Method and system for providing emergency call service
First Claim
1. A system for initializing operation of means for routing emergency calls to a selected means for answering calls, said answering means having an active condition and an inactive condition, said system comprising:
- first means for determining whether said answering means should be in said inactive condition upon the initial operation of said routing means;
means effective upon said first determining means determining that said answering means should be in said inactive condition upon said initial operation of said routing means for causing said answering means to be in said inactive condition, said causing means comprising;
means for defining an interval of time during which said answering means is to be in said inactive condition;
second means for determining whether said particular time of initializing said routing means is within said interval of time; and
means effective upon a determination that said time of initializing is not within said interval of time for rendering said causing means effective to maintain said answering means in said inactive condition during said interval of time.
8 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An emergency call routing system includes a platform having a call router and a processor for identifying destinations to which such router directs emergency calls. The processor receives administration commands from administrators, some of which are at a public safety answering point (PSAP) to which the router directs calls for handling and redirection to emergency service providers (ESPs). Some of such administration commands relate to defining intervals during which a particular PSAP is, according to an administered night service schedule, to be inactive with respect to handling emergency calls. Other of such commands relate to administrative operations to place such PSAPs into such inactive state earlier than the schedule. Others of such commands relate to administrative directions to withdraw such PSAP from such inactive state before the scheduled time. Interfaces between attendants/administrators and workstations used with such processor are provided to facilitate ease of administering such schedule and those overrides.
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Citations
105 Claims
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1. A system for initializing operation of means for routing emergency calls to a selected means for answering calls, said answering means having an active condition and an inactive condition, said system comprising:
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first means for determining whether said answering means should be in said inactive condition upon the initial operation of said routing means; means effective upon said first determining means determining that said answering means should be in said inactive condition upon said initial operation of said routing means for causing said answering means to be in said inactive condition, said causing means comprising; means for defining an interval of time during which said answering means is to be in said inactive condition; second means for determining whether said particular time of initializing said routing means is within said interval of time; and means effective upon a determination that said time of initializing is not within said interval of time for rendering said causing means effective to maintain said answering means in said inactive condition during said interval of time. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A system for administering the state of an emergency telephone call answering station adapted to be in an active state or an inactive state according to a plurality of schedules selected for controlling the availability of said station to answer said call, said schedules being administrable to provide a first schedule and a second schedule, a next one of said states temporally following a current one of said states according to one of said schedules, comprising:
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means for administering said first schedule to either add to, modify or delete said first schedule to form said second schedule; means for signalling the start and end of said inactive states, said signalling means being set to signal said inactive states which may be in said first schedule; and means responsive to the addition to or modification of said first schedule for rendering said signalling means ineffective with respect to the start and end of said inactive states which may be in said first schedule.
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6. A method for controlling emergency call routing from an incoming trunk to a selected one of a plurality of call answering stations;
- each said station being adapted to be in one of an active state or a night service state;
said night service state being scheduled to occur during a night service interval of time;
said method utilizing a computer having a first table for selectively establishing for each said station an in early condition for overriding said active state, an out early condition for overriding said night service state, and a disabled condition for overriding neither said active nor said night service state;
said computer having a second table for indicating for each said station an active state and said night service state;
said computer being adapted to be initialized at given time;
said method comprising the steps of;at said given time, checking said first table to see if one of said in early or out early override conditions is established for a selected one of said stations; neither of said in early nor out early conditions is established at said given time for said selected station, comparing said given time to said night service interval for said selected station; and if said given time is not within said night service interval causing a signal to occur at the time at which said night service interval is to start for said selected station and setting said second table to indicate that said selected station is in said active state. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
- each said station being adapted to be in one of an active state or a night service state;
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15. A method for controlling the availability of a call answering station to answer an emergency call routed to it from an incoming trunk;
- said station being adapted to be in one of an active state or a scheduled unavailable state;
said scheduled unavailable state being scheduled to occur during a scheduled unavailable interval of time, said method utilizing a computer having a first table for selectively establishing for each said station an in early condition for overriding said active state, an out early condition for overriding said scheduled unavailable state; and
a disabled condition for overriding neither said active nor said scheduled unavailable state;
said computer having a second table for selectively indicating for said station said active state and said scheduled unavailable state;
