EMERGENCY LOCATION INFORMATION GATEWAY FOR PUBLIC SAFETY ANSWERING POINTS (PSAPs) AND METHOD OF USE

• US 20100317317A1
• Filed: 07/28/2010
• Published: 12/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Everbridge Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Red Sky Technologies Incorporated
• Inventors: Mertka, William L., MAIER, Nicholas M.
• Granted Patent: US 8,442,481 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 4/029 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

The emergency location information gateway provides Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) with the capability to receive NG911-compliant (i.e., Session Initiation Protocol (SIP-based) and/or SIP-Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)) and other types emergency calls including embedded emergency location information and determine a physical location of a mobile or non-mobile target network device based on the embedded emergency location information. Conversely, a legacy network gateway (LGN) enables the conversion of traditional 911, and E911 calls into NG911 calls for transport and dissemination by so-called Emergency Services IP networks, or ESInets.

Claims

1. A method for receiving emergency calls with embedded emergency location information, comprising:

receiving a 911 message for an emergency event on a location application on a Public Safety Answering Point (P SAP) gateway network device with one or more processors from a target network device with one or more processors via a communications network,

wherein the PSAP gateway network device is connected to other PSAP network devices and intercepts and monitors all emergency message communications received via the communications network for the other PSAP network devices;

determining on the location application on the PSAP gateway network device whether the 911 message includes embedded Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) emergency location information for the target network device which sent the 911 message for the emergency event, and if so,

extracting on the location application on the PSAP gateway network device the embedded SIP emergency location information in the SIP message,

determining on the location application on the PSAP gateway network device a physical location of the target network device from the extracted embedded SIP emergency location information, and

saving the determined physical location for the target network device via the location application in a computer readable medium on the PSAP gateway network device for use by other PSAP network devices;

and if not,

extracting on the location application on the PSAP gateway network device a phone number from the SIP message,

determining on the location application on the PSAP a physical location for the target network device using the extracted phone number by sending one or more queries to one or more Automatic Location Information (ALI) or Dynamic ALI (D-ALI) databases associated with the other PSAP network devices, and

saving the determined physical location for the target network device via the location application in a computer readable medium on the PSAP gateway network device for use by other PSAP network devices.

2. One or more processors including a computer readable medium having stored therein a plurality of instructions for causing the one or more processors to execute the steps of the Method of claim 1.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the 911 message includes a 911 message, an Enhanced 911 (E911) message or a NG-911-compliant SIP-based Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) message.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the embedded Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) emergency location information includes emergency location information in a Presence Information Data Format-Location Object (PIDF-LO) format.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the embedded Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) emergency location information includes emergency location information in a geo-coordinate (X,Y,Z) format or a Master Street Address Guide (MSAG) format.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the embedded Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) emergency location information includes emergency location information in an Extensible Markup Language (XML) object extension to a Presence Information Data Format-Location Object (PIDF-LO).

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

sending the determined physical location from the location application on the PSAP gateway network device to one or more other PSAP network devices; and

displaying the determined physical location for the target network device for the emergency event on a display on the one or more other PSAP network devices for an emergency event operator.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

displaying the determined physical location for the target network device for the emergency event on a display on the one or more other PSAP network devices for an using a Geographic Information System (GIS) for displaying the determined physical location on two-dimensional (2D) or three dimensional (3D) electronic maps.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

displaying the determined physical location for the target network device for the emergency event on a display on the PSAP gateway network device for an emergency event operator.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the embedded SIP emergency location information in the SIP message includes all standard National Emergency Number version 2 (NENA-2) format address elements for imbedded civic addresses, comprising a house number, street name, prefix and suffix elements, city, and state.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

deploying the PSAP gateway network device 116 in a redundant pair of PSAP gateway network devices to eliminate single-points of failure for processing 911 messages for emergency events.

12. A method for receiving emergency calls with embedded emergency location information, comprising:

receiving a 911 message for an emergency event on a location application legacy network gateway (LNG) network device with one or more processors from a target network device with one or more processors via a communications network, wherein the legacy network gateway network device is connected to an Emergency Services Internet Protocol (IP) Network (ESInet) and intercepts and monitors all emergency message communications received via a communications network from legacy sources destined for the ESInet;

a test is conducted to determine on the location application on the LNG network device whether the 911 message includes embedded Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) emergency location information for the target network device which sent the 911 message for the emergency event, and if not,

determining a physical location of the target network device from legacy 911 information sent with the 911 message using an extracted telephone number by sending one or more queries to one or more Automatic Location Information (ALI), Dynamic ALI (D-ALI) databases, or an LIS,

saving the determined physical location of the target network device in a computer readable medium on the LNG network device,

embedding the determined physical location in a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) message for converting the 911 message into a NG911 message,

forwarding the SIP message with the embedded determined physical location to a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) gateway network device with one or more processors on the ESInet; and

and if so,

forwarding the 911 message to the PSAP gateway network device with on the ESInet.

