Event detection and response using rich network content

• US 8,301,765 B2
• Filed: 06/22/2010
• Issued: 10/30/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Goodman, William David
• Primary Examiner(s): Chan, Wing
• Assistant Examiner(s): YI, DAVID
• Application Number:
  US12/820,783
• Publication Number:
  US 20110314144A1
• Time in Patent Office: 861 Days
• Field of Search: 709/224, 719/318, 455/435.1, 455/446, 370/338, 370/348
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences

Abstract

A server device may receive a notification indicating that an event has occurred, where the notification specifies an area associated with the event. The server device may further send a request for network content in response to the notification; receive the network content for each of a group of user devices, where the network content includes a location for each of the group of user devices and incident information for each of the group of user devices; generate geo fence information based on the area associated with the event, the geo fence information including boundaries for a geo fence that surrounds the location of the event; generate state information, associated with the geo fence, for a user device, of the group of user devices, located within the boundaries for the geo fence, where the state information includes the location for the user device; and send, to another server device, the state information for the user device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a first server, a notification indicating that an event has occurred,

the notification including information regarding a geographic area associated with the event;

sending, by the first server and to a second server, a request, for network content, based on the notification;

receiving, by the first server and from the second server, the network content for a plurality of user devices,

the network content including location information for the plurality of user devices and incident information, and

the incident information indicating that an incident is associated with one or more user devices of the plurality of user devices;

generating, by the first server, geo fence information based on the information regarding the geographic area associated with the event,

the geo fence information including coordinates that define boundaries for a geo fence that surrounds the geographic area associated with the event;

generating, by the first server and based on the geo fence information, state information, for the one or more user devices

the state information including a portion of the location information associated with the one or more user devices;

sending, to a third server, the state information;

receiving, by the first server and from the second server, other network content for the plurality of user devices,

the other network content including information associated with two or more emergency calls and other location information for the plurality of user devices;

determining, based on the other network content, that at least two user devices, of the plurality of user devices, placed the two or more emergency calls;

determining, by the first server and based on the location information, that a potential event exists when one of the at least two user devices was located at a distance that was less than or equal to a particular threshold relative to another one of the at least two user devices; and

sending, by the first server and to the third server, information associated with the potential event after determining that the potential event exists.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the second server, additional network content for a particular user device of the plurality of user devices,

the additional network content including additional location information for the particular user device and a velocity associated with the particular user device;

determining that a different incident, associated with the particular user device, has occurred when the velocity is greater than a particular threshold; and

sending information associated with the different incident or the other location information to the third server.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the second server, additional network content for the plurality of user devices,

the additional network content including additional location information for the plurality of user devices and other incident information for the plurality of user devices;

determining a quantity of incidents, associated with the plurality of user devices, based on the other incident information;

identifying a potential event when the quantity of incidents is greater than an incident threshold; and

sending, to the third server, another notification indicating that the potential event has been identified.

4. The method of claim 1, where generating the state information for the one or more user devices includes:

determining that the one or more user devices are located within the geo fence based on the boundaries for the geo fence and the location information for the one or more user devices.

5. The method of claim 4, where generating the state information for the one or more user devices includes:

determining a first quantity of the one or more user devices;

retrieving other state information, associated with the geo fence, from a prior point in time;

determining a second quantity of user devices, of the plurality of user devices, that are located within the boundaries for the geo fence, at the prior point in time, based on the other state information;

determining a relative flux of user devices, associated with the geo fence, based on the first quantity and the second quantity; and

generating the state information based on the relative flux of user devices.

6. The method of claim 1,

where the geographic area associated with the event includes coordinates associated with the location of the event;

and

where generating the state information for the one or more user devices includes;

generating a critical zone that surrounds the coordinates associated with the location of the event,

the critical zone being a particular area that is located inside the boundaries for the geo fence;

determining that at least one user device, of the one or more user devices, is located within the critical zone based on the particular area and the location information for the at least one user device; and

generating the state information based on information that indicates that the at least one user device is located within the critical zone.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

retrieving map information associated with the geographic area associated with the event; and

sending, to the at least one user device, an instruction to evacuate the geographic area associated with the event,

the instruction including the map information or evacuation routes associated with the map information.

8. The method of claim 1, where the event includes one or more of an accident, a natural disaster, a manmade disaster, or a security event.

9. A server device comprising:

a processor to;

receive a notification indicating that an event has occurred,

the notification including information regarding a location of the event,

send, to a second server device and based on the notification, a request for network content,

receive, from the second server device, the network content for a plurality of user devices,

the network content including location information for the plurality of user devices and indicating that at least one incident was detected,

determine, based on the network content or the location information, that one or more user devices, of the plurality of user devices, are associated with the at least one incident or are located within a particular distance of the location of the event,

generate, based on the location information, information associated with a geo fence,

the information associated with the geo fence including a set of boundaries that surround the location of the event, and

the one or more user devices being located within the set of boundaries,

generate, based on the information associated with the geo fence, state information, for the one or more user devices, using the network content,

the state information including a quantity of the one or more user devices and a quantity of the at least one incident, and

send, to a third server device, the quantity of the at least one incident, the quantity of the one or more user devices, or the location information for the one or more user devices,

receive, from the second server device, other network content for the plurality of user devices,

the other network content including information associated with two or more emergency calls and other location information for the plurality of user devices,

determine, based on the other network content, that at least two user devices, of the plurality of user devices, placed the two or more emergency calls,

determine, based on a portion of the location information associated with the at least two user devices, that a potential event exists when one of the at least two user devices was located at a distance that was less than or equal to a particular threshold relative to another one of the at least two user devices, and

send, to the third server, information associated with the potential event.

