Patent Description:
Emergency incidents reported by individuals calling emergency services, e. <NUM>-<NUM>-<NUM> in the USA or <NUM>-<NUM>-<NUM> in Europe, can be distinguished in at least two categories. On the one hand there are callers who report emergency incidents that happen to themselves, for example someone who has been a victim of theft, or someone who has been directly involved in a car accident. On the other hand, there are callers who report incidents that happen to others. Particularly these are eyewitnesses of emergency incidents, who are usually not aware of the identity of the people directly involved in an emergency incident and are thus not able to provide any details that may be required by the emergency services.

Eyewitnesses calling emergency service to report incidents that involve others usually report an incident of an identity being unknown to them. For example, in case of an emergency incident an eyewitness calls emergency services reporting the incident so that emergency responders are dispatched, e. medical personnel. This may for example happen when a couple is riding a motorcycle and is involved in a traffic accident. Then both people may be injured and may lie on the street. However, the emergency responders, e. medical personnel on the ambulance, do not have any information about the medical records of the injured persons. Thus, the medical team does not know the blood type, any prescribed medication or any other health issue which must be taken into consideration for providing them with the most appropriate medical treatment.

Today, the medical personnel need to wait until they arrive on the emergency scene to start working on identifying the medical records of the injured persons, something that may not even be possible if the injured are unconscious. As a result, precious time may be lost, with this process making it likely for medical errors to occur, potentially leading to irreversible health problems or even death of the patients.

Another kind of emergency could be a crime incident in which criminals such as burglars, bank robbers, shoplifters, etc. are involved. Today, an eyewitness reporting this incident is not aware of the criminals' identities while reporting this to emergency services over the phone; however, it would be useful if a technical methodology could be found for disclosing the criminals' identities to the emergency services.

The document <CIT> relates to a method and system for capturing, collecting, providing, and sending targeted messages, such as text or multimedia, to individual users or groups of users on a network based on their location and proximity to an incident, concern, or perceived threat.

The document <CIT> relates to a system and method for making personal emergency information available to third parties, the method includes the steps of providing a first person with a wireless device which can be interrogated to extract device information from the device; assessing whether a second person who has interrogated the device is authorized to access personal information of the first person; and selectively making the personal information available to the second person based on the result of the assessment.

The document <CIT> relates to a method, apparatus, and system for providing event investigation through witness devices to effectively and efficiently collect emergency event information. The method includes the step of collecting information from witnesses in the vicinity of the event from their devices by instructing those devices through an event investigation platform to collect information related to the event.

Therefore, it may be seen as an object of the present invention to provide an efficient emergency solution.

The subject matter of the invention is defined in the independent claims. Further embodiments of the invention are defined in the dependent claims.

According to an aspect of the present invention a method for interacting of a PSAP system with a portable network device is provided. In the sense of the invention a PSAP or a PSAP system comprises all essential devices, personal and applications for emergency call management. The method comprises establishing a call between the portable network device and the PSAP and detecting a trigger signal of an eyewitness-button. Upon detecting the trigger signal, call log data of the call are stored by the PSAP and the PSAP sets up a signaling connection between the portable network device and the PSAP. The method further provides for determining in the PSAP a geographical area of interest which is close to the actual location of the portable network device. With this location information a list of external portable network devices is determined, comprising at least one external portable network device located within the geographical area of interest. In other words, all portable network devices within the region of the geographical area are identified. The location may be determined by using location-based services. The method further provides for scanning the at least one external portable network device of the list.

Since this scanning may access highly private data, the method uses a method of protecting the signaling connection from unauthorized access for forwarding data of an external portable network device. This protection may substantially be handled by the PSAP. Information retrieved from the external portable network device, i. the scanning result from the at least one external portable network device of the list, is forwarded via the signaling connection to the PSAP. By scanning, in particular personal data of victims, the emergency services may be informed about important facts such as medical records, critical contact information, residence, etc. of each person involved in an emergency scene. This may prevent losing time when they arrive at the location of an incident.

In an example, emergency responders may have access to the medical records of the injured people before an ambulance is dispatched so that specialized medical personnel and/or equipment can be sent to the emergency scene depending on the existing health issues of the injured people. The proposed approach would enable emergency responders to provide a personalized medical treatment to each patient, thus maximizing the probabilities of successful survival and recovery for each individual patient.

