PowerPhone Gets Patent For 911 System That Can Process Images For Emergency Responders

A company called PowerPhone has announced that it has been issued a patent for software that sends images to 911 operators from non-traditional callers such as those on cell phones. The patent is titled "Integrated Call Handler and E-Mail Systems and Methods" and is number 7,764,769.

The patent covers a system that allows emergency call centers and works to receive, prioritize, and process multimedia messages such as text, video, and images from cellular users and other non-traditional callers. Basically it processes text and picture messages sent to 911 operators.

The 911 call center can receive images and process those images using a proprietary priority engine and locally defined relevance determinants. Once the messages are received by the system, they are fed into dispatch systems already in place at call centers.