Localized cellular awareness and tracking of emergencies

• US 7,177,623 B2
• Filed: 07/01/2004
• Issued: 02/13/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/02/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: United States Secretary of the Army
• Original Assignee: The United States Of America As Represented By The Secretary Of The Army
• Inventors: Baldwin, Johnny E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Trost; William
• Assistant Examiner(s): PEREZ, JULIO R
• Application Number:
  US10/883,125
• Publication Number:
  US 20050003797A1
• Time in Patent Office: 957 Days
• Field of Search: 455/404.2, 455/435.1, 455/456.1, 455/456.2, 455/456.5, 379/45, 379/37, 379/201.01
• US Class Current: 455/404.2
• 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 method of initiating a telecommunication connection between a wireless 911 caller, an emergency 911 dispatcher, and at least one emergency personnel, including identifying a geographical location of a wireless 911 caller; identifying at least one emergency personnel located proximal to the geographical location of the wireless 911 caller; and initiating a telecommunication connection between each of the wireless 911 caller, an emergency 911 dispatcher, and the at least one emergency personnel.

Claims

1. A method of initiating a telecommunication connection between a wireless 911 caller, an emergency 911 dispatcher, and surveillance property security/law enforcement personnel, the method comprising:

identifying a surveillance property from which a wireless 911 caller makes an emergency 911 call to the emergency 911 dispatcher;

identifying the surveillance property security/law enforcement personnel, the surveillance property security/law enforcement personnel being located on the premises of the surveillance property or specifically authorized for 911 emergency surveillance of the surveillance property from remote locations; and

initiating a telecommunication connection between each of the wireless 911 caller, the emergency 911 dispatcher, and the surveillance property security/law enforcement personnel, at the time the emergency 911 dispatcher initially receives the emergency 911 call, to alert the surveillance property security/law enforcement personnel of an on-site emergency occurring at the surveillance property prior to arrival of emergency personnel dispatched by the emergency 911 dispatcher.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said identifying the surveillance property comprises receiving automatic location identification (ALI) data of the emergency 911 call and identifying the surveillance property associated with the ALI data.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said identifying surveillance property security/law enforcement personnel comprises using the ALI data to search a database for the surveillance property and select phone numbers surveillance property security/law enforcement personnel that are authorized to monitor a 911 call in progress from the surveillance property.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the surveillance property security/law enforcement personnel associated with the surveillance property are prioritized and wherein said identifying the surveillance property security/law enforcement personnel further comprises identifying one of the surveillance property security/law enforcement personnel that has a highest priority level.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the ALI data comprises a cellular tower and a minimum cellular unit area of the cellular tower in which the wireless 911 caller is located, and the minimum cellular unit area comprises that area reached by at least one of a base station, a tower, and a tower sector.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the ALI data comprises a particular cellular tower and a particular minimum cellular unit area of the particular cellular tower in which the wireless 911 caller is located, and the particular minimum cellular unit area comprises that area reached by at least one of a macro-cell, a mini-cell, a micro-cell, and a pico-cell.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein

said receiving ALI data comprises receiving a latitude and a longitude of the wireless 911 caller;

said identifying a surveillance property further comprises generating a plurality of high-level surveillance area maps that contain latitude and longitude data describing perimeters of properties that are designated for 911 call surveillance and storing the high-level surveillance area maps in the database, and generating a low-level surveillance area map from one of the high-level surveillance area maps that contains the latitude and longitude of the wireless 911 caller; and

