Voice-over-IP (VoIP) systems, components and methods for providing enhanced location information to emergency responders to respond to emergency calls
First Claim
1. A Voice-over-Internet Protocol (“
- VoIP”
) phone server operable on a data network to communicate with VoIP phones to receive VoIP call requests and make VoIP call connections to the VoIP phones, and to communicate with VoIP phone connectors on the network to receive an identifier or other location information from the VoIP phone connectors, the VoIP phone connectors fixedly mounted in a building hosting the data network and interposed between VoIP phones and LAN routers on the network, the VoIP phone server comprising;
a network connection operable to receive data, including the VoIP call requests and the identifier or other location information, from the network;
call-routing control circuitry in communication with the network connection, the call-routing control circuitry operable to receive and route the received call requests;
emergency call detection circuitry in communication with the network connection, the emergency call detection circuitry operable to detect an emergency call request from among the received call requests;
emergency location identification circuitry in communication with the network connection and operable to receive the identifier or other location information from the VoIP phone connector through which the detected emergency call request was made, and to access a location database to determine campus location information and/or caller information associated with the identified VoIP phone connector;
an external communication network connection over which the VoIP phone server is operable to route VoIP calls in response to the received VoIP call requests and to route emergency calls and to communicate the location information and/or caller information to a public safety answering point; and
control circuitry in communication with the call-routing control circuitry, with the emergency call detection circuitry, and with the emergency location identification circuitry, the control circuitry operable to direct the call-routing control circuitry in routing VoIP call requests, operable to communicate with the emergency call detection circuitry to detect an incoming emergency call from a VoIP phone, and upon detecting an incoming emergency call directing the emergency location identification circuitry to retrieve the location information and/or caller information, to route the emergency call, and to communicate the location information and/or caller information to the public safety answering point.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed are systems and techniques for identifying VoIP phone connector locations whereby an emergency call request can be specifically located on a VoIP phone network. This system addresses prior-art shortcomings in which the location information is attempted to be tracked with identification information stored in VoIP phones, or in which databases of location information are created relative to MAC addresses of component pieces of the VoIP phone network (such as the VoIP phones themselves, data switches, or LAN routers) Further described are VoIP phone server embodiments that enable the location and/or caller information to be determined according to the associated VoIP phone connectors and for that information to be transmitted both to public safety access points and to campus security networks, and for emergency calls to be bridged both to public safety access points and to campus security networks.
33 Citations
25 Claims
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1. A Voice-over-Internet Protocol (“
- VoIP”
) phone server operable on a data network to communicate with VoIP phones to receive VoIP call requests and make VoIP call connections to the VoIP phones, and to communicate with VoIP phone connectors on the network to receive an identifier or other location information from the VoIP phone connectors, the VoIP phone connectors fixedly mounted in a building hosting the data network and interposed between VoIP phones and LAN routers on the network, the VoIP phone server comprising;a network connection operable to receive data, including the VoIP call requests and the identifier or other location information, from the network; call-routing control circuitry in communication with the network connection, the call-routing control circuitry operable to receive and route the received call requests; emergency call detection circuitry in communication with the network connection, the emergency call detection circuitry operable to detect an emergency call request from among the received call requests; emergency location identification circuitry in communication with the network connection and operable to receive the identifier or other location information from the VoIP phone connector through which the detected emergency call request was made, and to access a location database to determine campus location information and/or caller information associated with the identified VoIP phone connector; an external communication network connection over which the VoIP phone server is operable to route VoIP calls in response to the received VoIP call requests and to route emergency calls and to communicate the location information and/or caller information to a public safety answering point; and control circuitry in communication with the call-routing control circuitry, with the emergency call detection circuitry, and with the emergency location identification circuitry, the control circuitry operable to direct the call-routing control circuitry in routing VoIP call requests, operable to communicate with the emergency call detection circuitry to detect an incoming emergency call from a VoIP phone, and upon detecting an incoming emergency call directing the emergency location identification circuitry to retrieve the location information and/or caller information, to route the emergency call, and to communicate the location information and/or caller information to the public safety answering point. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
- VoIP”
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14. A non-transitory machine-readable storage having stored thereon a computer program operable on a network server, the computer program comprising a set of instructions, which when executed on a machine operating on the network server cause the network server to perform the actions of:
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communicating with VoIP phone connectors on the network to receive an identifier or other location information from the VoIP phone connectors, the VoIP phone connectors being operable to be interposed between VoIP phones and LAN routers on the network; detecting an emergency call from among incoming VoIP call requests; communicating with a VoIP phone connector through which the emergency call was made to receive the identifier or location information from the VoIP phone connector through which the detected emergency call request was made; accessing a location database to determine campus location information and/or caller information associated with the identified VoIP phone connector; and communicating the determined campus location information and/or caller information to a public safety answering point. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
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18. A method for processing VoIP calls over a VoIP phone data network having a plurality of VoIP phone connectors fixedly mounted in a building hosting the data network and interposed between VoIP phones and LAN routers on the network, the method comprising:
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receiving VoIP call requests over the network and routing the received call requests; detecting an emergency call request from among the received call requests; communicating with a VoIP phone connector through which the detected emergency call request was made to receive an identifier or location information from the VoIP phone connector through which the detected emergency call request was made; accessing a location database to determine campus location information and/or caller information associated with the identified VoIP phone connector; and communicating the determined campus location information and/or caller information to a public safety answering point. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A Voice-over-Internet Protocol (“
- VoIP”
) phone configured to operate on a VoIP phone network through a VoIP phone server, the VoIP phone server having call-routing control circuitry operable to receive and route call requests from VoIP phones and having emergency call detection circuitry operable to detect emergency call requests from among the received call requests, the VoIP phone comprising;VoIP calling circuitry operable to make VoIP call requests and, upon being connected through the VoIP server, to provide a VoIP call between the caller and a called party; emergency calling circuitry operable to signal emergency call requests to the VoIP server; and network location interface circuitry operable in the event of an emergency call request to communicate with a location-aware VoIP network connection whereby an emergency responder receives the location of the VoIP phone user'"'"'s network connection and accesses a location database to determine campus location information and/or caller information associated with the identified VoIP phone connector. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25)
- VoIP”
Specification