Patent Description:
An emergency call (eCall) is a service, in which an eCall terminal transmits an accident location, accident information, and the like to a control center (e.g., a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP)) or an emergency rescue agency (e.g., <NUM>, <NUM>, or the like) and requests emergency rescue when there is a vehicle accident or when a driver presses an eCall button so that quick and efficient emergency measure is executed. Recently, a bill that would compel a vehicle to be equipped with an eCall system has been carried out or promoted all over the word. An eCall system includes an in-vehicle system (IVS), a mobile network operator (MNO) corresponding to a major wireless provider, and a PSAP corresponding to a control center. In other words, an eCall system basically uses a mobile communication network.

In an eCall system, an eCall terminal transmits standardized minimum accident information (e.g., a minimum set of data (MSD) to a control center when there is a vehicle accident, and the control center dispatches an ambulance or a fire engine to the scene of the accident in association with emergency rescue agencies, such as <NUM> and <NUM>, based on the minimum accident information. Various eCall systems as described above can be found in the prior art, e.g. in <CIT>, in <CIT>, <CIT> or <CIT>.

However, it is difficult to correctly determine the situation on the ground only with the minimum accident information. In this case, after the minimum accident information is transmitted to the control center, additional information for determining the severity of the accident and the severity of an injury may be obtained through an emergency call connection to the control center. However, it is difficult to obtain the additional information because a driver is highly likely to be unable to have normal telephone conversation because of the accident.

The present invention is provided to respond to the technical problems described above. The object of the present invention is to substantially compensate for various problems occurring due to the limits and disadvantages of the prior art. The present invention provides a vehicle emergency rescue method and device for primarily transmitting minimum vehicle accident information to a control center and connecting an emergency call to the control center and additionally transmitting extended accident information and, optionally, an image to the control center when there is a request from the control center and also provides a computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for executing the method.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a vehicle emergency rescue method includes receiving, performed by an input unit, a vehicle accident information transmission request based on a driver's input; determining, performed by an accident determination unit, whether a vehicle is in an accident by detecting an external shock based on information from shock detection sensors; generating, performed by a first vehicle accident information generation unit, first vehicle accident information when the input unit receives the vehicle accident information transmission request or when the accident determination unit determines that the vehicle is in the accident; transmitting, performed by a first vehicle accident information transmission unit, the first vehicle accident information and an emergency call connection request to a control center; connecting, performed by an emergency voice call unit, an emergency call to the control center in response to the emergency call connection request; receiving, performed by a second vehicle accident information request receiving unit, a second vehicle accident information request from the control center; generating, performed by a second vehicle accident information generation unit, second vehicle accident information; and transmitting, performed by a second vehicle accident information transmission unit, the second vehicle accident information to the control center in response to the second vehicle accident information request. The second vehicle accident information is extended accident information.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the first vehicle accident information includes at least one selected from a vehicle type, a vehicle number, an accident occurrence time, an accident occurrence location, a vehicle azimuth, a vehicle receiving phone number, the number of passengers, vehicle fuel information, a first time before the accident, a vehicle location at the first time before the accident, a second time before the accident, and a vehicle location at the second time before the accident.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the second vehicle accident information includes at least one selected from an airbag state, a seatbelt state, a door open state, and vehicle movement information; and the vehicle movement information includes at least one selected from a longitudinal acceleration in a vehicle traveling direction, a lateral acceleration in the vehicle traveling direction, a latitude of a vehicle location, a longitude of the vehicle location, vehicle attitude information, a vehicle azimuth, a vehicle speed, a vehicle revolutions per minute (RPM), and a brake state, which are acquired at a predetermined time interval during a predetermined third time.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the vehicle emergency rescue method further includes setting, performed by the second vehicle accident information generation unit, the predetermined third time to include a predetermined preceding time and a predetermined succeeding time on the basis of a time when the input unit receives the vehicle accident information transmission request or a time when the accident determination unit determines that there is the accident.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the vehicle emergency rescue method further includes receiving, performed by the input unit, a cancellation input within a predetermined fourth time when the input unit receives the vehicle accident information transmission request, the cancellation input cancelling the vehicle accident information transmission request, wherein the transmitting of the first vehicle accident information and the emergency call connection request to the control center includes transmitting the first vehicle accident information and the emergency call connection request to the control center when the predetermined fourth time elapses since the reception of the vehicle accident information transmission request in the case where the input unit does not receive the cancellation input within the predetermined fourth time.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the vehicle emergency rescue method further includes receiving, performed by an image request receiving unit, an image request from the control center; generating, performed by an image generation unit, an image; and transmitting, performed by an image transmission unit, the image to the control center in response to the image request.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the transmitting of the first vehicle accident information and the emergency call connection request to the control center includes transmitting a message respectively indicating support or non-support for the second vehicle accident information and the image to the control center.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the receiving of the image request from the control center includes receiving the image request from the control center using a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP); and the transmitting of the image to the control center includes transmitting the image to the control center using a Message Session Relay Protocol (MSRP) or a Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP).

