Claims:CLAIMS:
We claim:

1. An emergency event notification method, comprising:
receiving, by a server system associated with a payment network, information related to an emergency event from an emergency response system;
analyzing, by the server system, the received information, wherein the analysis comprises:
determining a nature and severity of the emergency event; and
determining a vicinity of impact of the emergency event;
invoking, by the server system, an SOS engine, based on the analysis;
determining, by the SOS engine, a plurality of users who have performed at least one transaction in the vicinity of impact within a pre-defined time period prior to occurrence of the emergency event;
determining, by the SOS engine, merchant category codes associated with transactions performed by the plurality of users; and
facilitating, by the SOS engine, sending of the SOS messages to issuer servers associated with transactions of the plurality of users, wherein the SOS messages are customized based, at least in part, on the merchant category codes.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the information received from the emergency response system is one of a call recording, an e-mail or a text message regarding the emergency event.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein analyzing the information further comprises parsing the information and performing natural language processing.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising precluding an invocation of the SOS engine by the server system if the emergency event is determined to be an isolated event.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein determining the vicinity of impact comprises:
determining a location of the emergency event based on the analysis; and
extrapolating the location depending on the nature and severity of the emergency event to calculate the vicinity of impact.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:
identifying, by the SOS engine, a plurality of merchants associated with transactions performed by the plurality of users;
computing, by the SOS engine, type of the plurality of merchants based on the plurality of merchant category codes; and
determining, by the SOS engine, type of transactions performed by the plurality of users.

7. The method as claimed in claims 1 or 5, wherein facilitating sending of the SOS messages comprises:
customizing SOS messages, by the SOS engine, based on at least one of the nature and severity of the emergency event, a type of merchant and a type of transaction associated with the transactions performed by the plurality of users.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7, further comprising:
sending the customized SOS messages to user devices of the plurality of users.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein determining the plurality of users who have performed at least one transaction comprises searching history of transaction data to determine transactions performed by the plurality of users in the determined vicinity of impact.

10. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the history of transaction data corresponds to the transaction data within a pre-defined time period prior to the occurrence of the emergency event.
11. The method as claimed in any of the claims 1 to 10, further comprising:
receiving, by the server system from the emergency response system, a path of an emergency vehicle headed towards the emergency event;
invoking, by the server system, the SOS engine to send alerts to a plurality of users in the path of the emergency vehicle;
determining, by SOS engine, the plurality of users who have performed at least one transaction in and around the path of the emergency vehicle; and
facilitating, by the SOS engine, sending of an alert message to the issuer servers associated with transactions of the plurality of users.

12. A server system associated with a payment network, comprising:
a communication interface configured to communicate with an emergency response system and one or more issuer servers associated with the payment network;
a memory configured to store instructions; and
a processor configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory and thereby cause the server system to perform at least in part to
receive information related to an emergency event from an emergency response system,
analyze, by the server system, the received information, wherein the analysis comprises,
determining a nature and severity of the emergency event, and
determining a vicinity of impact of the emergency event,
invoke an SOS engine, based on the analysis,
determine, by the SOS engine, a plurality of users who have performed at least one transaction in the vicinity of impact within a pre-defined time period prior to occurrence of the emergency event,
determine, by the SOS engine, merchant category codes associated with transactions performed by the plurality of users, and
facilitate, by the SOS engine, sending of the SOS messages to issuer servers associated with transactions of the plurality of users, wherein the SOS messages are customized based, at least in part, on the merchant category codes.

13. The system as claimed in claim 12, wherein the information received from the emergency response system is one of a call recording, an e-mail or a text message regarding the emergency event.

14. The system as claimed in claim 12, wherein for analyzing the information, the server system is further caused at least in part to parse the information and perform natural language processing.

15. The system as claimed in claim 12, wherein for determining the vicinity of impact, the server system is further caused at least in part to:
determine a location of the emergency event based on the analysis; and
extrapolate the location depending on the nature and severity of the emergency event to calculate the vicinity of impact.

16. The system as claimed in claim 12, wherein the server system is further caused to:
identify a plurality of merchants associated with transactions performed by the plurality of users;
compute type of the plurality of merchants based on the plurality of merchant category codes; and
determine type of transactions performed by the plurality of users.

17. The system as claimed in claims 12, 15 or 16, wherein for facilitating the SOS messages, the SOS engine is configured to:
customize SOS messages based at least on one of the nature and severity of the emergency event, a type of merchant and a type of transaction associated with the transactions performed by the plurality of users.

18. The system as claimed in claim 12, wherein for determining the plurality of users who have performed at least one transaction, the server system is caused to search history of transaction data to determine transactions performed by the plurality of users in the determined vicinity of impact.

19. The system as claimed in claim 12, wherein the server system is further caused to perform at least in part to:
receive from the emergency response system, a path of an emergency vehicle headed towards the emergency event;
invoke the SOS engine to send alerts to a plurality of users in the path of the emergency vehicle;
determine the plurality of users who have performed at least one transaction in and around the path of the emergency vehicle; and
facilitate sending of an alert message to the issuer servers associated with transactions of the plurality of users.

20. A system for notifying about an emergency event, the system comprising:
an emergency response system; and
a server system associated with a payment network configured to communicate with the emergency response system and one or more issuer servers associated with the payment network, the server system comprising
a memory configured to store instructions; and
a processor configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory and thereby cause the server system to perform at least in part to
receive information related to the emergency event from the emergency response system,
analyze, by the server system, the received information, wherein the analysis comprises
determining a nature and severity of the emergency event, and
determining a vicinity of impact of the emergency event,
invoke, by the server system, an SOS engine, based on the analysis,
determine, by the SOS engine, a plurality of users who have performed at least one transaction in the vicinity of impact within a pre-defined time period prior to occurrence of the emergency event,
facilitate, by the SOS engine, sending the SOS messages to issuer servers associated with transactions of the plurality of users,
receive from the emergency response system, a path of an emergency vehicle headed towards the emergency event,
invoke the SOS engine to send alerts to a plurality of users in the path of the emergency vehicle,
determine the plurality of users who have performed at least one transaction in and around the path of the emergency vehicle, and
facilitate sending of an alert message to the issuer servers associated with transactions of the plurality of users. , Description:METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR PROVIDING EMERGENCY ALERT MESSAGES BASED ON TRANSACTION RELATED DATA

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for facilitating alert messages in an emergency event. More particularly, the present invention relates to transmitting SOS messages directed to cardholders based on transaction related data associated with the cardholders present in the vicinity of the location of an emergency event.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Emergency events, disasters, floods and natural calamities may cause a great loss to the people in and around the location of the event based on the nature and severity of the emergency event. In some cases, there may be casualties as well. There are a lot of emergency response systems (for e.g., 911) which are configured to receive calls, emails and/or messages from the people informing about an emergency event. The personnel at the emergency response system may need some details about the emergency event such as location, time of occurrence, landmark, type of the emergency event, etc. Immediately after they have all the details, they are supposed to take necessary actions.
[0003] As the technology is growing, there has been a great improvement in the emergency response systems. Natural Language processing (NLP) is being used to find out various details of the emergency events such as location, nature of the event etc. Many mobile/computer applications have been developed to send alert messages to the people in the location of the emergency event. In some cases, the applications are configured to send a route in which an emergency vehicle will be passing by, to the users. This may be used by the people to make way for the emergency vehicle by delaying their travel or taking an alternate route.
[0004] While various Government and third party authorities are striving hard to alert the users as soon as possible which may lead to saving a lot of lives and reducing losses, they still lack in utilizing the information available in other fields including but not limited to payment and business transactions. Hence, there is a need to improve the emergency response system by taking such kind of information into account.

SUMMARY
[0005] Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide systems and methods for facilitating emergency notifications to the users who have transacted in the vicinity of an emergency situation.
[0006] In an embodiment, a method for emergency event notification is disclosed. The method includes receiving, by a server system associated with a payment network, information related to an emergency event from an emergency response system. The method includes, analyzing, by the server system, the received information. The analysis includes determining a nature and severity of the emergency event and determining a vicinity of impact of the emergency event. The method further includes invoking, by the server system, an SOS engine to send SOS messages based on the analysis. The method includes determining, by the SOS engine, a plurality of users who have performed at least one transaction in the vicinity of impact within a pre-defined time period prior to occurrence of the emergency event. The method further includes determining, by the SOS engine, merchant category codes associated with transactions performed by the plurality of users. Furthermore, the method includes facilitating, by the SOS engine, the SOS messages to issuer servers associated with the plurality of users. The SOS messages are customized based, at least in part, on the merchant category codes.
