FR2890521A1 - Receiving user e.g. fire brigade, alerting system for telecommunication network, has unit for selecting user belonging to community of users such that localization of user is more close to terminal of calling user - Google Patents

Abstract

The system has a unit (4) for generating a communication request with alert identifier. An obtainability server (5) is connected to a telecommunication network (1) such that the request is directed to the server. The server has a unit (6) communicating with the network to receive localization coordinates of terminals connected to the network. A unit (7) selects a user belonging to the community of users such that the localization of the user is more close to the terminal of a calling user. A unit (8) redirects a call to place the calling user in communication with the selected user. Independent claims are also included for the following: (1) a method for alerting a receiving user belonging to a community of users by a calling user (2) a computer program product comprising instructions of program code for implementing a method for alerting the receiving user (3) an obtainability server connected to a telecommunication network.

Description

The present invention relates to a warning system and method in a

  telecommunication network, by a calling user, of a recipient user belonging to a community of users, this community being defined by a call number.

  Telecommunications devices are known in which a calling user uses a specific device to engage the telephone number corresponding to a particular party to alert him of an incident. These systems are used in the context of a fixed telephone network by elderly or disabled people, installed at home, to alert emergency services. They come in the form of an object having a single button and which is worn on the person, or in the form of a button well singularized a fixed or portable telephone keypad.

  This type of system has the disadvantage of not being usable outside the home of the user, for example during a trip.

  Another disadvantage is limiting the call to a single number, or a few numbers for the most sophisticated devices. In the latter case, the numbers are dialed consecutively until one of them answers. This dialing order is rigidly established during initialization of the device. If the first called on the list are unavailable, precious time is lost by the system to try to reach them.

  The object of the invention is to propose an alert system, and an associated method, not having these disadvantages and therefore usable in the context of a mobile telephone network to reach the most relevant interlocutor of a list of interlocutors.

  The object of the invention is therefore an alert system, in a telecommunications network, by a calling user, of a recipient user belonging to a community of users, said community being defined by a number, and said system comprising: - a mobile telephone terminal belonging to the calling user and comprising means for generating a communication request comprising said call number, said generating means being activatable by means of a predetermined key of said terminal, - a reachability server connected to the telecommunications network so that the call requests comprising the call number are directed to said reachability server, and said reachability server comprising: - means of communication with the network of telecommunication for receiving the location coordinates of a terminal connected to said network, and means for selecting a user belonging to said user community such that the location of that user is closest to that of the calling user's terminal, and - call forwarding means for communicating the user calling with the selected user.

  The warning system thus advantageously makes it possible to select the recipient user closest to the calling user, whatever the location of the latter. In particular, the calling user can thus advantageously use the alert system outside his home, on the move.

  Other features are: the system further comprises a list server connected to said reachability server, said list server comprising means for storing the list of users belonging to the community and availability data, and the means of selection of the reachability server are adapted so that said selection relates only to the users declared available at the time of generation of the communication request; the list server comprises means for modifying the availability data by the users of the user community; the communication between the calling user and the selected user is of the multimedia type; and the reachability server further comprises means for sending an information message to all the unselected users of the user community.

  Another object of the invention is a method of alerting, in a telecommunications network, by a calling user, of a recipient user belonging to a community of users, said community being defined by a call number, and said method comprising the steps of: a) reception by a reachability server connected to the telecommunications network of a communication request comprising said call number, said request being generated by a mobile telephone terminal belonging to the user calling on activation of a predetermined key of said terminal, b) determining the location coordinates of the mobile terminal of the calling user, c) selecting a user belonging to said user community such as the location of this user is closest to that of the terminal of the calling user, and d) redirection of the communication request for be in communication the calling user with the selected user.

  Other features of this method are: - it includes a preliminary step of storing the list of users belonging to the community and availability data, and the selection relates only to the users declared available at the time of generation of the communication request; - the availability data can be modified by users in the user community; and - following step d), it further comprises a step of sending a message to unselected users of the user community, said message comprising at least the information on the calling user and the user. selected user.

  Another object of the invention is a computer program product comprising program code instructions for performing the steps of the method when said program is run on a computer.

  Thus, very advantageously, the interlocutor who is called in priority is the one who is available and the closest to the calling user which allows, in case of emergency, a rapid intervention.

  Moreover, only the available interlocutors being called, the system is more efficient and without loss of time.

  Because the availability of community users can be updated by them, the alert system gains flexibility.

