SMS Cellular Broadcast Multimedia Alert Delivery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current emergency alert systems, such as SMS and CBS, are limited to text-based information delivery, failing to provide multimedia content like maps, graphics, and audio, which can be crucial for first responders and emergency managers during disasters.
Innovation Solution
The system delivers alert messages via SMS and CBS with an indication of multimedia content, using URLs or pointers that users can manually or automatically retrieve, enabling the delivery of multimedia formats like text, pictures, videos, and audio to user devices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If text-based alert messages are delivered via SMS and CBS, then the alert delivery is simple and compatible with existing infrastructure, but multimedia content cannot be provided
Solution Approach 1:
The alert delivery system is segmented into two parts: text-based alert messages delivered via SMS/CBS, and multimedia content delivered separately via URL links. This allows the core alert function to remain simple while providing access to rich multimedia content when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
URL links serve as intermediaries between the text-based alert system and multimedia content. The alert message contains a URL that mediates access to external multimedia resources, allowing the system to provide rich content without directly handling complex multimedia delivery infrastructure.
2Reliability
If multimedia content is included in alert messages, then situational awareness is enhanced, but the complexity of the alert system increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multimedia content is prepared and hosted in advance at external URLs. When an alert is triggered, the system only needs to deliver the text message and URL link, rather than generating or transmitting complex multimedia content in real-time, thus maintaining system simplicity while providing rich information.
Solution Approach 2:
External servers and URL links act as intermediaries that handle the complexity of multimedia content storage and delivery. The alert system itself remains simple, focusing on delivering critical information and links, while the intermediary infrastructure handles the heavy lifting of multimedia content management.
Data Source
AI summary
An indication of the location of multimedia information for an emergency alert is distributed via text based protocols such as a Cell Broadcast Service (CBS) and/or a Short Message Service (SMS). Multimedia information can include maps, graphics, video clips, audio clips, still pictures, and the like. A text based alert message along with an indication of the location of the associated multimedia is distributed to users. The indication can comprise a link to a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), or the like, from which the multimedia can be retrieved. The indication can comprise a pointer to a link. For example, the alert message can comprise an address in storage of a user device, and the address can contain the link to the URL. Further, the multimedia can be retrieved automatically or manually.