System and method for sending an emergency message selected from among multiple emergency message types from a wireless communications device

• US 8,489,062 B2
• Filed: 10/24/2008
• Issued: 07/16/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/03/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ray, Amar Nath, Coppage, Carl M., Greene, Lynn T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kasraian, Allahyar
• Application Number:
  US12/257,836
• Publication Number:
  US 20100003960A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,726 Days
• Field of Search: 455/404.1, 455/404.2, 455/466, 340287-309, 379 37- 51
• US Class Current: 455/404.1
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/00 Speech synthesis; Text to speech systems
• 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: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• 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 52/0261 managing power supply demand, e.g. depending on battery level
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0296 switching to a backup power supply
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/50 for emergency connections
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A wireless communications device and method for communicating an emergency message to a public safety answering point (PSAP) may include storing (i) data representative of a plurality of emergency messages being of different message types and (ii) a network address associated with each emergency message. In response to a user selecting one of the emergency messages, the selected emergency message and associated network address may be established as defaults for communication of the default emergency message to a PSAP over the communications network. In response to the user requesting to send an emergency message, the default emergency message may be generated by using the default network address to communicate the emergency message and communicated over the communications network to the default network address for routing the default emergency message to a PSAP local to the user.

Claims

1. A wireless communications device for communicating an emergency message to a public safety answering point (PSAP), said wireless communications device comprising:

a memory storing (i) data representative of a plurality of emergency messages being of different message types and (ii) a network address associated with each respective emergency message;

an input/output (I/O) unit configured to wirelessly communicate with a communications network;

a processing unit in communication with said memory and I/O unit;

an electronic display in communication with said processing unit;

at least one illumination device in communication with said processing unit;

an abbreviated startup sequence module in communication with said memory, I/O unit, and processing unit; and

a user interface in communication with said processing unit, and configured to cause said processing unit to;

in response to a user selecting one of the emergency messages;

reduce illumination of the electronic display and the at least one illumination device; and

establish the selected emergency message and associated network address as defaults for communication of the default emergency message to the PSAP over the communications network; and

in response to the user requesting to send an emergency message;

generate the default emergency message by using the default network address as an address to which to communicate the emergency message;

communicate the default emergency message via said I/O unit over the communications network to the default network address for routing the default emergency message to a PSAP local to the user,

wherein when the user requests to send the emergency message while the wireless communication device is turned off, the abbreviated startup sequence module turns on the memory, I/O unit, and processing unit, so as to generate the default emergency message and communicate the default emergency message via said I/O unit over the communications network to the default network, without turning on full functionalities of the wireless communication device;

illuminate one or more of the at least one illumination device on the wireless communication device to notify the user that the emergency message was sent; and

display at least one of a white text against a black background or a white graphic against a black background on the electronic display to notify the user that the emergency message was sent.

2. The wireless communications device according to claim 1, wherein the data representative of the emergency message includes at least two of text message data, prerecorded speech data, email message data, instant message data, and data for speech synthesis communication.

3. The wireless communications device according to claim 2, wherein said user interface includes at least one preference selection to enable the user to select which of the at least two emergency messages to generate and communicate in response to the user requesting to send an emergency message.

4. The wireless communications device according to claim 1, wherein said user interface includes an emergency message button that, when activated to indicate a user request, causes said processing unit to generate and communicate the default emergency message using a communications protocol available to be used to communicate a type of message of which the default emergency message is classified.

5. The wireless communications device according to claim 4, wherein the communications protocol is short message service and the default emergency message is a text message.

6. The wireless communications device according to claim 4, wherein the emergency message button is a hard-button.

7. The wireless communications device according to claim 1, wherein said processing unit is further configured to speech synthesize data of the default emergency message to notify an operator at the PSAP of an emergency situation.

8. The wireless communications device according to claim 1, wherein said processing unit is further configured to include geographic coordinates of a current location of the wireless communications device in the default emergency message.

9. The wireless communications device according to claim 8, wherein said processing unit is further configured to communicate the default emergency message without the geographic coordinates if not available when the default emergency message is generated and, when available, generate and communicate another default emergency message with the geographic coordinates.

10. A method for communicating an emergency message from a wireless communications device to a public safety answering point (PSAP), wherein said wireless communications device comprises a memory, an input/output (I/O) unit, a processing unit, an electronic display, at least one illumination device, and an abbreviated startup sequence module in communication with said memory, I/O unit, and processing unit, said method comprising:

storing, in the memory, (i) data representative of a plurality of emergency messages being of different message types and (ii) a network address associated with each emergency message;

in response to a user selecting one of the emergency messages;

reducing, by the processing unit, illumination of the electronic display and the at least one illumination device; and

establishing, by the processing unit, the selected emergency message and associated network address as defaults for communication of the default emergency message to the PSAP over the communications network; and

in response to the user requesting to send an emergency message;

generating, by the processing unit, the default emergency message by using the default network address as an address to which to communicate the emergency message;

communicating, by the processing unit, the default emergency message via said I/O unit over the communications network to the default network address for routing the default emergency message to a PSAP local to the user,

wherein when the user requests to send the emergency message while the wireless communication device is turned off, the abbreviated startup sequence module turns on the memory, I/O unit, and processing unit, so as to generate the default emergency message and communicate the default emergency message via said I/O unit over the communications network to the default network, without turning on full functionalities of the wireless communication device; and

illuminating one or more of the at least one illumination device on the wireless communication device to notify the user that the emergency message was sent; and

displaying at least one of a white text against a black background or a white graphic against a black background on the electronic display to notify the user that the emergency message was sent.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein storing the data representative of the emergency message includes storing at least two of text message data, prerecorded speech data, email message data, instant message data, and data for speech synthesis communication.

12. The method according to claim 11, further comprising providing a user interface that includes at least one preference selection to enable the user to select which of the at least two emergency messages to generate and communicate in response to the user requesting to send an emergency message.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein providing a user interface includes providing an emergency message button that, when activated to indicate a user request, causes generating and communicating the default emergency message using a communications protocol available to be used to communicate a type of message of which the default emergency message is classified.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein communicating the communications protocol includes using short message service to communicate the default emergency message as a text message.

15. The method according to claim 13, wherein providing the emergency message button includes providing a hard-button.

16. The method according to claim 10, further comprising speech synthesizing data of the default emergency message to notify an operator at the PSAP of an emergency situation.

17. The method according to claim 10, further comprising including geographic coordinates of a current location of the wireless communications device in the default emergency message.

18. The method according to claim 17, further comprising communicating the default emergency message without the geographic coordinates if not available when the default emergency message is generated and, when available, generating and communicating another default emergency message with the geographic coordinates.