EMERGENCY MESSAGING SYSTEM AND METHOD OF RESPONDING TO AN EMERGENCY

• US 20140364081A1
• Filed: 11/09/2012
• Published: 12/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SirenGPS, Inc.
• Original Assignee: SirenGPS, LLC
• Inventors: Rauner, Paul A.
• Granted Patent: US 9,867,023 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/404.2
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/002 Generating a prealarm to the central station
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/006 Alarm destination chosen according to type of event, e.g. in case of fire phone the fire service, in case of medical emergency phone the ambulance
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/016 Personal emergency signalling and security systems emergency non-personal manually actuated alarm activators G08B25/12
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 27/001 Signalling to an emergency team, e.g. firemen
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1895 for short real-time information, e.g. alarms, notifications, alerts, updates
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

Various embodiments concern method of providing emergency messaging service to one or more users of one or mobile electrical devices. The method can include: using a first mobile electrical device to send a emergency trigger message, using the first mobile electrical device to send a emergency trigger message can include: receiving a location of the first mobile electrical device from a global positioning module, the global positioning module miming on the first mobile electrical device; receiving a first trigger message from a user of the first electrical device; and wirelessly transmitting the first trigger message and the location of the first mobile electrical device to a emergency response module running on at least one second processor of a first server; receiving the first emergency trigger message in emergency response module; determining a first emergency response unit associated with the first location of the first mobile electrical device; and transmitting the first emergency trigger message to the first emergency response unit associated with the location of the first mobile electrical device. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A method of providing messaging service to one or more users of one or mobile electrical devices, the method comprising:

facilitating a use of a first mobile electrical device to send a first trigger message, wherein facilitating the use of the first mobile electrical device to send the trigger message comprises;

receiving a location of the first mobile electrical device from a global positioning module, the global positioning module running on the first mobile electrical device;

receiving a first trigger message from a user of the first mobile electrical device; and

wirelessly transmitting the first trigger message and the location of the first mobile electrical device to a response module running on at least one second processor of a first server;

receiving the first trigger message in a response module;

determining a first response unit associated with the first location of the first mobile electrical device; and

transmitting the first trigger message to the first response unit associated with the location of the first mobile electrical device,

wherein;

the one or more users of the one or more mobile electrical device comprise the first user; and

the one or more mobile electrical device comprises the first mobile electrical device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

before using the first mobile electrical device to send the trigger message, associating the first location of the first mobile electrical device with the first response unit.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

before using the first mobile electrical device to send the first trigger message, associating one or more second locations with one or more second response units;

wherein;

the first location is different from the one or more second locations.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating the first location with the first response unit comprises;

determining a first geographic area serviced by the first response unit; and

associating the first geographic area with the first response unit;

wherein;

the first geographic area comprises the first location.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

after receiving the first trigger message in the response module, determining whether a live video feed exists for the first location.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

providing access to the live video feed exists for the first location to the first response unit when the live video feed exists for the first location.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

after receiving the first trigger message, determining whether a structure is located at the first location;

determining whether a schematic exist for the structure when the structure is located at the first location; and

providing access to the schematic of the structure to the first response unit when the schematic exists for the structure.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

providing information about a location of one or more person in the structure to the first response unit when the structure is located at the first location.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

providing information about the location of one or more person comprises;

determining a position of the one or more persons inside of the structure; and

providing a diagram of the structure to the first response unit showing the position of the one or more persons inside the structure.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

providing at least one of ingress, egress, or evacuation plans for the structure to the first response unit.

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

providing instructions to one or more target points within the structure to the first response unit.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing the communications module to the one or more users of one or mobile electrical devices.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

facilitating installation of the communication module on the one or more mobile electrical devices.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second location of the first mobile electrical device in the response module before using the mobile electrical device to send the first trigger message; and

storing the second location of the first mobile electrical device in a storage device.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the first trigger message comprises a text message.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the first trigger message comprises a telephone call.

17. An emergency messaging system configured to be used with the two or more mobile electrical devices, the emergency messaging system comprising:

a device communications module configured to run on at least one first processor and further configured to communicate with the two or more mobile electrical devices, the device communications module further configured to receive a first emergency trigger message from a user of a first one of the two or more mobile electrical devices, the first trigger message comprises a location of the first one of the two or more mobile electrical devices;

a determination module configured to run on the at least one first processor and further configured to use the location of the first one of the two or more mobile electrical devices to determine an appropriate emergency response unit to notify; and

a notification module configured to run on the at least one first processor and further configured to notify the appropriate emergency response unit of the first trigger message.

18. The emergence messaging system of claim 17, further comprising:

an emergency communications module configured to run on at least one second processor and further configured to send a first emergency trigger message and first location information to the device communications module; and

a location determination module configured to run on the at least one second processor and further configured to determine the location information of the first one of the two or more mobile electrical devices and communicate the location information to the emergency communications module

wherein;

a first mobile electrical devices comprise the emergency module and the at least one second processor.

