COMMUNICATION BETWEEN RESPONDERS

• US 20170064527A1
• Filed: 08/25/2015
• Published: 03/02/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Taser International Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Taser International Incorporated
• Inventors: Fortna, Raymond T., Huang, Anthony G., Jolma, Jeffrey P., Weiss, Julianne C., Deluca, Aerianna K., Bohlander, Michael J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,843,915 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• 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 76/14 Direct-mode setup

Abstract

A method for communicating among responders from a plurality of responder agencies includes determining that responders from two responder agencies are located at an event or location. Each of the responders from the two responder agencies has a computing device that is configured to communicate with the other computing device of the responders. Authorization is received from the two responder agencies to permit direct communication between responders from the two responder agencies. A communication link is established between the computing devices of the responders of the two responder agencies in response to determining that the responders from the two responder agencies are located at the event or location and in response to receiving the authorization. The communication link permits direct communication between the responders of the two responder agencies.

Claims

1. A method for communicating among responders from a plurality of responder agencies, the method comprising:

determining that a first plurality of responders from a first responder agency are located at an event or location, wherein each of the first plurality of responders has a computing device, wherein the computing devices of the first plurality of responders are configured to communicate with each other;

determining that a second plurality of responders from a second responder agency are located at the event or location, wherein each of the second plurality of responders has a computing device, wherein the computing devices of the second plurality of responders are configured to communicate with each other;

receiving authorization from the first and second responder agencies to permit direct communication between responders from the first and second responder agencies; and

in response to determining that the first plurality of responders and the second plurality of responders are located at the event or location and in response to receiving the authorization, establishing a communication link between the computing devices of the first plurality of responders and the computing devices of the second plurality of responders, wherein the communication link permits direct communication between the first plurality of responders and the second plurality of responders.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

defining an administrative responder from one of the first plurality of responders and the second plurality of responders, wherein the computing devices of the first plurality of responders and the computing devices of the second plurality of responders are configured to give priority to communications from the computing device of the administrative responder.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

reducing, by one of the computing devices of the first plurality of responders and the computing devices of the second plurality of responders, a resolution of a message prior to sending the message via the communication link.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the message is a video stream.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

deploying one or more communication relay devices at the event or location, wherein the one or more communication relay devices are configured to relay communications sent via the communication link.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the one or more communication relay devices are further configured to send a copy of the communications to a remote computing device.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving information about a particular locale at the event or location from a first responder of the first plurality of responders and the second plurality of responders;

determining that a computing device of a second responder of the first plurality of responders and the second plurality of responders is at the particular locale; and

sending the information about the particular locale to the computing device of a second responder.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a signal from a first responder of the first plurality of responders and the second plurality of responders, the signal indicating that a computing device of the first responder is at a particular locale;

determining that a computing device of a second responder of the first plurality of responders and the second plurality of responders is at the particular locale; and

sending, to the computing device of the second responder, an indication of the signal received from the first responder.

9-22. -22. (canceled)

23. A method performed by a computer for establishing communication among responders, the method comprising:

determining that a first plurality of computing devices is located at an event or location, the first plurality of computing devices from a first agency, each computing device of the first plurality respectively associated with one responder of the first agency, the first plurality of computing devices configured to communicate with each other via a network;

determining that a second plurality of computing devices is located at the event or location, the second plurality of computing devices from a second agency, each computing device of the second plurality respectively associated with one responder of the second agency, the second plurality of computing devices configured to communicate with each other via the network;

receiving authorization from the first agency and the second agency to permit direct communication between the first plurality of computing devices and the second plurality of computing devices;

in response to receiving authorization, establishing a communication link via the network between the first plurality of computing devices and the second plurality of computing devices thereby establishing direct communication between responders of the first agency and responders of the second agency;

wherein the computer is;

the computer is located remote from the event or location and

the computer communicates with the first plurality of computing devices and the second plurality of computing devices via the network.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein:

the computer further performs the functions of dispatching responders to the event or location; and

determining comprises determining in accordance with dispatching responders to the event or location.

25. The method of claim 23 wherein determining comprises receiving information from the computing devices of the first plurality and the computing devices of the second plurality regarding a position of each computing device.

26. The method of claim 23 wherein receiving authorization comprises receiving authorization for the event or location only.

27. The method of claim 23 wherein receiving authorization comprises receiving authorization for any event or location.

28. The method of claim 23 wherein establishing the communication link comprises establishing a communication link that supports push-to-talk communications.