Landmark US Patent for School Safety

SchoolSAFE provides interoperable communications

SchoolSAFE founders Patrick Hobby and David Petty have been awarded a US patent for a national emergency communications network for schools.

Centennial, CO, October 12, 2010 -- SchoolSAFE Communications founders Patrick Hobby and David Petty have been awarded United States Patent No. 7,813,750, which provides the core technology for a new national emergency communications network.

The patent addresses the lack of interoperable communications between professional first responders and those they are trying to rescue. This has been a key issue encountered in the Columbine High School massacre, the World Trade Center attack, the 2008 Mumbai hotel attacks, and countless other deadly incidents around the world.

The patent, issued October 12, 2010, was awarded based on the inventors' low-cost system that allows multi-layered communications in the heat of most emergencies. This communications approach during a crisis enables instant partnering among response agencies, 9-1-1, and citizens trained in the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and the Incident Command System (ICS). The system in effect multiplies the number of people available to handle an incident, and minimize personal injury and property damage.

In Colorado, where SchoolSAFE Communications is based, every school must have staff members trained in NIMS and ICS, and many of the leading school districts have implemented the SchoolSAFE system with their local sheriffs and 9-1-1 authority boards.

Senator Tom Wiens will host a series of conferences to help set up statewide emergency communications networks around the country. The former lawmaker was a principal author of the Colorado Safe School Act. There are currently SchoolSAFE pilot programs in other states including California, Idaho, Utah, Illinois, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Florida.

Before developing SchoolSAFE, Hobby and Petty had already established themselves in public safety as leading providers of interoperable communications in the region, through their company, QDS Communications. "Schools are still trying to catch up with the communications advances seen in public safety over the last 10 years," said Hobby. "That was a gap we had to bridge because on any given school day about a quarter of the population is in a school building or on a college campus."

"This is why we developed not only the system, but also a way to speed up deployment," added Petty. "We can set up a 60-school network and train a school district in a matter of days." Plans are underway to scale up the SchoolSAFE system to the state and national levels to help coordinate crisis response among multiple jurisdictions for major disasters, and to feed into a nationwide community that can share best practices and lessons learned.

Wiens predicts that SchoolSAFE installations at university hospitals, sports stadiums, concert halls, and dormitories will help introduce the technology to the broader private sector.

The following are excerpts from the patent application:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Many organizations have internal radio systems to manage day-to-day operations to include organization security. Various staff or security personnel may be equipped with radios enabling basic two-way communications between personnel. For many years, emergency or first responders such as law enforcement and fire departments have used radios for communications.

Because of the required range and necessity for reliability, government officials communicating by radio are typically equipped with highly advanced radio systems that are unable to directly communicate with the less complex radio systems used by organizations. When there is an emergency incident occurring at an organization, the standard method to contact emergency responders is by a telephone call to 911. A 911-call center is able to obtain the location of the caller in order to dispatch emergency responders. However, emergency responders have no direct means of radio communication with personnel located at the emergency location. Regardless of the nature of the incident and the identity of the emergency responders, it is very difficult for organizational personnel to directly speak with the responders prior to the responders arriving at the location.

Many emergency situations are time critical and the ability for organizational personnel to provide instantaneous information as to the status of the emergency can make the difference between emergency responders properly handling the situation as opposed to such responders not having adequate information, and the emergency situation then turning into a tragedy. No matter the type of emergency situation, the ability to provide accurate and timely information by those directly affected by the emergency situation often results in a more complete and rapid response by emergency responders.

Emergency responders typically have two-way radios installed in their vehicles to allow rapid and reliable communication between these emergency responders and their dispatch center or PSAP to control and coordinate their emergency actions. Many police officers and firemen also carry hand held radios that operate on the same radio system. Because of the necessity to ensure that emergency responders have the ability to communicate with one another, Federal regulations limit the types of organizations that may operate on the same frequency bands as emergency personnel. As mentioned above with respect to organizations who use two-way radio systems for daily operations, these radio systems are not able to communicate with emergency radio systems since each operate on very distinct frequencies, and the nature of the RF signals produced during the communications are very different. Therefore, other than the 911 telecommunications, affected personnel at the organization cannot communicate with emergency responders until they arrive at the scene.

Therefore, there is a need for a system and method whereby direct communications can be facilitated between emergency responders and affected organizational personnel during emergency situations. Additionally, there is need to provide a communication system where organizations can avoid the expense of purchasing more sophisticated and expensive radio communication systems, and the ability to directly communicate with emergency personnel can be on a selective and controlled basis. Additionally, there is a need to provide a communication system that may timely inform a network or group of organizations regarding an emergency situation coupled with the ability of a 911 call center to select which organizations within the group can directly communicate with selected emergency response personnel.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention, a communication system and method is provided for handling emergency situations wherein complex public safety radio systems can be used to directly communicate with normally incompatible radio systems used by organizations such as schools, hospitals, and other large independent facilities. The system of the present invention includes a radio communication patch or bridge that is selectively activated by emergency personnel to contact one or more selected organizations. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the communication system further includes a communication network, such as a local area network (LAN) or a group of LANs and a high speed interconnecting network such as the Internet. Activation and deactivation of the bridge is achieved over the LAN(s). A computer server may be located at one of several locations such as at a 911 call center, school district headquarters, or school district security center. This server is used to monitor and control the emergency communication system with one or more communication endpoints that are linked to the server. Each of the communication endpoints, such as separate schools, each have an IP address that allows them to be connected over the network(s) by the server. Each of the communication endpoints also has their own local two-way radio system and a communication patch or bridge device that is activated or enabled by IP commands over the network(s). Activation of the bridge is typically prompted by a 911 call by the affected organization at the communication end point. The 911-call center then evaluates the particular emergency, and can selectively activate over the network(s) the radio bridge. Once the bridge is activated, personnel located at the communication end point can then directly communicate with the emergency responders who have been dispatched and who are operating their radios on the public safety radio system. The local radios at the communication endpoints operate on their normal frequency/channel and once the bridge is activated then the local radios are automatically merged with the public safety radio channel or talk group. When the bridge is deactivated, the radios cease to operate on the public safety radio frequency/channel and are automatically returned to their normal channel operation.

Functionality of the system is achieved through computer software or firmware installed at the 911-call center, at the location of the emergency responders, and at each communication end point. This software/firmware is used to facilitate a number of functions to include a communication tool wherein upon notification of an emergency, emergency instructions can be conveyed to each of the communication endpoints. A user having the requisite bridge activation/deactivation authority can control the communications bridge(s) established as well as emergency instructions. These instructions can be conveyed in the form of email messages coupled with audio and/or visual alarms that are triggered by designated types of email messages.