Associating metro street address guide (MSAG) validated addresses with geographic map data

• US 8,577,328 B2
• Filed: 08/21/2006
• Issued: 11/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/21/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TeleCommunication Systems Inc (Comtech Telecommunications Corporation)
• Original Assignee: TeleCommunication Systems Inc (Comtech Telecommunications Corporation)
• Inventors: Bansal, Ritesh, Byron, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Gonzalez, Amancio
• Application Number:
  US11/506,859
• Publication Number:
  US 20080065628A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,633 Days
• Field of Search: 455/404.1, 455/404.2, 455/456.1, 379/45
• US Class Current: 455/404.2
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2205/05 Anti-theft or abduction
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72418 for supporting emergency 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 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination

Abstract

Master Street Address Guide (MSAG)-validated street address data is correlated with real-world geographic (e.g., latitude/longitude) data. Conventional MSAG-validated street address data is processed, or geocoded, into an additional (or integrated) database that associates latitude/longitude information with a particular entry in the existing MSAG-validated database. The association of the lat/lon data may be direct, or indirect using link ID or other unique tags indicating a particular entry in the MSAG-validated database. The geocoding need be performed only once by a service provider, e.g., as part of the deployment of an emergency service system. In this way, the closest public service answering point (PSAP) to a given latitude/longitude position of a wireless or VoIP device may be determined quickly, providing emergency services with the smallest possible reliable response time.

Claims

1. A geocoder device, comprising:

a module to obtain a latitude/longitude (lat/lon) of an active Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network device;

a module to look-up a closest road length ID associated with said obtained latitude/longitude of said active VoIP network device; and

a module to look-up a Master Street Address Guide (MSAG)-validated street address associated with said closest road length ID addressable in said lat/lon association database;

wherein a given length road is divided into a plurality road lengths associated with a plurality of road length IDs.

2. The geocoder device according to claim 1, wherein:

said lat/lon association database is integrated with an MSAG database.

3. The geocoder device according to claim 1, wherein:

said lat/lon association database is maintained separate from an MSAG database.

4. The geocoder device according to claim 1, wherein:

said obtained latitude/longitude is a location of a center of said closest road length ID.

5. A method of determining a validated entry in a metro street address guide (MSAG) associated with a given geographic location, comprising:

obtaining a latitude/longitude (lat/lon) of an active Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network device;

looking-up a closest road length ID in a lat/lon association database associating a plurality of latitude/longitudes with a plurality of road length IDs;

looking-up a Master Street Address Guide (MSAG)-validated street address associated with said closest road length ID addressable in said lat/lon association database;

wherein a given length road is divided into a plurality road lengths associated with a plurality of road length IDs.

6. The method of determining a validated entry in a metro street address guide (MSAG) associated with a given geographic location according to claim 5, further comprising:

extracting an emergency services number (ESN) associated with said matching MSAG-validated street address entry.

7. The method of determining a validated entry in a metro street address guide (MSAG) associated with a given geographic location according to claim 6, further comprising:

routing a call from said active VoIP network device based on said extracted ESN.

8. The method of determining a validated entry in a metro street address guide (MSAG) associated with a given geographic location according to claim 7, wherein:

said active VoIP network device is a wireless phone.

9. The method of determining a validated entry in a metro street address guide (MSAG) associated with a given geographic location according to claim 7, wherein:

said active VoIP network device is a voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone device.

10. The method of determining a validated entry in a metro street address guide (MSAG) associated with a given geographic location according to claim 9, wherein:

said active VoIP network device is a wireless VoIP network device.

11. The method of determining a validated entry in a metro street address guide (MSAG) associated with a given geographic location according to claim 5, wherein:

said active VoIP network device is a wireless phone.