Method and apparatus for receiving and providing disaster information

• US 8,923,800 B2
• Filed: 07/15/2011
• Issued: 12/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Kim, Sei-kwon, Kim, Hong-soo
• Primary Examiner(s): RAMPURIA, SHARAD K
• Application Number:
  US13/183,956
• Publication Number:
  US 20120190295A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,264 Days
• Field of Search: 455/521, 4554041-4042, 4554561-457, 4554141-4143, 455517-519, 379/45
• US Class Current: 455/404.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/26 Government or public services business processes related to the transportation industry G06Q50/40
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/10 responsive to calamitous events, e.g. tornados or earthquakes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• 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 apparatus for receiving and providing disaster information. The method of providing the disaster information includes: classifying a disaster service district into a plurality of emergency zones according to a danger level; transmitting information regarding the plurality of emergency zones to at least one mobile terminal located within the plurality of emergency zones, and receiving a location of the at least one mobile terminal from the at least one mobile terminal; and sequentially transmitting disaster information according to the danger level, to the at least one mobile terminal in the plurality of emergency zones, based on the location of a disaster which has been received from a disaster information server, when a disaster occurs.

Claims

1. A method of providing disaster information, the method comprising:

classifying a disaster service district into a plurality of emergency zones according to a danger level;

transmitting information regarding the plurality of emergency zones to mobile terminals located within the plurality of emergency zones, and receiving a location of the mobile terminals from the mobile terminals; and

sequentially transmitting disaster information according to the danger level of the plurality of emergency zones, first to the mobile terminals in the most dangerous emergency zone within the plurality of emergency zones, based on the location of a disaster which has occurred in the disaster service district, where the location of the disaster is received from a disaster information server, in response to the occurrence of a disaster,

wherein the sequentially transmitting of the disaster information comprises comparing the location where the disaster occurred with the location of at least one mobile terminal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of emergency zones are re-set according to the danger level whenever the disaster information is received from the disaster information server.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the sequentially transmitting of the disaster information comprises:

sequentially transmitting the disaster information from a first emergency zone having the highest danger level to an nth emergency zone having the lowest danger level, based on the result of comparing the location of the disaster with the location of the mobile terminal.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the disaster information comprises information regarding a current dangerous situation, and information regarding a shelter that a user can go to in order to avoid the disaster.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising analyzing the location of the mobile terminals according to the plurality of emergency zones, and updating location information of the mobile terminals based on the analyzed location of the mobile terminals.

17. A non-transitory computer readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program, wherein the program, when executed by a processor of a computer, causes the computer to execute the method of claim 1.

6. A method of receiving disaster information, the method comprising:

checking a current location by using a global positioning system (GPS);

checking whether the current location is within an emergency zone pre-set by a disaster service server;

in response to the current location being within the emergency zone, transmitting identification information and the current location to the disaster service server; and

upon receiving disaster information which corresponds to the current location of the disaster from the disaster service server, notifying a user through their mobile terminal of a current dangerous situation and the location of a shelter which the user can go to in order to avoid the disaster, based on the received disaster information,

wherein the emergency zone is one of a plurality of emergency zones obtained by classifying a disaster service district according to a danger level, and

the receiving is a sequential receiving of disaster information according to the danger level of the plurality of emergency zones first by the mobile terminals of the most dangerous emergency zone within the plurality of emergency zones,

wherein the sequential receiving of the disaster information comprises comparing the location where the disaster occurred with the location of at least one mobile terminal.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the current location is updated according to at least one of a predetermined time and a predetermined distance.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the identification information comprises at least one of a phone number, an internet protocol (IP), and an email address.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the current dangerous situation and the location of the shelter are expressed by at least one of displaying characters on a screen and providing voice notification.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising, in response to a user being outside the pre-set emergency zone, transmitting a notification message to notify that the user is outside the pre-set emergency zone, which is pre-set by the disaster service server.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein the notifying of the current dangerous situation and the location of the shelter comprises extracting the current dangerous situation and the location of the shelter from the disaster information, and notifying the user of the current location of the dangerous situation and the location of the shelter, by at least one of a display screen and voice notification.

12. An apparatus for providing disaster information, the apparatus comprising:

an emergency zone classifier configured to classify a disaster service district into a plurality of emergency zones, according to disaster statistics;

a user data manager configured to manage user data of mobile terminals located within the plurality of emergency zones; and

a disaster information processor configured to sequentially transmit disaster information received from a disaster information server first to the mobile terminals in the most dangerous emergency zone, according to a danger level, based on a location of a disaster which has occurred,

wherein the sequentially transmitting of the disaster information comprises comparing the location where the disaster occurred with the location of at least one mobile terminal.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the user data comprises at least one of a location, a phone number, and subscription information of the mobile terminals located within the plurality of emergency zones.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the disaster information processor transmits information regarding the plurality of emergency zones to the mobile terminals in the plurality of emergency zones, receives a location of the mobile terminals from the mobile terminals, and sequentially transmits the disaster information received from the disaster information server according to the danger level, to the mobile terminals based on the location of the disaster which has occurred.

15. An apparatus for receiving disaster information, the apparatus comprising:

a location checker configured to check a current location by using a global positioning system (GPS); and

a controller configured to transmit identification information and the current location to a disaster service server in response to the current location corresponding to an emergency zone set by the disaster service server, and upon receiving disaster information from the disaster service server, to generate danger warning information which corresponds to the disaster information,

wherein the emergency zone is one of a plurality of emergency zones obtained by classifying a disaster service district according to a danger level, and

the receiving is a sequential receiving of disaster information according to the danger level of the plurality of emergency zones first by a controller of an apparatus of the most dangerous emergency zone within the plurality of emergency zones,

wherein the sequential receiving of the disaster information comprises comparing the location where the disaster occurred with the location of at least one mobile terminal.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the controller extracts information regarding a current dangerous situation and information about the location of a shelter from the disaster information, and generates information warning of a dangerous situation which has occurred, including the current dangerous situation and the information regarding the location of the shelter, by at least one of displaying characters on a screen, and providing voice notification.