Network directed cell broadcasts for emergency alert system

• US 8,368,530 B1
• Filed: 08/02/2006
• Issued: 02/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Cingular Wireless II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: A&T Mobility II LLC
• Inventors: Zhang, Ming, Shen, Jun
• Primary Examiner(s): Bugg, George
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wang, Jack K
• Application Number:
  US11/498,572
• Time in Patent Office: 2,379 Days
• Field of Search: 340/539.11, 455/404.1, 405/391.1
• US Class Current: 340/539.11
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 27/005 with transmission via computer network
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 27/006 with transmission via telephone network
• 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 68/02 Arrangements for increasing efficiency of notification or paging channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/08 Non-scheduled access, e.g. ALOHA hybrid access H04W74/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/50 for emergency connections

Abstract

Systems and methods for providing alerts to end users of networked enabled portable devices are provided so that the end users are made aware when broadcast emergency alerts are issued. The systems and methods provide a way for a portable device to receive information about an emergency alert broadcast of which the user should be aware, e.g., from the EAS, and to notify the user of the emergency alert. A flag provides an indication the EAS should be on and the systems and method override the settings made by a user to a portable device to enable EAS reception. The user may then be automatically taken to the emergency alert information by having the portable device automatically tune to the emergency broadcast information, or the user may optionally retrieve the emergency information by tuning to the emergency broadcast channel, or the user may otherwise be presented with a reference to the emergency data (e.g., a link to the information).

Claims

1. A method comprising:

providing, at a network-based emergency broadcast information database, emergency broadcast information, wherein the emergency broadcast information comprises information about available broadcast technologies, information about emergency broadcast channels associated with each available broadcast technology, and information concerning which broadcast technologies or networks are supported by a first portable device;

receiving, at the first portable device, the emergency broadcast information from the network-based emergency broadcast information database, the first portable device including storage, at least one telephony processor, and at least one broadcast processor;

storing, by the first portable device, the emergency broadcast information in the storage of the first portable device;

providing, at the network-based emergency broadcast information database, an update to the emergency broadcast information, wherein the update to the emergency broadcast information comprises updated information about available broadcast technologies, updated information about emergency broadcast channels associated with each available broadcast technology, and updated information concerning which broadcast technologies or networks are supported by the first portable device;

receiving, at the first portable device, the update to the emergency broadcast information from the network-based emergency broadcast information database;

storing, by the first portable device, the update to the emergency broadcast information in the storage of the first portable device;

receiving, at the first portable device, a user setting, the user setting instructing the broadcast processor of the first portable device not to engage in emergency broadcast monitoring;

notifying, by an emergency alert network, an emergency alert interface service that an emergency alert is being broadcast;

notifying, by the emergency alert interface service, a telephony network that the emergency alert is being broadcast using broadcast technologies;

transmitting, by the telephony network, to the first portable device an indicator bit on a telephony network control channel, the indicator bit indicating either that the emergency alert is being broadcast or that the emergency alert is not being broadcast, wherein information on the control channel is directed to the first portable device in the cellular network;

receiving, at the first portable device, the indicator bit, wherein the indicator bit is received after the emergency broadcast information has been received and stored by the first portable device;

enforcing the user defined settings associated with the first portable device by the telephony processor when the indicator bit indicates that the emergency alert is not being broadcast;

requesting, by the telephony processor of the first portable device, the emergency broadcast information from the storage of the first portable device when the indicator bit indicates that the emergency alert is being broadcast;

receiving, at the telephony processor, the requested emergency broadcast information from the storage of the first portable device;

overriding the user defined settings associated with the first portable device to enable emergency broadcast monitoring on the first portable device by the telephony processor when the indicator bit indicates that the emergency alert is being broadcast;

utilizing, by the telephony processor, the stored emergency broadcast information and the update to the emergency broadcast information to tune to a broadcast channel of a broadcast network upon overriding the user defined settings associated with the first portable device to enable emergency broadcast monitoring by a broadcast processor;

receiving, at the broadcast processor, an emergency broadcast from the emergency alert network;

outputting, by the broadcast processor, at least a portion of the emergency broadcast associated with the emergency alert on the first portable device; and

reverting back to the user defined settings on the first portable device after a predefined period of time has expired on the first portable device.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the first portable device comprises a mobile phone.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the indicator bit is a bit received over the control channel associated with the emergency alert.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the indicator bit indicates the emergency alert is no longer being broadcast.

5. A system comprising:

a network-based emergency broadcast information database;

a first mobile device, the first mobile device comprising a user storage device, a telephony processor and a broadcast processor, the first mobile device in communication with the network-based emergency broadcast information database;

a telephony radio network in communication with the first mobile device;

an emergency alert interface server in communication with telephony radio network;

an emergency alert network in communication with the emergency alert interface; and

a broadcast network, the broadcast network being in communication with the emergency alert network and the first mobile device;

wherein;

the network-based emergency broadcast information database provides emergency broadcast information, the emergency broadcast information comprises information about available broadcast technologies, information about emergency broadcast channels associated with each available broadcast technology, and information concerning which broadcast technologies or networks are supported by the first mobile device;

the first mobile device receives the emergency broadcast information from the network-based emergency broadcast information database and stores the emergency broadcast information in the user storage device;

