Integrated municipal management console

• US 7,746,794 B2
• Filed: 08/17/2006
• Issued: 06/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Federal Signal Corporation
• Original Assignee: Federal Signal Corporation
• Inventors: Sink, Gregory A.
• Primary Examiner(s): HSU, ALPUS
• Application Number:
  US11/505,642
• Publication Number:
  US 20070195706A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,412 Days
• Field of Search: 370/245, 370/338, 370/463, 340/506, 340/531, 340/539.25, 340/825.36, 345/520, 455/67.7, 709/223
• US Class Current: 370/245
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/00 Arrangements for maintenance, administration or management of data switching networks, e.g. of packet switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/06 Management of faults, events, alarms or notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention provide a networked system and management console for visualizing, identifying, and handling municipal or other regional events of interest as they arise. The management console is communicably linked via a wide area wireless network and/or other network or communications facilities to a number of data sources (e.g., contamination sensors) and management resources (e.g., alarms, traffic control devices, etc.). The management console provides, in embodiments of the invention, a simple and clear picture of the current health of a monitored area, such as a municipality, being, and provides an interface for responding to incoming data.

Claims

1. A method for managing one or more resources providing alerting and first responder services to a community of people and one or more data sources distributed for reporting public safety conditions in the community, the method comprising:

monitoring public safety conditions of the community at a management console;

recognizing anomalies in data received from the one or more data sources,

visualizing at the management console the recognition of the anomalies and a causal relationship between each of the anomalies and one or more of the resources providing alerting and first responder services to the community;

providing information regarding each of the anomalies to at least the resources identified by the causal relationship;

managing at the management console the causal relationships between the anomalies and the resources providing alerting and first responder services so as to marshal appropriate resources in response to recognition of one of the anomalies; and

visualizing at the management console the marshalling of the appropriate resources.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the data sources and the one or more resources are linked to the management console.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the data sources and the resources are linked to the management console via a network and are addressable by the management console over the network.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the network comprises a plurality of types of networking media.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the plurality of types of networking media comprise one or more types selected from the group consisting of wireless, wired, broadband, LAN, Internet, and PSTN.

6. The method according to claim 2, wherein the management console comprises a user interface displaying a plurality of icons associated with respective ones of the data sources and resources, the method further comprising modifying at least one of the icons in response to receiving anomalies in the data from one or more of the data sources.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the data sources comprises polling at least one of the data sources.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the data sources comprises awaiting a transmission from at least one of the data sources.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the resources comprise a plurality of sirens modified to include a wireless router to communicate with the management console over a network link that is at least partly wireless.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the anomalies relate to a plurality of types of data sources.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the alerting and first responder resources include dispatching resources selected from a group consisting of personnel and vehicles.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the alerting and first responder resources include a personnel notification system.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the personnel notification system comprises a siren.

14. A management interface for managing first responder and alerting resources serving a community of people, where the resources are responsive to data received from data sources distributed about the community for detecting public safety conditions, the interface comprising:

a first interface containing a plurality of icons, each icon representing one of the first responder and alerting resources and the data sources for detecting public safety conditions, and

a second interface becoming available for user interaction upon selection of one of the icons in the first interface, wherein the second interface exposes information regarding a causal relationship between one of the first responder and alerting resources and one of the data source for detecting public safety conditions and exposes a mechanism for managing the causal relationship in order to marshal first responder and alerting resources for responding to exceptions to normal public safety conditions determined from the data received from the data sources.

15. The management interface of claim 14, wherein the first and second interfaces are computer-displayed interfaces, and the first and second interfaces are different computer-generated screens.

16. The management interface of claim 15, wherein the second interface is made visible automatically upon the receipt of data from at least one of the one or more data sources.

17. The management interface of claim 14, wherein the first and second interfaces are presented via a touch screen.

18. The management interface of claim 17, wherein the second interface is made visible by user-selection of one of the icons of the first interface.

19. The management interface of claim 14, wherein the first interface comprises a graphics field for displaying one or more sets of data in one or more respective visual formats.

20. The management interface of claim 19, wherein the one or more respective visual formats are selected from the group consisting of a video format and a graphical format.

21. The management interface of claim 19, wherein at least one of the sets of data displayed in the graphics field is selected based upon data from at least one of the data sources.

22. The management interface of claim 14, wherein the mechanism for managing at least one of the one or more resources comprises a third interface for defining an association between a set of at least one criteria regarding data received from one or more of the data sources and a set of at least one action to be taken if the data matches the set of at least one criteria.

23. The management interface of claim 14, wherein the mechanism for managing at least one of the one or more resources is a selectable link for accessing a third interface for defining an association between a set of at least one criteria regarding data received from one or more of the data sources and a set of at least one action to be taken if the data matches the set of at least one criteria.

24. The management interface of claim 14, wherein the mechanism for managing at least one of the one or more resources is a selectable icon for causing an action to be taken with respect to at least one of the resources.

25. The management interface of claim 14, wherein managing at least one of the one or more resources comprises sending a notification, activating an alarm, and modifying the state of a resource.

26. The management interface of claim 14, wherein the first and second interfaces are hosted by an Internet browser.

27. A computer-readable medium having thereon computer-readable instructions for presenting a management interface for managing first responder and alerting resources serving a community of people, where the resources are responsive to data received from one or more of a plurality of different types of data sources for detecting public safety conditions in the community, the computer readable instructions comprising instructions for:

displaying a first interface containing a plurality of icons, each icon representing one or more of the first responder and alerting resources and data sources for detecting public safety conditions;

displaying at least one second interface upon selection of one of the icons of the first interface, wherein the at least one second interface exposes information regarding a causal relationship between one of the data sources for detecting public safety conditions and one of the first responder and alerting resources, which causal relationship enables first responders and alerting resources to react to abnormal conditions in the community; and

displaying a third interface for managing the causal relationship between the first responder and alerting resources and data sources for detecting public safety conditions.

28. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein the first, second, and third interfaces are different computer-generated screens.

29. The computer-readable medium of claim 28, wherein the first, second, and third interfaces are presented via a touch screen.

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 28, wherein the second interface is made visible automatically upon the receipt of data from at least one of the one or more data sources.

31. The computer-readable medium of claim 28, wherein the second interface is made visible by user-selection of one of the icons of the first interface.

32. The computer-readable medium of claim 28, wherein the third interface is made visible by user-selection of a selectable element in the second interface.

33. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein the first interface comprises a graphics field for displaying one or more sets of data in one or more respective visual formats selected from the group consisting of a video format and a graphical format.

34. The computer-readable medium of claim 33, wherein at least one of the sets of data displayed in the graphics field is selected based upon data from at least one of the data sources.

35. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein the third interface presents user-selectable options for defining an association between a set of at least one criteria regarding data received from one or more of the data sources and a set of at least one action to be taken by one or more of the resources if the data matches the set of at least one criteria.

36. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein the third interface comprises a selectable icon for causing an action to be taken with respect to at least one of the resources.

37. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein managing at least one of the one or more resources comprises sending a notification, activating an alarm, and modifying the state of a resource.

38. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein the first, second, and third interfaces are hosted by an Internet browser.