Method and system for inband emergency notification for voice calls

• US 7,738,509 B2
• Filed: 12/27/2002
• Issued: 06/15/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Stewart, Gregory B., Dale, John L., Piwowarski, James J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham; Chi H
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wong; Warner
• Application Number:
  US10/330,908
• Publication Number:
  US 20040125764A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,727 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/529
• 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

The invention provides a method for inband emergency notification for voice calls by multiplexing at least one emergency signal within an audible data stream and transmitting the audible data stream from a telematic communication unit to a mobile vehicle communication system. The mobile vehicle communication system decodes the emergency signal from the audible data stream and provides an emergency service as a function of the emergency signal.

Claims

1. A method for providing an emergency notification from a mobile vehicle communication unit to a remote human operator at a call center, comprising:

detecting an emergency event at the vehicle, and attempting to place a data call to the call center;

in response to detecting that the attempt to place the data call has failed;

generating a human audible and human understandable emergency signal;

placing a voice call to the call center;

multiplexing the emergency signal within an audible data stream in the voice call;

transmitting the multiplexed audible data stream from the vehicle to the call center;

decoding the audible emergency signal from the audible data stream; and

audibly reproducing the extracted emergency signal to the human operator.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising, initiating an over-the-air session between the communication unit and a third party service provider.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing the emergency signal as a function of an emergency detection device in communication with the communication unit.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising initiating the emergency signal as a function of a customer controlled button.

5. A system for vehicular inband audible emergency notification comprising:

a data center;

a vehicle with an emergency condition;

means for detecting an emergency condition with respect to the vehicle;

means for attempting to place a data call to the call center, and in response to detecting that the data call failed;

means for placing a voice call to the call center to send an audible data stream to the call center and for multiplexing at least one human audible emergency signal within the audible data stream; and

means for decoding the emergency signal from the audible data stream and audibly playing both the audible data stream and the human audible emergency signal at the call center.

6. The system of claim 5 further comprising means for initiating an over-the-air session between the vehicle and a third party service provider.

7. The system of claim 5 further comprising means for providing the emergency signal as a function of an emergency detection device in the vehicle.

8. The system of claim 5 further comprising means for initiating the emergency signal as a function of a customer controlled button.

9. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions for producing an emergency notification associated with an emergency event at a vehicle, the instructions comprising instructions for:

attempting to place a data call to a call center, detecting a failure of the data call, and responsively placing a voice call to the data center;

generating an audible emergency notification and creating a multiplexed signal including voice data and the audible emergency notification;

transmitting the multiplexed signal to a call center;

decoding the audible emergency notification from the multiplexed signal; and

audibly reproducing the audible emergency notification at the call center.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 9, the computer executable instructions for generating an audible emergency notification further comprising instructions for initiating a second over-the-air session between the vehicle and a third party service provider.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the audible emergency notification is provided as a function of an emergency detection device in the vehicle.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 9, further comprising instructions for initiating the emergency signal as a function of a customer controlled button.