System and method for managing emergency calls

• US 9,258,419 B2
• Filed: 03/25/2009
• Issued: 02/09/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Bradburn, Travis L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Duc
• Assistant Examiner(s): BLAIR, KILE O
• Application Number:
  US12/411,330
• Publication Number:
  US 20100246781A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,512 Days
• Field of Search: 379/37, 379/45, 379/46, 379/47, 379/48, 379/49, 379/50, 379/51, 455/404.1, 455/404.2, 455/521
• 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: H04M 2242/04 for emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5116 for emergency applications

Abstract

A system and method for managing emergency calls are disclosed herein. The method includes receiving an emergency related call at a call center, and during the emergency related call, retrieving information related to i) a type of incident being reported, ii) a location of the incident being reported, and iii) a description of the incident being reported. A public safety answering point to notify of the incident is identified, where such identification is based upon at least some of the retrieved information. A database is searched for outgoing calls to the identified public safety answering point, and based upon results from the searching, a determination is made as to whether to contact the identified public safety answering point.

Claims

1. A method for managing emergency calls, the method comprising:

receiving an emergency related call at a call center;

during the emergency related call, retrieving, from a caller, information related to i) a type of incident being reported, and ii) a description of the incident being reported, and retrieving, from the caller or from GPS coordinates of the call, a location of the incident being reported;

by a processor running a program, identifying a public safety answering point to notify of the incident based upon at least some of the retrieved information;

by the processor, searching a database for outgoing calls to the identified public safety answering point;

generating, by the processor and as a result of the searching, a search report indicating that at least one other call has been made to the identified public safety answering point;

reviewing information from the at least one other call, the at least one other call information related to i) a type of incident having been reported, ii) a location of the incident having been reported, and iii) a description of the incident having been reported;

determining whether the emergency related call is a duplicate of the at least one other call; and

determining, based upon results from the determining whether the emergency related call is the duplicate of the at least one other call, whether to contact the identified public safety answering point.

2. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein prior to identifying the public safety answering point, the method further comprises uploading the retrieved information to the database.

3. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein searching the database includes querying the database for outgoing calls to the identified public safety answering point within a predetermined time period of the received emergency related call.

4. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein the emergency related call is the duplicate of the at least one other call, and wherein the method further comprises determining not to contact the identified public safety answering point.

5. The method as defined in claim 4, further comprising notifying the caller associated with the received emergency related call that the identified public safety answering point has been notified of the incident.

6. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein the emergency related call is not the duplicate of the at least one other call, and wherein the method further comprises contacting the identified public safety answering point.

7. The method as defined in claim 6 wherein when at least one of:

i) the type of incident being reported and the type of incident having been reported, ii) the location of the incident being reported and the location of the incident having been reported, or iii) the description of the incident being reported and the description of the incident having been reported are not identical, the information is determined to not match.

8. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein determining whether the emergency related call is the duplicate of the at least one other call includes:

comparing the information retrieved during the emergency related call and the at least one other call information; and

determining, from the comparison, whether the information from each of the calls matches.

9. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein the description of the incident being reported includes a description of a vehicle involved in the incident, a description of people involved in the incident, or combinations thereof.

10. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein retrieving the information related to the location of the incident being reported is accomplished via GPS coordinates received with the call or via a caller associated with the emergency related call.

11. The method as defined in claim 1 wherein identifying the public service answering point includes determining a type of public service answering point.

12. The method as defined in claim 11 wherein determining the type of public service answering point is based upon the type of incident being reported, the description of incident being reported, or a combination thereof.

13. A system for managing emergency calls, the system comprising:

a call center advisor configured to;

receive an emergency related call at a call center;

during the emergency related call, retrieve information related to i) a type of incident being reported from a caller, ii) a location of the incident being reported from the caller or from GPS coordinates of the call, and iii) a description of the incident being reported from the caller;

a call center processor configured to;

identify a public safety answering point to notify of the incident based upon at least some of the retrieved information; and

search a call center database for outgoing calls from the call center to the identified public safety answering point; and

the identified public safety answering point configured to be notified of the incident being reported when the call center advisor determines, based upon results from the search, that the identified public safety answering point should be contacted.

14. The system as defined in claim 13, further comprising a search report generated via the database, the search report indicating that at least one other call has been made to the identified public safety answering point.

15. The system as defined in claim 14 wherein the call center processor is further configured to display to the call center advisor information from the at least one other call, the at least one other call information related to i) a type of incident having been reported, ii) a location of the incident having been reported, and iii) a description of the incident having been reported.

16. The system as defined in claim 14 wherein the at least one other call is a duplicate of the emergency related call.