JP2003022490A - Emergency report system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an emergency report system which sends an emergency report to a base station when a collision accident, etc., should take place. SOLUTION: This emergency report system 10 includes an internal telephone 14 and a bluetooth module 15. The bluetooth module 15 forms a radio network with a plurality of portable telephones 26 as bluetooth equipment. The emergency report system 10 when deciding that emergency report should be issued according to a signal from an airbag control circuit 24 tries reporting to a base station 30 by the internal telephone 14, selects the portable telephones 26 on the formed radio network according to priority if the reporting by the internal telephone 14 can not be performed, and tries the reporting by the selected portable telephones 26. Consequently, even if some of the internal telephone and portable telephones get out of order, the reporting can securely be performed.

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an emergency notification device for making a notification to a base station when a situation such as a collision accident has to be reported. 2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as described in JP-A-11-345385, when a vehicle collision accident or the like occurs, connection with a base station is started manually or automatically, and When the connection with the station is completed, information such as the vehicle ID and the vehicle position is transmitted to the base station, and a call between the vehicle occupant and the base station staff is established, thereby notifying that an emergency has occurred. Emergency notification devices for performing are known. [0003] However, in the above-mentioned conventional technology, communication with the base station is performed using a telephone built in the emergency call device.
When the telephone breaks down due to a collision accident or the like, there is a problem that it is impossible to notify the base station. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in order to address the above-mentioned problems, and has a feature that, when a situation where a report should be made occurs, an emergency report for making a radio report to a base station. In the notification device, a module for forming a wireless network with a mobile phone wirelessly connectable to a network, and one of the mobile phones connected to the wireless network formed by the module and the same wireless network Communicating, using the mobile phone to make a report to the base station the first reporting means, and a determination means for determining whether the first reporting means can report to the base station, When it is determined that the report to the base station by the first report means is not possible, the mobile phone and another mobile phone connected to the wireless network are connected via the same wireless network. And second reporting means for making the report to the base station using another mobile phone. According to this, when it is necessary to report to the base station, a plurality of mobile phones inside and outside the vehicle connected to the wireless network (for example, in addition to the mobile phone of an occupant, in an adjacent vehicle or traffic) The same report can be made using one of the mobile phones of the occupant, so that the same report can be made with a high probability even if the mobile phone possessed by the occupant breaks down due to an accident or the like. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of an emergency notification device according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The emergency notification device 10 shown schematically in FIG. 1 is mounted on a vehicle. And the CPUs 1 communicably connected to each other
1, memory 12, interface 13, built-in telephone 1
4, and Bluetooth module 15
It has. The interface 13 is connected to a microphone 21 and a speaker 22 for communication, an emergency call manual switch 23 operated by an occupant, an airbag control circuit 24, and a navigation control circuit 25. The CPU 11 executes a later-described program (routine) stored in the memory 12 to make an emergency report to the base station 30 based on a signal from the emergency report manual switch 23 or the airbag control circuit 24. It is determined whether or not a situation such as an accident has occurred, and when it is determined that a situation requiring an emergency report has occurred, a report is made to the base station 30. [0008] The built-in telephone 14 communicatively connects the emergency notification device 10 and the base station 30 in accordance with an instruction from the CPU 11. Bluetooth module 1
5 is a program interface having both hardware and software called HCI, a link management layer,
A wireless LAN module called a piconet is formed with a plurality of mobile phones 26... 26, which are Bluetooth devices equipped with a Bluetooth module. I am getting it. More specifically, the Bluetooth module 15
Functions as a master in the network to be formed, performs an inquiry (inquiry) to confirm what Bluetooth device is present in the communication range, and performs a paging (call) to exist in the communication range. Bluetooth devices to participate in the network, and then change these devices to a communication standby mode, so that wireless communication with these devices can be started when necessary. The airbag control circuit 24 is connected to a longitudinal acceleration sensor, a lateral acceleration sensor, a right-side collision sensor, a left-side collision sensor and the like, not shown, and detects the occurrence of a collision based on the outputs of these sensors. At this time, an airbag (not shown) is deployed and a signal indicating that a collision has occurred is transmitted to the emergency notification device 10. The navigation control circuit 25 obtains the GPS signal, specifies the position of the own vehicle, performs route guidance to the destination, and transmits information on the specified position of the own vehicle to the emergency notification device 10. ing. Next, the operation of the emergency notification device 10 configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. FIG.
5 is a flowchart showing a routine executed by the CPU 11 every time a predetermined time elapses. First, the description will be started from the case where no accident or the like has occurred in the vehicle and there is no emergency notification. At a predetermined timing, the CPU 11 proceeds from step 200 to step 205,
5 to determine whether there is a request to make an emergency call (whether or not to make an emergency call), whether a collision has occurred by a signal from the airbag control circuit 24, or an emergency call manual switch. The determination is made based on whether or not 23 has been operated. In this case, since there is no emergency call, the CPU 11 determines "No" in step 205, proceeds to step 295, and ends this routine once.
