Prioritization of emergency calls

• US 8,976,939 B1
• Filed: 01/29/2013
• Issued: 03/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TriTech Software Systems (CentralSquare Technologies, LLC)
• Original Assignee: TriTech Software Systems (CentralSquare Technologies, LLC)
• Inventors: Hamilton, Mark David, MacDonald, Scott Michael, Meng, Chen-Lu, Martin, Ken D., Newsome, Rochelle Rae, Crosby, Paul L.
• Primary Examiner(s): WOO, STELLA L
• Application Number:
  US13/752,709
• Time in Patent Office: 770 Days
• Field of Search: 379/45, 379/37, 379/38, 455/404.1, 455/404.2
• US Class Current: 379/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/04 with alarm systems, e.g. fire, police or burglar alarm systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/04 for emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42357 where the information is provided to a monitoring entity such as a potential calling party or a call processing server
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5116 for emergency applications

Abstract

Systems and methods to prioritize emergency calls being placed to an emergency call center are based on geographical information, context information, and/or historical information associated with the emergency calls.

Claims

1. A system configured to prioritize incoming emergency calls for emergency operators, the system comprising:

one or more processors configured to execute computer program modules, the computer program modules comprising;

a call monitor module configured to monitor incoming emergency calls being placed to an emergency call center, wherein the incoming emergency calls include a first call and a second call;

a location module configured to obtain geographical locations associated with the incoming emergency calls such that, responsive to the first call being placed to the emergency call center, the location module obtains a first geographical location associated with the first call, and such that, responsive to the second call being placed to the emergency call center, the location module obtains a second geographical location associated with the second call;

a context module configured to obtain context information associated with the incoming emergency calls that describes the contexts in which the incoming emergency calls are placed, wherein context information is based on one or more geographical locations wherein the context module is configured such that, responsive to the first call being placed to the emergency call center, the context module obtains a first set of context information associated with the first call that describes a first context in which the first call is placed and includes the first geographical location, and such that, responsive to the second call being placed to the emergency call center, the context module obtains a second set of context information associated with the second call that describes a second context in which the second call is placed and includes the second geographical location;

a priority module configured to determine priority information that indicates priority for incoming emergency calls for presentation to emergency operators based on the context information such that, responsive to the first call and the second call being placed to the emergency call center, a relative priority between the first call and the second call is determined for presentation to an emergency operator based on the first set of context information and the second set of context information, wherein determination of the relative priority is further based on the first geographical location and the second geographical location; and

a presentation module configured to present incoming emergency calls to emergency operators in accordance with the priorities determined by the priority module such that, responsive to the first call and the second call being placed to the emergency call center, the first call and second call are presented to an emergency operator in accordance with the relative priority determined by the priority module.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein geographical locations obtained by the location module are based on one or both of metadata associated with incoming emergency calls and/or a database that correlates telephone numbers to addresses.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein geographical locations obtained by the location module are further based on one or both of global positioning system (GPS) information and/or information from one or more radio towers.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the context information includes information regarding proximity of one or more of geographical landmarks, roads, railroads, and/or bridges to the geographical locations.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the priority module is configured to determine priority information that indicates priority for incoming emergency calls by comparing geographical locations associated with the incoming emergency calls with geographical locations associated with emergency calls that have been answered by the emergency call center or are in the process of being answered by the emergency call center.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the priority module is configured to determine the relative priority between the first call and the second call by comparing the first geographical location and the second geographical location with one or more geographical locations associated with current emergency events.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the call monitor module monitors the incoming emergency calls before the incoming emergency calls are answered by the emergency call center.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a history module configured to obtain historical information associated with the incoming emergency calls such that, responsive to the first call being placed to the emergency call center, the history module obtains a first set of historical information associated with the first call, and such that, responsive to the second call being placed to the emergency call center, the history module obtains a second set of historical information associated with the second call,

wherein context information is further based on historical information from the history module.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the historical information of an individual incoming emergency call includes one or more of a call frequency associated with a telephone number for the individual incoming emergency call and/or one or more emergency types based on previous emergency calls associated with a telephone number for the individual incoming emergency call.

10. A computer-implemented method for prioritizing incoming emergency calls for emergency operators, the method being performed by one or more processors configured to execute computer program modules, the method comprising:

monitoring incoming emergency calls being placed to an emergency call center, wherein the incoming emergency calls include a first call and a second call;

obtaining a first geographical location associated with the first call and a second geographical location associated with the second call;

obtaining context information associated with the incoming emergency calls that describes the contexts in which the incoming emergency calls are placed, wherein context information is based on one or more geographical locations, wherein the context information includes a first set of context information associated with the first call and a second set of context information associated with the second call, wherein the first set of context information includes the first geographical information, and wherein the second set of context information includes the second geographical information;

determining priority information that indicates priority for incoming emergency calls based on obtained context information;

determining, responsive to the first call and the second call being placed to the emergency call center and responsive to determining the priority information, a relative priority between the first call and the second call for presentation to an emergency operator based on the first and second set of context information, wherein the relative priority is further based on the first geographical location and the second geographical location; and

presenting, responsive to the first call and the second call being placed to the emergency call center, the first call and second call to an emergency operator in accordance with the determined relative priority.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first geographical location is based on one or both of metadata associated with the first call and/or a database that correlates telephone numbers to addresses.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the first geographical location is further based on one or both of global positioning system (GPS) information and/or information from one or more radio towers.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein monitoring the incoming emergency calls is performed before the incoming emergency calls are answered by the emergency call center.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

obtaining, responsive to the first call and the second call being placed to the emergency call center, a first set of historical information associated with the first call and a second set of historical information associated with the second call,

wherein the relative priority is further based on the first set of historical information and the second set of historical information.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the first set of historical information includes one or more of a call frequency associated with a telephone number for the first call and/or one or more emergency types based on previous emergency calls associated with a telephone number for the first call.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the context information includes information regarding proximity of one or more of geographical landmarks, roads, railroads, and/or bridges to the geographical locations.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the relative priority is determined by comparing the first and second geographical locations associated with the first and second call with geographical locations associated with emergency calls that have been answered by the emergency call center or are in the process of being answered by the emergency call center.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the relative priority between the first call and the second call is determined by comparing the first geographical location and the second geographical location with one or more geographical locations associated with current emergency events.