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the transmitting of the second vehicle accident information to the control center includes transmitting the second vehicle accident information to the control center using a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP).

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for executing the method.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a vehicle emergency rescue device includes an input unit configured to receive a vehicle accident information transmission request based on a driver's input; an accident determination unit configured to determine whether a vehicle is in an accident by detecting an external shock based on information from shock detection sensors; a first vehicle accident information generation unit configured to generate first vehicle accident information when the input unit receives the vehicle accident information transmission request or when the accident determination unit determines that the vehicle is in the accident; a first vehicle accident information transmission unit configured to transmit the first vehicle accident information and an emergency call connection request to a control center; an emergency voice call unit configured to connect an emergency call to the control center in response to the emergency call connection request; a second vehicle accident information request receiving unit configured to receive a second vehicle accident information request from the control center; a second vehicle accident information generation unit configured to generate second vehicle accident information; and a second vehicle accident information transmission unit configured to transmit the second vehicle accident information to the control center in response to the second vehicle accident information request. The second vehicle accident information is extended accident information.

According to the present invention, when there is a vehicle accident, standardized minimum vehicle accident information is transmitted to a control center and an emergency call is connected, and at the request of the control center, extended accident information and, optionally, an image are additionally transmitted to the control center, so that the control center or associated emergency rescue agencies may accurately determine the situation of the scene of the accident and investigate the cause of the accident.

According to the present invention, a control center or associated emergency rescue agencies may identify the severity of serious or slight injuries of passengers and the severity of an accident using extended accident information and, optionally, an image, determine the number of ambulances to be dispatched, and accurately determine whether to dispatch a fire engine, a special ambulance, and special equipment when there is a fire or a vehicle is overturned, thereby efficiently taking vehicle emergency rescue measures.

According to the present invention, a control center or associated emergency rescue agencies may identify the movement of a vehicle before and after an accident using extended accident information and, optionally, an image in addition to vehicle accident information at the time of the accident, thereby accurately investigating the cause of the accident.

In the drawing, like reference numerals denote like elements, and the size of each element may be exaggerated for the clarity of description.

<FIG> is a schematic block diagram of a vehicle emergency rescue device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> includes an input unit <NUM>, an accident determination unit <NUM>, a first vehicle accident information generation unit <NUM>, a first vehicle accident information transmission unit <NUM>, an emergency voice call unit <NUM>, a second vehicle accident information request receiving unit <NUM>, a second vehicle accident information generation unit <NUM>, and a second vehicle accident information transmission unit <NUM>.

The input unit <NUM> receives a vehicle accident information transmission request based on an external input.

The accident determination unit <NUM> determines whether a vehicle is in an accident by detecting an external shock based on information from shock detection sensors.