said computer being adapted to be initialized at a given time, said method comprising the steps of;at said given time, checking said first table to see if one of said in early or out early override conditions is established for said station; if neither of said in early nor out early conditions is established at said given time for said station, comparing said given time to said scheduled unavailable interval for said station; and if said given time is not within said scheduled unavailable interval causing a signal to occur at the time at which scheduled unavailable interval is to start for said station and setting said second table to indicate that said station is available to answer said emergency call. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
- said station being adapted to be in one of an active state or a scheduled unavailable state;
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25. A system for administering the state of an emergency telephone call answering station adapted to be in an active state or an inactive state according to a plurality of schedules selected for controlling the availability of said station to answer said call, said schedule being administrable to provide a first schedule and a second schedule, a next one of said states temporally following a current one of said states according to one of said schedules, comprising:
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means for administering said first schedule to either add to, modify or delete said first schedule to form said second schedule; and first means responsive to the adding to or modifying of said first schedule to form said second schedule at a current time for determining whether said current time is within an inactive state of said second schedule. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27)
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28. In a system for controlling the availability for operation of a unit for answering an emergency telephone call, said unit being available for operation in an active service interval and not being available for operation in an inactive interval, the improvement comprising:
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means for signalling a change in a current one of said intervals; first means for determining whether the change in said current interval is the end or the start of one of said inactive intervals; means for setting a record to indicate whether or not a particular unit is currently scheduled for an inactive interval; and means for overriding said record to indicate a new availability of said unit changing from said inactive interval to said active interval or changing from said active interval to said inactive interval regardless of which of said intervals is currently scheduled as indicated by said record. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. A system for controlling the operation of a switching device that routes incoming emergency telephone calls to a public safety answering point at a current time, said switching device having router means for sending first messages related to one of said calls received by said switching device, and said router means having means for receiving return messages indicative of a particular PSAP to which said one call is to be routed, said switching device also having computer means for receiving said first messages and generating said return messages, said PSAP being adapted to be in an active service state to answer said calls routed thereto, during a given interval of time said PSAP being adapted to be in a night service state unavailable to answer saic calls, comprising:
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first means for causing said computer means to define a schedule including at least one first interval of time corresponding to said active service state, said schedule including at least one night service interval of time corresponding to said night service state; second means for causing said computer means to record conditions for overriding said scheduled intervals of time, said conditions including an in early condition and an out early condition; third means for causing said computer means to signal a change in the service state of a given PSAP, said change being based on said schedule; and fourth means for causing said computer means to determine whether said signal indicates the start or the end of said night service state. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40)
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41. A system for changing the state of an emergency telephone call answering station adapted to be in an active state or an inactive state, a next one of said states temporally following a current one of said states, comprising:
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first means for indicating the start of a next one of said inactive states; second means for determining whether one or more of said emergency calls are enroute to said station when said state is to be changed to said next inactive state; third means responsive to a determination that at least one of said emergency calls is enroute to said station for delaying said change in said state to said next inactive state for a selected period of time; fourth means effective at the end of said period of time for rendering said second determining means effective; and fifth means responsive to a determination by said second means that none of said emergency calls is enroute to said station for indicating that said station is in said next inactive state. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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47. A system for controlling to which of first and second telephone call answering stations a given incoming emergency call is to be routed, wherein said stations serve an emergency call region in which there is historically a relatively low number of emergency calls during a night service interval of time and historically a relatively greater number of emergency calls during an active service interval of time, and wherein a call router receives said incoming calls and directs each such call to a particular one of said stations, said system comprising:
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means for establishing a schedule for each of said first and second stations, one of said schedules designating at least one of said active intervals for said first station, another of said schedules designating at least one of said active intervals for said second station, at least one of said schedules for said second of said stations also designating at least one of said night service intervals; and means responsive to each of said schedules for controlling said router to route all of said incoming calls to said first of said stations during said night service interval designated for said second station. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58)
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59. A system for controlling the availability for operation of a station for answering emergency telephone calls, said station having an inactive state and an active state, comprising:
