Systems and methods for providing 9-1-1 services to nomadic internet telephony callers

• US 20060193446A1
• Filed: 02/25/2005
• Published: 08/31/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intellectual Ventures II LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: MCI Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Colunga, Elizabeth Anita
• Granted Patent: US 7,508,922 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/401 wherein the services involve a main real-time session and one or more additional parallel real-time or time sensitive sessions, e.g. white board sharing or spawning of a subconference
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/04 for emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/30 Determination of the location of a subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5116 for emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42

Abstract

A system for facilitating 9-1-1 service delivery to internet telephony customers is provided. The system includes a server device for receiving a 9-1-1 call from a user device via a data network, where the 9-1-1 call are based on “9-1-1” digits dialed at the user device. The server device is configured to forward the received 9-1-1 call to an operator services interface operatively connected to the server device.

Claims

1. A system for facilitating 9-1-1 service delivery to internet telephony customers, comprising:

a server device for receiving a 9-1-1 call from a user device via a data network, the 9-1-1 call being based on “

9-1-1”

digits dialed at the user device,

wherein the server device is configured to forward the received 9-1-1 call to an operator services interface operatively connected to the server device.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a storage medium associated with the server device for storing profile information associated with the user device.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the profile information includes an indication as to whether the user device is a fixed location device or a mobile user device.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the server device is configured to identify whether the user device is a fixed location device or a mobile user device based on the profile information associated with the user device, and forward the 9-1-1 call to an operative services interface operatively connected to the server device if the user device is a mobile user device.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a gateway device for interfacing between the data network and the operator services interface.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the operator services interface is configured to:

enable operator services personnel associated with the operator services interface to identify one of an appropriate emergency service provider (ESP) or public safety answering point (PSAP) based on query responses received from a user of the user device; and

transfer the 9-1-1 call to the identified ESP or PSAP for handling.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the ESP is operatively connected to the operator services interface for receiving the transferred 9-1-1 call from the user device.

8. The system of claim 6, further comprising:

a selective router operatively connected to both the operator services interface and the PSAP for routing the transferred 9-1-1 call from the operator services interface to the identified PSAP.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the transferred 9-1-1 call is routed to the PSAP via a designated 911 trunk line identified by the operator services interface.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein an Automatic Number Identification (ANI) associated with the transferred 9-1-1 call indicates that the transferred 9-1-1 call is an operator assisted call.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the data network is an Internet Protocol (IP) based network and wherein the user device is a voice over IP (VoIP) user device.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the server device comprises:

a proxy server for managing setup, processing, and tear down of received calls; and

a redirect server for examining call data and determining appropriate treatment for the call.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the user device is a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone and the server device includes both a SIP proxy server and a SIP redirect server.

14. A method for providing 9-1-1 services to an internet telephony user, comprising:

receiving a 9-1-1 call based on dialed digits “

9-1-1”

from a user device via a data network;

translating the dialed digits “

9-1-1”

digits to a “

0”

digit; and

forwarding the received 9-1-1 call, in response to the translated “

0”

digit, to an operator services interface.

15. The method of claim 14, comprising:

determining whether the user device is a fixed location user device or a mobile user device; and

translating the received “

9-1-1”

digits associated with the 9-1-1 call to a “

0”

digit when it is determined that the user device is a mobile user device.

16. The method of claim 15, comprising:

determining whether an automatic number identification (ANI) associated with the user device can be resolved when it is determined that the user device is a fixed location user device; and

translating the received “

9-1-1”

digits associated with the 9-1-1 call to a “

0”

digit when it is determined that the ANI associated with the user device can not be resolved.

17. The method of claim 14, comprising:

determining the geographic location of the user based on interactive querying between the user and operator services personnel in response to the forwarded 9-1-1 call received by the operator services interface; and

identifying an appropriate public safety answering point (PSAP) associated with the determined geographic location; and

forwarding the 9-1-1 call to the identified PSAP.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein forwarding the 9-1-1 call to the identified PSAP further comprises:

forwarding the 9-1-1 call on a dedicated 911 trunk line associated with the identified PSAP.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

forwarding the 9-1-1 call on a dedicated 911 trunk line associated with the identified PSAP via a selective router associated with the PSAP.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein forwarding the 9-1-1 call to the identified PSAP further comprises:

including call data with the forwarded 9-1-1 call indicating that the 9-1-1 call is an operator assisted call.

21. A method for providing 9-1-1 services to Voice over Internet Protocol subscribers comprising:

establishing a profile associated with a user device, wherein the profile indicates that the user device is a mobile user device not having a fixed geographic location;

receiving a dialed 9-1-1 call from the user device;

examining the profile to determine that the user device is a mobile user device;

manipulating the received “

9-1-1”

digits to a “

0”

digit;

forwarding the 9-1-1 call to an operator services interface;

identifying caller geographic location based on interactive queries between operator services personnel and the caller;

identifying an appropriate public safety answering point (PSAP) based on the identified caller geographic location; and

forwarding the 9-1-1 call to the identified PSAP via a 911 network associated with the PSAP.