Patent ID: 7680479

Claim:
An urgent message apparatus mounted in a vehicle, for transmitting, in an emergency, an urgent message with the use of a backup battery by means of a low-earth orbit satellite, comprising: a position detecting part detecting a current position of the vehicle; an obtaining part obtaining a time period in which communication with the low-earth orbit satellite is unavailable, for the current position of the vehicle detected by said position detecting part; a calculating part calculating a power amount required when said backup battery is kept in a transmission standby state during the time period in which communication with the low-earth orbit satellite is unavailable that is obtained by said obtaining part; and a measuring part measuring remaining power of said backup battery; wherein said calculating part compares a sum of a power amount required for transmitting the urgent message and the power amount calculated by said calculating part, with the remaining power measured by said measuring part, and determining that charging or replacement of said backup battery is required when said sum is larger than the remaining power.