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means for establishing a schedule for said station, said schedule indicating when said station is to be in said active state and when in said inactive state; and means for overriding said schedule to cause said station to be out early from said inactive state when said schedule indicates that said station is to be in said inactive state or to be in early to said inactive state when said schedule indicates that said station is to be in said active state. - View Dependent Claims (60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66)
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67. A method utilizing a computer for controlling emergency call routing from an incoming trunk to a selected one of a plurality of call answering stations;
- each said station being adapted to be in one of an active state, a night service state or an abandoned state;
said night service state being scheduled to occur during a night service interval of time;
said abandoned state being unscheduled;
said computer having a first table for selectively establishing for each said station an in early condition for overriding said active state, an out early condition for overriding said night service state; and
a disabled condition for overriding neither said active nor said night service state;
said computer having a second table for indicating for each said station an active state, said abandoned state and said night service state;
said computer being programmed to perform the following functions;at an administration time, updating said first table for one of said stations to establish one of said out early condition, in early condition or disabled condition and getting said administration time; if said established condition is said in early condition, and if said one station is not in said night service state at said administration time, then updating said second table for said one station to indicate that said one station is in said night service state. - View Dependent Claims (68, 69, 70, 71, 72)
- each said station being adapted to be in one of an active state, a night service state or an abandoned state;
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73. In a computer system including a computer for rendering a public safety answering station available or not available to receive incoming emergency telephone calls, said system including table means for storing a plurality of records, said availability of said station being indicated by an active one of said records, said nonavailability of said station being indicated by a night service one of said records, or an abandoned one of said records, an availability schedule being provided to define at least one active interval of time during which said station is available, said schedule also defining a night service interval of time during which said station is not available, the improvement in said system comprising:
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first means for causing said computer to store an in early override one of said records to render said active record ineffective; second means for causing said computer to store an out early one of said records to render said night service record ineffective; said first and second means being effective at an override time; and third means for causing said computer to determine if, at a given time within said availability schedule, either said in early one or said out early one of said records is stored. - View Dependent Claims (74, 75, 76)
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77. In a system for controlling the availability for operation of a unit for answering an emergency telephone call, said unit being available for operation during one or more active service intervals and not being available for operation during one or more inactive intervals, the improvement comprising:
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means for preparing a schedule for said unit wherein said schedule includes at least one of said active service intervals and/or at least one of said inactive intervals; means for causing said preparing means to change said schedule from an original schedule to a new schedule; and first means for determining whether the change in said schedule was a modification or an addition to or a deletion from said original schedule. - View Dependent Claims (78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84)
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85. A system for controlling the availibility of an emergency call answering station to answer emergency calls, comprising:
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means for displaying a period of time having a plurality of increments; means for selecting an interval of time in said period as an interval;
during which said station is to be inactive;means for storing a first record of at least one said interval for said station; and means normally effective for routing said emergency calls to said station, said routing means being responsive to said first record for routing said calls received during said interval to a destination other than said station. - View Dependent Claims (86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94)
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95. A system for changing the state of an emergency telephone call answering station adapted to be in an active state or an inactive state, said inactive state having been scheduled or unscheduled, a next one of said states temporally following a current one of said states, comprising:
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first means for indicating the end of a current one of said inactive scheduled states; second means for determining whether said station is in one of said unscheduled inactive states; means for recoding the current state of said station; means responsive to said second means determining that said station is not in one of said unscheduled inactive states for causing said recording means to record the active state of said station; and third means for determining whether said state is currently being changed to said inactive state with a delay in said change in said state to said inactive state for a selected period of time. - View Dependent Claims (96, 97, 98, 99, 100)
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101. A method for controlling the availability of a call ansering station to answer an emergency telephone call at a given time;
- said station being adapted to be in one of an active state, a night service state or an abandoned state;
said night service state being scheduled to occur during a night service interval of time;
said abandoned state being unscheduled;
said method utilizing a computer having a first table for selectively indicating for said station said active state, said abandoned state and said night service state;
said method comprising steps for ending said night service state of said station by;determining whether said station is in said abandoned state at the given time; if said station is not in said abandoned state at said given time, then updating said first table to indicate that said station is in said active state. - View Dependent Claims (102, 103, 104, 105)
- said station being adapted to be in one of an active state, a night service state or an abandoned state;
Specification