Method for processing solicited multimedia files

Abstract

Methods and systems for processing multimedia files associated with an incident. One method includes receiving a request to submit a multimedia file associated with the incident and, in response to receiving the request, transmitting a text message including an identifier of the incident to a communication device. The method also includes receiving, at the answering point, a reply to the text message, the reply including the multimedia file and the identifier, and storing, at the answering point, the multimedia file including using the identifier to link the multimedia file to an incident record for the incident.

We claim: 
     
       1. A method for operating a public safety answering point to process multimedia files associated with an incident, the method comprising:
 receiving, at the public safety answering point, a first text message from a communication device, the first text message including a request to submit a multimedia file associated with the incident; 
 in response to receiving the first text message including the request, transmitting a second text message including an identifier uniquely linked to an existing electronically stored incident record associated with the incident to the communication device; 
 receiving, at the public safety answering point, a reply to the second text message, the reply including the multimedia file and the identifier; and 
 storing, at the public safety answering point, the multimedia file including using the identifier to link the multimedia file to the existing electronically stored incident record. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 creating, at the public safety answering point, a call record including a unique call identifier based on the request, and 
 linking, at the public safety answering point, the call record to the existing electronically stored incident record, wherein the incident identifier included in the second text message includes the unique call identifier. 
 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2 , wherein storing, at the public safety answering point, the multimedia file includes accessing the call record using the unique call identifier, identifying the existing electronically stored incident record for the incident based on the call record, and linking the multimedia file to the existing electronically stored incident record. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 2 , wherein linking the call record to the existing electronically stored incident record includes linking the call record to a plurality of incident records, wherein the plurality of incident records includes the existing electronically stored incident record for the incident. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 4 , wherein storing, at the public safety answering point, the multimedia file includes accessing the call record using the unique call identifier, identifying the plurality of incident records based on the call record, and linking the multimedia file to each of the plurality of incident records. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising displaying, at the public safety answering point, a graphical user interface and receiving, at the public safety answering point, a telephone number associated with the communication device through the graphical user interface. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 creating, at the public safety answering point, a first call record including a first unique call identifier based on the request, 
 creating, at the public safety answering point, a second call record including a second unique call identifier based on the communication device associated with the telephone number, and 
 linking, at the public safety answering point, the second call record to the existing electronically stored incident record, wherein the identifier included in the second text message includes the second unique call identifier. 
 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 assigning, at the public safety answering point, a unique identifier to the request, and 
 storing, at the public safety answering point, a mapping that maps the unique identifier to a unique incident identifier of the existing electronically stored incident record, wherein the identifier included in the second text message includes the unique identifier. 
 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 8 , wherein storing, at the public safety answering point, the multimedia file includes accessing the mapping, identifying the existing electronically stored incident record for the incident using the mapping and the unique identifier, and linking the multimedia file to the existing electronically stored incident record. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising assigning, at the public safety answering point, an expiration term to the second text message and discarding, at the public safety answering point, the reply to the second text message when the reply to the second text message is received after the expiration term. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 1 , wherein using the identifier to link the multimedia file to the existing electronically stored incident record for the incident includes accessing the identifier in metadata included in the second text message. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 1 , where transmitting the second text message includes transmitting the second text message to a text control center. 
     
     
       13. A system for processing multimedia files associated with an incident, the system comprising:
 a database storing an existing electronically stored incident record of an incident; and 
 a dispatch computer configured to
 receive, at a public safety answering point, a first text message from a communication device, the first text message including a request to submit a multimedia file associated with the incident, 
 in response to receiving the first text message including the request, transmit a second text message including an identifier uniquely linked to the existing electronically stored incident record to the communication device, 
 receive a reply to the second text message, the reply including the multimedia file and the identifier, and 
 store the multimedia file to the database including using the identifier to link the multimedia file to the existing electronically stored incident record. 
 
 
     
     
       14. The system of  claim 13 , wherein the identifier included in the second text message includes a unique identifier of the existing electronically stored incident record. 
     
     
       15. The system of  claim 13 , wherein the dispatch computer is further configured to create a call record including a unique call identifier based on the request and link the call record to the existing electronically stored incident record, wherein the identifier included in the second text message includes the unique call identifier. 
     
     
       16. The system of  claim 13 , wherein the identifier is included in metadata of the second text message. 
     
     
       17. The system of  claim 13 , wherein the dispatch computer is further configured to display a graphical user interface on a dispatch terminal and receive a telephone number associated with the communication device through the graphical user interface. 
     
     
       18. The system of  claim 17 , wherein the dispatch computer is further configured to create a first call record including a first unique call identifier based on the request, store the first call record to the database, link the first call record to the existing electronically stored incident record, create a second call record including a second unique call identifier based on the telephone number, store the second call record in the database, and link the second call record to the existing electronically stored incident record, wherein the identifier included in the second text message includes the second unique call identifier. 
     
     
       19. The system of  claim 13 , wherein the dispatch computer is further configured to assign an expiration term to the second text message and discard the reply to the second text message when the reply to the second text message is received after the expiration term. 
     
     
       20. A public safety answering point, comprising:
 a dispatch terminal; an input device; and a dispatch computer electrically connected to the dispatch terminal and the input device,   the dispatch computer configured to generate a graphical user interface for displaying on the dispatch terminal, the graphical user interface including:
 a first graphical user interface component identifying a telephone number of a communication device from which a first text message including a request to submit a multimedia file associated with an existing electronically stored incident record is received at the dispatch computer; and 
 a second graphical user interface component including a plurality of menu selections selectable by a call taker via the input device, wherein the menu selections include a first menu selection providing a selection mechanism for the call taker to provide an input, via the input device at the dispatch terminal, indicating call-taker authorization for the submission of a multimedia file from the communication device associated with the telephone number and associated with the existing electronically stored incident record, 
   wherein the dispatch computer is configured to receive, from the dispatch terminal, the input indicating call-taker authorization for the submission of a multimedia file from the communication device and responsively create a second text message including an identifier uniquely linked to the existing electronically stored incident record associated with the incident and transmit the created second text message to the communication device for use in transmitting the multimedia file as associated with the existing electronically stored incident record using the identifier.    
     
