Emergency text communications

• US 9,094,535 B2
• Filed: 03/11/2013
• Issued: 07/28/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Boni, Piotr, Armstrong, Michael, Schulzrinne, Henning, Song, Wonsang, Kim, Jong Yul
• Primary Examiner(s): Gauthier, Gerald
• Application Number:
  US13/793,217
• Publication Number:
  US 20130188783A1
• Time in Patent Office: 869 Days
• Field of Search: 379/45, 379/88.12, 455/404.1, 455/404.2, 455/432.1, 400/310, 370/352, 600/310, 715/764
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/04 with alarm systems, e.g. fire, police or burglar alarm systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/50 for emergency connections

Abstract

A system includes one or more devices connected to or within one of a group of emergency services networks. The one or more devices may generate a text message that includes information identifying a user device, information identifying a geographic location of the user device, and information identifying a particular emergency services network of the group of emergency services networks; establish, based on the text message, a text-based communication session between the user device and a call taker device within the particular emergency services network; store session information regarding the text-based communication session; receive a subsequent text message; and transmit the subsequent text message to the call taker device based on the session information.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a first device, a text message from a user device;

determining, by the first device and based on the received text message, a geographic location of the user device;

selecting, by the first device and based on the determined geographic location of the user device, an emergency services network of a plurality of emergency services networks covering different geographic locations;

transmitting, by the first device, the received text message to the selected emergency services network;

receiving, by the first device and based on transmitting the received text message to the selected emergency services network, another text message from a second device associated with the selected emergency services network; and

establishing, by the first device and based on receiving the other text message from the second device, a communication session between the user device and the second device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining the geographic location of the user device based on a selection of a location prompt on the user device.

3. The method of claim 2, where, when determining the geographic location of the user device based on the selection of the location prompt on the user device, the method further includes:

receiving user input location information; and

determining the geographic location of the user device based on the received user input location information.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request for emergency services based on a selection of a prompt on the user device;

generating, based on the received request, a dialog window; and

providing, for presentation in the dialog window, the received text message and the received other text message.

5. The method of claim 1, where the received text message is generated based on one of:

receiving text input via a short message services application operating on the user device, or

receiving text input via an instant messaging application operating on the user device.

6. The method of claim 1, where, when transmitting the received text message to the selected emergency services network, the method further includes:

transmitting the received text message to the selected emergency services network using a routing proxy that identifies the second device.

7. The method of claim 6, where, when receiving the text message from the second device, the method further includes:

receiving the text message from the second device without using the routing proxy.

8. A system comprising:

one or more first devices to;

receive a text message from a user device;

determine, based on the received text message, a geographic location of the user device;

select, based on the determined geographic location of the user device, an emergency services network of a plurality of emergency services networks covering different geographic locations;

transmit the received text message to the selected emergency services network;

receive, based on transmitting the received text message to the selected emergency services network, another text message from a second device associated with the selected emergency services network; and

establish, based on receiving the other text message from the second device, a communication session between the user device and the second device.

9. The system of claim 8, where the one or more first devices are further to:

determine the geographic location of the user device based on a selection of a location prompt on the user device.

10. The system of claim 9, where, when determining the geographic location of the user device based on the selection of the location prompt on the user device, the one or more first devices are further to:

receive user input location information; and

determine the geographic location of the user device based on the received user input location information.

11. The system of claim 8, where the one or more first devices are further to:

receive a request for emergency services based on a selection of a prompt on the user device;

generate, based on the received request, a dialog window; and

provide, for presentation in the dialog window, the received text message and the received other text message.

12. The system of claim 8, where the received text message is generated based on one of:

text input received via a short message services application operating on the user device, or

text input received via an instant messaging application operating on the user device.

13. The system of claim 8, where the one or more first devices, when transmitting the received text message to the selected emergency services network, are further to:

transmit the received text message to the selected emergency services network using a routing proxy that identifies the second device.

14. The system of claim 13, where the one or more first devices, when receiving the text message from the second device, are further to:

receive the text message from the second device without using the routing proxy.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions, the instructions comprising:

one or more instructions which, when executed by at least one processor of a first device, cause the at least one processor to;

receive a text message from a user device;

determine, based on the received text message, a geographic location of the user device;

select, based on the determined geographic location of the user device, an emergency services network of a plurality of emergency services networks covering different geographic locations;

transmit the received text message to the selected emergency services network;

receive, based on transmitting the received text message to the selected emergency services network, another text message from a second device associated with the selected emergency services network; and

establish, based on receiving the other text message from the second device, a communication session between the user device and the second device.

16. The medium of claim 15, where the instructions further include:

one or more instructions to determine the geographic location of the user device based on a selection of a location prompt on the user device.

17. The medium of claim 16, where the one or more instructions to determine the geographic location of the user device based on the selection of the location prompt on the user device include:

one or more instructions to receive user input location information; and

one or more instructions to determine the geographic location of the user device based on the received user input location information.

18. The medium of claim 15, where the instructions further include:

one or more instructions to receive a request for emergency services based on a selection of a prompt on the user device;

one or more instructions to generate, based on the received request, a dialog window; and

one or more instructions to provide, for presentation in the dialog window, the received text message and the received other text message.

19. The medium of claim 15, where the received text message is generated based on one of:

text input received via a short message services application operating on the user device, or

text input received via an instant messaging application operating on the user device.

20. The medium of claim 15, where

the one or more instructions to transmit the received text message to the selected emergency services network include:

one or more instructions to transmit the received text message to the selected emergency services network using a routing proxy that identifies the second device, and

the one or more instructions to receive the text message from the second device include;

one or more instructions to receive the text message from the second device without using the routing proxy.