IN-VEHICLE SYSTEM (IVS) CONTROL OF EMERGENCY DATA COMMUNICATIONS

• US 20100227584A1
• Filed: 03/02/2010
• Published: 09/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/03/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Karma Automotive LLC (Wanxiang Group Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Airbiquity Incorporated
• Inventors: Hong, Leon
• Granted Patent: US 8,417,211 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/404.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/04 with alarm systems, e.g. fire, police or burglar alarm systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/066 Telephone sets adapted for data transmision
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/04 for emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• 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 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/50 for emergency connections

Abstract

An in-vehicle system (IVS) captures data such as location data and in an emergency automatically places a call to an emergency call taker or PSAP via a wireless telecommunications network. After a voice call session is established, the IVS system transmits a predetermined control signal through the voice channel. The control signal directs the call taker system to prepare to receive data. Preferably, the control signal comprises at least one audio frequency tone. This may be done without human intervention. In this way, emergency information is transmitted accurately and with minimum delay. After transmission of essential information, the IVS system may switch on audio connections for live human voice conversation.

Claims

1. A communications method comprising:

in a mobile system, detecting an available wireless telecommunication network;

registering with the detected carrier;

detecting an emergency event;

capturing and storing data descriptive of the emergency event;

initiating a wireless voice call session on the wireless telecommunication network to a selected call taker service;

after the voice call session is established, automatically transmitting a predetermined control signal in the voice channel, wherein the control signal comprises at least one audio frequency tone selected within the range of human voice to avoid corruption by voice coding elements of the wireless telecommunication network;

receiving an acknowledge signal from the selected call taker service indicating that the service is ready to receive data;

responsive to the acknowledge signal, transmitting the stored data in the voice channel session by using an in-band signaling modem technique to avoid corruption by voice coding elements of the digital wireless telecommunication network.

2. A method according to claim 1 and further comprising, after transmitting the stored data, transmitting a second control signal to indicate completion of sending the stored data.

3. A method according to claim 1 and further comprising, after transmitting the stored data, enabling live human voice communications over the established voice call session.

4. A method according to claim 1 and further comprising, selecting at least one of the audio frequency tones for the control signal responsive to which wireless telecommunication network is being used.

5. A method according to claim 1 and further comprising, changing the selection of the audio frequency tone for the control signal to a different frequency and resending the control signal using the different frequency if the acknowledge signal is not received within a predetermined time.

6. A method according to claim 1 wherein the mobile system comprises an in-vehicle system (IVS).

7. A method according to claim 1 wherein the stored data includes a current location of the mobile system.

8. A method according to claim 1 wherein the transmitted data includes at least a predetermined minimum set of data (MSD).

9. A method according to claim 1 wherein the stored data includes an identifier of a type of emergency that was detected.

10. A method according to claim 1 wherein the call taker service is automatically selected in response to the type of emergency detected.

11. A method according to claim 1 wherein said registering step is deferred until an emergency call is needed (to reduce network congestion).

12. A computer program product for an in-vehicle platform, comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer program code recorded thereon for controlling a processor, the computer program code including

computer program code means for detecting an emergency event in the vehicle;

computer program code means for capturing and storing data descriptive of the emergency event;

computer program code means for initiating a wireless voice call session on a wireless telecommunication network to a call taker;

computer program code means for automatically transmitting a predetermined control signal in the voice channel, wherein the control signal comprises at least one audio frequency tone selected within the range of human voice to avoid corruption by voice coding elements of the wireless telecommunication network;

computer program code means for receiving an acknowledge signal in the voice call session indicating that the call taker is ready to receive data; and

computer program code means for, responsive to the acknowledge signal, transmitting the stored data through the voice channel session by using an in-band signaling modem technique to avoid corruption by voice coding elements of the digital wireless telecommunication network.

13. The computer program product of claim 12 wherein the program code further includes computer program code means for including a current location of the vehicle in the stored data.

14. The computer program product of claim 12 wherein the program code further includes Computer program code means for including a predetermined minimum set of data (MSD) in the transmitted data.

15. The computer program product of claim 12 wherein the program code further includes computer program code means for including an identifier of a type of emergency in the transmitted data.

16. The computer program product of claim 12 wherein the program code further includes computer program code means for enabling live human voice communications over the established voice call session after the stored data is transmitted, even if the stored data transmission is not successful.

17. An in-vehicle system for emergency communications comprising:

a digital processor;

an emergency event detector arranged to communicate with the processor;

a GPS receiver arranged to provide location information to the processor;

a memory coupled to the processor for storing program code and or data;

a wireless telecommunications module arranged for interacting with a wireless telecommunications network as a mobile terminal unit and operatively coupled to the processor;

an in-band modem coupled to the processor or executable as software on the processor and operatively coupled to the wireless telecommunications module for transmitting data in the voice channel during a wireless voice session; and

application software for controlling the system to transmit a control signal in the voice channel to configure a call taker system to prepare to receive data transmitted in-band during the voice call session.

18. An in-vehicle system according to claim 17 and further comprising means in the application software to enable a call back from a PSAP in the event the voice call session is dropped prior to transmission of the stored data.

19. An in-vehicle system according to claim 17 wherein the application software is configured to make a selection among available wireless carriers based on predetermined criteria for making a wireless call in response to detection of an emergency event.

20. An in-vehicle system according to claim 17 wherein the wireless telecommunications module is configured to register with a wireless carrier only after the processor signals an emergency event.

21. In a motor vehicle having a control system including a digital processor, an emergency event detector arranged to communicate with the processor, a GPS receiver arranged to provide location information to the processor, a memory coupled to the processor for storing program code and or data, and a wireless telecommunications module arranged for interacting with a wireless telecommunications network as a mobile terminal unit and operatively coupled to the processor, a method for emergency communications comprising the steps of:

responsive to detecting an emergency event, automatically initiating a wireless phone call session via the wireless telecommunications module to a selected destination call taker system;

after the call session is established, transmitting a predetermined control signal in the voice channel to configure the call taker system to prepare to receive data;

and then transmitting emergency data including a location of the vehicle in the voice channel from the motor vehicle to the call taker system, wherein the data is encoded into audio frequency tones by an in-band modem arranged to avoid corruption of the data due to voice coding.

22. A method according to claim 21 including waiting for an acknowledge signal from the call taker system, following transmission of the control signal, before transmitting the emergency data.

23. A method according to claim 21 wherein the emergency data includes vehicle identity, location information and timestamp.

24. A method according to claim 23 wherein the emergency data is loaded into a message under software control for forwarding to first responders such as police, fire or medical personnel.

25. A method according to claim 21 including waiting for a second acknowledge signal from the call taker system, confirming receipt of the emergency data, and then terminating the call session.