Communicating multimedia information to respondent endpoints

1. A method for communicating information to a plurality of respondent endpoints, comprising:

detecting, by an incident command server comprising hardware and one or more processors, a trigger event for an incident requiring emergency assistance, the trigger event related to an incident category for the incident;

identifying a rule in accordance with the incident category, wherein the rule is associated with at least one of a plurality of pre-defined incident categories, the rule specifying one or more processes for automatically gathering information for responding to the incident with emergency assistance, at least one of the one or more processes operable to automatically launch an application in response to detecting the trigger, the application operable to access a data file corresponding to multimedia information;

establishing, by a collaboration server comprising hardware coupled to the incident command server, a collaboration session with participants in accordance with the rule, the participants including a first respondent endpoint and a second respondent endpoint, the first respondent endpoint associated with a first respondent system, the second respondent endpoint associated with a second respondent system, the first respondent system and the second respondent system configured to provide the emergency assistance to the incident; and

collaborating to provide emergency assistance in response to the incident, the collaborating including:

gathering a first stream of information and a second stream of information from at least two of the participants of the collaboration session;

mixing, by a collaboration server, the first and second streams of information to yield multimedia information, the collaboration server distinct from the at least two participants;

communicating multimedia information to the first respondent endpoint and the second respondent endpoint according to the rule; and

transferring control of the first stream of information to the first respondent endpoint.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein communicating multimedia information to the first respondent endpoint and the second respondent endpoint further comprises transmitting a plurality of media streams to the first respondent endpoint and the second respondent endpoint, the plurality of media streams comprising at least one of:

a video stream communicating video information;

an audio stream communicating audio information; and

a data stream communicating data information.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein communicating multimedia information to the first respondent endpoint and the second respondent endpoint further comprises:

launching an application operable to access a data file corresponding to the multimedia information;

accessing the data file using the application to generate the multimedia information; and

sending the multimedia information to the first respondent endpoint and the second respondent endpoint.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein communicating multimedia information to the first respondent endpoint and the second respondent endpoint further comprises:

accessing an application operable to open a data file in order to generate the multimedia information; and

pushing the multimedia information to a first subscriber stub of the first respondent endpoint.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the rule specifies the first respondent endpoint and the second respondent endpoint.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the rule specifies data to retrieve for the first respondent endpoint and the second respondent endpoint; and

communicating multimedia information to the first respondent endpoint and the second respondent endpoint further comprises:

retrieving the data to generate the multimedia information; and

communicating the multimedia information.

7. A collaboration system for communicating information to a plurality of respondent endpoints, comprising:

an incident command server comprising hardware, the incident command server comprising one or more processors operable to:

detect a trigger event for an incident requiring emergency assistance, the trigger event related to an incident category for the incident; and

identify a rule in accordance with the incident category, wherein the rule is associated with at least one of a plurality of pre-defined incident categories, the rule specifying one or more processes for automatically gathering information for responding to the incident with emergency assistance, at least one of the one or more processes operable to automatically launch an application in response to detecting the trigger, the application operable to access a data file corresponding to multimedia information; and

a collaboration server comprising hardware coupled to the incident command server, the collaboration server operable to:

establish a collaboration session with participants in accordance with the rule, the participants including a first respondent endpoint and a second respondent endpoint, the first respondent endpoint associated with a first respondent system, the second respondent endpoint associated with a second respondent system, the first respondent system and the second respondent system configured to provide the emergency assistance to the incident;

collaborate to provide emergency assistance to the incident by:

gathering a first stream of information and a second stream of information from at least two of the participants of the collaboration session;

mixing, by the collaboration server, the first and second streams of information to yield multimedia information, the collaboration server distinct from the at least two participants;

communicating multimedia information to the first respondent endpoint and the second respondent endpoint according to the rule; and

transferring control of the first stream of information to the first respondent endpoint.

8. The system of claim 7 , the collaboration server operable to communicate multimedia information to the first respondent endpoint and the second respondent endpoint by transmitting a plurality of media streams to the first respondent endpoint and the second respondent endpoint, the plurality of media streams comprising at least one of:

a video stream communicating video information;

an audio stream communicating audio information; and

a data stream communicating data information.

9. The system of claim 7 , the collaboration server operable to communicate multimedia information to the first respondent endpoint and the second respondent endpoint by:

launching an application operable to access a data file corresponding to the multimedia information;

accessing the data file using the application to generate the multimedia information; and

sending the multimedia information to the first respondent endpoint and the second respondent endpoint.

10. The system of claim 7 , the collaboration server operable to communicate multimedia information to the first respondent endpoint and the second respondent endpoint by:

accessing an application operable to open a data file in order to generate the multimedia information; and

pushing the multimedia information to a first subscriber stub of the first respondent endpoint.

