Personnel crisis communications management and personnel status tracking system

• US 8,844,050 B1
• Filed: 03/05/2014
• Issued: 09/23/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AtHoc Incorporated (Blackberry Limited)
• Original Assignee: AtHoc Incorporated (Blackberry Limited)
• Inventors: Miasnik, Guy, Siegel, Aviv, Gupta, Rakesh
• Primary Examiner(s): Parthasarathy, Pramila
• Assistant Examiner(s): HO, DAO Q
• Application Number:
  US14/197,535
• Publication Number:
  US 20140282934A1
• Time in Patent Office: 202 Days
• Field of Search: 726/26
• US Class Current: 726/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/335 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles filtering in web context G06F16/9535, G06F16/9536
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/35 Clustering; Classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/95 Retrieval from the web
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0227 Filtering policies mail message filtering H04L51/212
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5116 for emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/61 Time-dependent
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/63 Location-dependent; Proximity-dependent
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed for providing personnel communications management within an enterprise or group of related enterprises during crisis situations. In particular, the systems and methods provide event management, shared situational awareness, personnel status tracking, and unified crisis notification management to multiple users.

Claims

1. An integrated personnel crisis communications management system for distributing information to users associated with an enterprise, comprising:

a computer database including data about a plurality of users and an event record storing information about an event related to the enterprise;

an inbound event management subsystem operably connected to the database, the inbound event management subsystem, responsive to receiving a new communication, classifies the new communication as corresponding to the event and supplements the information about the event based on the new communication;

a notification subsystem operably connected to the inbound event management subsystem, the notification subsystem sending, responsive to the new communication, a notification to one or more devices associated with users;

a shared situational awareness subsystem operably connected to the database, the shared situational awareness subsystem providing to a first user device associated with a first user of the plurality of users, responsive to the new communication, a first subset of the information about the event for presentation in a user interface, and providing to a second user device associated with a second user of the plurality of users, responsive to the new communication, a second subset of the information about the event for presentation in a user interface, the first subset being determined based on data about the first user stored in the database and the second subset being determined based on data about the second user stored in the database; and

a personnel tracking subsystem tracking the status of a plurality of tracked users, the tracking comprising;

receiving status updates from a first subset of a plurality of user devices, each user device associated with a corresponding tracked user, and each response including a status for the corresponding tracked user;

identifying a second subset of the user devices from which recent status updates have not been received;

determining, for each of the second subset of the user devices, an inferred status for the corresponding tracked user, the inferred status based on previous status information associated with the corresponding tracked user; and

aggregating the statuses and inferred statuses of the tracked users for presentation.

2. The integrated personnel crisis communications management system of claim 1, wherein classifying the new communication as corresponding to the event comprises:

comparing metadata included in the new communication with data describing the event in the event record; and

determining the new communication corresponds to the event if the metadata included in the new communication matches the data describing the event, within a threshold tolerance.

3. The integrated personnel crisis communications management system of claim 1, wherein the inbound event management subsystem adds an additional event record to the database responsive to receiving an additional communication not related to the event, and adds information to the additional event record based on the additional communication.

4. The integrated personnel crisis communications management system of claim 1, wherein the notification subsystem sends an additional notification to a notification device associated with the enterprise responsive to the new communication.

5. The integrated personnel crisis communications management system of claim 4, wherein the device is one of:

a networked computer;

a smart-phone;

an IP phone;

a tablet;

a satellite phone;

a landline phone;

a mobile phone;

a social network server configured to distribute the additional notification through via a social network;

a speaker system;

a display board;

a TV system;

a Land Mobile Radio;

a Voice-Enabled Fire Alarm Control Panel; and

a web site server configured to add the additional notification to a web site feed.

6. The integrated personnel crisis communications management system of claim 1, wherein the new communication is received from a device and the inbound event management subsystem, on receiving the new communication, performs processes including:

authenticating credentials of the device;

validating content contained within the communication; and

acknowledging receipt of the new communication to the device.

7. The integrated personnel crisis communications management system of claim 1, wherein the new communication is received from an automated system associated with the enterprise and the inbound event management subsystem, responsive to receiving the new communication, performs processes including:

authenticating credentials of the automated system; and

validating content contained within the communication.

8. The integrated personnel crisis communications management system of claim 1, wherein the inbound event management subsystem associates the event with a security/sensitivity categorization based on the communication and stores the security/sensitivity categorization in the event record, the one or more devices to which the notification is sent being determined based on the security/sensitivity categorization.

9. The integrated personnel crisis communications management system of claim 1, wherein the communication includes at least one of the following types of information:

location, image, audio, and video.

10. The integrated personnel crisis communications management system of claim 1, wherein the first subset of the information about the event is determined based on at least one of:

a type of the event;

a role of the first user in relation to the enterprise;

a role of the first user in relation to the type;

a geographical location of the first user;

a geographical location associated with the communication;

characteristics of a device being used by the first user to view first subset; and

characteristics of a network connecting the management system to the device.