Furthermore, there are numerous cases where in addition to the need of obtaining a victim's identification (ID) it may be important not to touch a victim. While attempting to look for a victim's cellphone or identification papers, the eyewitness may improperly move the victim's body and do harm and/or worsening her/his condition. Especially in a crime scene, an eyewitness could alter or damage useful evidence.

According to the invention, a functionality for the call taker, e. an operator of the PSAP, may assist to perform some actions when the call taker tries to assess the reported incident. It may be possible to log the reporter's phone number, i. the phone number of the caller, and in this way already getting an identification of the caller. In addition, it may be possible to determine the location data of the caller who may call from a place that he or she is not familiar with. For retrieving location information, a location-based service may be used such as Automatic Location Identification (ALI). The method may also support tagging the retrieved information and/or tagging the reporter as an "eyewitness" and/or as a third party. Such tagging may be useful in case the witness's information is needed later, e. for criminal investigations or a court call.

The method provides a very efficient way for obtaining a victim's or many victims' data in a seamless and fast way. A control mechanism may be implemented for syncing between call takers on common reported incidents.

According to another aspect of the present invention, storing the call log data and setting up the signaling connection between the portable network device and the PSAP is triggered by a signaling protocol message, for example, a SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) message. This action may be initiated by an Activate Remote Data Acquisition Service message (Activate RDAS). Such an Activate RDAS message may be an implementation in the signaling protocol.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, the method step of the PSAP protecting the signaling connection from unauthorized access for forwarding data of an external portable network device comprises at least one protection mechanism selected from a list of protection mechanisms. The list of protection mechanisms the PSAP can select from, consists of providing a token by the PSAP, switching the portable network device in a transparent relay mode, employing an encryption mechanism, disabling scanning and/or forwarding of data by a signaling message, disabling scanning and/or forwarding of data automatically, and/or unlocking the protection mechanism by using an authentication certification mechanism. Such protection mechanisms may allow for using the signaling connection for transmitting private data from the external portable network device of a victim to the PSAP by using the portable network device of the caller as a transparent relay. In other words, the reporters' or eyewitness' portable network device may be used by an application installed on the portable network device to be remotely operated by the PSAP using the signaling protocol and/or SDP protocol (Session Description Protocol) as signaling protocol and work as a gateway for translating NFC (Near Field Communication) and/or Bluetooth signals into the signaling connection. In this way receiving personal data from the external portable network device via protocol translation is made possible.

According to another aspect of the present invention, at least one external portable network device and/or the plurality external portable network devices which is/are on the list is/are sequentially scanned according to an order of the list. In this way it is ensured that all potential victims are recognized and doublets that may occur by a plurality of reporters reporting the same identical incident can be deleted.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the PSAP uses an Application Service and/or the portable network device uses an application. Implementing the method as a program code for an application may allow for simple distribution of the algorithm to portable devices such as mobile phones and/or smartphones.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, the method comprises providing personal data stored in the external portable network device as a result of scanning the at least one external portable network device of the list comprises.

According to another aspect of the present invention, scanning the at least one external portable network device of the list comprises using a short-range wireless connection technology.

A short-range wireless connection technology may be based on an NFC (Near Field Communication) protocol, a Bluetooth protocol and/or an RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification) protocol.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, the method comprises determining types of short-range wireless connection technologies implemented in the at least one external portable network device and/or in the portable network device and selecting one of the detected different types of short-range wireless connection technologies.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, the physical transmission range of the short-range wireless connection technology is shorter than the physical transmission range of a wireless connection technology that is used between the portable network device and the PSAP network device or PSAP.

By using a short-range wireless connection technology the number of external portable network devices that may be detected by the caller is limited by the limited distribution area of short-range wireless connection technology. The limit in reach and the area restriction is due to the fact that a short-range wireless connection technology may employ low transmission power and/or the radiation is heavily attenuated.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the geographical area of interest is an area around the portable network device.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, the method further comprises determining in the PSAP a further geographical area of interest close to an actual location of a further portable network device and determining a list of further external portable network devices comprising at least one further external portable network device located within the further geographical area of interest. The method also comprises comparing the list of external portable network devices with the list of further external portable network devices and finding intersections between the list of external portable network devices and the list of further external portable network devices.

