Emergency mobile notification handling

• US 9,185,217 B2
• Filed: 12/31/2014
• Issued: 11/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Best Buy Health Incorporated (Best Buy Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: GreatCall Incorporated (Best Buy Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Williams, Dean, Merritt, Pat, van der Raadt, Krijn
• Primary Examiner(s): MIZRAHI, DIANE D
• Application Number:
  US14/588,020
• Publication Number:
  US 20150110255A1
• Time in Patent Office: 314 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1895 for short real-time information, e.g. alarms, notifications, alerts, updates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72421 with automatic activation of emergency service functions, e.g. upon sensing an alarm
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/04 for emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5116 for emergency applications
• 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 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

Systems and methods for handling emergency notification messages such as Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS) alerts. In an example scenario, a call center maintains personal profiles of a number of clients, including contact information for persons or other entities designated by the clients to receive information about the clients. The call center receives from a device associated with a particular client of the call center that the client'"'"'s device has received a text-based emergency notification message. The call center notifies one or more of the designated entities. The notification may include the content of the emergency notification message, and may include an audio version of the notification message. An indication or the notification message may also be placed in a database accessible to one or more of the designated persons or entities.

Claims

1. A method of operating a call center, the method comprising:

maintaining in electronic storage, by a computer system comprising a processor executing a program stored in a memory, personal profiles of a number of clients of a service provided by the call center, wherein each of at least some of the personal profiles includes contact information for one or more entities designated by the respective client for receiving information about the respective client from the call center;

receiving, via an electronic network from a communication device associated with a particular one of the clients, a text-based electronic emergency notification message originating from an emergency alert gateway, wherein the personal profile of the particular client includes contact information for one or more entities designated by the particular client for receiving information about the particular client from the call center; and

forwarding, to one or more of the entities designated in the personal profile of the particular client, a notification that the communication device associated with the particular client received the text-based electronic emergency notification message.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

deriving, from the content of the text-based electronic emergency notification message, data or signals that render at least some of the content of the text-based electronic emergency notification message into an audio format; and

transmitting the data or signals to either or both of the communication device associated with the particular client and one or more devices associated with the entities designated in the personal profile of the particular client.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising recording, in a database accessible via the electronic network to one or more devices associated with the entities designated in the personal profile of the particular client, the receipt of the text-based electronic emergency notification message from the communication device associated with the particular client.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

making the database accessible to the one or more devices associated with the entities designated in the personal profile of the particular client by serving content from the database as a page on the World Wide Web.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein recording the receipt of the text-based electronic emergency notification message in the database includes recording the content of the text-based electronic emergency notification message in the database such that the content of the text-based electronic emergency notification message is accessible via the electronic network to the one or more devices associated with the entities designated in the personal profile of the particular client.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the receipt of the text-based electronic emergency notification message constitutes an event, the method further comprising:

receiving from one of the devices associated with a particular entity designated in the personal profile of the particular client an indication that the particular entity has claimed the event; and

making available to any other devices associated with entities designated in the personal profile of the particular client an indication that the particular entity has claimed the event.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the receipt of the text-based electronic emergency notification message constitutes an event, the method further comprising:

providing a mechanism for entities designated in the personal profile of the particular client to claim the event; and

when no entity has claimed the event within a predetermined time, contacting the particular client.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, via the electronic network from a communication device associated with a particular one of the clients, a second text-based electronic emergency notification message originating from an emergency alert gateway, wherein the personal profile of the particular client includes contact information for one or more entities designated by the particular client for receiving information about the particular client from the call center;

applying one or more filter criteria to the second text-based electronic emergency notification message; and

in accordance with the filter criterion, determining that no indication that the communication device associated with the particular client received the second text-based message will be transmitted.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the filter criteria include a criterion based on the geographical location of the communication device associated with the particular client.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

supplementing the notification forwarded to the one or more of the entities designated in the personal profile of the particular client that the communication device associated with the particular client received the text-based message with additional information related to the cause of the text-based electronic emergency notification message.