On-vehicle emergency report apparatus, emergency communication apparatus and emergency report system

• US 6,768,417 B2
• Filed: 02/28/2002
• Issued: 07/27/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/26/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Sato, Kazuhiko, Kojima, Takao, Minowa, Toshimichi, Yoshikawa, Tokuji, Kuragaki, Satoru
• Primary Examiner(s): POPE, DARYL C
• Application Number:
  US10/084,665
• Publication Number:
  US 20030117273A1
• Time in Patent Office: 880 Days
• Field of Search: 340/425.5, 340/426, 340/539, 340/531, 340/825.36, 340/825.49, 340/539.1, 340/539.12, 340/539.13, 340/539.18, 312/357, 379/37, 379/45
• US Class Current: 340/425.5
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/164 Centralised systems, e.g. external to vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/205 Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental

Abstract

An on-vehicle emergency report apparatus, an emergency communication apparatus and an emergency report system are disclosed. The emergency report apparatus includes an emergency situation prediction unit for predicting the possibility of a vehicle involved encountering an emergency situation, a report control unit and a communication unit. The communication is established based upon the determination of the emergency situation prediction unit, which predicts the possibility of the vehicle encountering an emergency situation a predetermined time later, based on at least one of the feature quantities including the distance between the vehicle involved and the vehicle running immediately ahead, the relative speed, the relative acceleration, the speed of the vehicle involved, the brake pedal stroke, the steering wheel angle and the expression of the driver.

Claims

1. An on-vehicle emergency report apparatus comprising vehicle position detection means for detecting the position of a vehicle, emergency situation prediction means for predicting that the vehicle encounters an emergency situation, and communication means for communicating with an emergency report service station,

wherein:

the emergency situation prediction means predicts whether the vehicle would encounter an emergency situation after a predetermined period of time, based on at least one of the distance from the vehicle to an object with which the vehicle may collide, the relative speed, the relative acceleration, the speed, and the brake pedal stroke, the steering wheel angle and the facial expression of the driver of the vehicle;

said emergency situation prediction means predicts the position of the vehicle and the position of said object with which said vehicle may collide, as of the predetermined period time later, based on the distance between said vehicle and said object, and the speed, the acceleration and the steering wheel angle of the vehicle, and estimates a possibility of collision based on the predicted positions of said vehicle and said object; and

an estimated result is transmitted to said emergency report service station by said communication means, together with vehicle position information detected by the vehicle position detection means.

2. An emergency communication apparatus comprising:

a data base for storing contact information related to emergency contacts;

means for receiving an emergency report from an on-vehicle emergency report apparatus;

means for requesting a first aid service to take an emergency action;

means for receiving information related to a prospective destination of an occupant of an emergency-reporting vehicle from the first aid service;

means for searching said data base for contact information related to an emergency contact associated with the occupant; and

means for transmitting the information related to the destination of the occupant to the emergency contact based on the contact information associated with the occupant;

wherein if a telephone of the emergency contact has set a transfer mode, an alternative telephone number is received from one of said telephone of the emergency contact and the alternative telephone, and the information related to the destination of the occupant is transmitted to the alternative telephone.

3. An emergency report system comprising:

an on-vehicle emergency report apparatus including;

vehicle position detection means for detecting the position of a vehicle;

emergency situation prediction means for predicting whether the vehicle would encounter an emergency situation after a predetermined period of time, based on at least one of the distance from the vehicle to an object with which the vehicle may collide, the relative speed, the relative acceleration, the speed, and the brake pedal stroke, the steering wheel angle and the facial expression of the driver of the vehicle; and

communication means for communicating with an emergency report service station; and

an emergency communication apparatus including;

communication means; and

a data base for storing contact information related to emergency contacts;

wherein said communication means includes;

means for receiving an emergency report from said on-vehicle emergency report apparatus;

means for requesting a first aid service to take an emergency action;

means for receiving information related to a prospective destination of an occupant of an emergency-reporting vehicle from the first aid service,

means for searching said data base for contact information related to an emergency contact associated with the occupant; and

means for transmitting the information related to the destination of the occupant to the emergency contact.

4. An emergency communication apparatus comprising:

a database for storing contact information related to emergency contacts associated with an individual; and

communication means for receiving information related to the individual and a destination of said individual for emergency care from a first aid station, searching said database for emergency contacts associated with said individual based on said information related to said individual, and transmitting said information related to the destination of said individual to at least one of said emergency contacts associated with said individual.

5. An emergency communication apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said first aid station is an emergency hospital or an emergency transportation service.

6. An emergency communication apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said information about emergency contacts associated with said individual includes a contact address of said individual'"'"'s home or relatives.

7. An emergency communication apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said communication means transmits information about conditions of said individual in addition to said information related to the individual and a destination of said individual to said emergency contacts associated with said individual.

8. An emergency communication apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said information related to said individual includes at least one of a name of said individual, a driver'"'"'s license number, and an insurance policy number for identifying said individual.

9. An emergency communication apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said information about a destination of said individual includes at least one of a name, phone number and street address of said first aid station.

10. An emergency communication apparatus comprising:

a database for storing information related to emergency contacts associated with an individual; and

communication means for receiving an emergency report specifying said individual from an on-vehicle emergency report apparatus, searching said database for said information about emergency contacts associated with said individual based on said emergency report, and transmitting information about a destination of said individual to said emergency contacts associated with said individual;

wherein

when said communication means receives information about a destination of said individual for emergency care and specifying said individual from a first aid station, said communication means searches said database for said information related to the emergency contacts associated with said individual based on said information about a destination of said individual, and transmits said information about a destination of said individual and said emergency report to at least one of the emergency contacts associated with said individual.