By comparing the reported external network devices with the reported further external network devices an indicator may be generated which provides a measure for the likelihood that a reported incident is related to a further reported incident.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a program element is provided which when being executed by a processor is adapted to carry out the inventive method for interacting of a PSAP with a portable network device.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, a computer-readable medium is provided comprising program code, which when being executed by a processor is adapted to carry out the inventive method for interacting of a PSAP with a portable network device.

A computer-readable medium may be a floppy disk, a hard disk, an USB (Universal Serial Bus) storage device, a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (read only memory) or an EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory). A computer readable medium may also be a data communication network, e. the Internet, which may allow downloading a program code.

In one example, the program code, at least partially, may be provided as an application such as an Application Service for the PSAP and/or an application for the portable network device.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, a PSAP and/or a portable network device is provided which may form a network system. Thus, the network system comprises a PSAP and a portable network device.

The portable network device is adapted for establishing a call between the portable network device and the PSAP, wherein the PSAP is adapted for detecting a trigger signal of an eyewitness-button. The eyewitness-button may be any virtual and/or physical button that is adapted to generate a trigger signal that can be evaluated by another functional element.

The PSAP is further adapted for storing call log data of the call and for setting up a signaling connection between the portable network device and the PSAP and for determining a geographical area of interest close to the actual location of the portable network device. The PSAP is further adapted for determining a list of external portable network devices. This list comprises at least one external portable network device located within the geographical area of interest determined by the PSAP.

The portable network device is adapted for scanning the at least one external portable network device of the list. If a plurality of portable network devices is in this list the portable network device scans each of the portable network devices in that list.

The PSAP is further adapted for protecting the signaling connection from unauthorized access for forwarding data of an external portable network device.

The portable network device is adapted for forwarding the scanning result from the at least one external portable network device of the list via the signaling connection to the PSAP.

It has to be noted that aspects of the invention have been described with reference to different subject-matters. In particular, some aspects have been described with reference to apparatus type claims whereas other aspects have been described with reference to method type claims. However, a person skilled in the art will gather from the above and the following description that, unless other notified, in addition to any combination between features belonging to one type of subject-matter also any combination between features relating to different types of subject-matters is considered to be disclosed with this text. In particular, combinations between features relating to the apparatus type claims and features relating to the method type claims are considered to be disclosed.

The invention and embodiments thereof will be described below in further detail in connection with the drawings.

The illustration in the drawings is schematic and may be not to scale. In different drawings, similar or identical elements are provided with the same reference numerals.

