Rescue priority determination device

Abstract

To provide a rescue priority determination device that determines rescue priority from the state of a vehicle which is determined on the basis of objective information on the vehicle and requests a rescue from an appropriate rescue institution.SOLUTION: A rescue priority determination device 1 includes: a traveling state information acquisition unit 100 that acquires traveling state information for a vehicle which made an emergency call; a position information acquisition unit 200 that acquires position information for the vehicle which made the emergency call; and a rescue priority determination unit 300 that determines a rescue priority for the vehicle which made the emergency call on the basis of the traveling state information acquired by the traveling state information acquisition unit and the position information of the vehicle acquired by the position information acquisition unit. The rescue priority determination unit 300 determines that a rescue emergency for the vehicle which made the emergency call is high and raises the priority if the traveling state of the vehicle which made the emergency call is a stopped state and if the position information of the vehicle which made the emergency call has changed.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a rescue priority determination device. [Background technology]

[0002] BACKGROUND ART In the event of a traffic accident or an emergency situation inside a vehicle, an emergency notification system is known that automatically or by simple manual operation by the occupant transmits information such as the vehicle's location to a dedicated reception center via a network or the like.

[0003] In this type of system, when multiple emergency calls are received, they are usually handled in the order in which they are received, or multiple operators at a reception center handle the calls. Therefore, when there are many reports in a short period of time, it is conceivable that the order of rescue will be decided by the judgment of each operator, which could lead to the problem that people who should be rescued as a top priority may be put off until later.

[0004] In response to these problems, an emergency response system has been disclosed in which an emergency call is made from the party where the emergency occurred to a reception center when an emergency occurs, the emergency response system comprising: a generating means, at the party where the emergency occurred, that generates an output according to the severity of the emergency when the emergency occurs; a determining means that determines the severity of the emergency based on the output generated by the generating means; and a transmitting means that transmits a signal indicating the determination result of the determining means to the reception center; and the reception center comprises: a receiving means, at the reception center, that receives the signal containing information on the severity of the emergency sent from the party where the emergency occurred, a recognizing means that recognizes the severity of the emergency from the signal received by the receiving means, and a priority determining means that determines the priority of the response by taking into account the severity of the emergency recognized by the recognizing means, the traffic congestion around the site of the emergency, the type of road, the distance from the site of the emergency to the fire station, and the time of the call (see, for example, Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-056479 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] However, in Patent Document 1, the information indicating the severity of the emergency sent from the party where the emergency occurred to the reception center only discloses three pieces of information: severe, medium, and mild.Furthermore, the judgment is left to the judgment of the occupants of the party where the emergency occurred.As a result, the subjective element of the person making the judgment dominates the information indicating the severity of the emergency, and there is a lack of objectivity based on facts, which creates the problem that the credibility of the priority information determined based on such information is undermined.

[0007] Therefore, the present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide a rescue priority determination device that determines rescue priority from the condition of a vehicle determined based on objective information about the vehicle. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] Form 1: One or more embodiments of the present invention propose a rescue priority determination device including: a driving condition information acquisition unit that acquires driving condition information of a vehicle that has made an emergency call; a location information acquisition unit that acquires location information of the vehicle that has made the emergency call; a determination unit that estimates the type and severity of an accident involving the vehicle that has made the emergency call based on the driving condition information acquired by the driving condition information acquisition unit and the location information of the vehicle acquired by the location information acquisition unit, and determines a rescue priority; and a rescue request execution unit that makes a rescue request to an appropriate rescue organization according to the rescue priority determined by the determination unit, wherein the determination unit includes one or more processors and one or more memories that are communicatively connected to the one or more processors, and the one or more processors determine that there is a high need for rescue for the vehicle that has made the emergency call when the driving condition of the vehicle that has made the emergency call is stopped and the location information of the vehicle that has made the emergency call has changed, and increases the rescue priority.

