Danger warning and emergency response system and method

The method of providing an automated, danger warning and emergency response in a selected area of a plurality of areas worldwide comprising the steps of:

• (a) detecting a dangerous situation from at least one of a plurality of surveillance locations or platforms worldwide,
• (b) transmitting first information signals modulated with information relating to the dangerous situation from the surveillance platform or location via radio transmission signals to a warning command control center for analysis,
• analyzing the first received information signals in the warning command control center in a computer system employing expert system technology,
• (d) determining at the warning command control center the degree of danger and its geographic extent based on analysis of the received information signals,
• (e) generating at the warning command control center a danger warning and emergency response including a danger index indicating a degree of danger within at least one geographic area,
• (f) broadcasting the danger warning and emergency response from the warning command control center to a plurality of remotely located information indicating devices in an area selected relative to the geographic area having the indicated degree of danger,
• (g) receiving via the broadcast signals the danger warning and emergency response in the remotely located information indicating devices, and comparing in each such remotely located information indicating device the coordinates of the dangerous situation with its own coordinates for determining the extent to which personnel near each remotely located information indicating device are in danger, and
• (h) automatically issuing from each remotely located information indicating device a warning corresponding to the extent to which the issuing remotely located information indicating device is in danger.

The method of providing an automated, danger warning and emergency response in a selected area of a plurality of areas nationwide comprising the steps of:

• (a) detecting a dangerous situation from at least one of a plurality of surveillance locations or platforms nationwide,
• (b) transmitting first information signals modulated with information relating to the dangerous situation from the surveillance platform or location via radio transmission signals to a warning command control center for analysis,
• analyzing the first received information signals in the warning command control center in a computer system employing expert system technology,
• (d) determining at the warning command control center the degree of danger and its geographic extent based on analysis of the received information signals,
• (e) generating at the warning command control center a danger warning and emergency response including a danger index indicating a degree of danger within at least one geographic area,
• (f) broadcasting the danger warning and emergency response from the warning command control center to a plurality of remotely located information indicating devices in an area selected relative to the geographic area having the indicated degree of danger,
• (g) receiving via the broadcast signals the danger warning and emergency response in the remotely located information indicating devices, and comparing in each such remotely located information indicating device the coordinates of the dangerous situation with its own coordinates for determining the extent to which personnel near each remotely located information indicating device are in danger, and
• (h) automatically issuing from each remotely located information indicating device a warning corresponding to the extent to which the issuing remotely located information indicating device is in danger.

The method of providing an automated, wide-area, danger warning and emergency response comprising the steps of:

• (a) detecting a dangerous situation from a surveillance platform,
• (b) transmitting information signals describing the dangerous situation from the surveillance platform via radio transmission signals to a warning command control center,
• analyzing the received information signals at the warning command control center using a computer system employing expert system technology,
• (d) determining at the warning command control center the degree of danger and its geographic extent based on analysis of the received information signals,
• (e) generating at the warning command control center a danger warning and emergency response including a danger index indicating a degree of danger within at least one geographic area,
• (f) broadcasting the danger warning and emergency response from the warning command control center to a plurality of remotely located home radio receivers,
• (g) receiving via the broadcast signals the danger warning and emergency response at the remotely located home radio receivers, and comparing at each remotely located home radio receiver the area or earth coordinates of the dangerous situation with its own area coordinates for determining the extent to which each remotely located home radio receiver location is in danger, and
• (h) automatically issuing from each of a plurality of remotely located home radios a warning corresponding to the extent to which the issuing remotely located home radio is in danger.

The method of providing an automated, wide-area, danger warning and emergency response to multiple population areas comprising the steps of:

• (a) detecting a dangerous situation from a plurality of surveillance platforms,
• (b) transmitting information signals describing the dangerous situation from the surveillance platform via radio transmission signals to a warning command control center,
• analyzing the received information signals at the warning command control center in a computer system employing expert system technology,
• (d) determining at the warning command control center the degree of danger and its geographic extent based on analysis of the received information signals,
• (e) generating at the warning command control center a danger warning and emergency response including a danger index indicating a degree of danger within multiple areas under surveillance,
• (f) broadcasting the danger warning and emergency response from the warning command control center to a plurality of remotely located home radio receivers,
• (g) receiving via the broadcast signals the danger warning and emergency response at the remotely located home radio receivers, and comparing at each such remotely located home radio receiver the area or earth coordinates of the dangerous situation with its own coordinates for determining the extent to which personnel near each remotely located home radio receiver is in danger, and
• (h) automatically issuing from each remotely located home radio receiver a warning corresponding to the extent to which the issuing remotely located home radio receiver location is in danger.

