Emergency telephone call notification service system and method

Abstract

A system and method for emergency telephone call notification. The system includes an AIN capable switch, a service control point (SCP) having a database of designated contact numbers associated with a service subscriber telephone number, and an intelligent peripheral (IP) in communication with the SCP for contacting the designated contact numbers. The method includes the steps of recognizing an N11 trigger and the SCP initiating telephone calls, via the IP, to each of the contact numbers corresponding to the telephone number of the subscriber making the emergency telephone call.

We claim:  
     
         1 . In a telecommunications system having at least one subscriber telephone in communication with an advanced intelligent network (AIN) capable switch, at least one intelligent peripheral (IP) in communication with the AIN capable switch, at least one service control point (SCP) in communication with the switch, and a public safety answering point (PSAP) in communication with the SCP and the switch, a method of notifying at least one designated telephone number that an emergency telephone call has been made from the subscriber telephone, the method comprising the steps of: 
 recognizing an emergency telephone call at the switch;    the switch informing the SCP of the emergency telephone call;    the SCP instructing the IP to dial the at least one designated telephone number; and    the IP informing the at least one designated telephone number of the emergency telephone call from the subscriber telephone.    
     
     
         2 . The method of claim, wherein the emergency telephone call is a 911 telephone call.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the step of recognizing an emergency telephone call trigger further comprises recognizing an N11 trigger.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the SCP further comprises a database having a list of subscriber telephones and a list of at least one designated telephone number associated with each of the subscriber telephones in the list of subscriber telephones, and wherein the step of the SCP instructing the IP to dial the at least one designated telephone number comprises the SCP retrieving a first of the at least one telephone number associated with the subscriber telephone number and instructing the IP to contact the first of the at least one telephone numbers that an emergency telephone call has been placed from the subscriber telephone.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the SCP further comprises a database having a list of subscriber telephone numbers and a list of at least one designated telephone number associated with each of the subscriber telephone numbers, and wherein the step of the SCP instructing the IP to dial the at least one designated telephone number comprises the SCP retrieving all of the telephone numbers associated with the subscriber telephone number and instructing the IP to contact all of the designated telephone numbers simultaneously.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of the IP informing the at least one designated telephone number further comprises the step of the IP supplying a caller ID message to the at least one designated telephone number indicating an incoming call from an emergency call notification service.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of the IP informing at least one designated telephone number further comprises playing a prerecorded message if a person answers the emergency call notification call.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising a step of automatically placing a call from the at least one designated telephone number to the subscriber telephone if a person answers the at least one designated telephone number.  
     
     
         9 . An emergency call notification system comprising: 
 a subscriber telephone;    an AIN capable switch in communication with a public service access point (PSAP) and the subscriber telephone, the AIN switch configured to recognize an emergency telephone call;    a service control point (SCP) in communication with the switch, the SCP comprising a database having a list of emergency call notification service subscribers, the SCP configured to determine if an emergency telephone call was made by an emergency call notification service subscriber and correlate the emergency call notification service subscriber number with a list of at least one designated contact number for the emergency call notification service subscriber; and    an intelligent peripheral (IP) in communication with the SCP, the IP responsive to an instruction from the SCP to contact the at least one designated contact number.    
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9  further comprising means for automatically connecting a designated contact number answered by a person to the emergency call notification service subscriber number.  
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10  further comprising a caller ID generator comprising a predesignated message stored in memory.  
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 10  wherein the IP comprises answer verification logic.  
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the answer verification logic comprises a call repetition timer.  
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the answer verification logic further comprises a live answer detector.  
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the answer verification logic comprises a prerecorded message for transmission to an answering machine.  
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the IP is in communication with the SCP via a wide area network.  
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of the SCP instructing the IP comprises sending a message via a wide area network connection to the IP.  
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the message comprises a TCP/IP message.  
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of the IP informing the at least one designated number comprises the IP dialing a first of the at least one designated numbers and waiting a predetermined number of rings before trying to contact a next one of the at least one designated numbers.  
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the IP further comprises a plurality of prerecorded message templates.  
     
     
         21 . In a telecommunications system having at least one subscriber telephone in communication with an advanced intelligent network (AIN) capable switch, at least one intelligent peripheral (IP) in communication with the AIN capable switch, at least one service control point (SCP) in communication with the switch, and a public safety answering point (PSAP) in communication with the SCP and the switch, a method of notifying at least one designated telephone number that an emergency telephone call has been made from the subscriber telephone, the method comprising the steps of: 
 recognizing an emergency telephone call trigger corresponding to an emergency telephone call at the switch;    notifying the SCP of the emergency telephone call;    instructing the IP to dial the at least one designated telephone number;    informing the at least one designated telephone number of the emergency telephone call from the subscriber telephone; and    automatically placing a call from the at least one designated telephone number to the subscriber telephone if a person answers the at least one designated telephone number.