WO2017198926A1

WO2017198926A1 - Method and system for transmitting a geolocalised alert to a user equipped with a mobile communication terminal

Info

Publication number: WO2017198926A1
Application number: PCT/FR2017/051104
Authority: WO
Inventors: Alain SOULIER
Original assignee: Deveryware
Priority date: 2016-05-18
Filing date: 2017-05-09
Publication date: 2017-11-23
Also published as: MX2018014180A; FR3051585B1; FR3051585A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for transmitting a geolocalised alert to a user equipped with a mobile communication terminal (8), comprising the following steps: a) downloading of an alert file (32) by the mobile terminal (8); b) acquiring the instantaneous geographic position of the terminal; c) comparing said instantaneous geographic position with a geographic broadcast zone; d1) if it is determined that the instantaneous geographic position of the terminal is situated inside the geographic broadcast zone, transmitting an alert message to display means (18) of the terminal (8); d2) otherwise: d21) determining a geographic comparison zone; d22) reacquiring the instantaneous geographic position of the terminal; d23) comparing said reacquired geographic position with said geographic comparison zone; d24) if it is determined that the reacquired geographic position is outside the geographic comparison zone: d241) if said reacquired geographic position is outside the geographic broadcast zone, the method loops back to determination step d21); d242), otherwise, the step d1) of transmitting the alert message is implemented.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR TRANSMITTING A GEOLOCALIZED ALERT TO A USER WITH A TERMINAL

MOBILE COMMUNICATION

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to methods and systems for transmitting geolocated alerts on data communication networks, typically on mobile networks. The present invention finds particular application in the field of civil security, in the context where lives are concerned and where it is essential to be able to quickly alert populations located in a given geographical area. STATE OF THE ART

There are many situations in which alerting populations in a given geographical area can be crucial. This is particularly the case during a natural disaster for example, or when an authority of a given territory (such as for example that of a State, a department, a municipality) wishes to prevent the population of the imminence or occurrence of a hazard, so that people in that territory take appropriate protective measures.

In this context, it is known to use various technical means to ensure the transmission of alerts to the population. For example, a network of sirens alerts aligning the territory, with or without means for transmitting information messages such as radio systems, television systems or billboards, can be used. However, such technical means are limited in that they only make it possible to ensure that a relatively low rate reaching the target population concerned. Such means thus make it possible to ensure relative alert coverage with a limited number of people in the area.

In order to respond to this problem, geolocalized alert transmission systems have been developed using mobile communication terminals, such as, for example, smartphones. Indeed, such mobile communication terminals are now well established within populations, and such an implementation can be advantageously used as part of an alert system.

For example, geolocalised alert transmission systems comprising one or more mobile communication terminals are known, as well as an alert server connected to the mobile terminals via a data communication network. Such systems implement a virtual geo-fence (geo-fence or geofencing) technique. A geographical alert zone is defined by a user, via the alert server. Each mobile terminal, equipped with geo-location means formed for example of a GNSS receiver (of the "Global Navigation Satellite System"), then transmits its position data to the alert server at regular intervals. When the alert server determines, from the transmitted position data, that a mobile terminal has entered the predefined warning zone, the server generates an alert for this mobile terminal. Such an alert can for example take the form of an SMS message (short message service).

However, a disadvantage of such warning systems is that they require very complex and expensive infrastructures and processing capacity, in order to be able to manage in parallel a large number of geographical warning zones, as well as a very strong recovery of positions. high for a number of terminals also high. In addition, the solutions implementing such systems can not guarantee the anonymization of data relating to mobile communication terminals. Indeed, since each mobile terminal transmits its position data to the alert server at regular intervals, this data is potentially accessible via malicious attacks on the server. Security problems related to the confidentiality of transmitted data can then arise. Finally, such systems induce a very significant amount of position data sent over the network, this being very expensive in terms of network usage and energy consumption of mobile terminals in particular.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a method and a system for transmitting geolocated alerts at least partially overcoming the aforementioned drawbacks.

In particular, an object of the present invention is to provide a method and a system for transmitting geolocalised alerts for accurate transmission of the alert, effective in the use of the network and time constrained, and without any information does sort of the mobile terminal.

The term "mobile communication terminal" means devices as diverse as smartphone-type mobile phones, cell phones, digital tablets, mobile computers, and in general, any electronic device for wireless communication with means telecommunication on a data communication network. It may for example also be embedded devices, especially in the human body, having such telecommunication capabilities.

