Enabling emergency call back to a user device

• US 8,965,325 B2
• Filed: 11/23/2010
• Issued: 02/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/23/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Li, Mingxing, Evans, Jeffrey R., Wurster, John H., Lau, Priscilla
• Primary Examiner(s): TORRES, MARCOS L
• Application Number:
  US12/952,771
• Publication Number:
  US 20120129482A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,554 Days
• Field of Search: 455/404.1, 455/404.2, 455/445, 455/560, 379/37, 379/45
• US Class Current: 455/404.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2005 Temporarily overriding a service configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42195 Arrangements for calling back a calling subscriber when the wanted subscriber ceases to be busy H04M3/48
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5116 for emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/54 Arrangements for diverting calls for one subscriber to another predetermined subscriber based on the calling party profile H04M3/42059; based on location H04M3/42348; based on presence H04M3/42365; to voice mail H04M3/53308
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42

Abstract

Emergency call backs may be placed to a user device in a manner that bypasses certain features (e.g., call forwarding) that may be enabled by the device. A method may include receiving an emergency call from a user device; and creating, in response to the emergency call, an emergency session associated with the user device, where the creating includes forwarding the call to a public safety access point (PSAP) server that handles emergency calls. The method may further include receiving a call, such as an emergency call back call, destined for the user device; determining that the emergency session has not expired when an elapse time associated with the emergency session is less than a threshold; and forwarding, to the user device, the call, as a return call from the PSAP server, based on the determination that the emergency session has not expired.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a server device, an emergency call a first user device, where a user of the first user device has enabled a feature that causes one or more calls, destined for the first user device, to be forwarded to a second user device or not to be forwarded to the first user device, wherein the emergency call is a Session Initiation Session (SIP) call;

creating, by the server device and in response to the emergency call, an emergency session associated with the first user device, where the creating includes;

storing, in a memory, a data item that includes a device identifier associated with the first user device, a time at which the emergency call is received from the first user device, and a threshold associated with a time after which the emergency call expires, and

forwarding the emergency call to a public safety access point (PSAP) server that handles emergency calls;

receiving, by the server device, a second SIP call with identification data;

identifying the first user device as a destination to which the second call is directed by accessing the data item, by matching the identification data to the device identifier;

determining, by the server device, that the emergency session has not expired when an elapse time associated with the emergency session is less than the threshold;

processing, by the server device, the second SIP call as a PSAP callback by sending a notification to an application server to disable the feature that causes one or more calls, destined for the first user device, to be forwarded to a second user device or not to be forwarded to the first user device; and

forwarding, by the server device and to the first user device, the second call, as a return call from the PSAP server, based on the disabled feature.

2. The method of claim 1, where receiving the emergency call further includes:

obtaining location information associated with the first user device from the emergency call; and

identifying the PSAP server, of a plurality of PSAP servers, to which the emergency call is to be sent based on the location information associated with the first user device.

3. The method of claim 1, where creating the emergency session further includes:

identifying the first user device based on information associated with the first user device obtained from the emergency call; and

forwarding the emergency call to the PSAP server in a manner that includes the information, associated with the first user device, that enables the PSAP server to place the second call.

4. The method of claim 1, where determining that the emergency session has not expired further includes:

looking up, in the data item, the time at which the emergency call was received;

determining the elapsed time of the emergency session based on a current time and the time at which the emergency call was received; and

comparing the elapsed time to the threshold.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a third call destined for the first user device;

determining that the emergency session has expired when another elapse time associated with the emergency session is greater than the threshold; and

forwarding the third call to the second user device based on the feature that causes the one or more calls, destined for the first user device, to be forwarded to the second user device and the determination that the emergency session has expired.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a third call destined for a third user device;

determining that there is no emergency session associated with the third user device; and

processing the third call as a normal call based on the determination that there is no emergency session associated with the third user device.