[0009] Form 2: One or more embodiments of the present invention propose a rescue priority determination device characterized in that the driving state information acquisition unit acquires driving state information of the vehicle that made the emergency call from a vehicle speed sensor, and the one or more processors determine that the driving state of the vehicle that made the emergency call is stopped if the information from the vehicle speed sensor acquired by the driving state information acquisition unit indicates a vehicle speed of zero.

[0010] Form 3: One or more embodiments of the present invention propose a rescue priority determination device that includes an occupant monitoring unit that monitors occupants in the vehicle, and the one or more processors determine that there is a high need for rescue for the vehicle that made the emergency call when the vehicle that made the emergency call is stopped, the location information of the vehicle that made the emergency call has changed, and an occupant is detected in the vehicle that made the emergency call, and raises the rescue priority.

[0011] Form 4: One or more embodiments of the present invention propose a rescue priority determination device characterized in that the determination unit determines that the rescue priority requires a first rescue request when the amount of change in the location information of the vehicle that made the emergency call is greater than a predetermined amount of change, and determines that the rescue priority requires a second rescue request when the amount of change in the location information of the vehicle that made the emergency call is less than a predetermined amount of change.

[0012] Form 5: One or more embodiments of the present invention propose a rescue priority determination device including: a driving state information acquisition unit that acquires driving state information of a vehicle that has made an emergency call; an inertial force detection unit that detects an inertial force that occurs when the moving speed of the vehicle that made the emergency call changes; and a rescue priority determination unit that determines the rescue priority of the vehicle that made the emergency call based on the driving state information acquired by the driving state information acquisition unit and the inertial force detected by the inertial force detection unit, wherein the rescue priority determination unit comprises one or more processors and one or more memories that are communicatively connected to the one or more processors, and the one or more processors determine that there is a high need for rescue for the vehicle that made the emergency call when the driving state of the vehicle that made the emergency call is stopped and an inertial force that occurs when the moving speed of the vehicle that made the emergency call changes is detected, and raises the rescue priority. [Effects of the Invention]

[0013] Advantageously, one or more embodiments of the present invention can determine rescue priority from the vehicle condition determined based on objective information about the vehicle. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0014] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a rescue priority determination device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a rescue priority determination unit according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. [Figure 3] 3 is a diagram showing a processing flow of the rescue priority determination device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. [Figure 4] 3 is a diagram showing a processing flow of rescue priority determination processing in the rescue priority determination device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. [Figure 5] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a processing flow of rescue request information generation processing in the rescue priority determination device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 6] 3 is a diagram illustrating information output from a rescue priority determination unit to a rescue request information generation unit in the rescue priority determination device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. [Figure 7] 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a database stored in a storage unit in the rescue priority determination device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. [Figure 8] FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the configuration of a rescue priority determination device according to a second embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 9] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the configuration of a rescue priority determination unit according to a second embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a processing flow of a rescue priority determination device according to a second embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 11] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a processing flow of rescue priority determination processing in a rescue priority determination device according to a second embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 12] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a processing flow of rescue request information generation processing in a rescue priority determination device according to a second embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 13] 10 is a diagram illustrating information output from a rescue priority determination unit to a rescue request information generation unit in a rescue priority determination device according to a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. [Figure 14] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a database stored in a storage unit in a rescue priority determination device according to a second embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0015] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

[0016] First Embodiment A rescue priority determination device 1 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

[0017] <Configuration of rescue priority determination device 1> As shown in FIG. 1, the rescue priority determination device 1 according to this embodiment includes a driving condition information acquisition unit 100, a position information acquisition unit 200, a rescue priority determination unit 300, a rescue request information generation unit 400, a memory unit 500, a rescue request information transmission unit 600, and an occupant monitor unit 700.

