Systems and methods for emergency data communication

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10142772-B2
Application number	US-201615078846-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 23, 2016
Priority date	Dec 16, 2015
Publication date	Nov 27, 2018
Grant date	Nov 27, 2018

Abstract

Disclosed are methods, systems, devices, servers, apparatus, computer-/processor-readable media, and other implementations, including a method that includes receiving by an emergency call server an indication of an emergency condition at a device, determining whether the device is to be tracked based, at least in part, on the indication of the emergency condition, and transmitting a triggering message from the emergency call server, in response to a determination that the device is to be tracked, to trigger at the device a tracking session to cause the device to periodically collect and send tracking session data to one or more servers. The tracking session, established between the device and the one or more servers, is separate from an emergency call session established between the device and the emergency call server.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
establishing an emergency call session between a device and an emergency call server;
sending, in the emergency call session by the emergency call server to the device, a request for location information for the device;
receiving, in the emergency call session, the location information by the emergency call server from the device;
receiving, in the emergency call session by the emergency call server, an indication of an emergency condition at the device;
determining whether the device is to be tracked based, at least in part, on the indication of the emergency condition;
transmitting, in the emergency call session to the device, a triggering message from the emergency call server, in response to a determination that the device is to be tracked, to trigger at the device a tracking session to cause the device to collect and send tracking session data to one or more tracking servers, wherein the tracking session comprises communication between the device and the one or more tracking servers and is independent from the emergency call session comprising communication between the device and the emergency call server;
establishing the tracking session between the emergency call server and the device, wherein continuance of the tracking session is independent of continuance of the emergency call session; and
receiving, in the tracking session, tracking session data by the emergency call server from the device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the triggering message transmitted to the device is further configured to cause the device to operate in a reduced-power tracking mode state in which power to sub-systems of the device not required for collecting and communicating the tracking session data associated with the device is reduced, and in which one or more sensor or communication sub-systems of the device, configured to collect and communicate the tracking session data, operate at least partially while the device is in the reduced-power tracking mode state.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the triggering message transmitted to the device is further configured to lock the device into the reduced-power tracking mode state to prevent deactivation of the one or more sensor and communication sub-systems of the device required for collecting and communicating the tracking session data even if the device is turned off by a user.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether the device is to be tracked comprises:
determining whether the device is to be tracked based, at least in part, on the indication of the emergency condition, device capabilities of the device transmitted to the emergency call server, or location-based data for the device, or any combination thereof.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the device capabilities of the device comprise: communication protocols supported by the device, types of transceivers included with the device, types of sensors included with the device, or battery level of the device, or any combination thereof.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a position of the device based, at least in part, on location-based data included with the received indication of the emergency condition, the location-based data comprising: a computed approximation of location of the device, sensor measurements for the device, timing measurements measured by the device, or signal strength measurements measured by the device, or any combination thereof.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving, by the emergency call server, the indication of the emergency condition comprises:
receiving, by the emergency call server, an emergency message initiated by the device.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving by the emergency call server the indication of the emergency condition comprises:
transmitting to one or more devices, including the device, a broadcast message configured to cause a determination of whether at least one of the one or more devices has an emergency; and
receiving, in response to the broadcast message transmitted by the emergency call server, a reply message from the device, the reply message comprising the indication of the emergency condition.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein transmitting the triggering message from the emergency call server comprises:
transmitting a mandatory tracking session command, in response to the determination that the device is to be tracked, to cause the device to establish the tracking session, wherein the mandatory tracking session command cannot be overridden by the device or by a user of the device.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving, by the emergency call server, the indication of the emergency condition comprises:
receiving, by the emergency call server: a long-term evolution positioning protocol (LPP) message, a session initiation protocol (SIP) message, a universal telecommunication system (UMTS) message, or a secured hypertext transfer protocol (HTTPS) message, or any combination thereof.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining the one or more servers with which the device is to establish the tracking session; and
communicating to the device respective one or more identifiers representative of identities of the one or more servers with which the device is to establish the tracking session.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein communicating the device the respective one or more identifiers of the one or more servers comprises:
communicating, to the device, one or more URL's associated with the one or more servers, an IP address, or a network element identifier, or any combination thereof.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein determining the one or more servers with which the device is to establish the tracking session comprises:
determining the one or more servers based on one or more of: device capabilities of the device, location-based data for the device, or type of emergency at the device, or any combination thereof.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
causing the emergency call session to be terminated.

15. An emergency call server comprising:
a transceiver configured to:
send, in an emergency call session to a device, a request for location information for the device;
receive, in the emergency call session from the device, the location information from the device; and
receive, in the emergency call session from the device, an indication of an emergency condition at the device; and

one or more processors, coupled to the transceiver, configured to:
establishing the emergency call session between the device and the emergency call server;
determine whether the device is to be tracked based, at least in part, on the indication of the emergency condition;
establish a tracking session between the emergency call server and the device, wherein continuance of the tracking session is independent of continuance of the emergency call session; and
receive, in a tracking session, tracking session data from the device;

wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit a triggering message from the emergency call server, in response to a determination that the device is to be tracked, to trigger at the device the tracking session to cause the device to collect and send tracking session data to one or more tracking servers, wherein the tracking session comprises communication between the device and the one or more tracking servers and is independent from the emergency call session comprising communication between the device and the emergency call server.

16. The emergency call serve

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Cavendish Dirceu
• Bhatia Ashok

Classifications

• H04W4/029

  Location-based management or tracking services · CPC title

• H04W4/023

  using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds · CPC title

• H04W4/33

  for indoor environments, e.g. buildings · CPC title

• H04W4/90

  Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS] · CPC title

• H04W4/50

  Service provisioning or reconfiguring · CPC title