<FIG> shows a flowchart of a method for interacting of a PSAP with a portable network device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. This method is executed in a network system comprising a PSAP and a portable network device. In an example, the PSAP is a PSAP according to the National/European Emergency Number Association (NENA/EENA) standard for Next Generation (NG) <NUM>-<NUM>-<NUM> or NG <NUM>-<NUM>-<NUM> or other NG systems. The portable network device may be any portable device with a wireless network interface such as a smart phone, a handheld device or a mobile phone. The method empowers emergency responders to have access to personal details or personal data of all persons involved in an emergency incident. The personal data such as medical records and/or address data may be stored on a portable network device of the relevant person e. Just for the sack of simplicity, persons and their portable equipment may be used equally in this text. Similar simplification where the description of the person also includes its device may be used when describing an eyewitness and the operator of a PSAP. Accessing the personal information of the device owner via its device may allow to assess those data while an emergency call is still handled by the call-takers who operate in the PSAP. The call may be any audio and/or video call from a device of an eyewitness and may be active before any resources such as an ambulance, fire truck and/or police is dispatched to the scene of the emergency. In an emergency scenario, at least one victim or a plurality of victims is/are involved in an incident. At least one of the victims has a portable network device such as a smart phone with a short-range wireless communication sub module as for example an NFC module or a Bluetooth module. The portable network device of the victim may be referenced as external portable network device in order to indicate that it is located in a certain distance of a reporter who is eyewitness of the incident. The physical range in which the short-range wireless communication may be used may depend on the environment but may be in the range of <NUM> to <NUM>, <NUM> to <NUM>, <NUM> to <NUM> and/or <NUM> to <NUM>. In a distance larger than the maximum coverage area, a physical signal strength may be under a detectable threshold. Such a maximum coverage area may be defined by the underlying standard of the relevant technology. In the emergency scenario there is at least the reporter, witness or eyewitness who observes or hears the incident and who has a portable network device such as a smart phone device and/or a cell phone or a mobile phone. A call taker is an operator of the PSAP and is handling emergency calls. In particular, the call taker accepts emergency calls over a sophisticated NG (Next Generation) network. The portable network devices may run at least a part of the method as an application or as an innate smartphone OS (Operating System) background application that is harnessed by the call taker to perform the emergency call and data processing. As an option, the call taker may operate an Application Service which is executed on the PSAP. In an example, the Application Service acts as a server under PSAP's authority. A specific functionality may be activated via a button provided as a physical button on an operation panel and/or as a virtual button in the respective application. The method described in <FIG> helps to obtain personal data under PSAP's supervision over data exchange-oriented communication protocols. <FIG> shows the principal flow which ensures a safe and protected transmission of the personal data of the victim. The method supports emergency personnel with fast and complete incident reporting. The method may be described on the basis of the signaling protocol and SDP protocol. However, this should not be seen as a restriction and the method may be used in combination with any appropriate underpinned communication protocol. In step S101 a victim and/or patient has an accident or a sudden health issue that makes her/him impossible to make a call on her/his own. A first eyewitness, referenced as eyewitness <NUM> or witness <NUM>, observes the incident and calls as a reporter immediately the next generation emergency service. The reporter uses his portable network device for establishing his call. In step S102, the first call taker, referenced as call taker <NUM>, receives the call and questions the circumstances of the incident. In step S103, the witness <NUM> indicates that the incident is not her/his own, but someone's else incident and he/she is only the eyewitness. Thus, the call taker <NUM> in step S103 generates a trigger signal by activating a button "Reporting witness" and/or an eyewitness-button which is provided by the PSAP. This trigger signal is detected by the PSAP and prevents the method to follow a call procedure without involving scanning of short-range connections as indicated in step S104. After the decision to use the short-range scanning function, in step S105, the PSAP stores call log data of the call in a PSAP database <NUM>. In an example, the call log data may be provided in a signaling message and may comprise an application ID, a telephone number of eyewitness <NUM>, location data of eyewitness <NUM> and/or address data of eyewitness <NUM>. This storing operation may comprise logging of necessary information in a separate field which is oriented purely with the witness's details. The PSAP also establishes a signaling connection between the portable network device of the witness and the PSAP that will enable the secure transmission of patient's information. At the same time of enabling the secure transmission of patient's information, the portable network device is switched into an operation mode that allows for scanning other devices, e. by using the short-range wireless connection. In step S106, the call taker finds out by questioning the witness <NUM> about the estimation of the distance in which the at least one victim lies. In case of many victims, the question will be the perimeter and/or radius that the victims lie within. In this way the call taker can substantially determine the geographical area of interest close to the actual location of the portable network device of the first witness <NUM>. In an example, the call taker may determine the geographical area of interest by processing the location data which have been received from witness <NUM> and which may be stored in the database <NUM> and by drawing a circle on a map around the location of witness <NUM>. This circle has a radius which corresponds to the estimation of the perimeter of the area with victims. For instance, a circle is drawn on the map stored on the PSAP. The PSAP has stored a location of all external portable network devices in the area close to the location of the reporter's portable network device. The external portable network devices are all detected except the portable network device of the reporter. Then all external portable network devices are identified which are located within the circle and are enabled for being scanned by the reporter's portable network device. In other words, a test is made to verify which of the portable network devices has a short-range wireless connection technology implemented and activated, e. NFC or Bluetooth. Further, the portable network devices are instructed to allow the transmission of sensitive information of the owner of each network device, such as personal data, while the given emergency call is in progress. The number of available external portable network devices is stored in the PSAP database <NUM> as well as the number of victims affected by the incident. Then in step S107, for every external portable network device which has been identified as to belong to a victim a scan is made by using a corresponding short-range wireless connection and the corresponding personal data gathered from scanning via the short-range wireless connection is transmitted via the secure signaling connection to the PSAP and stored in the PSAP database <NUM>. After it is recognized that all the detected external portable network devices have been scanned, in step <NUM>, the operation mode that allows the portable network device for scanning other devices is automatically disabled by the PSAP. Thus, the reporter cannot scan anymore, and, in this way, it is prevented that the portable network device can have unauthorized access to personal information of external portable network devices nearby. It can be disabled forcedly by the call taker or automatically when all victims are successfully scanned, and personal details have been obtained by PSAP. Automatically disabling the signaling connection and/or the scanning mode may be one of a plurality of other protection mechanism used to protect the privacy of the transmitted data and of the data on the external portable network device. During the transfer of the personal data the portable network device works as a transparent gateway between the signaling connection and the short-range wireless connection, e. between SIP and NFC or Bluetooth. The transmission is substantially controlled by the PSAP which is authorized to have access to the personal and private data and the portable network device of the reporter is used as a local relay, which transparently forwards the personal data. In this way, restrictions made by data protection law may be met. The method finishes in step <NUM> after scanning has automatically been disabled as a service for the reporter.