In this way, the emergency notification device 10 monitors whether or not a situation requiring an emergency notification has occurred every time a predetermined time elapses. Next, a case will be described where an emergency call is made due to an accident or the like in the vehicle and the built-in telephone 14 of the emergency call device 10 is normal. In this case, the CPU 11 At the timing of step 205
In step 205, "Yes" is determined in step 205, and the process proceeds to step 210. In step 210, connection to the base station 30 by the built-in telephone 14 is started. Next, the CPU 11 proceeds to step 215,
At 15, the timer T is reset and started (timekeeping is started).
It is determined whether or not the connection with has been completed. At this point, immediately after the connection by the built-in telephone 14 has been started in the previous step 210, and the connection with the base station 30 has not been completed, the CPU 11 judges "No" in the step 220. Then, the process proceeds to step 225, where it is determined whether or not the timer T has counted a predetermined time T0. The predetermined time T0 is selected to be a sufficiently long time as compared with the time normally required for the built-in telephone 14 to connect to the base station 30. At this time, it is immediately after the timer T starts counting time.
Is determined to be “No” in Step 225 and Step 220
Return to Thereafter, the CPU 11 repeatedly executes steps 220 and 225, and completes the connection between the built-in telephone 14 and the base station 30 before the timer T measures the predetermined time T0 (that is, before the predetermined time T0 elapses). Monitor whether or not. In this case, since the built-in telephone 14 is normal, before the timer T measures the predetermined time T0, the base station 30 is activated.
Complete the connection with As a result, when the CPU 11 proceeds to step 220, the
s ”, the process proceeds to step 230, and
At 0, predetermined data is transmitted to the base station 30. The transmitted data includes the navigation control circuit 25.
The vehicle position transmitted from the vehicle, the vehicle ID unique to the vehicle,
Information such as the type of collision and the degree of collision estimated based on the signal transmitted from the airbag control circuit 24 is included. Next, the CPU 11 proceeds to step 235, shifts to the voice communication mode at step 235, and establishes a voice conversation between the occupant and the staff of the base station 30 using the microphone 21 and the speaker 22. In this state, when the call end switch (not shown) is operated by the occupant, the CPU 11 proceeds to step 240 and proceeds to step 240.
Is terminated, and the routine proceeds to step 295, where the present routine is temporarily terminated. As described above, when the built-in telephone 14 functions normally, an emergency notification is made via the built-in telephone 14. Next, a case in which an accident or the like occurs in the vehicle and an emergency call should be made, and the built-in telephone 14 of the emergency call device 10 breaks down due to the impact of the accident or the like will be described. In this case, the CPU 11 determines “Yes” in step 205 following step 200 and proceeds to step 21
0, the connection to the base station 30 by the built-in telephone 14 is started in the same step 210, and the subsequent step 2
At 15, the timer T starts counting. Thereafter, the CPU 11 determines in steps 220 and 2
Before the timer T counts a predetermined time T0, the monitoring of 25 is performed to determine whether or not the connection with the base station 30 has been completed. At this time, since the built-in telephone 14 is out of order,
4 cannot be connected to the base station 30,
11 continues to determine “No” in step 220. Therefore, when the predetermined time T0 has elapsed, the CPU 11 determines “Yes” in step 225, proceeds to step 245, and sets “1” to the variable n in step 245. Next, the CPU 11 proceeds to step 250 and selects a mobile phone of priority n from the mobile phones 26... 26 forming a wireless network by the Bluetooth module 15 (participating in the wireless network). The connection with the base station 30 via the mobile phone 26 having the same priority n is started. In this case, since the value of the variable n is “1”, the mobile phone 26 having the highest priority is selected. In this example, the higher the date and time of participation in the wireless network formed by the Bluetooth module 15, the higher the priority is given to the mobile phone 26. Next, the CPU 11 proceeds to step 255 to start time measurement by the timer T.
It is determined whether or not the connection with the base station 30 has been completed.
