Patent ID: 8204644

Claim:
A vehicle communication apparatus for use in a vehicle with a power supply from a vehicle battery, the apparatus comprising: a position acquisition unit for acquiring a vehicle position; a voltage monitor for monitoring a voltage of the vehicle battery; a supplemental battery for supplying power in place of the vehicle battery; a check unit for checking if the vehicle battery is removed upon detecting that the voltage of the battery reaches a threshold; a power switch unit for switching the power supply from the vehicle battery to the power supply from the supplemental battery when the check unit determines that the vehicle battery is removed; a report unit for transmitting, to an outside of the vehicle, an information report that at least includes the vehicle position when the check unit determines that the vehicle battery is removed; and a preparation unit for preparing the report information that is to be transmitted by the report unit when the voltage of the vehicle battery decreases to a preparation value that is higher than the threshold.