Interactive Personal Emergency Communications

• US 20110117874A1
• Filed: 11/17/2009
• Published: 05/19/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Shaw, Venson M.
• Granted Patent: US 8,509,729 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/404.1
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 27/006 with transmission via telephone network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/04 for emergency applications
• 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 76/50 for emergency connections

Abstract

Emergency alert messages are received from an emergency service or governmental agencies and modified according to user, user group, or device characteristics or preferences. Emergency alert messages are appended with source identifiers that can be used by users to respond to such alert messages. The emergency alert messages and the response messages can include multimedia content. Emergency alert messages received on a user device can be transmitted to other devices using various means, including short distance wireless communications protocols.

Claims

1. A system for transmitting emergency alert messages, the system comprising:

a receiver configured to receive an emergency alert message;

a processor configured to;

determine a preference of a recipient,

modify the emergency alert message based on the preference, and

generate a modified emergency alert message; and

a transmitter configured to transmit the modified emergency alert message.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to append a source identifier to the emergency alert message.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the source identifier is a mobile subscriber integrated services digital network number.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the receiver is further configured to receive the emergency alert message from an emergency service agency system.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the emergency alert message comprises multimedia content.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured query a user preference database.

7. A system for receiving emergency alert messages, the system comprising:

a receiver configured to receive an emergency alert message;

a processor configured to;

determine that the emergency alert message is to be transmitted to a first device,

receive response message contents, and

construct a response message;

a first transmitter configured to transmit the emergency alert message to the first device; and

a second transmitter configured to transmit the response message to a second device.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the second device is a component of an emergency service agency system.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the processor is further configured to determine destination data based on the emergency alert message and append the destination data to the response message.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the destination data is a mobile subscriber integrated services digital network number.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the first transmitter is configured to transmit the emergency alert message to the first device using a short distance wireless protocol.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the response message contents comprises multimedia content.

13. A method of transmitting emergency alert messages, the method comprising:

receiving an emergency alert message at an alert gateway;

determining at the alert gateway that the emergency alert message is to be modified based on an attribute;

modifying the emergency alert message based on the attribute to generate a modified emergency alert message;

transmitting the modified emergency alert message; and

receiving a response message.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the attribute is a recipient device characteristic.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the attribute is a user group attribute.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the attribute is a user preference.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein modifying the emergency alert message comprises appending a source identifier.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising determining a destination system for the response message and transmitting the response message to the destination system.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the destination system is at least one of a police emergency alert system and a health emergency alert system.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the emergency alert message comprises multimedia content.