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

• US 10,455,396 B2
• Filed: 02/26/2018
• Issued: 10/22/2019
• 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 J
• Application Number:
  US15/904,961
• Publication Number:
  US 20180192277A1
• Time in Patent Office: 603 Days
• Field of Search: 455404
• 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 providing vehicle incident call services to a user 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 and, in response to the signaling, the third-party service center receives from the vehicle, location information comprising at least the latitude and longitude coordinates of the vehicle. An interactive voice recognition (IVR) system located at the third-party service center is used to determine if the latitude and longitude coordinates are valid. If the coordinates are determined to be valid, the third-party service center provides the user with a selection of vehicle-incident non-emergency response services.

Claims

1. A method for providing vehicle incident call services to a user, 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;

receiving at the third-party service center in response to the signaling, synthetic audio in the form of recorded audio or 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, the third-party service center providing the user with a selection of vehicle-incident non-emergency response services.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle-incident non-emergency response services comprise at least one of:

private accident handling;

insurance notification;

replacement vehicle coordination; and

third-party notifications.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the synthetic audio received at the third-party service center is received over a data channel.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the automatic signaling sent by the third-party service center to the vehicle is sent over the voice call.

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

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the alternate position information is provided by a mobile device locator that determines the alternate position information using cellular network-based methods.

7. A method for providing vehicle incident call services to a user, 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;

receiving at the third-party service center in response to the signaling, location information from the vehicle comprising at least latitude and longitude coordinates of the vehicle;

using an interactive voice recognition (IVR) system located at the third-party service center, determining if the coordinates are valid; and

if the coordinates are valid, the third-party service center providing the user with a selection of vehicle-incident non-emergency response services.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the vehicle-incident non-emergency response services comprise at least one of:

private accident handling;

insurance notification;

replacement vehicle coordination; and

third-party notifications.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein the location information received at the third-party service center is received over a data channel.

10. The method according to claim 7, wherein the automatic signaling sent by the third-party service center to the vehicle is sent over the voice call.

11. The method according to claim 7, which further comprises determining alternate position information and using the alternate position information to check the location information.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the alternate position information is provided by a mobile device locator that determines the alternate position information using cellular network-based methods.

13. A method for providing vehicle incident call services to a user, 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;

receiving at the third-party service center in response to the signaling, location information from the vehicle comprising at least latitude and longitude coordinates of the vehicle;

using an interactive voice recognition (IVR) system located at the third-party service center, determining if the coordinates are valid;

if the coordinates are valid, the third-party service center, using the interactive voice recognition (IVR) system, prompting the user to request either emergency response services or vehicle-incident non-emergency response services;

if the user requests emergency response services, 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; and

if the user requests vehicle-incident non-emergency response services, providing the user with a selection of vehicle-incident non-emergency response services by way of a user interface located at the vehicle.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the vehicle-incident non-emergency response services comprise at least one of:

private accident handling;

insurance notification;

replacement vehicle coordination; and

third-party notifications.

15. The method according to claim 13, which further comprises determining the PSAP with a database containing characteristic information on a plurality of PSAPs.

16. The method according to claim 15, which further comprises utilizing the database to select the PSAP using voice and/or location information.

17. The method according to claim 13, wherein the location information received at the third-party service center is received over a data channel.

18. The method according to claim 13, wherein the automatic signaling sent by the third-party service center to the vehicle is sent over the voice call.

19. The method according to claim 13, which further comprises determining alternate position information and using the alternate position information to check the location information.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein the alternate position information is provided by a mobile device locator that determines the alternate position information using cellular network-based methods.