[0018] The driving state information acquisition unit 100 acquires driving state information of the vehicle that made the emergency call. Specifically, for example, information on the traveling state of the vehicle that made the emergency call can be obtained from the sensor output of a vehicle speed sensor. In this embodiment, the driving state information acquisition unit 100 particularly acquires information for determining whether the speed of the vehicle that made the emergency call has become zero before or after making the emergency call. Therefore, after a notification trigger, which will be described later, is detected, the vehicle travel state information is periodically output to the rescue priority determination unit 300, which will be described later.

[0019] The location information acquisition unit 200 acquires location information of the vehicle that made the emergency call. Specifically, for example, location information of the vehicle that made the emergency call can be obtained from latitude and longitude information output by a GPS. In this embodiment, based on the location information acquired by the location information acquisition unit 200, time-series location information of the vehicle that made the emergency call is acquired. Therefore, after a notification trigger (described later) is detected, the location information acquisition unit 200 periodically outputs the location information of the vehicle that made the emergency call to the rescue priority determination unit 300 (described later). Furthermore, the rescue priority determination unit 300, which will be described later, stores the position information acquired by the position information acquisition unit 200 in a memory, which will be described later, in chronological order.

[0020] The rescue priority determination unit 300 determines the rescue priority of the vehicle that made the emergency call based on the driving condition information acquired by the driving condition information acquisition unit 100 and the location information of the vehicle that made the emergency call acquired by the location information acquisition unit 200. Specifically, for example, if the driving state information acquired by the driving state information acquisition unit 100 indicates that the driving state of the vehicle that made the emergency call is stopped, and the location information of the vehicle that made the emergency call has changed based on the location information acquired by the location information acquisition unit 200, the rescue priority determination unit 300 determines that there is a high need for rescue for the vehicle that made the emergency call, and increases the rescue priority. Furthermore, the rescue priority determination unit 300 outputs the determined rescue priority of the vehicle that made the emergency call to the rescue request information generation unit 400, which will be described later.

[0021] If the rescue priority determined by the rescue priority determination unit 300 is high, the rescue request information generation unit 400 generates rescue request information according to the amount of change in the position information of the vehicle that made the emergency call. Specifically, for example, if the change in the location information of the vehicle that made the emergency call is greater than a predetermined change (predetermined amount), the rescue request information generation unit 400 generates first rescue request information that is issued when, for example, a disaster occurs and it is determined that the vehicle that made the emergency call has been caught up in the disaster. In addition, if the change in the location information of the vehicle that made the emergency call is smaller than a predetermined change (predetermined amount), the rescue request information generation unit 400 generates second rescue request information that is issued, for example, when it is determined that a multiple collision accident has occurred and the vehicle that made the emergency call has been involved in the multiple collision accident. Here, the predetermined amount of change (predetermined amount) is, for example, a threshold value for distinguishing between the above-mentioned disaster and multiple collision accident, and specifically, a value of about several meters can be exemplified.

[0022] The storage unit 500 is configured with a RAM or the like, and stores, for example, a database for generating rescue request information in the rescue request information generating unit 400. An example of the database is a database as shown in FIG. In the database of FIG. 7, vehicle information and rescue request information are linked together, and the rescue request information includes rescue priority, accident type, rescue organization information, and the like.

[0023] The rescue request information transmitting unit 600 transmits the rescue request information generated by the rescue request information generating unit 400 to, for example, an emergency call center. In addition, if a rescue request has already been made, for example, if there is a change in the rescue priority in the rescue priority determination unit 300, new rescue request information generated in the rescue request information generation unit 400 is sent to, for example, an emergency call center.

[0024] The occupant monitor unit 700 monitors the occupants of the vehicle. Specifically, the occupant monitor unit 700 monitors the presence or absence of occupants in the vehicle, their behavior, and their vital signs, for example, using an imaging device or millimeter wave radar. Moreover, the occupant monitor information in the occupant monitor unit 700 is output to the rescue priority determiner 300 .

[0025] <Configuration of rescue priority determination unit 300> As shown in FIG. 2, the rescue priority determination unit 300 according to this embodiment includes a processor 310 and a memory 320.

