Systems and methods for communicating with a paging network operations center through wireless cellular devices

• US 8,254,970 B1
• Filed: 11/18/2011
• Issued: 08/28/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intego Software LLC (Tigerconnect Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Critical Alert Systems LLC (Tigerconnect Inc.)
• Inventors: Oshinsky, Stephen, Meyercord, Ed, McNaught, Ted
• Primary Examiner(s): Chang, Kent
• Assistant Examiner(s): ROSARIO, NELSON M
• Application Number:
  US13/300,074
• Time in Patent Office: 284 Days
• Field of Search: 455/424, 455/425, 455/426.1, 455/458, 455/466, 455/567, 455/515
• US Class Current: 455/458
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/025 with acknowledge back capability
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

Systems, methods, and media are provided for facilitating bidirectional communication between a wireless device, such as cellular device, and a paging operator'"'"'s network operations center (NOC). Messages from the paging NOC are received over a paging network through paging circuitry included in the wireless device. Certain embodiments are directed to systems and methods for transmitting status messages or response messages pertaining to the received messages from the wireless device to the paging NOC through an alternate network, such as a cellular network or the Internet. Other embodiments are directed to systems and methods for displaying the received messages, and for determining and displaying user response actions, based on data included in the messages and/or stored on the wireless device. These systems and methods take advantage of the benefits provided by paging and wireless devices in order to maximize the reliability and minimize the delay associated with the messaging system.

Claims

1. A wireless device for communicating with a paging network operations center, the device comprising:

an application processor;

a memory coupled to the application processor;

display circuitry coupled to the application processor;

a wireless RF transceiver adapted to receive and transmit data through a cellular or Internet network;

a wireless baseband processor coupled to the wireless RF transceiver and the application processor;

a paging RF receiver adapted to receive paging data from the paging network operations center through a paging network, the paging data comprising a message and at least one attribute associated with the message; and

a paging baseband processor coupled to the paging RF receiver and the application processor, the paging baseband processor adapted to;

process the paging data received by the paging RF receiver to retrieve the message and the at least one attribute;

associate an error status with the message, the error status comprising an indicator based on whether an error was detected in the received paging data; and

transfer the message, the at least one attribute and the error status to the application processor;

wherein the application processor is adapted to;

cause the wireless RF transceiver to transmit a receipt acknowledgement to the paging network operations center through the cellular or Internet network, the receipt acknowledgement comprising an indication that the message was received and an error indicator based on the error status;

store the message in the memory; and

transfer the message to the display circuitry for display; and

wherein the transmission of the receipt acknowledgement to the paging network operations center enables the paging network operations center to determine whether to resend the message to the wireless device.

2. The wireless device according to claim 1, wherein a receiver portion of the wireless RF transceiver includes the paging RF receiver.

3. The wireless device according to claim 1, wherein at least two of the application processor, the wireless baseband processor and the paging baseband processor are integrated within a single processor.

4. The wireless device according to claim 1, wherein the paging network operations center is integrated with a cellular network or cellular network operations center.

5. The wireless device according to claim 1, wherein the error indicator comprises an indication that the paging data was received with one or more errors, and wherein the wireless device is adapted to receive, in response to transmitting the receipt acknowledgement, the resent message from the paging network operations center through at least one network selected from the group consisting of a paging network, a cellular network, a dedicated network and an Internet network.

6. The wireless device according to claim 1, further comprising a user interface, and wherein the application processor is further adapted to:

receive a read notification through the user interface, the read notification comprising an indication that the message has been read or acknowledged by a user of the wireless device; and

cause, in response to receiving the read notification, the wireless RF transceiver to transmit a read acknowledgement to the paging network operations center through the cellular or Internet network.

7. The wireless device according to claim 1, wherein the wireless device is adapted to receive messages from the paging network operations center through a plurality of networks comprising the paging network and one or more networks selected from the group consisting of a cellular network, a dedicated network and an Internet network, and wherein the application processor is further adapted to:

detect whether the wireless device is able to receive messages from the paging network operations center through a particular network from the plurality of networks; and

cause, in response to detecting that the wireless device is unable to receive messages through the particular network, a connection notification to be sent to the paging network operations center, the connection notification comprising an indication that the wireless device is unable to receive messages through the particular network.

