Method and apparatus for prioritizing and routing emergent activity reporting

• US 8,874,071 B2
• Filed: 10/21/2011
• Issued: 10/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/21/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Digital Sandbox, Inc. (Fishtech Group LLC)
• Original Assignee: Digital Sandbox, Inc. (Fishtech Group LLC)
• Inventors: Ware, Bryan Scot, Ali, Jaffrey, Kerr, Robert Scott, Beverina, Anthony Francis, Hudson, Lindwood Dale, Sherman, Michael Jay
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu, Michael T
• Application Number:
  US13/279,022
• Publication Number:
  US 20120100825A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,103 Days
• Field of Search: 4554041-4042, 4554121-4122, 455/466, 455/432
• US Class Current: 455/404.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

A method and system for prioritizing and reporting an observation is disclosed. The observation is preferably received from a mobile device that determines a location of the observation and provides a user of the mobile device with a preselected list of classifications for the observation. The observation is prioritized based at least in part on the location and the classification associated with the observation. The priority may depend on a distance between the location in the observation and a catalog of objects of interest. The priority may also depend on the existence of other observations having the same classification within a threshold distance of the observation. The prioritized observation is routed to appropriate personnel based on the determined priority. The prioritized observation may also be included in an ordered list based on priority and/or rendered in a geospatial view with at least one display attribute being based on the priority.

Claims

1. A method for prioritizing and reporting an observation comprising the steps of:

receiving an observation indicative of an impending event from a mobile device, the observation comprising location information and an activity classification selected from a predetermined set of activity classifications;

calculating a priority for the observation based at least in part on the activity classification, the location information, a credibility of the source of the observation, and risk relevance, the credibility of the source being determined in part based on information identifying the source;

determining a routing protocol for the observation based on the calculated priority, the routing protocol including an identifier of a recipient of the observation; and

transmitting a report of the observation to at least one recipient based on the routing protocol.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the priority is based at least in part upon a distance between the location information in the observation and a location of an object of interest associated with the recipient.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the priority is based at least in part on the existence of a second observation from a different observer having a same activity classification as the activity in the observation and having location information that is within a threshold distance from the location information in the observation.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of combining the observation with a plurality of other observations in a manner indicative of the priority of the observation with respect to priorities of the plurality of other observations.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the observation is combined with the plurality of other observations in a priority ordered list.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the priority ordered list is rendered using a plurality of font sizes, each of the observation being assigned a font size based on the corresponding priority.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the observation is combined with the plurality of other observations in a geospatial view.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the geospatial view is rendered using icons based on the priority and type of activity and placed at the longitude and latitude of the observations.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein at least one object of interest associated with the at least one recipient is depicted in the geospatial view.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the location information associated with the observation is determined by the mobile device.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the observation includes additional information, further comprising the step of performing a content extraction on the additional information.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the additional information includes at least one image, and wherein the content extraction comprises an image analysis.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the image analysis comprises a facial recognition analysis.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the additional information comprises textual information, and wherein the content extraction comprises a sentiment analysis.

15. A system for prioritizing and reporting an observation, the system comprising:

at least one mobile device, the mobile device configured to execute an application for preparing an observation, the observation comprising location information determined by the mobile device and an activity classification, the activity classification being selected by a user of the mobile device from a predetermined set of activity classifications; and

a server, the server being configured to perform the steps of

receiving an observation indicative of an impending event from a mobile device, the observation comprising location information and an activity classification selected from a predetermined set of activity classifications;

calculating a priority for the observation based at least in part on the activity classification, the location information, a credibility of the source of the observation, and risk relevance, the credibility of the source being determined in part based on information identifying the source;

determining a routing protocol for the observation based on the calculated priority, the routing protocol including an identifier of a recipient of the observation; and

transmitting a report of the observation to the at least one recipient based on the routing protocol.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the server is further configured to serve a display of the observation together with a plurality of other observations in a manner indicative of the priority of the observation with respect to priorities of the plurality of other observations.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the observation is combined with the plurality of other observations in a priority ordered list.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the observation is combined with the plurality of other observations in a geospatial view.