[0007] In another embodiment, a system for performing a payment transaction is disclosed. The system includes a memory and a processor. The memory includes stored instructions. The processor is configured to execute the stored instructions to cause the system to perform at least in part to receive, by a server system associated with a payment network, information related to an emergency event from an emergency response system. The system is caused to analyze the received information. The analysis includes determining a nature and severity of the emergency event and determining a vicinity of impact of the emergency event. The system is further caused to invoke an SOS engine to send SOS messages, based on the analysis. Further, the SOS engine is caused to determine a plurality of users who have performed at least one transaction in the vicinity of impact within a pre-defined time period prior to occurrence of the emergency event. The SOS engine is further caused to determine merchant category codes associated with transactions performed by the plurality of users. Furthermore, the SOS engine is caused to facilitate the SOS messages to issuer servers associated with the plurality of users. The SOS messages are customized based, at least in part, on the merchant category codes.
[0008] Other aspects and example embodiments are provided in the drawings and the detailed description that follows.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
[0009] For a more complete understanding of example embodiments of the present technology, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:
[0010] FIG. 1 illustrates an example representation of an environment, related to at least some example embodiments of the present disclosure;
[0011] FIGS. 2A and 2B are block diagrams of a server system facilitating SOS messages to a user device, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;
[0012] FIG. 3 is a sequence flow diagram for facilitating SOS messages to user devices from a server system, in accordance with an example embodiment;
[0013] FIG. 4 is a sequence flow diagram for sending alert messages to the users regarding a path of an emergency vehicle, in accordance with an example embodiment;
[0014] FIG. 5 illustrates a flow diagram of a method for facilitating emergency notification to user devices, in accordance with an example embodiment;
[0015] FIGS. 6A, 6B, and 6C, collectively, represent an example representation of SOS messages and alert messages with corresponding User Interfaces (UIs), in accordance with an example embodiment;
[0016] FIG. 7 is a simplified block diagram of an issuer server, in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure; and
[0017] FIG. 8 is a simplified block diagram of a user device, in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure
[0018] The drawings referred to in this description are not to be understood as being drawn to scale except if specifically noted, and such drawings are only exemplary in nature.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0019] In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present disclosure. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the present disclosure can be practiced without these specific details.
[0020] Reference in this specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. The appearances of the phrase “in an embodiment” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodiments mutually exclusive of other embodiments. Moreover, various features are described which may be exhibited by some embodiments and not by others. Similarly, various requirements are described which may be requirements for some embodiments but not for other embodiments.
[0021] The term "payment card", used throughout the description, refers to a physical or virtual card linked with a financial or payment account that may be presented to a merchant or any such facility in order to fund a financial transaction via the associated payment account. Examples of the payment card include, but are not limited to, debit cards, credit cards, prepaid cards, virtual payment numbers, virtual card numbers, forex cards, charge cards, e-wallet cards, and stored-value cards. A payment card may be a physical card that may be presented to the merchant for funding the payment. Alternatively or additionally, the payment card may be embodied in form of data stored in a user device, where the data is associated with payment account such that the data can be used to process the financial transaction between the payment account and a merchant's financial account.
[0022] The term "payment network", used throughout the description, refers to a network or collection of systems used for transfer of funds through use of cash-substitutes. Payment networks may use a variety of different protocols and procedures in order to process the transfer of money for various types of transactions. Transactions that may be performed via a payment network may include product or service purchases, credit purchases, debit transactions, fund transfers, account withdrawals, etc. Payment networks may be configured to perform transactions via cash-substitutes, which may include payment cards, letters of credit, checks, financial accounts, etc. Examples of networks or systems configured to perform as payment networks include those operated by Mastercard®, VISA®, Discover®, American Express®, etc.
[0023] The term “Merchant Category Code (MCC)”, used throughout the description, refers to a code allocated to a business/merchant by corresponding issuers. MCCs are assigned either based on merchant type (e.g., one for hotels, one for ticketing services etc.) or merchant name (e.g., XYZ Hotel chains, JKL Airways etc.) by a card company when the business first starts accepting that card as a form of payment. The same business may code differently with different cards, and different sections or departments of a store may code differently.
[0024] The terms “emergency notification” or "alert message", used throughout the description, refers to a message that is sent to a user device to notify the user that he/she may be in danger, due to an emergency situation such as a fire accident, public shooting etc. The term “SOS message” is interchangeably used throughout the description to refer to "emergency notification" or the "alert message".
[0025] Moreover, although the following description contains many specifics for the purposes of illustration, anyone skilled in the art will appreciate that many variations and/or alterations to said details are within the scope of the present disclosure. Similarly, although many of the features of the present disclosure are described in terms of each other, or in conjunction with each other, one skilled in the art will appreciate that many of these features can be provided independently of other features. Accordingly, this description of the present disclosure is set forth without any loss of generality to, and without imposing limitations upon, the present disclosure.
OVERVIEW
[0026] Various example embodiments of the present disclosure provide systems and methods for facilitating emergency notifications to the users who have performed transactions in a vicinity of an emergency situation.
[0027] In various example embodiments, the present disclosure describes a server system associated with a payment network and methods thereof, where the server system is configured to alert users in emergency scenarios. The server system is communicably coupled to an emergency response system (for e.g., 911) which belongs to Government or any third party which is configured to receive calls, e-mails or messages from one or more people informing about an emergency situation. The emergency response system is responsible for taking necessary actions such as, sending out help to the location of the emergency situation based on the factors such as severity and nature of the emergency etc. In an example, a burglary victim may call the emergency response system and give details about the location and the situation. This is an isolated event, hence the emergency response system may inform police or in case of an injury, an ambulance as well. As such events may not cause harm to a bigger mass of people, these can be classified as isolated events. However, in scenarios such as a fire accident in a shopping mall, authorities of the mall may call the emergency response system informing about a fire accident, and it shall be classified as an emergency event. The emergency response system will need the location and additional details about the accident. Immediately, emergency response system is poised to send out fire personnel and ambulances to the shopping mall and maybe nearby places based on the severity of the situation.
[0028] In an embodiment of present disclosure, the emergency response system is configured to transmit the received information related to an emergency event to the server system associated with the payment network. The server system may include various components which are configured to analyse the information received from the emergency response system and send out emergency notifications to its customers who may be in danger or at least need to be informed about the emergency situation. The components facilitate analyzing the information using techniques such as natural language processing (NLP), neural machine translations, machine learning or the like. Considering an NLP engine being used herein, the NLP engine is configured to analyze the information which may be in the form of, but not limited to an audio call recording, e-mail or a text message. The analysis may determine nature and severity of the emergency event, a location and time of occurrence of the event and the like.
[0029] Further, the server system is configured to extrapolate the location based on the nature and severity of the emergency event, in order to find a vicinity of impact of the emergency event. Location extrapolation may be performed by any standard techniques available in the art. The server system is further configured to determine if the emergency event is one of an isolated event or a mass destruction event which may cause problems to a large number of people. Based on the nature, severity and/or the vicinity of impact of the emergency event, the server system determines if the emergency event is an isolated event or an event of mass destruction. If the emergency event is determined to be a possible mass destructive event, the server system is configured to invoke an SOS engine which is integrated with the server system. The SOS engine is capable of determining users who may be in danger due to the emergency.
[0030] The SOS engine is configured to determine the plurality of users who have made at least one payment transaction to merchant terminals present in the determined vicinity of impact. In an embodiment, the SOS engine can send an emergency notification to the issuer servers corresponding to the plurality of users alerting them about the emergency event. The payment network which manages a huge number of transactions happening every minute, stores a variety of information regarding each transaction, and one of the important information that the payment network stores is the location of the merchant terminal where a user made the transaction. Other information may include time, issuer name, acquirer name, transaction amount etc. The SOS engine is configured to access transaction history database maintained by the payment network and determine a plurality of users who have performed at least one transaction in the vicinity of impact within a pre-defined time period prior to the occurrence of the emergency event. The pre-defined time period may be a few minutes, an hour or even days prior to the occurrence of the emergency event.
[0031] Furthermore, after the SOS engine has determined the plurality of users who have performed at least one transaction in the vicinity of impact, the SOS engine is configured to determine Merchant Category Codes associated with the plurality of merchants in order to find out the type of merchants. The type of merchant maybe a grocery store, a convention centre, a train station, tourist accommodation service, a restaurant etc. The SOS engine is also configured to determine the type of transaction performed by the plurality of users. The type of transaction may be charge/sale payment, pre-authorization payment, capture payment, chargeback payment, void payment etc. Additionally, the SOS engine is also configured to find out about the scheduled transactions which are scheduled to be performed within a pre-defined time interval of the occurrence of the emergency event. The SOS engine determines the users corresponding to these scheduled transactions.
[0032] Furthermore, the SOS engine is configured to send out emergency notifications/SOS messages to the issuer servers corresponding to the plurality of users. In some forms, the payment network does not store any personal information related to the users/cardholders, the SOS engine of the server system associated with the payment network sends out emergency notification to the issuer servers corresponding to the plurality of user. The issuer servers have registered contact number of the users/cardholders in their database. Hence, the issuer servers may further forward the emergency notifications received from the SOS engine to the respective users/cardholders.
[0033] In some embodiments, the SOS engine is configured to customize and/or send the SOS messages based on the merchant category codes associated with the transactions performed by the plurality of users. For example, if the merchant category code associated with a transaction performed by the user depicts that the merchant service is selling fireworks or weapons and a fire accident has occurred in a location nearby the location of the merchant’s weapon shop, the SOS message maybe customized instructing the user to vacate the shop as soon as possible.