<FIG> shows a message flow chart for a transfer of personal data of a victim's external portable network device <NUM> to a PSAP <NUM> via a portable network device <NUM> of the reporter where applications are used on the devices <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. <FIG> substantially corresponds to <FIG>, however, shows in addition the additional communication for interacting with a respective application of the devices. As an example, all apps 201b, 202b, 203b implement the RDAS (Remote Data Acquisition Service) related functionality. Mobile apps 202b (Reporter's app) and 203b (Victim's app) will most likely be the same mobile application, installed by all the civilians on their mobile/smart phones specifically for the case of emergencies. Despite the fact that 202b and 203b may refer to the same mobile application, a distinction is made in this diagram to illustrate how they operate in a different mode, depending on the role of their user (Reporter vs Victim). On the contrary, 201b (PSAP App Service) may be a software application running on the PSAP (On-premises, on a data-center or on the public cloud) that helps orchestrate the interactions between the different applications. For different reasons, e. power saving and/or for security reasons, some users may do not have Bluetooth or NFC activated on their devices. Therefore, a medium is needed under which both the reporter's <NUM> and the victim's portable network devices <NUM> can communicate and exchange data without requiring any user action for such an activation. If NFC and/or Bluetooth is disabled, a special application may be used to communicate with the PSAP <NUM> and for controlling the short-range wireless connection. The application 201b, 202b, 203b may be active on the portable network device and may be reached via a signaling connection or a push technology implemented by the Operating System (OS) of the portable network device <NUM>, <NUM>. In an example, an emergency application, e. a health inspection app, that is installed on the respective device may be extended in order to support the scanning of other devices. The functional extension may extend an application in order to serve as a mediator or relay for establishing a supervised communication between victim and reporter. As already described, smartphones may substantially by default prevent to answer when being scanned by other devices, terminals or endpoints. For this reason, there is a set of standards under the Pan-European Mobile Emergency App (PEMEA) standard for Europe that enables the inter-working of emergency mobile applications and underpin relevant features. An application that complies with the PEMEA standards can make NFC or Bluetooth accessible via the app for emergency requests. The enablement for both technologies can also be dependent on the functionality of such application. For example, the application could support detecting the falling on the floor for its owner and upon that incident to enable these features automatically. The mobile app 201b, 202b, 203b can perform several actions, including but not limited to enabling and/or disabling on demand a Bluetooth beacon service, enabling and/or disabling on demand NFC, obtaining information from the NFC and/or Bluetooth protocol handlers, sending and receiving information to and from the reporter, sending and receiving information to and from the victim and/or encrypting the personal data information. As shown in the message flow diagram of <FIG>, the application 202b and the application service 201b act as a mediator and/or as a relay between the two entities for enabling the service when disabled. When the reporter calls the emergency service in step S301, it can send a unique application ID, e. an AppID, over a signaling connection of SDP. In this example, the reporter uses a mobile call based on the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) standard. If a TDM (Time Division Multiplexing) call is used, the relevant parameters such as AppID (Applicaton identifier) are sent via an Signaling System <NUM> (SS7) Information Element. The SS7 (Signaling system <NUM>) is an out-of-band signaling system used to provide basic routing information, call set-up and other call termination functions. Signaling is removed from the voice channel itself and put on a separate data network. Also known as CCS7 (Common Channel Signaling No. <NUM>). The AppID characterizes the current user, e. the reporter or the victim. After receiving the AppID of the reporter, the identification and/or identity of the reporter is now known in the PSAP <NUM> and the call taker at the PSAP side can optionally terminate the GSM call and the TDM call respectively with the user and switch the call seamlessly to an IP call between the reporter and PSAP as shown in the steps S302 and S303. Then, since the application is active, the PSAP agent 201a or PSAP call taker 201a is able to send a command for enabling NFC or Bluetooth or other possible means for remote data acquisition via any other short-range wireless protocol or radio frequency (RF) protocol. This may be made by using the Activate RDAS message as shown in step S304. The PSAP <NUM> receives a receipt confirmation about enabling the short-range wireless connection in step S305.

