System and method for evacuation based on shooting sound detection

Abstract

A system and method may detect one or more shooting sounds and provide guidance to one or more evacuating people when an active shooting event has occurred indoors, thereby minimizing a secondary damage. The system comprises: a plurality of stations configured to detect one or more shooting sounds and transmit detection of the one or more shooting sounds; and a response server configured to receive the detection of one or more shooting sounds over a communication network, to generate action commands, respectively corresponding to each of the stations, based on the detection of the one or more shooting sounds, and to transmit the respective action commands to the each of the corresponding stations over the communication network.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

where T_n is the safe evacuation time, t_n is the movement time, and q is the escape time.

The safe evacuation time T_n is the time for which each of the stations can output or expose a command instructing one or more indoor persons to evacuate safely and immediately.

At step 760, the active shooting event response server transmits the safe evacuation times T_n, computed for the respective stations, to the respective stations.

At step 770, each of the stations outputs or exposes the command instructing one or more indoor persons to evacuate immediately for the corresponding safe evacuation time T_n.

At step 780, the station determines whether the safe evacuation time T_n has elapsed.

When the safe evacuation time T_n has not elapsed, the station continuously re-exposes the command instructing one or more indoor persons to evacuate immediately at step 770.

When the safe evacuation time T_n has elapsed, the station may output or expose another command instructing one or more indoor persons to hide at a safe place at step 790.

FIG. 8 shows an example of a table of movement times, escape times, and safe evacuation times for each station according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

Each station may have a table uniquely or independently determined based on the location of each station. The table may store the locations where active shooting events occur within an indoor space and response operations of the station based on the elapses of time. When the communication with the active shooting event response server is cut off or unavailable or when the station cannot communicate with the active shooting event response server, the station responds according to time by extracting information from the stored table or referring to the stored table, thereby safely evacuating one or more indoor persons.

Each station may include information about safe evacuation times computed based on locations where active shooting events occur or locations of shooters and this information may be pre-stored in advance. When the active shooting event response server transmits information about the location where a shooting event has occurred to the station or transmits only the updated location of a shooter to the station, the station may safely evacuate one or more evacuating persons without receiving an additional control signal from the active shooting event response server.

The second row of FIG. 8 shows an exemplary case where the location where an active shooting event has occurred is present between station A and station B. In this case, the movement time t_n is 72.33 seconds, the escape time t_t is 15.22 seconds, and the safe evacuation time T_n is 57.11 seconds. The movement time t_n may be computed by taking into account the distance between the location where the active shooting event has occurred and the location of the station, and the approximate speed at which a shooter can move. The distance between the location where the active shooting event has occurred and the location of the station may be the rectilinear distance therebetween, or may be the distance of a route that is used by the shooter to move based on the structure of an indoor space. Furthermore, the escape time t_t is the time required for one or more indoor persons to escape from the location of the corresponding station via an exit, and may be computed by taking into account the distance between the corresponding station and the exit and the approximate speed at which the indoor persons can move. The distance between the corresponding station and the exit may be the rectilinear distance therebetween, or may be the distance of a route that is used by the indoor persons to move based on the structure of the indoor space.

Accordingly, when an active shooting event has occurred between the station A and the station B, the station corresponding to the table shown in FIG. 8 may output or expose an evacuation command for 57.11 seconds, and may output or expose a hiding command thereafter.

The third row of FIG. 8 shows an exemplary case where the location where an active shooting event has occurred is present between station B and station C. In this case, the movement time t_n is 54.22 seconds, the escape time t_t is 15.22 seconds, and the safe evacuation time T_n is 39 seconds. Accordingly, when the shooting event has occurred between the station B and the station C, the station corresponding to the table shown in FIG. 8 may output or expose an evacuation command for 39 seconds, and may output or expose a hiding command thereafter.

The fourth row of FIG. 8 shows an exemplary case where the location where an active shooting event has occurred is present between station C and station D. In this case, the movement time t_n is 33.65 seconds, the escape time t_t is 15.22 seconds, and the safe evacuation time T_n is 18.43 seconds. However, when an active shooting event has occurred between the station C and the station D, the station corresponding to the table shown in FIG. 8 is located on a line of sight from the location where the shooting event has occurred, and thus the station corresponding to the table shown in FIG. 8 may output or expose a hiding command immediately from the detection of the shooting event.

The fifth row of FIG. 8 shows an exemplary case where the location where an active shooting event has occurred is present between station D and station M. In this case, the movement time t_n is 14.87 seconds, the escape time t_t is 22.67 seconds, and the safe evacuation time T_n is −7.8 seconds. Since the safe evacuation time T_n has a minus value, the time required for a shooter to reach a corresponding location of the station may be shorter than the time required for one or more indoor persons to escape. Accordingly, the station corresponding to the table shown in FIG. 8 may output or expose a hiding command immediately from the detection of the shooting event.

