Method and apparatus for efficient and deterministic group alerting

• US 9,615,239 B2
• Filed: 03/14/2016
• Issued: 04/04/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CRITICAL HOLDINGS, INC.
• Original Assignee: GroupChatter LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Inventors: Dabbs, III, James M., Claise, Brian
• Primary Examiner(s): Bhattacharya, Sam
• Application Number:
  US15/069,488
• Publication Number:
  US 20160198324A1
• Time in Patent Office: 386 Days
• Field of Search: 4554041, 455410, 370310, 370349, 370390, 370442, 370445, 3705391
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/185 with management of multicast group membership
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/189 in combination with wireless systems selective distribution or broadcast in wireless communication networks H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management
• 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 68/02 Arrangements for increasing efficiency of notification or paging channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/022 One-way selective calling networks, e.g. wide area paging
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for reliable, wireless group messaging or alerting in a system having a database, switch, wireless network, and a plurality of intelligent mobile receivers. A message is broadcast to and received by a selected group of the mobile receivers. The network replies to the sender with detailed information about the individual members in the group. Each of the mobile receivers in the group can acknowledge the group message back to the system such as when the message is received, when the message is read, and a response when sent. The system employs centralized management to provide the sender with response information of the mobile receivers.

Claims

1. A method of alerting a group of recipients over a wireless network, each recipient capable of transmitting and receiving data, the method comprising the steps of:

storing for at least some of the recipients an assigned primary identifying address and one or more group addresses that are shared with selected ones of the other recipients;

receiving a communication from a network client requesting wireless transmission of a message to those of the recipients sharing a selected one of the group addresses;

transmitting a communication to the network client, the communication comprising group information relating to the selected one of the group addresses, the group information comprising at least one of;

(a) a count of those of the recipients having the one of the group addresses, and (b) the primary identifying addresses of said those of the recipients having the selected one of the group addresses;

broadcasting the message to the selected one of the group addresses via a wireless network, wherein the message specifies one or more actions to be taken by each recipient having the selected one of the group addresses;

receiving acknowledgment responses from respective ones of the recipients sharing the selected one of the group addresses via the wireless network in response to each respective recipient'"'"'s receipt of the message, the acknowledgement responses each comprising recipient identifying information and an indication of successful receipt of the message;

providing the acknowledgment responses to the network client; and

storing, for each recipient having the selected one of the group addresses, respective recipient identifying information for each respective recipient and a corresponding message alert status indicator indicating at least one of receipt of the message by the respective recipient, or transmission of the message to, but not receipt of the message by, the respective recipient;

wherein message alert status for each of the recipients having the selected one of the group addresses is determined, including at least identifying which of the recipients having the selected one of the group addresses received the message and which of the recipients having the selected one of the group addresses have not yet received the message, using the stored message alert status indicator of each respective recipient having the selected one of the group addresses.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the one or more actions include an action for text to be displayed.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the one or more actions do not include an action for text to be displayed.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the one or more actions include an action for text to be displayed and at least one other action.

5. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the message alert status for each respective recipient having the selected one of the group addresses is updated in near real-time.

6. An apparatus for alerting a group of recipients over a wireless network, each recipient having a two-way wireless communication function, an assigned primary identifying address, and one or more group addresses that are shared with selected ones of the other recipients, the apparatus comprising:

a processor, a storage device communicably coupled to the processor, a network client interface communicably coupled to the processor, and a wireless communication network interface communicably coupled to the processor, the storage device storing processor-executable instructions, which instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations, comprising;

receiving, via the network client interface, a communication from a network client requesting wireless transmission of a message to recipients sharing one of the group addresses;

communicating, via the wireless communication network interface, with the recipients sharing the one of the group addresses via a wireless communication network;

transmitting a communication to the network client, the communication comprising group information relating to the one of the group addresses, the group information comprising at least one of;

(a) a count of those the recipients having the one of the group addresses, and (b) those of the primary identifying addresses of those of the recipients having the one of the group addresses;

broadcasting the message to the one of the group addresses via the wireless communication network interface, wherein the message specifies one or more actions to be taken by each of those recipients having the one of the group addresses;

receiving acknowledgment responses from respective ones of those of the recipients having the one of the group addresses via the wireless communication network interface, each respective acknowledgement response comprising an indication of successful receipt of the message by a respective one of those of the recipients having the one of the group addresses;

storing, for each recipient having the one of the group addresses, respective recipient identifying information and a corresponding message alert status indicator indicating at least one of receipt of the message by the respective recipient, or transmission of the message but not receipt of the message by the respective recipient; and

providing at least one of the acknowledgment responses and a status of the stored message alert status indicator for each of the recipients having the one of the group addresses to the network client.

7. An apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the one or more actions includes an action for text to be displayed.

8. An apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the one or more actions do not include an action for text to be displayed.

9. An apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the one or more actions include an action for text to be displayed and at least one other action.

10. An apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the message alert status for each respective recipient having the one of the group addresses is updated in near real-time.

11. A deterministic group messaging system providing acknowledged group messaging comprising:

a memory device configured to store data comprising a device-specific identifying address for each of a plurality of responder devices;

a group-specific address corresponding to each of a number of respective groups of responder devices, each respective group of responder devices comprising selected ones of the plurality of responder devices; and

group membership data comprising the device-specific identifying addresses of those of the selected responder devices corresponding to each of the group-specific addresses, wherein each of the plurality of responder devices stores at least a subset of the data stored in the memory device, said subset of the data comprising a corresponding device-specific identifying address of that responder device in which it is stored and a corresponding group-specific address of each group to which that responder device belongs as a group member; and

a control module comprising a processing device that is configured to access the memory device and is programmed to

wirelessly broadcast a group message addressed to a selected one of the group addresses, wherein the group message specifies one or more actions to be taken by a recipient of the group message, and wherein each of the plurality of responder devices is configured to receive the broadcast group message, to analyze a group-specific address provided with the group message, and to send a response when the group-specific address provided with the group message is determined to be for a group to which that responder device belongs,

monitor for responses to the group message from group members of the group identified by the group-specific address provided with the group message, and

store acknowledgement data in the memory device for each of the group members identified by the group-specific address provided with the group message, the acknowledgement data comprising a listing of each of the group members identified by the group-specific address provided with the group message and an indication of having received a response for each of the group members identified by the group-specific address provided with the group message, the indication of having received a response comprising at least one of;

an indication of no response when a respective group member identified by the group-specific address provided with the group message has not yet responded to the group message, and an indication of response when a response sent by a respective group member identified by the group-specific address provided with the group message has been received.

12. A system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the one or more actions includes an action for text to be displayed.

13. A system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the one or more actions do not include an action for text to be displayed.

14. A system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the one or more actions include an action in addition to displaying text.

15. A system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the indication of response is updated in near real-time.