Incident command post

• US 20060217881A1
• Filed: 03/28/2005
• Published: 09/28/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Raiyani, Samir, Pei, Robert, Kaldewey, Tim
• Granted Patent: US 7,881,862 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/208
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/10 Map spot or coordinate position indicators; Map reading aids optical projection apparatus per se G03B

Abstract

Provided are systems and methods for tracking resources at a site and initiating audio and video communication with tracked resources using multiple input and output modalities. The systems include a location tracking system, including a positioning engine and a presentation engine, an environmental tracking system, location and environmental sensors, either permanently installed or temporarily deployed, and portable devices such as mobile phones or personal digital assistants carried by the tracked resources and users. The methods include tracking such resources at a site, displaying their locations on a portable device using a visual map display, and providing the ability to initiate bi-directional audio and video communications with one of more of the tracked resources.

Claims

1. A system for dynamically mapping a site for presentation to a user, the system comprising:

a. a computer network;

b. a plurality of location sensors that can transmit location signals over the network;

c. a network module for receiving the location signals;

d. a location tracking system comprising;

i. a positioning engine for interpreting the location signals into location information and dynamically generating a map of the site; and

ii. a presentation engine for displaying the map to the user; and

e. a user display.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the system can update the dynamic map on an ongoing basis by receiving and interpreting additional location signals.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein one of the location sensors is associated with a tracked resource.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the system further comprises a personal digital assistant, laptop computer or a mobile phone that includes a user display.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the system is integrated with a multimodal system.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein at least some of the location sensors are extant location sensors associated with the site.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein at least some of the location sensors are RFID location sensors placed at the site at the time of mapping.

8. The system of claim 1 further comprising environmental sensors that transmit environmental signals.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the environmental signals are interpreted as environmental information and presented in conjunction with the map of the site.

10. The system of claim 1 further comprising one or more of the following:

a mobile computing framework;

a location tracking system;

an archiving system;

a map storage device;

or an environmental tracking system.

11. A method of presenting localized environmental information superimposed on a map of a site, to a user, the method comprising:

a. receiving location signals from a plurality of location sensors and environmental signals from a plurality of environmental sensors;

b. interpreting the location signals as location information and the environmental signals as environmental information;

c. applying the location information and the environmental information to a map of the site as localized environmental information;

d. displaying and archiving the map with the applied information;

e. repeating a through d on an ongoing basis so as to dynamically update the localized environmental information; and

a. determining occurrence of an event when the environmental information indicates that an environmental parameter falls outside of a predetermined range.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein one of the location sensors is associated with a tracked resource.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the displaying is carried out on a personal digital assistant, laptop computer or a mobile phone that includes a user display.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein user inputs and outputs are from a multimodal system.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein at least some of the location or environmental sensors are extant sensors associated with the site.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein at least some of the location or environmental sensors are RFID sensors placed at the site at the time of mapping.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein the location signals are used to dynamically generate or update the map itself.

18. The method of claim 11 wherein an initial version of the map is a generated using pre-existing, static data.

19. The method of claim 11 wherein at least some of the sensors are tagged to objects or building features at the site to identify the objects or features on the map.

20. The method of claim 11 wherein one of the environmental parameter values is temperature.

21. The method of claim 11 wherein one of the environmental parameter values is chemical concentration.

22. The method of claim 11 wherein the location signals are used to calculate the distance between the location of one sensor and the location of every other tracked resource to identify all sensors and associated objects of interest within a pre-determined distance.

23. The method of claim 11 wherein a location tracking system is used to calculate the distance between one location sensor and other location sensors to identify all sensors and associated objects of interest within a pre-determined distance of the first location sensor.

24. A method of monitoring personnel movement and status at a site, wherein each personnel is associated with a tracked resource, the method comprising:

a. receiving location signals from a plurality of location sensors, wherein at least one of the location sensors is associated with one or more tracked resource associated with a personnel;

b. interpreting the location signals into location information;

c. applying the location information to a map of the site;

d. displaying and archiving the map superimposed with the one or more tracked resource;

e. repeating a through d on an ongoing basis so as to continuously update the location of the tracked resource and the map.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein the map is displayed to a user on a mobile computer or PDA display.

26. The method of claim 24 wherein user inputs and outputs are from a multimodal system.

27. The method of claim 24 wherein at least some of the location sensors are extant location sensors associated with the site.

28. The method of claim 24 wherein at least some of the location sensors are RFID location sensors placed at the site at the time of mapping.

29. The method of claim 24 wherein the location signals are used to dynamically generate or update the map itself.

30. The method of claim 24 wherein an initial version of the map is a generated using pre-existing, static data.

31. The method of claim 24 wherein at least some of the sensors are tagged to objects or building features at the site to identify the objects or features on the map.

32. The method of claim 24 further comprising displaying environmental information superimposed on the map using environmental signals received from environmental sensors.

33. The method of claim 24 further comprising accepting a user query for the user location, determining the user location, and communicating the user location to the user.

34. A method for communication amongst tracked resources at a site, the method comprising:

a. loading, on a display associated with a first tracked resource, a site view;

b. displaying the site view on a display associated with the first tracked resource;

c. displaying and identifying one or more additional tracked resources on the site view, including a second tracked resource;

d. upon user selection of the second tracked resource on the site view, establishing an audio communication link or video communication link or both between the first tracked resource and the second tracked resource.

35. The method as in claim 34, wherein the site view is a graphical map.

36. The method as in claim 34, wherein the site view is a video of the site.

37. The method as in claim 34, wherein the site view is a textual description.

38. The method as in claim 34, wherein displaying the second tracked resource comprises plotting on the site view a graphical or textual indicator representing the tracked resource.

39. The method as in claim 34, wherein user selection of the second tracked resource comprises tapping using a stylus.

40. The method as in claim 34, wherein user selection of the second tracked resource comprises drawing a shape encircling the indicator representing the second tracked resource.

41. The method as in claim 34, wherein user selection of the second tracked resource further comprises the user issuing a voice command to a voice recognition system associated with the first tracked resource.

42. The method as in claim 34, wherein the user selection of the second tracked resource specifies an attribute associated with the second tracked resource.

43. The method as in claim 34, further comprising determining the distance between the user and the second tracked resource, wherein the location tracking system determines the location of the user and the location of the second tracked resource, and subsequently calculates the distance between the location of the user and the location of the second tracked resource.

44. The method as in claim 34, wherein the user selection of the second tracked resource further comprises a voice command that specifies a distance of the second tracked resource from the user, and the second tracked resource is selected due to the determined distance between the first tracked resource and the second tracked resource being less than or equal to the specified distance.

45. A method for establishing bi-directional communication between a first tracked resource and a second tracked resource, the method comprising:

a. the user of a first tracked resource inputting instructions for a second tracked resource using one or more of voice, text or gesture modalities on a multimodal system associated with a mobile device;

b. the multimodal system processing the instructions inputted by the user;

c. a location tracking system receiving the input instructions;

d. the location tracking system interpreting the input instructions;

e. the location tracking system communicating the instructions to the second tracked resource;

f. the second tracked resource outputting the instructions on a multimodal interface associated with the second tracked resource, where the output can be one or more of the following types;

voice, video, text or gesture.