By using a table, such as the table shown in FIG. 8, even when there is no active shooting event response server, or even when communication with the active shooting event response server is cut off or unavailable, each of the stations may provide guidance on an appropriate action to indoor persons located adjacent to the stations by using the table independently or uniquely determined for the corresponding specific station, thereby safely evacuating one or more indoor persons or inducing one or more indoor persons to hide, with the result that a secondary casualties may be prevented from being caused by the shooter.

According to some exemplary embodiments, when an active shooting event occurs in an indoor space or outdoor facilities, one or more evacuating persons can be safely evacuated from the location where the shooting event has occurred by using the location of a shooter.

According to certain exemplary embodiments, guidance on a hiding command can be provided to one or more evacuating persons located close to the shooter or located on the line of sight of the shooter, thereby minimizing the damage of the evacuating persons.

A “unit” may refer to a hardware based unit, software based unit or a combination of hardware and software. Embodiments of hardware based units may include self-contained components such as one or more processors, chipsets, specialized circuitry and one or more memory devices, while a software-based module may be part of a program code or linked to the program code containing specific programed instructions, which may be loaded in memory.

The method according to the embodiment may be implemented in the form of program instructions which can be executed by a variety of computer means, and may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage medium may include program instructions, a data file, and a data structure solely or in combination. The program instructions which are stored in the medium may be designed and constructed particularly for the present invention, or may be known and available to those skilled in the field of computer software. Examples of the computer-readable storage medium include magnetic media such as a hard disk, a floppy disk and a magnetic tape, optical media such as CD-ROM and a DVD, magneto-optical media such as a floptical disk, and hardware devices particularly configured to store and execute program instructions such as ROM, RAM, and flash memory. Examples of the program instructions include not only machine language code which is constructed by a compiler but also high-level language code which can be executed by a computer using an interpreter or the like. The above-described hardware components may be configured to act as one or more software modules which perform the operation of the present invention, and vice versa.

Although the embodiments have been described in conjunction with the limited embodiments and drawings, those skilled in the art may make various modifications and alterations from the above description. For example, appropriate results may be achieved even when the described techniques are performed in a different order than the described methods, and/or the components of the described systems, structures, devices, circuits, and the like are coupled or combined in a different form than the described methods, or changed to or replaced with other components or equivalents.

Therefore, other implementations, other embodiments, and equivalents to the appended claims also fall within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

1. A system for providing guidance in an active shooting event, the system comprising:

shooting sound response stations configured to detect one or more shooting sounds and transmit detection of the one or more shooting sounds; and

an active shooting event response server configured to receive the detection of one or more shooting sounds over a communication network, to generate action commands, respectively corresponding to each of the shooting sound response stations, based on the detection of the one or more shooting sounds, and to transmit the respective action commands to the each of the corresponding shooting sound response stations over the communication network,

wherein one or more of the shooting sound response stations comprise:

a sound sensor configured to detect the one or more shooting sounds; and

a transmitter configured to transmit the detection of the one or more shooting sounds and an identifier of the shooting sound response station to the active shooting event response server when an intensity of the detected shooting sounds is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold value,

wherein the active shooting event response server comprises:

memory configured to store a map detailing physical structures dividing an indoor space and locations of the shooting sound response stations in the map detailing physical structures dividing the indoor space; and

a processor configured to estimate an active shooting event location where the active shooting event has occurred based on the identifier of the shooting sound response station,

wherein the processor of the active shooting event response server is further configured to:

compute movement times required to move from the active shooting event location to the each of the shooting sound response stations based on an estimated active shooting event location, the map detailing physical structures dividing the indoor space, and locations of the shooting sound response stations;

compute escape times required to escape from the indoor space from the each of the shooting sound response stations; and

generate the action command for the each of the shooting sound response stations based on the computed movement time and the computed escape time corresponding to that response station, and

wherein the each of the shooting sound response stations is configured to display the respective action command to provide the guidance to one or more evacuating persons,

wherein the action command instructs the one or more evacuating persons to escape from the indoor space when the movement time of the shooter is longer than the escape time from the corresponding station,

wherein the action command instructs the one or more evacuating persons to hide from the shooter when the movement time of the shooter is shorter than the escape time from the corresponding station, and

wherein the one or more of the shooting sound response stations further comprise:

a second sensor configured to detect a current location of the shooter; and

a processor configured to update the movement time required to move from the active shooting event location to the shooting response station based on the current location of the shooter.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the each of the shooting sound response stations is configured to store a safe evacuation time table comprising a set of commands which has been pre-rendered by the active shooting event response server, and to display the respective action commands according to a location of a shooter using the safe evacuation time table.