  In addition, the sending of messages advantageously offers community members immediate information allowing them to intervene specifically outside the rules and selection criteria, further increasing flexibility. The invention will be better understood on reading the description which will follow, made only by way of example and in connection with the accompanying drawings in which: - Figure 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a system according to the invention; FIG. 2 is a flow chart of an embodiment of the method according to the invention; FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a first variant embodiment of a system according to the invention; FIG. 4 is a flow chart for an alternative embodiment of the method corresponding to the system of FIG. 3; FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a second variant embodiment of a system according to the invention; and FIG. 6 is a flowchart for a variant of the method corresponding to the system of FIG. 5.

  With reference to FIG. 1, an alarm system in a telecommunications network 1 comprises a mobile terminal 2 belonging to a user UA.

  For example, this user UA is an elderly person subscribed to a care service.

  This UA user is mobile in the sense that he does not stay permanently at home.

  The mobile terminal 2, which the user UA permanently carries with it, comprises a key 3. The pressing of this key 3 by the user UA activates means 4 for generating a communication request comprising a number of call. For example, pressing key 3 triggers dialing the number. This call number was, for example, stored in the mobile terminal 2 during an initialization phase performed when the UA user has subscribed to the care service. An example of such a mobile terminal is the Gigaset E150 mobile phone from Siemens.

  The care service is provided by a community of users UD1, UD2, UD3.

  Each of these users UDI, UD2, UD3 has a mobile terminal TI, T2, T3 connected to the telecommunications network 1.

  Advantageously, each access number of the mobile terminals TI, T2, T3 is different from the other access numbers of these mobile terminals and is also different from the call number to the care service parameterized in the mobile terminal 2.

  This community of users UD1, UD2, UD3 gathers, for example, all the general practitioners of a city.

  The alert system comprises a reachability server 5 connected to the telecommunications network 1. The access number of this reachability server 5 corresponds to the call number parameterized in the mobile terminal 2 so that the telecommunications network 1 directs the communication request of the mobile terminal 2 to the reachability server 5.

  The reachability server 5 comprises means 6 for communication with the network 1 such that the reachability server can receive the location coordinates of a terminal connected to this network.

  It is well known to those skilled in the art that current mobile telephone networks include location servers capable of determining the location coordinates of any mobile terminal connected to these networks. Depending on the desired accuracy, this location may be limited to determining the geographical area corresponding to the coverage of the base station to which the mobile terminal is connected, or using triangulation methods using the signals transmitted by the mobile phone with its home base station and adjacent base stations.

  The means 6 send location requests to the location server of the network 1, the request comprising the access number of the terminal to be located, and receive in return a response containing the location of this terminal, provided that it is connected to the terminal. network 1.

  The reachability server 5 comprises means 7 for selecting a UDI user belonging to the user community UD1, UD2, UD3.

  The selection criterion of this user UD1 is its proximity to the calling user UA.

  The reachability server 5 further comprises call forwarding means 8, connected to the selection means 7, for putting the calling user UA in communication with the selected destination user UD1, this communication being, preferably, multimedia type.

  The operation of this warning system will be explained in connection with FIG.

  The calling user UA presses the call button 3 at 20, which activates the means 4 for generating a communication request.

  These transmit in 21 a communication request including the number of the community of users.

  This request is directed at 22 by the telecommunications network 1 to the reachability server 5.

  Upon receipt of this request, the reachability server 5 determines at 23 the location coordinates of the calling user UA, or, more precisely, of its mobile terminal 2. This determination of the location is performed by the network location server. 1 of telecommunication on request of the means 6 of communication.

  The reachability server 5 selects at 24 the user UD1, UD2, UD3 of the user community that is closest to the calling user UA.

  For example, the reachability server 5 interrogates the network 1 by using its communication means 6 to find out all the location coordinates of the users UD1, UD2, UD3, and then calculates the distance in a straight line between the calling user UA and each of the users UD1, UD2, UD3 to select the one whose distance is the shortest.

  Having determined the user UD1, UD2, UD3 nearest, it redirects 25 the communication request to the phone Ti this user. For this, for example, it uses the classic mechanism of call redirection.

  The telecommunications network 1 then establishes at 26 the communication between the calling user UA and the user UD1. Preferably, this communication is of the multimedia type, for example in the form of videophone.

  An alternative embodiment is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 in which identical or similar elements bear the same references.

  The alert system further comprises a list server 30 connected to the reachability server 5. This list server 30 comprises means 31 for storing the list of users UD1, UD2, UD3 of the user community. For each user, the storage means 31 memorize the availability thereof.

