Dynamic Emergency Location Routing for VoIP Roaming Calls
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current VOIP emergency calling systems face challenges in routing emergency calls accurately when users roam internationally, particularly due to the lack of VOIP Position Center (VPC) technology in foreign countries and incompatible national Automatic Location Identification (ALI) databases, which prevents the association of a foreign address with a United States telephone number during emergency calls.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of Enhanced Dynamic Emergency Location Routing (E-DLR) method, which receives VOIP emergency calls from roaming users, determines a shared address based on geolocation records, and routes the calls to the appropriate Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) using a proxy telephone number associated with the shared address, enabling accurate location-based emergency call routing even without VPC technology in the foreign country.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a United States telephone number is used for emergency calling in a foreign country, then the caller can maintain their home country number for international compatibility, but the foreign ALI database cannot store or process the US number, preventing accurate location routing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a home country VPC system as an intermediary when the foreign ALI database cannot process the caller's number format. The VPC in the home country receives the emergency call, performs location identification using geolocation records, and routes the call to the appropriate foreign PSAP, thereby bridging the incompatibility between different national ALI databases and enabling successful international emergency routing
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the emergency calling system into separate national VPC domains, where each country maintains its own VPC that handles calls from callers of that nationality. This segmentation allows each VPC to optimize its ALI database for local number formats while still providing international roaming support through coordinated routing between national systems
2Reliability
If pre-provisioning of foreign addresses in local ALI databases is required for accurate emergency routing, then emergency calls can be correctly routed to local PSAPs, but the process becomes cumbersome and requires advance setup in each foreign country's database
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary actions by pre-provisioning geolocation records in the home country's VPC database rather than in foreign ALI databases. The geolocation record contains the mapping between the caller's telephone number and their current location address. When roaming internationally, this pre-provisioned data enables the home VPC to perform location identification without requiring advance setup in foreign countries' databases
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a virtual copy of the ALI database functionality in the home country's VPC system. Instead of requiring the foreign ALI database to store and process the caller's number, the VPC creates a virtual ALI record using the pre-provisioned geolocation data, effectively copying the location identification function to where the caller is originating from rather than where they are currently located
3Reliability
If VPC technology is implemented in every foreign country to support nomadic VOIP devices, then accurate emergency routing is achieved, but the infrastructure cost and complexity increase significantly in countries that lack such databases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the home country's VPC system universal by enabling it to handle emergency calls from its nationals regardless of which foreign country they are visiting. The VPC performs location identification using geolocation records that can contain foreign addresses, allowing a single VPC infrastructure to provide international emergency routing support without requiring equivalent infrastructure in every foreign country
Solution Approach 2:
The home VPC acts as an intermediary that eliminates the need for foreign countries to implement their own VPC technology. By intercepting and processing emergency calls before they reach foreign ALI databases, the home VPC mediates the routing process, performing location identification and forwarding calls to appropriate foreign PSAPs without requiring the foreign infrastructure to understand or process the caller's home country number format
Data Source
AI summary
Methods for Enhanced Dynamic Emergency Location Routing (E-DLR) are provided. The method includes receiving a Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) emergency call from a roaming emergency caller associated with a first country having an associated telephone number (TN) and an associated address, the VoIP emergency call being made in a second country, different from the first country. It is determined that the associated address is a shared address based on information in a geolocation record. The shared address is not a home address associated with the roaming emergency caller. The emergency call is routed from the roaming emergency caller to a public safety answering point (PSAP) associated with the second country using the proxy TN associated with the shared address.