To this end, the present invention proposes a method of transmitting a geolocalised alert to at least one user equipped with a mobile communication terminal, the method being implemented by an alarm transmission system comprising said at least one terminal and an alert server connected to the mobile terminal via a communication network of data, the mobile terminal including means for geolocation of the terminal, display means and calculation means connected to the geolocation means and the display means, the alert server comprising a database storing a file of alert, said alert file comprising at least one predefined alert, said predefined alert comprising an alert message and data representative of a broadcast geographical area associated with said alert message, the broadcast geographical area being defined via a set of points defining a closed curve which delimits said area;

the process comprising the following steps:

a) the download of the alert file by the mobile terminal, from the alert server;

b) the acquisition, by the computing means of the mobile terminal, of the instantaneous geographical position of the terminal;

c) the comparison, by the computing means of the mobile terminal, of said instantaneous geographical position to said geographical area of diffusion;

dl) if, at the end of the comparison step, the terminal calculation means determine that the instantaneous geographical position of the terminal is located within the geographical area of diffusion, the transmission, by the computing means , the alert message to the display means of the terminal;

d2) if, after the comparison step, the terminal calculation means determine that the instantaneous geographical position of the terminal is outside the geographical area of diffusion: d21) the determination, by the means method for calculating the mobile terminal, a geographic comparison zone, said geographic comparison zone being contiguous with the geographic broadcasting zone and being defined via a set of points defining a closed curve which delimits said zone, the instantaneous geographical position of the terminal mobile being located within said geographic comparison area;

d22) the re-acquisition, by the computing means of the mobile terminal, of the instantaneous geographical position of the terminal; d23) the comparison, by the computing means of the mobile terminal, of said geographical position reacquired with said geographic comparison area, the method looping back on the step d22) of re-acquisition as long as the reacquired geographical position is determined as being at within the geographic area of comparison;

d24) if, at the end of the comparison step d23), the terminal calculation means determine that the reacquired geographical position is outside the geographical comparison zone:

d241) if said reacquired geographical position is outside the geographical area of diffusion, the method loops back to the determining step d21); d242) if said reacquired geographical position is within the geographical area of diffusion, the step d1) of transmission of the alert message is implemented.

According to preferred embodiments, the invention comprises one or more of the following features which can be used separately or in partial combination with one another or in total combination with one another:

the geographical area of comparison is a circle, the center of the circle corresponding to said instantaneous geographical position, the radius of the circle corresponding to the distance between said instantaneous geographical position and one of the points defining the closed curve which delimits the geographical area of diffusion, said point being the point of the curve at the shortest distance of the instantaneous geographic position;

the method further comprises a step of determining, by the computing means of the mobile terminal, whether an alert file has previously been downloaded by the mobile terminal; and, if necessary, a comparison step, by the mobile terminal calculation means, between the alerts contained in the current alert file and the alerts contained in the previous alert file; o if, after said comparison step, the terminal calculation means do not determine any correspondence between the alerts contained in the current alert file and the alerts contained in the previous alert file, the calculation means Substitute the previous alert file with the current alert file and the acquisition step b) is implemented;

o if, after said comparison step, the terminal calculation means determine at least one correspondence between an alert contained in the current alert file and an alert contained in the previous alert file, the means of calculation extract said alert from the current alert file and then replace the previous alert file with the current alert file thus updated; and the acquisition step b) is implemented;

the method further comprises a preliminary step of transmitting, from the alert server to the mobile communication terminal, a message containing information indicative of the presence of the alert file within the database, the reception of said message by the mobile terminal triggering the download step a), said message being processed by said terminal so that it is not accessible to a user associated with said terminal; the alert file is previously created in the database by a user equipped with an alerting device connected to the alert server, said alert sending device comprising a user interface allowing input or selection, by said user, elements included in the alert file;

the or each predefined alert further comprises at least one of the group consisting of: a datum representative of a criticality level of the alert, a datum representative of a period of validity of the alert, and representative data of a geographical place.

Another aspect of the invention relates to an alert server capable of being connected to at least one mobile communication terminal via a data communication network, the alert server comprising a database capable of storing a file of alert, said alert file comprising at least one predefined alert, said predefined alert comprising an alert message and data representative of a broadcast geographical area associated with said alert message, the broadcast geographical area being defined via a set of points defining a closed curve which delimits said zone, in which the alert server is able to implement the method of transmitting a geolocalised alert as described above.

