Patent ID: 8731516

Claim:
An emergency message handling system, comprising: an emergency handling platform including a processor; and a database of information regarding service areas of Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs), accessible to the emergency handling platform; wherein the emergency handling platform processor is configured to implement: (a) a short message service (SMS) gateway server configured to receive emergency SMS text messages via a mobile communication network; (b) an SMS application server configured to respond to each of the emergency SMS text messages received at the SMS gateway server from a respective mobile station to determine a location of the respective mobile station, and access the database of information to determine one of the APs assigned to cover the location of the respective mobile station and to determine whether the one PSAP is a teletype (TTY) system or an Internet Protocol (IP) network system; and (c) an SMS-To-TTY message converter, wherein the emergency handling platform processor is configured to convert a first SMS message to a TTY message upon determining that the one PSAP assigned to a mobile station from which the first SMS message originated is a TTY system, using the SMS-To-TTY message converter, and deliver the TTY message to the TTY system, and deliver a second SMS message directly to the IP network system PSAP without TTY conversion upon determining that the one PSAP assigned to a mobile station from which the second SMS message originated is an IP network system.