Automatic Emergency Call Activation and Notification System and Method Using Supporting Emergency Notification Server

• US 20100291894A1
• Filed: 12/31/2008
• Published: 11/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/02/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bert Neil Pipes
• Original Assignee: Bert Neil Pipes
• Inventors: Pipes, Malcolm Wade
• Granted Patent: US 8,909,191 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/404.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• 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 60/00 Affiliation to network, e.g. registration; Terminating affiliation with the network, e.g. de-registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/50 for emergency connections

Abstract

An Automatic Emergency Call Initiator (AECI) initiates an automatic emergency call protocol on a mobile communication system, which can be done using signaling messages. The user uses the AECI to initiate the call on a mobile station. GPS or other location data is automatically determined. Data is stored on an Emergency Notification Server (ENS) associated with an event identifier for easy retrieval or notification to emergency responders. The ENS generates an automated call to a call center and also supports the automatic emergency call protocol by storing GPS and identifying info on mobile stations meeting location criteria of the AECI initiated call. The ENS can also tag a mobile station to continue tracking mobile stations coming within a specified distance of the mobile station. A security alert protocol for predetermined mobile stations detected by a network can also be implemented using the ENS.

Claims

1. A method for automatically tagging a mobile station, comprising the steps of:

receiving an emergency call protocol packet from a first communicating device;

performing a locator and identifying protocol as required to locate and identify the first communicating device;

performing a locator and identifying protocol to locate and identify any mobile communicating device within at least a predetermined radius of the first communicating device; and

executing a tagging protocol to track and store the location of all the communicating devices meeting a location criteria relating to the first communicating device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

storing identity and location data for tagged communicating devices on an emergency notification server.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

storing identity and location data for communicating devices located within at least the predetermined radius of the first communicating device on an emergency notification server.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising the step of:

indexing the stored data using an assigned incident identifier.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

executing a virtual, mobile emergency alarm protocol on an emergency notification server to communicate to a plurality of mobile communication devices that an emergency call has been initiated.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

executing a security alert protocol using an emergency notification sever, wherein the emergency notification server stores at least one detected communication device identifier indexed against an alert identifier.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

identifying any second communicating device within a predetermined radius of the tagged communicating device for a predetermined elapsed period of time.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

tagging any second communicating device within a predetermined radius of the tagged communicating device for a predetermined elapsed period of time.

9-12. -12. (canceled)

13. A communication system for summoning emergency aid, comprising:

one or more nodes on a wireless communication network configured to receive an automatic emergency call initiate data packet, wherein the one or more nodes collectively,

a) store data associated with the location of an originating communication device generating the data packet and execute a tagging protocol for same;

b) generate an automatic emergency call data packet;

c) transmit said automatic emergency call data packet to a dispatching entity;

d) execute a locator protocol to locate the originating communication device, if required, and any communication devices meeting defined location criteria; and

e) identify and store data relating to any communication devices meeting a first location criteria in relation to the originating communication device location.

14. The communication system of claim 13, further comprising:

f) identify and tag any communication devices meeting a second location criteria in relation to the originating communication device location and store data relating to same.

15. The communication system of claim 13, wherein the automatic emergency call protocol initiate data packet comprises a signaling data packet format.

16. The communication system of claim 13, further comprising:

a small personally carried automatic emergency call initiator linked by a wireless connection to the originating communication device, the automatic emergency call initiator initiating the automatic emergency call protocol using a data packet received by the originating communication device, the automatic emergency call initiator transmitting a low-powered, short-range radio signal.

17. The communication system of claim 13, wherein at least one of the nodes comprises an emergency notification server node used in a locator protocol that can optionally use at least partially a non-GPS method to identify and store identifying data for all the communication devices linked to the system located within a first predetermined radius of the originating communication device.

18. The communication system of claim 17, wherein the emergency notification server node is used in a tagging protocol to store identifying and tracking location data for all the communication devices linked to the system located within a second predetermined radius of the originating communication device.