19. The emergence messaging system of claim 17, further comprising:

an association module configured to run on the at least one first processor and further configured to associate one or more locations with one or more emergency response units;

the one or more locations comprise the location of the first one of the two or more mobile electrical devices; and

the one or more emergency response units comprise the first emergency response unit.

20. The emergence messaging system of claim 17, further comprising:

a video module configured to run on the at least one first processor and further configured to determine whether a live video feed exists for the first location and provide access to the live video feed to the first emergency response unit when the live video feed exists for the first location.

21. The emergence messaging system of claim 17, further comprising:

a structure module configured to run on the at least one first processor and further configured to;

determine whether the first location is a location of a structure;

determine whether a schematic exist for the structure when the first location is the location of the structure; and

provide access to the schematic of the structure to the first emergency response unit when the schematic exists for the structure.

22. The emergence messaging system of claim 21, further comprising

the structure module is further configured to provide information about a position of one or more person in the structure to the first emergency response unit when the first location is the location of the structure.

23. The emergence messaging system of claim 17, wherein:

the first trigger message comprises a text message.

24. The emergence messaging system of claim 17, wherein:

the first trigger message comprises a telephone call.

25. A method of responding to an emergency using an emergency response computer system, the emergency response computer system comprising at least one processing unit and an emergency response module, the method comprising:

receiving in the emergency response module one or more emergency trigger messages from one or more remote computing devices, the emergency response module running on the at least one processing unit;

using the emergency response module to process the one or more emergency trigger messages to determine an emergency level, wherein using the emergency response module to process the one or more emergency trigger messages comprises;

determining locations of at least a portion of the one or more remote computing devices;

analyzing the one or more emergency trigger messages to determine a content of the one or more emergency trigger messages;

determining a level of response to the one or more emergency trigger messages based upon the locations of the at least the portion of the one or more remote computing devices and the content of the one or more emergency trigger messages, the levels of response comprise a first level response and a second level response;

using the locations of the at least the portion of the one or more remote computing devices to determine a first response unit to notify;

using the locations of the at least the portion of the one or more remote computing devices to determine a second response unit to notify when the level of response is a second level of response;

using the emergency response module to notify the first response unit when the level of response is the first level of response or the second level of response;

using the emergency response module to notify the second response unit when the level of response is the second level of response;

receiving in the emergency response module instructions from the second response unit to notify a target group when the level of response is the second level of response; and

using the emergency response module to send a first emergency alert message to the target group when the level of response is the second level of response.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein:

receiving in the emergency response module the one or more emergency trigger messages comprises;

receiving in the emergency response module one or more text messages from the one or more remote computing devices; and

the one or more emergency trigger messages comprising the one or more text messages.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein:

receiving in the emergency response module the one or more emergency trigger messages comprises;

receiving in the emergency response module one or more verbal communications from the one or more remote computing devices; and

using the emergency response module to convert the one or more verbal communications into text.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein:

analyzing the one or more emergency trigger messages comprises;

analyzing the one or more emergency trigger messages to determine if the one or more emergency trigger messages contain one or more predetermined trigger words.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein:

determining the level of response to the one or more emergency trigger messages comprises;

determining that the level of response is the second level response when a predetermined number of the one or more emergency trigger messages include the one or more predetermined trigger words.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein:

determining that the level of response is the second level response further comprises;

determining that the level of response is the second level response when the predetermined number of the one or more emergency trigger messages includes the one or more predetermined trigger words and when the one or more emergency trigger messages including the one or more predetermined trigger words were sent from places within a predetermined distance of each other.

31. The method of claim 29, wherein:

determining the level of response to the one or more emergency trigger messages comprises;

determining that the level of response is the first level response when the predetermined number of the one or more emergency trigger messages does not include the one or more predetermined trigger words.

32. The method of claim 25, wherein:

using the emergency response module to process the one or more emergency trigger messages further comprises;

requesting locations of one or more user computing devices when the level of response is the second level of response; and

receiving the locations from at least a first portion of the one or more user computing devices when the level of response is the second level of response;

the at least the portion of the one or more computing devices comprise the at least the first portion of the one or more user computing devices; and

the one or more remote computing devices comprise the one or more user computing devices.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein:

using the emergency response module to process the one or more emergency trigger messages further comprises;

determining an approximate location of the emergency; and

determining which of the one or more user computing devices are within a first predetermined distance of the emergency;

using the emergency response module to send the first emergency alert message to the target group comprises;

using the emergency response module to send the first emergency alert message to a second portion of the one or more user computing devices that are within the first predetermined distance of the emergency; and

the target group comprises the second portion of the one or more user computing devices that are within the first predetermined distance of the emergency.

34. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

using the emergency response module to send a second emergency alert message to a second target group,

wherein;

using the emergency response module to process the one or more emergency trigger messages further comprises;

determining which of the one or more user computing devices are within a second predetermined distance of the emergency;

using the emergency response module to send the second emergency alert message to the second target group comprises;

using the emergency response module to send the second emergency alert message to a third portion of the one or more user computing devices that are within the second predetermined distance of the emergency;

the second target group comprises the third portion of the one or more user computing devices that are within the second predetermined distance of the emergency.

35. A method of responding to an emergency using a mobile electrical device, the mobile electrical device comprising at least one first processor and an emergency module, the method comprising:

receiving a first emergency trigger message in the emergency module from a user of the mobile electrical device, the emergency module running on the at least one first processor;

sending a second emergency trigger message to an emergency response computer system using the emergency module;

sending location information to the emergency response computer system using the emergency module;

receiving in the emergency module a request for updated location information from the emergency response computer system;

sending updated location information to the emergency response computing system using the emergency module; and

receiving in the emergency module a mass emergency message from the emergency response computer system.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein:

sending the second emergency trigger message comprises;

sending a text message with one or more trigger words to the emergency response computer system using the emergency module.

37. The method of claim 35, wherein:

sending the location information to the emergency response computer system comprises;

using a positioning module in the mobile electrical device to determine the location of the mobile electrical device; and

communicating the location information to the emergency response computer system using the emergency module.

38. The method of claim 35, wherein:

using the emergency module to monitor outgoing telephone calls from the mobile electrical device to determine if any outgoing telephone calls have been made to an emergency telephone number; and

if a telephone call has been made to the emergency telephone number within a predetermined time period, communicating to the emergency response computer system using the emergency module that the telephone call has been made to the emergency telephone number.

39. An emergency messaging system configured to be used with three or more first

electrical devices, the emergency messaging system comprising:

a device communications module configured to run on at least one first processor and further configured to communicate with two or more sending electrical devices, the device communications module further configured to receive two or more emergency trigger messages from one or more users via the two or more sending electrical devices;

a processing module configured to run on the at least one first processor and further configured to process the two or more emergency trigger messages to determine an emergency level, the processing module comprises;

a location module configured to determine a location of at least a first portion of the two or more sending electrical devices; and

an analyzing module configured to analyze the two or more emergency trigger messages to determine a content of the two or more emergency trigger messages;

a response module configured to run on the at least one first processor and further configured to determine a level of response to the two or more emergency trigger messages based upon the location of at least the first portion of the two or more sending electrical devices and the content of the two or more emergency trigger messages, the levels of response comprise a first level response and a second level response;

a determination module configured to run on the at least one first processor and further configured to use the location of at least a second portion of the two or more sending electrical devices to determine an appropriate first response unit to notify, if any, and an appropriate second response unit to notify, if any; and

a notification module configured to run on the at least one first processor and further configured to notify the appropriate first response unit and the appropriate second response unit,

wherein;

the three or more first electrical devices comprise the two or more sending electrical devices.

40. The emergence messaging system of claim 39, further comprising:

an emergency sending module configured to run on a second processor and further configured send a first one of the two or more emergency trigger messages and first location information to the device communications module,

wherein;

a first one of the two or more sending electrical devices comprise the emergency module and the at least one second processor.

41. The emergence messaging system of claim 40, further comprising:

a location determination module configured to run on the at least one second processor and further configured to determine the location information of the first one of the two or more sending electrical devices and communicate the location information to the emergency sending module.

42. The emergence messaging system of claim 40, further comprising:

a monitoring system configured to run on the at least one second processor and further configured to monitoring outgoing telephone calls from the first one of the two or more sending electrical devices to determine if any outgoing telephone calls have been made to an emergency telephone number.

43. The emergence messaging system of claim 39, wherein:

the device communications module is further configured to receive text messages from the two or more sending electrical devices.

44. The emergence messaging system of claim 39, wherein:

the analyzing module is configured to analyze the two or more emergency trigger messages to determine if the two or more emergency trigger messages contain one or more predetermined trigger words.

45. A method for emergency messaging to a target group, the target group comprises two or more users, the method comprising:

receiving from the two or more users information regarding a portable communication device from each of the two or more users;

storing in one or more databases a profile for the portable communication devices associated with each of the two or more users;

selecting a first geographic area for emergency messaging;

receiving current location information from at least a first user of the two or more users;

processing the current location information to identify one or more affected devices, the one or more affect devices comprise the portable communication devices of the two or more users that are within the first geographic area; and

transmitting an emergency message to the one or more affected devices to alert users of the one or more affected devices to an emergency in the first geographic area.

46. The method of claim 45, further comprising:

displaying on a display module a geographical representation of the current location information and the selected geographic area.

47. The method of claim 45, wherein the first geographic area is a university or college campus.