[0026] The processor 310 controls the entire rescue priority determination unit 300 in accordance with a control program stored in the memory 320, which will be described later. In this embodiment, the control unit 310 particularly executes the functions of a vehicle stoppage determination unit 311, a position information determination unit 312, a priority determination unit 313, and the like, which will be described later.

[0027] The memory 320 includes a read only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), etc., and the ROM stores, for example, the above-mentioned control programs, etc., and the RAM stores, for example, various data, etc. In this embodiment, for example, the location information input from the location information acquisition unit 200 is stored in RAM in chronological order.

[0028] <Processor 310 Configuration> As shown in FIG. 2, the processor 310 includes a vehicle stop determination unit 311, a position information determination unit 312, and a priority determination unit 313.

[0029] The vehicle stoppage determination unit 311 determines, based on the information obtained from the traveling state information acquisition unit 100, whether the vehicle that made the emergency call is stopped or not. Specifically, when the vehicle stoppage determination unit 311 receives information from the traveling state information acquisition unit 100 that indicates there are no vehicles detected by a vehicle speed sensor, the vehicle stoppage determination unit 311 determines that the vehicle that made the emergency call is stopped. If the vehicle stoppage determination unit 311 determines that the vehicle that made the emergency call is stopped, it outputs information to that effect to the priority determination unit 313, which will be described later.

[0030] The position information determination unit 312 sequentially determines the amount of change in the position information of the vehicle that made the emergency call from the time-series position information of the vehicle that made the emergency call stored in the memory 320 . The amount of change in the location information of the vehicle that made the emergency call determined by location information determination unit 312 is sequentially output to priority determination unit 313, which will be described later.

[0031] The priority determination unit 313 determines the rescue priority based on the determination result of the vehicle stop determination unit 311, the amount of change in the position information of the vehicle that made the emergency call that is sequentially input from the position information determination unit 312, and information including information on the presence or absence of occupants obtained from the occupant monitor unit 700. The result of the rescue priority determination by the priority determination unit 313 is output to the rescue request information generation unit 400 .

[0032] <Processing of rescue priority determination device 1> The processing of the rescue priority determination device 1 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

[0033] As shown in FIG. 3, the rescue priority determination device 1 detects, for example, a notification trigger that is manual or automatic by a vehicle occupant (step S110). The rescue priority determination device 1 detects the notification trigger, for example, manually when a vehicle occupant operates a notification trigger switch, or automatically when a predetermined condition is met.

[0034] When the rescue priority determination device 1 detects the notification trigger, it executes a vehicle information collection process to collect vehicle information (step S120). Specifically, the rescue priority determination device 1 collects, via the traveling condition information acquisition unit 100 and the position information acquisition unit 200, data from a vehicle speed sensor and latitude and longitude information from a GPS, for example.

[0035] At this time, the rescue priority determination device 1 notifies the emergency call center of the emergency call (step S130). After issuing an emergency call, the rescue priority determination device 1 continues to periodically transmit the collected vehicle information to, for example, an emergency call center.

[0036] Next, the rescue priority determination device 1 executes a rescue priority determination process for determining the rescue priority (step S200). The rescue priority determination process (step S200) will be described in detail later.

[0037] Furthermore, the rescue priority determination device 1 executes a rescue request information generation process for generating rescue request information (step S300). The rescue request information generation process (step S300) will be described in detail later.

[0038] When the rescue priority determination device 1 completes the rescue request information generation process (step S300), it transmits the generated rescue request information to, for example, an emergency call center (step S140) and determines whether the rescue has been completed (step S150).

[0039] If the rescue priority determination device 1 determines that the rescue has been completed ("YES" in step S150), the series of processes ends.

[0040] On the other hand, if the rescue priority determination device 1 determines that the rescue has not been completed ("NO" in step S150), it transitions the processing to step S200, and executes a rescue priority determination process (step S200) and a rescue request information generation process (step S300) based on the most recent collected vehicle information, and continues the process of transmitting the generated rescue request information, for example, to an emergency call center (step S140) until the rescue is completed.

