Dynamic Emergency Contact Group Derivation

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

During emergencies, individuals face challenges in reaching out to their contacts due to infrastructure damage and network overload, making it difficult to confirm the status of friends and family, especially in areas with limited mobile connectivity.

Innovation Solution

A system for dynamic derivation and sending of messages to a contact group, which automatically generates a subset of contacts based on geographic location, activity, and event type, using intelligent ok message solicitation and a central service for prioritized message broadcasting, reducing the burden of manual updates and minimizing resource utilization.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If individuals manually contact each contact during an emergency, then all contacts can be notified, but network overload and infrastructure damage prevent successful communication

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecommunication reliabilityVSAvoidcommunication efficiency

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces a server as an intermediary that receives emergency alerts from users and automatically distributes them to relevant contacts. This mediator handles the communication burden, allowing users to send a single alert while the server manages distribution to multiple contacts, thereby improving reliability without requiring users to manually contact each person during the emergency

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The system segments contacts into different groups based on their relationship to the user and the type of emergency event. By dividing the contact list into meaningful segments (e.g., family, friends, colleagues) and further into subgroups based on event type (e.g., natural disaster, medical emergency), the system enables targeted communication that reduces network load while ensuring the right people are notified

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

2Reliability

If all contacts are notified of every emergency event, then no one is missed, but network resources are wasted and congestion increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecontact notification completenessVSAvoidnetwork resource consumption

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLoss of energy

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies local quality by notifying different contact groups with different levels of detail and priority based on their specific relationship to the user and the event type. Critical contacts receive immediate detailed notifications, while less critical contacts receive summarized or lower-priority alerts, optimizing network resource usage while ensuring important notifications are delivered

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

Solution Approach 2:

The system performs partial action by notifying only the necessary subset of contacts for each emergency event rather than all contacts. By analyzing the event type and user contact relationships, the system identifies and notifies only the relevant contacts, avoiding unnecessary network traffic while maintaining notification completeness for essential contacts

Inventive Principle:

Principle #16Partial or excessive action

3Measurement precision

If users create and update contact groups manually, then contact organization is accurate, but user burden increases during emergency situations

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecontact group accuracyVSAvoiduser operation simplicity

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The system enables self-service by automatically organizing contacts into groups based on predefined criteria such as relationship type, location, and communication patterns. The server continuously updates contact groups without requiring user intervention, maintaining accurate organization while freeing users from manual management tasks, especially important during emergency situations when users need to focus on safety rather than administrative tasks

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

Solution Approach 2:

The patent implements preliminary action by pre-organizing contacts into groups and establishing notification rules before emergencies occur. During normal times, the system builds and maintains contact group structures, so when an emergency happens, the pre-established groups are immediately activated without requiring user input, ensuring both accuracy and operational simplicity

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

4Speed

If a central service broadcasts messages to all contacts, then message delivery is fast, but network congestion worsens in areas with limited connectivity

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvemessage delivery speedVSAvoidnetwork congestion

Core Design Contradiction:

SpeedVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The system segments the broadcast process by dividing contacts into geographic and relational groups, then distributing messages to each segment separately rather than broadcasting to all contacts simultaneously. This segmented approach maintains fast delivery within each group while reducing overall network congestion, especially beneficial in areas with limited connectivity where simultaneous broadcasts would cause severe bottlenecks

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Data Source

PatentUS10715987B2Dynamic derivation of and broadcast to emergency contact list

Publication Date: 2020.07.14 AT&T INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY I L P

AI summary

A system for dynamic derivation of and sending to a contact group. The system may recognize an emergency situation (natural disaster, stranded, lost cell connection) and send a confirmation that may be sent to different contact groups from a network entity.