20. The communication system of claim 17, wherein the emergency notification server node is used in a virtual, mobile emergency alarm protocol to locate all communication devices linked to the system within a third predetermined radius of the originating communication device and communicate with the located communication devices that an automatic emergency call has been initiated, and not communicate with any tagged communication devices.

21. The communication system of claim 17, further comprising using the emergency notification server node to implement a security alert protocol, wherein

a system node is provisioned with at least one communication device identifier used to detect the originating communication device;

the emergency notification server node initiates an automatic security alert call after the detecting of the originating communication device identifier to communicate to a call center; and

the at least one communication device is tagged to continue location tracking.

51. The communication system of claim 21, wherein the system tags a communication device meeting a location and time criteria in relation to an already tagged communication device.

22-42. -42. (canceled)

43. A method for contacting a call center using a mobile communication network, comprising the steps of:

receiving at a network node a signaling data packet including a predetermined identifier for a first mobile station;

responding to the signaling data packet by initiating a security alert protocol, which includes at least

a) executing a locator protocol for the first mobile station if not known;

b) storing the location data and the identifier for the first mobile station indexed by a security alert identifier; and

c) transmitting a data packet to a call center communication network, said data packet including stored data on a emergency notification server and an indicator that said data packet is a security alert data packet.

44. The method of claim 43, further comprising the steps of:

receiving at the network node an automatic emergency call data packet including an identifier for a second mobile station;

responding to the data packet by initiating an automatic emergency call protocol, which includes at least

a) executing a locator protocol for the second mobile station if not known;

b) storing the location data and the identifier for the second mobile station indexed by an incident identifier; and

c) transmitting a data packet to an emergency call center communication network, said data packet including stored data on the emergency notification server and an indicator that said data packet is an automatic emergency call data packet.

45. The method of claim 44, further comprising the step of:

executing a tagging protocol for the first and second mobile station.

46. The method of claim 43, further comprising the steps of:

identifying all mobile stations meeting at least one location criteria relating to the stored data;

executing a tagging protocol for at least one mobile station meeting at least one of said location criteria; and

storing at least location data and identifier data for each identified mobile station on said emergency notification server indexed by an identifier.

52. The method of claim 43, further comprising the step of:

identifying and tagging any second mobile station remaining within a predetermined radius of the first mobile station for a predetermined elapsed period of time.

47. A method for contacting a call center using a mobile communication network, comprising the steps of:

receiving at a network node a signaling data packet including an identifier for a first mobile station;

responding to the signaling data packet by initiating an automatic emergency call protocol, which includes at least

a) executing a locator protocol for the first mobile station if not known using an enhanced radiolocation or GPS-based locator protocol as required;

b) storing the location data and the identifier for the first mobile station indexed by an incident identifier; and

c) transmitting a data packet to an emergency call center communication network, said data packet including stored data on a emergency notification server and an indicator that said packet is an automatic emergency call.

48. The method of claim 47, further comprising the steps of:

receiving at the network node a data packet including a predetermined identifier for a second mobile station;

responding to the data packet by initiating a security alert protocol, which includes at least

a) executing a locator protocol for the second mobile station if not known;

b) storing the location data and the identifier for the second mobile station indexed by a security alert identifier; and

c) transmitting a data packet to a call center communication network, said data packet including stored data on the emergency notification server and an indicator that said data packet is an security alert data packet.

49. The method of claim 48, further comprising the step of:

executing a tagging protocol for the first and second mobile station.

50. The method of claim 47, further comprising the steps of:

identifying all mobile stations meeting at least one location criteria relating to the stored data;

executing a tagging protocol for at least one mobile station meeting at least one of said location criteria; and

storing at least location data and identifier data for each identified mobile station on said emergency notification server indexed by an identifier.

53. The method of claim 48, further comprising the step of:

identifying and tagging any third mobile station remaining within a predetermined radius of the first or second mobile station for a predetermined elapsed period of time.