Another aspect of the invention relates to a system for transmitting a geolocated alert to at least one user equipped with a mobile communication terminal, the system comprising said at least one terminal and an alert server connected to the mobile terminal via a data communication network, the mobile terminal including means for geolocation of the terminal, display means, storage means storing an application, and calculation means connected to the geolocation means, the display means and to the means of storage, the alert server being as described above; the computing means of the mobile terminal being adapted to implement the application and, following the implementation of the application, to acquire an instantaneous geographical position of the mobile terminal, to compare said instantaneous geographic position with said geographical area of diffusion ; and, depending on the result of this comparison:

if the instantaneous geographic position of the terminal is within the geographic broadcast area, transmitting said alert message to the display means of the terminal; - if the instant geographical position of the terminal is outside the geographical area of dissemination:

o determining a geographic comparison zone, said geographic comparison zone being contiguous to the geographical area of diffusion and being defined via a set of points defining a closed curve which delimits said zone, the instantaneous geographical position of the mobile terminal being located at within said geographical comparison area;

o comparing a geographical position reacquired by the computing means to said geographic comparison area; and

if the calculating means determine that the reacquired geographic position is outside the geographical comparison zone but within the geographic broadcast zone, transmitting said warning message to the display means of the terminal.

According to a particular technical feature of the invention, the system further comprises an alerting device connected to the alert server, said alert emitting device being able to create the alert file and to transmit said file to the database of the alert server, and including a user interface for entering or selecting items included in the alert file.

Another aspect of the invention relates to a computer program product downloadable from a communication network and / or recorded on a computer readable and / or executable medium by a processor, comprising program instructions, said program instructions forming a application of the mobile terminal of the system as described above, when the program product is executed on said mobile terminal

Thus, the invention proposes a mechanism in which the mobile communication terminal itself determines, based on its current geographical position data, whether or not it is located in the warning zone. The proposed solution thus avoids any transmission of position data from the terminal outside the latter, which significantly improves the confidentiality and safety of the system. In addition, since it is not necessary for the transmission of the alert that the mobile communication terminals periodically transmit their position data to the server, the use of the network is advantageously optimized.

Via the dynamic update, by the mobile terminals themselves, of a geographical comparison area, the alert is transmitted reliably and in time constrained to all mobile terminals equipped with the application and entering the zone alert. Thus, not only is the alert effectively transmitted to users with mobile terminals initially in the alert zone, but also to those entering the alert zone while the alert is still in progress, and without overloading the network. Other features and advantages of the invention will appear on reading the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, given by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 schematically represents an example of a functional architecture of a system for transmitting a geolocated alert according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a logic diagram showing a method of transmitting a geolocated alert according to one embodiment of the invention, implemented by the system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 schematically represents several steps of the method illustrated in FIG. 2, implemented by a mobile communication terminal moving between two geographical positions.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention is based on a prior step of downloading to a mobile communication terminal a software application 2 to implement the invention by the particular treatment of received alerts. Preferably, this application is activated systematically on switching on the corresponding mobile terminal.

A data communication network 4 is shown schematically in FIG. 1. A geolocated alert transmission system 6 is connected to the network 4.

The data communication network 4 is provided with a private or extended communication infrastructure enabling the connection or access to server and / or data base. Typically, the communication infrastructure forms a wireless network, or a wire network, or a network comprising a wireless portion and a portion filaire. In a particular embodiment, the communication network 4 is designed as an internet type network. In another particular embodiment, the communication network 4 is designed as a network compliant with the TCP (Transmission Control Protocol). According to this last embodiment, the load constraints of the network 4 are advantageously optimized.

The link from one point to another of the network 4 can be encrypted end-to-end via conventional encryption mechanisms, in order to improve the security of the data transiting on the network 4.

The transmission system 6 comprises at least one mobile communication terminal 8, and an alert server 10 connected to the or each mobile terminal 8 via the communication network 4. For the sake of clarity, a single mobile terminal 8 is shown. in the embodiment of Figure 1. Preferably, as shown in Figure 1, the transmission system 6 further comprises a device 12 transmitter alert. More preferably, the transmission system 6 further comprises a gateway server 14.

The mobile communication terminal 8 comprises means 16 for geolocation of the terminal 8, display means 18, storage means 20 and calculation means 22. The mobile communication terminal 8 is able to exchange data on the network. 4, for example via a radio antenna 24 integrated terminal 8, and allowing wireless access to the network 4, as shown in the example of Figure 1. Preferably, the mobile terminal 8 further comprises a built-in speaker, not shown in the figures for the sake of clarity.

The geolocation means 16 are capable of determining geographical position data of the mobile terminal 8. In the example of In particular embodiment of FIG. 1, the geolocation means 16 are formed of a GNSS receiver. The GNSS receiver 16 is able to receive GNSS signals 26, such signals 26 being for example transmitted by a GNSS positioning satellite 28. The GNSS receiver 16 is also able to translate the received GNSS signals 26 into geographical position data. In a variant not shown, the geolocation means 16 may alternatively be formed of a module implementing cell localization techniques, or localization based on wireless computer network technologies, used separately or in combination. The display means 18 allow the return of visual information to alert the user of the mobile terminal 8. In the embodiment of Figure 1, the display means 18 are formed of a mobile terminal screen .

