Fault Tolerant Distributed Messaging Architecture for Computer-Aided Dispatch System

• US 20110145344A1
• Filed: 04/16/2010
• Published: 06/16/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: InterAct911 Corporation (Constellation Software Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: InterAct911 Corporation (Constellation Software Incorporated)
• Inventors: McDowall, Steven, Matson, Kenneth, Anderson, Scott R.
• Granted Patent: US 8,433,763 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1895 for short real-time information, e.g. alarms, notifications, alerts, updates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

In one embodiment, a computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system includes a database for storing data originated at a plurality of CAD stations; a manager that manages access to the data stored in the database; and the plurality of CAD stations communicatively connected to the manager and to each other. While the manager is available, each CAD station transmits the critical data and the non-critical data originated at the CAD station to the manager and receives the critical data and the non-critical data originated at one or more other CAD stations from the manager. While the manager is unavailable, each CAD station transmits the critical data originated at the CAD station directly to all other CAD stations and receives the critical data originated at the one or more other CAD stations directly from the one or more other CAD stations.

Claims

1. A computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system, comprising:

a database for storing critical data and non-critical data originated at a plurality of CAD stations;

a manager that manages access to the critical data and the non-critical data stored in the database; and

the plurality of CAD stations communicatively connected to the manager and to each other, wherein;

while the manager is available, each one of the plurality of CAD stations transmits the critical data and the non-critical data originated at the CAD station to the manager and receives the critical data and the non-critical data originated at one or more other ones of the plurality of CAD stations from the manager; and

while the manager is unavailable, each one of the plurality of CAD stations transmits the critical data originated at the CAD station directly to all other ones of the plurality of CAD stations and receives the critical data originated at the one or more other ones of the plurality of CAD stations directly from the one or more other ones of the plurality of CAD stations.

2. The CAD system of claim 1, further comprising a message-service component communicatively connected with the plurality of CAD stations, wherein the message-service component delivers the critical data originated at the plurality of CAD stations among the plurality of CAD stations using a publish-subscribe system while the manager is unavailable

3. The CAD system of claim 1, wherein each one of the plurality of CAD stations is communicatively connected with other ones of the of CAD stations via peer-to-peer connections.

4. The CAD system of claim 3, wherein each one of the plurality of CAD stations continually monitors the peer-to-peer connections the CAD station has with the other ones of the plurality of CAD stations.

5. The CAD system of claim 1, wherein, while the manager is unavailable, each one of the plurality of CAD stations stores at the CAD station the critical data originated at the CAD station.

7. The CAD system of claim 1, wherein each one of the plurality of CAD stations maintains a copy of at least a portion of the critical data or the non-critical data stored in the database and synchronizes its copy of the portion of the critical data or the non-critical data with the critical data and the non-critical data stored in the database via the manager.

6. The CAD system of claim 6, wherein, when the manager is available again after being unavailable:

each one of the plurality of CAD stations transmits the critical data stored at the CAD station to the manager; and

the manager stores the critical data received from the plurality of CAD stations in the database.

8. A method, comprising:

determining, at a first one of a plurality of computer-aided dispatch (CAD) stations, whether a manager to a database is available, wherein;

critical data and non-critical data originated at the plurality of CAD stations are stored in the database; and

the manager manages access to the critical data and the non-critical data stored in the database;

if the manager is available, then;

transmitting, by the first one of the plurality of CAD stations, the critical data and the non-critical data originated at the first one of the plurality of CAD stations to the manager; and

receiving, by the first one of the plurality of CAD stations, the critical data and the non-critical data originated at one or more second ones of the plurality of CAD stations from the manager; and

if the manager is unavailable, then;

transmitting, by the first one of the plurality of CAD stations, the critical data originated at the first one of the plurality of CAD stations directly to all second ones of the plurality of CAD stations; and

receiving, by the first one of the plurality of CAD stations, the critical data originated at the one or more second ones of the plurality of CAD stations directly from the one or more second ones of the plurality of CAD stations.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the critical data originated at the plurality of CAD stations are exchanged among the plurality of CAD stations using a publish-subscribe system while the manager is unavailable.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the first one of the plurality of CAD stations is communicatively connected with other ones of the plurality of CAD stations via peer-to-peer connections.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising continually monitoring, by the first one of the plurality of CAD stations, the peer-to-peer connections the first one of the plurality of CAD stations has with the other ones of the plurality of CAD stations.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising, if the manager is unavailable, then storing, at the first one of the plurality of CAD stations, the critical data originated at the first one of the plurality of CAD stations.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising, if the manager is available again after being unavailable, then transmitting, by the first one of the plurality of CAD stations, the critical data stored at the first one of the plurality of CAD stations to the manager.

14. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

maintaining, by the first one of the plurality of CAD stations, a copy of the critical data and the on-critical data stored in the database at the first one of the plurality of CAD stations; and

synchronizing, by the first one of the plurality of CAD stations, its copy of the critical data and the on-critical data with the critical data and the on-critical data stored in the database via the manager.

15. One or more computer-readable tangible storage media embodying software operable when executed by one or more computer systems to:

determine, at a first one of a plurality of computer-aided dispatch (CAD) stations, whether a manager to a database is available, wherein;

critical data and non-critical data originated at the plurality of CAD stations are stored in the database; and

the manager manages access to the critical data and the non-critical data stored in the database;

if the manager is available, then;

transmit, by the first one of the plurality of CAD stations, the critical data and the non-critical data originated at the first one of the plurality of CAD stations to the manager; and

receive, by the first one of the plurality of CAD stations, the critical data and the non-critical data originated at one or more second ones of the plurality of CAD stations from the manager; and

if the manager is unavailable, then;

transmit, by the first one of the plurality of CAD stations, the critical data originated at the first one of the plurality of CAD stations directly to all second ones of the plurality of CAD stations; and

receive, by the first one of the plurality of CAD stations, the critical data originated at the one or more second ones of the plurality of CAD stations directly from the one or more second ones of the plurality of CAD stations.

16. The media of claim 15, wherein the critical data originated at the plurality of CAD stations are exchanged among the plurality of CAD stations using a publish-subscribe system while the manager is unavailable.

17. The media of claim 15, wherein the first one of the plurality of CAD stations is communicatively connected with other ones of the plurality of CAD stations via peer-to-peer connections.

18. The media of claim 17, wherein the software is further operable when executed by one or more computer systems to continually monitor, by the first one of the plurality of CAD stations, the peer-to-peer connections the first one of the plurality of CAD stations has with the other ones of the plurality of CAD stations.

19. The media of claim 15, wherein the software is further operable when executed by one or more computer systems to, if the manager is unavailable, then store, at the first one of the plurality of CAD stations, the critical data originated at the first one of the plurality of CAD stations.

20. The media of claim 19, wherein the software is further operable when executed by one or more computer systems to, if the manager is available again after being unavailable, then transmit, by the first one of the plurality of CAD stations, the critical data stored at the first one of the plurality of CAD stations to the manager.

21. The media of claim 15, wherein the software is further operable when executed by one or more computer systems to:

maintain, by the first one of the plurality of CAD stations, a copy of at least a portion of the critical data or the non-critical data stored in the database at the first one of the plurality of CAD stations; and

synchronize, by the first one of the plurality of CAD stations, its copy of the portion of the critical data or the non-critical data with the critical data and the on-critical data stored in the database via the manager.