Emergency reporting for marine and airborne vessels
First Claim
1. A method for reporting of an emergency event experienced by a marine or airborne vessel, or one of the occupants of the vessel, the method comprising the steps of:
- receiving signals transmitted by three or more satellites in a Global Positioning System by a position-determining module located on the vessel;
determining, from these received signals, the present position of the vessel and the quality of the present position fix that estimates the inaccuracy of the vessel present position fix at each of an ordered sequence of times;
when an emergency event occurs, determining the approximate time of occurrence of such event, the position of the vessel and the quality of the position fix at approximately the time such event occurred; and
broadcasting the approximate time and position and present position fix quality of the vessel when the emergency event occurs on a selected frequency in at least one of the Emergency Radiowave Bands.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Method and apparatus for reporting of an emergency event experienced by a marine vessel, an airborne vessel or by an occupant of the vessel. The present vessel position, accurate to within a few tens of meters, and (optionally) the vessel velocity and local air quality, is determined at an ordered sequence of times, using a position-determining Global Positioning System, such as the Navstar system or the GLONASS system. If an emergency occurs on the vessel, the approximate present position and time of occurrence of this event is broadcast on one or more of the mobile communication or emergency radiowave bands. Optionally, the type of emergency event that has occurred, drawn from a predetermined list of such types, is also broadcast by a vessel in distress, for receipt by an emergency response facility or by another vessel that can respond to a call for assistance. Optionally, vessel velocity heading and/or vessel position quality of fix information is also broadcast by a vessel in distress.
109 Citations
35 Claims
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1. A method for reporting of an emergency event experienced by a marine or airborne vessel, or one of the occupants of the vessel, the method comprising the steps of:
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receiving signals transmitted by three or more satellites in a Global Positioning System by a position-determining module located on the vessel; determining, from these received signals, the present position of the vessel and the quality of the present position fix that estimates the inaccuracy of the vessel present position fix at each of an ordered sequence of times; when an emergency event occurs, determining the approximate time of occurrence of such event, the position of the vessel and the quality of the position fix at approximately the time such event occurred; and broadcasting the approximate time and position and present position fix quality of the vessel when the emergency event occurs on a selected frequency in at least one of the Emergency Radiowave Bands. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 35)
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9. Apparatus for reporting of an emergency event experienced by a marine or airborne vessel, or one of the occupants of the vessel, the apparatus comprising:
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position determination means, carried on board the vessel, for receiving signals at one or more selected frequencies from three or more satellites that are part of a Global Positioning System, for determining from these signals the present position of the vessel and the quality of the present position fix that estimates the inaccuracy of the vessel present position fix, and for issuing the present position and present position fix quality as output signals; and transmitter means, carried on board the vessel, for receiving the present position and position fix quality output signals from the position determination means and, when the vessel or one of its occupants experiences an emergency event, for broadcasting a signal including the position of the vessel, the position fix quality and the time of occurrence of this event when this event occurs. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. Apparatus for reporting of an emergency event experienced by a marine or airborne vessel, or one of the occupants of the vessel, the apparatus comprising:
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position signal receiver means, positioned on the vessel, for receiving a position-indicating signal from three or more satellites that are part of a Global Positioning System, and for decoding this signal to produce and issue a vessel position signal and a position fix quality signal that indicate the approximate present position of the vessel and an estimate of the inaccuracy of the present position fix of the vessel; emergency event sensing means for determining whether an emergency event has occurred on or adjacent to the vessel and, when an emergency event occurs, for issuing an event occurrence signal indicating the occurrence and time of occurrence of that emergency event; and emergency event transmitter means, connected to the position signal receiver means and to the emergency event sensing means, for receiving a vessel position signal and, when an event occurrence signal is received, for intermittently transmitting an emergency event signal including the vessel position, the position fix quality and the time of occurrence of that emergency event on at least one selected frequency lying in an Emergency Radiowave Band. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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Specification