Information furnishing apparatus for coping with emergency during car driving

• US 6,577,927 B2
• Filed: 02/12/2001
• Issued: 06/10/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Shimazu, Hideo
• Primary Examiner(s): Cuchlinski, Jr., William A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hernandez, Olga
• Application Number:
  US09/783,269
• Publication Number:
  US 20010014841A1
• Time in Patent Office: 848 Days
• Field of Search: 701/1, 701/200, 340/901, 340/902, 340/903, 340/904, 340/988, 340/989, 340/425.5, 340/500
• US Class Current: 701/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096716 where the received information does not generate an automatic action on the vehicle control
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096758 where no selection takes place on the transmitted or the received information
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096775 where the origin of the information is a central station

Abstract

Providing a vehicle driver information useful in overcoming an emergency situation overheating etc. On receipt of a control signal 112 indicating emergency, emergency situation decision unit 109 of vehicle side equipment 104 decides the type name of the service useful for overcoming the emergency. Information acquisition unit 111 routes an information inquiry request, specifying the type name, the current position of an own vehicle detected by a position detection device 107 and the current time detected by the time detection device 108, through communication device 103 to common equipment 101 of operation center. Information retrieval unit 106 of the common equipment 101 retrieves optimum service purveyor information from the service in storage unit 105, taking into account the type name, current vehicle position and the current time, as specified by the request, and returns the retrieved service purveyor information, which is supplied to the driver.

Claims

1. An information furnishing apparatus for coping with an emergency during driving an automotive vehicle, comprising:

a common equipment provided on an operation center and an automotive vehicle side equipment provided on an automotive vehicle one to another, said automotive vehicle side equipment for performing bidirectional communication with said common equipment;

(a) said common equipment comprising;

(a1) service information storage unit storing a plurality of contents information comprehending at least the appellation of service purveyors, a plurality of type names indicating types of the services purveyed by said service purveyors, and a plurality of service purveyors information comprehending the business time and business places of the service purveyors, and

(a2) an information retrieval unit retrieving, on reception from said automotive vehicle an information inquiry request at least specifying the type name indicating the type of the service useful in overcoming the emergency situation that has occurred in said automotive vehicle and the current position of said automotive vehicle, the optimum service purveyor information useful to overcome the emergency situation that has occurred, from said service information storage unit, taking into account the type name specified, current position and the current time, and for transmitting at least the contents information to the automotive vehicle as a requester;

(b) said automotive vehicle side equipment comprising;

(b1) a position detection unit detecting the current position of the automotive vehicle,

(b2) an emergency situation decision unit determining, on occurrence of an emergency situation, the type name indicating the sort of the service useful in overcoming the emergency situation that has occurred, and

(b3) an information acquisition unit transmitting an information inquiry request at least specifying the type name determined by said emergency situation decision unit and the current posit ion of the automotive vehicle as detected by said position detection means to said information retrieval unit, and outputting the information transmitted as a response from said information retrieval unit at an output device.

2. The information furnishing apparatus for coping with an emergency during driving an automotive vehicle as defined in claim 1,

wherein said information retrieval unit sets a service purveyor information, as optimum one, among the plurality of service purveyors information stored in said service information storage unit, which has the same type name as the type name specified by said information inquiry, such that the service is accessible or available within the business time judging from the current time, and the place of business of which is closer to the current position of the automotive vehicle as a source of inquiry.

3. The information furnishing apparatus for coping with an emergency during driving an automotive vehicle as defined in claim 1,

wherein said automotive vehicle side equipment comprises a time detection unit detecting the current time, and

the current time as detected by said time detection unit is comprised in said information inquiry request by said information acquisition unit.

4. The information furnishing apparatus for coping with an emergency during driving an automotive vehicle as defined in claim 1,

wherein said common equipment comprises a time detection unit detecting the current time, and

said information retrieval unit acquires the current time of a time point of reception of the information inquiry request from said time detection unit.

5. The information furnishing apparatus for coping with an emergency during driving an automotive vehicle as defined in claim 1,

wherein said common equipment comprises a time detection unit detecting the current time, and

said automotive vehicle side device comprises:

an automotive vehicle control device generating a control signal for coping with an unusual occurrence in the automotive vehicle, and

a correlation table stating the correlation between the control signal generated by said automotive vehicle control device and the type name specifying the type of the service useful in overcoming the unusual occurrence,

said emergency situation decision unit, on occurrence of said control signal from said automotive vehicle control device, acquiring the type name corresponding to the generated control signal from said correlation table.

