Telecommunications – Radiotelephone system – Emergency or alarm communication
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-18
2003-03-04
Vo, Nguyen T. (Department: 2682)
Telecommunications
Radiotelephone system
Emergency or alarm communication
C455S457000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06529722
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention generally relates to improvements in computer systems and application software for the development, validation and maintenance of addressing systems and the automated routing of emergency telephone calls from both fixed land sites and mobile wireless locations.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The number 9-1-1 is a three digit telephone number that has been designated as the universal emergency number for public use to request emergency assistance. The code 9-1-1 was chosen because it is brief, easily remembered and can be dialed quickly. With reference to
FIG. 1
, basic 9-1-1 system
10
, comprises a telephone
12
, a telephone company (TelCo) central office
14
in telecommunication with the phone over a fixed wireline telephone network
16
, and a public service answering point (PSAP)
18
in telecommunication with the central office. Depending on the area of service, typically a county or state, there may be one or more PSAPs. It is the function of PSAP
18
to transfer the call to the proper law enforcement, fire protection, emergency medical service or agency, etc. (collectively, “emergency service providers”) responsible for responding to the emergency. In system
10
, all 9-1-1 calls originating from telephone
12
are directed to a particular PSAP
18
through central office
14
, depending on the exchange of the calling party number (CPN). In system
10
, a call-taker (not shown) in PSAP
18
must determine the location and type of the emergency and transfer the call to the proper one of a plurality of emergency service providers ESP
1
, ESP
2
, . . . ESPn that should respond to the call.
An enhanced 9-1-1 (E-911) system has evolved from the Basic 9-1-1 system by providing an automated system for selectively routing 9-1-1 calls originating from telephone equipment at fixed address locations to the proper PSAP. With reference now to
FIG. 2
, E-911 system
30
comprises telephone
12
located at a fixed location, and central office
14
in telecommunication with telephone
12
. The latter has an associated telephone number TN
2
and a calling party number CPN. System
30
further includes a regional 9-1-1 telephone switch
32
in telecommunication with central office
14
, and a selective routing database (SRDB)
34
comprising a database of telephone numbers, wherein the SRDB and the switch are in electronic communication. Switch
32
is an automated switching device that searches a database of telephone numbers in SRDB
34
for a match with the particular CPN. System
30
determines the primary PSAP, i.e., the PSAP that should receive emergency calls from the address of the subscriber of the CPN from SRDB
34
. PSAP
18
includes a 9-1-1 sub-system (not shown) for querying an external database, as described in greater detail below.
With continuing reference to
FIG. 2
, system
30
further includes a master street address guide (MSAG)
42
, which is a listing of all streets and house numbers ranges within a 9-1-1 service area. The streets and address ranges are assigned selective routing codes, or emergency service numbers (ESNs), to enable proper routing of 9-1-1 calls. Thus, the MSAG is a summary database of valid address ranges, with the corresponding ESN for each range. The ESN is a unique number assigned to each combination of PSAP, law, fire and emergency service (EMS) provider and, in some areas, the community name or other delineated zone. System
30
further includes an automatic location identifier Data Base Management System (ALI/DBMS)
48
of CPN, subscriber name and address information and the law, fire and EMS emergency service providers for that location. ALI/DBMS
48
is in electronic communication with PSAP
18
, MSAG
42
and SRDB
34
. The emergency service providers ESPn have been automatically assigned from the address ranges in MSAG
42
. In system
30
, upon having the call routed to the appropriate PSAP, this PSAP (e.g., PSAP
18
) queries ALI/DMBS
48
to determine the name and address of the CPN subscriber and predetermined emergency service providers ESPn. This information is then displayed on a call-takers screen.
Routing of calls from telephone
12
to primary PSAP
18
is accomplished by finding the address of the calling party, as obtained from TelCo records in MSAG
42
. With continuing reference to FIG.
2
and system
30
, a 9-1-1 call from telephone
12
at a specific street address location is received at TelCo central office
14
and is transferred to regional 9-1-1 switch
32
. Switch
32
then searches a database of telephone numbers in SRDB
34
for a match with the CPN. SRDB
34
returns to switch
32
the telephone number TN of PSAP
18
, i.e., the PSAP that should receive emergency calls from the address of the subscriber of the CPN. Switch
32
then uses this TN number to transfer the 9-1-1 call to the designated PSAP. The appropriate PSAP telephone number for each CPN has been pre-loaded into SRDB
34
by comparing the addresses of all TelCo subscribers with MSAG
42
and storing or updating SRDB
34
with the correct PSAP data. The database comparisons are performed on a daily basis within ALI/DMBS
48
. Upon transfer to PSAP
18
, the PSAP 9-1-1 sub-system queries ALI/DBMS
48
with the CPN and retrieves information (e.g., name, address, etc.) of emergency service providers ESPn that serve that address location.
Implementation of an E-911 system requires valid locatable addressing to perform properly. Many rural areas do not have city-style addressing and must change United States Postal Service (USPS) rural route and box numbers into valid locatable addresses. All areas, regardless of addressing status, must insure that every address is unique. That is, duplicate road names and/or addresses in the same municipality must be eliminated. If an area is to be re-addressed, the municipality must establish a standard distance between whole numbered addresses and establish one side of the road for odd numbers and one side for even numbers (parity). Based on these criteria, the measured distance of each site from the beginning of the road which it accesses determines the locatable distance-based address for that site.
There are two primary methods for establishing the distance to each address site: 1) field measurement using a linear measuring device such as a fifth wheel, and 2) Geographic System Information (GIS) methods to calculate the distance along a digital arc that represents the centerline of the road network to be addressed.
Field measurement involves proceeding to the beginning of each road to be addressed, setting the measurement device to zero and then recording the distance to each site, the side-of-road and, if available, the resident name/address information. Typically, the information is immediately entered into a computer database or written on paper forms and entered at a later time. The process requires manipulation and manual recording of vast amounts of information. Numerous errors are generally introduced in the measured distance, the side-of-road, and the existing address information. As a tabular database, visual inspection is the only means for review.
GIS calculation requires development of a road centerline (C/L) spatial database and capture of the coordinates of each building and/or access point. There are many GIS techniques for determining the distance along each road arc to a specified point along that arc. Typically, the distance is manually entered as an attribute for each address point, or a GIS procedure is used to measure and record the distance as an attribute without manual intervention. Assignment of side-of-road has been done manually. Capture of site coordinates utilizes rectified aerial photographs or with field operated global positioning systems (GPS).
Regardless of measurement technique, an essential part of any E-911 system is collecting current resident name and address data. This data is used to notify occupants of their E-911 address and must be stored as an attribute with the proper site point. Failure to accurately assign this data to
Heinrich Bruce
Heinrich Bruce Jason
Downs Rachlin & Martin PLLC
Microdata
Vo Nguyen T.
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