected communications device including the device type and address of that communications device; and

a plurality of broadcast agents for receiving from the dispatch means the alert message, the specifications of the selected communications devices, and the device types for those communications devices, and for communicating the message to those communications devices, each broadcast agent corresponding to a respective one of the device types for communicating the message to the communications devices of that device type; and

a database for receiving and storing the alert message, the specification of the selected physical location, the logical location specifications and associated physical location specifications, and the selected communications device specifications including the device types and the device addresses.

23. A method of displaying an alert message on a communications device unassociated with a network gateway, the method comprising:

providing the alert message in a network resource accessible to the communications device; and

transmitting at least one network service announcement message from the network gateway to the communications device, the announcement message containing at least one service identifier containing an instruction for accessing the network resource thereby causing the alert message to be displayed on the communications device when the communications device accesses the network resource.

24. The method according to claim 23 wherein the instruction comprises an address or name of the network resource, wherein the alert message is displayed on the communications device when the communications device accesses that network resource address.

25. The method according to claim 23 wherein the network resource is a web page containing the alert message, wherein the alert message is displayed on the communications device when the communications device accesses that web page.

26. The method according to claim 23, wherein the network resource is a network gateway web page containing the alert message, and the instruction requests a user of the device to connect to the network gateway and open a web browser on the communications device thereby causing the network gateway web page to display on the communications device, wherein the alert message is displayed on the communications device when a user of the communications device connects to the network gateway and opens the web browser.

27. The method according to claim 23 wherein each service identifier is prepended with sorting characters to cause the service identifier to be displayed at or near the top of any list of service identifiers displayed on the device by an operating environment of the device.

28. The method according to claim 23 wherein transmitting the service identifiers from the network gateway to the communications device causes an operating environment of the communications device to display a dialog box on the communications device, the dialog box displaying the service identifiers.

29. The method according to claim 23 wherein at least one of the service identifiers contains the alert message.