said generating a low-level surveillance area map comprises dividing the high-level surveillance area map that contains the latitude and longitude of the wireless 911 caller into quadrants and repeatedly subdividing each quadrant into successively smaller quadrants, forming a quad-tree hierarchy of surveillance area maps of increasing resolution, to generate a the low-level surveillance area map that has a predetermined map size and that contains the surveillance property.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said generating a low-level surveillance area map further comprises dividing the low-level surveillance area map into a predetermined number of geodetic surveillance area maps, and dividing each geodetic surveillance area map into a predetermined number of pixels arranged in a predetermined number of columns and a predetermined number of rows, the perimeter of the surveillance property occupying one or more of the pixels in one or more of the geodetic surveillance area maps, and wherein said identifying the surveillance property security/law enforcement personnel further comprises determining a pixel number of a specific pixel in a unique one of the geodetic surveillance area maps that contains the latitude and the longitude of the wireless 911 caller, and identifying the surveillance property security/law enforcement personnel corresponding to the pixel number.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said determining the pixel number of the specific pixel that contains the latitude and the longitude of the wireless 911 caller comprises:

numbering the predetermined number of pixels of the unique surveillance area map from right to left beginning with the lower right-hand corner of the unique surveillance area map, each pixel having a predetermined longitude size and a predetermined latitude size;

determining an origin point longitude and an origin point latitude of the unique surveillance area map;

starting with the origin point of the unique surveillance area map, successively adding the predetermined longitude size to the unique surveillance area map origin point longitude to determine which column contains the longitude of the wireless 911 caller and successively adding the predetermined latitude size to the unique surveillance area map origin point latitude to determine which row contains the latitude of the wireless 911 caller; and

converting the row and column into the pixel number of the specific pixel in the unique surveillance area map that contains the latitude and the longitude of the wireless 911 caller.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein:

the predetermined number of pixels is 64, the predetermined number of columns is 8, the predetermined number of rows is 8, the predetermined longitude size is 0.00125, and the predetermined latitude size is 0.00125;

the row that contains the latitude of the wireless 911 caller is calculated according to the following equation;

ROW=((LAT_caller−

LAT_origin)/LAT_pixel)×

R;

the column that contains the longitude of the wireless 911 caller is calculated according to the following equation;

COL.=((LONG_caller−

LONG_origin)/LONG_pixel)×

C;

the pixel number is calculated according to the following equation;

PN=(ROW×

8)+COL.,

where

ROW is the row that contains the latitude of the wireless 911 caller,

LAT_caller is the latitude of the wireless 911 caller,

LAT_origin is the origin point latitude of the unique surveillance area map,

LAT_pixel is the predetermined latitude size of each pixel of each geodetic surveillance area map,

R is the predetermined number of rows of pixels of each geodetic surveillance area map,

COL. is the column that contains the longitude of the wireless 911 caller,

LONG_caller is the longitude of the wireless 911 caller,

LONG_origin is the origin point longitude of the unique surveillance area map,

LONG_pixel is the predetermined longitude size of each pixel of each geodetic surveillance area map,

C is the predetermined number of columns of pixels of each geodetic surveillance area map, and

PN is the pixel number of the specific pixel in the unique surveillance area map that contains the latitude and the longitude of the wireless 911 caller.

11. The method of claim 2, wherein the surveillance property is identified before or at the time that the emergency 911 dispatcher receives the emergency 911 call, the time of identification being dependent upon a particular ALI parameter delivery technique for the emergency 911 call.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the property surveillance area is one or any combination of a building, a business, a campus, a national monument, a sports arena, an airport, an amusement park, a bridge, a land area, and a body of water.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the surveillance property comprises one or more individual properties that are grouped as a single surveillance area in response to a request for a spontaneous or infrequently requested surveillance event.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the spontaneous or infrequently requested surveillance event is a gathering of a specified number of persons that requires emergency surveillance.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the spontaneous or infrequently requested surveillance event is a disaster or crime scene.