The first vehicle accident information generation unit <NUM> generates first vehicle accident information when the input unit <NUM> receives the vehicle accident information transmission request or when the accident determination unit <NUM> determines that the vehicle is in an accident. The first vehicle accident information includes at least one selected from a vehicle type, a vehicle number, an accident occurrence time, an accident occurrence location, a vehicle azimuth, a vehicle receiving phone number, the number of passengers, vehicle fuel information, a first time before an accident, a vehicle location at the first time before an accident, a second time before an accident, and a vehicle location at the second time before an accident. For example, the first time before an accident may be five seconds before an accident, and the second time before an accident may be <NUM> seconds before an accident, but it is apparent to those skilled in the art that the first and second times may be set to other times.

The first vehicle accident information transmission unit <NUM> transmits the first vehicle accident information and an emergency call connection request to a control center. According to the present embodiment, the first vehicle accident information transmission unit <NUM> transmits the first vehicle accident information to the control center using Next Generation eCall (NG eCall) or Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP).

The NG eCall is a European standard that defines a vehicle accident information transmission protocol between a vehicle emergency rescue device and a control center, and the CoAP is a Korean standard (ITSK-<NUM>-<NUM>) established by Intelligent Transport Society of Korea (ITSK) for the same purpose. In detail, the NG eCall adds data for transmission of vehicle accident information to a stage of connecting a call using signal information of Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and media information of Session Description Protocol (SDP) and has been standardized as IETF RFC <NUM>. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, the first vehicle accident information transmission unit <NUM> uses the SIP and the SDP. The CoAP does not use the SIP and the SDP but encodes vehicle accident information and transmits encoded information using User Datagram Protocol (UDP).

The emergency voice call unit <NUM> connects an emergency call to the control center in response to the emergency call connection request. According to the present embodiment, the emergency voice call unit <NUM> connects the emergency call to the control center using Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP) and RTP Control Protocol (RTCP).

The vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> may further include a physical layer unit (not shown). The physical layer unit connects communications by implementing wireless mobile communication technology including <NUM>, <NUM>, LTE, and <NUM> or implementing Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments (WAVE) technology using a radio frequency in a <NUM> unlicensed band. The WAVE technology has been standardized as IEEE <NUM>. 11p and is standard technology of amending a media access control (MAC) layer and a physical layer (PHY) by adding wireless access in vehicular environments to the wireless local area network (LAN) standard IEEE <NUM>. IEEE <NUM>. 11p defines an outside context of BSS (OCB) that enables communication without scanning, authentication, and association procedures for inter-node communication of IEEE <NUM>.

The vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> may further include an output unit (not shown). It is apparent to those skilled in the art that the output unit may be implemented in various output modes including LED and text/video/image/voice outputs. The output unit outputs a vehicle emergency rescue state when a vehicle emergency rescue begins or is in progress, such as when the input unit <NUM> receives the vehicle accident information transmission request, when the accident determination unit <NUM> determines that there is an accident, when the first vehicle accident information transmission unit <NUM> transmits the first vehicle accident information and the emergency call connection request to a control center, or when the emergency voice call unit <NUM> connects an emergency call to the control center.

The second vehicle accident information request receiving unit <NUM> receives a second vehicle accident information request from the control center.

The second vehicle accident information generation unit <NUM> generates second vehicle accident information. The second vehicle accident information is described in detail below with reference to <FIG>.

The second vehicle accident information transmission unit <NUM> transmits the second vehicle accident information to the control center.

A detailed procedure for receiving the second vehicle accident information request from the control center and transmitting the second vehicle accident information to the control center is described below with reference to <FIG>.

<FIG> shows second vehicle accident information according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> receives a second vehicle accident information request from a control center and generates second vehicle accident information. As shown in <FIG>, the second vehicle accident information includes at least one selected from an airbag state, a seatbelt state, a door open state, and vehicle movement information. The airbag state is information about deployment or non-deployment of an airbag, the seatbelt state is information about fastening or unfastening of a seatbelt, and the door open state is information about an open state of a vehicle door. The vehicle movement information is a set of items of information acquired at a predetermined time interval during a predetermined third time. The predetermined third time and the predetermined time interval are described in detail below with reference to <FIG>. In an example shown in <FIG>, because the predetermined third time is <NUM> seconds and the predetermined time interval is one second, the vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> acquires the vehicle movement information at intervals of one second during <NUM> seconds.