Upon receiving this receipt confirmation in the PSAP <NUM> the PSAP <NUM> forwards the information about which short-range wireless service was enabled to the PSAP's App Service 201b inside an Active RDAS message as shown in step S306. Since App Service 201b and PSAP <NUM> lie on the same side, e. in an operation center, it is easy for the App Service 201b to arrange a narrow perimeter around the reporter's end. As an alternative the PSAP call taker 201a can draw a perimeter in the map in which the victim potentially lies based on feedback provided by the reporter. This perimeter is the geographical area of interest where potential victims may be found. Within this perimeter all external network devices <NUM> or smart phones <NUM> running the app 203b will get notified by a background message as shown in step S307. The notification message is an Activate RDAS message. The Activate RDAS Message activates eventually the corresponding short-range wireless service depended on its availability, readiness to be used and usefulness with regard to the range in relation to the location of the victims. In an example, in this step a decision is made whether Bluetooth or NFC can be used for the scanning mode of the portable network device <NUM>. Eventually, victim's service will be activated in step S308 and thus it will be enabled to send personal data information when reporter scans the device as shown in step S309. When activation is granted on the victim's side, the reporter is informed either by oral confirmation or by a corresponding signaling message, in order to start scanning the victim's body for a signal. It is assumed that exactly one single victim is reported by the reporter. When any signal is detected, personal data is immediately transferred as indicated in step S310. This transfer of personal data indicates to the App Service 201b that the actual victim was indeed found and the App Service 201b will send a disconnect RDAS request to other smart phones <NUM> or external network devices <NUM> that are not included in the incident as shown in step S311 and particularly indicated by the plurality of messages of step S311a. If a plurality of victims is included in the vicinity, e. in a scenario where a bomb has exploded or a massacre has occurred, then it is necessary for the PSAP's call taker 201a to have this information in order to assist the reporter and for scanning all possible victims. In such case, there are two possible options. The reporter is aware of how many victims exist in the scene or she/he is unsure. If the caller knows the number of victims, the call taker 201a assigns an upper limit of scans. When this number is reached, scans are automatically disabled and thus, saving call taker's administration effort. In the latter, the call taker 201a needs to take care of when to stop permitting the reporter to scan victims, e. by reporter's oral confirmation. This technique supports the call taker 201a to act efficiently on the incident and elaborate the case as data comes in incrementally. In a case with a plurality of victims, the message flow will be adapted as shown in <FIG>.

<FIG> shows the message flow chart of <FIG> for a scenario with multiple victims according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The message flows are substantially identical with the message flows of <FIG>. From step S406 the multi victim scenario has an impact to the messages exchanged between the different devices <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>. The Activate RDAS message, for example, comprises additional location data, a multi victim flag indicating that a plurality of victims is available and a field indicating the number of scans. The App service 201b distributes this Activate RDAS message to every victim app of the corresponding victims as shown in step S407 and to the relevant external network device as shown in steps S408. After the PSAP <NUM> and/or the corresponding App Service 201b has scanned all external network devices <NUM> which have been identified as victim devices <NUM>, the PSAP <NUM> and/or the App Service 201b release the service as shown in steps S409, S410, S411. When the call is terminated, and the incident management case cycle has finished, the App service 201b releases all pending service request so that all users get released. Additionally, timers should be applied in case of hanging pending service requests which should lie at terminals as well as on side of the App Service. By releasing the pending service requests by command and/or automatically, the privacy for the personal data may be protected from further accesses.

