Emergency reporting apparatus

• US 8,581,715 B2
• Filed: 02/06/2007
• Issued: 11/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/24/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation, Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation, Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Sakai, Hiroshi, Ito, Noriaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Benjamin C
• Assistant Examiner(s): KING, CURTIS J
• Application Number:
  US12/160,390
• Publication Number:
  US 20100238052A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,471 Days
• Field of Search: 340/988
• US Class Current: 340/436
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/205 Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental

Abstract

An emergency reporting apparatus including an emergency signal outputting part that outputs an emergency signal when a vehicle is in an emergency status and a logic circuit part that stores an emergency signal output by the emergency signal outputting part with a logic circuit. Furthermore, an emergency reporting apparatus conducts an emergency report with respect to the outside based on the emergency signal output from the emergency signal outputting part.

Claims

1. An emergency reporting apparatus including an emergency signal outputting part that outputs an emergency signal when a vehicle is in an emergency status and conducting an emergency report with respect to the outside based on the emergency signal output by the emergency signal outputting part, the emergency reporting apparatus comprising:

a logic circuit part that stores the emergency signal output by the emergency signal outputting part with a logic circuit; and

a non-volatile storing part that stores the emergency signal output by the emergency signal outputting part with a non-volatile memory;

wherein the logic circuit is a logic IC that is operable at a low voltage and that stores the emergency signal status when a central processing unit of the emergency reporting apparatus is not operational;

wherein the low voltage is lower than a least operation voltage that is necessary for operating the central processing unit of the emergency reporting apparatus;

wherein the central processing unit controls writing of the emergency signal to the non-volatile storing part when a voltage supplied to the central processing unit is above the operation voltage of the central processing unit, based on the availability of the emergency signal from the emergency signal outputting part or the logic circuit;

wherein the central processing unit is configured to determine whether the storing of the emergency signal in the non-volatile memory is completed by the non-volatile storing part; and

wherein the logic circuit part, the central processing unit and the non-volatile storing part are all included in an emergency reporting electronic control unit of the emergency reporting apparatus,

the emergency reporting apparatus further comprising;

a communication apparatus connected to the emergency reporting electronic control unit and configured to report the emergency status using the stored emergency signal stored in the non-volatile storing part in a case where the central processing unit determines that the storing of the emergency signal is completed by the non-volatile storing part, even at a time when the central processing unit is reset.

2. The emergency reporting apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a location detecting part that detects a current location of the vehicle;

wherein the logic circuit part stores the current location of the vehicle detected by the location detecting part together with the emergency signal.

3. The emergency reporting apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the emergency signal outputting part is a passenger protecting apparatus for protecting a passenger, and in that the emergency signal is an activation signal output when activating the passenger protecting apparatus.

4. The emergency reporting apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein the passenger protecting apparatus is an airbag apparatus, and in that the activation signal is an airbag deployment signal.

5. The emergency reporting apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the emergency status of the vehicle includes a state where a vehicle accident has occurred.

6. The emergency reporting apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein the outside is an information center, and further comprising:

a reporting apparatus that conducts the emergency report by transmitting the activation signal to the information center.

7. The emergency reporting apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the non-volatile memory is a memory that is electrically erasable and writable.

8. The emergency reporting apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the logic circuit includes at least a latch circuit that retains the emergency signal and an AND circuit that conducts a determining process based on the emergency signal retained by the latch circuit.

9. The emergency reporting apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the central processing unit determines whether to conduct a report with respect to the outside based on the emergency signal stored by the logic circuit.

10. The emergency reporting apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the logic circuit part stores the emergency signal at least until a process of storing the emergency signal by the non-volatile storing part is completed.

11. The emergency reporting apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the logic circuit part stores the emergency signal at least until the non-volatile storing part erases storage of the emergency signal.

12. The emergency reporting apparatus as claimed in claim 10, further comprising:

an emergency signal determining part that determines whether the emergency signal is stored at least by either one of the logic circuit part or the non-volatile storing part at a time of reactivating the apparatus;

wherein the emergency report is conducted with respect to the outside when the emergency signal is determined as being stored by the emergency signal determining part.

13. The emergency reporting apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein the non-volatile memory is a memory that is electrically erasable and writable.