Multimedia alerting

• US 8,788,606 B2
• Filed: 04/07/2011
• Issued: 07/22/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/09/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DTN, LLC (TBG AG)
• Original Assignee: Weather Decision Technologies
• Inventors: Johnson, James T., Taylor, Mark, Daniell, William Todd, Eilts, Michael D., Wrzesien, Sheetal, Barrere, Charles
• Primary Examiner(s): Keehn, Richard G
• Application Number:
  US13/082,236
• Publication Number:
  US 20110270940A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,202 Days
• Field of Search: 709/207
• US Class Current: 709/207
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 27/006 with transmission via telephone network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1845 broadcast or multicast in a specific location, e.g. geocast protocols for adapting network applications to user terminal location H04L67/52; services specially adapted for wireless communication networks making use of the location of users or terminals H04W4/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1895 for short real-time information, e.g. alarms, notifications, alerts, updates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/61 taking into account QoS or priority requirements

Abstract

A method, system, apparatus, and device provides alert information to a user of a device. In response to an alert notification of an alert, one or more alert geographical tiles of interest that are affected by the alert of a plurality of geographical tiles are determined; one or more location-enabled devices each having a location that falls within an alert geographical tile of the one or more alert geographical tiles are determined; a portion of the alert is retrieved from an alert database and processed to generate a media version of the alert; an alert text notification of the alert having the text portion of the alert, an alert identifier of the alert, a reference identifier for the media version of the alert, the one or more alert geographical tiles, and the one or more one or more device identifiers for each of the one or more devices is constructed; the one or more device identifiers for each of the one or more devices, the alert text notification and the alert identifier of the alert is retrieved and the alert text notification is transmitted to the one or more devices corresponding to the retrieved one or more device identifiers.

Claims

1. A method of providing alert information to a user of a device, comprising:

an alert service provider transmitting an alert notification of an alert to an alert processing server;

storing the alert notification in an alert database coupled to the alert processing server;

an alert notification server retrieving the alert notification from the alert database and determining one or more alert geographical tiles of interest that are affected by the alert, wherein the one or more alert geographical tiles are of a plurality of geographical tiles and each geographical tile of the plurality of geographical tiles represents a unique geographic projection of a rendered geographical area of defined size and the one or more alert geographical tiles are the defined size of the plurality of geographical tiles;

the alert notification server determining one or more location-enabled devices each having a location that falls within an alert geographical tile of the one or more alert geographical tiles;

retrieving a text portion of the alert from the alert database and processing the text portion of the alert to generate an audio version of the alert;

constructing an alert text notification of the alert having the text portion of the alert, an alert identifier of the alert, a reference identifier for the audio version of the alert, the one or more alert geographical tiles and the one or more device identifiers for each of the one or more devices and storing the alert text notification into an alert notification queue;

a gateway server retrieving the one or more device identifiers for each of the one or more devices, the alert text notification and the alert identifier of the alert from the alert notification queue and initially transmitting only the alert text notification to the one or more devices corresponding to the retrieved one or more device identifiers;

a device of the one or more devices receiving and processing the alert text notification and responsive to user direction requesting to receive alert data of the alert in addition to the alert text notification of the alert initially transmitted to and received by the device, wherein prior to the device of the one or more devices requesting to receive alert data of the alert further comprising;

obtaining a current location of the device represented by a device geographical tile, wherein the device geographical tile is the defined size of the plurality of geographical tiles; and

converting the current location of the device to a device tile code and storing the device tile code representative of the current device location to a device location database;

the device receiving and presenting to a user of the device the received alert data of the alert through a user interface of the device;

determining whether the device is authorized to receive alert notifications;

if the device is not authorized to receive alert notifications, the alert notification server sending to the device a request message requesting tracking of the device for alert notifications; and

if the request message is approved, the alert notification server updating the device location database to include the device as a registered device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising prior to the alert service provider transmitting an alert notification to the alert processing server:

an alert generating source transmitting the alert to the alert service provider;