10. The server device of claim 9, where the processor is further to:

receive, from the second server device and at a first point in time, first network content that includes a first location of a particular user device of the plurality of user devices,

receive, from the second server device and at a second point in time, second network content that includes a second location of the particular user device,

determine a change in location based on the first location and the second location,

determine that an incident, associated with particular user device, has occurred when the change in location, exceeds a threshold relative to a particular period of time from the first point in time to the second point in time, and

send information associated with the incident.

11. The server device of claim 9, where the processor is further to:

receive, from the second server device, additional network content for the plurality of user devices,

the additional network content including information associated with one or more incidents,

identify a quantity of the one or more incidents,

determine that another potential event exists when the quantity of the one or more incidents is greater than an incident threshold; and

send information regarding the other potential event.

12. The service device of claim 11,

where the additional network content includes additional location information for the plurality of user devices, and

where the processor is further to:

identify, based on the additional network content, at least one user device, of the plurality of user devices, that is associated with the one or more incidents,

determine a location, associated with the at least one user device, based on the additional location information, and

send another notification to the plurality of user devices indicating that the location, associated with the at least one user device, is to be avoided.

13. The server device of claim 9, where the processor is further to:

retrieve, from the second server device, map information associated with the geo fence, and

send an instruction, to the one or more user devices, to evacuate an area associated with the geo fence, the instruction including evacuation routes based on the map information.

14. The server device of claim 9, where, when generating the state information for the one or more user devices, the processor is to:

identify one of the one or more user devices that is located within a critical zone area that surrounds the location of the event and that is located within the set of boundaries associated with the geo fence,

determine that the one of the one or more user devices is associated with one of the at least one incidents, and

generate the state information based on information that indicates that the one of the one or more user devices is associated with the one of the at least one incidents.

15. The server device of claim 14, where the processor is further to:

retrieve, from the second server device, call history information or call content information associated with the one of the one or more user devices, and

send, to the third server device, information associated with the one of the at least one incidents, the call history information, or the call content information.

16. The server device of claim 9, where, when generating the state information for the one or more user devices, the processor is to:

determine an activity level, associated with the one or more user devices, based on the network content

the activity level being a measure of a quantity of communication occurring by the one or more user devices, and

generate the state information based on the activity level.

17. A system comprising:

a first server device to;

receive network content from a second server device,

the network content including location information for a plurality of user devices and information associated with two or more emergency calls,

determine, based on the network content, that at least two user devices, of the plurality of user devices, placed the two or more emergency calls,

determine that a potential event exists when, at a time of placing the two or more emergency calls, one of the at least two user devices was located at a distance that was less than or equal to a particular threshold relative to another one of the at least two user devices,

generate a geo fence based on the network content,

the geo fence including a set of boundaries associated with a location of the potential event,

generate, based on the geo fence, state information associated with at least one user device of the plurality of user devices, located within the geo fence, and

send the state information or the network content to a third server device.

18. The system of claim 17, where the first server device is further to:

determine a first quantity of user devices, of the plurality of user devices, that were located within the geo fence at a prior point in time,

determine a second quantity of user devices, of the plurality of user devices, that are located within the geo fence based on the state information,

determine a relative flux, associated with the geo fence, based on the first quantity of user devices and the second quantity of user devices, and

send information associated with the relative flux.

19. The system of claim 18, where, when determining the relative flux associated with the geo fence, the first server device is to:

determine that a total quantity of user devices within the geo fence is decreasing when the second quantity of user devices is less than the first quantity of user devices.

20. The system of claim 17,

where the network content further includes incident information associated with the plurality of user devices;

and

where the first server device is further to;

determine a quantity of incidents based on the incident information,

determine that a different potential event exists when the quantity of incidents exceeds an incident threshold, and

send information regarding the different potential event.

21. The system of claim 17,

where the first server device is further to:

receive a notification that an event has occurred,

the notification including information associated with a location of the event,

determine information associated with a particular user device of the plurality of user devices,

the information associated with the particular user device indicating that, at a point in time before the event occurred, the particular user device was traveling at a speed that exceeded a particular threshold and at a location that was less than or equal to a particular distance from the location of the event, and

send the information associated with the particular user device to the third server.

22. The system of claim 21, where the first server device is further to:

retrieve, from the second server device, call content information associated with the one of the one or more user devices,

identify one or more key words that are included in the call content information, and

send the one or more key words to the third server device.

23. The system of claim 17, where the first server device is further to:

identify one or more content signatures that are included in the network content,

the one or more content signatures including an image or a sound associated with the potential event, and

send the one or more content signatures to the third server device.