[0034] In some embodiments, the SOS messages may be customized and/or sent based on the nature and severity of the emergency event, the type of merchant and the type of transaction associated with the transactions performed by the plurality of users. For example, if a merchant type is a hotel accommodation service and the transaction performed by the user is a pre-authorization payment in which the payment is authorized by the issuer, but the payment network will settle the transaction later when the merchant notifies. The SOS engine is configured to determine that the user/cardholder may still be in the hotel accommodation even if the pre-authorization payment was authorized two days before the occurrence of the emergency event. In this scenario, the SOS engine is configured to send out SOS message to the user who may be staying in the hotel accommodation.
[0035] In various embodiments, the SOS engine may be configured to customize SOS messages based on merchant types. For example, if a fire accident has occurred in a shopping mall which has a safe assembly point, the SOS message may be customized to alert the users to assemble at a safe assembly point. In another example, if the merchant type is found to be a tavern, the SOS engine may customize the SOS message to alert the users to get out of the building through emergency exit.
[0036] In another embodiment of the present disclosure, the server system associated with the payment network is configured to receive a path of an emergency vehicle dispatched and headed towards the emergency event location, from the emergency response system. The path may be in the form of a map or directions from point A to point B format and the like, wherein the point A maybe a fire fighting department office and point B may be the location of the emergency event. The server system is configured to invoke the SOS engine to alert a plurality of users who have performed at least one transaction in and around the path of the emergency vehicle. This feature is facilitated by determining a plurality of users who have performed at least one transaction near all the points where the emergency vehicle may be crossing in its path, within a pre-defined time period prior to the dispatch of the emergency vehicle.
[0037] Further, the SOS engine may send out alert messages to the plurality of users. The alert message may include intimation to the users about the emergency vehicle passing by near their location and/or a path of the emergency vehicle on a map interface. In some cases, the alert message may include an alternate route which the user may take in order to make way for the emergency vehicle. This feature is advantageous in a plurality of ways.
[0038] Various example embodiments of present disclosure are described hereinafter with reference to FIGS. 1 to 8.
[0039] FIG. 1 illustrates an example representation of an environment 100 related to at least some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The environment 100 is depicted to include an emergency response system 102 which may be a server associated with an emergency response department of Government or any private emergency response agencies. The environment 100 also includes a server system 104 associated with a payment network 110, a plurality of issuer servers 106a, 106b and 106c (also commonly or individually represented as issuer server 106), and a plurality of user devices 108a, 108b and 108c (also commonly or individually represented as user device 108). The emergency response system 102, the server system 104, the plurality of issuer servers 106a-106c and the plurality of user devices 108a-108c, the payment network 110 may each be coupled to, and in communication with each other, via a network 120.
[0040] The network 120 may include, without limitation, a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) (e.g., the Internet, etc.), a mobile network, a virtual network, and/or another suitable public and/or private network capable of supporting communication among two or more of the parts, entities, or users illustrated in FIG. 1, or any combination thereof. For example, the network 120 may be a combination of different networks, such as a private network made accessible by the payment network 110 to the issuer servers 106a-106c and, separately, a public network (e.g., the Internet etc.) through which the emergency response system 102, the server system 104, the issuer servers 106a-106c and the user devices 108a-108c may communicate. The plurality of issuer servers 106a, 106b, 106c hereinafter are collectively represented as "issuer servers 106". The plurality of user devices 108a, 108b, 108c hereinafter are collectively represented as "user devices 108”.
[0041] A location 112 is shown in the environment 100 which is exemplarily shown to represent a location of occurrence of the emergency event. A vicinity of impact 114 is also shown which may be determined by extrapolating the latitude and longitude of the location 112. The extrapolation may be carried out by any standard means available in the art based on the nature and severity of the emergency event. The user devices 108 are shown present in the vicinity of impact 114. The server system 104 is configured to send emergency notifications to the issuer servers 106 corresponding to the user devices 108 present in the vicinity of impact 114. The vicinity of impact 114 may just be a single building or in some scenarios, it may be a large space of area. The vicinity of impact 114 is dependent upon the nature and severity of the emergency event.
[0042] In the environment 100, the emergency response system 102 may receive a plurality of calls, messages, e-mails and the like related to various emergency events happening in and around the city or a state. The emergency response system 102 is in communication with the server system 104 associated with the payment network 110. In an embodiment disclosed herein, the server system 104 is configured to receive information related to the plurality of emergency events in almost real-time from the emergency response system 102. The information may be sent in the form of an audio recording file, a text file and the like, from the emergency response system 102. In the embodiment, the server system 104 is configured to analyze the information received from the emergency response system 102. The analysis is performed using natural language processing or any other equivalent technique, which parses the information and analyses the data to find out the intent and/or facts present in the information. In an example embodiment, the server system 104 is configured to analyze the information to determine a plurality of factors such as the nature and severity of the emergency event and also the vicinity of impact 114 around the location 112 of the emergency event.
[0043] The server system 104 is further configured to invoke an SOS engine based on, but not limited to, the nature, severity, and vicinity of impact of the emergency event. In an embodiment, the server system 104 precludes invocation of the SOS engine if the emergency event is determined to be an isolated event such as a murder, a road accident etc. Such events may not cause mass destruction, hence based on the nature and severity of the emergency event, the server system 104 may invoke an SOS engine. In another embodiment, if the emergency event is determined to be an event with larger impact such as a fire accident, a bomb blast etc, the server system 104 is configured to invoke the SOS engine to facilitate SOS messages to the users/cardholders who have transacted (or about to transact as per scheduled transactions) in the vicinity of impact within a pre-defined time period prior to the occurrence of the emergency event.
[0044] For example, if a fire accident has occurred in a shopping mall and a person from the shopping mall calls the emergency response system 102 and notifies about the emergency event, with details such as location, time and nature of the emergency event, the emergency response system 102 may forward the information related to the emergency event to the server system 104 in the form of an audio recording or the like. The server system 104 is configured to analyze the audio recording and determine the nature, severity, and the vicinity of impact 114 of the emergency event. The analysis maybe performed using NLP, or any equivalent machine learning procedures. The server system is also configured to determine the vicinity of impact 114 of the emergency event by extrapolating the latitude and longitude of the location 112 based on the nature and severity of the emergency event. Further, the server system 104 may invoke the SOS engine. The SOS engine may be configured in a variety of ways. For example, in one form, the SOS engine may be one of the components present in the processor of the server system 104 associated with the payment network 110. In another form, the SOS engine may be a separate component in communication with the processor of the server system 104. The SOS engine is configured to determine the plurality of users who may be in danger (or at least need to be informed about) due to the emergency event, and to facilitate sending SOS messages to the issuer severs associated with the plurality of users.
[0045] The SOS engine, after invocation, is configured to access the history of transaction data to determine the plurality of users who have performed, or are likely to perform, at least one transaction in the vicinity of impact within a pre-defined time period prior to (or after) the occurrence of the emergency event. The history of transaction data is stored in a database maintained by the server system 104 associated with the payment network 110. The payment network 110 may be processing a plurality of transactions each and every minute and it is configured to store information regarding each and every transaction that is processed by the payment network 110. The payment network 110 may maintain a transaction history database which is configured to store information such as issuer and acquirer details, merchant terminal location, time of the transaction and the like. The SOS engine is configured to search the database and determine all the users who have performed (or likely to perform) at least one transaction in a location in the vicinity of impact 114 within the pre-defined time period prior to (or after) the occurrence of the emergency event. In the environment 100, it is exemplarily shown that the user devices 108 are present in the vicinity of impact 114. The user devices 108 maybe devices belonging to the users who are determined by the SOS engine, to have performed at least one transaction at a merchant location in the vicinity of impact.
[0046] The SOS engine is further, configured to send SOS messages to the issuer servers corresponding to the plurality of users. It is exemplarily shown that the issuer servers 106 may be corresponding to the users of the user devices 108. It is supposed that the issuer server 106a corresponds to the user of user device 108a, the issuer server 106b corresponds to the user of user device 108b and the issuer server 106c corresponds to the user of user device 108c. The payment network 110 is not aware of the contact details of the users as it doesn’t store any personal details of the users, hence the SOS engine is configured to send out SOS messages to the issuer servers 106 corresponding to the users of the user devices 108 who are determined to have transacted in the vicinity of impact 114. Further, in the example embodiment, the issuer servers 106a, 106b and 106c are configured to forward the SOS messages to the user devices 108a, 108b, 108c respectively.
[0047] In another example embodiment, the SOS engine is configured to determine the merchants associated with the transactions performed by the plurality of users. Further, Merchant Category codes (MCC), type of merchants and the type of transactions associated with the transactions performed by the plurality of users, are also determined by the SOS engine. For example, a merchant type maybe determined to be a hotel accommodation and mostly the type of transactions that happen here are pre-authorization transactions. Herein, pre-authorization transactions are the ones where a user makes a payment and the issuer authorizes the payment, the money is debited from the payment account of the user and is kept on hold. The settlement of the funds to the merchant account is done by the payment network 110 after the merchant requests it, which is mostly done during the checkout time of the user. So, for example, the user has checked-in and made a pre-authorization payment for 3 days of stay, but an emergency event occurs on the second day of the user’s stay, the server system 104 still sends SOS message to the corresponding user. Similarly, the server system is configured to send SOS messages to users based on a plurality of transaction types and MCCs.