The vehicle movement information includes at least one selected from a longitudinal acceleration in a vehicle traveling direction, a lateral acceleration in a vehicle traveling direction, the latitude of a vehicle location, the longitude of a vehicle location, vehicle attitude information, a vehicle azimuth, a vehicle speed, a vehicle revolutions per minute (RPM), and a brake state, which are acquired at a predetermined time interval during a predetermined third time. The vehicle attitude information represents the attitude of a vehicle with three-axis information, i.e., roll, pith, and yaw. The brake state represents an on/off state of a vehicle brake.

<FIG> schematically shows a generation time and interval of vehicle movement information in second vehicle accident information, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The second vehicle accident information generation unit <NUM> of the vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> may set the predetermined third time described above with reference to <FIG> to include a predetermined preceding time and a predetermined succeeding time on the basis of a time (or a manual event generation time) when the input unit <NUM> receives the vehicle accident information transmission request or a time (or an automatic event generation time) when the accident determination unit <NUM> determines that there is an accident. In the example shown in <FIG>, the predetermined third time is set to <NUM> seconds including a time T1 of preceding <NUM> seconds and a time T2 of succeeding <NUM> seconds on the basis of the time when the input unit <NUM> receives the vehicle accident information transmission request or the time when the accident determination unit <NUM> determines that there is an accident. In the example shown in <FIG>, the predetermined time interval is set to one second. Accordingly, the second vehicle accident information generation unit <NUM> of the vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> generates the vehicle movement information of the second vehicle accident information at intervals of one second for <NUM> seconds before and after the manual event generation time or the automatic event generation time. In another embodiment, the predetermined third time may be set to a variable time including the time T1 of preceding <NUM> seconds on the basis of the time when the accident determination unit <NUM> determines that there is an accident and the time T2 when an emergency call is connected to the control center thereafter. For example, the second vehicle accident information generation unit <NUM> of the vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> may generate the vehicle movement information of the second vehicle accident information at a predetermined time interval (e.g., one second) for <NUM> seconds, which include the time T1 of preceding <NUM> seconds on the basis of the automatic event generation time and the time T2 of <NUM> seconds till the connection of an emergency call since the automatic event generation time.

When a second vehicle accident information request is received from the control center, the vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> transmits the second vehicle accident information to the control center. A procedure for transmitting the second vehicle accident information is described below with reference to <FIG>.

The vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> generates first vehicle accident information when the input unit <NUM> receives the vehicle accident information transmission request or when the accident determination unit <NUM> determines that there is an accident. When the input unit <NUM> of the vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> receives the vehicle accident information transmission request, the input unit <NUM> may receive a cancellation input, which cancels the vehicle accident information transmission request, within a predetermined fourth time. When the input unit <NUM> does not receive the cancellation input within the predetermined fourth time, the first vehicle accident information transmission unit <NUM> transmits the first vehicle accident information and the emergency call connection request to the control center when the predetermined fourth time elapses since the reception of the vehicle accident information transmission request.

In the example shown in <FIG>, the predetermined fourth time is <NUM> seconds, and accordingly, when the input unit <NUM> does not receive a cancellation input, which cancels the vehicle accident information transmission request, within <NUM> seconds after receiving the vehicle accident information transmission request, the first vehicle accident information transmission unit <NUM> transmits the first vehicle accident information and the emergency call connection request to the control center when <NUM> seconds elapses since the reception of the vehicle accident information transmission request.

