Multimedia emergency services

• US 6,748,052 B2
• Filed: 03/28/2003
• Issued: 06/08/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Zellner, Samuel N., Enzmann, Mark J., Moton, Jr., Robert T.
• Primary Examiner(s): WOO, STELLA L
• Application Number:
  US10/402,517
• Publication Number:
  US 20030190017A1
• Time in Patent Office: 438 Days
• Field of Search: 379/45, 379/37, 379/38, 379/39, 379/40, 379/102.01, 379/102.02, 379/106.02
• US Class Current: 379/45
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/08 using communication transmission lines G08B13/19658, G08B21/0286, G08B25/016 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/002 with telemetering systems telemetering in general G08C
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/007 with remote control systems remote control in general G08C
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/04 with alarm systems, e.g. fire, police or burglar alarm systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/04 for emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/1205 where the types of switching equipement comprises PSTN/ISDN equipment and switching equipment of networks other than PSTN/ISDN, e.g. Internet Protocol networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/43 using wireless personal area networks [WPAN], e.g. 802.15, 802.15.1, 802.15.4, Bluetooth or ZigBee
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/00 Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom
• 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: Y04S 40/00 Systems for electrical power generation, transmission, distribution or end-user application management characterised by the use of communication or information technologies, or communication or information technology specific aspects supporting them
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/18 Network protocols supporting networked applications, e.g. including control of end-device applications over a network

Abstract

A system and method for remotely controlling one or more monitoring devices in a user'"'"'s household in the event of emergency so as to more productively monitor the emergency situation on a real-time basis. The monitoring devices may include a number of multimedia instruments such as a telephone with an answering machine, a computer with a built-in digital camera, a video recording device, a cellular phone with an integrated digital camera, etc. An emergency service provider may remotely activate the monitoring devices in the user'"'"'s vicinity upon receiving an emergency help request from the user, and receive the information sent by the monitoring devices to enable the service personnel to plan appropriate response to the emergency at hand. Such an arrangement allows for better monitoring of the user'"'"'s vicinity in an emergency situation without the need for prolonged user participation in narrating or describing the emergency situation. Further, the emergency service provider may obtain a better picture of the emergency and its impact by controlling appropriate monitoring devices available in the user'"'"'s vicinity. The remote activation and control of a monitoring device may be accomplished via the Internet.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring a vicinity of a monitoring device, comprising:

receiving, at an emergency service center, an emergency help request;

directly connecting, via a carrier network, to the monitoring device;

querying the monitoring device to retrieve a capability associated with the monitoring device;

remotely activating the monitoring device; and

remotely controlling the monitoring device to monitor the vicinity.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving device-specific information from the monitoring device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein directly connecting, via a carrier network, to the monitoring device includes directly connecting, via one of the plain old telephone system (POTS), the public switched telephone network (PSTN), and a wireless communication network.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a parameter that the monitoring device can monitor.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein remotely controlling the monitoring device to monitor the vicinity includes remotely controlling the monitoring device to monitor the vicinity for a predetermined period of time.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising activating a feature of the monitoring device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein remotely controlling the monitoring device to monitor the vicinity includes remotely sending a command to the monitoring device.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a uniform resource locator (URL) address of a website that contains device specific information regarding the monitoring device.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising retrieving device-specific information regarding the monitoring device from a database.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether the emergency service center is authorized to obtain information from the monitoring device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein determining whether the emergency service center is authorized to obtain information from the monitoring device is performed prior to remotely activating the monitoring device.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein determining whether the emergency service center is authorized to obtain information from the monitoring device includes determining, by the monitoring device, whether the emergency service center is authorized to obtain information from the monitoring device.

13. An apparatus for monitoring a vicinity of a monitoring device, comprising:

means for receiving, at an emergency service center, an emergency help request;

means for directly connecting, via a carrier network, to the monitoring device;

means for querying the monitoring device to retrieve a capability associated with the monitoring device;

means for remotely activating the monitoring device; and

means for remotely controlling the monitoring device to monitor the vicinity.

14. A remote monitoring system, comprising:

an emergency service center in communication with a carrier network; and

a monitoring device directly connected to the emergency service center via the carrier network, wherein the monitoring device is configured to receive a query from the emergency service center and is further configured to be controlled by the emergency service center based on a capability retrieved from the monitoring device by the emergency service center in response to the query.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the carrier network is one of the plain old telephone system (POTS), the public switched telephone network (PSTN), and a wireless network.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the monitoring device is configured to receive an activation of a feature from the emergency service center.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the emergency service center is in communication with the carrier network via one of a telephone line cable, an ISDN line, an ADSL line, an optical fibre link, a radio link, and a cable modem link.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the monitoring device is in communication with the carrier network via one of a telephone line cable, an ISDN line, an ADSL line, an optical fibre link, a radio link, and a cable modem link.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the monitoring device is selected from the group consisting of a fax machine with a built-in telephone, a video camera unit, a telephone answering machine, a digital camera, a computer with a built-in camera unit, and a telephone with a built-in video camera and a data port.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the monitoring device is configured to determine whether the emergency service center is authorized to accept data from the monitoring device.