[0048] In another example embodiment, the SOS engine is configured to customize SOS messages based on a plurality of information such as but not limited to nature and severity, and location of the emergency event. For example, the SOS engine in the server system 104 may customize SOS messages to notify the plurality of users regarding an assembly point or an emergency exit etc., based on the location of the emergency event.
[0049] In another embodiment, the emergency response system 102 may send to the server system 104, a path of an emergency vehicle which is headed towards the location 112 of the emergency event for help. The server system 104 is configured to invoke an SOS engine to send alert messages to the users who have transacted in and around the path within a pre-defined time period prior to the dispatch of the emergency vehicle. The users who have performed at least one transaction in the path of the emergency vehicle will be determined in the same way as explained earlier i.e. by searching the transaction history database for transactions happened in particular areas in and around the path within the pre-defined time period prior to the dispatch of the emergency vehicle. The alert message from the SOS engine may include a path of the emergency vehicle on a road map interface or a direction of the emergency vehicle while travelling from point ‘A’ to point ‘B’. For example, point A may be a fire department office and point B may be the location of the emergency event.
[0050] In an alternate embodiment, an NLP engine and a location extrapolation engine may be implemented in the emergency response system 102 by the payment network 110 with prior licensing and permissions from the emergency response agency. A call, text message or an e-mail received from anyone maybe immediately analysed by the NLP engine and the location 112 may be extrapolated by the location extrapolation engine to determine a vicinity of impact 114 based on the nature and severity of the emergency event. Further, based on the nature and severity and/or the vicinity of impact of the emergency event, an SOS engine may be invoked. The SOS engine maybe present in the server system 104 of the payment network 110. An API maybe implemented in the emergency response system 102 which may be configured to invoke SOS engine present in the server system 104. This may be advantageous in various ways such as saving the time in transmitting information related to all the emergency events from the emergency response system 102 to the server system 104. Hence, implementing some of the processing engines such as NLP engine and location extrapolation engine at the emergency response system 102 and injecting an API to invoke the SOS engine present in the server system 104 is another alternate embodiment of the invention. The server system 104 and its constituents that may be implemented as a combination of software modules, hardware blocks and/or firmware are further described with reference to FIGS. 2A-2B.
[0051] FIG. 2A illustrates a simplified block diagram 200 including the server system 104 associated with the payment network 110, the emergency response system 102, the issuer server 106a, the user device 108a and the network 120, in accordance with an example embodiment. It is exemplarily shown that the user device 108a is in the vicinity of impact 114. The vicinity of impact 114 is determined using the latitude and longitude of the location 112 of the emergency event. The server system 104 includes a plurality of components such as a processor 122, a memory 124, and a communication interface 126. The processor 122 may further include components such as an NLP engine 122a, a location extrapolation engine 122b, and an SOS engine 122c. The memory 124 may include a transaction history database 124a. The server system 104 may be facilitated in the payment network 110 which enables the server system 104 to communicate with various components such as but not limited to the emergency response system 102 and the issuer server 106a.
[0052] This setup of components and server systems may be utilized to facilitate emergency notifications to the users who have performed transactions with the payment network 110 in the vicinity of the emergency location 112. The emergency response system 102 may be a server system associated with an emergency response agency. The emergency response system 102 is configured to receive calls, e-mails, text messages and the like, regarding an emergency event and take necessary actions such as sending help, based on the received information. The emergency response system 102 is in communication with the server system 104 associated with the payment network 110. The server system 104 is configured to receive information related to an emergency event, from the emergency response system 102. The information may include an audio recording, an e-mail, a text message or the like. For example, a person may call the emergency response system 102 and report a fire accident at a XYZ shopping mall with the address 2nd cross, QRS street around the time 4:14 PM. The audio recording of this call may be received as it is, by the server system 104. In some cases, the person may simply send a text message regarding the fire accident at the above-mentioned location.
[0053] The NLP engine 122a, the location extrapolation engine 122b and the SOS engine 122c enable the server system 104 to implement various embodiments explained herein. The memory 124 includes the transaction history database 124a that maybe a database configured to store data regarding the transactions processed by the payment network 110. The data may include issuer details, acquirer details, merchant location where the transaction was performed, Merchant Category Codes (MCC) associated with the merchant, time of the transaction and the like for the various transactions.
[0054] The processor 122 is operatively coupled to the communication interface 126 such that server system 104 is capable of communicating with one or more issuer servers such as the issuer server 106a or communicating with any entity within the payment network 110.
[0055] In an example, an emergency event is shown to have occurred at the location 112 and the emergency response system 102 has received a call from a person reporting about the event. The server system 104 is configured to receive a call recording or the like from the emergency response system 102. The server system 104 after receiving the information from the emergency response system 102, is configured to analyze the information using the NLP engine 122a. Natural Language processing is used to analyse and synthesise raw/unstructured data such as text or speech to identify intent and facts present in the data. In an alternate embodiment, any equivalent algorithm of machine learning may be used instead of natural language processing in order to analyse the information received from the emergency response system 102. In the embodiment, the NLP engine 122a is configured to analyse the information to find out the nature and severity of the emergency event, and the location and time of the emergency. For example, after analyzing the call recording received from the emergency response system 102, the NLP engine 122a may analyze the information to find out that a fire has broke out in "XYZ mall" at 4:14 PM.
[0056] Further, the location extrapolation engine 122b is configured to extrapolate the latitude and longitude of the location and determine a vicinity of impact 114 of the emergency event. The extrapolation may be carried out by any standard known process available in the art, which takes in the input of latitude and longitude of any location or a landmark, and extrapolates the latitude and longitude to find out a vicinity or a geo-fence around the location. In the example embodiment, the location extrapolation engine 122b may determine the exact latitude and longitude of the location 112 which is exemplarily said to be "XYZ mall". The location extrapolation engine 122b, is configured to determine the vicinity of impact 114 around the "XYZ mall" based on the location and the nature and severity of the emergency event. The location extrapolation engine 122b may determine the vicinity of impact 114 based on the factors that the location is a shopping mall and the nature of the emergency event is a fire accident.
[0057] In an example, if an earthquake is reported, the location extrapolation engine 122b may determine a larger vicinity of impact based on the nature and severity of the emergency event.
[0058] Further, based on the analysis i.e. the nature and severity determined by the NLP engine 122a and the vicinity of impact 114 determined by the location extrapolation engine 122b, the processor 122 is configured to invoke the SOS engine 122c if the emergency event is determined not to be an isolated event. This may be facilitated by setting a threshold for the vicinity of impact, or based on the nature and severity of event parameter or a combination of both. One of the event parameters may be a categorization of the emergency event on a weighted scale. For instance, earthquake or fire incidents may be given a higher weight of severity as compared to a road accident. Another event parameter can be a number of distress calls or messages received by the emergency response system 102. Another event parameter can be a geographical location, history of emergency events and any planned gathering of people (e.g., a concert) or crowd related data in the particular geographical location. The processor 122 is configured to invoke an SOS engine 122c in case it is determined that the emergency event may cause mass destruction. In case of the emergency event being determined as an isolated event, the SOS engine 122c may not be invoked by the processor 122.
[0059] In the example embodiments, the SOS engine 122c is invoked as it is determined that a fire has broken out in XYZ mall and the vicinity of impact 114 may have been found to be bigger than a threshold vicinity of impact. In some embodiments, the SOS engine 122c is invoked only based on the nature and severity of the emergency event.
[0060] Invoking of SOS engine 122c facilitates the SOS engine 122c to determine all the users who have transacted in the vicinity of impact 114 within a pre-defined time period prior to the occurrence of the emergency event. It should be noted that the pre-defined time period can be customized, and it can take any example such as 20 minutes, 45 minutes, 1 hour, etc. This is carried out by searching the transaction history database 124a. The transaction history database 124a includes details corresponding to a plurality of transactions performed via the payment network 110. A payment network such as the payment network 110 may be configured to maintain and process a plurality of transactions every minute, and it is configured to maintain a record of each of the payment transaction. The payment network 110 may store a plurality of details related to each and every payment transaction, wherein the details include issuer and acquirer information, merchant information, location of the merchant terminal, time of the transaction and the like.
[0061] The SOS engine 122c has access to the transaction history database 124a and is configured to determine all the users who have performed a transaction in the vicinity of impact 114 within a pre-defined time period prior to the occurrence of the emergency event. In the example taken above, where a fire has broken out at "XYZ mall" at 4: 14 PM, the SOS engine 122c after invocation, may determine all the users who have transacted with the merchant terminals in the vicinity of XYZ mall up to 30 minutes before the occurrence i.e., 3:44 PM, by searching the transaction history database with certain filters such as the time and location filters. The vicinity of the impact and the pre-defined time period may differ as per the analysis and settings of the server system 104.
