Emergency Call Location Selection Using WiFi Proximity Addresses
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Solution Overview
Problem
Ambiguity in determining the physical position of a user equipment (UE) during emergency calls, particularly when using WiFi, leads to uncertainty in the reported street address, reducing the confidence in dispatchable locations for emergency responders.
Innovation Solution
A proximity-based selection method using a second UE connected to a wireless network, leveraging its subscriber addresses to identify the most likely dispatchable location for an emergency call initiated by a first UE over a short-range wireless interface, such as WiFi, by utilizing the physical position and identifier of the first UE.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If geodetic coordinates (GPS/A-GPS) are used to determine UE physical position for emergency calls, then location information can be obtained, but ambiguity and uncertainty in the determined position reduce confidence in the identified street address
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple location determination approaches by merging the UE's self-determined physical position (from GPS/A-GPS) with the second UE's registered subscriber addresses. This combination allows the system to select the most likely dispatchable location from multiple sources, thereby improving confidence in the final dispatchable location while maintaining the ability to obtain location information through standard GPS methods.
Solution Approach 2:
The second UE acts as an intermediary that bridges the gap between the first UE's ambiguous physical position and the required confident dispatchable location. The second UE's registered subscriber addresses serve as a mediator that helps resolve the ambiguity in the first UE's position determination, providing a reliable fallback or alternative source for identifying the correct street address.
2Reliability
If a second UE is introduced to relay emergency calls and provide subscriber addresses, then confidence in dispatchable location improves, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The second UE is designed to perform multiple functions: it serves as a relay for emergency calls from the first UE, stores registered subscriber addresses, and participates in the location determination process. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate dedicated components, thereby managing system complexity while improving reliability through the additional capabilities the second UE provides.
Solution Approach 2:
The second UE maintains its own registered subscriber addresses and uses them to help determine dispatchable locations. This self-service capability means the system leverages existing information already associated with the second UE, rather than requiring additional external databases or services, thus improving reliability without proportionally increasing system complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
Solutions enable proximity based selection of dispatchable locations for emergency calls when a first user equipment (UE), such as a handset, places an emergency call (e.g., 911) over a short range wireless interface (e.g., WiFi) using a second UE, such as a fixed wireless access (FWA) or other WiFi router, that is connected to a long range wireless network such as cellular. The first UE reports its geodetic coordinates when initiating an emergency call (or the network determines coordinates another way), and the cellular carrier's knowledge of subscriber addresses, such as billing addresses or emergency response addressed, is leveraged to select the most likely dispatchable location (e.g., the closest street address). This allows a cellular account holder (the FWA subscriber), to identify frequent guests, whose UEs are associated with different user accounts, to associate the guests'UEs with the FWA's associated street address for the purpose of making emergency calls.