AUTOMATIC REMOTE COMMUNICATION USING NETWORK TELEPHONY

• US 20130288637A1
• Filed: 06/27/2013
• Published: 10/31/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/09/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RPX Clearinghouse LLC (RPX Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Rockstar Consortium US LP (Rockstar Consortium Inc.)
• Inventors: ZONOUN, Mohammad R.
• Granted Patent: US 8,886,159 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/404.2
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0009 Transmission of position information to remote stations involving assistance data G01S5/0236
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/30 Determination of the location of a subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5116 for emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42
• 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 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

The present invention is a method and apparatus to provide remote communication using network telephony. In a transmitter, an activation message is decoded to generate an activation command. The activation message is sent from an activator via a communication medium in response to a telephony call. An information message is transmitted, responsive to the activation command, to a receiver using a communication protocol. In a receiver, an activation message is decoded to generate an activation command. The activation message is sent in response to a telephone call. An information message is received, responsive to the activation command. The information message is sent from a transmitter according to a communication protocol via a communication medium.

Claims

1. A location transmitter, comprising:

reception unit configured to receive activation requests; and

a transmission unit configured to respond to receipt of an activation request by the reception unit by broadcasting a signal modulated from an information message containing respective location information associated with a respective location of the location transmitter.

2. The location transmitter of claim 1, wherein the transmission unit is further configured to broadcast the respective location information on a substantially periodic basis.

3. The location transmitter of claim 1, wherein the transmission unit is further configured to broadcast the respective location information on a substantially continuous basis.

4. The location transmitter of claim 1, further comprising a reception unit coupled to the transmission unit, the reception unit being configured to receive the activation request and to notify the transmission unit of such receipt.

5. The location transmitter of claim 1, wherein the location transmitter is one of a group of geographically dispersed location transmitters which form a distributed location broadcast system.

6. The location transmitter of claim 1, wherein the transmission unit is configured to broadcast respective location information in a format consistent with at least one of an identification tag, an absolute location, and a relative location.

7. A component of a location determination network, the component comprising:

a sensor configured to at least intermittently couple to at least one transmitter of a plurality of transmitters of the location determination network to receive location information from the at least one transmitter;

a location determination unit coupled to the sensor, the location determination unit configured to process the received location information, and

a network interface configured to externally issue the received location information in accordance with a packet data format;

the transmission unit of a transmitter is configured to broadcast the respective location information responsive to an activation request.

8. A server for a location determination network, the server comprising:

a communication interface configured for coupling to a plurality of location transmitters of the location determination network; and

a controller configured to selectively issue the activation request to the plurality of transmitters responsive to a location event.

9. The server of claim 8, wherein the communication network interface is further configured for communication of packetized respective location information from respective location transmitters to the server over a packet network.

10. The server of claim 9, wherein the location event is generated by another component of the location determination network.

11. The server of claim 10, wherein the location event comprises an emergency call.

12. The server of claim 9, wherein the location event is generated by an e-commerce transaction processor further coupled to the server via the packet network.