[0062] Further, after the SOS engine 122c has determined the plurality of users, the SOS engine 122c is configured to send out SOS messages to all the issuer servers corresponding to the plurality of users. As the payment network 110 does not store any personal details of the users, the server system 104 associated with the payment network 110 is configured to send SOS messages to the issuer servers corresponding to the users. The issuer servers are further configured to forward the SOS messages to the corresponding users, as they have all the details such as contact number of the users using their payment card, or any payment services provided by them. It is shown exemplarily in FIG. 2A that the user device 108a belongs to a user who has transacted in the vicinity of impact 114 and the issuer server 106a is exemplarily shown to be associated with the transaction performed by the user device 108a. Therefore, in this example, the SOS engine 122c may send an SOS message to the issuer server 106a, and the issuer server 106a may forward the SOS message to the user device 108a.
[0063] In some embodiments, the payment network 110 may have all the users registered on their portal or an application and store information related to the users and this may enable the payment network 110 to send SOS messages directly to the users instead of sending the SOS messages to the issuers and then to the users. Additionally, in such embodiments, payment network 110 may have a SMS gateway that, itself, is configured to send SOS messages to the users identified by the SOS engine 122c. The SOS engine 122c is closely linked with the SMS gateway, and can provide the configured alert message to be sent by the SMS gateway.
[0064] In another embodiment, the SOS engine 122c is configured to customize the SOS messages based on a plurality of factors such as Merchant Category Codes (MCC), merchant type, transaction type, emergency event location and the nature and severity of the location. For example, if an instant transaction has happened in the XYZ mall where a fire has broken out, the SOS engine 122c may customize the SOS message to alert the user to rush to an assembly point nearby. In another example, if the emergency location is a small club where an electric emergency has occurred, the SOS message may be customized by the SOS engine 122c to alert the users to vacate the place as soon as possible. Similarly, the SOS messages maybe customized based on MCC, merchant type, transaction type, nature and severity of emergency event, etc.
[0065] In another embodiment, the server system 104 is configured to receive a path of the emergency vehicle headed towards the location of the emergency event, from the emergency response system 102. For example, if a fire has broken out in the "XYZ mall", the emergency response system 102 may dispatch a fire engine/fire truck to the location i.e. "XYZ mall", from a nearest fire station. Further, the path of the fire engine/fire truck may be sent to the server system 104. The server system 104 is configured to invoke the SOS engine 122c to send alert messages to the user who have performed transactions in and around the path of the emergency vehicle. The users who have performed at least one transaction in and around the path are determined in the same way as explained earlier. The transaction history database 124a is accessed to determine the users who have performed at least one transaction on a merchant terminal located in and around the path of the emergency vehicle within a pre-defined time period prior to the dispatch of the emergency vehicle.
[0066] The SOS engine 122c is configured to send alert messages to the users regarding the emergency vehicle passing by near their location. This alert message may educate the user about a path and estimated time that the emergency vehicle may pass through their location. In another embodiment, the alert message may include a map interface which depicts the path and the live location of the emergency vehicle. The alert message may also include an alternate route that the users may take in order to make way for the emergency vehicle.
[0067] In yet another embodiment, the users who have performed at least one transaction in the vicinity of impact 114 of the emergency event, may also receive alert message regarding the path and dispatch time of the emergency vehicle. The SOS engine 122c may be configured to send out alert messages regarding the path and dispatch time of the emergency vehicle to the users who have transacted in the vicinity of impact 114. This alert message may calm down the users who may be stranded in the emergency event and may educate them about the help coming their way.
[0068] Now turning to FIG. 2B, is an illustration of a simplified block diagram 220 of an alternate embodiment of the present disclosure including a server system 104 associated with the payment network 110, the emergency response system 102, the network 120, the user device 108a and the issuer server 106a. The issuer server 106a is associated with the payment transactions performed by a user of the user device 108a. The server system 104 may include the processor 122, the memory 124 and the communication interface 126. The processor 122 may further include an SOS engine 122c and the memory 124 may include a transaction history database 124a which is configured to store the details of all the transactions processed by the payment network 110. The emergency response system may include a processor 128, a memory 130, a communication interface 132 and an Application Program Interface (API) module 134. The processor 128 may include an NLP engine 122a, a location extrapolation engine 122b which may be implemented by the payment network 110 for analyzing the information related to the calls, e-mails, text messages regarding emergency events, received by the emergency response system.
[0069] All the components perform the exact same operations as discussed in FIG. 2A. The addition of the API module 134 is to facilitate the invocation of SOS engine 122c which is implemented on the server system 104. The NLP engine 122a and the location extrapolation engine 122b analyze the information received by the emergency response system 102 in real time as they are implemented in the emergency response system itself and if an emergency event is found to be a mass destructive event, the SOS engine 122c at the server system 104 maybe invoked by the API module 134. The API module 134 maybe injected in the emergency response system 102 and is configured to the invoke the SOS engine 122c when the NLP engine 122a and location extrapolation engine 122b determine that the emergency event is not an isolated event. Post invocation, the SOS engine 122c may perform the same operations as discussed in FIG. 2A to send SOS messages to the users who have performed at least one transaction in the vicinity of impact 114 of the emergency event.
[0070] In alternate embodiments, some or all of the NLP engine 122a, the location extrapolation engine 122b and the SOS engine 122c may be implemented in any of the emergency response system 102 or the server system 104. It should be appreciated that even though the implementations of the components may be performed in a different way, the processing and working of the components remain the same and the overall system is configured to send SOS messages to the users who have performed (or scheduled to perform) at least one transaction in the vicinity of impact 114 of the emergency event within a pre-defined time prior to (or after) the occurrence of the emergency event.
[0071] Turning now to FIG. 3, a sequence flow diagram 300 for facilitating SOS messages to the user devices 108 from the server system 104 associated with the payment network 110, is shown, in accordance with an example embodiment. The sequence of operations of the sequence flow diagram 300 may not be necessarily executed in the same order as they are presented. Further, one or more operations may be grouped together and performed in form of a single step, or one operation may have several sub-steps that may be performed in parallel or in sequential manner.
[0072] At 305, the emergency response system 102 may send information related to an emergency event, to the server system 104. The emergency response system 102 may be associated with a government or any third party agency designated to receive calls, e-mails or text messages related to plurality of emergency event. People may call, text or send an e-mail to the emergency response agency reporting about an emergency event. The emergency response system 102 is configured to send information about all the emergency events reported from the people. The sequence flow diagram 300 is explained with respect to a single emergency event, and it should be understood that the operations performed in the sequence flow diagram 300 can be performed in the same manner for multiple reporting of the emergency events. The information related to the emergency event may be one of a call recording, an e-mail, a text message or the like.
[0073] At 310, after the server system 104 has received information related to the emergency event, the server system 104 is configured to analyze the information. In an example, the information may include location and time of the emergency event, nature of the emergency event, and the like. The server system 104 includes an NLP engine 122a (Refer FIG. 2A) which is configured to analyze the information received from the emergency response system 102 to determine a plurality of information such as but not limited to the nature and severity, and the location of the emergency event using natural language processing or any other equivalent technologies. After determining the location and nature and severity of the emergency event, the location is passed to the location extrapolation engine 122b.
[0074] At 315, the location extrapolation engine 122b of the processor 122 of the server system 104 is configured to extrapolate the location based on the nature and severity of the emergency event to determine the vicinity of impact 114 (Refer FIG. 1). The vicinity of impact 114 maybe an extrapolated area around the location of the emergency event which may be affected by the emergency event. The extrapolation is performed based on the latitude and longitude of the location of the emergency event and the nature and severity of the emergency event.
[0075] At 320, the processor 122 of the server system 104 is configured to determine if the emergency event is an isolated event or a mass destructive event which would cause harm to a larger number of people. The processor 122, based on the nature and severity of the emergency event and the vicinity of impact 114, is configured to determine if the emergency event is the isolated event or not. Examples of the isolated event maybe a murder, a burglary, a health emergency etc., and such an isolated event may not cause harm to a greater number of people or a large area. On the other hand, some of the examples of mass destructive events maybe a severe road accident that blocks the road or entire traffic, a fire accident, a mass shooting, a terrorist attack, an earthquake, etc. Such events may cause harm to a greater number of people and it is important to notify the people in the vicinity of impact of the emergency event.
[0076] At 325, the processor 122 of the server system 104 is configured to invoke the SOS engine 122c (Refer FIG. 2A), if the emergency event is not determined to be an isolated event. In an example embodiment, the SOS engine 122c is not invoked if the emergency event is determined to be an isolated event. Otherwise, the SOS engine 122c is invoked to facilitate notification of emergency event to the users in the vicinity of impact of the emergency event. The SOS engine 122c is capable of determining the users who have transacted in the vicinity of impact and send SOS messages to the issuer servers corresponding to the users.
