System for automatically providing firefighters with the floor plans for a burning building

• US 8,311,510 B2
• Filed: 05/26/2010
• Issued: 11/13/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gregory Cradick
• Original Assignee: Gregory Cradick
• Inventors: Cradick, Gregory
• Primary Examiner(s): Bhattacharya, Sam
• Application Number:
  US12/787,784
• Publication Number:
  US 20110294461A1
• Time in Patent Office: 902 Days
• Field of Search: 455/404.1, 455/404.2, 340/506, 340/517, 340/531, 340/584
• US Class Current: 455/404.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/50 for emergency connections

Abstract

A method for automatically transmitting requested floor plans to emergency responders en route to a building, including receiving a request for the plans for a building located at a location identified as the destination of emergency responders, retrieving requested plans from a central database, and transmitting retrieved plans to emergency responders. The central database includes plans for a plurality of buildings located at a plurality of respective locations.

Claims

1. A system for automatically providing floor plan information to emergency responders before they arrive, comprising:

a centralized database, the centralized database located in secure location different than a location designated by emergency call address information;

a plurality of sets of building floor plans stored in the database and indexed by address such that each set of building floor plans is searchable by address and coordinates;

a microprocessor operationally connected to the database;

at least one transceiver operationally connected to the microprocessor for receiving the emergency call address information and for automatically transmitting floor plans corresponding to the emergency call address information to emergency responders;

wherein the microprocessor identifies a building floor plan stored within the centralized database based upon the emergency call address information and retrieves the building floor plan from the centralized database for transmittal to the emergency responders via the transceiver.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the emergency call is a 911 call that is received by a 911 emergency call system.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the microprocessor is connected in electric communication to a 911 emergency call system.

4. The system of claim 1 and further comprising a GPS transceiver operationally connected in wireless communication with the microprocessor, wherein the GPS transceiver is carried by an emergency responder.

5. The system of claim 1 and further comprising a portable electronic display unit connected in wireless communication with the microprocessor, wherein the portable electronic display unit receives floor plans identified by the emergency call address information from the microprocessor and displays the same.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the portable electronic display unit is a helmet-mounted head'"'"'s up display, the head'"'"'s up display capable of displaying a location of the helmet upon the building floor plans.

7. A method for automatically transmitting requested floor plans to emergency responders en route to a building, comprising:

a) receiving a request, as part of a response by a centralized emergency response 911 system to an emergency call, for the plans for a building located at a location identified as the destination of emergency responders;

b) retrieving requested plans from a central database; and

c) transmitting portions of retrieved plans to emergency responders based upon an emergency responder'"'"'s tasks;

wherein the central database includes plans for a plurality of buildings located at a plurality of respective locations.

8. The method of claim 7 and further comprising:

d) establishing a stored list of subscribers'"'"' addresses;

e) associating a set of floor plans with each respective subscriber'"'"'s address;

f) comparing the address associated with an emergency call with the stored list of subscribers'"'"' addresses to find a matching subscriber'"'"'s address;

g) identifying a matching subscriber'"'"'s address as the destination for emergency responders;

h) generating a request for the plans for the building associated with the subscriber'"'"'s address identified as the destination for emergency responders.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the emergency call is a 911 call.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein steps b, c, e, f, g and h occur automatically.

11. The method of claim 7 and further including the step of i) verifying receipt of the transmitted plans by emergency responders;

and j) resending plans at predetermined intervals until verification of receipt of the plans by emergency responders is achieved.

12. The method of claim 7 and further comprising:

i) receiving retrieved plans transmitted to emergency responders; and

j) displaying received plans on a portable electronic display.

13. The method of claim 7 and further comprising:

k) editing received plans; and

l) retransmitting edited plans to emergency responders.

14. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

m) receiving location information from emergency responders;

n) overlaying location information from emergency responders onto displayed received plans; and

o) communicating instructions to emergency responders.