Emergency radio communications system incorporating integral public safety radio bridging capability

• US 9,949,299 B2
• Filed: 07/06/2017
• Issued: 04/17/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/05/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Safecom 911 Inc
• Original Assignee: Safecom 911 Inc
• Inventors: Hobby, Patrick L., Petty, David E.
• Primary Examiner(s): NEFF, MICHAEL R
• Application Number:
  US15/642,631
• Publication Number:
  US 20170311358A1
• Time in Patent Office: 285 Days
• Field of Search: 4554041
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72421 with automatic activation of emergency service functions, e.g. upon sensing an alarm
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42221 Conversation recording systems at the subscriber's set H04M1/656
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5116 for emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0084 Network monitoring; Error detection; Error recovery; Network testing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• 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 communication system and method is provided for handling emergencies wherein public safety radios are used to directly communicate with normally incompatible radios used by organizations such as schools. The system includes a radio communication bridge that is selectively activated by emergency personnel to contact an organization undergoing an emergency. The bridge is activated via a TCP/IP command over an IP network or alternatively sent by a pre-programmed digital radio. Computer software or firmware at communication endpoints, emergency responder locations, and at an emergency call center facilitates functionality of the system to include emergency notifications, dissemination of information associated with a particular emergency, and the status of the system to include activation and deactivation of the radio bridge.

Claims

1. A communication system especially adapted for facilitating emergency communications between communicants having respective radio systems, said system comprising:

a computer processor located at a first communication endpoint;

a communication server for managing communications between the first communication endpoint and a second communication endpoint;

an Internet Protocol (IP) communications network for interconnecting said communications server and said computer processor, said server and said computer processor having respective IP addresses;

at least one public safety radio associated with one of said communication endpoints;

at least one local radio associated with the other of said communication endpoints;

at least one pre-programmed digital radio associated with said communication endpoints and operating on a different channel or frequency than said at least one public safety radio and said at least one local radio;

a radio bridge for facilitating direct radio communications between said at least one public safety radio and said local radio, said radio bridge including hardware enabling connection between the radios, said bridge communicating with said server to receive activation and deactivation instructions sent from an authorized user, said instructions being sent as IP packets over the communications network;

a digital radio module incorporated with said radio bridge, said module providing a capability to control said radio bridge by an Radio Frequency (RF) signal received from said at least one pre-programmed digital radio;

computer coded instructions associated with said server and said computer processor to selectively control and monitor the system to include (i) activation and deactivation of said radio bridge as controlled by said first computer and to prevent activation and deactivation control at said communication endpoint associated with the at least one local radio, and (ii) to produce visual displays on respective user interfaces of said first and second computers; and

wherein said visual displays include an indication of whether a radio bridge has been activated or deactivated by said at least one pre-programmed digital radio.

2. A communication system, as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

said indication of activation or deactivation by said at least one pre-programmed digital radio includes an indication of whether the radio is a public safety digital radio or a private digital radio.

3. A communication system, as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

said indication of activation or deactivation by said at least one pre-programmed digital radio includes an indication of which communication endpoint is connected by said bridge or disconnected from said bridge.

4. A communication system, as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

said digital radio module further includes a capability to control at least one function at a selected communication endpoint by an RF signal received from said at least one pre-programmed digital radio, said function including execution of control of a Public Address (PA) system at the communication endpoint to broadcast situational awareness messages over said PA system.

5. A method of communicating radio transmissions between communicants having respective radios, said method comprising:

providing a radio bridge for facilitating radio communications between at least one public safety radio and a local radio, said radio bridge including hardware enabling connection between the radios, said bridge communicating with a communications server to receive activation and deactivation instructions sent from an authorized user, said instructions being sent as Internet Protocol (IP) packets over a communications network of which said public safety radio and local radio are incorporated in;

providing a digital radio module incorporated with said radio bridge, said module providing a capability to alternatively control said radio bridge by an Radio Frequency (RF) signal received from said at least one pre-programmed digital radio that operates on a different channel or frequency than said at least one local radio;

providing computer coded instructions associated with said communications server to selectively control and monitor communications including activation and deactivation of said radio bridge, and to prevent activation and deactivation control at a location associated with said local radio or said at least one pre-programmed digital radio; and

generating an indication on a user interface of said radio bridge showing activation or deactivation of said radio bridge by said local radio or said at least one pre-programmed digital radio as associated with one or more communication endpoints.

6. A method, as claimed in claim 5, wherein:

said indication of activation or deactivation by said at least one pre-programmed digital radio includes an indication of whether the radio is a public safety digital radio or a private digital radio.

7. A method, as claimed in claim 6, wherein:

said indication of activation or deactivation by said at least one pre-programmed digital radio includes an indication of which communication endpoint is connected by said bridge or disconnected from said bridge.

8. A method, as claimed in claim 6, wherein:

said digital radio module further includes control of at least one function at a selected communication endpoint by an RF signal received from said at least one pre-programmed digital radio, said function including execution of control of a Public Address (PA) system at the selected communication endpoint to broadcast situational awareness messages over said PA system.

9. A communication system especially adapted for facilitating emergency communications between communicants having respective radio systems, said system comprising:

at least one pre-programmed digital radio;

a radio bridge for facilitating direct radio communications between at least one public safety radio associated with one communication endpoint and a local radio associated with another communication endpoint, said at least one pre-programmed digital radio operating on a different channel than said at least one local radio;

said bridge further including a processor that communicates with a communications server to receive activation and deactivation instructions sent from an authorized user, said instructions being sent as Internet Protocol (IP) packets over a communications network for interconnecting said communications server and at least one computer processor, said communication server and said at least one computer processor having respective IP addresses;

a digital radio module incorporated with radio bridge, said module providing controlled activation and deactivation of said radio bridge by an RF signal received from said at least one pre-programmed digital radio;

computer coded instructions associated with said server to selectively control and monitor the system to include (i) activation and deactivation of said radio bridge, and (ii) to produce visual displays on respective user interfaces of said first and second computers; and

wherein said visual displays include an activation or status screen showing a status of one or more selected communication endpoints and whether said endpoints have a radio bridge activated by an IP network associated with the system, an Radio Frequency (RF) network associated with said pre-programmed digital radio, or both said IP network or said RF network.