8. The wireless device according to claim 7, wherein the wireless device is further adapted to receive, in response to sending the connection notification, one or more messages from the paging network operations center through an alternate network from the one or more networks, and wherein the alternate network is not the particular network.

9. The wireless device according to claim 7, wherein the transmission of at least one of the receipt acknowledgement and the connection notification to the paging network operations center enables the paging network operations center to select at least one network from the plurality of networks through which to send messages to the wireless device.

10. The wireless device according to claim 1, wherein the display circuitry comprises at least one alert mechanism adapted to generate, in response to receiving the message, one or more alerts selected from the group consisting of a tactile alert, a visual alert and an audible alert.

11. The wireless device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one attribute is selected from the group consisting of a timestamp, a unique identifier, a priority indicator, a message response list and an address to which the message was transmitted.

12. The wireless device according to claim 1, further comprising a user interface, and wherein the application processor is further adapted to:

generate a response selection menu based, at least in part, on the message, the response selection menu comprising one or more selectable responses each selectable response being associated with at least one response action;

cause the display circuitry to display the response selection menu;

receive a response notification through the user interface, the response notification comprising an indication of a particular selectable response from the one or more selectable responses that was selected by a user of the wireless device; and

perform the at least one response action associated with the particular selectable response.

13. The wireless device according to claim 12, wherein the application processor is adapted to generate the response selection menu by:

detecting searchable content in the message;

comparing the searchable content to one or more data entries stored in the memory to determine whether the searchable content matches a data entry; and

generate, in response to determining that the searchable content matches a data entry, at least one selectable response based, at least in part, on the matching data entry.

14. The wireless device according to claim 12, wherein the at least one attribute comprises one or more predefined response messages and wherein the application processor is further adapted to generate the one or more selectable responses based, at least in part, on the one or more predefined response messages.

15. The wireless device according to claim 12, wherein the particular selectable response comprises a reply message and the at least one response action associated with the particular selectable response comprises the process of sending the reply message to the sender of the message, and wherein the application processor is further adapted to perform the at least one response action by causing the wireless RF transceiver to transmit the reply message the paging network operations center through the cellular or Internet connection.

16. A wireless device for communicating with a paging network operations center, the device comprising:

an application processor;

a memory coupled to the application processor;

display circuitry coupled to the application processor;

a wireless RF transceiver adapted to receive and transmit data through a cellular or Internet network;

a wireless baseband processor coupled to the application processor and the wireless RF transceiver;

a paging RF receiver adapted to receive paging data from the paging network operations center through a paging network, the paging data comprising a message and a message priority attribute associated with the message; and

a paging baseband processor coupled to the application processor and the paging RF receiver, the paging baseband processor adapted to;

process the received paging data to retrieve the message and the message priority attribute; and

transfer the message and the message priority attribute to the application processor;

wherein the application processor is adapted to;

cause the wireless RF transceiver to transmit a receipt acknowledgement to the paging network operations center through the cellular or Internet network, the receipt acknowledgement comprising an indication that the message was received;

store the message and the message priority attribute in the memory;

determine whether to display the message based, at least in part, on the message priority attribute; and

transfer, in response to determining that the message should be displayed, the message to the display circuitry for display.

17. The wireless device according to claim 16, wherein a receiver portion of the wireless RF transceiver includes the paging RF receiver.

18. The wireless device according to claim 16, wherein at least two of the application processor, the wireless baseband processor and the paging baseband processor are integrated within a single processor.

19. The wireless device according to claim 16, wherein the message priority attribute comprises a message priority level, and wherein the application processor is adapted to determine whether to display the message by:

detecting whether an application or process is executing on the wireless device; and

determining, in response to detecting that an application or process is executing, whether to interrupt the executing application or process based, at least in part, on a comparison of the message priority level to an application priority level associated with the executing application or process.

