Emergency call system using specific mobile user information

• US 8,270,940 B2
• Filed: 01/03/2012
• Issued: 09/18/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Bolin, Johan
• Primary Examiner(s): Appiah, Charles
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sabouri, Mazda
• Application Number:
  US13/342,336
• Publication Number:
  US 20120100827A1
• Time in Patent Office: 259 Days
• Field of Search: 455/404.2
• US Class Current: 455/404.2
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/205 Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways

Abstract

The present invention presents a method for creating a relation between mobiles and a vehicle of a wireless communications network. The vehicle is equipped with an on-board device with wireless communication capability. The present invention also presents an on-board device and a road user server to be used in such wireless communications network. Mobiles in the vehicle are triggered to report their location to the network. When the vehicle reports its location an association between the vehicle and the mobiles having same location information is performed. The triggering signal is sent on control channels triggering all mobiles, including mobiles in idle mode. Profiles of mobile users in a vehicle, based on location information and mobile identities, are retrieved and stored in lists which are forwarded to fore example hospitals and fire departments when an accident occurs.

Claims

1. Method for creating a relation between mobiles and a vehicle of a wireless communications network, the vehicle is equipped with an on-board device with wireless communication capability, the method comprising:

broadcasting messages in the vehicle, to all mobiles within the vehicle, including vehicle identity information or information which can be used together with other information to get a unique identity of the vehicle;

sending a signal triggering all mobiles in the vehicle to transmit at least one of location area update messages, or re-register to network messages, to a network node;

sending first measurement reports from the mobiles to the network node, the reports including broadcasted messages or information based on the broadcast messages; and

sending second measurement reports from the on-board device to a road user server, the second measurement reports including information used to correlate the first measurement reports received from the network node with the vehicle,

where the road user server is responsible for performing;

correlating information relating to which mobiles are considered to be in a certain vehicle, based on the first measurement reports from the mobiles and the second measurement reports from the on-board device;

performing a matching procedure to relate mobile identity numbers to at least one of person identities or person profiles;

storing a list that includes one or more of person identities or person profiles along with vehicle identity information; and

forwarding the list to an emergency center upon request.

2. The method of claim 1, where the broadcasting messages is triggered by one or more of the following actions:

a driver starting the vehicle,

sensors detecting vehicle movement,

activation of an emergency call,

on-demand requests from the road user server,

sensors detecting door opening,

sensors detecting an action associated with a seat belt,

activation of a time period counter, or

handover detection between macro cells.

3. The method according to claim 1, where the sending second measurement reports from the on-board device is triggered by one or more of the following actions:

a user making an emergency call,

a collision detection sensor is activated, or

a user activating an emergency procedure.

4. The method according claim 1, where the second measurement reports include additional information gathered from at least one of sensors in one or more of seats of the vehicle, doors, or seat belts, or information from cameras.

7. The method of claim 1 where the network node is a serving mobile centre, a mobility management controller, a radio access network, or a radio network controller.

8. The method of claim 1 where the triggering signal is adapted to perform one or more of the following:

interfering an entire or parts of a frequency spectrum and by this way triggering all mobiles in the vehicle to perform at least one of location update or re-registration when re-attaching to the network, or

transmitting control signals with low power, using existing control channels, triggering all mobiles to perform a new location area registration.

9. The method of claim 8 where the triggering of all mobiles in the vehicle is used to trigger mobiles in Idle Mode as well.

5. Method for creating a relation between mobiles and a vehicle of a wireless communications network, the vehicle is equipped with an on-board device with wireless communication capability, the method comprising:

broadcasting messages in the vehicle, to all mobiles within the vehicle, including vehicle identity information or information which can be used together with other information to get a unique identity of the vehicle;

sending a signal triggering all mobiles in the vehicle to transmit at least one of location area update messages, or re-register to network messages, to a network node;

sending first measurement reports from the mobiles to the network node, the reports including broadcasted messages or information based on the broadcast messages; and

sending second measurement reports from the on-board device to a road user server, the second measurement reports including information used to correlate the first measurement reports received from the network node with the vehicle,

where the on-board device is capable of detecting an emergency situation and performing emergency calls, including vehicle identity information or information which can be used together with other information to get a unique identity of the vehicle, to an emergency center, and

where the emergency center, upon receiving an emergency call, is responsible for performing the following;

sending a request to the road-user server, the request including the vehicle identity information, or information which can be used together with other information to get a unique identity of the vehicle, to the road-user server for performing a matching procedure;

receiving a response from the road-user server including a list that includes at least one of person identities or person profiles; and

sending the retrieved person profiles to one or more of proper hospitals, fire departments, or emergency vehicles.

6. The method of claim 5, where the sending person profiles to proper destination includes identifying in a pool database one or more of:

a capacity of each hospital, fire department, or emergency vehicle at the moment;

location of hospitals, fire departments, or emergency vehicles in relation to the vehicle position in a macro cell;

or

hospitals offering treatments for persons with specific needs.

10. A device, intended to be used on-board a vehicle, where the device is equipped with wireless communication capability used to access and communicate with a wireless communications network, the device comprising:

a first transmitter used for broadcasting messages to all mobiles within the vehicle, including vehicle identity information or information which can be used together with other information to get a unique identity of the vehicle;

a second transmitter used to send signals to all mobiles within the vehicle triggering all of the mobiles to send at least one of location area update messages or re-register to network messages, including broadcasted information, to a mobility management controller;

a transceiver used to send measurement reports to a road user server, the reports including information to be used by the road user server in a correlating procedure performed for determining all mobiles within the vehicle.

11. The device of claim 10, where the first transmitter is triggered by one or more of the following actions:

a driver starting the vehicle,

sensors detecting vehicle movement,

activation of an emergency call,

on-demand requests from the road user server,

sensors detecting a door opening,

sensors detecting an action relating to a seat belt,

activation of a time period counter, or

handover detection between macro cells.

12. The device of claim 10, where the transceiver is triggered to send measurement reports upon one or more of the following actions:

a user making an emergency call,

a collision detection sensor is activated, or

a user activating an emergency procedure.

13. The device of claim 10, where the transceiver receives additional information from sensors in one or more of vehicle seats, doors, or seat belts or from cameras, the additional information is to be included in the measurement reports sent to the road user server.

14. The device of claim 10, where the device is capable of detecting an emergency situation and performing emergency calls, including vehicle identity information or information which can be used together with other information to get a unique identity of the vehicle, to an emergency center.

15. The device of claim 13, where the transceiver is run by an application controlling the transceiver to perform:

sending a request to the road-user server, the request including the vehicle identity information, or information which can be used together with other information to get a unique identity of the vehicle, to the road-user server for performing a matching procedure;

receiving a response from the road-user server including a list that includes at least one of person identities or person profiles;

comparing the received list with stored additional information received from at least one of the sensors or the cameras; and

sending all information to an emergency center.

16. A server in a wireless communications network, the server including an application run to perform a correlation procedure for creating a relation between mobiles and a vehicle of a wireless communications network, the server comprising:

a first transceiver for receiving reports from an on-board device in the vehicle, the reports including a vehicle identity information or information which can be used together with other information to get a unique identity of the vehicle;

a second transceiver for exchanging information with a mobility management controller;

correlation equipment for correlating information received from the mobility management controller and the on-board device to relate which mobiles are considered to be in a certain vehicle;

matching equipment for performing a matching procedure to relate mobile identity numbers to person identities and/or person profiles;

a database for storing lists of at least one of person identities or person profiles along with vehicle identities information; and

a third transceiver for communicating the lists to an emergency center upon request.