ENABLING LOCATION DETERMINATION OF USER DEVICE ORIGINATING EMERGENCY SERVICE CALL

• US 20130143516A1
• Filed: 11/30/2012
• Published: 06/06/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TeleCommunication Systems Inc (Comtech Telecommunications Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Andrew LLC (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Inventors: Winterbottom, Anthony James, Dawson, Martin Christopher
• Granted Patent: US 8,929,855 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/404.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/04 with alarm systems, e.g. fire, police or burglar alarm systems
• 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]

Abstract

A method is provided for processing emergency service calls from a user device to a PSAP, the user device having an associated line number and being configured to originate calls from fixed and mobile access networks. The method includes determining whether a call from the user device originates from a home location in a fixed access network. When the call is determined to have originated from the home location in the fixed access network, the call is routed to the PSAP, where a location of the user device is determined based on the Automatic Number Identification (ANI) included in signaling associated with the call. When the call is determined not to have originated from the home location in the fixed access network, adding pseudo-ANI to signaling associated with the call and routing the call to the PSAP, where the location of the user device is determined based on the pANI.

Claims

1. A method of processing emergency service calls from a user device to a public safety answering point (PSAP), the user device having an associated line number and being configured to originate calls from a fixed access network and a mobile access network, the method comprising:

determining whether a call from the user device originates from a home location in the fixed access network;

when the call is determined to have originated from the home location in the fixed access network, routing the call to the PSAP, wherein a location of the user device is determined based on the Automatic Number Identification (ANI) included in signaling associated with the call; and

when the call is determined not to have originated from the home location in the fixed access network, adding pseudo-ANI to signaling associated with the call and routing the call to the PSAP, wherein the location of the user device is determined based on the pANI.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the location of the user device is determined to be a civic address location previously associated with the home location based on the ANI.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the location of the user device is determined to be a calculated geodetic location or civic location based on the pANI and a nature of the access network.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the pANI identifies a non-dialable number associated with the present location of the user device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the non-dialable number identified by the pANI is associated with one of a base station or a Node B servicing the user device in the mobile access network.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the non-dialable number identified by the pANI is associated with an Internet access point with which the user device is in communication in the fixed access network.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the signaling associated with the call further identifies the fixed access network when the call originates in the fixed access network, and identifies the mobile access network when the call originates in the mobile access network.

8. A system for processing calls for emergency services from a user device having an associated line number, the system comprising:

a public safety answering point (PSAP) switch configured to receive a call for emergency services from a switch in communication with a fixed access network and a mobile access network, wherein the call includes Automatic Number Identification (ANI), and no pseudo-ANI (pANI), when the call originates from the user device at a home location in the fixed access network, and wherein the call includes pANI when the call originates from the user device at a remote location in the fixed access network or at a location in a mobile access network; and

an Automatic Location Identification (ALI) server connected to the PSAP switch and configured to determine a location corresponding to the user device based on the ANI when the call originates from the user device at the home location in the fixed access network, and based on the pANI when the call originates from the user device at the remote location in the fixed access network or at the location in the mobile access network.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the ALI server determines the location corresponding to the user device to be a civic address location when the call originates from the user device at the home location in the fixed access network.

10. The system of claim 9, further comprising:

an ALI database configured to store the civic address location in association with the ANI of the user device, wherein the ALI database provides the civic address location to the ALI server in response to a query.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the ALI server determines the location corresponding to the user device to be a geodetic location when the call originates from the user device at the remote location in the fixed access network or at the location in the mobile access network.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the ALI server determines the geodetic location by querying a location server in the mobile access network when the call originates from the user device at the location in the mobile access network.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the location server determines the geodetic location of the user device in real time using at least one of a Global Positioning System (GPS), an uplink-time difference of arrival (U-TDOA), angle of arrival (AoA), and power of arrival (POA) location determination technique.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the ALI server determines the location corresponding to user device to be a civic address location or a geodetic location by querying a location server in the fixed access network when the call originates from the user device at the remote location in the fixed access network.

15. A system for processing calls for emergency services from a user device having an associated line number, the system comprising:

a network switch configured to receive emergency service calls from a user device to a public safety answering point (PSAP) originating in a fixed access network and a mobile access network, to include Automatic Number Identification (ANI) and no pseudo-ANI (pANI) in call signaling for the emergency service calls that originate from the user device at a home location in the fixed access network, to include pANI in the call signaling for the emergency service calls that originate from the user device at a remote location in the fixed access network or at a location in a mobile access network, and to rout the emergency service calls to the PSAP;

a first location server in the fixed access network configured to determine a location of the user device in the fixed access network in response to a query from an Automatic Location Identification (ALI) server in the PSAP for emergency service calls from the user device originating at a remote location in the fixed access network, and to provide the determined location to the ALI server; and

a second location server in the mobile access network configured to determine a location of the user device in the mobile access network in response to a query from the ALI server for emergency service calls from the user device originating at in the mobile access network, and to provide the determined location to the ALI server,

wherein the location corresponding to the user device is determined based on the ANI when the call originates from the user device at the home location in the fixed access network.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the first location server determines the location of the user device as a civic address location.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the first location server determines the location of the user device as a geodetic location.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the second location server determines the location of the user device as a geodetic location.