3. An active shooting sound response station, comprising:

a sound sensor configured to detect one or more shooting sounds;

a transmitter configured to transmit detection of the one or more shooting sounds to an active shooting event response server;

a receiver configured to receive an action command, generated based on the detection of the one or more shooting sounds and a location of the shooting sound response station, from the active shooting event response server;

an action command display device configured to display the received action command to one or more evacuating persons; and

a processor,

wherein the action command is generated based on a computed movement time required to move from the active shooting event location to the shooting sound response station based on an estimated active shooting event location, the map detailing physical structures dividing an indoor space, and locations of the shooting sound response stations and computed escape time required to escape from the indoor space from the shooting sound response station, and

wherein the computed movement time and the escape time are computed by the active shooting event response server based on the detection of the one or more shooting sounds,

wherein the action command instructs the one or more evacuating persons to escape from the indoor space when the movement time of the shooter is longer than the escape time from the corresponding station,

wherein the action command instructs the one or more evacuating persons to hide from the shooter when the movement time of the shooter is shorter than the escape time from the corresponding station, and

wherein the sound sensor is configured to detect a current location of the shooter, and the processor is configured to update the movement time required to move from the active shooting event location to the shooting sound response station based on the current location of the shooter.

4. The active shooting sound response station of claim 3, wherein the processor is configured to compare the detected one or more shooting sounds with a predetermined threshold value, and

wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit the detection of the one or more shooting sounds and an identifier of the shooting sound response station to the active shooting event response server when the detected one or more shooting sounds is equal to or higher than the predetermined threshold value.

5. The active shooting sound response station of claim 3,

wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit the current location of the shooter to the active shooting event response server.

6. The active shooting sound response station of claim 3, further comprising memory configured to store response operations of the shooting sound response station corresponding to locations where the accident active shooting event has occurred and an elapse of time, and

wherein the action command display device is further configured to operate according to one of the response operations stored in the memory when the receiver does not receive the action command from the active shooting event response server.

7. The active shooting sound response station of claim 6, wherein the response operations are pre-computed based on a time required for the shooter to move from the location where the active shooting event has occurred to the location of the shooting sound response station and a time required to escape from the location of the shooting sound response station via an exit.

8. An active shooting event response server comprising:

a receiver configured to receive detection of one or more shooting sounds from shooting sound response stations disposed within an indoor space;

memory configured to store a map detailing physical structures dividing an indoor space and locations of the shooting sound response stations in the map detailing physical structures dividing the indoor space;

a processor configured to estimate a location where an active shooting event has occurred based on the received detection of the one or more shooting sounds and the map detailing physical structures dividing the indoor space, and to generate action commands, respectively corresponding to each of the shooting sound response stations based on the estimated location where the active shooting event has occurred and locations of the shooting sound response stations; and

a transmitter configured to transmit the generated respective action commands to the each of the shooting sound response stations,

wherein the transmitted action commands are displayed to one or more evacuating persons, located within the indoor space, via the shooting sound response stations,

wherein the processor is further configured to:

compute movement times required for a shooter to move from the location where the active shooting event has occurred to the locations of the shooting sound response stations based on the location where the active shooting event has occurred, the map detailing physical structures dividing the indoor space, and the locations of the shooting sound response stations; and

compute escape times required for the one or more evacuating persons to escape from the indoor space from the locations of the shooting sound response stations,

wherein the action command instructs the one or more evacuating persons to escape from the indoor space when the movement time of the shooter is longer than the escape time from the corresponding station,

wherein the action command instructs the one or more evacuating persons to hide from the shooter when the movement time of the shooter is shorter than the escape time from the corresponding station, and

wherein:

the receiver is further configured to receive information about an updated location of the shooter from the shooting sound response stations when the shooter has moved; and

the processor is further configured to update the movement times based on the updated location of the shooter.

9. The active shooting event response server of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to generate a command instructing the one or more evacuating persons to hide from the shooter for one of the shooting sound response stations when the location where the active shooting event has occurred and a location of the one of the shooting sound response stations are present on a line of sight.