[0041] <Rescue priority determination process> The rescue priority determination process in the rescue priority determination device 1 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

[0042] As shown in FIG. 4, the priority determination unit 313 determines, for example, whether there is an occupant in the vehicle that made the emergency call and whether the vehicle speed of the vehicle that made the emergency call is zero, based on the determination result of the stop determination unit 311 and information including information regarding the presence or absence of an occupant obtained from the occupant monitor unit 700 (step S210).

[0043] If the priority determination unit 313 determines that there is an occupant in the vehicle that made the emergency call and that the vehicle speed of the vehicle that made the emergency call is zero ("YES" in step S210), it then determines whether there has been a change in the position of the vehicle that made the emergency call based on the amount of change in the position information of the vehicle that made the emergency call, which is sequentially input from the position information determination unit 312 (step S220).

[0044] If the priority determination unit 313 determines that there has been a change in the position of the vehicle that made the emergency call ("YES" in step S220), it determines the rescue priority to be "high" based on the data table shown in Figure 6 and terminates the processing (step S230). Furthermore, the priority determination unit 313 outputs the determination result to the rescue request information generation unit 400 in association with the vehicle information, as shown in FIG.

[0045] On the other hand, if the priority determination unit 313 determines that there is an occupant in the vehicle that made the emergency call and that the vehicle speed of the vehicle that made the emergency call is not zero ("NO" in step S210), or if it determines that there has been no change in the position of the vehicle that made the emergency call ("NO" in step S220), it processes the emergency call from the vehicle that made the emergency call as a normal emergency call (step S240). Then, the rescue priority determination device 1 causes the process to proceed to step S140.

[0046] <Rescue request information generation process> The rescue request information generation process in the rescue priority determination device 1 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

[0047] As shown in FIG. 5, the rescue request information generation unit 400 determines whether the amount of change in the location information of the vehicle that made the emergency call is greater than a predetermined amount based on the information input from the priority determination unit 313 (step S310).

[0048] If the rescue request information generation unit 400 determines, based on the information input from the priority determination unit 313, that the amount of change in the location information of the vehicle that made the emergency call is greater than a predetermined amount ("YES" in step S310), it determines, for example, that a disaster has occurred (step S320) and generates first rescue request information (step S330). Then, the rescue priority determination device 1 causes the process to proceed to step S140.

[0049] On the other hand, if the rescue request information generation unit 400 determines, based on the information input from the priority determination unit 313, that the amount of change in the location information of the vehicle that made the emergency call is smaller than a predetermined amount ("NO" in step S310), it determines that, for example, a multiple collision accident has occurred (step S340) and generates second rescue request information (step S350). Then, the rescue priority determination device 1 causes the process to proceed to step S140.

[0050] <Actions and Effects> As described above, the rescue priority determination device 1 of this embodiment includes a driving state information acquisition unit 100 that acquires driving state information of the vehicle that made the emergency call, a location information acquisition unit 200 that acquires location information of the vehicle that made the emergency call, and a rescue priority determination unit 300 that determines the rescue priority of the vehicle that made the emergency call based on the driving state information acquired by the driving state information acquisition unit 100 and the vehicle location information acquired by the location information acquisition unit 200. Then, when the vehicle that made the emergency call is in a stopped state and the location information of the vehicle that made the emergency call has changed, the rescue priority determination unit 300 determines that there is a high need for rescue for the vehicle that made the emergency call and increases the rescue priority. In other words, if the vehicle that made the emergency call is stopped and the location information of the vehicle that made the emergency call has changed, there is a high possibility that the vehicle that made the emergency call has been involved in some kind of accident or disaster. Therefore, when the vehicle that made the emergency call is stopped and the location information of the vehicle that made the emergency call has changed, the rescue priority determination unit 300 determines that there is a high need for rescue for the vehicle that made the emergency call and increases the rescue priority, thereby making it possible to determine the rescue priority from the state of the vehicle that made the emergency call determined based on objective information about the vehicle that made the emergency call.

