Method and apparatus for efficient display of critical information in a dispatch environment

• US 9,015,594 B2
• Filed: 07/16/2009
• Issued: 04/21/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Eagle Technology, LLC (L3Harris Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Harris Corporation (L3Harris Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Dailey, Timothy Eugene
• Primary Examiner(s): BHARGAVA, ANIL K
• Application Number:
  US12/504,369
• Publication Number:
  US 20110016401A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,105 Days
• Field of Search: 715/736
• US Class Current: 715/736
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/38 Displays
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/42 Graphical user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5116 for emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5175 Call or contact centers supervision arrangements

Abstract

The invention pertains to methods and apparatus for displaying information about a communication network efficiently in a compact display area that can occupy a small portion of a monitor. The methods and apparatus also provide efficient mechanisms for interfacing with the communication network and calling up additional information at will.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with computer executable programming instructions for generating a graphical user interface for interfacing with a communication system, comprising:

a first computer software package having first executable instructions configured to control a communication network and provide a first graphical user interface within a display screen of a first computer system, said first graphical user interface comprising static elements including a plurality of User Interface controls facilitating the interface with and control of the communication system for coordinating efforts and locations of field personnel, the first graphical user interface designed to consume substantially all of the display screen; and

a second computer software package that runs independently and exclusive from the first computer software package having second executable instructions configured to

interface with a third computer software package running on a second computer system different than the first computer system for receiving an incident report that was input to said communication system after commencement of a temporal incident concerning at least one of a physical object, a person and a geographic location,

dynamically select a subset of the User Interface controls that are useful for activating services necessary to respond to the temporal incident described in the incident report, which temporal incident a user is intending to address via communications with the communications network, and

dynamically generate a second graphical user interface including the subset of the User Interface controls which were previously dynamically selected based on contents of the incident report,

display the second graphical user interface while the first graphical user interface is being displayed within the display screen;

wherein the second graphical user interface is designed to consume only a portion of a display screen, and said subset of the User Interface controls provided in said second graphical user interface are concurrently also accessible through the first graphical user interface.

2. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the second graphical user interface is in the form of a toolbar.

3. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the second computer software package is running on the second computer system.

4. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 3, wherein the first computer system is a dispatch console for the communication network.

5. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 4, wherein the second computer system comprises a computer aided dispatch computer system.

6. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 5, wherein the second computer software package and the third computer software package are exclusive with respect to each other.

7. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 4, wherein the second executable instructions are further configured to provide an application programming interface.

8. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the first computer software package further comprises computer executable instructions for transmitting information about the communication system to the second computer software package, and the second computer software package further comprises computer executable instructions for receiving the information about the communication network and displaying the information in the second graphical user interface.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the second computer software package further comprises computer executable instructions for calling up from at least one of the User Interface controls in the second graphical user interface at least one additional graphical user interface comprising additional User Interface controls allowing a user to interface with and control the communication system.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the second computer software package further comprises computer executable instructions for permitting a user to select which User Interface controls appear in the second graphical user interface.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein said third computer software package communicates said incident report to said second computer software package in response to a user acceptance of a recommendation as to what resources should be committed to the incident.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein said second computer software package is further configured to automatically create a patch group based on the information contained in the incident report.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein one of said first User Interface controls is configured to facilitate communications with the patch group.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein said second computer software package is further configured to

filter stored historical information so as to obtain a select portion thereof exclusively comprising all calls for all channel other than a selected channel, a call history in talkgroups assigned to a particular speaker, or calls of supervisory talkgroups, and

generate a window that shows the select portion of the stored historical information.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with computer executable programming instructions for generating a graphical user interface for interfacing with dispatch console software that controls a communication system, said computer executable programming instructions comprising:

first computer executable instructions for

receiving an incident report from Computer Aided Dispatch (“

CAD”

