SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PACKETIZED EMERGENCY MESSAGES

• US 20110189971A1
• Filed: 02/02/2010
• Published: 08/04/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/02/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Earnshaw, Mark, McCann, Stephen, Rayavarapu, Venkata Ratnakar Rao, Suzuki, Takashi, Faccin, Stefano, Bakker, Jan Hendrik Lucas, Dwyer, Johanna Lisa, Chin, Chen Ho
• Application Number:
  US12/698,956
• Publication Number:
  US 20110189971A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/404.1
• 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 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/50 for emergency connections

Abstract

A system and method allows for providing emergency service, whether the service is full or limited, to wireless devices using non-IMS packet traffic based methods or Access Stratum/Non-Access Stratum (AS/NAS) signalling based methods. To do so, a system and method for utilizing a Packetized Emergency Message (PEM) is provided.

Claims

1. A method of communicating a packetized emergency message (PEM) from a wireless device to a packetized emergency message consumer (PEMC) comprising the steps of:

receiving an indication that PEM is supported via one of short message service (SMS) and a unstructured supplementary service data (USSD);

discovering an address of a PEMC;

transmitting the PEM to the PEMC via the at least one of SMS and USSD.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of transmitting includes transmitting on a signaling radio bearer (SRB).

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the PEM is transmitted without an identity of the PEMC and without an address of the PEMC.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the PEM includes a priority indicator.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising identifying an initiation event that includes a request for a PEM from a network.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising transmitting multiple PEMs to multiple PEMCs substantially simultaneously.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising transmitting the PEMs on the SRB.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising transmitting further PEM to the PEMC.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein further PEM are transmitted upon at least one of an expiration of a predetermined time period and upon identifying a predetermined event.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the further PEM is substantially similar to the PEM.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein the further PEM includes a portion of the information included in the PEM.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the PEM includes a voice note.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein PEMC includes a Mobility Management Entity (MME)

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising identifying an initiation event and identifying a PEM for transmission from the wireless device to a PEMC;

15. A method of communicating a packetized emergency message (PEM) from a wireless device over a network to a packetized emergency message consumer (PEMC) comprising the steps of:

identifying a PEM for transmission from the wireless device to a PEMC connected to the network using a signaling system #7 (SS7) protocol; and

using an unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) protocol, transmitting the PEM to the PEMC.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein using the USSD protocol includes interfacing with mobile switching centre (MSC) and home location register (HLR).

17. The method of claim 15 wherein using the USSD protocol includes transmitting multiple PEMs to multiple PEMCs substantially simultaneously.

18. The method of claim 15 further comprising identifying an initiation event that includes a request for a PEM.

19. The method of claim 15 further transmitting further PEM to the PEMC upon at least one of an expiration of a predetermined time period and upon identifying a predetermined event.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the further PEM includes a portion of the information included in the PEM.

21. The method of claim 15 wherein the PEM includes a voice note.

22. A method of communicating a packetized emergency message (PEM) from a wireless device over a network to a packetized emergency message consumer (PEMC) comprising the steps of:

identifying a PEM for transmission from the wireless device to a PEMC;

identifying an address of the PEMC; and

transmitting the PEM to the PEMC using a short message service (SMS) protocol.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein identifying the address includes identifying a mobile subscriber ISDN number (MSISDN) of the PEMC.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein identifying a MSISDN of the PEMC includes at least one of accessing an operator-configured memory of the wireless device having stored therein the MSISDN and accessing a memory of the wireless device having stored therein the MSISDN received during at least one of an attach process and a internet protocol (IP) Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) registration process.

25. The method of claim 22 wherein transmitting includes transmitting multiple PEMs to multiple PEMCs substantially simultaneously.

26. The method of claim 22 further comprising transmitting further PEM to the PEMC upon at least one of an expiration of a predetermined time period and upon identifying a predetermined event.

27. The method of claim 26 wherein the further PEM includes a portion of the information included in the PEM.

28. The method of claim 22 wherein the PEM includes a voice note.

29. A wireless device configured to communicate a packetized emergency message (PEM) from the wireless device to a packetized emergency message consumer (PEMC) comprising:

a processor configured to;

receive an indication that PEM is supported via one of short message service (SMS) and a unstructured supplementary service data (USSD);

discover an address of a PEMC;

transmit the PEM to the PEMC via the at least one of SMS and USSD.

30. The wireless device of claim 29 wherein the processor is configured to transmit on a signaling radio bearer (SRB) to transmit the PEM.

31. The wireless device of claim 29 wherein the processor is configured to transmit the PEM without an identity of the PEMC and without an address of the PEMC.

32. The wireless device of claim 29 wherein the PEM includes a priority indicator.

33. The wireless device of claim 29 wherein the processor is configured to transmit multiple PEMs to multiple PEMCs substantially simultaneously.

34. The wireless device of claim 33 wherein the processor is configured to transmit the PEM on the SRB.

35. The wireless device of claim 29 wherein the processor is configured to transmit further PEM to the PEMC.

36. The wireless device of claim 35 wherein the processor is configured to transmit the further PEM upon at least one of an expiration of a predetermined time period and upon identifying a predetermined event.

37. The wireless device of claim 35 wherein the further PEM is substantially similar to the PEM.

38. The wireless device of claim 35 wherein the further PEM includes a portion of the information included in the PEM.

39. The wireless device of claim 29 wherein the PEM includes a voice note.