According to the present embodiment, when a manual event of receiving a vehicle accident information transmission request occurs because of a mistake or mischief made by a driver or a child in a vehicle with no relation to a vehicle accident, this may be regarded as a fake vehicle emergency rescue situation and managed by enabling the vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> to receive cancellation of the vehicle accident information transmission request within the predetermined fourth time. The vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> may reduce the frequency of occurrence of fake vehicle emergency rescue by informing a driver of the generation of a manual event and allowing the driver to cancel the manual event. Consequently, the control center is prevented from wasting time and resources on a fake vehicle emergency rescue situation.

<FIG> schematically shows a first vehicle accident information transmission procedure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The first vehicle accident information transmission unit <NUM> transmits first vehicle accident information generated by the first vehicle accident information generation unit <NUM> and an emergency call connection request to a control center in operation <NUM>. In an example shown in <FIG>, the vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> transmits the first vehicle accident information and the emergency call connection request to the control center using NG eCall and SIP, which is an IP-based voice call standard. The SIP has been standardized as Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) RFC <NUM>. The vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> includes the first vehicle accident information in an SIP INVITE message and transmits the SIP INVITE message to the control center. An example of the SIP INVITE message is shown in <FIG>.

The vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> receives a reception success message (e.g., SIP <NUM> OK) from the control center with respect to the first vehicle accident information and the emergency call connection request in operation <NUM>.

The vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> transmits acknowledgement (ACK) to the control center in operation <NUM> and connects an emergency call to the control center in operation <NUM>. The emergency voice call unit <NUM> of the vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> connects the emergency call to the control center using RTP and RTCP.

<FIG> shows a message respectively indicating support or non-support for a second vehicle accident information and an image in detail, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As described above with reference to <FIG>, the first vehicle accident information transmission unit <NUM> transmits first vehicle accident information and an emergency call connection request to a control center. <FIG> shows an example of an SIP INVITE message, which includes the first vehicle accident information and the emergency call connection request. The SIP INVITE message includes an SIP portion for signal data transmission, an SDP portion for media data transmission, and the first vehicle accident information. The first vehicle accident information has a format according to the NG eCall standard. The first vehicle accident information may be encoded according to Abstract Syntax Notation One Packed Encoding Rules (ASN. <NUM> PER) and Concise Binary Object Representation (CBOR), but it is apparent to those skilled in the art that the first vehicle accident information may be encoded using other methods.

According to an embodiment, the first vehicle accident information transmission unit <NUM> also transmits a message respectively indicating support or non-support for the second vehicle accident information and the image to the control center. In the example shown in <FIG>, the SIP INVITE message includes the capabilities of the vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM>, which include support or non-support for the second vehicle accident information and support or non-support for the image. The control center may identify the functions, which are supported by the vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM>, based on corresponding information. In the case where the second vehicle accident information and the image are supported by the vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM>, a counselor of the control center may request the second vehicle accident information or the image from the vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> by activating a second vehicle accident information request button or an image request button when necessary during an emergency call. In the example shown in <FIG>, support for first vehicle accident information is stated as "eCall. MSD", support for second vehicle accident information is stated as "eCall. xMSD", and support for an image is stated as "eCall. In the example shown in <FIG>, support or non-support for second vehicle accident information and support or non-support for an image are written into the SIP INVITE message, but it is apparent to those skilled in the art that other messages may be used.

<FIG> schematically shows a second vehicle accident information transmission procedure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The second vehicle accident information request receiving unit <NUM> of the vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> receives a second vehicle accident information request from a control center in operation <NUM>. The second vehicle accident information request is written into an SIP INFO message, but it is apparent to those skilled in the art that other messages may be used. The SIP INFO message has been standardized as IETF RFC <NUM>.

The second vehicle accident information generation unit <NUM> generates second vehicle accident information.

The second vehicle accident information transmission unit <NUM> transmits the second vehicle accident information to the control center in operation <NUM>.

The detailed message content of the second vehicle accident information request and the second vehicle accident information is described below with reference to <FIG>.