10. A system for providing guidance in an active shooting event, the system comprising:

shooting sound response stations configured to detect one or more shooting sounds and transmit detection of the one or more shooting sounds; and

an active shooting event response server configured to receive the detection of one or more shooting sounds over a communication network, to generate action commands, respectively corresponding to each of the shooting sound response stations, based on the detection of the one or more shooting sounds, and to transmit the respective action commands to the each of the corresponding shooting sound response stations over the communication network,

wherein one or more of the shooting sound response stations comprise:

a sound sensor configured to detect the one or more shooting sounds; and

a transmitter configured to transmit the detection of the one or more shooting sounds and an identifier of the shooting sound response station to the active shooting event response server,

wherein the active shooting event response server comprises:

a processor configured to estimate an active shooting event location where the active shooting event has occurred based on the identifier of the shooting sound response station,

wherein the processor of the active shooting event response server is further configured to:

compute movement times required to move from the active shooting event location to the each of the shooting sound response stations based on the estimated active shooting event location, a map detailing physical structures dividing an indoor space where the active shooting event location is disposed, and locations of the shooting sound response stations in the indoor space;

compute escape times required to escape from the indoor space from the each of the shooting sound response stations; and

generate the action command for the each of the shooting sound response stations based on the computed movement time and the computed escape time corresponding to that response station, and

wherein the respective action command transmitted to the each of the shooting sound response stations is configured to provide guidance to one or more persons in the indoor space by instructing the persons to escape from the indoor space in response that the movement time of the shooter is longer than the escape time from the corresponding station, or instructing the persons to hide from the shooter in response that the movement time of the shooter is shorter than the escape time from the corresponding station.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the each of the shooting sound response stations is configured to store a safe evacuation time table comprising a set of commands which has been pre-rendered by the active shooting event response server, and to display the respective action commands according to a location of a shooter using the safe evacuation time table.

12. An active shooting sound response station, comprising:

a sound sensor configured to detect one or more shooting sounds;

a transmitter configured to transmit detection of the one or more shooting sounds to an active shooting event response server, the active shooting event response server being configured to receive the detection of one or more shooting sounds from the active shooting sound response station over a communication network;

a receiver configured to receive an action command, generated based on the detection of the one or more shooting sounds and a location of the shooting sound response station, from the active shooting event response server, and

a processor, wherein the action command is generated based on a computed movement time required to move from the active shooting event location to the shooting sound response station based on an estimated active shooting event location, a map detailing physical structures dividing an indoor space where the active shooting event location is disposed, and the location of the shooting sound response station in the indoor space and computed escape time required to escape from the indoor space from the shooting sound response station,

wherein the computed movement time and the escape time are computed by the active shooting event response server based on the detection of the one or more shooting sounds,

wherein in response to the received action command, the active shooting sound response station is configured to provide guidance to one or more persons in the indoor space by instructing the persons to escape from the indoor space in response that the movement time of the shooter is longer than the escape time from the corresponding station, or instructing the persons to hide from the shooter in response that the movement time of the shooter is shorter than the escape time from the corresponding station,

further comprising memory configured to store response operations of the shooting sound response station corresponding to locations where the active shooting event has occurred and an elapse of time, and

further comprising an action command display device configured to operate according to one of the response operations stored in the memory when the receiver does not receive the action command from the active shooting event response server.

13. The active shooting sound response station of claim 12, wherein the processor is configured to compare the detected one or more shooting sounds with a predetermined threshold value, and

wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit the detection of the one or more shooting sounds and an identifier of the shooting sound response station to the active shooting event response server when the detected one or more shooting sounds is equal to or higher than the predetermined threshold value.

14. The active shooting sound response station of claim 12,

wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit a current location of the shooter to the active shooting event response server, and

the current location of the shooter is detected by the sound sensor.

15. The active shooting sound response station of claim 12, wherein the response operations are pre-computed based on a time required for the shooter to move from the location where the active shooting event has occurred to the location of the shooting sound response station and a time required to escape from the location of the shooting sound response station via an exit.

16. An active shooting event response server comprising:

a receiver configured to receive detection of one or more shooting sounds from shooting sound response stations disposed within an indoor space;

a processor configured to estimate a location where an active shooting event has occurred based on the received detection of the one or more shooting sounds and a map detailing physical structures dividing the indoor space, and to generate action commands, respectively corresponding to each of the shooting sound response stations based on the estimated location where the active shooting event has occurred and locations of the shooting sound response stations in the indoor space; and

a transmitter configured to transmit the generated respective action commands to the each of the shooting sound response stations,

wherein the processor is further configured to:

compute movement times required for a shooter to move from the location where the active shooting event has occurred to the locations of the shooting sound response stations based on the location where the active shooting event has occurred, the map detailing physical structures dividing the indoor space, and the locations of the shooting sound response stations; and

compute escape times required for one or more persons in the indoor space to escape from the indoor space from the locations of the shooting sound response stations,

wherein the transmitted action command is configured to provide guidance to the one or more persons by instructing the persons to escape from the indoor space in response that the movement time of the shooter is longer than the escape time from the corresponding station, or instructing the persons to hide from the shooter in response that the movement time of the shooter is shorter than the escape time from the corresponding station.

17. The active shooting event response server of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to generate a command instructing the persons to hide from the shooter for one of the shooting sound response stations when the location where the active shooting event has occurred and a location of the one of the shooting sound response stations are present on a line of sight.