Patent ID: 7643445

Claim:
A method for establishing an incident communications network that enables interoperable communications among communications resources controlled by multiple organizations during an incident involving emergency or pre-planned multi-organization communications, wherein a communication resource is controlled by an administrator within an organization, comprising: upon an occurrence of an incident, establishing an incident identifier associated with the incident; transmitting an electronic message to invite one or more administrators to be electronically coupled to the incident communications network, wherein an administrator controls a set of communication resources within an organization; establishing communications among administrators that accept the invitation to be electronically coupled to the incident communications network; establishing communications among communications resources controlled by administrators that accept the invitation to be electronically coupled to the incident communications network, wherein communications among administrators and communications resources are exchanged on one or more communications channels associated with the incident identifier; and granting communication rights to communications resources, wherein the rights granted for a communications resource are determined by an administrator that controls the communications resource, wherein an administrator retains control of communications resources that were under the control of the administrator prior to the start of the incident, wherein control is the ability to determine the capabilities of the communications resource that are made available to other organizations within the incident communications network.