Apparatus and method for identifying a calling station

A method of identifying a specific station of a plurality of stations initiating a "9-1-1" emergency telephone call, comprising the steps of:

• (a) permanently assigning an arbitrary, fixed designation to a geographically-defined station capable of initiating a "9-1-1" emergency telephone call;
• (b) encoding said arbitrary, fixed designation into an electronic format;
• (c) sensing, at a public safety answering point (PSAP) responsible for a designated geographic area including the calling station, a "9-1-1" emergency telephone call;
• (d) polling, by the responsible PSAP, the calling station in response to the sensing of the "9-1-1" emergency telephone call;
• and
• (e) transmitting the encoded, fixed designation to the responsible PSAP in response to said polling.

A method of identifying a specific station of a plurality of geographically dispersed stations of a telephone system initiating a telephone call, comprising the steps of:

• (a) permanently assigning a fixed designation, based upon specific geographic location, to each station capable of initiating a telephone call within the system;
• (b) encoding said designation into an electronic format;
• (c) providing means at the calling station fore transmitting the encoded, fixed designation to a call-receiving office;
• (d) sensing, at the call-receiving office, the call by the calling station;
• (e) polling the transmitting means in response to the telephone call;
• and
• (f) transmitting the encoded, fixed designation to the call-receiving office in response to said polling.

Apparatus for identifying one specific station, of a plurality of geographically-defined stations serviced by a telephone system, which has initiated a telephone call, comprising:

• (a) permanently, fixed designation indicia associated with each station capable of initiating a telephone call under the system;
• (b) means for encoding said designation indicia into an electronic format;
• (c) means, at each station, for transmitting said encoded, fixed designation indicia to a call-receiving location;
• (d) means for sensing, at the call-receiving location, the call by the calling station;
• (e) means for polling the transmitting means in response to the telephone call;
• and
• (f) means for transmitting the encoded, fixed designation indicia to the call-receiving location in response to said polling.

A method of identifying a specific station of a plurality of stations initiating a telephone call, comprising the step of:

• (a) permanently assigning a fixed designation to a geographically-defined station capable of initiating a telephone call;
• (b) encoding said designation into an electronic format;
• (c) providing means at the station for transmitting the encoded, fixed designation to an answering point;
• (d) sensing, at the answering point, the telephone call by the geographically-defined station;
• (e) disposing the answering point to receive the encoded designation;
• and
• (f) transmitting the encoded, fixed designation to the answering point.