METHOD TO IMPLEMENT E911 SERVICES IN IMS (IP MULTIMEDIA SUBSYSTEM)

• US 20130148549A1
• Filed: 02/08/2013
• Published: 06/13/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Crawford, Dwayne, Khan, Richard L., Lu, Min
• Granted Patent: US 8,938,209 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/259
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/306 Route determination based on the nature of the carried application
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1016 IP multimedia subsystem [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/40 Support for services or applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/04 with alarm systems, e.g. fire, police or burglar alarm systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/18 wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/04 for emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/15 Information service where the information is dependent on the location of the subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42348 Location-based services which utilize the location information of a target
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5116 for emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/18 Service support devices; Network management devices

Abstract

Efficient processing and/or routing of emergency calls in an IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) for VoIP (Voice over IP) subscribers can be enabled. In one aspect, an E911 profile is generated, for example, by an application server, for each VoIP subscriber based in part on current location information associated with the subscriber, such as, the subscriber'"'"'s IP address. The E911 profile is pushed to the HSS (Home Subscriber Server) of the IMS. The E911 profile can then be stored in the HSS and can be queried by an E-CSCF (Emergency Call Session Control Function) during emergency call processing. Moreover, when an emergency call is received from the subscriber, the E-CSCF can retrieve the E911 profile associated with the subscriber from the HSS and route the call to an appropriate PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point) based on an analysis of the information in the E911 profile.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a memory to store instructions; and

a processor, coupled to the memory, that facilitates execution of the instructions to perform operations, comprising;

in response to determining that an emergency call has been received from a user equipment, receiving profile data that comprises temporary telephone number data, emergency services routing number data, and location routing functionality indicator data associated with the user equipment, wherein the profile data is updated based on internet protocol address data received from the user equipment during a connection of the user equipment to a communication network,

determining that the user equipment is located at a tenant location associated with a business account to which the user equipment is subscribed, comprising;

determining that the temporary telephone number data comprises a defined telephone number assigned to a device within the tenant location,

determining that the emergency services routing number data comprises an emergency services routing number assigned to the user equipment, and

determining that the location routing functionality indicator data specifies that a location routing function device of the communication network is not to be queried subsequent to receiving the emergency call, and

in response to the determining that the user equipment is located at the tenant location, facilitating a transmission of the defined telephone number to a public safety answering point device that is selected based on the emergency services routing number, wherein the defined telephone number is employed by the public safety answering point device as a call back number for the user equipment.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining that the user equipment is nomadic, comprising;

determining that the temporary telephone number data comprises a null value,

determining that the emergency services routing number data comprises a null value, and

determining that the location routing functionality indicator data specifies that the location routing function device is to be queried subsequent to receiving the emergency call.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the operations further comprise:

in response to the determining that the user equipment is nomadic, directing, to the location routing function device, request data indicative of a request for emergency services query key data and the emergency services routing number.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the transmission is a first transmission and the operations further comprise:

in response to receiving, from the location routing function device, the emergency services query key data and the emergency services routing number, facilitating a second transmission of the emergency services query key data to the public safety answering point device that is selected based on the emergency services routing number, wherein the emergency services query key data is employed by the public safety answering point device as the call back number.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the emergency services query key data is employed to access a location identification data store of the communication network to determine address information associated with the user equipment.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining that the user equipment at a home location, comprising;

determining that the temporary telephone number data comprises a null value,

determining that the emergency services routing number data comprises the emergency services routing number assigned to the user equipment, and

determining that the location routing functionality indicator data specifies that the location routing function device is not to be queried subsequent to receiving the emergency call.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the transmission is a first transmission and the operations further comprise:

in response to the determining that the user equipment is at the home location, facilitating a second transmission of data indicative of a telephone number of the user equipment to the public safety answering point device that is selected based on the emergency services routing number, wherein the telephone number is employed by the public safety answering point device as the call back number.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the defined telephone number is employed to access a location identification data store of the communication network to determine address information associated with the user equipment.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the public safety answering point device is selected based on resource availability data related to the public safety answering point device.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the public safety answering point device is selected based on a distance between the public safety answering point device and the user equipment being determined to satisfy a distance criterion.