The storage means 20 store the application 2. The storage means 20 are for example formed of a non-volatile memory associated with a volatile memory.

The calculation means 22 are connected to the geolocation means 16, to the display means 18 and to the storage means 20. In the particular embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, the calculation means 22 are furthermore connected to the radio antenna 24. The calculation means 22 are adapted to implement the application 2 and, consequently, to implement certain steps of the method of transmitting geolocalised alerts which will be described later. The calculation means 22 are for example formed of a processor.

The alert server 10 includes a database 30. The database 30 is able to store an alert file 32. The alert server 10 is able to transmit on the network 4, to the or each mobile terminal 8, a message containing information indicative of the presence of the alert file 32 in the database 30. Such a message, also called technical notification, is processed by the mobile terminal 8 so that it is not accessible to a user associated with the terminal 8, as will be described later. The format and mode of transmission of such a message are for example related to the operating system operator OS (English "Operating System") of the mobile terminal 8.

The alert file 32 includes at least one predefined alert. Such a predefined alert includes a set of elements comprising at least an alert message and a representative datum of a broadcast geographical area associated with the alert message. Preferably, such a predefined alert furthermore comprises a datum representative of a criticality level of the alert, a datum representing a duration of validity of the alert, and / or one or more representative data (s) ( s) a geographical location.

The alert message is a text message that can be displayed on display means of a mobile communication terminal. The alert message may for example contain official instructions and / or recommendations issued by an authority responsible for the territory on which the alert occurs.

The broadcast area associated with the alert message represents the alert zone. The geographical area of diffusion is defined via a set of points defining a closed curve which delimits said zone, as represented for example in FIG. 3. In this FIG. 3 in fact is represented a geographical diffusion zone 34 defined by a circle.

The representative datum of a broadcast geographical zone associated with the alert message may for example be the geographical area itself, in other words the geographical coordinates of all the points defining this zone. As a variant, the datum representative of a geographical area of diffusion may be a digital datum associated with a particular geographic area, such as for example a department number in the case where the geographical area of diffusion represents a particular department. In the latter case, a list of geographical areas, each associated respectively with a numerical data item representative, is previously loaded within the storage means 20 of the mobile terminal 8.

The data representative of a criticality level of the alert allows for example a user with a mobile terminal 8 to obtain information indicative of a level of criticality, and therefore to adapt its behavior accordingly.

The data representative of a period of validity of the alert allows for example the alert server 10 to erase, in the alert file 32, the alerts whose validity period is exceeded.

The data representative of a geographical location allow for example a user equipped with a mobile terminal 8 to obtain textual information indicative of a location corresponding to the main location for which the alert is triggered, for example the name of a city or a particular place within such a city.

The alerting device 12 is connected to the alerting server 10 and comprises a user interface 36 for entering or selecting the elements included in the alert file 32. The alerting device 12 is capable of creating the alert file 32, from elements entered or selected by a user via the user interface 36. In the particular embodiment of FIG. 1, the alerting device 12 is a telecommunication device connected by example via network 4, to a web-service hosted on a dedicated platform. The web-service is preferably secured via conventional encryption and / or authentication mechanisms. According to this particular embodiment, the alerting device 12 is connected to the alerting server 10, as well as to the gateway server 14, via the communication network 4.

The gateway server 14 comprises a database 38. The database 38 is capable of storing the alert file 32. The gateway server 14 is able to reformat each alert message of each predefined alert of the alert file 32. , in order to place this alert message in a format compatible with a processing by a social network service of type Twitter® or Facebook®. The gateway server 14 is also able to transmit on the network 4, to a dedicated server implementing such a social network service, the alert message and reformatted.

The operation of the geolocalised alert transmission system 6 will now be described in detail, with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. In particular, the method of transmitting a geolocated alert, according to one embodiment of the invention, will The transmission method is described, for the sake of clarity, with reference to the single mobile terminal 8 illustrated in FIG. 1. However, of course, it will be understood that it applies to the same way to several mobile terminals 8 operating at the same time on a territory or a given environment.

As indicated above, it is assumed that the software application 2 was initially downloaded to the storage means 20 of the mobile terminal 8.

Preferably, during an initial step 50, a user creates, via the alert transmitter device 12, the alert file 32 in the database 30. More precisely, the user, equipped with the transmitter device 12, captures or selects different elements of the alert file 32 via the user interface 36. Such elements form the alert (s) predefined (s) of the alert file 32. During this step initial 50, the user can advantageously create several alert files 32 via the device 12, the or each alert message of a given alert file 32 being written in a given language, different from the language used for the other alert files 32. This allows to take into account the language of use of the mobile terminal (s) 8.