6. The information furnishing apparatus for coping with an emergency during driving an automotive vehicle as defined in claim 1,

wherein at least a portion of the service purveyors information stored in said service information storage unit is the CM information aired by data broadcast.

7. An information furnishing apparatus provided on an automotive vehicle carrying a data broadcast receiver, for coping with an emergency during driving said automotive vehicle, comprising:

(a) an extraction unit extracting, from the information received by said data broadcast receiver, the service purveyors information including at least contents information having at least names of the service purveyors, type names indicating the sort of the services furnished by said service purveyors, and information on the business time and places of business of said service purveyors;

(b) a service information storage unit storing a plurality of said service purveyors information;

(c) a position detection unit detecting the current position of an automotive vehicle;

(d) a time detection unit detecting the current time;

(e) an emergency situation;

decision unit deciding on occurrence of an emergency situation the type name indicating the type of the service useful in overcoming the emergency situation that has occurred; and

(f) an information registration acquisition unit being fed with said service purveyor information extracted by said extraction means, the current position detected by said position detection unit, the current time detected by said time detection unit and the type name determined by said emergency situation decision unit, said information registration acquisition unit performing the processing of registering said service purveyor information in said service information storage unit and processing for retrieving from said service information storage unit an optimum service purveyor information helpful to overcome the emergency situation that has occurred to output at least the resultant contents information from an output device.

8. The information furnishing apparatus provided on an automotive vehicle carrying a data broadcast receiver, for coping with an emergency during driving said automotive vehicle, as defined in claim 7,

wherein said information registration acquisition unit comprises:

registering means for operating registration so that, if the service purveyor information having the same type name as that of the service purveyor information newly extracted by said extracting means is stored in said service information storage unit, a more desirable one service purveyor information among the service purveyors information having the same type name will be registered in said service information storage unit based on the current time as detected by said time detection unit and on the current automotive vehicle position as detected by said position detection unit; and

an information acquisition unit acquiring the service purveyors information having the same type name as that determined by said emergency situation decision unit from said service information storage unit.

9. The information furnishing apparatus provided on an automotive vehicle carrying a data broadcast receiver, for coping with an emergency during driving said automotive vehicle, as defined in claim 8,

wherein said registering means sets a service purveyor information such that the service is accessible or available a within the business time judging from the current time and the place of business of which is closer to the current position of the automotive vehicle as an optimum service purveyor information.

10. The information furnishing apparatus provided on an automotive vehicle carrying a data broadcast receiver, for coping with an emergency during driving said automotive vehicle, as defined in claim 7,

wherein said information registration acquisition unit comprises:

registering means for registering a service purveyor information newly extracted by said extraction means in said service information storage unit; and

an information acquisition unit for retrieving from said service information storage unit an optimum service purveyor information useful in overcoming the emergency situation that has occurred, based on the type name determined by said emergency situation decision means, the current time as detected by said time detection unit and the current automotive vehicle position as detected by said position detection unit.

11. The information furnishing apparatus provided on an automotive vehicle carrying a data broadcast receiver, for coping with an emergency during driving said automotive vehicle, as defined in claim 10,

wherein said information acquisition unit sets the service purveyor information which, among the service purveyors information stored in said service information storage unit, has the same type name as the type name determined by said emergency situation decision unit, such that the service is accessible or available within the business time judging from the current time and the place of business of which is closer to the current position of the automotive vehicle, as the optimum service purveyor information.

12. The information furnishing apparatus provided on an automotive vehicle carrying a data broadcast receiver, for coping with an emergency during driving said automotive vehicle, as defined in claim 7,

wherein said information registration acquisition unit comprises:

registering means for operating registration so that, if a number exceeding N of the service purveyors information having the same type name as that of the service purveyor information newly extracted by said extracting means is stored in said service information storage unit, only more optimum upper N service purveyors information will be registered in said service information storage unit, based on the current time as detected by said time detection unit and the current automotive vehicle position as detected by said position detection unit; and

an information acquisition unit retrieving from said service information storage unit the optimum service purveyor information useful in overcoming the emergency situation that has occurred, based on the type name as determined by said emergency situation decision means, the current time as detected by said time detection unit and the current automotive vehicle position as detected by said position detection unit.

13. The information furnishing apparatus provided on an automotive vehicle carrying a data broadcast receiver, for coping with an emergency during driving said automotive vehicle, as defined in claim 12,

wherein said information acquisition unit sets the service purveyor information which has the same type name as the type name as determined by said emergency situation decision unit, such that the service is accessible or available within the business time judging from the current time, and the place of business of which is closer to the current position of the automotive vehicle, as the optimum service purveyor information.