7. A server device comprising:

a memory to store a data structure that includes;

a device identifier associated with a user device,

a particular time at which an emergency call was received from the user device, where the user device has enabled a feature that causes calls, destined for the user device, to be forwarded to another user device or not to be forwarded to the user device; and

a processor to;

receive a return call destined for the user device from a public safety access point (PSAP) server that received the emergency call, wherein the return call includes identification data,

access the data structure based on the identification data and the device identifier included in the data structure,

obtain the particular time from the data structure;

determine whether an emergency session, associated with the user device and the emergency call, has expired based an elapsed time and a session threshold, where the elapsed time is based on a current time and the particular time obtained from the data structure,

forward the return call, as an emergency return call, to the user device when the elapsed time is less than the session threshold, where forwarding the return call, as the emergency return call, includes causing an application server to disable the feature for the return call by sending a notification to the application server that implements the feature enabled by the user device, and

forward the return call, as a normal call, to the other user device when the elapsed time is greater than the session threshold, where forwarding the return call, as the normal call, includes forwarding the return call to the application server that implements the feature enabled by the user device.

8. The server device of claim 7, where the processor is further to:

receive, from the user device, the emergency call at the particular time, start a timer associated with an emergency session with the user device as a result of receiving the emergency call, and

store, in the data structure within the memory, emergency session information associated with the user device, where the emergency session information includes the device identifier and the particular time.

9. The server device of claim 7, where, when forwarding the return call, as the normal call, the processor is further to:

forward the return call to an application server, where the application server identifies the feature that is enabled by the user device, and

receive the return call from the application server, where the return call includes information associated with the other user device to which the return call is to be transferred.

10. The server device of claim 9, where, when forwarding the return call, as the emergency return call, the processor is further to:

bypass the forwarding of the return call to the application server.

11. The server device of claim 7, where the feature that is enabled by the user device includes at least one of a do not disturb feature, a call forwarding feature, or a simultaneous ring feature, where:

the do not disturb feature causes the return call to be forwarded to a voicemail box associated with the user device,

the call forwarding feature causes the return call to be forwarded to the other user device, and

the simultaneous ring features causes the return call to be forwarded to the user device and the other user device.

12. The server device of claim 7, where the processor is further to:

receive another emergency call from a second user device, where the second user device is not registered with a network associated with the server device, and

transfer the other emergency call to another server device, where the other server device handles emergency calls from unregistered user devices and forwards the emergency call to another PSAP server.

13. The server device of claim 7, where the processor is further to:

receive, from the user device, the emergency call at the particular time,

communicate with another server device to identify to which PSAP server, of a plurality of PSAP servers, the emergency call is to be forwarded based on location information associated with the user device obtained from the emergency call, and

forward the emergency call to the PSAP server based the communicating with the other server device.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions, when executed by one or more processors, for:

receiving an emergency call from a user device, where a user of the user device has activated a feature that redirects calls, destined for the user device, to another user device and that causes calls, destined for the user device, not to be directed to the user device;

creating in response to the emergency call, an emergency session associated with the user device, where the instructions for creating include instructions for;

storing, in a memory, a data item that includes a device identifier associated with the user device, a time at which the call is received from the user device, and a threshold associated with a time after which the emergency call expires, and

forwarding the emergency call to a public safety access point (PSAP) server that handles emergency calls;

receiving a second call with identification data;

identifying the user device as a destination to which the second call is directed by accessing the data item by matching the identification data to the device identifier;

determining that the call is a return call, associated with the emergency call based on identifying that the user device is the destination, when a period of time since the emergency call was received is less than the threshold; and

forwarding the return call to the user device via an application server that temporarily deactivates, in response to the determination that the call is a return call, the feature that redirects calls to the other user device and causes calls not to be directed to the user device.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, where the instruction for receiving the emergency call from the user device further includes instructions for:

starting a timer for an emergency session associated with the user device.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 further comprising instructions for:

receiving another call destined for another user device;

determining that the other call is not a return call, associated with another emergency call,

when information associated with the other emergency call, that corresponds to the other user device, is not stored in the data item,

forwarding the other call to a further user device based on a feature, associated with the other user device, that redirects calls to the further user device.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions for determining that the call is the return call associated with the emergency call further includes instructions for:

determining the period of time since the emergency call was received based on the time at which the emergency call was received and a current time; and

comparing the period of time since the call was received with the threshold.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, further comprising instructions for:

receiving another call destined for the user device;

determining that the call is not a return call, associated with another emergency call, when a period of time since the other emergency call was received is greater than the threshold; and

forwarding the other call to the other user device based on the feature that redirects calls to the other user device.