System for processing weather information
First Claim
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1. A method for automatically, and without human intervention, generating and broadcasting storm-specific weather alert messages to the general public, said method including the following steps:
- (a) receiving storm data into a computer, said storm data including at least data relating to the intensity of the storm, the location of the storm, the speed of the storm, and the direction of travel of the storm, said computer having access to a geographic database containing data related to the identity and location of each of a plurality of landmarks;
(b) using said computer to;
(i) automatically compare said storm data to a predetermined set of criteria for the purpose of determining whether a weather alert message should be generated and broadcast to the general public;
(ii) automatically determine which, if any, of said plurality of landmarks are within the storm'"'"'s path;
(iii) for at least one of said landmarks within said storm'"'"'s path, automatically calculate the predicted arrival time of the storm at said landmark;
(iii) automatically create a storm-specific weather alert message by selecting a message template based upon said storm data and merging said message template with data related to the storm, data related to the identity of the landmark in the path of the storm for which the arrival time of the storm at the landmark has been calculated, and the predicted time of arrival of the storm at the landmark; and
(iv) automatically broadcast said storm-specific weather alert message to the general public.
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Abstract
A method for automatically generating weather alerts in disclosed. Weather related data is automatically collected and processed to detect the presence of storm cells, their location, direction and speed. Alerts are automatically generated when necessary. These alerts contain information related to the nature of the storm cell, its location, the specific geographic areas likely to be affected by the storm cell, and the storm cell'"'"'s expected time of arrival at each specific geographic area.
106 Citations
10 Claims
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1. A method for automatically, and without human intervention, generating and broadcasting storm-specific weather alert messages to the general public, said method including the following steps:
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(a) receiving storm data into a computer, said storm data including at least data relating to the intensity of the storm, the location of the storm, the speed of the storm, and the direction of travel of the storm, said computer having access to a geographic database containing data related to the identity and location of each of a plurality of landmarks;
(b) using said computer to;
(i) automatically compare said storm data to a predetermined set of criteria for the purpose of determining whether a weather alert message should be generated and broadcast to the general public;
(ii) automatically determine which, if any, of said plurality of landmarks are within the storm'"'"'s path;
(iii) for at least one of said landmarks within said storm'"'"'s path, automatically calculate the predicted arrival time of the storm at said landmark;
(iii) automatically create a storm-specific weather alert message by selecting a message template based upon said storm data and merging said message template with data related to the storm, data related to the identity of the landmark in the path of the storm for which the arrival time of the storm at the landmark has been calculated, and the predicted time of arrival of the storm at the landmark; and
(iv) automatically broadcast said storm-specific weather alert message to the general public.- View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method for automatically, and without human intervention, generating and broadcasting weather alerts to members of the public comprising the following steps:
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(a) receiving raw weather data from at least one Doppler radar;
(b) processing said raw weather data to (i) detect the presence of storms; and
(ii) create a combined data file including data for each storm detected, said data for each storm detected comprising parameters used to describe the storm, such parameters including, but not limited to, the current location of said storm, the speed of said storm, and the vector of said storm;
(c) disseminating said combined data file to at least one remote computer, said remote computer having access a geographic database which includes data related to the identity of landmarks and the geographic location of said landmarks;
(d) using the remote computer to automatically compare the data related to each storm in the combined data file to a predetermined set of criteria;
(e) for each storm meeting said predetermined set of criteria, using the remote computer to automatically determine a projected path of said storm, to automatically determine whether any of said landmarks are in the path of said storm, and to automatically determine when the storm will arrive at a landmark in the path of the storm;
(f) using the remote computer to automatically generate at least one advisory message, said advisory message including an indication of when a landmark will be arrived by a storm meeting said predetermined set of criteria; and
(g) automatically broadcasting an advisory message to the general public.
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8. A method for automatically, and without human intervention, generating and broadcasting weather alerts to members of the general public comprising the following steps:
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(a) automatically receiving a Combined Attribute Table which includes data related to storms detected by Doppler radar, said data including, but not limited to, the intensity of each storm detected, the current location of each storm detected, the speed of each storm detected, and the vector of each storm detected;
(b) automatically inputting said Combined Attribute Table into a computer, said computer having access to a geographic database which includes data related to the identity and location of a plurality of landmarks;
(c) using said computer to;
(i) compare the data for each storm in the Combined Attribute Table to a predetermined set of criteria;
(ii) for each storm meeting said predetermined set of criteria, determine the projected path of the storm;
(iii) determine which, if any, of said landmarks are in the path of the storm meeting said predetermined set of criteria;
(iv) for at least one landmark in the path of the storm, determine when the storm will arrive at said at least one landmark; and
(v) generate an advisory message including the identity of at least one landmark and the time of arrival of a storm at said at least landmark;
(d) automatically broadcasting said advisory message to the general public.
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9. A method for automatically, and without human intervention, generating and broadcasting weather alerts to members of the general public comprising the following steps:
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(a) automatically inputting into a computer data related to a storm, said data relating to the intensity of said storm, the current location of said storm, the speed of said storm and the vector of said storm, said computer having access to a geographical database containing data related to the identity of landmarks and the location of said landmarks;
(b) using said computer and said data to automatically determine which, if any, of said landmarks are in the path of the storm and the arrival time of the storm at any of said landmarks within the path of the storm;
(c) using said computer to automatically compare data related to said storm to a predetermined set of criteria; and
(d) if said data related to said storm meets said criteria, generating and broadcasting to members of the general public, automatically and without human intervention, a weather alert, said weather alert including said anticipated arrival time of said storm at at least one of said landmarks.
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10. A method for automatically, and without human intervention, generating and broadcasting weather alerts to members of the public comprising the following steps:
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(a) receiving raw weather data from at least one Doppler radar;
(b) processing said raw weather data to (i) detect the presence of storms; and
(ii) create a combined data file including data for each storm detected, said data for each storm detected including parameters used to describe the storm including, but not limited to, the intensity of said storm, the current location of said storm, the speed of said storm, and the vector of said storm;
(c) disseminating said combined data file to at least one remote computer;
said remote computer having access to a geographic database including data related to the identity and location of landmarks;
(d) using the remote computer to automatically compare the data related to each storm in the combined data file to a predetermined set of criteria;
(e) for each storm meeting said predetermined set of criteria, using the remote computer, said combined data file, and said geographic database to automatically determine whether and, if so, when a storm will arrive at a landmark;
(f) using the remote computer to automatically generate at least one advisory message, said advisory message including an indication of the identity of a landmark and the arrival time of at least one of said storms meeting said predetermined set of criteria at said landmark; and
(g) automatically broadcasting said advisory message to the general public.
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Specification