10. A communication system, as claimed in claim 9, wherein:

said visual displays further include an indication of activation or deactivation by said at least one pre-programmed digital radio, and further includes an indication of whether the radio is a public safety digital radio or a private digital radio.

11. A communication system, as claimed in claim 10 wherein:

said visual displays include an indication of activation or deactivation by said at least one pre-programmed digital radio as corresponding to which communication endpoint is connected by said bridge or disconnected from said bridge.

12. A communication system, as claimed in claim 10, wherein:

said digital radio module further includes control of at least one function at a selected communication endpoint by an RF signal received from said at least one pre-programmed digital radio, said function including execution of control of a Public Address (PA) system at the communication endpoint to broadcast situational awareness messages over said PA system.

13. A communication system especially adapted for facilitating emergency communications between communicants having respective radio systems, said system comprising:

a communication server for managing communications between communication endpoints within a communications network, said network interconnecting said communications server and at least one computer processor located at a respective communication endpoint, said server and said at least one computer processor having respective Internet Protocol (IP) addresses;

a radio bridge for facilitating radio communications between at least one public safety radio associated with a communication endpoint and at least one local radio associated with another communication endpoint, said bridge further including a processor that communicates with said communications server to receive activation and deactivation instructions sent from an authorized user, said instructions being sent as IP packets over the communications network;

computer instructions to selectively control and monitor the system to include (i) activation and deactivation of said radio bridge as controlled by said at least one computer processor and to prevent activation and deactivation control at a selected communication endpoint associated with the at least one local radio, and (ii) to produce visual displays on a user interface of said at least one computer processor; and

wherein said visual displays include an activation or status screen showing an audio detect feature indicative of which communication endpoints are transmitting radio communications.

14. A communication system, as claimed in claim 13, further including:

data displayed corresponding to recorded radio transmissions of said system, said recorded radio transmissions being associated with at least one of;

a 911 activation, a security activation, or a channel take over occurrence.

15. A communication system, as claimed in claim 14, wherein the displayed data further includes an indication of each recorded radio transmission and a relative time period over which each recorded radio transmission took place.

16. A communication system, as claimed in claim 14, wherein the displayed data further includes a chronologically aligned display of selected 911 activations, selected security activations, or selected channel take over occurrences as they took place over a selected time period for a selected communication endpoint.

17. A communication system, as claimed in claim 14, wherein:

said displayed data comprises a situational awareness tracker for determining an extent to which selected personnel located at a communication endpoint demonstrate proficiency.

18. A method of communicating radio transmissions between communicants having respective radios, said method comprising:

providing a radio bridge for facilitating radio communications between at least one public safety radio and a local radio, said bridge including a computer processor that communicates with a communications server to receive activation and deactivation instructions sent from an authorized user, said instructions being sent as Internet Protocol (IP) packets over a communications network of which said public safety radio and local radio are incorporated in;

providing computer instructions associated with said computer processor to selectively control and monitor communications including activation and deactivation of said radio bridge, and to prevent activation and deactivation control at a location associated with said at least one local radio; and

generating an indication on a user interface of said radio bridge showing an audio detect feature, said audio detect feature indicating which communication endpoints are transmitting radio communications.

19. A method, as claimed in claim 18, further including:

data displayed corresponding to recorded radio transmissions of said system, said recorded radio transmissions being associated with at least one of;

a 911 activation, a security activation, or a channel take over occurrence.

20. A communication system especially adapted for facilitating emergency communications between communicants having respective radio systems, said system comprising:

first and second computer processors located at respective communication endpoints;

a radio bridge for facilitating direct radio communications between at least one public safety radio and a local radio associated, said bridge further including a processor that communicates with a communications server that manages communications between the communication endpoints and to receive activation and deactivation instructions sent from an authorized user, said instructions being sent as Internet Protocol (IP) packets over a communications network that interconnects said communications server and said computer processors, said server and each of said computer processors having respective IP addresses;

computer instructions to selectively control and monitor the system to include (i) activation and deactivation of said radio bridge as controlled by said first computer and to prevent activation and deactivation control at said communication endpoint associated with the at least one local radio, and (ii) to produce visual displays on at least one user interface for said first or second computers; and

wherein said visual displays include an activation or status screen showing a channel take over feature, said channel take over feature indicating whether an authorized user has interrupted the ability of radio transmissions at a selected endpoint location.

21. A communication system, as claimed in claim 20, further including:

data displayed corresponding to recorded radio transmissions of said system, said recorded radio transmissions being associated with at least one of;

a 911 activation, a security activation, or a channel take over occurrence.

22. A communication system as claimed in claim 20, wherein:

said channel take over feature further includes activating and deactivating the radio bridge by manipulation of one or more icons on a user interface associated with said computer processor.

23. A communication system, as claimed in claim 21, wherein the displayed data further includes an indication of each recorded radio transmission and a relative time period over which each recorded radio transmission took place.

24. A communication system, as claimed in claim 21, wherein the displayed data further includes a chronologically aligned display of selected 911 activations, selected security activations, or selected channel take over occurrences as they took place over a selected time period for a selected communication endpoint.

25. A communication system, as claimed in claim 21, wherein:

said displayed data comprises a situational awareness tracker for determining an extent to which selected personnel at a communication endpoint demonstrate proficiency.