Emergency call handling in a cellular telecommunication system
First Claim
1. An emergency call handling system within a cellular communication system for routing emergency voice calls and short message service (SMS) messages from a plurality of subscriber terminals to an emergency center (EC), said system comprising:
- a mobile switching center (MSC) for controlling signaling with a plurality of base stations (BS'"'"'s); and
at least one subscriber terminal normally communicating with the MSC through one BS over a digital control channel (DCC) when in an idle mode and a voice channel (VC) when in an active subscriber communication mode, said one terminal including;
emergency call means within the terminal for initiating an emergency voice call via the BS through the MSC to the EC;
call failure detection means within the terminal for detecting when the emergency voice call has failed to be set up with the EC; and
data transmission means within the terminal responsive to a call failure detection for transmitting an emergency SMS message over the DCC through the BS and MSC to the EC while not affecting the operation of the DCC as a control channel.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An emergency call handling system and method for a cellular telecommunications system. The emergency call handling system is provided with at least one subscriber terminal which upon failure to seize a voice connection to an emergency center for an emergency call, transfers data messages over the digital control channel to the emergency center advising it that the user of this one subscriber terminal has an emergency situation. Advantage is found with the present invention in that in times of radio voice channel and/or network traffic congestion resulting in call set up failure, the information relating to a user emergency can be forwarded as data messages to the emergency center.
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Citations
46 Claims
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1. An emergency call handling system within a cellular communication system for routing emergency voice calls and short message service (SMS) messages from a plurality of subscriber terminals to an emergency center (EC), said system comprising:
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a mobile switching center (MSC) for controlling signaling with a plurality of base stations (BS'"'"'s); and at least one subscriber terminal normally communicating with the MSC through one BS over a digital control channel (DCC) when in an idle mode and a voice channel (VC) when in an active subscriber communication mode, said one terminal including; emergency call means within the terminal for initiating an emergency voice call via the BS through the MSC to the EC; call failure detection means within the terminal for detecting when the emergency voice call has failed to be set up with the EC; and data transmission means within the terminal responsive to a call failure detection for transmitting an emergency SMS message over the DCC through the BS and MSC to the EC while not affecting the operation of the DCC as a control channel. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10)
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7. An emergency call handling system within a cellular communication system for routing emergency voice calls and short message service (SMS) messages from a plurality of subscriber terminals to an emergency center (EC), said system comprising:
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a mobile switching center (MSC) for controlling signaling with a plurality of base stations (BS'"'"'s); and at least one subscriber terminal normally communicating with the MSC through one BS over a digital control channel (DCC) when in an idle mode and a voice channel (VC) when in an active subscriber communication mode, said one terminal including; emergency call means within the terminal for initiating an emergency voice call via the BS through the MSC to the EC; call failure detection means within the terminal for detecting when the emergency voice call has failed to be set up with the EC; and data transmission means within the terminal responsive to a call failure detection for transmitting an emergency SMS message over the DCC through the BS and MSC to the EC while not affecting the operation of the DCC as a control channel, the emergency SMS message including (1) data information identifying the SMS message as an emergency message, (2) data information relating to the identity of the terminal, and (3) data information corresponding to the location of the terminal.
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11. An emergency call handling system within a cellular communication system having a plurality of cells and a plurality of subscriber terminals for routing emergency voice calls and short message service (SMS) messages from said subscriber terminals to an emergency center (EC), said system comprising:
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a mobile switching center (MSC) including means to route said emergency voice calls to the EC; a plurality of base stations (BS'"'"'s) electronically connected to said MSC, each of said BS'"'"'s transmitting radio frequency signals over at least one digital control channel and a plurality of voice channels over a coverage area defining one of said cells; and at least one subscriber terminal normally communicating with the MSC via one of said BS'"'"'s over a corresponding channel selected from one of the group consisting of a digital control channel (DCC) and a voice channel (VC), said one terminal including; emergency call means within the terminal for initiating an emergency voice call to the EC via the BS and the MSC; call failure detection means within the terminal for detecting when the emergency voice call has failed to be set up with the EC; and data transmission means within the terminal responsive to a call failure detection for transmitting an emergency SMS message over the DCC to the BS and through the MSC to the EC while not affecting the operation of the DCC as a control channel. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method for emergency call handling in a cellular communication system for routing emergency voice calls and short message service (SMS) messages from a plurality of subscriber terminals to an emergency center (EC) via a mobile switching center (MSC) controlling a plurality of base stations (BS'"'"'s), said method comprising the steps of:
