Mobile Device Wireless Identifier Assignment for Emergency Calls

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016007177-A1
Application number	US-201514601347-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 21, 2015
Priority date	Jul 3, 2014
Publication date	Jan 7, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

An emergency caller location system uses enterprise Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) location systems to provide more accurate location information on an emergency caller. A cellular telephone modifies its WLAN identifier, such as its Media Access Control (MAC) address, in response to a user initiating an emergency call. The MAC address is modified based on an identifier known to the cellular network, such as the phone number, subscriber name, International Mobile Equipment Identifier (IMEI), International Mobile Subscriber Identifier (IMSI), and/or International Circuit Card Identifier (ICCID). The cellular telephone may additionally modify the probe timer of the WLAN interface to enhance the ability of the WLAN location system to determine the location of the device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method comprising:
receiving user input requesting an emergency call; initiating the emergency call via a cellular telephone network interface using at least one cellular identifier known to a cellular telephone network; and transmitting a probe request with an emergency wireless network identifier via a wireless network interface to a wireless computer network, the emergency wireless network identifier based on the at least one cellular identifier known to the cellular telephone network.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising maintaining a session with the wireless computer network using a wireless network identifier.

3 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising interrupting the session with the wireless computer network by changing the wireless network identifier to the emergency wireless network identifier.

4 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising resuming the session with the wireless computer network using the emergency network identifier and a credential previously obtained with the wireless network identifier.

5 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the probe request with the emergency wireless network identifier and the wireless network identifier are transmitted via the wireless network interface.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the cellular identifier comprises at least one of a telephone number, a subscriber name, an International Mobile Equipment Identifier (IMEI), an International Mobile Subscriber Identifier (IMSI), or an International Circuit Card Identifier (ICCID).

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the probe request is transmitted in accordance with a probe timer, and the probe timer is modified in response to receiving the user input requesting an emergency call.

8 . An apparatus comprising:
a cellular telephone network interface configured to communicate data with a cellular telephone network, the apparatus identified by at least one cellular identifier known to the cellular telephone network; a wireless network interface configured to communicate with a wireless computer network, the wireless network interface associated with a wireless network identifier; and a processor configured to:
initiate an emergency call over the cellular telephone network interface in response to a user input requesting an emergency call; and
cause the wireless network interface to transmit a probe request with an emergency wireless network identifier, the emergency wireless network identifier based on the at least one cellular identifier known to the cellular telephone network.

9 . The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the wireless network interface is configured to maintain a session with the wireless computer network using the wireless network identifier.

10 . The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the processor is configured to interrupt the session with the wireless computer network by changing the wireless network identifier to the emergency wireless network identifier.

11 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the wireless network interface is configured to resume the session with the wireless computer network using the emergency network identifier and a credential previously obtained with the wireless network identifier.

12 . The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the probe request with the emergency wireless network identifier and the wireless network identifier are transmitted via the wireless network interface.

13 . The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the processor is configured to further instruct the wireless network interface to transmit the probe request according to a probe timer, and to modify the probe timer in response to the user input requesting an emergency call.

14 . The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the cellular identifier comprises at least one of a telephone number, a subscriber name, an International Mobile Equipment Identifier (IMEI), an International Mobile Subscriber Identifier (IMSI), or an International Circuit Card Identifier (ICCID).

15 . A system comprising:
a user device configured to:
receive user input requesting an emergency call;
initiate the emergency call with a cellular telephone network using at least one cellular identifier known to the cellular telephone network;
transmit a probe request with an emergency wireless network identifier based on the at least one cellular identifier known to the cellular telephone network; and
a wireless computer network configured to enable a computer data session with the user device using a wireless network identifier, wherein the wireless computer network receives and stores the probe request with the emergency wireless network identifier.

16 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the user device is configured to interrupt the computer data session with the wireless computer network by changing the wireless network identifier to the emergency wireless network identifier.

17 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the user device is configured to resume the computer data session with the wireless computer network using the emergency network identifier and a credential previously obtained with the wireless network identifier.

18 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the probe request with the emergency wireless network identifier and the wireless network identifier are transmitted by the user device.

19 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the user device is configured to transmit the probe request according to a probe timer, and to modify the probe timer in response to the user input requesting an emergency call.

20 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the cellular identifier comprises at least one of a telephone number, a subscriber name, an International Mobile Equipment Identifier (IMEI), an International Mobile Subscriber Identifier (IMSI), or an International Circuit Card Identifier (ICCID).

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• De Leo Michael
• Linsner Marc
• Mclaughlin Bryan M
• Girimaji Jagdish
• Myles Andrew

Classifications

• H04W4/90 Primary

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

• H04W4/029

  Location-based management or tracking services · CPC title

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title

• H04W4/22 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W4/02

  Services making use of location information · CPC title