In-vehicle emergency report apparatus

• US 7,657,374 B2
• Filed: 02/25/2008
• Issued: 02/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Kamiya, Shinji
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, TAN QUANG
• Application Number:
  US12/072,220
• Publication Number:
  US 20080203814A1
• Time in Patent Office: 708 Days
• Field of Search: 701/301, 701/2, 701/29, 701/30, 701/33, 701/34, 701/45, 340/436, 340/425.5, 455/423, 455/450, 455/404.1, 455/404.2
• US Class Current: 701/301
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/0027 Post collision measures, e.g. notifying emergency services
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/01088 wireless
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/01259 Brakes
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/01272 Belt tensioners
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/0134 responsive to imminent contact with an obstacle , e.g. using radar systems

Abstract

An in-vehicle emergency report apparatus is so constructed that the operating power source is switched from a vehicle battery to an auxiliary battery only when a pre-crash safety ECU determines that a vehicle will collide with something. That is, the operating power source is switched from the vehicle battery to the auxiliary battery only when there is a possibility that the vehicle will collide with something to thereby perform emergency report operation. This makes it possible to effectively switch the operating power source from the vehicle battery to the auxiliary battery and to prevent the capacity of the auxiliary battery from being uselessly consumed.

Claims

1. An in-vehicle emergency report apparatus, the apparatus comprising:

means for switching selectively between a vehicle battery power supply state in which power supplied from a vehicle battery is used as operating power for operating the in-vehicle emergency report apparatus, and an auxiliary battery power supply state in which power supplied from an auxiliary battery is used as operating power for operating the in-vehicle emergency report apparatus; and

control means for

acquiring a result of determination by first means for determining whether or not there is a possibility that a vehicle will collide and a result of determination by second means for determining whether or not the vehicle has collided, and

performing an emergency report operation when the second determining means determines that the vehicle has collided;

wherein the control means causes the switching means to make a transition from the vehicle battery power supply state to the auxiliary battery power supply state only when the first determining means determines that there is a possibility that the vehicle will collide in the vehicle battery power supply state, and

wherein the control means causes the second determining means to determine whether or not the vehicle has collided by using power supplied from the auxiliary battery as operating power.

2. The in-vehicle emergency report apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein when the first determining means determines that there is no possibility that the vehicle will collide after the switching means made a transition from the vehicle battery power supply state to the auxiliary battery power supply state, the control means returns the switching means from the auxiliary battery power supply state to the vehicle battery power supply state.

3. The in-vehicle emergency report apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:

means for counting a time that elapses after the switching means made a transition from the vehicle battery power supply state to the auxiliary battery power supply state,

wherein when the elapsed time counted by the counting means reaches a predetermined time before the second determining means determines that the vehicle has collided, the control means determines that there is no possibility that the vehicle collides and returns the switching means from the auxiliary battery power supply state to the vehicle battery power supply state.

4. An in-vehicle emergency report apparatus for a vehicle, the apparatus comprising:

means for switching selectively between a vehicle battery power supply state in which power supplied from a vehicle battery is used as operating power for operating the in-vehicle emergency report apparatus and an auxiliary battery power supply state in which power supplied from an auxiliary battery is used as operating power for operating the in-vehicle emergency report apparatus; and

control means for

acquiring a result of determination by first means for determining whether or not there is a possibility that a vehicle will collide and a result of determination by second means for determining whether or not the vehicle has collided,

performing an emergency report operation when the second determining means determines that the vehicle has collided, and

switching an operation mode between a normal operation mode and a low-power consumption operation mode in which less power is consumed than in the normal operation mode,

wherein when the first determining means determines that there is a possibility that the vehicle will collide in the normal operation mode, the control means switches from the normal operation mode to the low-power consumption operation mode and causes the second determining means to determine whether or not the vehicle has collided while in the low-power consumption operation mode, and

wherein only when the second determining means determines that the vehicle has collided, the control means causes the switching means to make a translation from the vehicle battery power supply state to the auxiliary battery power supply state and performs the emergency report operation using power supplied from the auxiliary battery as operating power.

5. The in-vehicle emergency report apparatus according to claim 4,

wherein when the first determining means determines that there is no possibility that the vehicle will collide while operating in the low-power consumption operation mode, the control means returns the operation mode from the low-power consumption operation mode to the normal operation mode.

6. The in-vehicle emergency report apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising:

means for counting a time that elapses after the operation mode is switched from the normal operation mode to the low-power consumption operation mode,

wherein when the second determining means has not determined that the vehicle has collided and the elapsed time counted by the counting means reaches a predetermined time, the control means determines that there is no possibility that the vehicle collides and returns the operation mode from the low-power consumption operation mode to the normal operation mode.