<FIG> shows a second vehicle accident information request message and a second vehicle accident information message, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In an example shown in <FIG>, a second vehicle accident information request received from a control center is written into an SIP INFO message <NUM>. In the SIP INFO message <NUM>, a request action is set to "send-data", and a data type is set to "eCall.

The second vehicle accident information generation unit <NUM> encodes and transmits second vehicle accident information <NUM> to the control center. In the example shown in <FIG>, the second vehicle accident information generation unit <NUM> encodes the second vehicle accident information <NUM> using ASN. <NUM> PER, but it is apparent to those skilled in the art that other encoding methods including CBOR may be used. The second vehicle accident information <NUM> is defined in advance by the ASN. <NUM> format, and the definition is shared in advance by the vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> and the control center, so that there is no problem for the vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> and the control center to interpret data transferred therebetween. The second vehicle accident information generation unit <NUM> writes the second vehicle accident information <NUM> into an SIP INFO message <NUM> and transmits the SIP INFO message <NUM> to the control center. The SIP INFO message <NUM> includes "eCall. xMSD" in each of a Content-Type header, an Info-Package header, and a Call-Info header.

<FIG> schematically shows an image transmission procedure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> includes an image request receiving unit (not shown), an image generation unit (not shown), and an image transmission unit (not shown).

The image request receiving unit receives an image request from a control center in operation <NUM>. The image request receiving unit receives the image request from the control center using the SIP. In an example shown in <FIG>, during an emergency call connection, the control center transmits the image request using an SIP RE-INVITE message. The image request includes at least one selected from a maximum file size, a file type (e.g., jpeg, gif, or the like. ), a file encoding method (e.g., base64 or the like), a transmission protocol (e.g., Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), UDP, Transport Layer Security (TLS), or the like), a receiving port, and a file transmission direction, which are acceptable by the control center.

The vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> transmits a reception success message (e.g., SIP <NUM> OK) to the control center with respect to the image request from the control center in operation <NUM>. The reception success message includes at least one selected from the type and the size of a file to be transmitted by the vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM>, a file encoding method, a transmission protocol, and a file transmission direction. Basically, the vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> sends an image based on information processable by the control center with reference to the image request. However, when the vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> does not support an image, the vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> transmits a receiving failure message.

The image generation unit generates an image. The image may be generated by performing image capturing using a camera of the vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM>, but it is apparent to those skilled in the art that the image may be generated using other methods. The inside or outside of an accident vehicle may be photographed by the camera, and an infrared function or a flash function may be included to be ready for accidents at night. The image includes a still image and a moving image. The still image may be stored in various formats such as JPEG and GIF and may have a resolution of at least VGA(<NUM>*<NUM>) so that the control center may perform an accurate analysis. The image generation unit basically generates an image based on information processable by the control center with reference to the image request.

TCP connection is set for image transmission in operation <NUM>. In the present embodiment, the image is transmitted through TCP connection, but it is apparent to those skilled in the art that the image may be transmitted using other transmission protocols such as UDP and TLS.

The image transmission unit transmits the image to the control center in response to the image request in operations <NUM> and <NUM>. The image may be transmitted in predetermined byte units for efficient transmission and may be cancelled during transmission. In addition, the image may be encoded using base64, but it is apparent to those skilled in the art that the image may be encoded using other methods. In the present embodiment, the image transmission unit transmits the image to the control center using Message Session Relay Protocol (MSRP) or Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), but it is apparent to those skilled in the art that other protocols such as File Transfer Protocol (FTP) may be used. The MSRP has been standardized as IETF RFC4975, and the RTSP has been standardized as IETF RFC2326. For example, a still image may be transmitted using the MSRP, and a moving image may be transmitted in real time using the RTSP. In addition, when video-related information is added to an SIP RE-INVITE message, the image may be transmitted through a video call.