[0077] At 330, the SOS engine 122c of the server system 104 is configured to determine the users who have performed at least one transaction in the vicinity of impact of the emergency event within a pre-defined time period prior to the occurrence of the emergency event. The SOS engine 122c is provided access to the transaction history database 124a of the memory 124 (Refer FIG. 2A) of the server system 104. The transaction history database stores all the details related to each and every transaction that the payment network has processed. The SOS engine 122c is configured to search for the users who have performed transactions at a merchant location which is within the vicinity of impact emergency event, within a pre-defined time period prior to the occurrence of the emergency event. The SOS engine 122c may search the transaction history database 124a by using location and time filters to retrieve the exact results.
[0078] At 335, the SOS engine 122c of the server system 104 is configured to determine a plurality of details regarding the transactions performed by the users in the vicinity of impact within a predefined time prior to the emergency event. The plurality of details may include MCC, merchant type, and transaction type. In some embodiments, the SOS engine may customize SOS messages based on the determined details.
[0079] At 340, the SOS engine 122c of the server system 104 is configured to customize SOS messages based on the steps 310 and 335 i.e. based on the factors such as nature and severity of the emergency event, location of the emergency event, MCC, merchant type and/or transaction type. The customization facilitates a better insight on the emergency event and the users may be alerted to rush to an assembly point or vacate the building and the like. The SOS engine 122c may also customize the message based on merchant types and transaction types as explained earlier in the description.
[0080] At 345, the SOS engine 122c of the server system 104, is configured to transmit the SOS messages to the issuer servers 106 (Refer FIG. 1) corresponding to all the determined users who have performed transactions in the vicinity of impact within a pre-defined time period prior to the emergency event. As the payment network 110 does not store any user information, the SOS message is transmitted to the issuer servers 106 of the users.
[0081] At 350, the issuer servers 106 are configured to send the received SOS messages to the user devices 108 of the users. In the example provided with reference to FIG. 1, the issuer servers 106a, 106b, and 106c may be associated with the transactions performed by the users of user devices 108a, 108b and 108c respectively. Accordingly, the issuer servers 106a, 106b and 106c are configured to send the SOS messages received from the server system 104 to the user devices 108a, 108b and 108c, respectively.
[0082] FIG. 4 is a sequence flow diagram 400 for facilitating alert messages to the users regarding a path of the emergency vehicle, from a server system 104 associated with a payment network 110, shown in accordance with an example embodiment. The sequence of operations of the sequence flow diagram 400 may not be necessarily executed in the same order as they are presented. Further, one or more operations may be grouped together and performed in form of a single step, or one operation may have several sub-steps that may be performed in parallel or in sequential manner.
[0083] At 405, the emergency response system 102 is configured to send a path of an emergency vehicle headed towards the location of the emergency location, to the server system 104. An emergency agency is responsible to send help to an emergency event as soon as the event is reported. Example of an emergency vehicle may be an ambulance, a fire engine/fire truck, a motorboat, etc. In an embodiment, the emergency response system 102 is configured to send details of path i.e. the route which the emergency vehicle is expected to follow from starting point to the location of the emergency event.
[0084] At 410, the server system 104, after receiving the path of the emergency vehicle, is configured to invoke the SOS engine 122c to send alerts to the users who have performed at least one transaction in and around the path of the emergency vehicle. The alert messages may include a map interface displaying the route of the emergency vehicle. In some embodiments, the alert message may also include an alternative route that the users may take to make way for the emergency vehicle.
[0085] At 415, the SOS engine 122c of the server system 104 may determine the users who have performed at least one transaction in and around the path of the emergency vehicle within a pre-defined time period prior to the dispatch of the emergency vehicle. The SOS engine 122c has access to the transaction history database 124a of the memory 124 of the server system 104 which enables the SOS engine 122c to retrieve the users who have performed transactions in and around the path of the emergency vehicle within a pre-defined time period prior to the dispatch of the emergency vehicle.
[0086] At 420, the SOS engine 122c of the server system 104 is configured to facilitate alert messages to the issuer servers 106 corresponding to the transactions performed by the users of the user devices 108. The user devices 108 are taken as examples for the embodiment, as belonging to the users who have transacted in and around the path of the emergency vehicle (not shown in the figures). The issuer servers 106 may be corresponding to transactions performed by the users of the user devices 108. The alert messages are facilitated to notify the people about the passage of the emergency vehicle near the location where they have performed a transaction within a pre-defined time period prior to the dispatch of the emergency vehicle. The users may be encouraged to take an alternate route or postpone their travel.
[0087] At 425, the issuer servers 106 are configured to send the alert messages received from the server system 104 to the corresponding user devices 108. The user devices 108 and issuer devices 106 are taken as an example for the present embodiment and may not be the same issuer servers 106 and user devices 108 mentioned in FIG. 1. The user devices 108 mentioned in the present embodiment may belong to the users who have transacted in and around the path of the emergency vehicle as explained above at step 420.
[0088] Referring now to FIG. 5, a flow diagram of a method 500 for facilitating emergency notification to the user devices 108 is shown, in accordance with an example embodiment. The method 500 depicted in the flow diagram may be executed by, for example, a server system such as the server system 104 associated with the payment network 110. Operations of the method 500, and combinations of operation in the method 500, may be implemented by, for example, hardware, firmware, a processor, circuitry and/or a different device associated with the execution of software that includes one or more computer program instructions. The method 500 starts at operation 502.
[0089] At 502, the method 500 includes receiving, by a server system 104 associated with the payment network 110, information related to an emergency event from an emergency response system 102. The information may be an audio recording of a call, an e-mail, a text message and the like. The information may include a plurality of details regarding the emergency event such as, location and time of the emergency event, a landmark near the location, nature of the emergency event etc. The emergency response system 102 may be a server associated with an emergency response agency (for e.g., 911) which is configured to receive calls, e-mails or text messages from people reporting about the emergency events and help the people in danger by doing the needful. The server system 104 associated with a payment network 110 is configured to receive information related to plurality of emergency events.
[0090] At 504, the method 500 includes analyzing, by the server system 104, the received information from the emergency response system 102. The analysis maybe carried out using an NLP engine 122a and the location extrapolation engine 122b of the processor 122 of the server system 104. The analysis of the information may be facilitated in two sub-steps as shown in the flow diagram of method 500 which are 504a and 504b.
[0091] At 504a, the NLP engine 122a is configured to determine the nature and severity of the emergency event. The NLP engine 122a is configured to process the information, related to the emergency event, received from the emergency response system and analyze the information to determine some of the important factors regarding the emergency event. For example, factors like time and location or a landmark near the location of the emergency event, nature of the emergency event and the like, are determined based on the analysis of the NLP engine 122a. The NLP engine 122a may parse the received information into various fields and may determine intent and factual information about the emergency event. The NLP engine 122a may even determine a location or a landmark near the location of the emergency event based on the analysis or by accessing the available digital maps. The location of the emergency event may be location 112 as shown in FIG. 1.
[0092] Further, at 504b, the location extrapolation engine 122b is configured to determine a vicinity of impact of the emergency event. The vicinity of impact may be determined by extrapolating the latitude and longitude of the location of the location of a landmark near the emergency event. The extrapolation may be performed using any standard extrapolation techniques available in the market. The latitude and longitude of the location of the emergency event is kept as a center point and is extrapolated to find a vicinity of impact around the location. In other words, a geo-fence is determined around the location of the emergency event. The vicinity of impact is determined based on the nature and severity of the emergency event. The higher the severity, bigger the vicinity of impact. In an example embodiment, an emergency event may have occurred at the location 112 and based on the location 112 and the nature and severity of the emergency event, the location extrapolation engine 122b may determine the vicinity of impact 114 as shown in FIG. 1.
[0093] At 506, the processor 122 of the server system 104 is configured to determine whether an emergency event is an isolated event or not based on the analysis performed at step 504. An isolated event may be a murder or a minor road accident which may not be causing harm to a plurality of people. This is not of a great interest for the system disclosed in the description. An isolated event may be determined based on the analysis performed by the NLP engine and/or the vicinity of impact determined by the location extrapolation engine. A threshold may be defined for the vicinity of impact beyond which an emergency event may be determined to not being an isolated event. It should be noted that the threshold may be separate for different geographical areas. For instance, in a high crime prone area, a murder may be an isolated event, however, in a low crime rate area, even a murder may be classified as an emergency event.
[0094] At 508, if the emergency event is determined to be an isolated event, the method 500 terminates, and no further actions are taken.
[0095] At 510, if the emergency event is determined not to be an isolated event, the method 500 includes invoking the SOS engine to send SOS messages to the users of the payment network 110 who may be affected by the emergency event. The SOS engine 122c is a component in the processor 122 of the server system 104 and may facilitate determining the users who may be in danger due to the emergency event.
[0096] At 512, the method 500 includes determining, by the SOS engine 122c, a plurality of users who have performed at least one transaction in the vicinity of impact 114 within a pre-defined time period prior to occurrence of the emergency event. The SOS engine 122c has access to the transaction history database 124a which is a database in the memory 124 of the server system 104 configured to store the information related to a plurality of transactions processed by the payment network 110. The information may include issuer and acquirer data, merchant location, MCC, type of transaction and the like. The SOS engine 122c may search for all the transactions performed in the vicinity of impact 114 within the pre-defined time period prior to the emergency event in the transaction history database 124a. The SOS engine 122c may search the transaction history database 124a with location and time constraints to filter the transactions required by the server system 104. Further, the SOS engine 122c may determine the users associated with the transactions.