16. A system for alerting surveillance property security/law enforcement personnel of an emergency 911 call in progress that originates from a surveillance property, and for tracking wireless 911 call activity from a particular surveillance property, the system comprising:

a surveillance property from which a wireless 911 caller within a wireless network makes the emergency 911 call to an emergency 911 dispatcher;

a Localized Cellular Awareness and Tracking of Emergencies (LoCATE) System Unit (LSU) receiving automatic location identification (ALI) data of the emergency 911 call; and

a LoCATE database storing phone numbers of the surveillance property security/law enforcement personnel who are located on the premises of the surveillance property or specifically authorized for 911 emergency surveillance of the surveillance property from remote locations,

wherein the LSU uses the ALI data to search the LoCATE database for the surveillance property associated with the ALI data and for one or more phone numbers of the surveillance property security/law enforcement personnel associated with the surveillance property, sends the phone numbers of the surveillance property security/law enforcement personnel to the wireless network, and requests that the wireless network establish a connection between the wireless 911 caller, the emergency 911 dispatcher, and the surveillance property security/law enforcement personnel at the time of the emergency 911 call origination to alert the surveillance property security/law enforcement personnel of an on-site emergency occurring at the surveillance property prior to arrival of emergency personnel dispatched by the emergency 911 dispatcher.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the phone numbers stored in the LoCATE are prioritized and the LSU searches the LoCATE database for the surveillance property security/law enforcement personnel having a highest priority level.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein:

the ALI data of the emergency 911 call comprises a latitude and a longitude of the wireless 911 caller,

the LoCATE database comprises a plurality of high-level LoCATE surveillance area maps (LSAMs) containing latitude and longitude data describing perimeters of properties that are designated for 911 call surveillance, and

the LSU searches the LoCATE database to identify one of the high-level LSAMs containing the surveillance property that corresponds to the latitude and the longitude of the wireless 911 caller.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein a low-level LSAM that contains the surveillance property is generated by dividing the high-level LSAM containing the latitude and the longitude of the wireless 911 caller into quadrants and repeatedly dividing each quadrant into successively smaller quadrants, forming a quad-tree hierarchy of LSAMs of increasing resolution, to generate the low-level LSAM that has a predetermined map size and that contains the surveillance property.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the low-level LSAM is divided into a square array of a predetermined number of geodetic LSAMs, and each geodetic LSAM is divided into a square array of a predetermined number of pixels arranged in a predetermined number of columns and a predetermined number of rows, the perimeter of the surveillance property occupying one or more of the pixels in one or more of the geodetic LSAMs, and wherein the phone numbers of the surveillance property security/law enforcement personnel are identified by determining a pixel number of a specific pixel in a unique one of the geodetic LSAMs that contains the latitude and the longitude of the wireless 911 caller, and using the pixel number to identify the corresponding phone numbers of the surveillance property security/law enforcement personnel.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the surveillance property is represented by a combination of bit maps of the geodetic LSAMs containing the surveillance property.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the unique LSAM that contains the latitude and the longitude of the wireless 911 caller is determined by searching all of the high-level LSAMs in the LoCATE database for the LSAMs having a latitude that differs from the latitude of the wireless 911 caller by less than a predetermined amount, and a longitude that differs from the longitude of the wireless 911 caller by less than the predetermined amount.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein:

the specific pixel that contains the latitude and the longitude of the wireless 911 caller is determined by numbering the predetermined number of pixels of the unique LSAM from right to left beginning with the lower right-hand corner of the unique LSAM, each pixel having a predetermined longitude size and latitude size;

determining origin point longitude and latitude coordinates of the unique LSAM;

starting with the origin point of the unique LSAM, successively adding the predetermined longitude size to the unique LSAM origin point longitude to determine which column contains the longitude of the wireless 911 caller and successively adding the predetermined latitude size to the unique LSAM origin point latitude to determine which row contains the latitude of the wireless 911 caller; and

converting the row and column into the pixel number of the specific pixel in the unique LSAM that contains the latitude and the longitude of the wireless 911 caller.

24. The system of claim 20, wherein the high-level LSAM has a map size of about 0.64°

latitude by about 0.64°

longitude, the low-level LSAM has a map size of about 0.01°

latitude by about 0.01°

longitude, each one of the geodetic LSAMs has a map size of about 0.00125°

latitude by about 0.00125°

longitude, and each one of the pixels has a map size of about 0.000156°

latitude by about 0.000156°

longitude.

