Patent ID: 7603432

Claim:
A method of distributing emergency alerts, comprising: receiving emergency information describing an emergency, wherein the emergency information is received from an agency, wherein the emergency information is received via a network interface, and wherein the received emergency information has a predetermined format and includes a description of a child, a picture of the child, a description of an abductor, a location identified by an intersection or an address, a time of the abduction, and a description of an automobile; retrieving a digital certificate from the agency to authenticate the emergency information using the network interface; identifying a first affected locality using the location identified by an intersection or an address, and a difference between the time of the abduction and a first current time, the first affected locality increasing in size as the difference between the time of the abduction and the first current time increases; distributing a first emergency alert associated with the received emergency information to a plurality of devices within the first affected locality using a wireless communications network; identifying a second affected locality using the location identified by an intersection or an address, and a difference between the time of the abduction and a second current time, the second affected locality increasing in size as the difference between the time of the abduction and the second current time increases; and distributing a second emergency alert associated with the received emergency information to a plurality of devices within the second affected locality using the wireless communications network.