[0097] At 514, the method 500 includes, determining, by the SOS engine, merchant category codes associated with transactions performed by the plurality of users. The merchant category codes (MCCs) may be retrieved from the transaction history database. The MCCs depict the type of service/business that the plurality of users have made one or more transactions with.
[0098] At 516, the method 500 includes facilitating, by the SOS engine, SOS messages to the issuer servers associated with transactions of the plurality of users. The SOS messages are sent to issuer servers as the payment network 110 does not have any user data such as phone number or e-mail ID stored in the memory 124. The issuer servers may have such data regarding all their users which may be required to be notified about the emergency event. Hence, the server system 104 is configured to send the SOS message to the issuer servers associated with the transactions performed by the plurality of users. The issuer servers may further transmit the messages received from the server system 104 to the corresponding user devices of the users.
[0099] In an example embodiment, it may be determined by the SOS engine 122c that the users with user device 108 (Refer FIG. 1), have transacted in the vicinity of impact 114, and the issuer servers corresponding to them may be issuer servers 106. The SOS engine 122c is configured to send SOS messages to the issuer server 106 and the issuer servers 106 may send the messages to the user devices 108. The SOS messages may include the details of the emergency event and instructions to follow, for the users. The SOS messages may be customized by the SOS engine 122c based on the nature and severity of the emergency event, location of the emergency event, MCC, transaction types and merchant types as discussed earlier in the description.
[00100] In another embodiment, the SOS engine is configured to customize SOS messages based on the merchant category codes associated with the transactions performed by the plurality of users. The MCCs may be used to customize SOS messages to alert the plurality of users based on the type of merchants. For example, if the MCC for a transaction performed by the user depicts that the merchant is an electronic items seller, the SOS messages maybe customized to alert the user to vacate the shop, as staying inside an electronic items shop during an emergency is not advisable.
[00101] FIGS. 6A-6C, collectively, represent example representations of SOS message and alert message as displayed on the user device 108a.
[00102] FIG. 6A illustrates a UI representation 600 of an SOS message as displayed on a user device 108a of the user who may have transacted in the vicinity of impact, within a pre-defined time period prior to the occurrence of the emergency event. The SOS message is sent by the SOS engine 122c of the server system 104, to the issuer server 106a which is associated with the transaction performed by the user of the user device 108a. The UI representation 600 is exemplarily shown to display an emergency alert symbol 602 with the text “SOS” displayed under it. The symbol 602 is advantageous in order to get attention of the user, as the users may tend to neglect messages coming from service sectors.
[00103] Further, in the UI representation 600, it is shown that an SOS message 604 is displayed on the user device 108a. The SOS message 604 is exemplarily shown as “Fire near XYZ railway station, help on the way. Please assemble at the parking lot”. This SOS message 604 is just an example for a fire accident that has happened at the XYZ railway station in a city. The users are being informed that the help is on the way and are advised to assemble in parking lot wherein the parking lot maybe an emergency assembly point as determined based on the location of the emergency event. This SOS message 604 maybe customized by the SOS engine 122c based on the nature and severity, location of the emergency event, MCC, merchant type and transaction type of the at least one transaction performed by a user.
[00104] In another embodiment the SOS message may be “Mild earthquake detected in ABC street. Please get into the emergency vehicle and vacate the area”. Similarly, the SOS messages may be customized based on the plurality of factors.
[00105] Referring now to FIG. 6B, a UI representation 620 of a map interface 628 including a path 626 and a live location of the emergency vehicle 624 headed towards the location 112 of the emergency event, is shown in accordance with an example embodiment. The emergency vehicle 624 may be an ambulance, a fire truck, a ladder truck, etc. The UI representation 620 is displayed on the user device 108a of a user who may have performed at least one transaction in and around the path 626 within a pre-defined time period prior to the dispatch of the emergency vehicle 624. Such users are determined by the SOS engine 122c of the server system 104. Alert messages including the map interface 628 are sent to the users to notify them about the emergency vehicle 624 passing through a nearby area of their location so that they can postpone their travel or take an alternate route (Shown in FIG. 6C).
[00106] The UI representation 620 is exemplarily shown to display an emergency alert symbol 602 with the text “SOS” displayed under it. The symbol 602 is advantageous in order to get attention of the user, as the users tend to neglect messages coming from service sectors. Further the map interface 628 is exemplarily shown including a location 112 of the emergency event with the vicinity of impact 114. The emergency vehicle 624 is exemplarily shown on the map with a text written near it stating, “Live location. Updated 40 seconds ago” depicting that the location of the emergency vehicle 624 is a live location and it is getting updated at certain time intervals. The path 626 of the emergency vehicle 624 is exemplarily shown as bold. The users in and around this path may make use of this to make way for the emergency vehicle, by taking an alternate route or if they are already on the go, they can stop at a certain location making way for the emergency vehicle.
[00107] In some embodiments, this map interface 628 may also be sent to the users who have transacted in the vicinity of impact 114 within a pre-defined time period prior to the occurrence of the emergency event. This may be used to notify the users that the emergency vehicle 624 is on the way and may calm the people down who may be in danger and waiting for help. The users may be aware of the live location of the emergency vehicle 624.
[00108] FIG. 6C illustrates a UI representation 640 of another alert message 642 displayed to the users who may have transacted in and around the path of the emergency vehicle 624. It is exemplarily shown to display an emergency alert symbol 602 with the text “SOS” displayed under it. The symbol 602 is advantageous in order to get attention of the user, as the users tend to neglect messages coming from service sectors. The alert message 642 is exemplarily shown to state, “Emergency vehicle is on its way, please take an alternate route. Link to the alternate route: www.yzamaps.com”. The link may be configured to direct the user to a map interface where an alternate route which the user can take is shown. In some example embodiments, the alert message 642 may state “Emergency vehicle is on its way, please wait till it passes by”.
[00109] FIG. 7 is a simplified block diagram of an issuer server 700, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The issuer server 700 is an example of one of the issuer servers 106a, 106b and 106c (Refer FIG. 1). The issuer server 700 is associated with an issuer bank/issuer, in which a user (e.g., the user 108a, 108b or 108c) may have a payment account, which provides a payment card. The issuer server 700 includes a processing module 702 operatively coupled to a storage module 704, a communication module 706 and a message gateway 708. The components of the issuer server 700 provided herein may not be exhaustive and the issuer server 700 may include more or fewer components than those depicted in FIGS. 1, 2A and 2B. Further, two or more components may be embodied in one single component, and/or one component may be configured using multiple sub-components to achieve the desired functionalities. Some components of the issuer server 700 may be configured using hardware elements, software elements, firmware elements and/or combination thereof.
[00110] The storage module 704 is configured to store machine executable instructions to be accessed by the processing module 702. Additionally, the storage module 704 stores information related to, contact information of the user, bank account number, availability of funds in the account, payment card details, transaction details and/or the like. Further, the storage module 704 is configured to store a history of successful offline payment transactions of the user, and a set of rules for calculating a score for computing an offline balance amount of the payment account. Further, the message gateway 708 is configured to send messages to the users. In an example embodiment, the message gateway 708 is configured to send out messages received from an external server system 710, to the remote devices such as a remote device 712 of the corresponding users. The examples of external server system 710 include server system 104, and the emergency response system 102. In an example embodiment, the message gateway 708 may access the storage module 704 to fetch the user details such as user phone number, and send SOS messages to the plurality of users that are determined to be in danger, by the server system 104.
[00111] The processing module 702 is configured to communicate with one or more remote devices such as a remote device 712 using the communication module 706 over a network, such as the network 120 of FIG. 1. The examples of the remote device 712 include the user device 108a, 108b, 108c or other computing systems of issuer and the network 120 and the like. The communication module 706 is capable of facilitating such operative communication with the remote devices and cloud servers using API (Application Program Interface) calls. The processing module 702 receives a payment card information, a payment transaction amount, a customer information and merchant information from an external server system 710 (i.e. the server system 104).
[00112] FIG. 8 is a simplified block diagram of a user device 800 for example a mobile phone or a desktop computer capable of implementing the various embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the user device 800 may correspond to the user device 108a, 108b or 108c of FIG. 1. The user devices 108a, 108b and 108c are collectively called as user devices 108. The user devices 108 have been shown in a simplified way in FIG. 1.