An automated, wide area, danger warning and emergency response system comprising:

• (a) a surveillance platform located at a detection location supporting a first device for detecting a dangerous situation,
• (b) a first transmitter for sending information signals describing the dangerous situation from the surveillance platform via radio transmission signals to a control center for analysis,
• a computer system in the control center employing expert system technology for analyzing the received information signals,
• (d) a computer system in the control center for determining a degree of danger and its geographic extent based on the analysis of the received information signals, and for generating a danger warning and emergency response including a danger index indicating a degree of danger within at least one geographic area,
• (e) a second transmitter for broadcasting the danger warning and emergency response from the control center to a plurality of remotely located warning devices each of which has a GPS receiver and the ability to calculate its own location in GPS coordinates,
• (f) a receiver in each of the remotely located warning devices for receiving via the broadcast signals the danger warning and emergency response and for comparing in each remotely located warning device the coordinates of the dangerous situation with its own GPS coordinates for determining the extent to which each remotely located warning device is in danger, and
• (g) a second device coupled to each remotely located warning device for automatically issuing a warning corresponding to the extent to which the issuing remotely located warning device is in danger.

An automated, danger warning and emergency response system for a selected area of a plurality of areas nationwide or worldwide comprising:

• (a) a surveillance platform located at at least one of a plurality of detection locations supporting at least one of a plurality of first devices for detecting a dangerous situation,
• (b) a first transmitter for sending first information signals modulated with information relating to the dangerous situation from the surveillance platform or detection location via radio transmission signals to a warning command control center for analysis,
• a computer system at the warning command control center employing expert system technology for analyzing the received first information signals,
• (d) a computer system at the warning command control center for determining a degree of danger and its geographic extent based on the analysis of the received information signals, and for generating a danger warning and emergency response including a danger index indicating a degree of danger within at least one geographic area,
• (e) a transmitter for broadcasting the danger warning and emergency response from the warning command control center to a plurality of remotely located information indicating devices in an area selected relative to the geographic area having the indicated degree of danger each of which devices has a GPS receiver and the ability to calculate its own location in GPS coordinates,
• (f) a receiver in each of the remotely located information indicating devices for receiving via the broadcast signals the danger warning and emergency response in the remotely located information indicating devices, and comparing in each remotely located information indicating device receiver the coordinates of the dangerous situation with its own coordinates for determining the extent to which each remotely located information indicating device is in danger,
• (g) a second device coupled to each remotely located information indicating device receiver for automatically issuing a warning corresponding to the extent to which the issuing remotely located information indicating device is in danger.

An automated, wide area, danger warning and emergency response system for multiple population areas comprising:

• (a) a plurality of surveillance platforms each supporting one or more first devices for detecting a dangerous situation,
• (b) a first transmitter for sending information signals describing the dangerous situation from the surveillance platform via radio transmission signals to a warning command control center,
• a computer system at the warning command control center employing expert system technology for analyzing the received information signals,
• (d) a computer system at the warning command control center for determining a degree of danger and its geographic extent based on the analysis of the received information signals, and for generating a danger warning and emergency response including a danger index indicating a degree of danger within multiple areas under surveillance,
• (e) a radio transmitter for broadcasting the danger warning and emergency response from the warning command control center to a plurality of remotely located home radio receivers each of which has a GPS receiver and the ability to calculate its own location in GPS coordinates,
• (f) a radio receiver in each of the remotely located home radios for receiving via the broadcast signals the danger warning and emergency response in the remotely located home radios, and comparing in each remotely located home radio receiver the area or earth coordinates of the dangerous situation with its own coordinates for determining the extent to which each remotely located home radio receiver location is in danger, and
• (g) each remotely located home radio receiver having a second device coupled thereto for automatically issuing a warning corresponding to the extent to which the issuing remotely located home radio receiver location is in danger.

A system for detecting emergency conditions and warning populations thereof comprising:

• an emergency-condition monitoring station having
• an earth-scanning platform operable to scan a select portion of the earth and to generate scanning signals indicative of detected emergency conditions,
• computer circuitry for analyzing the scanning signals and generating warning control signals representative of the detected emergency conditions, and
• a short-wave transmitter for transmitting the warning control signals at selected time intervals, and
• a multitude of short-wave receivers,
• each short-wave receiver being operable between a stand-by mode and a full-receive mode,
• in the stand-by mode, the short wave receiver being activated at all times awaiting receipt of control signals from the monitoring station for switching the short wave receiver to the full-receive mode, and
• in the full-receive mode, the short wave receiver warning members of the population by displaying intelligibly readable indications relating to the emergency conditions on a display screen coupled to the short wave receiver and by generating speech signals which are transduced into the sounds of words of speech relating to the emergency conditions by a speaker coupled to the short wave receiver.

A network for detecting emergency conditions and warning populations thereof comprising:

• a plurality of emergency-condition monitoring stations each having
• at least one earth-scanning platform which is operable to generate scanning signals indicative of detected emergency conditions,
• computer circuitry for analyzing the scanning signals and generating warning control signals representative of the detected emergency conditions, and
• a short-wave transmitter for repeatably transmitting the warning control signals at selected time intervals, and
• a multitude of receivers,
• each receiver being operable between a stand-by mode and a full-receive mode,
• in the stand-by mode, the receiver normally being activated at all times awaiting receipt of control signals from the monitoring station for switching the receiver to the full-receive mode, and
• in the full-receive mode, the receiver warning members of the population by displaying intelligibly readable indications relating to the emergency conditions on a display screen coupled to the receiver and by generating speech signals which are transduced into the sounds of words of speech relating to the emergency conditions by a speaker coupled to the receiver.