20. The wireless device according to claim 19, wherein the memory is adapted to store a plurality of predefined application priority levels, each predefined application priority level being associated with one or more applications or processes, and wherein the application processor is further adapted to retrieve the application priority level from the plurality of predefined application priority levels based on the executing application or process.

21. The wireless device according to claim 16, further comprising at least one alert mechanism coupled to the application processor, and wherein, in response to determining that the message should not be displayed, the application processor is further adapted to:

store a message attribute associated with the message in the memory, the message attribute comprising an indicator that the message has not been displayed; and

cause the at least one alert mechanism to generate one or more tactile, visual or audible alerts.

22. The wireless device according to claim 16, wherein the application processor is further adapted to:

determine a message color scheme based, at least in part, on the message priority attribute; and

cause the display circuitry to display the message based on the message color scheme.

23. The wireless device according to claim 22, wherein the message priority attribute comprises a message priority level, wherein the memory is adapted to store a plurality of color schemes, each color scheme being associated with one or more priority levels, and wherein the application processor is further adapted to retrieve the message color scheme from the plurality of color schemes based on the message priority level.

24. The wireless device according to claim 22, wherein the message priority attribute comprises a message classification, the message classification comprising an indication that the message pertains to a code blue event, and wherein the message color scheme is a blue color scheme.

25. A method for communicating with a paging network operations center through a cellular or other wireless device, the method being implemented through instructions that cause the wireless device to perform the steps of:

receiving paging data from the paging network operations center through a paging network, the paging data comprising a message and one or more attributes associated with the message;

processing the received paging data to retrieve the message and the one or more attributes;

detecting whether an error exists in the received paging data;

associating an error status with the message, the error status comprising an indicator based on whether errors were detected in the received paging data;

transmitting a receipt acknowledgement to the paging network operations center through a cellular or Internet network, the receipt acknowledgement comprising a notification that the message has been received and a error indicator based on the error status;

storing the message; and

displaying the message;

wherein the transmission of the receipt acknowledgement to the paging network operations center enables the paging network operations center to determine whether to resend the message to the wireless device.

26. The method according to claim 25, wherein the error indicator comprises an indication that the paging data was received with one or more errors and wherein the steps further comprise receiving, in response to transmitting the receipt acknowledgement, the resent message through at least one network selected from the group consisting of a paging network, a cellular network, a dedicated network, and an Internet network.

27. The method according to claim 25, wherein the steps further comprise:

detecting whether the wireless device is able to receive messages from the paging network operations center through a particular network selected from the group consisting of a paging network, a cellular network, a dedicated network and an Internet network;

transmitting, in response to detecting that the wireless device is unable to receive messages through the particular network, a connection notification to the paging network operations center, the connection notification comprising an indication that the wireless device is unable to receive messages through the particular network; and

receiving, in response to transmitting the connection notification, one or more messages from the paging network operations center through an alternate network, wherein the alternate network is not the particular network.

28. A method for communicating with a paging network operations center through a cellular or other wireless device, the method being implemented through instructions that cause the cellular or other wireless device to perform the steps of:

receiving paging data from the paging network operations center through a paging network, the paging data comprising a message and a message priority attribute associated with the message;

processing the paging data to retrieve the message and the message priority attribute;

transmitting a receipt acknowledgement to the paging network operations center through a cellular or Internet network, the receipt acknowledgement comprising a notification that the message has been received;

storing the message and the message priority attribute;

determining whether to display the message based, at least in part, on the message priority attribute; and

displaying, in response to determining that the message should be displayed, the message.

29. The method according to claim 28, wherein the message priority attribute comprises a message priority level, and wherein the step of determining whether to display the message comprises:

detecting whether an application or process is executing on the wireless device; and

determining, in response to detecting that an application or process is executing, whether the executing application or process should be interrupted based, at least in part, on a comparison of the message priority level to a predefined application priority level stored in the memory, the predefined application priority level being associated with the executing application or process.

30. The method according to claim 28, wherein the step or displaying the message comprises:

determining a message color scheme based, at least in part, on the message priority attribute; and

displaying the message based on the message color scheme.