Collaborative incident alert system for mobile devices
First Claim
1. A method for sending alerts of incidents based on geographic position and time, the method comprising:
- receiving reports of incidents reported by users through a plurality of networked mobile devices;
storing an indication of each report in a database in association with a geographic position and a time;
receiving an inquiry transmitted automatically, as one of a sequence of periodic inquiries, by a networked mobile device of an inquiring user;
identifying a geographic position associated with the inquiry;
identifying a geographic range related to the identified geographic position;
identifying a temporal range related to a present time;
querying the database based on the temporal range and the geographic range to obtain a results set of reports;
calculating a score based on the results set of reports; and
in response to determining that the score exceeds a threshold, sending an alert to the inquiring user.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An incident alert system enables a plurality of users to participate in a collaborative process to report and be alerted of incidents such as emergencies or hazards. A user uses a networked mobile phone with geo-positioning capability to communicate with a server to report incidents and to inquire about potential incidents of interest based on the user'"'"'s current geographic position. Reports of incidents are transmitted to the server accompanied by the current position of the user/mobile phone. A user'"'"'s mobile phone is preferably configured to automatically submit periodic inquiries to the server based on the user'"'"'s location. Upon receipt of an inquiry from a user, the system queries a database to identify reports of potential interest to the inquiring user. The system analyzes the reports to determine whether to alert the inquiring user of a potential incident of interest.
95 Citations
33 Claims
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1. A method for sending alerts of incidents based on geographic position and time, the method comprising:
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receiving reports of incidents reported by users through a plurality of networked mobile devices; storing an indication of each report in a database in association with a geographic position and a time; receiving an inquiry transmitted automatically, as one of a sequence of periodic inquiries, by a networked mobile device of an inquiring user; identifying a geographic position associated with the inquiry; identifying a geographic range related to the identified geographic position; identifying a temporal range related to a present time; querying the database based on the temporal range and the geographic range to obtain a results set of reports; calculating a score based on the results set of reports; and in response to determining that the score exceeds a threshold, sending an alert to the inquiring user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A non-transitory computer readable medium for sending alerts of incidents based on geographic position and time, the computer readable medium containing instructions which, when executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to perform the functions of:
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receiving reports of incidents reported by users through a plurality of networked mobile devices; storing an indication of each report in a database in association with a geographic position and a time; receiving an inquiry transmitted automatically, as one of a sequence of periodic inquiries, by a networked mobile device of an inquiring user; identifying a geographic position associated with the inquiry; identifying a geographic range related to the identified geographic position; identifying a temporal range related to a present time; querying the database based on the temporal range and the geographic range to obtain a results set of reports; calculating a score based on the results set of reports; and in response to determining that the score exceeds a threshold, sending an alert to the inquiring user. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A system for sending alerts of incidents based on geographic position and time, the system comprising a database and a server, wherein the server is configured for:
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receiving reports of incidents reported by users through a plurality of networked mobile devices; storing an indication of each report in the database in association with a geographic position and a time; receiving an inquiry transmitted automatically, as one of a sequence of periodic inquiries, by a networked mobile device of an inquiring user; identifying a geographic position associated with the inquiry; identifying a geographic range related to the identified geographic position; identifying a temporal range related to a present time; querying the database based on the temporal range and the geographic range to obtain a results set of reports; calculating a score based on the results set of reports; and in response to determining that the score exceeds a threshold, sending an alert to the inquiring user. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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Specification