Establishing emergency calls within a mobile telecommunications network

• US 6,233,445 B1
• Filed: 01/14/1997
• Issued: 05/15/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 01/14/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Ericsson, Inc. (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson)
• Original Assignee: Ericsson, Inc. (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson)
• Inventors: Alperovich, Vladimir, Boltz, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Lee
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tran, Congvan
• Application Number:
  US08/782,406
• Time in Patent Office: 1,582 Days
• Field of Search: 455/404, 455/528, 455/412, 455/521, 455/456, 455/457, 379/45, 379/201, 379/207, 379/220, 379/51
• US Class Current: 455/404.2
• 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 location of a first emergency call connection requested from a mobile station within a mobile telecommunications network is determined. Thereafter, if a second emergency call connection is requested from another mobile station within approximately the same geographic area or location, an announcement message informing the caller of the already reported incident is provided. The caller then has the option of terminating the call or connecting to a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) operator. An application module associated with the serving mobile telecommunications network may further transmit unstructured data, such as Short Message Service (SMS) or Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) messages, to all other mobile stations currently traveling within the reported location or area. Such reporting enables other mobile subscribers to be informed of the reported incident and not to request emergency call connections in an attempt to report the same incident. It may further enable other mobile stations to avoid or detour around the reported site.

Claims

1. A method for establishing a call connection between a mobile station and a telecommunications terminal (TT) within a mobile telecommunications network, said method comprising the steps of:

receiving an indication from a mobile station to establish a call connection with a particular TT;

determining the current location of said mobile station within said mobile telecommunications network;

determining whether another call connection from approximately said determined location has already been requested towards said TT; and

providing an indication to said mobile station that a call connection has already been established from approximately said location;

or

otherwise, providing a call connection between said mobile station and said TT.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said TT comprises a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) terminal and said indication received from said mobile station comprises a request to originate an emergency call connection.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of determining said current location of said mobile station further comprises the step of determining the current cell area servicing said mobile station.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of determining said current location of said mobile station further comprises the step of determining Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates associated with said mobile station.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of determining whether said another call connection from said determined location has been requested further comprises the step of determining whether a predetermined number of calls have been received from other mobile stations traveling within said determined location.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of providing said indication to said mobile station further comprises the step of providing an announcement message towards said mobile station informing said mobile station of a previous call connection towards said TT from the same location.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising the step of interrupting said announcement message and connecting to said TT by said mobile station.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of providing said indication to said mobile station further comprises the step of transmitting an unstructured data message to said mobile station informing said mobile station that a previous call has already been received from another mobile station traveling within said location.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein said unstructured data message comprises a Short Message Service (SMS) message.