More preferably, during a following step 52, the alert server 10 transmits to the mobile terminal 8, via the communication network 4, the message containing information indicative of the presence of the alert file 32 within the database 30. The mobile terminal 8 processes the message so that it is not accessible to a user associated with the terminal 8, in particular by not making it readable via the display means 18.

In a subsequent step 54, the mobile terminal 8 downloads the alert file 32 from the alert server 10. The alert file 32 is stored, for example, within the storage means 20 of the mobile terminal 8. In the case where the transmission method comprises the preceding step 52 of transmitting the message, the reception of the message by the mobile terminal 8 triggers the download step 54. Thus, the message transmission step 52 advantageously allows the transmission of the message. notify the mobile terminal 8 of the presence of a new alert file 32, only when the latter is available on the database 30, and trigger accordingly the download step 54. Therefore, step 52 transmission of the message avoids periodic polling of the alert server 10 by the mobile terminal 8, and thus leads to reduce the energetic consumption within the mobile terminal 8, and to allow a quick download. of the last updated alert file 32, without requiring manual action on the part of the user of the mobile terminal 8 and ensuring an anonymization of this user. Advantageously, thanks to this step 52 of transmission of a technical wake up notification of the mobile terminal 8, the operating system of the latter can even be switched off or on standby without this hindering the proper operation of the process.

Preferably, during a subsequent step 56, the computing means 22 of the mobile terminal 8 determine whether an alert file has previously been downloaded by the mobile terminal 8.

If this is not the case, the process proceeds directly to a next step 66, which will be described later.

If this is the case, the method comprises a following step 58 during which the calculation means 22 of the mobile terminal 8 compare the alerts contained in the current alert file 32 and the alerts contained in the file of the alarm. previously downloaded alert. If, after the comparison step 58, the computing means 22 of the mobile terminal 8 do not determine any correspondence between the alerts contained in the current alert file 32 and the alerts contained in the alert file previously downloaded, a next step 60 is implemented. During this step 60, the calculation means 22 substitute the previous alert file by the current alert file 32. The next step 66 is then implemented.

If, after the comparison step 58, the calculation means 22 of the mobile terminal 8 determine at least one correspondence between an alert contained in the current alert file 32 and an alert contained in the alert file. previously downloaded, a next step 62 is implemented. During this step 62, the calculation means 22 extract from the current alert file 32 the or each alert concerned. In a next step 64, the calculation means 22 then replace the previous alert file with the current alert file 32 thus updated. The next step 66 is then implemented.

This sequence of steps 56 to 64 thus makes it possible to avoid unnecessarily transmitting to the user of the mobile terminal 8 an alert message that he has already received, corresponding to an alert still in progress.

It is assumed, to facilitate the explanation of the rest of the process, that the alert file 32 downloaded in step 54 includes only one alert. Of course, it will be understood that the method applies in the same way when the alert file 32 includes several new alerts, the steps below being repeated for each of these alerts.

At the end of this sequence of steps 56 to 64, or, when the method does not include such a sequence, at the end of the download step 54, the computing means 22 of the mobile terminal 8 implement the software application 2.

In a subsequent step 66, the computing means 22 of the mobile terminal 8 acquire the instantaneous geographical position of the terminal 8. More precisely, during this step 66, the calculation means 22 send a signal of acquisition of a position with the geolocation means 16, for the acquisition of this instantaneous geographical position.

In a subsequent step 68, the computing means 22 of the mobile terminal 8 compare the instantaneous geographical position, acquired in the previous step 66, with the geographical area of diffusion included in the alert file alert 32 .

If, after the comparison step 68, the computing means 22 determine that the instantaneous geographic position of the terminal 8 is within the geographic area of diffusion, a next step 70 is implemented. During this next step 70, the calculation means 22 transmit the warning message to the display means 18. During the transmission of this alert message to the display means 18, the calculation means 22 can by example integrate the alert message in a local notification, for the display means 18. The display means 18 of the mobile terminal 8 then display the alert message, which thus becomes potentially visible to the user. In addition, an audible warning indicative of the alert can be emitted by the speaker of the mobile terminal 8, on command of the calculation means 22. In addition, the local notification including the alert message can be presented to the user. user through the display means 18, and allow the opening of the alert message by action of the user on an interactive opening button or an interactive opening window. The local notification may furthermore integrate complementary data, including, for example, the datum representative of a criticality level of the alert or the representative datum (s) of a geographical location.

If, after the comparison step 68, the computing means 22 determine that the instantaneous geographic position of the terminal 8 is outside the geographical area of diffusion, a next step 72 is implemented.

During this next step 72, the calculation means 22 determine a geographical comparison area. The position The instantaneous geographic location of the mobile terminal 8 is located within the comparison geographic area. The geographic comparison zone is defined via a set of points defining a closed curve which delimits the comparison zone, as represented for example in FIG. 3. In this FIG. 3, a geographic comparison zone 73 defined by a circle is represented. . The geographic area of comparison is further contiguous to the geographical area of diffusion. In other words, one of the points that belongs to the curve defining the geographical area of diffusion also belongs to the curve defining the geographical area of comparison.