[00113] It should be understood that the user device 800 as illustrated and hereinafter described is merely illustrative of one type of device and should not be taken to limit the scope of the embodiments. As such, it should be appreciated that at least some of the components described below in connection with the user device 800 may be optional and thus in an example embodiment may include more, less or different components than those described in connection with the example embodiment of the FIG. 8. As such, among other examples, the user device 800 could be any of a mobile electronic device, for example, cellular phones, tablet computers, laptops, mobile computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile televisions, mobile digital assistants, or any combination of the aforementioned, and other types of communication or multimedia devices
[00114] The illustrated user device 800 includes a controller or a processor 802 (e.g., a signal processor, microprocessor, ASIC, or other control and processing logic circuitry) for performing such tasks as signal coding, data processing, image processing, input/output processing, power control, and/or other functions. An operating system 804 controls the allocation and usage of the components of the user device 800 and supports for one or more payment transaction applications programs (see, the applications 806) such as the payment gateway application, that implements one or more of the innovative features described herein. In addition to the payment gateway application, the applications 806 may include common mobile computing applications (e.g., telephony applications, email applications, calendars, contact managers, web browsers, messaging applications) or any other computing application.
[00115] The illustrated user device 800 includes one or more memory components, for example, a non-removable memory 808 and/or removable memory 810. The non-removable memory 808 and/or the removable memory 810 may be collectively known as a database in an embodiment. The non-removable memory 808 can include RAM, ROM, flash memory, a hard disk, or other well-known memory storage technologies. The removable memory 810 can include flash memory, smart cards, or a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM). The one or more memory components can be used for storing data and/or code for running the operating system 804 and the applications 806. The user device 800 may further include a user identity module (UIM) 812. The UIM 812 may be a memory device having a processor built in. The UIM 812 may include, for example, a subscriber identity module (SIM), a universal integrated circuit card (UICC), a universal subscriber identity module (USIM), a removable user identity module (R-UIM), or any other smart card. The UIM 812 typically stores information elements related to a mobile subscriber. The UIM 812 in form of the SIM card is well known in Global System for Mobile Communications (GSMC) communication systems, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, or with third-generation (3G) wireless communication protocols such as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), CDMA9000, wideband CDMA (WCDMA) and time division-synchronous CDMA (TD-SCDMA), or with fourth-generation (4G) wireless communication protocols such as LTE (Long-Term Evolution).
[00116] The user device 800 can support one or more input devices 820 and one or more output devices 830. Examples of the input devices 820 may include, but are not limited to, a touch screen / a display screen 822 (e.g., capable of capturing finger tap inputs, finger gesture inputs, multi-finger tap inputs, multi-finger gesture inputs, or keystroke inputs from a virtual keyboard or keypad), a microphone 824 (e.g., capable of capturing voice input), a camera module 826 (e.g., capable of capturing still picture images and/or video images) and a physical keyboard 828. Examples of the output devices 830 may include, but are not limited to, a speaker 832 and a display 834. Other possible output devices can include piezoelectric or other haptic output devices. Some devices can serve more than one input/output function. For example, the touch screen 822 and the display 834 can be combined into a single input/output device.
[00117] A wireless modem 840 can be coupled to one or more antennas (not shown in the FIG. 8) and can support two-way communications between the processor 802 and external devices, as is well understood in the art. The wireless modem 840 is shown generically and can include, for example, a cellular modem 842 for communicating at long range with the mobile communication network, a Wi-Fi compatible modem 844 for communicating at short range with an external Bluetooth-equipped device or a local wireless data network or router, and/or a Bluetooth-compatible modem 846. The wireless modem 840 is typically configured for communication with one or more cellular networks, such as a GSM network for data and voice communications within a single cellular network, between cellular networks, or between the user device 800 and a public switched telephone network (PSTN).
[00118] The user device 800 can further include one or more input/output ports 850, a power supply 852, one or more sensors 854 for example, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a compass, or an infrared proximity sensor for detecting the orientation or motion of the user device 800 and biometric sensors for scanning biometric identity of an authorized user, a transceiver 856 (for wirelessly transmitting analog or digital signals) and/or a physical connector 860, which can be a USB port, IEEE 1294 (FireWire) port, and/or RS-232 port. The illustrated components are not required or all-inclusive, as any of the components shown can be deleted and other components can be added.
[00119] The disclosed method with reference to FIG. 5, or one or more operations of the method 500 may be implemented using software including computer-executable instructions stored on one or more computer-readable media (e.g., non-transitory computer-readable media, such as one or more optical media discs, volatile memory components (e.g., DRAM or SRAM)), or nonvolatile memory or storage components (e.g., hard drives or solid-state nonvolatile memory components, such as Flash memory components) and executed on a computer (e.g., any suitable computer, such as a laptop computer, net book, Web book, tablet computing device, smart phone, or other mobile computing device). Such software may be executed, for example, on a single local computer or in a network environment (e.g., via the Internet, a wide-area network, a local-area network, a remote web-based server, a client-server network (such as a cloud computing network), or other such network) using one or more network computers. Additionally, any of the intermediate or final data created and used during implementation of the disclosed methods or systems may also be stored on one or more computer-readable media (e.g., non-transitory computer-readable media) and are considered to be within the scope of the disclosed technology. Furthermore, any of the software-based embodiments may be uploaded, downloaded, or remotely accessed through a suitable communication means. Such suitable communication means includes, for example, the Internet, the World Wide Web, an intranet, software applications, cable (including fiber optic cable), magnetic communications, electromagnetic communications (including RF, microwave, and infrared communications), electronic communications, or other such communication means.
[00120] Although the invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments, it is noted that various modifications and changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from the broad spirit and scope of the invention. For example, the various operations, blocks, etc., described herein may be enabled and operated using hardware circuitry (for example, complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) based logic circuitry), firmware, software and/or any combination of hardware, firmware, and/or software (for example, embodied in a machine-readable medium). For example, the apparatuses and methods may be embodied using transistors, logic gates, and electrical circuits (for example, application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) circuitry and/or in Digital Signal Processor (DSP) circuitry).
[00121] Particularly, server system 104, emergency response system 102 and issuer servers 106 and their various components such as the processor 122, memory 124 and the like may be enabled using software and/or using transistors, logic gates, and electrical circuits (for example, integrated circuit circuitry such as ASIC circuitry). Various embodiments of the invention may include one or more computer programs stored or otherwise embodied on a computer-readable medium, wherein the computer programs are configured to cause a processor or computer to perform one or more operations. A computer-readable medium storing, embodying, or encoded with a computer program, or similar language, may be embodied as a tangible data storage device storing one or more software programs that are configured to cause a processor or computer to perform one or more operations. Such operations may be, for example, any of the steps or operations described herein. In some embodiments, the computer programs may be stored and provided to a computer using any type of non-transitory computer readable media. Non-transitory computer readable media include any type of tangible storage media. Examples of non-transitory computer readable media include magnetic storage media (such as floppy disks, magnetic tapes, hard disk drives, etc.), optical magnetic storage media (e.g. magneto-optical disks), CD-ROM (compact disc read only memory), CD-R (compact disc recordable), CD-R/W (compact disc rewritable), DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), BD (BLU-RAY® Disc), and semiconductor memories (such as mask ROM, PROM (programmable ROM), EPROM (erasable PROM), flash memory, RAM (random access memory), etc.). Additionally, a tangible data storage device may be embodied as one or more volatile memory devices, one or more non-volatile memory devices, and/or a combination of one or more volatile memory devices and non-volatile memory devices. In some embodiments, the computer programs may be provided to a computer using any type of transitory computer readable media. Examples of transitory computer readable media include electric signals, optical signals, and electromagnetic waves. Transitory computer readable media can provide the program to a computer via a wired communication line (e.g., electric wires, and optical fibers) or a wireless communication line.
[00122] Various embodiments of the present disclosure offer multiple advantages and technical effects. For instance, the present disclosure facilitates sending of SOS messages to the users based on their transaction history. A server system of the payment network, in connection with an emergency response system, may facilitate SOS message to its users who may have transacted near the location of an emergency event. The server system is configured to analyze data received from an emergency response system using natural language processing and determine the nature and severity of the emergency event, location of the emergency event and determine a vicinity of impact of the emergency event. The server system may further determine all the users who may have transacted in the vicinity within a certain time prior to the occurrence of the emergency event. Thereafter, the server system facilitates sending SOS messages to them to notify them about the emergency. The server system may also be configured to receive a path of an emergency vehicle and send a live location of the emergency vehicle to the users in danger.
[00123] In some scenarios, the server system may also determine the users who have transacted within a pre-defined time period prior to the dispatch of the emergency vehicle and send alert messages to the users regarding the emergency vehicle so that they postpone their travel in that path or in some cases, the server system may send the an alternate route that the user may take to make way for the emergency vehicle. Further, the server system is also configured to customize the SOS messages based on the nature and severity of the emergency event, MCC, merchant type and transaction type of the transactions performed by the users. It should be noted that the server system is configured to determine the type of transaction and send SOS messages in some scenarios even when the transaction is not settled by the payment network.
[00124] Various embodiments of the invention, as discussed above, may be practiced with steps and/or operations in a different order, and/or with hardware elements in configurations, which are different than those which are disclosed. Therefore, although the invention has been described based upon these exemplary embodiments, it is noted that certain modifications, variations, and alternative constructions may be apparent and well within the spirit and scope of the invention.
[00125] Although various exemplary embodiments of the invention are described herein in a language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as exemplary forms of implementing the claims.