GRAPICAL USER INTERFACE METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR COMMUNICATION ASSETS AND INFORMATION IN A DISPATCH ENVIORNMENT

• US 20110016402A1
• Filed: 07/16/2009
• Published: 01/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Eagle Technology, LLC (L3Harris Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Harris Corporation (L3Harris Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Dailey, Timothy Eugene
• Granted Patent: US 8,448,070 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/738
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/324 by lowering clock frequency
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/42 Graphical user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/60 logging of communication history, e.g. outgoing or incoming calls, missed calls, messages or URLs
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5116 for emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5183 Call or contact centers with computer-telephony arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

The invention pertains to methods and apparatus for displaying information and presenting user interface controls for interfacing with a communication network and controlling communication assets on the network. The invention is particularly suited to a dispatch environment and specifically to providing an interface that permits a dispatcher to efficiently organize assets and information around individual incidents.

Claims

1. An apparatus for generating a graphical user interface for permitting a user to interface with a communication network comprising:

means for generating a display window comprising a plurality of User Interface (UI) controls and informational display modules; and

means for selecting the UI controls and informational display modules in the display window responsive to a particular temporal incident, which incident the user is intended to address via communications on the communication network.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the temporal incident is a public safety incident, the communication network is a public safety network, and the window is configured to assist a dispatcher in communicating with communication assets to address the incident.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the UI controls interface with a dispatch console for controlling communications on the communication network.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 comprising:

means for interfacing with computer aided dispatch (CAD) software; and

means for causing at least one of the informational display modules to display information derived from the CAD software.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 comprising:

means for selecting the UI controls and informational display modules in the display window as a function of a recommendation of communication assets to be assigned to the incident generated by the CAD system.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 comprising:

means for selecting the UI controls and informational display modules as a function of communication assets assigned to the incident.

7. The graphical user interface of claim 1 comprising:

means for selecting the UI controls and informational display modules in the display window based at least in part on data obtained from CAD software.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the information obtained from CAD software comprises a recommendation of communication assets to be assigned to the incident generated by the CAD software.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:

means for interfacing with a user to permit the user to at least partially configure the UI controls and informational displays in the window manually.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the UI controls and informational display modules comprise at least a plurality of talk group boxes, each displaying information about a corresponding talk group and containing at least one UI control for controlling communications on the network for the corresponding talk group.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 further comprising:

means for generating in the window a status box displaying the status of each field asset assigned to the incident.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 comprising:

mean for selecting the UI controls and informational display modules as a function of an electronic incident report.

13. A computer readable product embodied on computer readable media readable by a computing device for generating a graphical user interface for permitting a user to interface with a communication system, the product comprising computer executable instructions for:

interfacing with a Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system to receive information about a temporal incident;

selecting from a database of User Interface (UI) controls and informational display modules a subset of UI controls and informational display modules as a function of the information about the incident; and

generating a display window comprised of the selected UI controls and informational display modules.

14. The computer readable product of claim 13 wherein the computer executable instructions for interfacing with a CAD system to receive information about an incident comprises computer executable instructions for interfacing with a CAD system to receive an electronic incident report.

15. The computer readable product of claim 13 further comprising computer executable instructions for:

generating an information set defining the UI controls and informational display modules in the window and their layout within the window; and

transmitting the information set to a computer other than the computer on which the window was created.

16. The computer readable product of claim 13 wherein the computer executable instructions for selecting comprises computer executable instructions for selecting at least a plurality of talk group graphical user interfaces, each displaying information about a corresponding talk group and containing at least one UI control for controlling communications on the network for the corresponding talk group.

17. The computer readable product of claim 13 wherein the window is configured to assist a dispatcher in communicating with field resources to address the incident.

18. The computer readable product of claim 13 wherein the informational display modules display information derived from the CAD system.

19. The computer readable product of claim 13 wherein the computer executable instructions for selecting comprise computer executable instructions for selecting UI controls and informational display modules as a function of communication assets assigned to deal with the incident.

20. The computer readable product of claim 13 further comprising computer executable instructions for:

permitting a user of the product to manually add UI controls and information display modules to the window;

permitting a user of the product to manually delete UI controls and information display modules from the window; and

permitting a user of the product to manually arrange the UI controls and information display modules in the window.

21. The computer readable product of claim 13 wherein the computer executable instructions for interfacing with a CAD system to receive information about an incident comprises computer executable instructions for interfacing with a CAD system to receive a recommendation of communication assets to be assigned to the incident generated by the CAD software.

22. A computer readable product embodied on computer readable media readable by a computing device for generating a graphical user interface for permitting a dispatcher to control communication assets of a communication network, the product comprising computer executable instructions for:

generating a window template into which a user can place User Interface (UI) controls and informational display modules pertaining to a communication network to create a custom interface corresponding to a temporal incident;

providing a graphical user interface displaying a plurality of UI controls and informational display modules pertaining to a plurality of talk groups on the communication network; and

permitting the user to select ones of the UI controls and informational displays from the graphical user interface and place them in the template window to create a display window comprised of the selected UI controls and informational display modules.

23. The computer readable product of claim 22 further comprising computer executable instructions for interfacing with a Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system to receive information about an incident and to automatically partially populate the window with UI controls and informational display modules as a function of the information received from the CAD system.

24. The computer readable product of claim 22 wherein the computer executable instructions for permitting the user to select ones of the UI controls and informational displays from the graphical user interface and place them in the template window comprises computer executable instructions for:

permitting the user drag and drop UI controls and informational display modules into the window.

25. A method of generating a customized graphical user interface window for interfacing with a communication network in connection with a specific temporal incident comprising:

receiving an incident report containing information about the temporal incident;

building, using a computer, a graphical user interface window comprising a subset of User Interface (UI) controls and informational display modules selected from a database of UI controls and informational display modules as a function of the information in the incident report.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein the incident is a public safety incident and the communication network is a public safety communication network.

27. The method of claim 26 wherein at least one of the UI controls interfaces with a dispatch console for controlling communications on the communication network.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein at least one of the informational display modules displays information derived from computer aided dispatch (CAD) software.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein the information obtained from CAD software comprises a recommendation of communication assets to be assigned to the incident generated by the CAD software.

30. The method of claim 25 further comprising:

a user partially populating the window with at least one of UI controls and informational displays by selecting the at least one of UI controls and informational displays from a database of UI controls and informational displays.

31. The method of claim 25 wherein the UI controls and informational display modules comprise at least a plurality of talk group boxes, each talk group box displaying information about a corresponding talk group and containing at least one UI control for controlling communications on the network for the corresponding talk group.

32. The method of claim 25 wherein the UI controls and informational display modules are selected as a function of an electronic incident report.