During a next step 74, the computing means 22 of the mobile terminal 8 re-acquire the instantaneous geographical position of the terminal 8. More precisely, during this step 74, the calculation means 22 send an acquisition signal from a position to the geolocation means 16, for the re-acquisition of this instantaneous geographical position.

During a next step 76, the computing means 22 of the mobile terminal 8 compare the instantaneous geographic position, re-acquired in the previous step 74, to the geographic comparison area determined in step 72. The method loops back on the re-acquisition step 74 as the reacquired geographic position is determined to be within the geographic comparison area.

If, after the comparison step 76, the calculating means 22 determine that the retrospected geographical position of the terminal 8 is outside the geographical comparison area, a next step 78 is implemented.

During this next step 78, the computing means 22 of the mobile terminal 8 compare the reacquired geographical position of the mobile terminal 8 to the geographical broadcast area included in the alert file alert 32. If, after the comparison step 78, the computing means 22 determine that the retrospected geographical position of the terminal 8 is outside the geographical area of diffusion, the determination step 72 is implemented. .

If, after the comparison step 78, the calculation means 22 determine that the geographical position of the retrospective terminal 8 is located within the geographical area of diffusion, the step 70 of transmission of the message of alert to the display means 18 is implemented.

Advantageously, the update rate of the sequence of steps 72 to 78 can be parameterized on the mobile terminal 8, for example via the software application 2 comprising instructions for this purpose. For example, this update rate may advantageously be a function of the moving speed of the mobile terminal 8 and / or the distance between the mobile terminal 8 and the nearest broadcast area. This makes it possible to further improve the management of the energy consumption within the mobile terminal 8, avoiding too frequent updating rates which consume energy.

Advantageously, following the step 70 of transmitting the alert message to the display means 18 of the mobile terminal 8, the method may comprise a next step, not shown in the figures for the sake of clarity. During this step, the user of the mobile terminal 8 controls, for example via an interactive button present on the display means 18 of the terminal 8, the transmission of a notification to the gateway server 14. Such notification contains a message to identify the current alert that has been sent to the user. Thus, via the transmission of this notification on the network 4 to the gateway server 14, the user can send an instruction to propagate the alert on a social network service type Twitter® or Facebook®, for example to to warn his contacts. After receiving this notification, the gateway server 14 which has previously reformatted the alert message at the very moment of its broadcast, identifies the alert in question in the alert file 32, then delivers the corresponding alert message in a format compatible with processing by the social network service.

Advantageously, following this step or step 70 of transmitting the alert message to the display means 18 of the mobile terminal 8, the method may comprise a next step, not shown in the figures for reasons of clarity. During this step, following the opening and / or reading, by the user of the mobile terminal 8, the alert message, a notification is sent by the mobile terminal 8 to the alert server 10, via the network 4. Such a notification contains an acknowledgment message of opening and / or reading of the alert message by the user. Thus, by sending this notification on the network 4 to the alert server 10, the alert server 10 can advantageously know, at any time, the number of mobile terminals 8 present on the alert zone for which the user has opened and / or read the alert message. Complementary means can then be implemented to contact the users of mobile terminals 8 present on the alert zone, who have not yet opened and / or read the alert message. Such means may for example consist of the command, by the alert server 10, an automated voice call to these mobile terminals 8. Such a feature may for example be particularly advantageous during a force intervention rescue in a danger zone, in the case where lives are threatened, in order to know exactly the total number of people concerned, as well as those who have not yet been informed of the alert.

FIG. 3 schematically shows, over time, the steps 72 to 78 described above, according to a particular embodiment of the invention. In this FIG. 3, the mobile communication terminal 8 moves between a geographical position P1 and a geographical position P3, passing through an intermediate geographic position P2. The terminal mobile is located at the geographical position PI, P2, P3 respectively at time T1, T2, T3.

It is assumed that the step 72 of determining a geographic comparison area has been implemented by the computing means 22 of the mobile terminal 8.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the geographical area of diffusion 34 and the geographic comparison area 73 are, for example, circles. The center of the circle representative of the geographic comparison zone 73 at time T1 corresponds to the instantaneous geographical position Pl. The radius RI of the circle representative of the geographic comparison zone 73 at time T1 corresponds to the distance between the instantaneous geographical position P1 and one of the points P4 defining the closed curve which delimits the geographic area of diffusion 34. This point P4 is the point of the curve located at the shortest distance from the instantaneous geographical position Pl.