[0051] In addition, the driving state information acquisition unit 100 in the rescue priority determination device 1 of this embodiment acquires driving state information of the vehicle that made the emergency call from a vehicle speed sensor, and the rescue priority determination unit 300 determines that the driving state of the vehicle that made the emergency call is stopped if the information acquired from the vehicle speed sensor by the driving state information acquisition unit 100 indicates that the vehicle speed is zero. In other words, even if it is detected that the foot brake or parking brake is engaged, it is not necessarily possible to accurately determine whether the position of the vehicle that made the emergency call has changed due to external forces alone. That is, by detecting that the vehicle speed is zero based on information from the vehicle speed sensor, it is possible to clearly detect that the position of the vehicle that made the emergency call has changed due to an external force.

[0052] In addition, the rescue priority determination device 1 of this embodiment is equipped with an occupant monitor unit 700 that monitors occupants in the vehicle, and when the vehicle that made the emergency call is in a stopped state, the location information of the vehicle that made the emergency call has changed, and an occupant is detected in the vehicle that made the emergency call, the rescue priority determination unit 300 determines that there is a high need for rescue for the vehicle that made the emergency call and increases the rescue priority. In other words, in a situation where the vehicle that made the emergency call is likely to have been involved in some kind of accident or disaster, the occupant monitor unit 700 can detect the presence or absence of occupants, making it possible to more accurately determine the need for rescue. Furthermore, if the occupant monitor unit 700 is configured with an imaging device, millimeter wave radar, etc., it can detect not only the presence or absence of occupants but also the behavior and vital signs of the occupants, thereby making it possible to more accurately determine the urgency of rescue.

[0053] Furthermore, the rescue priority determination device 1 according to this embodiment includes a rescue request information generation unit 400 that generates rescue request information according to the amount of change in the location information of the vehicle that made the emergency call when the rescue priority determined by the rescue priority determination unit 300 is high, and a rescue request information transmission unit 600 that transmits the rescue request information generated by the rescue request information generation unit 400 to an emergency call center, and the rescue request information generation unit 400 generates first rescue request information when the amount of change in the location information of the vehicle that made the emergency call is greater than a predetermined amount of change (predetermined amount), and generates second rescue request information when the amount of change in the location information of the vehicle that made the emergency call is smaller than the predetermined amount of change (predetermined amount). In other words, if the rescue priority determined by the rescue priority determination unit 300 is high and the change in the location information of the vehicle that made the emergency call is greater than a predetermined change amount (predetermined amount), the rescue request information generation unit 400 generates first rescue request information that requests rescue from, for example, the fire department, which is the most appropriate organization to which a private citizen can request rescue, since it is highly likely that the vehicle that made the emergency call has been involved in a disaster or the like; and if the rescue priority determined by the rescue priority determination unit 300 is high and the change in the location information of the vehicle that made the emergency call is less than a predetermined change amount (predetermined amount), the rescue request information generation unit 400 generates second rescue request information that requests rescue from, for example, the police, which is the most appropriate organization to which a private citizen can request rescue, since it is highly likely that the vehicle that made the emergency call has been involved in a multiple collision accident or the like. Therefore, it is possible to determine the rescue priority from the vehicle condition determined based on objective information about the vehicle, and to make a rescue request to an appropriate rescue organization.

[0054] <Second embodiment> A rescue priority determination device 1A according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

[0055] <Configuration of rescue priority determination device 1A> As shown in FIG. 8, the rescue priority determination device 1A according to this embodiment includes a driving condition information acquisition unit 100, a rescue priority determination unit 300A, a rescue request information generation unit 400A, a memory unit 500, a rescue request information transmission unit 600, an occupant monitor unit 700, and an inertial force detection unit 800. Note that components with the same reference numerals as those in the first embodiment have the same functions, and therefore detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted.