  In this context, the availability corresponds to the time slots or daily periods during which the user is available to answer a call from the alert system. Thus, in the example cited above, the community of users corresponding to all the general practitioners of a city, the availability of these corresponds to the periods of custody or on-call.

  The selection means 7 are then adapted to select the UDI user who is available and the closest to the calling user UA when the latter calls.

  In a preferred embodiment, the list server 30 comprises means 32 for modifying the availability data by the users UD1, UD2, UD3 of the user community.

  By way of illustration, the personal computer PC1 of the user UD1 is connected to the modification means 32 for this user to update his availability. UD2 and UD3 users use their T2 and T3 terminals to perform this update.

  The UDI, UD2, UD3 users having stored their availabilities in the list server in 40, the selection relates only to UD1, UD2, UD3 users who have declared themselves available for the moment of the call.

  A second variant is illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6 in which identical or similar elements bear the same references as before.

  The reachability server 5 comprises means 50 for sending messages connected to the selection means 7 as well as to the telecommunications network 1.

  The reachability server sends a message, for example an SMS, to the other members of the community UD2, UD3 at 60, after the communication between the calling user and the user UD1, to prevent them from being put in communication mode. . The message contains information about the two users placed in communication, for example their identifiers.

  It should be noted that this second variant is independent of the first variant and can be made without the first variant being.

  In a preferred embodiment, the telecommunications network comprises an IMS CORE server. This server is defined by 3GPP TS 23.228 IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS): Stage 2 (Multimedia Subsystem to IP: Level 2). This server centralizes and normalizes the relations with and between the different services of the mobile network.

  Thus, as part of the alert system, all requests and responses previously described as part of the telecommunications network are managed by this IMS CORE server.

  It will be understood that the alerting method is executed by the reachability server, which is a computing device, under the control of software instructions of a computer program. Therefore, the invention also relates to a computer program comprising software instructions for executing the method previously described by the reachability server.

Claims (10)

  1. Alerting system, in a telecommunication network (1), by a calling user (UA), of a destination user (UD1, UD2, UD3) belonging to a community of users, said community being defined by a call number, and said system comprising: a terminal (2) of mobile telephony belonging to the calling user and comprising means (4) for generating a communication request comprising said call number, said means ( 4) being activatable by means of a predetermined key (3) of said terminal, - a reachability server (5) connected to the telecommunication network (1) so that the call requests comprising the call number are directed to said reachability server (5), and said reachability server (5) comprising: - means (6) of communication with the telecommunications network (1) for receiving the location coordinates of a terminal connected to network means, and - means (7) for selecting a user belonging to said community of users such that the location of this user is closest to that of the terminal of the calling user, and - means (8) ) call forwarding to port the calling user with the selected user.   2. Warning system according to claim 1, characterized in that it further comprises a server (30) lists connected to said reachability server, said list server comprising means (31) for storing the list of users belonging to the community and availability data, and in that the means (7) for selecting the reachability server (5) are adapted so that said selection relates only to the users declared available at the time of generation of the communication request.   3. Warning system according to claim 2, characterized in that the server (30) lists includes means (32) for modifying the availability data by the users of the community of users.   4. Alert system according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the communication between the calling user and the selected user is of the multimedia type.   5. Warning system according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the reachability server further comprises means (50) for sending an information message to all unselected users of the community. user.   A method of alerting, in a telecommunications network, a calling user of a recipient user belonging to a community of users, said community being defined by a call number, and said method comprising the steps of: a) reception (22) by a reachability server connected to the telecommunications network of a communication request comprising said call number, said request being generated (21) by a mobile terminal belonging to the calling user on activation (20) of a predetermined key of said terminal, b) determining (23) the location coordinates of the mobile terminal of the calling user, c) selecting (24) a user belonging to said community of such as the location of this user is closest to that of the terminal of the calling user, and d) redirection (25) of the communication request to put in communication the calling user with the selected user.   7. Alerting method according to claim 6, characterized in that it comprises a prior step of storing the list of users belonging to the community and availability data, and in that the selection relates only to users declared available at the time of generation of the communication request.   8. The alerting method according to claim 7, characterized in that the availability data can be modified by the users of the user community.   9. Alerting method according to any one of claims 6 to 8, characterized in that, following step d), it further comprises a step of sending a message to unselected users of the user community, said message comprising at least the information on the calling user and the selected user.   A computer program product comprising program code instructions for performing the steps of the method according to any of claims 6 to 9 when said program is executed on a computer.