It is assumed that between the times T1 and T2 the mobile terminal 8 passes from the geographical position PI to the geographical position P2. During step 74, the computing means 22 of the mobile terminal 8 re-acquire the instantaneous geographical position of the terminal 8, that is to say the geographical position P2 in this case. During the next step 76, the computing means 22 of the mobile terminal 8 compare the reacquired geographical position P2 to the geographic comparison area 73 determined during the step 72. In the present case, the geographical position P2 being located within the circle representative of the geographic comparison area 73, the process will loop back to the re-acquisition step 74.

It is assumed that in the meantime, that is to say between instants T2 and T3, the mobile terminal 8 passes from the geographical position P2 to the geographical position P3. During step 74, the computing means 22 of the mobile terminal 8 re-acquire the instantaneous geographical position of the terminal 8, that is to say the geographical position P3. In the next step 76, the computing means 22 of the mobile terminal 8 compare the geographical position P3 reacquired with the geographical area of comparison 73 determined in step 72. The geographic position P3 being located outside the circle representative of the geographic comparison area 73, the next step 78 is implemented. During step 78, the computing means 22 of the mobile terminal 8 compare the retrospected geographical position P3 to the geographical area of diffusion 34. In the present case, the geographical position P3 being located outside the representative circle of the geographical area of diffusion 34, the determination step 72 is implemented.

During this determination step 72, the computing means 22 determine a new geographic comparison area 80. The instantaneous geographic position P3 of the mobile terminal 8 is located within the comparative geographic zone 80. embodiment of Figure 3, the geographic comparison area 80 is a circle. The center of the circle representative of the geographic comparison zone 80 at time T3 corresponds to the instantaneous geographical position P3. The radius R3 of the circle representative of the geographic comparison zone 80 at the instant T3 corresponds to the distance between the instantaneous geographical position P3 and one of the points P5 defining the closed curve which delimits the geographic area of diffusion 34. This point P5 is the point of the curve located at the shortest distance from the instantaneous geographical position P3.

The process continues with step 74 of re-acquisition, as already described above.

Throughout the foregoing description, the concepts of "inside an area" and "outside an area" can be determined with respect to the closed curve which delimits the area, at a threshold distance predetermined, such a threshold distance can be zero or positive.

Of course, the present invention is not limited to the examples and to the embodiment described and shown, but it is capable of numerous variants accessible to those skilled in the art.

Claims

A method of transmitting a geolocated alert to at least one user equipped with a mobile communication terminal (8), the method being implemented by an alert transmission system (6) comprising said at least one terminal (8) ) and an alert server (10) connected to the mobile terminal (8) via a data communication network (4), the mobile terminal (8) comprising means (16) for geolocation of the terminal (8), means for display means (18) and calculation means (22) connected to the geolocation means (16) and the display means (18), the alert server (10) comprising a database (30) storing a an alert file (32), said alert file (32) comprising at least one predefined alert, said predefined alert comprising an alert message and a datum representative of a geographic broadcast area (34) associated with said message alert, the broadcast geographical area (34) being defined via a set of defeat points initiating a closed curve which delimits said zone (34);

the process comprising the following steps:

a) the download (54) of the alert file (32) by the mobile terminal (8), from the alert server (10);

b) the acquisition (66), by the computing means (22) of the mobile terminal (8), the instantaneous geographical position of the terminal; c) comparing (68), by the computing means (22) of the mobile terminal (8), said instantaneous geographical position with said geographical area of diffusion (34);

dl) if, after the comparison step (68), the terminal computing means determines that the instantaneous geographic position of the terminal is within the geographic broadcast area (34), the transmission (70), by the calculating means (22), the warning message to the display means (18) of the terminal (8); d2) if, after the comparison step (68), the terminal calculating means determine that the instantaneous geographical position of the terminal is outside the geographical area of diffusion (34):

d21) determining (72), by the mobile terminal calculating means, a comparison geographical area (73, 80), said geographic comparison area being contiguous with the geographical broadcasting area (34) and being defined via a set of points defining a closed curve which delimits said area, the instantaneous geographical position of the mobile terminal (8) being located within said geographic comparison area (73, 80);

d22) the re-acquisition (74), by the computing means of the mobile terminal, of the instantaneous geographical position of the terminal;

d23) the comparison (76) by the computing means of the mobile terminal of said geographical position reacquired with said geographic comparison area (73, 80), the loopback method on the step d22) of re-acquisition (74) as long as the reacquired geographic position is determined to be within the geographic area of comparison;

d24) if, after the comparison step d23) (76), the terminal calculating means determines that the retrospected geographical position is outside the geographic comparison area (73, 80):

d241) if said reacquired geographical position is outside the geographical area of diffusion (34), the method loops back to the determining step d21) (72);

d242) if said reacquired geographic position is within the geographic area of broadcast (34), step d1) of transmission (70) of the alert message is implemented.

