Emergency Service Network Routing via Granular Queue State
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Solution Overview
Problem
The current NENA "i3" standard for emergency response systems limits the type of information that can be included in event notifications, leading to coarse routing decisions and potential degradation of emergency call services due to insufficient granular capacity information about downstream functional elements.
Innovation Solution
Enhancing the call queue state notification to include arbitrary routing control variables, allowing upstream functional elements to make finer-grained routing decisions by advertising the capabilities of downstream elements, such as specific call handling capacities, beyond the standard state enumeration, current queue length, and maximum length.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the NENA i3 standard limits the type of information in event notifications to standard fields, then the system maintains simplicity and standardization, but routing decisions become coarse and service quality degrades
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the parameters of the event notification by adding arbitrary variables to the standard NENA i3 notification structure. This allows downstream functional elements to advertise granular capacity information (such as specific call handling capacities for different media types) without breaking the standard protocol, thereby improving routing decision precision while maintaining acceptable system complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The notification structure is segmented into standard fields (state enumeration, current queue length, maximum length) and arbitrary variables. This segmentation allows the system to maintain the standardized core while adding customizable capacity information through arbitrary variables, enabling precise routing without overwhelming complexity
2Productivity
If arbitrary routing control variables are added to call queue state notifications, then finer-grained routing decisions can be made, but the complexity of the notification protocol increases
Solution Approach 1:
The arbitrary variables mechanism provides a universal solution that can carry any type of capacity information needed for different routing scenarios. Instead of creating separate notification types for different capacity metrics, the system uses a single extensible notification structure that can adapt to various routing requirements, improving efficiency without proportionally increasing complexity
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for routing communications in an emergency service network. In operation, an upstream functional element, for example, an emergency service routing proxy operating in the emergency service network, receives a call queue state notification from downstream functional elements, for example, public safety answering points. The call queue state notification indicates a state of a call queue respectively associated with the one or more of the public safety answering points and further includes routing control variables and a corresponding value selected by the downstream functional elements for each routing control variable. When the upstream functional elements receive an incoming emergency call from a call originating device, the upstream functional element selects a downstream functional element based at least in part on the routing control variables and the corresponding value, and further routes the incoming emergency call to the selected downstream functional element.