     
       21. The public safety answering point of claim 20, wherein the menu selections include a second menu selection that is selectable to display a dialog box within the graphical user interface, the dialog box prompting the call taker to enter an alternative telephone number.  
     
     
       22. The public safety answering point of claim 21, wherein the dialog box further provides a selection mechanism for the call taker to provide an input, via the input device at the dispatch terminal, indicating call-taker authorization for the submission of a multimedia file via the alternative telephone number, wherein the dispatch computer is configured to receive, from the dispatch terminal, the input indicating call-taker authorization for the submission of a multimedia file via a second communication device associated with the alternative telephone number, and responsively create a third text message including the identifier linked to the existing electronically stored incident record associated with the incident and transmit the created third text message to the second communication device associated with the alternative telephone number.  
     
     
       23. The public safety answering point of claim 20, wherein the dispatch computer is configured to display a status message on the dispatch terminal informing the call taker that the second text message has been transmitted.  
     
     
       24. The public safety answering point of claim 20, wherein the dispatch computer is configured to receive a reply to the second text message, the reply including the multimedia file and the identifier.  
     
     
       25. The public safety answering point of claim 24, wherein the dispatch computer is configured to display a message on the dispatch terminal informing the call taker that the multimedia file was received.  
     
     
       26. The public safety answering point of claim 24, wherein the dispatch computer is configured to use the identifier included in the reply to identify the existing electronically stored incident record that the multimedia field should be linked to.  
     
     
       27. The public safety answering point of claim 26, wherein the dispatch computer is configured to display a status message on the dispatch terminal after linking the multimedia file to the existing electronically stored incident record.  
     
     
       28. The public safety answering point of claim 26, wherein the dispatch computer is configured to display a status message on the dispatch terminal when the multimedia file cannot be linked to the existing electronically stored incident record.  
     
     
       29. The public safety answering point of claim 24, wherein the dispatch terminal is configured to determine that the multimedia file cannot be downloaded and responsively re-authorize the submission of a multimedia file from the communication device associated with the telephone number by transmitting a fourth text message including the identifier linked to the existing electronically stored incident record associated with the incident to the communication device.  
     
     
       30. A method of operating a dispatch computer associated with a public safety answering point, the method comprising:
 generating, by the dispatch computer, a graphical user interface for displaying on a dispatch terminal, the graphical user interface including a first graphical user interface component identifying a telephone number of a communication device from which a first text message including a request to submit a multimedia file associated with an existing electronically stored incident record is received and a second graphical user interface component including a plurality of menu selections selectable by a call taker via an input device, wherein the menu selections include a first menu selection providing a selection mechanism for the call taker to provide an input via the input device at the dispatch terminal indicating call-taker authorization for the submission of a multimedia file from the communication device associated with the telephone number;   receiving, by the dispatch computer, from the dispatch terminal, the input indicating call-taker authorization for the submission of a multimedia file from the communication device and associated with the existing electronically stored incident record, and responsively creating a second text message including an identifier uniquely linked to and associated with the existing electronically stored incident record associated with the incident; and   transmitting, by the dispatch computer, the created second text message to the communication device for use in transmitting the multimedia file as associated with the existing electronically stored incident record using the identifier.    
     
     
       31. The method of claim 30, wherein the menu selections include a second menu selection that is selectable to display a dialog box within the graphical user interface, the dialog box prompting the call taker to enter an alternative telephone number.  
     
     
       32. The method of claim 31, wherein the dialog box provides a selection mechanism for the call taker to provide an input via the input device at the dispatch terminal indicating call-taker authorization for the submission of a multimedia file via the alternative telephone number, the method further comprising:
 receiving, by the dispatch computer, from the dispatch terminal, the input indicating call-taker authorization for the submission of a multimedia file via a second communication device associated with the alternative telephone number, and responsively creating a third text message including the identifier linked to the existing electronically stored incident record associated with the incident; and   transmitting, by the dispatch computer, the created third text message to the second communication device associated with the alternative telephone number.    
     
     
       33. The method of claim 30, further comprising:
 displaying, by the dispatch computer, a status message on the dispatch terminal informing the call taker that the second text message has been transmitted.    
     
     
       34. The method of claim 30, further comprising:
 receiving, by the dispatch computer, a reply to the second text message, the reply including the multimedia file and the identifier.    
     
     
       35. The method of claim 34, further comprising:
 displaying, by the dispatch computer, a message on the dispatch terminal informing the call taker that the multimedia file was received.    
     
     
       36. The method of claim 34, further comprising:
 using, by the dispatch computer, the identifier included in the reply to identify the existing electronically stored incident record that the multimedia field should be linked to.    
     
     
       37. The method of claim 36, further comprising:
 displaying, by the dispatch computer, a status message on the dispatch terminal after linking the multimedia file to the existing electronically stored incident record.    
     
     
       38. The method of claim 36, further comprising:
 displaying, by the dispatch computer, a status message on the dispatch terminal when the multimedia file cannot be linked to the existing electronically stored incident record.    
     
     
       39. The method of claim 34, further comprising:
 determining, by the dispatch computer, that the multimedia file cannot be downloaded and responsively re-authorizing the submission of a multimedia file from the communication device associated with the telephone number by transmitting a fourth text message including the identifier linked to the existing electronically stored incident record associated with the incident to the communication device.