the alert processing server linking a text portion of the alert to a database record of the alert, storing the text portion in a file server, and storing the alert received from the alert generating source in an alert database.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the alert comprises one or more of a text representation of an alert event, one or more locations associated with the alert event, a start time of the alert event, a stop time of the alert event, and a severity indication of the alert event.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the alert processing server processing the alert and storing the alert in the alert database.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising the alert processing server extracting alert data of the alert and storing the alert data in the alert database, wherein the alert data comprises one or more of a time of issue of the alert, a duration of the alert, a severity of the alert, an estimated time of arrival of a weather condition, and estimated time of departure of the weather condition, a direction of the weather condition, a heading of the weather condition, a title of the alert, and a base text of the alert.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the estimated time of arrival and estimated time of departure are of a lightning weather condition.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the alert processing server storing the alert in the alert database triggers the alert notification server to read the alert database for new alerts.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of geographical tiles represents a unique Mercator rendered geographical area approximately 2 square kilometers in size.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein prior to retrieving the alert notification, notifying an alert notification server coupled to the alert database that the alert notification is stored in the alert database.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the one or more alert geographical tiles of the alert comprises the alert notification server determining the one or more alert tile codes that are representative of the corresponding one or more alert geographical tiles.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the alert notification server determines the one or more devices by retrieving from the alert database a listing of the one or more devices each having a location that falls within an alert geographical tile of the one or more alert geographical tiles.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein each device of the one or more devices having a location that falls within an alert geographical tile of the one or more alert geographical tiles is registered to receive alert notifications.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein determining one or more devices each having a location that falls within an alert geographical tile of the one or more alert geographical tiles further comprises:

comparing device tile codes representative of a plurality of devices and stored in a device location database with the one or more alert geographical tile codes to identify the one or more devices of the plurality of devices that each have a location that falls within an alert geographical tile of the one or more alert geographical tiles.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the text portion of the alert to generate the audio version further comprises performing text-to-speech conversion on the text portion of the alert to generate an audio file of the alert and storing a link to the audio file of the alert in the alert database.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the alert to generate an audio version further comprises:

formatting the text of the alert, processing a text-to-speech conversion of the alert text to generate an audio file of the alert, and storing a link to the audio file of the alert in the alert database.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein requesting to receive alert data of the alert is in response to user input received at the user interface of the device.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

prompting the user of the device with an abbreviated description of the alert and an inquiry as to whether the user wishes to view the alert via the user interface of the device; and

in response to a positive response from the user via the user interface to view the alert, playing for the user via the user interface the audio version of the alert and displaying for the user an alert box of the user interface with an alert viewing option to view the alert and a close alert option to close the alert box.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein storing the device tile code to the device location database further comprises:

the device sending a registration request to the alert notification server; and

the alert notification server storing the registration request, the device identifier of the device, and the device tile code representative of the current device location in the device location database.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising the device requesting to receive alert data of the alert from a web-based service and downloading the alert data from the web-based service.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising the device requesting and receiving the audio version of the alert.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein in response to a request from the user of the device using the user interface of the device, further comprising requesting to receive media data related to the alert associated with a geographical tile location of the device from a third-party media provider.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein in response to the request from the user, a software application registered to receive alerts for the device requesting to receive media data from the third-party media provider.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising the software application downloading metadata associated with the third-party media provider from a media server and rendering the metadata to the user for selection via the user interface of the device.

24. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

the device downloading a list of available media associated with the geographical tile location of the device for the alert from a media server; and

upon selection by the user using the user interface of one or more media from the list of available media, downloading the one or more media to the device from the media server.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein the third-party media provider is one or more of a video broadcaster and an audio broadcaster.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein the device processing the alert text notification comprises the device notifying a software application registered to receive alerts for the device.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising the software application processing the alert text notification and requesting to receive alert data of the alert from a web-based service, the device receiving alert data of the alert, and the software application controlling the user interface of the device presenting to the user of the device the received alert data through the user interface of the device.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising the software application requesting to receive alert data of the alert from a web-based service and downloading the alert data from the web-based service.

29. The method of claim 27, further comprising the device receiving the audio version of the alert and the application software controlling the device to play the audio version of the alert via the user interface of the device.

30. The method of claim 1, wherein prior to requesting to receive alert data of the alert further comprising:

the device determining a current location of the device;

verifying that the current location of the device is within the one or more alert geographical tiles of interest affected by the alert;

notifying the user of the device of the alert and that the current location of the device is within an alert geographical tile of the one or more alert geographical tiles of interest affected by the alert; and

requesting to receive alert data of the alert when requested by the user of the device.

31. The method of claim 1, further comprising the device requesting and receiving the audio version of the alert and playing the audio version of the alert via the user interface of the device.

32. The method of claim 31, further comprising the device retrieving a media file associated with the alert from a text-to-speech cache server and rendering the audio of the media file to the user of the device using a text-to-speech engine coupled to the text-to-speech cache server.

33. The method of claim 1, wherein the received alert data presented to the user through the user interface of the device comprises one or more of alert text of the alert, alert audio of the alert, and a geographical map representation of the alert.

34. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the device storing received alert data of the alert in a device database of the device.

35. The method of claim 1, wherein each geographical tile of the plurality of geographical tiles is a four sided polygon.

36. The method of claim 1, wherein the device geographical tile is a four sided polygon.

37. A method of providing alert information to a user of a device, comprising:

an alert service provider transmitting an alert notification of an alert to an alert processing server;

storing the alert notification in an alert database coupled to the alert processing server;

an alert notification server retrieving the alert notification from the alert database and determining one or more alert geographical tiles of interest that are affected by the alert of a plurality of geographical tiles, wherein each geographical tile of the plurality of geographical tiles represents a unique geographic projection of a rendered geographical area of defined size;

the alert notification server determining one or more location-enabled devices each having a location that falls within an alert geographical tile of the one or more alert geographical tiles;

retrieving a text portion of the alert from the alert database and processing the text portion of the alert to generate an audio version of the alert;

constructing an alert text notification of the alert having the text portion of the alert, an alert identifier of the alert, a reference identifier for the audio version of the alert, the one or more alert geographical tiles and the one or more device identifiers for each of the one or more devices and storing the alert text notification into an alert notification queue;

a gateway server retrieving the one or more device identifiers for each of the one or more devices, the alert text notification and the alert identifier of the alert from the alert notification queue and transmitting the alert text notification to the one or more devices corresponding to the retrieved one or more device identifiers;

a device of the one or more devices receiving and processing the alert text notification and requesting to receive alert data of the alert, wherein prior to the device of the one or more devices requesting to receive alert data of the alert further comprising;

obtaining a current location of the device represented by a device geographical tile; and

converting the current location of the device to a device tile code and storing the device tile code representative of the current device location to a device location database;

the device receiving and presenting to a user of the device the received alert data of the alert through a user interface of the device;

determining whether the device is authorized to receive alert notifications;

if the device is not authorized to receive alert notifications, the alert notification server sending to the device a request message requesting tracking of the device for alert notifications; and

if the request message is approved, the alert notification server updating the device location database to include the device as a registered device.

38. The method of claim 37, further comprising the user of the device accepting to receive alerts on the device and the device sending to the alert notification server a grant request to update the device location database.

39. A method of providing alert information to a user of a device, comprising:

in response to an alert notification of an alert, determining one or more alert geographical tiles of interest that are affected by the alert, wherein the one or more alert geographical tiles are of a plurality of geographical tiles and each geographical tile of the plurality of geographical tiles represents a unique geographic projection of a rendered geographical area of defined size and the one or more alert geographical tiles are the defined size of the plurality of geographical tiles;

determining one or more location-enabled devices each having a location that falls within an alert geographical tile of the one or more alert geographical tiles;

retrieving a portion of the alert from an alert database and processing the portion of the alert to generate a media version of the alert;

constructing an alert text notification of the alert having the text portion of the alert, an alert identifier of the alert, a reference identifier for the media version of the alert, the one or more alert geographical tiles, and one or more device identifiers for each of the one or more devices;

retrieving the one or more device identifiers for each of the one or more devices, the alert text notification and the alert identifier of the alert and initially transmitting only the alert text notification to the one or more devices corresponding to the retrieved one or more device identifiers prior to a device of the one or more devices receiving and processing the alert text notification and requesting to receive alert data of the alert further comprising;

obtaining a current location of the device represented by a device geographical tile; and

converting the current location of the device to a device tile code and storing the device tile code representative of the current device location to a device location database;

receiving and presenting to a user of the device the received alert data of the alert through a user interface of the device;

determining whether the device is authorized to receive alert notifications;

if the device is not authorized to receive alert notifications, sending to the device a request message requesting tracking of the device for alert notifications; and

if the request message is approved, updating the device location database to include the device as a registered device.

40. The method of claim 39, further comprising:

the device of the one or more devices receiving and processing the alert text notification and responsive to user direction requesting to receive alert data of the alert in addition to the alert text notification transmitted to and received by the device; and

the device receiving and presenting to the user of the device the received alert data of the alert through the user interface of the device.

41. The method of claim 39, wherein the media version of the alert comprises an audio version of the alert and wherein retrieving a portion of the alert from an alert database and processing the portion to generate the media version of the alert further comprises:

retrieving a text portion of the alert from the alert database; and

processing the text portion of the alert to generate the audio version of the alert.

42. The method of claim 39, wherein each geographical tile of the plurality of geographical tiles is a four sided polygon.