11. The integrated personnel crisis communications management system of claim 1, wherein the statuses and inferred statuses are presented by:

providing a dashboard display indicating the status of viewed users, the viewed users being a subset of the tracked users;

providing user interface controls in conjunction with the dashboard display for at least one of;

viewing the status of a selected one of the viewed users in greater detail, filtering the viewed users based on status, filtering the viewed user based on location, filtering the viewed users based on assigned roles, and filtering the viewed users based on recency of status updates.

12. A computer-implemented method for personnel crisis communications management for an enterprise, comprising:

receiving, a first message including new information about an event;

analyzing the first message to determine a correspondence between the event and an event entry in a database, the database including a plurality of event entries, each containing existing information about a corresponding event;

adding the new information to the event entry in the database responsive to the determined correspondence;

comparing the new information to existing information about the corresponding event in the database, the comparing comprising;

identifying keywords in the new information;

identifying keywords in the existing information; and

determining the new information to be substantially different to the existing information responsive to the new information including a keyword not present in the existing information;

identifying a first subset of users and a second subset of users based on information about users stored in a database;

generating, responsive to the new information being substantially different to the existing information, a first report about the event based on;

the new information, the event entry, and information stored in a database about the first subset of users;

generating, responsive to the new information being substantially different to the existing information, a second report about the event based on;

the new information, the event entry, and information stored in a database about the second subset of users;

transmitting the first report to user devices associated with the first subset of users; and

transmitting the second report to user devices associated with the second subset of users.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the analyzing comprises:

comparing location data included in the first message with location data included in the event entry;

comparing time data included in the first message with time data included in the event entry; and

determining that the event corresponds to the event entry responsive to the comparing location data and the comparing time data.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein analyzing the first message comprises:

comparing position information included in the first message with position information associated with the event entry to determine a position similarity;

comparing time information included in the first message with time information associated with the event entry to determine a time similarity; and

determining the correspondence between the event and the event entry responsive to the position similarity being greater than a position threshold and the time similarity being greater than a time threshold.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving position data for a plurality of enterprise personnel at regular time intervals, the position data indicating a location of corresponding enterprise personnel when the data was sent; and

displaying, to a user, the location of at least one of the plurality of enterprise personnel.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

requesting status updates from a plurality of enterprise personnel;

receiving a status update from at least one of the plurality of enterprise personnel, the status update including a current status; and

displaying the current status to a user.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

adding additional information to the event entry responsive to user input by a user.

18. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing executable computer program instructions for providing personnel crisis communications management, the computer program instructions when executed causes one or more computing systems to:

receive a communication including additional information about an event;

determine that the event corresponds to an event record in an event database, the event record containing available information about the event;

supplement the available information about the event based on the additional information about the event;

identify a plurality of users associated with the event to whom additional information is available based on properties of the event and information about the plurality of users stored in the event database;

send a notification to a plurality of user devices associated with the plurality of users, the notification indicating the available information about the event has been supplemented;

provide, to a first user device that is associated with a first user of the plurality of users, first information about the event for presentation in a user interface of the first user device, the first information including the supplementary information and based on a permission level of the first user;

provide, to a second user device that is associated with a second user of the plurality of users, second information about the event for presentation in a user interface of the second user device, the second information including the supplementary information and based on a permission level of the second user;

receive status updates from a first subset of a plurality of user devices, each user device associated with a corresponding tracked user, and each status update including a status for the corresponding tracked user;

identify a second subset of the user devices from which recent status updates have not been received;

determine, for each of the second subset of the user devices, an inferred status for the corresponding tracked user, the inferred status based on previous status information associated with the corresponding tracked user;

aggregate the statuses and inferred statuses of the tracked users;

provide a dashboard display indicating the status of viewed users, the viewed users being a subset of the tracked users; and

provide, for a third user, user interface controls for at least one of;

viewing the status of a selected one of the viewed users in greater detail, filtering the viewed users based on status, filtering the viewed users based on location, filtering the viewed users based on assigned roles, and filtering the viewed users based on recency of status updates.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the computer program instructions further comprise instructions that when executed causes the one or more computing systems to send an additional notification to a notification device associated with the event, the notification device being one of:

a networked computer;

a smart-phone;

a tablet;

an IP phone;

a satellite phone;

a landline phone;

a mobile phone;

a social network server configured to distribute the additional notification through via a social network;

a speaker system;

a display board;

a TV system;

a Land Mobile Radio;

a Fire Alarm Control Panel; and

a web site server configured to add the notification to a web site feed.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the computer program instructions further comprise instructions that when executed causes the one or more computing systems to:

authenticate credentials of a device from which the communication was received;

validate the additional information within the communication; and

acknowledge receipt of the communication to the device.

21. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the communication is received from an automated system and the computer program instructions further comprise instructions that when executed causes the one or more computing systems to:

authenticate credentials of the automated system; and

validate content contained within the communication.

22. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the computer program instructions further comprise instructions that when executed causes the one or more computing systems to:

determine a security/sensitivity categorization for the event based on the available information; and

store the security/sensitivity categorization in the event record.

23. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the permission level of the first user is based on at least one of:

a security/sensitivity categorization;

a type of the event;

a role of the first user;

a geographical location of the first user;

a geographical location associated with the communication;

characteristics of the first user device; and

characteristics of a network to which the first user device is connected.