System and method for providing location information to a public safety answering point during an emergency 911 call from a softphone

1. A system for providing location information to a public-safety answering point during an emergency 911 call from a softphone, said system comprising:

a network access point configured to receive calls from softphones;

a soft-switch in communication with said network access point, said network access point configured to communicate a call from a softphone to said soft-switch;

a database configured to store network address information of selective routers on a network through which information is communicated to public safety answering points operating to service emergency 911 calls; and

a gateway in communication with said network access point, soft-switch, and database, and, in response to receiving an emergency 911 call from the softphone via said softswitch, request selective router information, from said database, of a selective router through which information is to be sent to a public safety answering point servicing an area including said network access point, wherein during the emergency 911 call, the softphone, in response to receiving an indication that an emergency 911 call is connected with a public safety answering point, being configured to communicate address location information of the softphone to the public safety answering point in a caller ID data packet by replacing a name field of the caller ID data packet with the address location information while maintaining date, time and telephone number information of the caller ID packet.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the address location information is communicated in a type II caller ID data packet.

3. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the softphone is configured to update the address location information in response to determining a change in position or IP address.

4. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the softphone is configured to enable a user to enter an updated address in response to a DHCP server issuing a new IP address to the softphone.

5. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said network access point is a WiFi network access point.

6. The system according to claim 5 , wherein the WiFi network access point is configured to receive VoIP calls from the softphones.

7. A method for providing location information to a public safety answering point from a softphone, said method comprising:

receiving a call from a softphone;

communicating the call to a soft-switch;

storing network address information of selective routers on a network through which information is communicated to public safety answering points operating to service emergency 911 calls; and

in response to receiving an emergency 911 call from the softphone, request selective router information of a selective router through which information is to be sent to a public safety answering point servicing an area including said network access point, wherein during the emergency 911 call, the softphone, in response to receiving an indication that an emergency 911 call is connected with a public safety answering point, being configured to communicate address location information of the softphone to the public safety answering point in a caller ID data packet by replacing a name field of the caller ID data packet with the address location information while maintaining date, time and telephone number information of the caller ID packet.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein communicating the address location in a type II caller ID data packet includes communicating a caller ID data packet from the softphone.

9. The method according to claim 7 , further comprising routing the emergency 911 call via a soft-switch to a gateway.

10. The method according to claim 7 , further comprising looking up a network address of a selective router to which the public safety answering point is in communication.

11. The method according to claim 7 , further comprising communicating GPS information received from the softphone to the public safety answering point.

12. The method according to claim 7 , wherein receiving the emergency 911 call includes receiving the emergency 911 call using a WiFi communications protocol.

13. The method according to claim 7 , further comprising updating the address location of the network access point in response to determining that the location of the softphone has changed.

14. A computing device executing software of a softphone, the computing device comprising:

a telephone module configured to enable a user to place emergency 911 telephone calls;

an address location update module configured to: determine that location of the softphone has changed; request a current address location from a user of the softphone; update the current address location; and store the updated current address location;

said telephone module further configured to:

cause the computing device to initiate and complete a connection with a public safety answering point:

look-up the current address location in response to receiving notification that an emergency 911 call is connected with a public safety answering point;

generate a caller ID data packet with the current address location contained therein by replacing a name field of the caller ID data packet with the address location information while maintaining date, time and telephone number information of the caller ID packet: and

cause the computing device to communicate the current address location to the public safety answering point in a caller ID data packet.

15. The softphone according to claim 14 , wherein the address location update module is further configured to present previous address locations at which the softphone was located to enable a user to select from the previous address locations to identify a current address location.

16. A method for identifying location of a softphone for use in placing emergency 911 calls, said method comprising:

enabling a user to place a telephone call including emergency 911 telephone calls from a softphone;

determining that location of the softphone has changed;

requesting a current address location from a user of the softphone;

storing the current address location;

looking-up the current address location in response to receiving notification that an emergency 911 call is connected with a public safety answering point; and

communicating the current address location to the public safety answering point in a caller ID data packet wherein communicating the address location information in a caller ID data packet includes replacing a name field of the caller ID data packet with the address location information while maintaining date, time and telephone number information of the caller ID packet.

17. The method according to claim 16 , further comprising presenting previous address locations at which the softphone was located to enable a user to select from the previous address locations to identify a current address location.