Systems and methods for providing emergency contact services

• US 8,130,922 B2
• Filed: 06/10/2009
• Issued: 03/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Business Global LLC (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Ger, Shanyu, Alihassan, Ayat, McKiel, Frank A. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kuntz, Curtis
• Assistant Examiner(s): El-Zoobi, Maria
• Application Number:
  US12/482,127
• Publication Number:
  US 20090245477A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,000 Days
• Field of Search: 379/93.24, 379/88.17, 379/88.23, 379/90.01, 379/88.12, 379/88, 379/67, 379/207, 379/213, 379/214, 379/201, 379/202.01, 379/88.11, 709/204, 709/206, 709/207, 709/227, 709/228, 707/10, 707/E17.001
• US Class Current: 379/93.03
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72418 for supporting emergency services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/04 for emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/493 Interactive information services, e.g. directory enquiries ; Arrangements therefor, e.g. interactive voice response [IVR] systems or voice portals

Abstract

An emergency contact platform provides emergency contact services where usual communications have been disrupted. The emergency contact platform may include a server to receive registration information including a phone number associated with a phone when communication using the phone is impracticable. The server may also be configured to receive an information request identifying the phone number. The emergency contact platform may also include a database to store the received registration information. The server may be also configured to perform a lookup in the database based on the phone number and provide a result of the lookup based on the received information request.

Claims

1. A method, performed by one or more devices of a communications platform, comprising:

performing, by the one or more devices and responsive to receiving an inquiry from a first party regarding a telephone number associated with a second party, a first lookup for the telephone number in a database associated with the communications platform;

determining, by the one or more devices and based on a result of the first lookup, that the telephone number is not registered in the communications platform;

storing the telephone number in the database;

prompting, by the one or more devices, the first party to provide notification information;

receiving, by the one or more devices, notification information from the first party;

associating, in the database, the notification information with the stored telephone number;

receiving, by the one or more devices and from the second party or a third party associated with the second party, registration information for registering the telephone number in the communications platform;

performing, by the one or more devices and responsive to receiving registration information for the telephone number, a second lookup for the telephone number in the database;

associating, in the database and based on the second lookup for the telephone number in the database, the registration information with the stored telephone number and retrieving at least some of the notification information; and

providing, by the one or more devices and based on the notification information, information regarding the inquiry from the first party to the second party or the third party.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prompting the second party or the third party to indicate whether to notify the first party of the registration of the telephone number;

receiving an indication from the second party or the third party to notify the first party; and

notifying, using the stored notification information, the first party of the registration of the telephone number.

3. The method of claim 1, where notifying the first party of the registration of the telephone number comprises providing the first party with at least some of the registration information.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

prompting the second party or the third party to select a pre-generated message or generate a personalized message to be associated with the registration information.

5. The method of claim 4, where the pre-generated message or the personalized message comprises an audio message, and where providing the first party with at least some of the registration information comprises rendering the audio message to the first party.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

recording, responsive to prompting the second party or the third party to select a pre-generated message or generate a personalized message, an audio message from the second party or the third party; and

storing the recorded audio message as an audio file with the registration information.

7. The method of claim 1, where receiving the inquiry from the first party comprises:

receiving a call forwarded from a call made to the telephone number.

8. The method of claim 7, where the call made to the telephone number is forwarded based on an association with a plurality of telephone numbers identified with a particular emergency.

9. The method of claim 7, where the call made to the telephone number is forwarded based on an association with a plurality of telephone numbers identified with at least one of a particular area code, a particular telephone exchange, or a particular geographic area.

10. The method of claim 1, where receiving an inquiry comprises receiving a call to access the communications platform via a toll-free telephone number.

11. The method of claim 1, where prompting the first party to provide notification information comprises prompting the first party to provide an audio message.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

recording, responsive to prompting the first party to provide an audio message, an audio message from the first party; and

storing the recorded audio message as an audio file with the notification information.

13. A communications platform comprising:

a database; and

a server to;

receive forwarded calls corresponding to a plurality of telephone numbers that are determined to have been affected by a particular emergency,

perform a lookup, in the database, for a particular one of the forwarded calls, using the corresponding telephone number associated with a first party,

determine, based on a result of the lookup, that the corresponding telephone number is not registered in the communications platform,

prompt a second party, associated with the particular forwarded call, to provide notification information,

associate in the database, when notification information is received from the second party responsive to the prompt, notification information with the corresponding telephone number,

associate in the database, when no notification information is received from the first party, information associated with the particular forwarded call,

determine, upon registration of the corresponding telephone number subsequent to receipt of the particular forwarded call, whether the notification information is associated with the corresponding telephone number,

provide, based on a determination that the notification information is associated with the corresponding telephone number, the notification information to the first party, and

provide, based on a determination that no notification information is associated with the corresponding telephone number, to the first party, information associated with the particular forwarded call.

14. The communications platform of claim 13, where the information associated with the particular forwarded call comprises at least one of a telephone number associated with the particular forwarded call, a date of receipt of the particular forwarded call, or a time of day of receipt of the particular forwarded call.

15. The communications platform of claim 13, where the registration of the corresponding telephone number comprises the first party accessing the communications platform via a toll free telephone number.

16. The communications platform of claim 15, where the notification information includes contact information and the server is to connect the first party to the second party using the contact information.

17. The system of claim 13, where the plurality of telephone numbers have been identified as being associated with the particular emergency based on a common area code or an exchange number.

18. The system of claim 13, where the server is to record an audio message from the second party and render the audio message to the first party.

19. A system comprising:

means for receiving an inquiry from a first party regarding a particular telephone number identified as being one of a plurality telephone numbers for which telephone service is currently unavailable;

means for performing a lookup of the particular telephone number in a registry;

means for identifying a plurality of parties listed in the registry as being associated with the particular telephone number;

means for prompting the first party to select a particular one of the parties for which contact information is sought;

means for receiving the selection of the particular party;

means for identifying screening criteria, associated with the particular party, contained in a particular entry, in the registry, corresponding to the particular party;

means for prompting the first party to provide information relating to the identified screening criteria;

means for applying, using the information provided by the first party responsive to the prompting, the identified screening criteria to the information provided;

means for retrieving, based on a result of the applying of the identified screening criteria, the contact information for the particular party from the particular entry in the registry; and

means for providing the retrieved contact information to the first party.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising:

means for notifying the particular party of the inquiry.