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communicating from at least one of said subscriber terminals to the MSC over a digital control channel (DCC) and a voice channel (VC), said communicating step including; initiating in the subscriber terminal, an emergency voice call to the EC over the VC to the BS and through the MSC to the EC, detecting in the subscriber terminal, when the emergency voice call has failed to be set up with the EC, and responsive to the subscriber terminal detecting a failed set up of the emergency voice call with the EC, transmitting from the subscriber terminal, an emergency SMS message over the DCC to the BS through the MSC while not affecting the operation of the DCC as a control channel, and the MSC transmitting the emergency SMS message to the EC. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28)
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25. A method for emergency call handling in a cellular communication system for routing emergency voice calls and short message service (SMS) messages from a plurality of subscriber terminals to an emergency center (EC) via a mobile switching center (MSC) controlling a plurality of base stations (BS'"'"'s), said method comprising the steps of:
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communicating from at least one of said subscriber terminals to the MSC over a digital control channel (DCC) and a voice channel (VC), said communicating step including; initiating an emergency voice call to the EC over the VC to the BS and through the MSC to the EC, detecting when the emergency voice call has failed to be set up with the EC, and responsive to detecting a failed set up of the emergency voice call with the EC, transmitting an emergency SMS message over the DCC to the BS through the MSC while not affecting the operation of the DCC as a control channel, said emergency data message including (1) data information identifying the SMS message as an emergency, (2) data information relating to the identity of the terminal, and (3) data information corresponding to the location of the terminal; and the MSC transmitting the emergency SMS message to the EC.
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29. An emergency call handling system for a cellular communication system for routing emergency voice calls and short message service (SMS) messages from a plurality of subscriber terminals to an emergency center (EC), said system comprising:
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a mobile switching center (MSC) for controlling signaling with a plurality of base stations (BS'"'"'s); at least one subscriber terminal normally communicating with the MSC through one BS, said one terminal including data transmission means for transmitting SMS messages including emergency SMS messages from the subscriber terminal over a digital control channel (DCC) through the BS to the MSC while not affecting the operation of the DCC as a control channel; and data analyzing means in the MSC for analyzing the SMS messages received from said one terminal to selectively route emergency SMS messages to the EC while routing non-emergency SMS messages to a SMS message center. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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34. An emergency call handling system for a cellular communication system for routing emergency voice calls and short message service (SMS) messages from a plurality of subscriber terminals to an emergency center (EC), said system comprising:
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a mobile switching center (MSC) for controlling signaling with a plurality of base stations (BS'"'"'s); at least one subscriber terminal normally communicating with the MSC through one BS, said one terminal including data transmission means for transmitting SMS messages including emergency SMS messages over a digital control channel (DCC) through the BS to the MSC while not affecting the operation of the DCC as a control channel, said emergency SMS messages including (1) data information identifying the data message as an emergency, (2) data information relating to the identity of the terminal, and (3) data information corresponding to the location of the terminal; and data analyzing means in the MSC for analyzing the SMS messages received from said one terminal to route emergency SMS messages to the EC.
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39. A method for emergency call handling in a cellular communication system for routing emergency voice calls and short message service (SMS) messages from a plurality of subscriber terminals to an emergency center (EC) via a mobile switching center (MSC) controlling a plurality of base stations (BS'"'"'s), said method comprising the steps of:
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transmitting, from at least one subscriber terminal, SMS messages, including emergency SMS messages, over a digital control channel (DCC) through the BS to the MSC while not affecting the operation of the DCC as a control channel; determining in the MSC, whether SMS messages received from said one subscriber terminal are emergency SMS messages; routing said SMS messages to the EC upon determining that said SMS messages are emergency SMS messages; and routing said SMS messages to a SMS message center upon determining that said SMS messages are not emergency SMS messages. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 44, 45, 46)
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43. A method for emergency call handling in a cellular communication system for routing emergency voice calls and short message service (SMS) messages from a plurality of subscriber terminals to an emergency center (EC) via a mobile switching center (MSC) controlling a plurality of base stations (BS'"'"'s), said method comprising the steps of:
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transmitting, from at least one subscriber terminal, SMS messages, including emergency SMS messages, over a digital control channel (DCC) through the BS to the MSC while not affecting the operation of the DCC as a control channel, said emergency data messages including (1) data information identifying the data message as an emergency, (2) data information relating to the identity of the terminal, and (3) data information corresponding to the location of the terminal; determining in the MSC, whether SMS messages received from said one subscriber terminal are emergency SMS messages; and routing said SMS messages to the EC upon determining that said SMS messages are emergency SMS messages.
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Specification