Method and apparatus for providing customization of public safety answering point information delivery

• US 9,648,477 B2
• Filed: 03/13/2014
• Issued: 05/09/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sirius XM Connected Vehicle Services Inc. (Liberty Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sirius XM Connected Vehicle Services Inc. (Liberty Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Corley, Gregory Charles, Farrell, Tod, Garrison, Barry, Nelson, Scott, Schalk, Thomas Barton
• Primary Examiner(s): Lett, Thomas
• Application Number:
  US14/209,120
• Publication Number:
  US 20140273915A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,153 Days
• Field of Search: 4554041, 4554042, 4554563
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

A method and system for providing emergency call (e-call) services is disclosed. A third-party service center receives a voice call from a vehicle. Signaling is automatically sent to the vehicle from the third-party service center over the voice call. Location information is received from the vehicle at the third-party service center in response to the signaling. Information is forwarded from the voice call and the location information to a public safety answering point (PSAP) determined by the third-party service center.

Claims

1. A method for providing emergency call services, which comprises:

receiving at an automated third-party service center a voice call from a vehicle;

automatically sending signaling to the vehicle from the third-party service center over the voice call;

receiving at the third-party service center in response to the signaling, synthetic audio in the form of recorded audio or a text-to-speech message from the vehicle, the synthetic audio representing location information comprising at least latitude and longitude coordinates of the vehicle;

using an interactive voice recognition (IVR) system located at the third-party service center, transcribing from the synthetic audio and into text data at least the latitude and longitude coordinates to determine if the coordinates are valid; and

if the coordinates are valid, automatically forwarding information from the voice call and the location information to a public safety answering point (PSAP) determined by the third-party service center.

2. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises determining the PSAP with a database containing characteristic information on a plurality of PSAPs.

3. The method according to claim 2, which further comprises utilizing the database to select the PSAP using voice and/or location information.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the database is resident in an external device.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the external device comprises an emergency services call router connected to the third-party service center over an Internet connection.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprises determining alternate position information and using the alternate position information to check the location information.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the alternate position information is provided by a mobile device locator that determines the alternate position information using cellular network-based methods.

8. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises screening rogue or runaway devices from reaching the PSAP.

9. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises using a live agent to determine the location information when useable location information cannot be determined automatically.

10. The method according to claim 9, which further comprises providing a user with an ability to layer additional services on the voice call due to an intervention of the live agent.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the signaling to the vehicle from the third-party service center comprises dual tone multi frequency (DTMF) signaling.

12. A system for providing emergency call services, which comprises:

a vehicle e-call system;

a plurality of public safety answering points (PSAPs); and

an automated third party service center that;

receives a voice call from the vehicle e-call system;

automatically ends signaling to the vehicle e-call system over the voice call;

in response to the signaling, receives synthetic audio from the vehicle e-call system, the synthetic audio being in the form of recorded audio or a text-to-speech message and representing location information comprising at least latitude and longitude coordinates of the vehicle;

using an interactive voice recognition (IVR) system located at the third party service center, transcribing from the synthetic audio and into text data at least the latitude and longitude coordinates to determine if the coordinates are valid;

if the coordinates are valid, determines a selected one of the plurality of PSAPs; and

automatically forwards information from the voice call and the location information to the selected PSAP.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein the plurality of public safety answering points (PSAPs) each have characteristic information and further comprising a database containing the characteristic information on the plurality of PSAPs used by the third party service center to determine the selected PSAP.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the third party service center accesses the database to select the PSAP using voice and/or location information.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein the database is resident in an external device.

16. The system according to claim 15, wherein the external device comprises an emergency services call router connected to the third-party service center over an Internet connection.

17. The system according to claim 12, wherein the third party service center determines alternate position information and uses the alternate position information to check the location information.

18. The system according to claim 17, further comprising a mobile device locator that provides the alternate position information and determines the alternate position information using cellular network-based methods.

19. The system according to claim 12, wherein the third party service center screens rogue or runaway devices from reaching the PSAP.

20. The system according to claim 12, wherein the signaling to the vehicle e-call system from the third-party service center comprises dual tone multi frequency (DTMF) signaling.