13. One or more processors including a computer readable medium having stored therein a plurality of instructions for causing the one or more processors to execute the steps of the Method of claim 12.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the 911 message includes a 911 message, an Enhanced 911 (E911) message or a NG-911-compliant SIP-based Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) message.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein the determined physical location information embedded into the SIP message includes emergency location information in a Presence Information Data Format-Location Object (PIDF-LO) format.

16. The method of claim 12 wherein the determined physical location information embedded into the SIP message includes emergency location information in a geo-coordinate (X,Y,Z) format or a Master Street Address Guide (MSAG) format.

17. The method of claim 12 wherein the determined physical location information embedded into the SIP message includes emergency location information in an Extensible Markup Language (XML) object extension to a Presence Information Data Format-Location Object (PIDF-LO).

18. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

deploying the LGN gateway network device in a redundant pair of LGN gateway network devices to eliminate single-points of failure for processing 911 messages for emergency events.

19. A system for receiving emergency calls with embedded emergency location information, comprising in combination:

means for receiving a 911 message for an emergency event on a location application on a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) gateway network device with one or more processors from a target network device with one or more processors via a communications network,

wherein the PSAP gateway network device is connected to other PSAP network devices and intercepts and monitors all emergency message communications received via the communications network for the other PSAP network devices;

means for determining on the location application on the PSAP gateway network device whether the 911 message includes embedded Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) emergency location information for the target network device which sent the 911 message for the emergency event, and if so,

means for extracting on the location application on the PSAP gateway network device the embedded SIP emergency location information in the SIP message,

means for determining on the location application on the PSAP gateway network device a physical location of the target network device from the extracted embedded SIP emergency location information, and

means for saving the determined physical location for the target network device via the location application in a computer readable medium on the PSAP gateway network device for use by other PSAP network devices;

and if not,

means for extracting on the location application on the PSAP gateway network device a phone number from the SIP message,

means for determining on the location application on the PSAP a physical location for the target network device using the extracted phone number by sending one or more queries to one or more Automatic Location Information (ALI) or Dynamic ALI (D-ALI) databases associated with the other PSAP network devices, and

means for saving the determined physical location for the target network device via the location application in a computer readable medium on the PSAP gateway network device for use by other PSAP network devices;

means for sending the determined physical location from the location application on the PSAP gateway network device to one or more other PSAP network devices via a Emergency Services Internet Protocol (IP) Network (ESInet) communications network;

means for deploying the PSAP gateway network device in a redundant pair of PSAP gateway network devices to eliminate single-points of failure for processing 911 messages for emergency events;

means for displaying the determined physical location for the target network device for the emergency event on a display on the one or more other PSAP network devices for an emergency event operator;

means for displaying the determined physical location for the target network device for the emergency event on a display on the one or more other PSAP network devices for an using a Geographic Information System (GIS) for displaying the determined physical location on two-dimensional (2D) or three dimensional (3D) electronic maps;

means for displaying the determined physical location for the target network device for the emergency event on a display on the PSAP gateway network device for the emergency event operator;

means for receiving a 911 message for an emergency event on a location application legacy network gateway (LNG) network device with one or more processors from a target network device with one or more processors via a communications network, wherein the legacy network gateway network device is connected to the ESInet and intercepts and monitors all emergency message communications received via a communications network from legacy sources destined for the ESInet;

means for conducting a test to determine on the location application on the LNG network device whether the 911 message includes embedded Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) emergency location information for the target network device which sent the 911 message for the emergency event, and if not,

means for determining a physical location of the target network device from legacy 911 information sent with the 911 message using an extracted telephone number by sending one or more queries to one or more Automatic Location Information (ALI), Dynamic ALI (D-ALI) databases, or a Location Information Service (LIS),

means for saving the determined physical location of the target network device in a computer readable medium on the LNG network device,

means for embedding the determined physical location in a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) message for converting the 911 message into a NG911 message,

means for forwarding the SIP message with the embedded determined physical location to the PSAP gateway network device with one or more processors on the ESInet; and

if so,

means for forwarding the 911 message to the PSAP gateway network device with on the ESInet.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the embedded SIP emergency location information and the determined physical location information embedded into the SIP message includes physical emergency location information in a Presence Information Data Format-Location Object (PIDF-LO) format, in an Extensible Markup Language (XML) object extension to a Presence Information Data Format-Location Object (PIDF-LO) or in an in a geo-coordinate (X,Y,Z) format or a Master Street Address Guide (MSAG) format.