Methods, systems, and products for emergency services

• US 9,906,758 B2
• Filed: 11/24/2012
• Issued: 02/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Tofighbakhsh, Mostafa
• Primary Examiner(s): Teitelbaum, Michael
• Application Number:
  US13/684,500
• Publication Number:
  US 20140146170A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,921 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/016 Personal emergency signalling and security systems emergency non-personal manually actuated alarm activators G08B25/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72418 for supporting emergency services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/52 including functional features of a camera constructional features concerning the integration of cameras in portable phones H04M1/0264
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/188 Capturing isolated or intermittent images triggered by the occurrence of a predetermined event, e.g. an object reaching a predetermined position signal generation from motion picture films H04N5/253

Abstract

Methods, systems, and products provide emergency services during emergency situations. When an emergency situation is determined, activation commands are sent to activate cameras and/or microphones within a geographic vicinity of the emergency situation. Mobile devices and traffic cameras, for example, are thus instructed to capture image and audio data during the emergency situation.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a server, an indication that an emergency notification was sent from a communications device;

determining, by the server, a first location of the communications device;

identifying, by the server, a nearby mobile device based at least on a second location of the nearby mobile device being within a predefined geographic vicinity of the first location;

determining a relationship between a camera resolution of the nearby mobile device and a distance between the second location and the first location;

comparing the relationship to a threshold selection value; and

based on the relationship meeting or exceeding the threshold selection value, causing the nearby mobile device to capture image data from a camera associated with the nearby mobile device.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising querying a home location register to determine the first location, wherein the second location is within a predetermined distance from the first location.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the predefined geographic vicinity comprises a circular area around the first location having a radius and wherein the method further comprises excluding a nearby device having a distance from the first location that exceeds the radius.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising determining a vector from the first location.

5. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

memory to store instructions that cause the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising;

receiving an indication that an emergency notification was sent from a communications device;

determining a first location of the communications device;

identifying a nearby mobile device based at least on a second location of the nearby mobile device being within a predefined geographic vicinity of the first location;

determining a relationship between a camera resolution of the nearby mobile device and a distance between a nearby mobile device location of the first nearby mobile device and the first location;

comparing the relationship to a threshold selection value; and

based on the relationship meeting or exceeding the threshold selection value, causing the nearby mobile device to capture image data from a camera associated with the nearby mobile device.

6. The system according to claim 5, the operations further comprising querying a home location register for the first location.

7. The system according to claim 5, wherein the operations further comprise sending an activation command to the nearby mobile device.

8. The system according to claim 5, wherein the operations further comprise excluding a nearby device having a distance from the first location that exceeds a radius.

9. The system according to claim 5, wherein the operations further comprise determining a vector indicative of a relative location of the nearby mobile device to the first location.

10. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing executable instructions that cause a processor executing to effectuate operations, the operations comprising:

receiving, at a server, an indication that an emergency notification was sent from a communications device;

determining, by the server, a first location of the communications device;

identifying a nearby mobile device based at least on a second location of the nearby mobile device being within a predefined geographic vicinity of the first location;

determining a relationship between a camera resolution of the nearby mobile device and a distance between a nearby mobile device location of the first nearby mobile device and the first location;

comparing the relationship to a threshold selection value; and

based on the relationship meeting or exceeding the threshold selection value, causing the nearby mobile device to capture image data from a camera associated with the nearby mobile device.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 10, wherein determining the first location comprises querying a home location register for the first location.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise sending an activation command to the nearby mobile device.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise excluding a nearby device having a distance from the first location that exceeds a radius.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining a vector indicative of a relative location of the nearby mobile device to the first location of the communications device.