Remotely triggering calls to a PSAP

• US 10,178,709 B2
• Filed: 12/09/2013
• Issued: 01/08/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Hosey, Eric T., Patenaude, Russell A., Holt, David A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Orange, David
• Application Number:
  US14/100,363
• Publication Number:
  US 20150163832A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,856 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/30 Services specially adapted for particular environments, situations or purposes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/50 for emergency connections

Abstract

A method of connecting a vehicle telematics unit with a public safety access point (PSAP) includes wirelessly calling a central facility using the vehicle telematics unit that generates a reason to contact the PSAP; determining a reason to contact the PSAP during the wireless call; and receiving a computer-readable command at the vehicle telematics unit from the central facility that directs the vehicle telematics unit to end the wireless call and locally place an emergency call.

Claims

1. A method of connecting a vehicle telematics unit with a public safety access point (PSAP), comprising the steps of:

(a) wirelessly calling a central facility using the vehicle telematics unit;

(b) determining a reason to contact the PSAP during the wireless call; and

(c) receiving a computer-readable command at the vehicle telematics unit from the central facility that directs the vehicle telematics unit to end the wireless call and locally place an emergency call in response to step (b) and based on a determination that it is not legally-permissible for the central facility to connect the vehicle telematics unit to the PSAP.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of determining a location of the vehicle telematics unit.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of placing the emergency call through a cell tower, which automatically routes the emergency call to a PSAP within a serviceable area of the vehicle telematics unit.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

receiving at the vehicle telematics unit a network identifier from a cell tower; and

comparing the network identifier with identifiers of wireless carrier systems included in a database.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein step (c) is carried out in response to determining that a PSAP database does not include a listing for a PSAP within a serviceable distance from the vehicle telematics unit.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of communicating data from the vehicle telematics unit to the central facility after the emergency call has been established with the PSAP.

7. A method of connecting a vehicle telematics unit with a public safety access point (PSAP), comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving a wireless call for a telematics service request at a central facility from the vehicle telematics unit;

(b) determining a location of the vehicle telematics unit;

(c) deciding at the central facility to transfer the wireless call to a PSAP within a serviceable distance of the location of the vehicle telematics unit;

(d) determining at the central facility that contact information for the P SAP within the serviceable distance is not available in a database, accessible by the central facility, that includes the identity information for a plurality of PSAPs; and

(e) transmitting a computer-readable command from the central facility instructing the vehicle telematics unit to end the wireless call and place an emergency call through a cell tower.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the wireless call is received at a call center.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising the steps of

comparing the location of the vehicle telematics unit with entries in a PSAP database;

and

determining that the location of the vehicle telematics unit fails to match location information associated with the entries in the PSAP database.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising the step of communicating data from the vehicle telematics unit to the central facility after the emergency call has been established with the PSAP.

11. A method of connecting a vehicle telematics unit with a public safety access point (PSAP), comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving a wireless call for a telematics service request at a central facility from the vehicle telematics unit;

(b) determining a location of the vehicle telematics unit;

(c) deciding at the central facility to transfer the wireless call to a PSAP within a serviceable distance of the location of the vehicle telematics unit;

(d) determining at the central facility that transferring the wireless call to the PSAP within the serviceable distance of the location of the vehicle is not legally-permissible; and

(e) transmitting a computer-readable command from the central facility instructing the vehicle telematics unit to end the wireless call and place an emergency call through a cell tower in response to step (d).

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising the steps of:

receiving a network identifier from the cell tower; and

comparing the network identifier with identifiers of wireless carrier systems included in a database.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the wireless call is received at a call center.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of communicating data from the vehicle telematics unit to the central facility after the emergency call has been established with the PSAP.