<FIG> shows an incident scenario where many reporters 202a', 202a" call in order to report the same incident scenario according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. In this scenario, two reporters 202a', 202a" report the same incident <NUM>. Each of the call takers (not shown in <FIG>) draw a radius <NUM>', <NUM>" and the system detects that the two circles intersect at intersection <NUM>. Even if the method in <FIG> is shown with two reporters the method can be used for a plurality of reporters reporting the same incident. The number of call takers accepting the calls correspond to the number of reporters 202a', 202a" and so does the number of radius <NUM>', <NUM>". A first reporter 202a' reports an incident and a call taker activates the scanning feature on the corresponding portable network device <NUM> and/or on a corresponding application and draws a circle with a radius <NUM>', <NUM>" where the reporter's location is used as the center of the circle. The scanning feature refers to the call-taker activating the button "Reporting witness", which will trigger the "Activate RDAS"-action, as illustrated. The circle indicates the geographical area of interest where victims potentially lie within. A second reporter 202a" reports the same incident <NUM> and a second call taker performs the same actions of activating the scanning feature and generates a circle as geographical area of interest and so forth. When there is a minimum intersection <NUM> of these circles, then the system will signal all call takers that potentially this is the same incident. An indication of an intersection <NUM> may be that at least one victim 303a', 303a" is found within the circle drawn by reporter <NUM> and by reporter <NUM>. In such case the PSAP administrator can decide whether to assign all reporters 202a', 202a" to one call taker so she/he can control and monitor all reporters at the same time or assign more call takers. Whatever the decision is, the message flow as shown in <FIG> will be the same for all cases:.

<FIG> shows the flowchart of a method for interacting of a PSAP with a portable network device of <FIG> for multiple reporters 202a', 202a" according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The message flow of <FIG> shows that for every reporter substantially the same steps of the method are executed that are described in <FIG>. Whenever there is a second reporter 202a" or a further reporter, a check is made in step S601 whether the different circles and/or geographical areas of interest intersect with another. If step S601 recognizes that at least two reporters 202a', 202a" report the same incident <NUM> and there is a cross section <NUM> or intersection <NUM> of the vicinity circles drawn by the call takers, there exists a mechanism as shown in step S602 which monitors the maximum number of successful scans so that scanning can be automatically deactivated for both call takers when the maximum number of scans has been reached. As an example, <FIG> shows <NUM> victims 203a', 203a". However, because the victims in the intersection <NUM> are counted by both call takers it is obvious that when entering the mechanism at step S502 the maximum number of victims 203a', 203a" is <NUM>. After scanning is completed, the number of victims is reduced to the actual number of <NUM>, as step S602 reduces victims with overlapping victim IDs without putting them into the database <NUM>. In this way the number of actual victims is reduced to the actual number of <NUM> as the double counted victims are reduced without putting them into the database <NUM>.

Also, elements described in association with different embodiments may be combined.

Claim 1:
A method for interacting of a Public Service Answering Point, PSAP (<NUM>), with a portable network device (<NUM>), comprising:
- S101, S102 Establishing a call between the portable network device (<NUM>) and the PSAP (<NUM>);
- S103 Detecting, by the PSAP, a trigger signal of an eyewitness-button from the portable network device;
- S105 Storing call log data of the call by the PSAP (<NUM>);
- S106 Setting up by the PSAP (<NUM>) a signaling connection between the portable network device (<NUM>) and the PSAP (<NUM>);
- Determining, in the PSAP (<NUM>), a geographical area of interest (<NUM>', <NUM>") around the portable network device (<NUM>);
- Determining, by the PSAP, a list of external portable network devices (<NUM>) comprising at least one external portable network device (<NUM>) located within the geographical area of interest (<NUM>', <NUM>")
- S107, S108 Scanning, by the portable network device (<NUM>), the at least one external portable network device (<NUM>) of the list, wherein scanning the at least one external portable network device (<NUM>) of the list comprises using a short-range wireless connection technology;
- Protecting, by the PSAP (<NUM>), the signaling connection from unauthorized access for forwarding data of an external portable network device (<NUM>), wherein protecting comprises at least one protection mechanism selected from the list of protection mechanisms, consisting of:
- Providing a token by the PSAP (<NUM>);
- Switching the portable network device (<NUM>) in a transparent relay mode;
- Employing an encryption mechanism;
- Disabling scanning and/or forwarding of data by a signaling message;
- Disabling scanning and/or forwarding of data automatically; and/or
- Unlocking the protection mechanism by using an authentication certification mechanism;
- Forwarding the scanning result from the at least one external portable network device (<NUM>) of the list via the signaling connection to the PSAP (<NUM>).