NOTIFICATION OF EMERGENCIES BASED ON WIRELESS SIGNAL RECOGNITION

• US 20170180966A1
• Filed: 12/19/2016
• Published: 06/22/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2015
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Rave Wireless Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Rave Wireless Incorporated
• Inventors: Piett, William Todd, Serra, Mathew A.
• Application Number:
  US15/383,389
• Publication Number:
  US 20170180966A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters
• 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

Abstract

A method includes distributing one or more notifications of an emergency call being placed from a mobile device to emergency responders. The distribution of such notifications is based on a configurable rule set.

Claims

1. A method comprising processing an emergency communication, wherein processing said emergency communication comprises receiving said emergency communication, receiving information indicative of a location of an emergency, providing said received information to a configurable rule set, using said configurable rule set, generating a recipient list that identifies at least one recipient of a notification message based on said received emergency communication, and distributing said notification message to at least one recipient from said recipient list, wherein receiving information indicative of a location of an emergency comprises receiving information indicative of a device that was used to convey said emergency communication.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving said emergency communication comprises receiving an emergency call placed from a mobile device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving said emergency communication comprises receiving a text message

4. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving said emergency communication comprises receiving an alarm signal transmitted by an alarm-actuator.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein receiving an alarm signal transmitted by an alarm-actuator comprises receiving an indication that a panic button on a device has been pressed.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said panic button is displayed on a screen of said device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving said emergency communication comprises receiving a signal indicative of expiration of a safety timer.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving said emergency communication comprises receiving a signal indicative of one of an abnormal event and an unsafe event.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein generating said recipient list comprises including, in said recipient list, a device that is able to communicate with at least one emergency responder.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein generating said recipient list comprises including, in said recipient list, all devices connected to a particular local area network that has been identified based on information in said emergency communication.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein generating said recipient list comprises including, in said recipient list, devices associated with all persons in a particular area, said particular area having been identified based on information in said emergency communication.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein generating said recipient list comprises identifying all persons in a list of persons, said list of persons having been identified based on information in said emergency communication.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein generating a recipient list comprises including, in said recipient list, a digital sign.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving information indicative of a location of an emergency comprises receiving said information from said received emergency communication.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein receiving information indicative of a location of an emergency comprises using the National Emergency Address Database to obtain said location.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving information indicative of a location of an emergency comprises evaluating a unique identifier of a wireless signal-originating access point discovered by a mobile device that has sent said emergency communication, and inferring a location based on said unique identifier.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving information indicative of an emergency comprises receiving said information from said emergency communication.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving information indicative of an emergency comprises requesting said information in response to said emergency communication.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving information indicative of an emergency comprises requesting said information from a network that was used during conveyance of said emergency communication.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein distributing a notification message comprises evaluating a mode by which a notification is to be sent to a notification recipient from said recipient list and, using said mode, sending said notification message to said notification recipient.

21. The method of claim 1, further comprising using said rule set to evaluate the nature of said reported emergency.

22. The method of claim 1, further comprising, based on said rule set, evaluating an attribute of said caller.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein processing said emergency communication comprises relying, at least in part, on service provided by a wireless public telephone network.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein processing said emergency communication comprises avoiding reliance on service provided by a wireless public telephone network.

25. The method of claim 1, further comprising configuring said rule set through a user-interface.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving information indicative of a device comprises receiving information indicative of a signal strength of said device.

27. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving information indicative of a device comprises receiving information indicative of a unique identifier of said device.

28. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving information indicative of a device comprises receiving information indicative of a location of said device.

29. The method of claim 1, wherein generating a recipient list comprises including, in said recipient list, a siren.

30. An apparatus for processing emergency communications, said apparatus comprising a processing system and memory in data communication with said processing system, wherein said processing system is configured to receive information indicative of a location of an emergency, wherein said information indicative of a location of an emergency comprises information concerning a device that was used to convey an emergency communication, wherein said processing system further comprises a machine-readable medium having encoded thereon data representative of a configurable rule set, wherein said configurable rule set comprises rules that cause said processing system to generate a recipient list based at least in part on said received information concerning a device, wherein said recipient list identifies at least one recipient of a notification message, and wherein said processing system is further configured to distribute said notification message to said at least one recipient.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein said processing system is further configured to receive, from a location-determining platform, information indicative of location from which said emergency communication originated.

32. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein said processing system is further configured to receive information indicative of at least one wireless access point and to infer a location from which said emergency communication originated based at least in part on said information.

33. A manufacture comprising a tangible and non-transitory computer-readable medium having encoded thereon instructions that, when executed by a digital computer processing system, cause said digital computer processing system to extract information from a received emergency communication, to execute at least one rule from a configurable rule set having rules that cause said processing system to generate a recipient list that identifies at least one recipient of a notification message, and to distribute said notification message to said at least one recipient.