Handling vehicle accidents using a mobile terminal

• US 9,888,885 B2
• Filed: 06/02/2015
• Issued: 02/13/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: An, Sungje, Lee, Kwangjae, Kim, Seungman
• Primary Examiner(s): Huynh, Chuck
• Application Number:
  US14/727,991
• Publication Number:
  US 20150342542A1
• Time in Patent Office: 987 Days
• Field of Search: 4554042, 4554041, 340436
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/01 Measuring temperature of body parts ; Diagnostic temperature sensing, e.g. for malignant or inflamed tissue clinical contact thermometers G01K13/20
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02055 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular condition and temperature
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/021 Measuring pressure in heart or blood vessels A61B5/0205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/024 Detecting, measuring or recording pulse rate or heart rate A61B5/0205, A61B5/021 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0533 Measuring galvanic skin response
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7282 Event detection, e.g. detecting unique waveforms indicative of a medical condition A61B5/4094, A61B5/4818, A61B5/349, A61B5/0823 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/747 in case of emergency, i.e. alerting emergency services
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/13 Receivers
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/016 Personal emergency signalling and security systems emergency non-personal manually actuated alarm activators G08B25/12
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/10 using wireless transmission systems G08B25/009 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/14 Central alarm receiver or annunciator arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 29/06 Monitoring of the line circuits, e.g. signalling of line faults
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/385 Transceivers carried on the body, e.g. in helmets
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72421 with automatic activation of emergency service functions, e.g. upon sensing an alarm
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/04 for emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5116 for emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/001 Synchronization between nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/50 : for emergency connections

Abstract

A mobile terminal includes a terminal body that is wearable on a part of a user'"'"'s body. A wireless communication unit of the mobile terminal connects to an e-Call system of a vehicle and receives information related to a state of the vehicle. A detecting unit of the mobile terminal detects a biometric signal of the user that is sensed by at least one sensor provided in the terminal body. A controller is configured to, based on an accident event of the vehicle being detected from the received information related to the state of the vehicle, analyze the detected biometric signal to obtain state information of the user. Based on a predetermined condition being satisfied, the controller cooperates with the e-Call system of the vehicle and transmits the obtained state information of the user and the information related to a state of the vehicle to a call center.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal comprising:

a terminal body configured to be wearable on a part of a user'"'"'s body;

a wireless communication unit configured to connect to an e-Call system of a vehicle when the user wearing the terminal body enters the vehicle and to receive information related to a state of the vehicle;

a detecting unit configured to detect a biometric signal of the user that is sensed by at least one sensor provided in the terminal body; and

a controller configured to;

based on an accident event of the vehicle being detected from the received information related to the state of the vehicle, analyze the detected biometric signal to obtain state information of the user,

based on a predetermined condition being satisfied, cooperate with the e-Call system of the vehicle and transmit the obtained state information of the user and the information related to a state of the vehicle to a call center,

periodically obtain, based on the detected biometric signal, state information of the user after transmitting, to the call center, first state information of the user obtained at a first point in time after the accident event of the vehicle was detected,

compare the first state information of the user obtained at the first point in time with second state information of the user obtained at a second point in time, the second point in time occurring after the first point in time, and

based on results of comparing the first state information with the second state information, request a varied accident handling service to the call center,

wherein based on detecting that an abnormal signal of state information of the user obtained at the second point in time is smaller than an abnormal signal of state information of the user obtained at the first point in time, information regarding a medical institution nearest to a current location of the vehicle is provided.

2. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the predetermined condition comprises a condition in which a degree of impact corresponding to the obtained state information of the user exceeds a predetermined reference range or a condition in which a degree of impact corresponding to the received information related to a state of the vehicle exceeds a predetermined reference range.

3. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to:

periodically check a state of connection with the e-Call system;

perform synchronization with the e-Call system; and

based on a state of the connection, provide the obtained state information of the user to the connected e-Call system.

4. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to, based on an emergency signal included in the obtained state information of the user being detected, control the wireless communication unit to contact an external terminal nearest to a current location of the user by using a global positioning system (GPS) or a base station (BS).

5. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to, according to the results of comparing the first state information with the second state information, based on an abnormal signal of state information of the user obtained at the second point in time being greater than an abnormal signal of state information of the user obtained at the first point in time, transmit a message to the call center to induce the vehicle to stop running.

6. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication unit is further configured to receive, from the connected e-Call system, image data that was imaged before and after the detected accident event, and

the controller is further configured to, based on the predetermined condition being satisfied, transmit the state information of the user, the information related to a state of the vehicle, and the received image data to the call center.

7. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor provided in the terminal body includes at least one or more of a galvanic skin response (GSR) sensor, a body temperature sensor, a pulse sensor, or a pressure sensor.

8. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to detect an accident event by performing operations comprising:

determining whether the vehicle has been in an accident based on the received information related to a state of the vehicle, and

in response to determining that the vehicle has been in an accident based on the received information related to a state of the vehicle, confirming that the vehicle has been in an accident using the biometric signal.

9. The mobile terminal of claim 1, further comprising:

an output unit provided in the terminal body and configured to output vibrations,

wherein the controller is configured to, in response to the accident event of the vehicle being detected based on the received information, control the output unit to output a vibration with a predetermined pattern.

10. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to:

provide a control signal such that the state information of the user is provided, through the call center, to a medical server that interworks with the call center, and

receive an accident handling service that is varied according to diagnosis results provided by the medical server based on the state information of the user.

11. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the state information of the user is represented by a plurality of stages indicating different levels of severity.

12. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the predetermined condition comprises a condition in which the state information of the user indicates an emergency situation and the received information related to a state of the vehicle does not indicate an accident of the vehicle, and the mobile terminal is configured to transmit a message to an external device to the vehicle based on the state information of the user indicating an emergency situation.

13. The mobile terminal of claim 12, wherein the external device to the vehicle is a mobile device of another user.

14. A method for handling an accident of a vehicle, the method comprising:

connecting a mobile terminal to an e-Call system of a vehicle when a user wearing the mobile terminal enters the vehicle, and receiving, at the mobile terminal, information related to a state of the vehicle from the e-Call system;

detecting a biometric signal of the user who is wearing the mobile terminal;

based on an accident event of the vehicle being detected from the received information related to a state of the vehicle, analyzing the detected biometric signal of the user to obtain state information of the user;

based on a predetermined condition being satisfied by the obtained state information of the user and the information related to a state of the vehicle, transmitting to a call center, by the mobile terminal in cooperation with the e-Call system, the obtained state information of the user and the information related to a state of the vehicle;

periodically obtaining, based on the detected biometric signal, state information of the user after transmitting, to the call center, first state information of the user obtained at a first point in time after the accident event of the vehicle was detected;

comparing the first state information of the user obtained at the first point in time with second state information of the user obtained at a second point in time, the second point in time occurring after the first point in time; and

based on results of comparing the first state information with the second state information, requesting a varied accident handling service to the call center,

wherein based on detecting that an abnormal signal of state information of the user obtained at the second point in time is smaller than an abnormal signal of state information of the user obtained at the first point in time, information regarding a medical institution nearest to a current location of the vehicle is provided.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the predetermined condition comprises a condition in which a degree of impact corresponding to the obtained state information of the user exceeds a predetermined reference range or a condition in which a degree of impact corresponding to the received information related to a state of the vehicle exceeds a predetermined reference range.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

periodically checking a state of connection with the e-Call system;

performing synchronization with the e-Call system; and

based on a state of the connection, providing the obtained state information of the user to the connected e-Call system.

17. A system comprising:

an e-Call system installed in a vehicle;

a mobile terminal configured to be wearable on a part of a user'"'"'s body, wherein the mobile terminal comprises a wireless communication unit configured to connect to the e-Call system of the vehicle when the user wearing the mobile terminal enters the vehicle and to receive information related to a state of the vehicle, and a detecting unit configured to detect a biometric signal of the user; and

a controller configured to;

responsive to an accident event of the vehicle being detected from the received information related to a state of the vehicle, obtain state information of the user based on analyzing the biometric signal detected by the detecting unit of the mobile terminal,

determine that a predetermined condition is satisfied by at least one of the state information of the user or the received information related to the state of the vehicle,

based on determining that the predetermined condition is satisfied, cooperate with the e-Call system of the vehicle and transmit, to a call center, at least one of the state information of the user or the information related to a state of the vehicle,

periodically obtain, based on the detected biometric signal, state information of the user after transmitting, to the call center, first state information of the user obtained at a first point in time after the accident event of the vehicle was detected,

compare the first state information of the user obtained at the first point in time with second state information of the user obtained at a second point in time, the second point in time occurring after the first point in time, and

based on results of comparing the first state information with the second state information, request a varied accident handling service to the call center,

wherein based on detecting that an abnormal signal of state information of the user obtained at the second point in time is smaller than an abnormal signal of state information of the user obtained at the first point in time, information regarding a medical institution nearest to a current location of the vehicle is provided.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising a second mobile terminal configured to be wearable on a part of a second user'"'"'s body, wherein the second mobile terminal comprises:

a second wireless communication unit configured to connect to the e-Call system of the vehicle and receive information related to a state of the vehicle; and

a second detecting unit configured to detect a biometric signal of the second user,

wherein the controller is further configured to analyze the biometric signal of the second user to determine state information of the second user, and wherein the predetermined condition further depends on the state information of the second user.