11. The system of claim 7 , wherein the rule specifies the first respondent endpoint and the second respondent endpoint.

12. The system of claim 7 , wherein:

the rule specifies data to retrieve for the first respondent endpoint and the second respondent endpoint; and

the collaboration server is operable to communicate multimedia information to the first respondent endpoint and the second respondent endpoint by:

retrieving the data to generate the multimedia information; and

communicating the multimedia information.

13. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising logic, the logic, when executed by one or more processors, operable to:

detect, by an incident command server comprising hardware and one or more processors, a trigger event for an incident requiring emergency assistance the trigger event related to an incident category for the incident;

identify a rule in accordance with the incident category, wherein the rule is associated with at least one of a plurality of pre-defined incident categories, the rule specifying one or more processes for automatically gathering information for responding to the incident with emergency assistance, at least one of the one or more processes operable to automatically launch an application in response to detecting the trigger, the application operable to access a data file corresponding to multimedia information;

establish, by a collaboration server comprising hardware coupled to the incident command server, a collaboration session with a participants in accordance with the rule, the participants including a first respondent endpoint and a second respondent endpoint, the first respondent endpoint associated with a first respondent system, the second respondent endpoint associated with a second respondent system, the first respondent system and the second respondent system configured to provide the emergency assistance to the incident;

collaborate to provide emergency assistance in response to the incident by:

gathering a first stream of information and a second stream of information from at least two of the participants of the collaboration session;

mixing, by a collaboration server, the first and second streams of information to yield multimedia information, the collaboration server distinct from the at least two participants;

communicating multimedia information to the first respondent endpoint and the second respondent endpoint according to the rule; and

transferring control of the first stream of information to the first respondent endpoint.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13 , the logic further operable to communicate multimedia information to the first respondent endpoint and the second respondent endpoint by transmitting a plurality of media streams to the first respondent endpoint and the second respondent endpoint, the plurality of media streams comprising at least one of:

a video stream communicating video information;

an audio stream communicating audio information; and

a data stream communicating data information.

15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13 , the logic further operable to communicate multimedia information to the first respondent endpoint and the second respondent endpoint by:

launching an application operable to access a data file corresponding to the multimedia information;

accessing the data file using the application to generate the multimedia information; and

sending the multimedia information to the first respondent endpoint and the second respondent endpoint.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13 , the logic further operable to communicate multimedia information to the first respondent endpoint and the second respondent endpoint by:

accessing an application operable to open a data file in order to generate the multimedia information; and

pushing the multimedia information to a first subscriber stub of the first respondent endpoint.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the rule specifies the first respondent endpoint and the second respondent endpoint.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein:

the rule specifies data to retrieve for the first respondent endpoint and the second respondent endpoint; and

the logic is operable to communicate multimedia information to the first respondent endpoint and the second respondent endpoint by:

retrieving the data to generate the multimedia information; and

communicating the multimedia information.

19. A method for communicating information to a plurality of respondent endpoints, comprising:

detecting, by an incident command server comprising hardware and one or more processors, a trigger event for an incident requiring emergency assistance, the trigger event related to an incident category for the incident;

identifying a rule in accordance with the incident category, wherein the rule is associated with at least one of a plurality of pre-defined incident categories, the rule specifying one or more processes for automatically gathering information for responding to the incident with emergency assistance, at least one of the one or more processes operable to automatically launch an application in response to detecting the trigger, the application operable to access a data file corresponding to multimedia information;

establishing, by a collaboration server comprising hardware coupled to the incident command server, a collaboration session with a first respondent endpoint and a second respondent endpoint in accordance with the rule, the first respondent endpoint associated with a first respondent system, the second respondent endpoint associated with a second respondent system, the first respondent system and the second respondent system configured to provide the emergency assistance to the incident, the rule specifying the first respondent endpoint and the second respondent endpoint, the rule specifying data to retrieve for the first respondent endpoint and the second respondent endpoint;

collaborating to provide emergency assistance in response to the incident, the collaborating including:

gathering a first stream of information and a second stream of information from at least two of the participants of the collaboration session;

mixing, by a collaboration server, the first and second streams of information to yield multimedia information, the collaboration server distinct from the at least two participants;

communicating multimedia information to the first respondent endpoint and the second respondent endpoint according to the rule, the multimedia information communicated by:

launching an application operable to access a data file corresponding to the multimedia information;

accessing the data file using the application to generate the multimedia information;

retrieving the data to generate the multimedia information;

pushing the multimedia information to a first subscriber stub of the first respondent endpoint by transmitting a plurality of media streams to the first respondent endpoint and the second respondent endpoint, the plurality of media streams comprising at least one of:

a video stream communicating video information;

an audio stream communicating audio information; and

a data stream communicating data information; and

transferring control of the first stream of information to the first respondent endpoint.