Infotainment system for emergency rescue request notification and method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11202189-B2
Application number	US-202017029470-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 23, 2020
Priority date	Nov 22, 2019
Publication date	Dec 14, 2021
Grant date	Dec 14, 2021

Abstract

An emergency rescue request notification method using an infotainment system and a system therefor are provided. The emergency rescue request notification method in the vehicle includes detecting an accident of the vehicle, collecting information corresponding to the detected accident, generating an emergency rescue request message based on the collected information, searching for an FM radio channel with the highest receive sensitivity, changing and transmitting a program type of the found FM radio channel to a specific value using an FM radio data system (RDS) message, and transmitting the emergency rescue request message over the found FM radio channel.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An emergency rescue request notification method in a vehicle, the method comprising:
detecting a signal indicating an accident of the vehicle;
collecting information corresponding to the detected accident;
generating an emergency rescue request message based on the collected information;
searching for an FM radio channel with a highest receive sensitivity;
changing and transmitting a program type of the found FM radio channel to a specific value using an FM radio data system (RDS) message;
calculating a distance from a Fire Department radio station closest to a location where the accident occurs, with reference to a navigation map database;
determining radio transmission signal intensity corresponding to the calculated distance; and
transmitting the emergency rescue request message generated based on the collected information over the found FM radio channel.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the signal is an airbag deployment signal.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
transmitting the emergency rescue request message to a telematics server over a mobile communication network, when it is possible to provide the connected car service.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the collected information includes at least one of information about the location where the accident occurs, information about a time when the accident occurs, driver information, or predetermined contact information.

5. The method of claim 4 ,
wherein the transmitting of the emergency rescue request message over the found FM radio channel includes:
transmitting the emergency rescue request message with the determined radio transmission signal intensity.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the generating of the emergency rescue request message based on the collected information includes:
generating a text message for an emergency rescue request based on the collected information; and
converting the text message into an analog voice message using a text to speech converter.

7. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
changing a frequency band based on the calculated distance,
wherein the frequency band is changed to an ultra-short-wave band, when the calculated distance is short, and
wherein the frequency band is changed to a short-wave band, when the calculated distance is long.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the specific value is a code value defined in response to alarm or emergency among program types defined in an FM RDS.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining whether it is possible to provide a connected car service before searching for the FM radio channel with the highest receive sensitivity;
wherein the FM radio channel with the highest receive sensitivity is found when it is not possible to provide the connected car service.

10. An infotainment system loaded into a vehicle, the infotainment system comprising:
an in-vehicle communication modem configured to perform in-vehicle communication with electronics of the vehicle;
a microcomputer (MICOM) configured to process a signal received from the in-vehicle communication modem;
a main processor configured to detect occurrence of a vehicle accident based on a signal received from the MICOM and to generate an emergency rescue request message corresponding to the detected vehicle accident;
wherein the main processor calculates a distance from a Fire Department radio station closest to a location where the accident occurs, with reference to the map information, and determines radio transmission signal intensity corresponding to the calculated distance;
an FM RDS radio transmitter configured to transmit an FM RDS message, in which a program type of an FM radio channel with the highest receive sensitivity is changed to a specific value, under control of the main processor; and
an FM radio transmitter configured to transmit the emergency rescue request message generated over the FM radio channel with the highest receive sensitivity.

11. The infotainment system of claim 10 , wherein the FM RDS radio transmitter or the FM radio transmitter searches for the FM radio channel with the highest receive sensitivity.

12. The infotainment system of claim 11 , wherein the main processor determines whether it is possible to provide a connected car service before searching for the FM radio channel with the highest receive sensitivity, and searches for the FM radio channel with the highest receive sensitivity when it is not possible to provide the connected car service.

13. The infotainment system of claim 12 , wherein the main processor controls to transmit the emergency rescue request message via a mobile communication module provided in the infotainment system, when it is possible to provide the connected car service.

14. The infotainment system of claim 10 , wherein the main processor determines that an accident occurs in the vehicle, when an airbag deployment signal generated by an airbag control unit is received from the MICOM.

15. The infotainment system of claim 14 , wherein the airbag deployment signal is encoded into a controller area network (CAN) or Ethernet signal and is received in the in-vehicle communication modem via a central gateway or a cluster.

16. The infotainment system of claim 10 , further comprising:
a global positioning system (GPS) module configured to provide information about the location where the accident of the vehicle occurs and information about a time when the accident of the vehicle occurs; and
a memory configured to maintain default information corresponding to the vehicle and map information;
wherein the main processor generates the emergency rescue request message in the form of text based on at least one of the information about the location where the accident occurs, information about the time when the accident occurs, the default information, or the map information.

17. The infotainment system of claim 16 , wherein the main processor controls to transmit a message with the determined radio transmission signal intensity.

18. The infotainment system of claim 17 , wherein the main processor converts the emergency rescue request message in the form of text into an analog voice message using a text to speech converter provided in the infotainment system and provides the analog voice message to the FM radio transmitter.

19. The infotainment system of claim 17 , wherein the main processor changes a frequency band based on the calculated distance, and
wherein the main processor changes the frequency band to an ultra-short-wave band, when the calculated distance is short, and changes the frequency band to a short-wave band, when the calculated distance is long.

20. The infotainment system of claim 10 , wherein the specific value is a code value defined in response to alarm or emergency among program types defined in an FM RDS.

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd
• Kia Motors Corp

Inventors

• Oh Hyung Suk

Classifications

• G08B21/0202 Primary

  Child monitoring systems using a transmitter-receiver system carried by the parent and the child · CPC title

• G08B25/10

  using wireless transmission systems {(G08B25/009 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• G07C5/08

  Registering or indicating performance data other than driving, working, idle, or waiting time, with or without registering driving, working, idle or waiting time · CPC title

• H04W4/40

  for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P] · CPC title

• H04W4/90 Primary

  Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS] · CPC title