Systems, methods, devices and arrangements for emergency call services and emergency broadcasts
A variety of methods, systems, devices and arrangements are implemented for emergency call centers. According to one such method, a location database is populated from a plurality of endpoint devices. The location database determines locations for nodes in a data transmission route from information received from the endpoint devices. Emergency calls using these nodes are located using the populated database.
1. A computer system comprising:
one or more computer processor circuits configured and arranged to provide communications services to endpoint devices, each including a communications circuit; and
one or more non-transitory tangible storage mediums storing a set of instructions that when executed by the one or more computer processor circuits, cause the computer system to:
receive, at least one data packet containing location information of a first endpoint device;
identify at least two nodes in a transmission path between the first endpoint device and the one or more computer processor circuits;
determine, for each of the identified nodes, a corresponding physical location as a function of a logical distance between the nodes and the first endpoint device;
set, for each of the nodes and the determined physical locations, a weight that corresponds to a confidence level that the respective determined physical location is correct and that is indicative of whether the respective determined physical location of the node is susceptible to change; and
adjust, in response to subsequent location information, a determined physical location for at least one of the nodes.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computer system is configured to adjust, in response to the subsequent location information, a determined physical location for one of the nodes with a confidence level below a threshold confidence level.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computer system is configured to prevent adjustment, in response to the subsequent location information, a determined physical location for one of the nodes with a confidence level above a threshold confidence level.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computer system is configured to:
broadcast, in response a determination that the confidence level for one of the nodes is below a threshold confidence level, a request to the remaining nodes for additional location information;
receive additional location information from the remaining nodes; and
determine for the one of the nodes, a corresponding physical location based on the received additional location information.
5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the determined physical locations for each node represent a geographic area that is based upon a probability that an endpoint device using the node is within the geographic area.
6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computer system is configured to determine a physical location for a Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) call by:
identifying nodes in a transmission path used by the VoIP call;
calculating the physical location for the VoIP call based upon the determined location for at least one of the nodes; and
determining a confidence factor that indicates a probability that the physical location for the VoIP call is correct.
7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computer system is configured to identify the nodes in the transmission path using identifiers that do not correspond to Internet Protocol or MAC addresses for the nodes.
8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computer system is configured to identify the nodes in the transmission path using pseudorandom numbers.
9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computer system is configured to determine the confidence levels for each of the determined physical locations based upon a logical distance between the nodes and the first endpoint device.
10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computer system is configured to set, for each of the nodes and the determined physical locations, the weight that corresponds to the confidence level based on information provided by at least a portion of the nodes, the information being indicative of associations between nodes.
11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computer system is configured to set the weights that corresponds to the confidence level and that are indicative of whether the respective determined physical location of the nodes are resistant to or susceptible to change.
12. A method used with one or more computer processor circuits configured and arranged to provide communications services to endpoint devices, each including a communications circuit, the method comprising:
receiving at least one data packet containing location information of a first endpoint device;
identifying nodes in a transmission path between the first endpoint device and the one or more computer processor circuits;
determining, for each of the identified nodes, a physical location;
setting, for each of the nodes and determined physical locations, a weight that corresponds to a confidence level that the respective determined physical location is correct and that is indicative of whether the respective determined physical location of the node is susceptible to change; and
adjusting, in response to subsequent location information and based upon a corresponding weight, the determined physical location for at least one of the nodes.
13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the determining physical locations includes determining a geographic area that is based upon a probability that an endpoint device using a corresponding node is within the geographic area.
14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising determining a geographic location for a Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) call by:
identifying nodes in a transmission path used by the VoIP call; and
calculating a geographic location for the VoIP call based upon the determined geographic location for at least one of the nodes.
15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising determining a confidence factor that indicates a probability that the geographic location for the VoIP call is correct.
16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising displaying the determined confidence factor to an emergency operator along with the determined location for the VoIP call.
17. The method of claim 12 , wherein the identifying nodes in the transmission path includes using identifiers for the nodes, wherein the identifiers do not correspond to Internet Protocol or MAC addresses for the nodes.
18. The method of claim 12 , wherein the identifying nodes in the transmission path includes using identifiers for the nodes, wherein the identifiers are pseudorandom numbers.
19. The method of claim 12 , wherein determining the confidence levels for each of the determined physical locations includes using a logical distance between the nodes and the first endpoint device.
20. The method of claim 12 , wherein identifying the nodes in the transmission path between the first endpoint device and the one or more computer processor circuits includes identifying a series of connections of at least two devices in the transmission path between the first endpoint device and the one or more computer processor circuits.