) system software, the incident report input to said communication system after commencement of a temporal incident concerning at least one of a physical object, a person and a geographic location,

dynamically selecting a subset of first User Interface controls of a first graphical user interface provided by dispatch console software based on contents of the incident report, where the first graphical user interface comprises static elements including the first User Interface controls facilitating the interface with and control of the communication system for coordinating efforts and locations of field personnel,

concurrent with the presentation of said first graphical user interface, dynamically generating a second graphical user interface comprising the subset of first User Interface controls which were previously dynamically selected based on contents of the incident report, where said subset of the User Interface controls is provided in said second graphical user interface also accessible through the first graphical user interface, and operable to control the dispatch console software to cause the dispatch console software to control the communication system, wherein at least one control of the subset of first User Interface controls also displays information about the communication system received from the dispatch console software, and

displaying the second graphical user interface while the first graphical user interface is being displayed within a display screen of a dispatch console;

second computer executable instructions that, responsive to a first user interface operation in connection with one of the first User Interface controls, causes a graphical user interface window to open displaying information about the communication system in list form; and

third computer executable instructions that, responsive to the first user interface operation, pre-sorts or pre-filters the list as a function of a first User Interface control in connection with which the first user interface operation was performed;

wherein said first, second and third computer executable instructions comprise a distinct software application that runs independently and exclusive of said dispatch console software.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the pre-sorting or prefiltering is a function of events occurring in the communication system.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the information about the communication system in list form comprises a list of calls made on the communication system.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the graphical user interface window comprises a second User Interface control that, when operated, causes the list to be filtered to show only the last call by each caller on the communication system.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the second graphical user interface is designed to consume only a portion of a display screen.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the second graphical user interface is in the form of a toolbar.

21. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the first computer executable instructions are running on a computer different than a computer on which the dispatch console software is running.

22. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the second graphical user interface does not interface with the CAD system software.

23. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein at least the first computer executable instructions are provided by a software module distinct from the dispatch console software and interfaces with the dispatch console software via an application programming interface.

24. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein at least the first computer executable instructions are provided by a software module executing within the dispatch console software.

25. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein at least the first computer executable instructions are provided by a plug-in software module to a module of the CAD system software.

26. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, further comprising:

fourth computer executable instructions for generating a third graphical user interface comprising second User Interface controls conveying information about talk groups in the communication system other than a selected talk group, the third graphical user interface including a text box that displays information about the most recently received call in any talk group other than the selected talk group.

27. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, further comprising:

fourth computer executable instructions for generating a third graphical user interface comprising second User Interface controls pertaining to a specific talk group;

fifth computer executable instructions for causing the third graphical user interface to include a fourth User Interface control displaying an identity of the at least one specific talk group and, responsive to operation of the fourth User Interface control, activate the specific talk group for communications; and

sixth computer executable instructions for causing the third graphical user interface to include a fifth User Interface control that displays a volume to which the specific talk group has been set when there are no communications in the specific talk group and displays an identity of an individual transmitting in the specific talk group when an individual is transmitting in the specific talk group.

28. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, further comprising:

fourth computer executable instructions for generating a speaker graphical user interface including a second User Interface control corresponding to each of a plurality of speakers; and

fifth computer executable instructions for causing each of the second User Interface controls to be in a first condition, responsive to the absence of communication in the corresponding talk group, in which it displays a volume to which the corresponding talk group has been set and to be in a second condition, responsive to transmissions in the corresponding talk group, in which it displays an identity of an individual transmitting in the specific talk group.