11. A method, comprising:

in response to receiving an emergency call from a user equipment, determining, by a system comprising a processor, profile data associated with the user equipment that comprises temporary telephone number data, emergency services routing number data, and location routing functionality indicator data, wherein the profile data is specified based on internet protocol address data received from the user equipment during a registration of the user equipment to a communication network,

determining, by the system, that the user equipment is located at a tenant location associated with a business account to which the user equipment is subscribed based on determining that

the temporary telephone number data comprises a defined telephone number assigned to a device within the tenant location,

the emergency services routing number data comprises an emergency services routing number assigned to the user equipment, and

the location routing functionality indicator data specifies that a location routing function device of the communication network is not to be queried subsequent to receiving the emergency call, and

subsequent to the determining that the user equipment is located at the tenant location, selecting, by the system, a public safety answering point device to service the emergency call based on the emergency services routing number.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

directing, by the system, the defined telephone number to the public safety answering point device to facilitate servicing of the emergency call, wherein the defined telephone number is employed by the public safety answering point device as a call back number for the user equipment.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining, by the system, that the user equipment is nomadic based on determining that

the temporary telephone number data comprises a null value,

the emergency services routing number data comprises a null value, and

the location routing functionality indicator data specifies that the location routing function device is to be queried subsequent to receiving the emergency call.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

in response to the determining that the user equipment is nomadic, receiving, by the system, emergency services query key data and the emergency services routing number from the location routing function device; and

facilitating, by the system, a transmission of the emergency services query key data to the public safety answering point device, wherein the emergency services query key data is employed by the public safety answering point device as a call back number for the user equipment.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining, by the system, that the user equipment at a home location associated with the user equipment based on determining that

the temporary telephone number data comprises a null value,

the emergency services routing number data comprises the emergency services routing number assigned to the user equipment, and

the location routing functionality indicator data specifies that the location routing function device is not to be queried subsequent to receiving the emergency call.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

in response to the determining that the user equipment is at the home location, facilitating, by the system, a transmission of data indicative of a telephone number of the user equipment to the public safety answering point device, wherein the telephone number is employed by the public safety answering point device as a call back number for the user equipment.

17. A tangible computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, in response to execution, cause a system comprising a processor to perform operations, comprising:

in response to receiving an emergency call from a user equipment, determining profile data associated with the user equipment, wherein the profile data comprises temporary telephone number data, emergency services routing number data, and location routing functionality indicator data associated with the user equipment that is specified based on internet protocol address data received from the user equipment during a registration of the user equipment to a communication network,

determining that the user equipment is located at a tenant location associated with a business account to which the user equipment is subscribed in response to determining that

the temporary telephone number data comprises a defined telephone number assigned to a device within the tenant location,

the emergency services routing number data comprises an emergency services routing number assigned to the user equipment, and

the location routing functionality indicator data specifies that a location routing function device of the communication network is not to be queried subsequent to receiving the emergency call, and

in response to the determining that the user equipment is located at the tenant location, selecting, facilitating a transmission of the defined telephone number to a public safety answering point device that is selected based on the emergency services routing number, wherein the defined telephone number is employed by the public safety answering point device as a call back number for the user equipment.

18. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining that the user equipment is nomadic in response to determining that;

the temporary telephone number data comprises a null value,

the emergency services routing number data comprises a null value, and

the location routing functionality indicator data specifies that the location routing function device is to be queried subsequent to receiving the emergency call.

19. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the transmission is a first transmission and the operations further comprise:

in response to the determining that the user equipment is nomadic, facilitating a second transmission of the emergency services query key data, received from the location routing function device, to the public safety answering point device, wherein the emergency services query key data is employed by the public safety answering point device as the call back number.

20. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the user equipment is subscribed to a business voice over internet protocol service that facilitates voice over internet protocol communication via an access point device at the tenant location.