Notification system management

• US 8,660,240 B2
• Filed: 09/28/2012
• Issued: 02/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Everbridge Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Everbridge Incorporated
• Inventors: Kirchmeier, Steve, Putra, Cintawati W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ramakrishnaiah, Melur
• Application Number:
  US13/631,627
• Publication Number:
  US 20130035055A1
• Time in Patent Office: 515 Days
• Field of Search: 379 37- 45, 340/517, 340/3.3, 340/521, 340/525, 340/539.2, 340/539.22, 340/539.28, 340/6.1, 340/7.52, 340/7.59
• US Class Current: 379/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1095 Meeting or appointment
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 27/006 with transmission via telephone network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1895 for short real-time information, e.g. alarms, notifications, alerts, updates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/04 with alarm systems, e.g. fire, police or burglar alarm systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/205 Broadcasting broadcasting in packet switching networks H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/04 for emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5116 for emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/567 Multimedia conference systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• 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 68/00 User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/566 of the information or information source or recipient
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/50 for emergency connections

Abstract

Methods and systems for providing electronic notifications are described. A server is configured to serve an interface, such as a Web page, to a terminal that requests from a user a first set of user contacts to be used to provide notifications to the user by a telephonic notification system in response to a notification process initiated by an organization associated with the user. The interface further requests a first set of priorities corresponding to the first set of user contacts, wherein the notification system will attempt to provide notifications to the first set user contracts in an order based at least in part on the first set of priorities. A database is configured to store the first set of user contacts and the first set of priorities. A voice interface circuit is configured to transmit a voice notification to at least one of the first set of user contacts.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

storing, in non-transitory computer-readable medium, contact information to be used when notifying a plurality of recipients, the stored contact information comprising, for each one of the plurality of recipients,

a recipient-specified set of two or more contact paths comprising a first contact path and a second contact path, each of the first and second contact paths being usable to notify the recipient that specified the set of contact paths,

a first recipient-specified order of use of the stored recipient-specified set of contact paths, wherein the first recipient-specified order of use specifies that a first attempt of notifying the recipient is to be performed via the associated first contact path, and if the first attempt fails, a second attempt of notifying the recipient is to be performed via the associated second contact path, and

a second recipient-specified order of use of the stored recipient-specified set of contact paths, wherein the second recipient-specified order of use specifies that a first attempt of notifying the recipient is to be performed via the associated second contact path, and if the first attempt fails, a second attempt of notifying the recipient is to be performed via the associated first contact path, and

wherein notifying of the recipient is performed using the stored first recipient-specified order of use when a notification type is identified to be of a first type, and using the stored second recipient-specified order of use when the notification type is identified to be a second, different type;

receiving an instruction to issue a notification to a specified one or more recipients from among the plurality of recipients;

identifying, by one or more hardware processors, a notification type of the received notification instruction from among the first and second notification types; and

issuing, by the one or more hardware processors, the notification of the identified notification type to each recipient specified in the received instruction using (i) the recipient-specified set of contact paths as respectively stored for each recipient, and (ii) the recipient-specified order of use associated with the identified notification type as respectively stored for each recipient.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the recipient-specified set of two or more contact paths comprises a home phone number, a work phone number, and a cell phone number.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the recipient-specified set of two or more contact paths further comprises an email, and an instant messaging identifier.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first type of notification is an emergency notification.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the second type of notification is a non-emergency notification.

6. A system comprising:

one or more hardware processors;

a storage system that stores contact information to be used when notifying a plurality of recipients, the stored contact information comprising, for each one of the plurality of recipients,

a recipient-specified set of two or more contact paths comprising a first contact path and a second contact path, each of the first and second contact paths being usable to notify the recipient that specified the set of contact paths,

a first recipient-specified order of use of the recipient-specified set of contact paths, wherein the first recipient-specified order of use specifies that a first attempt of notifying the recipient is to be performed via the associated first contact path, and if the first attempt fails, a second attempt of notifying the recipient is to be performed via the associated second contact path, and

a second recipient-specified order of use of the recipient-specified set of contact paths, wherein the second recipient-specified order of use specifies that a first attempt of notifying the recipient is to be performed via the associated second contact path, and if the first attempt fails, a second attempt of notifying the recipient is to be performed via the associated first contact path, and

wherein notifying of the recipient is performed using the stored first recipient-specified order of use when a notification type is identified to be of a first type, and using the stored second recipient-specified order of use when the notification type is identified to be a second, different type; and

non-transitory computer-readable medium encoding instructions that, when executed by the one or more hardware processors, cause the system to perform operations comprising

receiving an instruction to issue a notification to a specified one or more recipients from among the plurality of recipients,

identifying a notification type of the received notification instruction from among the first and second notification types,

transmitting the notification of the identified notification type to each recipient specified in the received instruction using (i) the recipient-specified set of contact paths as respectively stored for each recipient, and (ii) the recipient-specified order of use associated with the identified notification type as respectively stored for each recipient, and

displaying a visual indication update indicating which intended recipients have been successfully notified.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the recipient-specified set of two or more contact paths comprises a home phone number, a work phone number, and a cell phone number.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the recipient-specified set of two or more contact paths further comprises an email, and an instant messaging identifier.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the first type of notification is an emergency notification.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the second type of notification is a non-emergency notification.

11. The system of claim 6, wherein a message of the notification instructs the recipient to confirm receipt of the notification.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoding instructions that, when executed by data processing apparatus, cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

receiving an instruction to issue a notification to a plurality of recipients;

accessing contact information to be used when notifying the plurality of recipients, the accessed contact information comprising, for each one of the plurality of recipients,

a recipient-specified set of two or more contact paths comprising a first contact path and a second contact path, each of the first and second contact paths being usable to notify the recipient that specified the set of contact paths,

a first recipient-specified order of use of the accessed recipient-specified set of contact paths, wherein the first recipient-specified order of use specifies that a first attempt of notifying the recipient is to be performed via the associated first contact path, and if the first attempt fails, a second attempt of notifying the recipient is to be performed via the associated second contact path, and

a second recipient-specified order of use of the accessed recipient-specified set of contact paths, wherein the second recipient-specified order of use specifies that a first attempt of notifying the recipient is to be performed via the associated second contact path, and if the first attempt fails, a second attempt of notifying the recipient is to be performed via the associated first contact path,and

wherein notifying of the recipient is performed using the accessed first recipient-specified order of use when a notification type is identified to be of a first type, and using the accessed second recipient-specified order of use when the notification type is identified to be a second, different type;

identifying a notification type of the received notification instruction from among first and second notification types;

transmitting the notification of the identified notification type to each recipient of the plurality of recipients using (i) the recipient-specified set of contact paths as respectively accessed for each recipient, and (ii) the recipient-specified order of use associated with the identified notification type as respectively accessed for each recipient;

determining which of the plurality of recipients has successfully received the notification; and

selectively re-broadcasting the notification to other recipients based on a result of the determination.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the recipient-specified set of two or more contact paths comprises a home phone number, a work phone number, and a cell phone number.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the recipient-specified set of two or more contact paths further comprises an email, and an instant messaging identifier.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the first type of notification is an emergency notification.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the second type of notification is a non-emergency notification.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein a message of the notification instructs the recipient to confirm receipt of the notification.