29. An apparatus for generating a graphical user interface for interfacing with a first computer software package for controlling a communication network and providing a first graphical user interface including User Interface controls for interfacing with and controlling the communication system, the first graphical user interface designed to consume substantially all of a display screen, comprising:

at least one computing device executing a software program which is independent and exclusive of said first computer software package for controlling said communication network, said software program operative to

receive, from a second computer software package that is different than the first computer software package, an incident report that was input to said communication system after commencement of a temporal incident concerning at least one of a physical object, a person and a geographic location,

dynamically select a subset of the User Interface controls that are useful for activating services necessary to respond to the temporal incident described in the incident report, which temporal incident a user is intending to address via communications with the communications network,

concurrent with the presentation of said first graphical user interface, dynamically generate a second graphical user interface including the subset of the User Interface controls which were previously dynamically selected based on contents of the incident report, where said subset of the User Interface controls are also accessible through the first graphical user interface, and the second graphical user interface is designed to consume only a portion of a display screen,

display the second graphical user interface while the first graphical user interface is being displayed in a display screen, and

transmit User Interface control inputs input into the computing device using the second graphical user interface from the software program to the first computer software package.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the second graphical user interface is in the form of a toolbar.

31. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the software program is further operative to provide an application programming interface for interfacing with the second computer software package.

32. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the software program is further operative to:

receive information about the communication system from the software package; and

display the information in the second graphical user interface.

33. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the software program is further operative to call up from at least one of the User Interface controls in the second graphical user interface at least one additional graphical user interface comprising additional User Interface controls allowing a user to interface with and control the communication system.

34. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the software program is further operative to permit a user to select which User Interface controls appear in the second graphical user interface.

35. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one computing device executing software configured to;

receive an incident report from Computer Aided Dispatch software which is independent and exclusive of said software executing on said computing device, where the incident report was input to a communication system after commencement of a temporal incident concerning at least of a physical object, a person and a geographic location;

dynamically select a subset of first User Interface controls of a first graphical user interface provided by dispatch console software based on content of the incident report, where

the first User Interface controls are useful for activating services necessary to response to the temporal incident described in the incident report, which temporal incident a user is intending to address via communications with the communication network,

at least one of the User Interface controls also displays information about the communication system received from the dispatch console software;

concurrent with the presentation of said first graphical user interface, dynamically generate a second graphical user interface comprising the subset of first User Interface controls which were previously dynamically selected based on contents of the incident report, said subset of the User Interface controls also accessible through the first graphical user interface;

display the second graphical user interface while the first graphical user interface is being displayed within the display screen;

responsive to a first user interface operation in connection with one of the first User Interface controls, cause a graphical user interface window to open displaying information about the communication system in a list; and

responsive to the first user interface operation, pre-sort or pre-filter the contents of the list as a function of a particular one of the first User Interface controls in connection with which the first user interface operation was performed.

36. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the list is pre-sorted or pre-filtered as a function of events occurring in the communication system.

37. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the list comprises information relating to calls made on the communication system.

38. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the graphical user interface window comprises a second User Interface control that, when operated, causes the list to be filtered to show only the last call by each caller on the communication system.

39. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein second graphical user interface is designed to consume only a portion of a display screen.

40. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the second graphical user interface is in the form of a toolbar.

41. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the software of further configured to generate a third graphical user interface comprising second User Interface controls conveying information about talk groups in the communication system other than a selected talk group, the third graphical user interface including a text box that displays information about the most recently received call in any talk group other than the selected talk group.

42. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the software is further configured to:

generate a third graphical user interface comprising second User Interface controls pertaining to a specific talk group;

cause the third graphical user interface module to include a third User Interface control displaying an identity of the at least one specific talk group and, responsive to operation of the third User Interface control, activate the specific talk group for communications; and

cause the third graphical interface to include a fourth User Interface control that displays a volume to which the specific talk group has been set when there are no communication in the specific talk group and displays an identity of an individual transmitting in the specific talk group when an individual is transmitting in the specific talk group.

43. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the software is further configured to:

generate a speaker graphical user interface including a second User Interface control for each of a plurality of speakers; and

cause each of the second User Interface controls in the speaker graphical user interface module to be in a first condition when there are no communications in the specific talk group in which it displays a volume to which the specific talk group has been set and to be in a second condition, when an individual is transmitting in the specific talk group, in which it displays an identity of an individual transmitting in the specific talk group.