Method for selecting media for delivery to users at an incident

• US 8,862,173 B2
• Filed: 12/10/2009
• Issued: 10/14/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Inventors: Marocchi, James A., Emrich, John E., Kay, John C., Naylor, Daniel J., Patel, Hemang F., Stanke, Marianne J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pan, Yuwen
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tran, Paul P
• Application Number:
  US12/635,281
• Publication Number:
  US 20110143651A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,769 Days
• Field of Search: 455/3.01, 455/3.06, 455/404.1, 455/404.2, 455/414.1, 455/435.2, 455/518, 455/519, 455/521, 340/506, 340/539.11, 340/539.12, 705/14.2, 705/325, 709/218, 709/224, 715/201, 715/202, 715/739, 725/9, 725/16, 725/62, 725/135, 725/201, 725/202
• US Class Current: 455/519
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 27/006 with transmission via telephone network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/103 in the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1076 Screening of IP real time communications, e.g. spam over Internet telephony [SPIT]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1089 by adding media; by removing media
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/752 adapting media to network capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/756 adapting media to device capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5651 Reducing the amount or size of exchanged application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/567 Integrating service provisioning from a plurality of service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals

Abstract

A media selection and insertion control device implements a method for selecting media for delivery to a plurality of users at an incident. The media selection and insertion control device: receives a plurality of media inputs from multiple media sources; receives capabilities of devices of users at an incident; receives resource capabilities of a set of networks to which the users are communicatively coupled; receives a set of incident-based rules and applies these rules to the plurality of media inputs to select media inputs to deliver to the users; and determines a mode of delivering the selected media inputs to the users based at least on the capabilities of the users'"'"' devices and on the resource capabilities of the set of networks to which the users are communicatively coupled.

Claims

1. A method for selecting media for delivery to a plurality of users, the method comprising:

a controller performing;

receiving a plurality of media inputs from multiple media sources;

receiving capabilities of devices of a plurality of users at an incident, wherein the capabilities of a device comprises the device being video capable, audio only, or data capable;

receiving resource capabilities of a set of networks to which the users are communicatively coupled, wherein the resource capabilities comprises available bandwidth and multicast/broadcast capable;

receiving a set of police emergency and/or fire emergency-based rules;

applying the set of police emergency and/or the fire emergency-based rules to determine the existence of the incident; and

applying the set of police emergency and/or fire emergency based-rules to the plurality of media inputs for selecting media inputs to deliver to at least some of the users, wherein selecting the media inputs to deliver to the at least some of the users is based on a minimum of the capabilities of users'"'"' devices and on the resource capabilities of the set of networks to which the users are communicatively coupled;

receiving an indication of a set of existing group sessions having as participants at least some of the users at the police emergency and/or fire emergency;

determining a mode of delivering the selected media inputs to the users'"'"' devices, wherein determining the mode of delivering the selected media inputs comprises at least one of selecting one or more of the existing group sessions or creating a new group session to deliver the selected media inputs to the users;

monitoring network resources until a change is detected in available network resources;

changing the mode of delivering the selected media inputs to the users based on the change in the available network resources;

reformatting the selected media inputs into a different format to match the capabilities of the device of at least one of the users; and

wherein reformatting the selected media inputs comprising the step of converting an image to text, converting text to audio for insertion into a voice session;

or converting video into audio for insertion into a voice session.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

applying the police emergency and/or fire emergency-based rules to the plurality of media inputs to determine existence of the police emergency and/or fire emergency, wherein determining the existence of the police emergency and/or fire emergency triggers the application of the set of police emergency and/or fire emergency-based rules to the plurality of media inputs to select the media inputs to deliver to the users.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the mode of delivering the selected media inputs to the users is further determined based on priority of communications for each of the users.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the selected media inputs is reformatted to match the resource capabilities of at least one network in the set of networks.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the selected media inputs comprises a sensor input, and wherein reformatting at least one of the selected media inputs comprises reformatting the sensor input for insertion into a voice message.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein reformatting at least one of the selected media inputs comprises downconverting the selected media input for delivery to the users.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein reformatting at least one of the selected media inputs comprises upconverting the selected media input to the users.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the selected media inputs comprises a video input, the method further comprising analyzing the video input and determining existence of the police emergency and/or fire emergency based on contents of the video input, and wherein reformatting at least one of the selected inputs comprises reformatting at least some of the contents of the video input to generate a voice announcement to the users at the police emergency and/or fire emergency.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the selected media inputs comprises a data input, and wherein reformatting at least one of the selected media inputs comprises reformatting the data input for insertion into a voice message.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the selected media inputs comprises an audio input, and wherein reformatting at least one of the selected media inputs comprises reformatting the audio input for insertion into a text message.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the users are included in one or more work groups assigned to the police emergency and/or fire emergency.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining capabilities of each selected or created group session; and

reformatting at least one of the selected media inputs to match the capabilities of one or more of the selected or created group sessions.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the mode of delivering the selected media inputs comprises:

selecting a network from the set of networks to use in delivering the selected media inputs to the users;

determining available network resources for the selected network based on the received resource capabilities of the set of networks, and delivering the selected media inputs to the users in a first format that matches the available network resources;

monitoring the available network resources for the selected network after delivering the selected media inputs in the first format for a time period, and detecting a change in available network resources of the selected network; and

changing the mode of delivering the selected media inputs to the users based on the change in available network resources of the selected network.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein changing the mode of delivering the selected media inputs comprises reformatting the selected media inputs to a second format to match the change in available network resources of the selected network, and delivering the selected media inputs to the users in the second format.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein changing the mode of delivering the selected media inputs comprises selecting a different network of the set of networks to deliver the selected media inputs to the users.