A method according to claim 1, wherein the geographic comparison area (73, 80) is a circle, the center (P1, P3) of the circle corresponding to said instantaneous geographical position, the radius (R1, R3) of the circle corresponding to the distance between said instantaneous geographical position and one of the points defining the closed curve which delimits the geographical area of diffusion, said point (P4, P5) being the point of the curve situated at the shortest distance from said instantaneous geographical position.

A method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the method further comprises a step of determining (56), by the computing means (22) of the mobile terminal (8), whether an alert file has previously been downloaded by the mobile terminal (8); and, where appropriate, a comparison step (58), by the mobile terminal calculation means, between the alerts contained in the current alert file (32) and the alerts contained in the previous alert file.

The method of claim 3, wherein:

if, after said comparison step (58), the calculation means (22) of the terminal (8) do not determine any correspondence between the alerts contained in the current alert file (32) and the alerts contained in the previous alert file, the calculation means replace (60) the previous alert file by the current alert file (32); and the acquisition step (b) (66) is implemented; if, after said comparison step (58), the calculation means (22) of the terminal (8) determine at least one correspondence between an alert contained in the current alert file (32) and an alert contained in the previous alert file, the calculation means (22) extract (62) said alert from the current alert file (32) and then replace (64) the previous alert file with the current alert file (32) thus updated; and the acquisition step (b) (66) is implemented.

A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the method further comprises a prior step of transmitting (52) from the alert server (10) to the mobile communication terminal (8) a message containing a information indicative of the presence of the alert file (32) within the database (30), the receipt of said message by the mobile terminal (8) triggering the download step (a) (54), said message being processed by said terminal (8) so that it is not accessible to a user associated with said terminal (8).

A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the alert file (32) is previously created (50) in the database (30) by a user having a related alerting device (12) to the alert server (10), said alert emitting device (12) comprising a user interface (36) for inputting or selecting by said user elements included in the alert file (32).

A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the or each predefined alert further comprises at least one of the group consisting of: data representative of a criticality level of the alert, data representative of a duration of validity of the alert, and data representative of a geographical location. Alert server (10) adapted to be connected to at least one mobile communication terminal (8) via a data communication network (4), the alert server (10) comprising a database (30) capable of storing an alert file (32), said alert file (32) comprising at least one predefined alert, said predefined alert including an alert message and data representative of an associated geographic area (34) auditing said alerting message, the geographic broadcasting zone (34) being defined via a set of points defining a closed curve which delimits said zone, in which the alerting server (10) is able to implement the transmission method a geolocated alert according to any one of the preceding claims.

System (6) for transmitting a geolocated alert to at least one user equipped with a mobile communication terminal (8), the system (6) comprising said at least one terminal (8) and an alert server (10) ) connected to the mobile terminal (8) via a data communication network (4), the mobile terminal (8) comprising means (16) for geolocation of the terminal (8), display means (18), means for storage device (20) storing an application (2), and calculating means (22) connected to the geolocation means (16), the display means (18) and the storage means (20), the server of alert (10) according to claim 8;

the computing means (22) of the mobile terminal (8) being able to implement the application (2) and, following the implementation of the application (2), to acquire an instantaneous geographical position of the mobile terminal (8), comparing said instantaneous geographic position with said geographic broadcast area (34); and, depending on the result of this comparison: if the instantaneous geographic position of the terminal is within the geographic broadcast area (34), transmitting said alert message to the display means (18) of the terminal;

if the instantaneous geographic position of the terminal is outside the geographic area of broadcast (34):

o determining a geographic comparison area (73, 80), said geographic comparison area being contiguous with the geographical area of diffusion (34) and being defined via a set of points defining a closed curve which delimits said area, the geographical position instantaneous mobile terminal being located within said geographic comparison area (73, 80); o comparing a geographical position reacquired by the calculation means (22) to said geographic comparison area (73, 80); and

o if the computing means (22) determine that the re-searched geographic position is outside the geographic comparison area (73, 80) but within the geographic broadcast area (34), to transmit said message alert to the display means of the terminal.

System (6) according to claim 9, further comprising an alert transmitter device (12) connected to the alert server (10), said alert transmitter device (12) being able to create the alert file ( 32) and transmitting said file (32) to the database (30) of the alert server (10), and including a user interface (36) for inputting or selecting elements included in the alert file (32). Computer program product downloadable from a communication network and / or recorded on a computer-readable and / or executable medium by a processor, characterized in that it comprises program instructions, said program instructions forming the application ( 2) the mobile terminal (8) of the system (6) according to claim 9 or 10, when the program product (2) is executed on said mobile terminal (8).