the network-based emergency broadcast information database provides an update to the emergency broadcast information, wherein the update to the emergency broadcast information comprises updated information about available broadcast technologies, updated information about emergency broadcast channels associated with each available broadcast technology, and updated information concerning which broadcast technologies or networks are supported by the first mobile device;

the first mobile device receives the update to the emergency broadcast information from the network-based emergency broadcast information database;

the first mobile device stores the update to the emergency broadcast information in the storage of the first mobile device;

the first mobile device receives a user setting, the user setting instructing the broadcast processor of the first mobile device not to engage in emergency broadcast monitoring;

the emergency alert network notifies an emergency alert interface service that an emergency alert is being broadcast;

the emergency alert interface service notifies the telephony network that the emergency alert is being broadcast using broadcast technologies;

the telephony network transmits to the first mobile device an indicator bit on a telephony network control channel, the indicator bit indicating either that the emergency alert is being broadcast or that the emergency alert is not being broadcast, wherein information on the control channel is directed to the first mobile device in the cellular network;

the first mobile device receives the indicator bit, wherein the indicator bit is received after the emergency broadcast information has been received and stored by the first mobile device;

the telephony processor enforcing the user defined settings associated with the first mobile device when the indicator bit indicates that the emergency alert is not being broadcast;

the telephony processor requesting the emergency broadcast information from the storage of the first mobile device when the indicator bit indicates that the emergency alert is being broadcast;

the telephony processor receiving the requested emergency broadcast information from the storage of the first mobile device;

the broadcast processor overriding the user defined settings associated with the first mobile device to enable emergency broadcast monitoring when the indicator bit indicates that the emergency alert is being broadcast;

the telephony processor utilizing the stored emergency broadcast information and the update to the emergency broadcast information to tune to a broadcast channel of the broadcast network upon overriding the user defined settings associated with the first mobile device to enable emergency broadcast monitoring by a broadcast processor;

receiving, at the broadcast processor, an emergency broadcast from the emergency alert network;

outputting, by the broadcast processor, at least a portion of the emergency broadcast associated with the emergency alert on the first mobile device; and

reverting back to the user defined settings on the first mobile device after a predefined period of time has expired on the first mobile device.

6. The system as recited in claim 5 wherein the first mobile device comprises a mobile phone.

7. The system as recited in claim 6 wherein the first mobile device is adapted to revert back to the preexisting setting when the indicator bit indicates the emergency broadcast has stopped.

8. The system as recited in claim 5 wherein the indicator bit comprises at least one bit in a message.

9. At least one storage device having stored thereon computer executable instructions when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform a method comprising:

providing, at a network-based emergency broadcast information database, emergency broadcast information, wherein the emergency broadcast information comprises information about available broadcast technologies, information about emergency broadcast channels associated with each available broadcast technology, and information concerning which broadcast technologies or networks are supported by a first portable device;

receiving, at the first portable device, the emergency broadcast information from a network-based emergency broadcast information database, the first portable device including at least one telephony processor, and at least one broadcast processor;

storing, by the first portable device, the emergency broadcast information;

providing, at the network-based emergency broadcast information database, an update to the emergency broadcast information, wherein the update to the emergency broadcast information comprises updated information about available broadcast technologies, updated information about emergency broadcast channels associated with each available broadcast technology, and updated information concerning which broadcast technologies or networks are supported by the first portable device;

receiving, at the first portable device, the update to the emergency broadcast information from the network-based emergency broadcast information database;

storing, at the first portable device, the update to the emergency broadcast information;

receiving, at the first portable device, a user setting, the user setting instructing the broadcast processor of the first portable device not to engage in emergency broadcast monitoring;

notifying, by an emergency alert network, an emergency alert interface service that an emergency alert is being broadcast using broadcast technologies;

notifying, by the emergency alert interface service, a telephony network that the emergency alert is being broadcast using broadcast technologies;

transmitting, by the telephony network, to the first portable device an indicator bit on a telephony network control channel, the indicator bit indicating either that the emergency alert is being broadcast or that the emergency alert is not being broadcast, wherein information on the control channel is directed to the first portable device in the cellular network;

receiving, at the first portable device, the indicator bit, wherein the indicator bit is received after the emergency broadcast information has been received and stored by the first portable device;

enforcing the user defined settings associated with the first portable device by the telephony processor when the indicator bit indicates that the emergency alert is not being broadcast;

requesting, by the telephony processor of the first portable device, the emergency broadcast information from the storage of the first portable device when the indicator bit indicates that the emergency alert is being broadcast;

receiving, at the telephony processor, the requested emergency broadcast information from the storage of the first portable device;

overriding the user defined settings associated with the first portable device to enable emergency broadcast monitoring on the first portable device by the broadcast processor when the indicator bit indicates that the emergency alert is being broadcast;

utilizing, by the telephony processor, the stored emergency broadcast information and the update to the emergency broadcast information to tune to a broadcast channel of a broadcast network upon overriding the user defined settings associated with the first portable device to enable emergency broadcast monitoring by a broadcast processor;

receiving, at the broadcast processor, an emergency broadcast from the emergency alert network;

outputting, by the broadcast processor, at least a portion of the emergency broadcast associated with the emergency alert on the first portable device; and

reverting back to the user defined settings on the first portable device after a predefined period of time has expired on the first portable device.

10. The storage device as recited in claim 9 wherein the first portable device comprises a mobile phone.

11. The storage device as recited in claim 9 wherein the indicator bit comprises at least one bit in a message.