Multimedia emergency services

• US 7,623,631 B2
• Filed: 11/14/2005
• Issued: 11/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Zellner, Samuel N., Enzmann, Mark J., Moton, Jr., Robert T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Woo, Stella L
• Application Number:
  US11/274,455
• Publication Number:
  US 20060067486A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,471 Days
• Field of Search: 379/45, 379/102.01, 379 37- 40, 379/102.02, 379/102.07, 379/106.01, 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 implemented by an emergency service center for establishing communication with a monitoring device, comprising:

receiving an emergency help request at an emergency service center, the emergency service center directly connecting to a monitoring device via a network;

forwarding, by the emergency center, a query to the monitoring device to retrieve a capability associated with the monitoring device, the capability comprising at least one of;

what parameters the monitoring device can monitor, a type of monitored information generated by the monitoring device, and a form in which the monitored information is available from the monitoring device;

enabling, by the emergency center, remote activation of the monitoring device; and

communicating signals, by the emergency center, with the monitoring device to enable remote control of the monitoring device to monitor a user vicinity.

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

3. The method of claim 1, wherein directly connecting to the monitoring device includes connecting 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.

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

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

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting a signal 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. A method implemented by an emergency service center for providing an emergency monitoring service, comprising:

registering a subscriber with an emergency monitoring service of an emergency service center;

monitoring subscriber communications, by the emergency service center, to detect when an emergency communication is initiated;

activating a monitoring device, by the emergency service center, at the user'"'"'s vicinity in response to an emergency communication;

acquiring monitoring capabilities of the monitoring device by the emergency service center, the monitoring capabilities comprising at least one of;

what parameters the monitoring device can monitor, a type of monitored information generated by the monitoring device, and a form in which the monitored information is available from the monitoring device;

acquiring monitored data from the activated monitoring device by the emergency center.

10. The method of claim 9 further providing a password to the monitoring device to authorize the emergency monitoring service.

11. The computer program method of claim 9 further querying the monitoring device to retrieve a capability associated with the monitoring device.

12. The method of claim 9 further providing signals between the monitoring device and the emergency service center to enable remote control of the monitoring device to monitor the vicinity.

13. The method of claim 9, further obtaining device-specific information from the monitoring device.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein acquiring the monitoring data includes connecting 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.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising receiving a parameter that the monitoring device can monitor.

16. The method of claim 9, further comprising transmitting a signal activating a feature of the monitoring device.

17. The method of claim 9, further comprising remotely controlling the monitoring device to monitor the vicinity by sending a command to the monitoring device.