Method and system for situation tracking and notification

Abstract

Alerts ( 13 ) are generated at mobile entity devices ( 12 ) and servers ( 16 ). The alerts are examined at the servers and handled by the server and/or forwarded to a clearing house ( 22 ). At the clearing house, emergency events ( 40 ) are created in response to the alerts by an event module ( 36 ). A notify module ( 38 ) compares events to an information need ( 304 ) associated with a subscriber profile ( 46 ) to determine whether a subscriber associated with the subscriber profile should be notified about events. The notify module also handles interactive search requests from a client ( 20 ) for the events.

1 . A method for situation tracking comprising:
 providing at least one public safety event at a clearing house;   providing a plurality of subscribers, each subscriber having a respective associated subscriber profile;   determining at least one notification location between a first location and a second location;   selecting at least one selected subscriber from the subscribers based on the notification location and the subscriber profile; and   generating a respective notification to each of the selected subscribers.   
     
     
         2 . The method for situation tracking according to  claim 1 , wherein each public safety event has respective associated location information comprising at least one of a zip code, a global positioning system based location, a city, a state, a street and a street intersection. 
     
     
         3 . The method for situation tracking according to  claim 1 , wherein each public safety event has respective associated location information and wherein determining the notification location comprises:
 determining the first location based on the location information;   determining the second location based on the location information; and   wherein the notification location is geographically located between the first and second locations.   
     
     
         4 . The method for situation tracking according to  claim 3 , wherein selecting the selected subscriber further comprises selecting the selected subscriber based on the location information. 
     
     
         5 . The method for situation tracking according to  claim 1 , wherein providing the public safety event comprises:
 receiving an alert at the clearing house; and   generating the public safety event based on the alert.   
     
     
         6 . A method for situation tracking comprising:
 providing at least one public safety event at a clearing house;   receiving information related to at least a selected one of the public safety events; and   displaying the selected one of the public safety events to a user.   
     
     
         7 . The method for situation tracking according to  claim 6  and further comprising:
 generating a new public safety event based on the selected one of the public safety events and the information;   associating the new public event and the selected one of the public safety events in the clearing house; and   generating a notification to a contact associated with the selected one of the public safety events.   
     
     
         8 . The method for situation tracking according to  claim 6  and further comprising:
 modifying the selected one of the public safety events based on the information; and   generating a notification to a contact associated with the selected one of the public safety events.   
     
     
         9 . The method for situation tracking according to  claim 6  and further comprising selecting the selected one of the public safety events based on a ranking of the selected ones of the public safety events based on at least one of the location information and a detail element, the detail element having at least one of an image, a description, a suspect, an identifier, a category, an offense type, a case type, a date, a time, an expiration date, an access level, a contact, a map and location information. 
     
     
         10 . A method for information management comprising:
 providing at least one public safety event at a clearing house;   providing a plurality of subscribers, each subscriber having a respective associated subscriber profile, each subscriber profile having at least one geographic area of interest to the subscriber and at least one type:   determining a first plurality of subscribers having profiles having related geographic areas of interest;   determining a second plurality of subscribers having profiles having related types; and   generating a notification including at least one of the first and second pluralities.   
     
     
         11 . The method for information management according to  claim 10  and further comprising:
 determining a relationship between the first and second pluralities; and   generating a further notification including ones of the first and second pluralities having the relationship.   
     
     
         12 . The method for information management according to  claim 11  and further comprising communicating the notification and the further notification a public safety agency subscriber. 
     
     
         13 . A system for situation tracking comprising:
 logic encoded on a computer readable medium operable to:
 provide at least one public safety event at a clearing house; 
 provide a plurality of subscribers, each subscriber having a respective associated subscriber profile; 
 determine at least one notification location between a first location and a second location; 
 select at least one selected subscriber from the subscribers based on the notification location and the subscriber profile; and 
 generate a respective notification to each of the selected subscribers. 
   
     
     
         14 . A system for situation tracking comprising:
 logic encoded on a computer readable medium operable to:
 provide at least one public safety event at a clearing house; 
 receive information related to at least a selected one of the public safety events; and 
 display the selected one of the public safety events to a user. 
   
     
     
         15 . A system for information management comprising:
 logic encoded on a computer readable medium operable to:
 provide at least one public safety event at a clearing house; 
 provide a plurality of subscribers, each subscriber having a respective associated subscriber profile, each subscriber profile having at least one geographic area of interest to the subscriber and at least one type: 
 determine a first plurality of subscribers having profiles having related geographic areas of interest; 
 determine a second plurality of subscribers having profiles having related types; and 
 generate a notification including at least one of the first and second pluralities.