The control center transmits an acknowledgement of the image, which includes image reception success or failure, to the vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> in operation <NUM>. The acknowledgement of the image may be written into an MSRP REPORT message, but it is apparent to those skilled in the art that other messages may be used. When the vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> receives the acknowledgement of the image, the vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> terminates the connection (e.g., TCP connection) for image transmission. The vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> newly performs connection for image transmission at each request of the control center and terminates the connection when image transmission is completed.

According to the present embodiment, the control center may determine the severity of an accident and the severity of an injury using the image transmitted by the vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM>. In other words, the control center may identify the serious and slight injuries of passengers using the image and determine the number of ambulances to be dispatched and may accurately determine whether to dispatch a fire engine, a special ambulance, and special equipment when there is a fire or a vehicle is overturned, thereby efficiently taking vehicle emergency rescue measures.

<FIG> shows an image request message and an image request acknowledgement message, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In an example shown in <FIG>, an image request, which is transmitted by a control center during an emergency call connection, is shown. In the example shown in <FIG>, the image request is written using an SIP RE-INVITE message <NUM>. The SIP RE-INVITE message <NUM> includes "m=message <NUM> TCP/MSRP" and thus informs the control center that the image will be transmitted using the MSRP.

The vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> transmits a reception success message to the control center in response to the image request from the control center. In the example shown in <FIG>, the reception success message is written as SIP <NUM> OK <NUM>.

<FIG> shows an image message and an image acknowledgement message, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In an example shown in <FIG>, the image transmission unit divides an image <NUM> into messages of a predetermined byte unit and transmits the image <NUM> using the MSRP. Each message includes the size of a full file, the size of a file included in the current message, and a position in the full file. A control center may merge the messages into the full file using information included in each of the messages.

The control center transmits an acknowledgement of the image to the vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM>, wherein the acknowledgement of the image includes an image reception success or failure. In the example shown in <FIG>, the acknowledgement of the image written into an MSRP REPORT message <NUM> is shown.

<FIG> is a schematic flowchart of a vehicle emergency rescue method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> receives a vehicle accident information transmission request, using the input unit <NUM>, based on an external input in operation <NUM>.

The vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> determines, using the accident determination unit <NUM>, whether a vehicle is in an accident by detecting an external shock based on information from shock detection sensors in operation <NUM>. The shock detection sensors include at least one selected from an airbag deployment sensor, a <NUM>-axis acceleration sensor, a <NUM>-axis acceleration sensor, a <NUM>-axis gyro sensor, and an azimuth sensor.

When the vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> receives the vehicle accident information transmission request using the input unit <NUM> or determines that there is an accident in operation <NUM> using the accident determination unit <NUM>, the vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> proceeds to operation <NUM>.

The vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> generates first vehicle accident information using the first vehicle accident information generation unit <NUM> in operation <NUM>. The first vehicle accident information includes at least one selected from a vehicle type, a vehicle number, an accident occurrence time, an accident occurrence location, a vehicle azimuth, a vehicle receiving phone number, the number of passengers, vehicle fuel information, a first time before an accident, a vehicle location at the first time before an accident, a second time before an accident, and a vehicle location at the second time before an accident. The generating of the first vehicle accident information includes generating a message respectively indicating support or non-support for a second vehicle accident information and an image.

The vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> transmits the first vehicle accident information and an emergency call connection request to a control center using the first vehicle accident information transmission unit <NUM> in operation <NUM>. The transmitting of the first vehicle accident information and the emergency call connection request to the control center includes transmitting a message respectively indicating for support or non-support for the second vehicle accident information and the image to the control center.

The vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> connects an emergency call to the control center in response to the emergency call connection request using the emergency voice call unit <NUM> in operation <NUM>.

The vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> receives a second vehicle accident information request from the control center using the second vehicle accident information request receiving unit <NUM> in operation <NUM>.

The vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> generates second vehicle accident information using the second vehicle accident information generation unit <NUM> in operation <NUM>. The second vehicle accident information includes at least one selected from an airbag state, a seatbelt state, a door open state, and vehicle movement information. The vehicle movement information includes at least one selected from a longitudinal acceleration in a vehicle traveling direction, a lateral acceleration in a vehicle traveling direction, the latitude of a vehicle location, the longitude of a vehicle location, vehicle attitude information, a vehicle azimuth, a vehicle speed, a vehicle RPM, and a brake state, which are acquired at a predetermined time interval during a predetermined third time.

The vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> may set the predetermined third time to include a predetermined preceding time and a predetermined succeeding time on the basis of a time when the input unit <NUM> receives the vehicle accident information transmission request or a time when the accident determination unit <NUM> determines that there is an accident, using the second vehicle accident information generation unit <NUM>. For example, the predetermined third time may be set to <NUM> seconds including the time T1 of preceding <NUM> seconds and the time T2 of succeeding <NUM> seconds on the basis of the time when the input unit <NUM> receives the vehicle accident information transmission request or the time when the accident determination unit <NUM> determines that there is an accident. The predetermined time interval may be set to one second. Accordingly, in this case, the second vehicle accident information generation unit <NUM> of the vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> generates the vehicle movement information of the second vehicle accident information at intervals of one second for <NUM> seconds before and after the reception time or the time when the accident determination unit <NUM> determines that there is an accident.

The vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> transmits the second vehicle accident information to the control center in response to the second vehicle accident information request using the second vehicle accident information transmission unit <NUM> in operation <NUM>. The vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> transmits the second vehicle accident information to the control center using the SIP.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, in the case where the vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> receives the vehicle accident information transmission request using the input unit <NUM>, the vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> receives a cancellation input, which cancels the vehicle accident information transmission request, within a predetermined fourth time using the input unit <NUM>. In the case where the vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> does not receive the cancellation input within the predetermined fourth time through the input unit <NUM>, the vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> transmits, using the first vehicle accident information transmission unit <NUM>, the first vehicle accident information and the emergency call connection request to the control center when the predetermined fourth time elapses since the reception of the vehicle accident information transmission request.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> receives an image request from the control center through an image request receiving unit. The vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> receives the image request from the control center using the SIP, but it is apparent to those skilled in the art that other protocols may be used. The vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> generates an image using an image generation unit. The vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> transmits the image to the control center using an image generation unit in response to the image request. The vehicle emergency rescue device <NUM> transmits the image to the control center using the MSRP or the RTSP, but it is apparent to those skilled in the art that other protocols may be used.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to embodiments thereof, it will be understood that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the scope of the following claims.

For example, a device according to an example embodiment of the present invention may include a bus coupled to each element of the device, at least one processor coupled to the bus, and memory coupled to the bus to store commands, received messages, or generated messages and coupled to the at least one processor which executes the commands.

Claim 1:
A vehicle emergency rescue device (<NUM>) comprising:
an input unit (<NUM>) configured to receive a vehicle accident information transmission request based on a driver's input;
an accident determination unit (<NUM>) configured to determine whether a vehicle is in an accident by detecting an external shock based on information from shock detection sensors;
a first vehicle accident information generation unit (<NUM>) configured to generate first vehicle accident information when the input unit (<NUM>) receives the vehicle accident information transmission request or when the accident determination unit (<NUM>) determines that the vehicle is in the accident;
a first vehicle accident information transmission unit (<NUM>) configured to transmit the first vehicle accident information and an emergency call connection request to a control center;
an emergency voice call unit (<NUM>) configured to connect an emergency call to the control center in response to the emergency call connection request;
a second vehicle accident information request receiving unit (<NUM>) configured to receive a second vehicle accident information request from the control center;
a second vehicle accident information generation unit (<NUM>) configured to generate second vehicle accident information; and
a second vehicle accident information transmission unit (<NUM>) configured to transmit the second vehicle accident information to the control center in response to the second vehicle accident information request, wherein the second vehicle accident information is extended accident information.