METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR USING A SITUATIONAL NETWORK
A network system for accessing situation related information is disclosed. In one embodiment, the system includes a network connection for receiving an indication of an occurrence of a situation; a situational network formed based on the occurrence of the situation, the situational network including a plurality of participant devices determined to be geographically proximate to the situation, each of the participant devices corresponding to a participant in the situational network; a second network connection for presenting a roll call query to each of the plurality of participant devices soliciting a reply related to a status of the participant; a plurality of network connections established for receiving a status response from the participant devices; and a database for aggregating the status responses from responsive participants into a roll call list.
1 . (canceled)
2 . A method for establishing a situational network and providing communications resources related to an occurrence or expected occurrence of an emergency event, the method comprising:
accessing an indication of the occurrence or the expected occurrence of the emergency event;
accessing respective location information for a plurality of devices;
based at least in part on the accessing respective location information, identifying a subset of devices relevant to the occurrence or the expected occurrence of the emergency event;
creating a communication group of the situational network for the subset of devices relevant to the occurrence or the expected occurrence of the emergency event;
joining the subset of the plurality of devices to the communication group of the situational network;
providing at least one communications resource of the situational network to the subset of the plurality of devices joined to the communication group;
receiving, using the at least one communications resource, respective information related to the emergency event from each device of the subset of the plurality of devices joined to the communication group;
generating aggregated information based at least in part on the respective information related to the emergency event received from each device of the subset of the plurality of devices joined to the communication group; and
based at least in part on roles of users associated with devices of the subset of the plurality of devices:
selectively providing access to the generated aggregated information; and
based at least in part on determining that bandwidth available in the situational network is low, preferentially allocating the at least one communications resource to devices of users having a particular role of the roles of users.
3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the indication of the occurrence or the expected occurrence of the emergency event comprises an indication of occurrence of a weather event in a particular geographical area.
4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the identifying the subset of devices relevant to the occurrence or the expected occurrence of the emergency event is based at least in part on proximity to the geographical area.
5 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the selectively providing access to the generated aggregated information comprises based at least in part on a user of a device granted the access to the generated aggregated information having a management role.
6 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the selectively providing access to the generated aggregated information comprises based at least in part on a user of a device granted the access to the generated aggregated information having a first responder role.
7 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the preferentially allocating the at least one communications resource to devices of users having the particular role of the roles of users comprises preferentially allocating the at least one communications resource to devices of users having a first responder role.
8 . The method of claim 2 , wherein at least one communications resource comprises at least one networking resource with a capability for sharing voice data.
9 . A system for establishing a situational network and providing communications resources related to an occurrence or expected occurrence of an emergency event comprising:
one or more processors configured to:
access an indication of the occurrence or the expected occurrence of the emergency event;
access respective location information for a plurality of devices;
based at least in part on the accessing respective location information, identify a subset of devices relevant to the occurrence or the expected occurrence of the emergency event;
create a communication group of the situational network for the subset of devices relevant to the occurrence or the expected occurrence of the emergency event;
join the subset of the plurality of devices to the communication group of the situational network; and
provide at least one communications resource of the situational network to the subset of the plurality of devices joined to the communication group; and
at least one input/output circuitry configured to:
receive, using the at least one communications resource, respective information related to the emergency event from each device of the subset of the plurality of devices joined to the communication group; and
wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
generate aggregated information based at least in part on the respective information related to the emergency event received from each device of the subset of the plurality of devices joined to the communication group; and
based at least in part on roles of users associated with devices of the subset of the plurality of devices:
selectively provide access to the generated aggregated information; and
based at least in part on determining that bandwidth available in the situational network is low, preferentially allocate the at least one communications resource to devices of users having a particular role of the roles of users.
10 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the indication of the occurrence or the expected occurrence of the emergency event comprises an indication of occurrence of a weather event in a particular geographical area.
11 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to identify the subset of devices relevant to the occurrence or the expected occurrence of the emergency event based at least in part on proximity to the geographical area.
12 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to selectively provide access to the generated aggregated information based at least in part on a user of a device granted the access to the generated aggregated information have a management role.
13 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to selectively provide access to the generated aggregated information based at least in part on a user of a device granted the access to the generated aggregated information have a first responder role.
14 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the one or more processors, when the preferentially allocating the at least one communications resource to devices of users having the particular role of the roles of users, are configured to preferentially allocate the at least one communications resource to devices of users having a first responder role.
15 . The system of claim 9 , wherein at least one communications resource comprises at least one networking resource with a capability for sharing voice data.