Geographic routing of emergency service call center emergency calls
First Claim
1. A method for routing a request for emergency services to one of a plurality of public safety answering points, each public safety answering point serving one of a plurality of emergency service zones, comprising:
- receiving first location information regarding a first request for emergency services;
determining a first emergency service zone that includes a first location identified by said received first location information;
associating a first routing number with said first request for emergency services, wherein said first routing number is operable to route said first request for emergency services to a switch associated with said first emergency service zone;
associating a first request identifier with said first request for emergency services, wherein said first request identifier uniquely identifies said first request for emergency services and wherein said first request identifier uniquely identifies a first one of said plurality of public safety answering points associated with said first emergency service zone; and
storing at least a portion of said received first location information.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention is related to the delivery of requests for emergency service initially handled by an emergency service call center to a public safety answering point. The invention additionally allows for enhancement information to be provided to a public safety answering point operator visually in connection with calls routed to that public safety answering point. This information may include caller identification, and additional information, such as information regarding the location of the caller and the nature of the emergency. Furthermore, the routing of requests for emergency service to an appropriate public safety answering point can be accomplished for requests received over a wide geographic area. In particular, requests can be appropriately routed even though they may originate from locations encompassed by different E9-1-1 tandems. The present invention is particularly well suited for use in connection with automatic collision notification and personal alarm monitoring call centers serving areas encompassed by more than one E9-1-1 tandem.
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Citations
34 Claims
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1. A method for routing a request for emergency services to one of a plurality of public safety answering points, each public safety answering point serving one of a plurality of emergency service zones, comprising:
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receiving first location information regarding a first request for emergency services; determining a first emergency service zone that includes a first location identified by said received first location information; associating a first routing number with said first request for emergency services, wherein said first routing number is operable to route said first request for emergency services to a switch associated with said first emergency service zone; associating a first request identifier with said first request for emergency services, wherein said first request identifier uniquely identifies said first request for emergency services and wherein said first request identifier uniquely identifies a first one of said plurality of public safety answering points associated with said first emergency service zone; and storing at least a portion of said received first location information. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. An emergency services complex apparatus, comprising:
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an input operable to interconnect said complex to a first communication network and to receive information related to a first request for emergency services comprising first location related information; an output operable to interconnect said complex to the first communication network and to deliver a routing number and an identifier; a positioning server wherein a plurality of tables of unique identifiers are stored therein, and wherein storage for information is provided, and wherein at least some of said information related to a first request for emergency services is stored in said positioning server; a coordinate routing database, wherein boundary information for a plurality of emergency service zones is stored on said coordinate routing database, and wherein an emergency service zone that includes a location identified by said first location related information is provided to said positioning server; an input operable to interconnect said complex to a second communication network and to receive a query for said information related to a first request for emergency services comprising an identifier delivered to said first communication network; and an output operable to interconnect said complex to the second communication network, and to deliver at least some of said information related to a first request for emergency services stored on said positioning server in response to said query. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
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17. A method for routing requests for emergency services, comprising:
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receiving a first request for emergency services from a first communication device; identifying said first communication device initiating said first request; obtaining first location information related to said first request; providing said first location information to a first network node; receiving a first routing number and a first unique identifier from said first network node, wherein said first unique identifier is not received with said first request for emergency services and wherein said first unique identifier includes an identification of a third network node; and routing said first request for emergency services over a public switched telephone network to said third network node, wherein said first routing number is used as a called number and said first unique identifier is used as a calling number. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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21. An emergency service call center system for routing requests for emergency services and information, comprising:
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an input from a communication network operable to receive a request for emergency services; an output to the communication network; an input from a first computer network; an output to the first computer network; a call center manager operable to receive a first request for emergency services from at least one of a computer network and the communication network; a call center database operable to store first information regarding a location, wherein a query comprising said first information regarding a location from which the first request for emergency services originated is transmitted by said call center system over the first computer network, wherein a first identifier comprising a routing number and a second identifier comprising a request identifier and a public safety answering point identifier are received over the first computer network in response to said query, wherein said first identifier is associated with the first request for emergency services by said emergency service call center system as a called number to allow the first request for emergency services to be routed over the communication network to a network switch, and wherein said second identifier is associated with the first request for emergency services by said emergency call center system as a calling number. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A method for routing an emergency call to an appropriate public safety answering point, comprising:
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receiving at a call center a signal from a communication device related to a request for emergency services; determining a geographic location of said communication device; correlating said geographic location of said communication device to a public safety answering point; obtaining a routing number from said emergency services complex; obtaining an identification key from an emergency services complex, wherein said identification key is assigned by said emergency services complex to said signal from a communication device; placing a telephone call to a public safety answering point over a first communication network using said routing number as a called number, wherein said identification key is associated with said telephone call and said public safety answering point as a calling number; and providing said geographic location information to said public safety answering point over a second communication network. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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Specification