Method of transmitting information regarding an emergency between a mobile terminal and an emergency management site

• US 10,182,320 B2
• Filed: 04/06/2017
• Issued: 01/15/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Volkswagen AG
• Original Assignee: Volkswagen AG
• Inventors: Khan, Muhammad Farooq
• Primary Examiner(s): Di Prisco, German Viana
• Application Number:
  US15/480,408
• Publication Number:
  US 20170295482A1
• Time in Patent Office: 649 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/50 for emergency connections

Abstract

Methods and devices for transmitting information regarding an emergency between a mobile terminal and an emergency control center. The method includes communicating first information regarding the emergency via a control channel of a mobile radio system between the mobile terminal and the emergency control center and communicating second information regarding the emergency via a speech channel of the mobile radio system between the mobile terminal and the emergency control center. The control channel may be a logical channel. The speech channel may also be a logical channel. Via the control channel, an SMS which may include the first information regarding the emergency, such as the emergency site and the time of the emergency, may be transmitted from the mobile terminal to the emergency control center.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting information regarding an emergency between a mobile terminal and an emergency control center, the method comprising:

communicating, via a control channel of a mobile radio system, first information regarding the emergency between the mobile terminal and the emergency control center; and

communicating, via a speech channel of the mobile radio system, second information regarding the emergency between the mobile terminal and the emergency control center, and

checking whether the first information was received by the emergency control center without errors, and, in response to the first information being received with errors, sending a request signal as at least a portion of the second information, wherein the request signal is communicated from the emergency control center to the mobile terminal and is configured to cause the mobile terminal to communicate the first information again, as a data signal, via the speech channel.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein communicating the first information via the control channel takes place temporally before communicating the second information via the speech channel.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first information is communicated, via the control channel, between the mobile terminal and the emergency control center before the speech channel is set up.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first information is stored in a data management system located remotely both with respect to the mobile terminal and with respect to the emergency control center before the speech channel is set up, and wherein the emergency control center retrieves the first information from the data management system after the speech channel has been set up.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first information is transmitted by a short message service, SMS.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first information comprises at least one of the following items of information:

geographical coordinates of the emergency site, number of emergency victims, time of the emergency, service provider identification number and an identifier as to whether an emergency call assigned to the first information was triggered automatically or manually.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein communicating the second information comprises coding and decoding the second information according to a speech codec.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first information is communicated from the mobile terminal to the emergency control center.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein in the case of an error-free communication of the first information, the second information is communicated as speech.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile radio system comprises the Global System for Mobile Communications, GSM.

11. A method for transmitting information regarding an emergency between a mobile terminal and an emergency control center, the method comprising:

communicating, via a control channel of a mobile radio system, first information regarding the emergency between the mobile terminal and the emergency control center; and

checking whether the first information was communicated without errors; and

communicating, via a speech channel of the mobile radio system, second information regarding the emergency between the mobile terminal and the emergency control center,

wherein, in response to the first information being communicated with errors, the second information is formed to comprise a request signal from the emergency control center configured to cause the mobile terminal to recommunicate the first information as a data signal via the speech channel.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein communicating the first information via the control channel takes place temporally before communicating the second information via the speech channel.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the first information is communicated, via the control channel, between the mobile terminal and the emergency control center before the speech channel is set up.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the first information is stored in a data management system located remotely both with respect to the mobile terminal and with respect to the emergency control center before the speech channel is set up, and wherein the emergency control center retrieves the first information from the data management system after the speech channel has been set up.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the first information is transmitted by a short message service, SMS.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the first information comprises at least one of the following items of information:

geographical coordinates of the emergency site, number of emergency victims, time of the emergency, service provider identification number and an identifier as to whether an emergency call assigned to the first information was triggered automatically or manually.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein communicating the second information comprises coding and decoding the second information according to a speech codec.

18. A method for transmitting information regarding an emergency between a mobile terminal and an emergency control center, the method comprising:

communicating, via a control channel of a mobile radio system, first information regarding the emergency between the mobile terminal and the emergency control center;

determining whether the first information was communicated with errors;

communicating, via a speech channel of the mobile radio system, second information regarding the emergency between the mobile terminal and the emergency control center; and

sending a request signal responsive to determination that the first information was communicated with errors, wherein the request signal is formed as part of the second information and is configured to cause the mobile terminal to recommunicate the first information as a data signal via the speech channel,

wherein the first information is stored in a data management system located remotely both with respect to the mobile terminal and with respect to the emergency control center before the speech channel is set up, and wherein the emergency control center retrieves the first information from the data management system after the speech channel has been set up.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the first information is communicated, via the control channel, between the mobile terminal and the emergency control center before the speech channel is set up.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the first information comprises at least one of the following items of information:

geographical coordinates of the emergency site, number of emergency victims, time of the emergency, service provider identification number and an identifier as to whether an emergency call assigned to the first information was triggered automatically or manually.