14. The information furnishing apparatus provided on an automotive vehicle carrying a data broadcast receiver, for coping with an emergency during driving said automotive vehicle, as defined in claim 7, comprising:

an automotive vehicle control device generating a control signal for coping with an unusual occurrence in the automotive vehicle, and

a correlation table stating the correlation between the control signal generated by said automotive vehicle control device and the type name specifying the type of the service useful in overcoming the unusual occurrence,

said emergency situation decision unit, on occurrence of said control signal from said automotive vehicle control device, acquiring the type name corresponding to the generated control signal from said correlation table.

15. The information furnishing apparatus provided on an automotive vehicle carrying a data broadcast receiver, for coping with an emergency during driving said automotive vehicle, as defined in claim 7,

wherein at least a portion of the service purveyors information stored in said service information storage unit is aired by data broadcast.

16. An information furnishing apparatus for coping with an emergency during driving an automotive vehicle, comprising:

a common equipment provided on an operation center and an automotive vehicle side equipment provided on an automotive vehicle one to another, said automotive vehicle side equipment for performing bidirectional communication with said common equipment;

(a) said common equipment comprising;

(a1) a service information storage unit storing a plurality of contents information comprehending at least the appellation of service purveyors, a plurality of type names indicating types of the services purveyed by said service purveyors, and a plurality of service purveyors information comprehending the business time and business places of the service purveyors, and

(a2) information retrieval means for retrieving, on reception from said automotive vehicle an information inquiry request at least specifying the type name indicating the type of the service useful in overcoming the emergency situation that has occurred in said automotive vehicle and the current position of said automotive vehicle, the optimum service purveyor information useful to overcome the emergency situation that has occurred, from said service information storage unit, taking into account the type name specified, current position and the current time, and for transmitting at least the contents information to the automotive vehicle as a requester;

(b) said automotive vehicle side equipment comprising;

(b1) position detection means for detecting the current position of the automotive vehicle,

(b2) emergency situation decision means for determining, on occurrence of an emergency situation, the type name indicating the sort of the service useful in overcoming the emergency situation that has occurred, and

(b3) information acquisition means for transmitting an information inquiry request at least specifying the type name determined by said emergency situation decision means and the current posit ion of the automotive vehicle as detected by said position detection means to said information retrieval means, and outputting the information transmitted as a response from said information retrieval means at an output device.

17. The information furnishing apparatus for coping with an emergency during driving an automotive vehicle as defined in claim 16,

wherein said information retrieval means sets a service purveyor information, as optimum one, among the plurality of service purveyors information stored in said service information storage means, which has the same type name as the type name specified by said information inquiry, such that the service is accessible or available within the business time judging from the current time, and the place of business of which is closer to the current position of the automotive vehicle as a source of inquiry.

18. The information furnishing apparatus for coping with an emergency during driving an automotive vehicle as defined in claim 16,

wherein said automotive vehicle side equipment comprises time detection means for detecting the current time, and

the current time as detected by said time detection means is comprised in said information inquiry request by said information acquisition means.

19. The information furnishing apparatus for coping with an emergency during driving an automotive vehicle as defined in claim 16,

wherein said common equipment comprises time detection means for detecting the current time, and

said information retrieval unit acquires the current time of a time point of reception of the information inquiry request from said time detection means.

20. The information furnishing apparatus for coping with an emergency during driving an automotive vehicle as defined in claim 16,

wherein said common equipment comprises time detection means for detecting the current time, and

said automotive vehicle side device comprises:

an automotive vehicle control device generating a control signal for coping with an unusual occurrence in the automotive vehicle, and

a correlation table stating the correlation between the control signal generated by said automotive vehicle control device and the type name specifying the type of the service useful in overcoming the unusual occurrence,

said emergency situation decision means, on occurrence of said control signal from said automotive vehicle control device, acquiring the type name corresponding to the generated control signal from said correlation table.

21. The information furnishing apparatus for coping with an emergency during driving an automotive vehicle as defined in claim 16,

wherein at least a portion of the service purveyors information stored in said service information storage unit is the CM information aired by data broadcast.

