System and method for distributing emergency data messages to public safety answering points in a balanced manner

#Emergency 911 services have traditionally been performed by a user placing a telephone call to “911.” Prior to mobile communications developing, users would dial “911” on landlines, and the public switched telephone network (PSTN) would route the call to a public safety answering point (PSAP) local to a street address of the landline telephone used to place the call.

#With mobile and wireless telephones, the address of a user in an emergency call is unknown. To determine the address or location of the caller, various techniques for determining geographic positioning of the caller are performed, including using global positioning system (GPS) equipment and network assisted positioning by using triangulation, as performed by a communications network. The communications network identifies the emergency “911” call and, based on the location of the caller, routes the call to a local PSAP with respect to the location of the caller. Depending on the technology used by the PSAP, geographic coordinates may be sent to the PSAP. If the PSAP is configured with enhanced “911” or E-911 Phase II, then a local automatic location identification (ALI) database may be used to convert the geographic coordinates to address-based coordinates.

#As mobile telecommunications have advanced, different forms of data messaging communications have been developed, including text messaging, instant messaging, photo messaging, and video messaging. To accommodate these new forms of communications, a few PSAPs have advertised specific telephone numbers that users can send a text message, for example, to notify emergency services of an emergency. The problem is that unless a user has saved the emergency telephone number in his or her mobile device, the user is unlikely to remember the telephone number or not have time to enter the telephone number during an emergency situation. Furthermore, if the user has traveled any sufficient distance from a PSAP that has a specific telephone for sending text messages, then the PSAP is no longer local to the user. PSAPs, especially those in metropolitan areas, can be overloaded with emergency calls, which causes people with emergencies to have to wait to speak with an operator.

#Illustrative embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the attached drawing figures, which are incorporated by reference herein and wherein:

#FIG. 1 is an illustration of illustrative network environment in which users of wireless communications devices are able to send emergency data messages via an emergency data message router to local public safety answering points;

#FIG. 2 is an illustration of a user of a wireless communications device operating in a cell site in which multiple PSAPs have different communications capabilities;

#With regard to FIG. 1, a network environment 100 provides users 102a-102n (collectively 102) of wireless communications devices 104a-104n (collectively 104), which may be mobile telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), wireless electronic games, multi-mode telephones, or other electronic devices capable of communicating emergency data messages (EDMs) 106a-106n (collectively 106) to public safety answering points (PSAPs) 108a-108n (collectively 108). As understood in the art, multiple wireless network operators may be concurrently providing wireless services using various operating frequencies and network protocols. Emergency data messages may include text messages, instant messages (IMs), emails, photo messages, video messages, and the like. The emergency data messages 106 may be communicated to an emergency network address, such as Internet Protocol (IP) domain routing address “emergency.org,” “911.911,” or any other network address, by users 102 from the wireless communications devices 104. In one embodiment, the emergency data messages 106 may be generated and communicated by activating a single emergency data message button, either a hard-button or a soft-button, that causes the wireless communications devices 104 to generate a pre-established data message.

#A preestablished or pre-formatted data message, such as a text message, may include information associated with a respective user, such as a network identification number (NID), mobile electronic device identification number (MEID), which is commonly called a cell code identifier, user's name, telephone number, home or work address, secondary contact number, or any other information associated with a user such that an operator at a PSAP or emergency personnel (e.g., police) may have information of the user if he or she is unable to be immediately located. In addition, the emergency data messages 106 may be appended with a checksum, such that the message can be validated to be received without error. It should be understood that various checksum algorithms may be employed and may or may not include capabilities to detect and correct errors. Alternatively, a “free-form” data message, such as a text message, may be sent to an emergency network address, but the user may run the risk of being incomplete or too “cryptic” due to being in an emergency situation or using abbreviations unfamiliar to PSAP operators. The emergency data message may be communicated via the network(s) 110 to a PSAP local to the respective user. As not all wireless communications devices are configured to generate preformatted emergency data messages, a user may generate and communicate a freeform emergency data message (e.g., text message, email, instant message, image message) to a network address, such as Internet domain name “911.911,” for routing to a PSAP local to the user. A freeform emergency data message is any data message that is addressed and communicated to a network address for routing to a PSAP local to the user.

#The networks 110 may include mobile networks, wireless communications networks, Internet, public switched telephone network (PSTN), or any other network capable of communicating an emergency data message to the PSAPs 108. As shown, an emergency data message 106a is communicated from the wireless communications device 104a via the network(s) 110 to an emergency data message router (EDMR) 112, which may be located at an emergency message address that is configured to determine a PSAP 108a that services a geographic area in which the user 102a is currently located.