At this time, if the connection with the base station 30 has not been completed,
The CPU 11 makes a “No” determination at step 260 and proceeds to step 265, at which the CPU 11 determines whether or not the timer T has counted a predetermined time T1. If the timer T has not counted the predetermined time T1, the CPU 1
1 returns to step 260. The predetermined time T1 is longer than the predetermined time T0, and is selected to be sufficiently longer than the time normally required for the Bluetooth-connected mobile phone 26 to connect to the base station 30. Have been. In other words, if the mobile phone 26 of the currently selected priority n functions normally, the connection with the base station 30 is completed before the timer T measures the predetermined time T1. Accordingly, assuming that the mobile phone 26 having the priority n is normal, when the CPU 11 proceeds to step 260 at a predetermined timing, the CPU 260 determines "Yes" in the step 260 and makes the above-mentioned steps 230 to 240. , And step 295, whereby the necessary data is transmitted to the base station 30 via the mobile phone 26 to which connection has been completed, and a voice call between the occupant and the staff is established. Terminate the connection. On the other hand, if the mobile phone 26 having the priority n does not function normally, the connection with the base station 30 cannot be completed before the timer T measures the predetermined time T1. Therefore,
The CPU 11 repeats steps 260 and 265. When the timer T counts the predetermined time T1, the CPU 11 determines “Yes” in step 265 and proceeds to step 270. In step 270, the variable n indicating the priority is set to “1”. Increase. Next, the CPU 11 proceeds to step 275, and in step 275, determines whether or not the variable n has become larger than the number n0 of the mobile phones 26 participating in the wireless network by the Bluetooth module 15 (that is, whether the variable n has joined the network). It is determined whether or not connection with the base station 30 has been attempted for all the mobile phones 26 that are in use. If the variable n is not larger than the number n0, the CPU 11
Returns to step 250, and attempts to connect to the base station 30 by the mobile phone 26 having the priority n updated in step 270. As described above, the emergency notification device 10 attempts to connect to the base station 30 by using the mobile phones 26 participating in the wireless network in descending order of priority, and can connect to the base station 30. Necessary data communication and voice communication are performed via the portable telephone 26. Note that all mobile phones 26 participating in the wireless network tried to connect to the base station 30. If none of the mobile phones 26 could connect to the base station 30, the CPU 11 proceeds to step 275. Is determined to be “Yes” and step 24 is performed.
The routine proceeds to 0, and after confirming the process of terminating the connection, the present routine is temporarily terminated. As described above, according to the emergency notification device 10 according to the present invention, an emergency such as an accident occurs, the predetermined data is transmitted to the base station, and the communication between the occupant and the staff of the base station is performed. Is established (that is, when it is necessary to make an emergency call), not only the built-in telephone 14 built in the emergency call device 10 but also a Bluetooth connection with the emergency call device 10 to form a wireless network Since the notification can be made by using the mobile phone 26 that is in use, even if any of the telephones is out of order, the same notification can be made without fail. Note that steps 245 to 260 and steps 230 to 240 of the flowchart shown in FIG.
Achieves the function of an n-th reporting unit that reports to the base station 30 using a mobile phone of priority n. Steps 255, 260, and 265 achieve the function of the determination unit that determines whether or not the notification to the base station 30 by the n-th notification unit is possible. Further, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be adopted within the scope of the present invention. For example, in the above embodiment, the wireless network is formed and constructed by Bluetooth, but a similar network may be formed and constructed by another wireless LAN technology such as HomeRF (Home RF) or IEEE802.11b. . In addition, the emergency notification device 10 determines whether or not a situation to be reported has occurred based on a signal from the airbag control circuit 24.
The determination may be based on the output from the collision detection sensor directly connected to itself. Further, the emergency notification device 10 has acquired information on the position of the vehicle based on a signal from the navigation control circuit 25.
It may be configured to receive the GPS signal by itself and specify the position of the own vehicle based on the GPS signal. Further, the emergency notification device 10 operates for a predetermined time T after the cellular phone 26 starts the connection with the base station 30.
If the connection is not completed by the time one elapses, it is determined that the notification by the mobile phone 26 cannot be made, and the connection with the base station 30 by the other mobile phone 26 has been started. Base station 3 based on the received signal strength
You may comprise so that it may determine whether the report to 0 is possible. Further, in addition to the wireless network connection, one or more mobile phones 26 can be connected to the emergency call device 10 via a cable.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an emergency notification device according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a routine executed by a CPU shown in FIG. 1; [Description of Signs] 10: Emergency call device, 11: CPU, 14: Built-in telephone,
15 ... Bluetooth module, 21 ... Microphone, 22 ... Speaker, 23 ... Emergency call manual switch, 2
4 ... Airbag control circuit, 25 ... Navigation control circuit, 30 ... Base station.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04M 1/725 H04M 11/04 11/04 H04B 7/26 FF term (Reference) 5C087 AA37 AA44 BB12 BB20 BB46 BB64 BB74 CC46 DD03 DD14 EE08 FF01 FF04 FF05 FF17 FF20 FF23 GG07 GG08 GG21 GG23 GG30 GG36 GG42 GG67 GG70 GG83 5K027 AA06 AA16 CC08 HH26 5K067 AA35 BB04 BB36 NN20 EE01

Claims (1)

Claims: 1. An emergency notification device for making a wireless report to a base station when a situation to be reported occurs, wherein a wireless network is formed with a mobile phone wirelessly connectable to the network. And a module for communicating with one of mobile phones connected to a wireless network formed by the module via the wireless network, and performing the notification to the base station using the mobile phone. Reporting means; determining means for determining whether or not reporting to the base station by the first reporting means is possible; and when it is determined that reporting to the base station by the first reporting means is not possible. Communicating with another mobile phone connected to the wireless network via the wireless network, and performing the notification to the base station using the other mobile phone. Emergency call device which is characterized in that a notification means.