System and method for emergency communications

• US 9,338,629 B2
• Filed: 05/14/2015
• Issued: 05/10/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Stadson Technology Corp.
• Original Assignee: Stadson Technology Corp.
• Inventors: Hudson, Mathew, Stadtlander, Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Ly, Nghi H
• Application Number:
  US14/711,862
• Publication Number:
  US 20150319592A1
• Time in Patent Office: 362 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.1, 455/404.2, 455/404.1, 455/414.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

The provision of emergency response services to a user can be based on transitioning a communications device associated with a user to a listening mode, setting a first timer, recording user actions with the communications device, ascertaining, based on a status of the first timer and the user actions, whether a criteria with respect to at least user interaction is met, and, if the criteria is met, transitioning the communications device to an emergency communications mode, else resetting the timer and repeating the recording and the ascertaining until the criteria is met. The emergency communication mode consists of forwarding user and live location information to a remote server and receiving emergency contact information, selected based on the user and live location information, for establishing a communication with emergency response personnel.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

obtaining, from a remote communications device, user information and live location information for the remote communications device;

setting a timer;

based on the user information and the live location information, generating a hidden incident object associated with the remote communications device; and

upon an expiry of the timer, making the hidden incident object visible to yield a visible incident object and forwarding contact information for a selected response authority to the remote communications device based on the live location information extracted from the visible incident object.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the live location information comprises a one of sets of location information acquired at the remote communications device and associated with an accuracy that is highest.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the hidden incident object is configured to include the user information and the live location information.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the hidden incident object is configured to prevent extraction of the live location information, and wherein making the hidden incident object visible comprises configuring the hidden incident object to allow extraction of the live location information.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing the obtaining, setting, generating, making, forwarding in response to a prompt from another remote communications device separate from the remote communications device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining further comprises obtaining the user information and live location information for the remote communications device from another remote communications device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the live location information comprises at least one of visual data or audio data.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the forwarding comprises:

parsing the visible incident object to extract the live location information; and

identifying a one of the at least one response authority having a service area intersecting the live location information to yield the selected response authority.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the identifying comprises:

retrieving a set of rules;

determining response authority information for each of the at least one response authority; and

selecting the one of the at least one response authority based at least one on the set of rules and the response authority information.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the rules are configured to provide the selecting based on at least one of location, response time, user affiliation, and type of emergency.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising forwarding incident information to the selected response authority, the incident information comprising at least a portion of the live location information.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising selecting the incident information based on a criteria.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

updating the incident information to yield updated incident information; and

forwarding the updated incident information to the selected response authority.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

determining that an abort signal has been received from the remote communications device and a state of the timer; and

upon determining that an abort signal has been received and that the state of the timer indicates that the timer has not expired, deleting the hidden incident object.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

manipulating the incident information to retrieve enhanced user location information containing increased location accuracy.

5. The method of 1, wherein the response authority can comprise one of the remote communications device or another remote communications device separate from the remote communications device.

17. A system, comprising:

a processor;

a non-transitory computer-readable medium, having stored thereon a plurality of instructions for causing the processor to perform the steps of;

obtaining, from a remote communications device, user information and live location information for the remote communications device;

setting a timer;

based on the user information and the live location information, generating a hidden incident object associated with the remote communications device; and

upon an expiry of the timer, making the hidden incident object visible to yield a visible incident object and forwarding contact information for a selected response authority to the remote communications device based on the live location information extracted from the visible incident object.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon a plurality of instructions for causing a computing device to perform steps comprising:

obtaining, from a remote communications device, user information and live location information for the remote communications device;

setting a timer;

based on the user information and the live location information, generating a hidden incident object associated with the remote communications device; and

upon an expiry of the timer, making the hidden incident object visible to yield a visible incident object and forwarding contact information for a selected response authority to the remote communications device based on the live location information extracted from the visible incident object.