25. The system of claim 20, wherein the low-level LSAM has a map size of about 0.4 square miles, each geodetic LSAM has a map size of about 0.00625 square miles,

and each one of the pixels has a map size of about 2,500 square feet.

26. The system of claim 18, further comprising a mobile LoCATE unit (MLU) that monitors a particular surveillance property selected by a user of the MLU, the MLU transmitting a surveillance area identifier for the particular surveillance property to the LSU, and the LSU returning to the MLU a list of 911 call initiation times, 911 call completion times, and callback numbers for use by the MLU in monitoring a history of 911 calls originating from the particular surveillance property.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the LoCATE database contains a phone number of the MLU, and the LSU provides the phone number of the MLU to the wireless network for establishment of a connection between the MLU, the wireless 911 caller, and the emergency 911 dispatcher.

28. The system of claim 26, wherein the MLU operates interdependently with additional MLUs, LoCATE Security Phones (LSPs), and LoCATE Authorized Phones (LAPs) associated respectively with multiple surveillance properties to establish a security surveillance network for a geographical area comprising the multiple surveillance properties, with each MLU, LSP, and LAP participating in the 911 call or sending and receiving 911 data according to specified authorizations associated with the respective surveillance properties.

29. The system of claim 28, further comprising a master MLU communicating in the security surveillance network with all the MLUs, selected emergency personnel dispatched by the emergency 911 dispatcher, selected LSPs and LAPs, and the LSU, wherein the master MLU:

assigns the particular surveillance properties to the MLUs,

receives voice information concerning 911 calls from-4he selected ones of the multiple surveillance properties and the emergency 911 dispatcher,

receives data information concerning 911 calls from selected ones of the MLUs,

provides response/commands to the MLUs, emergency 911 dispatcher, and the the selected LSPs and LAPs,

communicates with the LSU to establish security surveillance coverage areas and receive wireless 911 call data from the selected surveillance properties, and

communicates with the selected emergency personnel dispatched by the emergency 911 dispatcher to assess on-site emergencies and implement additional response/commands to members of the security surveillance network.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the master MLU is programmable and contains electronic mapping software of metropolitan, state, or national areas for surveillance by a centralized authority.

31. The system of claim 28, wherein one or more of the MLUs are handheld units that are preprogrammed with LSAMs of interest and continuously receive a readout of 911 call history from the LSAMs of interest.

32. The system of claim 26, wherein the surveillance area identifier is an identifier of a particular base station, cell, or sector of an area in which surveillance is desired, and the MLU displays a map with the base station, the cell, or the sector overlaid on a local metropolitan map.

33. The system of claim 26, wherein the surveillance area identifier is an identifier of a particular LSAM of an area in which surveillance is desired, and the MLU displays the particular LSAM overlaid on a local metropolitan map to show a physical location of the particular LSAM.

34. The system of claim 26, wherein the particular surveillance property comprises one or more individual properties that are grouped together as a single surveillance area in response to a request for a spontaneous or infrequently requested surveillance event.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein the spontaneous or infrequently requested surveillance event is a gathering of a specified number of persons that requires emergency surveillance.

36. The system of claim 34, wherein the spontaneous or infrequently requested surveillance event is a disaster or crime scene.

37. The system of claim 16, wherein the surveillance property is identified before or at the time that the emergency 911 dispatcher receives the emergency 911 call, the time of identification being dependent upon a particular ALI parameter delivery technique for the emergency 911 call.

38. The system of claim 16, wherein the LSU is located within the wireless network.

39. The system of claim 16, wherein the LSU is located within the Emergency Services Network (ESN).

40. The system of claim 16, wherein the surveillance property is one or any combination of a building, a business, a campus, a national monument, a sports arena, an airport, an amusement park, a bridge, a land area, and a body of water.