Qualifying Automatic Vehicle Crash Emergency Calls to Public Safety Answering Points

• US 20130332026A1
• Filed: 06/01/2013
• Published: 12/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/12/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adams Family Living Trust, Al Earnest Hewitt, Conrad Family Trust, David Glen Myers, David Heath Roberts, James A. Lombardi, James Scott Hendrix, Jeffrey Craton Giles, Joseph Thomas Mader, Lauri Lafon, Leigh Ann Myers, Luis G. Manon, Mark Gary Meehlhause, Mark G. Johnson, Mary Ann Hewitt, Matthew D. Page, Patrick D. Mccullough, Raymond Scott Mcveigh, Richardson Family Living Trust, Robert Lawrence Carr, Robert Todd Wilkinson, Stephanie Lynne Byrd, Stephen Wayne Wolaver, Steven Michael Wagers, Steven Richard Zemaitis, Terry Dean Seagrave, Thomas Edward Mader, Timothy Doud, Timothy R.G. Sear, Valerie Kay Kasmiersky, Warren Blake Jenkins, Young Family Living Trust
• Original Assignee: Guardity Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: McKown, Russell Carl, Mader, Joseph Thomas
• Granted Patent: US 9,020,690 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/33.7
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/0027 Post collision measures, e.g. notifying emergency services
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/013 including means for detecting collisions, impending collisions or roll-over
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/001 Alarm cancelling procedures or alarm forwarding decisions, e.g. based on absence of alarm confirmation
• 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: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

The present application provides methods for in-vehicle emergency telematics devices and systems to automatically qualify vehicle crash events before directly placing a 3-digit emergency call from an in-vehicle TCU to a local PSAP operator. The qualification is performed in two stages. The first stage produces a qualified crash detection decision wherein a preliminary crash detection based on impact sensors is qualified by crash related non-impact sensors and vehicle telemetry data. The second stage uses an injury severity prediction algorithm to score the detected crash and produces a decision as to whether the crash warrants an emergency call to the PSAP operator.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving accelerometer data indicating a change in a motor vehicle velocity;

processing the accelerometer data to determine a preliminary crash detection decision indicating that the motor vehicle may have experienced a crash based on an accelerometer crash pulse;

processing at least one of microphone data obtained from a microphone during a time associated with the motor vehicle crash to determine a sound amplitude measurement data and velocity data of the motor vehicle obtained during the time associated with the motor vehicle crash;

comparing the accelerometer crash pulse to at least one of the sound amplitude measurement data and the velocity data; and

determining the motor vehicle has been in a crash based on the comparing of the accelerometer crash pulse to at least one of the sound amplitude measurement data and the velocity data.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a time associated with an accelerometer crash pulse and a time associated with sound from the microphone data.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

identifying the accelerometer crash pulse by calculating the resultant acceleration amplitude via;

Rxy=√

(Ax²+Ay²), wherein Ax is the x-axis acceleration data of the accelerometer and Ay is the y-axis acceleration data of the accelerometer; and

generating a preliminary crash detection output flag and generating the accelerometer crash pulse when Rxy is greater than a predetermined accelerometer threshold.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

comparing the sound amplitude versus the time data to the crash pulse data versus the time data; and

determining whether the motor vehicle has experienced a crash based on results of the comparison.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the comparing is performed by determining whether an increase in the sound amplitude occurred when the value of Rxy was determined to be greater than the predefined accelerometer threshold.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the velocity of the motor vehicle was obtained

from at least one of the speedometer or via global position system (GPS) measurements.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the motor vehicle has been in a crash is performed via an on-board diagnostic II (OBD-II) device.

8. An apparatus comprising:

a receiver configured to receive accelerometer data indicating a change in a motor vehicle velocity; and

a processor configured to

process the accelerometer data to determine a preliminary crash detection decision indicating that the motor vehicle may have experienced a crash based on an accelerometer crash pulse,

process at least one of microphone data obtained from a microphone during a time associated with the motor vehicle crash to determine a sound amplitude measurement data and velocity data of the motor vehicle obtained during the time associated with the motor vehicle crash,

compare the accelerometer crash pulse to at least one of the sound amplitude measurement data and the velocity data, and

determine the motor vehicle has been in a crash based on the comparing of the accelerometer crash pulse to at least one of the sound amplitude measurement data and the velocity data.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to determine a time associated with an accelerometer crash pulse and a time associated with sound from the microphone data.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to identify the accelerometer crash pulse by calculating the resultant acceleration amplitude via:

Rxy=√

(Ax²+Ay²), wherein Ax is the x-axis acceleration data of the accelerometer and Ay is the y-axis acceleration data of the accelerometer, and generate a preliminary crash detection output flag and generating the accelerometer crash pulse when Rxy is greater than a predetermined accelerometer threshold.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to compare the sound amplitude versus the time data to the crash pulse data versus the time data, and determine whether the motor vehicle has experienced a crash based on results of the comparison.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured to compare by determining whether an increase in the sound amplitude occurred when the value of Rxy was determined to be greater than the predefined accelerometer threshold.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the velocity of the motor vehicle was obtained from at least one of the speedometer or via global position system (GPS) measurements.

14. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is configured to determine the motor vehicle has been in a crash via an on-board diagnostic II (OBD-II) device.

15. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium configured to store instructions that when executed causes a processor to perform:

receiving accelerometer data indicating a change in a motor vehicle position;

processing the accelerometer data to determine a preliminary crash detection decision indicating that the motor vehicle may have experienced a crash based on an accelerometer crash pulse;

processing at least one of microphone data obtained from a microphone during a time associated with the motor vehicle crash to determine a sound amplitude measurement data and velocity data of the motor vehicle obtained during the time associated with the motor vehicle crash;

comparing the accelerometer crash pulse to at least one of the sound amplitude measurement data and the velocity data; and

determining the motor vehicle has been in a crash based on the comparing of the accelerometer crash pulse to at least one of the sound amplitude measurement data and the velocity data.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to perform:

determining a time associated with an accelerometer crash pulse and a time associated with sound from the microphone data.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to perform:

identifying the accelerometer crash pulse by calculating the resultant acceleration amplitude via;

Rxy=√

(Ax²+Ay²), wherein Ax is the x-axis acceleration data of the accelerometer and Ay is the y-axis acceleration data of the accelerometer; and

generating a preliminary crash detection output flag and generating the accelerometer crash pulse when Rxy is greater than a predetermined accelerometer threshold.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to perform:

comparing the sound amplitude versus the time data to the crash pulse data versus the time data; and

determining whether the motor vehicle has experienced a crash based on results of the comparison.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the comparing is performed by determining whether an increase in the sound amplitude occurred when the value of Rxy was determined to be greater than the predefined accelerometer threshold.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the velocity of the motor vehicle was obtained from at least one of the speedometer or via global position system (GPS) measurements and the determining the motor vehicle has been in a crash is performed via an on-board diagnostic II (OBD-II) device.