22. An information furnishing apparatus provided on an automotive vehicle carrying a data broadcast receiver, for coping with an emergency during driving said automotive vehicle, comprising:

(a) extraction means for extracting, from the information received by said data broadcast receiver, the service purveyors information including at least contents information having at least names of the service purveyors, type names indicating the sort of the services furnished by said service purveyors, and information on the business time and places of business of said service purveyors;

(b) service information storage means for storing a plurality of said service purveyors information;

(c) position detection means for detecting the current position of an automotive vehicle;

(d) time detection means for detecting the current time;

(e) emergency situation decision means for deciding on occurrence of an emergency situation the type name indicating the type of the service useful in overcoming the emergency situation that has occurred; and

(f) information registration acquisition means for being fed with said service purveyor information extracted by said extraction means, the current position detected by said position detection means, the current time detected by said time detection means and the type name determined by said emergency situation decision means, said information registration acquisition means performing the processing of registering said service purveyor information in said service information storage means and processing for retrieving from said service information storage means an optimum service purveyor information helpful to overcome the emergency situation that has occurred to output at least the resultant contents information from an output device.

23. The information furnishing apparatus provided on an automotive vehicle carrying a data broadcast receiver, for coping with an emergency during driving said automotive vehicle, as defined in claim 22,

wherein said information registration acquisition means comprises:

registering means for operating registration so that, if the service purveyor information having the same type name as that of the service purveyor information newly extracted by said extracting means is stored in said service information storage means, a more desirable one service purveyor information among the service purveyors information having the same type name will be registered in said service information storage means based on the current time as detected by said time detection means and on the current automotive vehicle position as detected by said position detection means; and

an information acquisition means for acquiring the service purveyors information having the same type name as that determined by said emergency situation decision means from said service information storage means.

24. The information furnishing apparatus provided on an automotive vehicle carrying a data broadcast receiver, for coping with an emergency during driving said automotive vehicle, as defined in claim 23,

wherein said registering means sets a service purveyor information such that the service is accessible or available within the business time judging from the current time and the place of business of which is closer to the current position of the automotive vehicle as an optimum service purveyor information.

25. The information furnishing apparatus provided on an automotive vehicle carrying a data broadcast receiver, for coping with an emergency during driving said automotive vehicle, as defined in claim 22,

wherein said information registration acquisition means comprises:

registering means for registering a service purveyor information newly extracted by said extraction means in said service information storage means; and

information acquisition means for retrieving from said service information storage means an optimum service purveyor information useful in overcoming the emergency situation that has occurred, based on the type name determined by said emergency situation decision means, the current time as detected by said time detection means and the current automotive vehicle position as detected by said position detection means.

26. The information furnishing apparatus provided on an automotive vehicle carrying a data broadcast receiver, for coping with an emergency during driving said automotive vehicle, as defined in claim 25,

wherein said information acquisition means sets the service purveyor information which, among the service purveyors information stored in said service information storage means, has the same type name as the type name determined by said emergency situation decision means, such that the service is accessible or available within the business time judging from the current time and the place of business of which is closer to the current position of the automotive vehicle, as the optimum service purveyor information.

27. The information furnishing apparatus provided on an automotive vehicle carrying a data broadcast receiver, for coping with an emergency during driving said automotive vehicle, as defined in claim 22,

wherein said information registration acquisition means comprises:

registering means for operating registration so that, if a number exceeding N of the service purveyors information having the same type name as that of the service purveyor information newly extracted by said extracting means is stored in said service information storage means, only more optimum upper N service purveyors information will be registered in said service information storage means, based on the current time as detected by said time detection means and the current automotive vehicle position as detected by said position detection means; and

information acquisition means for retrieving from said service information storage means the optimum service purveyor information useful in overcoming the emergency situation that has occurred, based on the type name as determined by said emergency situation decision means, the current time as detected by said time detection means and the current automotive vehicle position as detected by said position detection means.

28. The information furnishing apparatus provided on an automotive vehicle carrying a data broadcast receiver, for coping with an emergency during driving said automotive vehicle, as defined in claim 27,

wherein said information acquisition means sets the service purveyor information which has the same type name as the type name as determined by said emergency situation decision means, such that the service is accessible or available within the business time judging from the current time, and the place of business of which is closer to the current position of the automotive vehicle, as the optimum service purveyor information.

29. The information furnishing apparatus provided on an automotive vehicle carrying a data broadcast receiver, for coping with an emergency during driving said automotive vehicle, as defined in claim 22, comprising:

an automotive vehicle control device generating a control signal for coping with an unusual occurrence in the automotive vehicle, and

a correlation table stating the correlation between the control signal generated by said automotive vehicle control device and the type name specifying the type of the service useful in overcoming the unusual occurrence,

said emergency situation decision means, on occurrence of said control signal from said automotive vehicle control device, acquiring the type name corresponding to the generated control signal from said correlation table.

30. The information furnishing apparatus provided on an automotive vehicle carrying a data broadcast receiver, for coping with an emergency during driving said automotive vehicle, as defined in claim 22,

wherein at least a portion of the service purveyors information stored in said service information storage unit is aired by data broadcast.