[0056] Rescue priority determination unit 300A determines the rescue priority of the vehicle that has made the emergency call, based on the driving state information acquired by driving state information acquisition unit 100 and the inertial force detected by inertial force detection unit 800. Specifically, for example, if the driving state information acquired by the driving state information acquisition unit 100 indicates that the vehicle that made the emergency call is in a stopped state and the inertial force detection unit 800 detects an inertial force that occurs when the moving speed of the vehicle that made the emergency call changes, the rescue priority determination unit 300A determines that there is a high need for rescue for the vehicle that made the emergency call and increases the rescue priority. Furthermore, the rescue priority determination unit 300A outputs the determined rescue priority of the vehicle that made the emergency call to the rescue request information generation unit 400A, which will be described later.

[0057] When the rescue priority determined by the rescue priority determination unit 300A is high, the rescue request information generation unit 400A generates rescue request information according to the amount of change in the position information of the vehicle that made the emergency call. Specifically, for example, if the duration of the inertial force generated in the vehicle that made the emergency call is longer than a predetermined time (predetermined time), the rescue request information generation unit 400A generates first rescue request information that is issued when it is determined that a disaster has occurred and the vehicle that made the emergency call has been caught up in the disaster. In addition, if the inertial force generated in the vehicle that made the emergency call is generated for a period shorter than a predetermined period (predetermined period), a multiple collision accident occurs, and second rescue request information is generated to be issued when it is determined that the vehicle that made the emergency call has been involved in a multiple collision accident. Here, the predetermined time (predetermined time) is, for example, a threshold value for distinguishing between the above-mentioned disaster and multiple collision accident, and specifically, a value of about several seconds can be exemplified.

[0058] Inertial force detection unit 800 detects the inertial force that occurs when the moving speed of the vehicle that made the emergency call changes. Specifically, inertial force detection unit 800 continuously detects, for example, from the output of an acceleration sensor, the inertial force that occurs when the moving speed of the vehicle that made the emergency call changes. The inertial force detection unit 800 can output information to the rescue priority determination unit 300A, detecting how much inertial force has occurred, how frequently the inertial force has occurred, and the extent to which the inertial force has continued to occur, for example, by continuously monitoring the output from an acceleration sensor.

[0059] <Configuration of rescue priority determination unit 300A> As shown in FIG. 9, the rescue priority determination unit 300A according to this embodiment includes a processor 310A and a memory 320A.

[0060] The processor 310A controls the entire rescue priority determination unit 300A in accordance with a control program stored in a memory 320A, which will be described later. In this embodiment, the control unit 313 also executes the functions of a vehicle stop determination unit 311, a priority determination unit 313A, an inertial force determination unit 314, and the like, which will be described later.

[0061] The memory 320A includes a read only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), etc. The ROM stores the above-mentioned control programs, etc., and the RAM stores various data, etc. In this embodiment, for example, the detection information from inertial force detection unit 800 is stored in RAM in chronological order.

[0062] <Processor 310A Configuration> As shown in FIG. 9, the processor 310A includes a vehicle stop determination unit 311, a priority determination unit 313A, and an inertial force determination unit 314. Note that components with the same reference numerals as those in the first embodiment have the same functions, and therefore detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted.

[0063] The priority determination unit 313A determines the rescue priority based on the determination result of the vehicle stop determination unit 311, the time of occurrence of the inertial force acting on the vehicle that made the emergency call, which is sequentially input from the inertial force determination unit 314 described later, and information including information regarding the presence or absence of occupants obtained from the occupant monitor unit 700. The result of the rescue priority determination performed by the priority determination unit 313A is output to the rescue request information generation unit 400A.

[0064] Inertial force determination unit 314 determines the magnitude, occurrence time, occurrence frequency, etc. of the inertial force acting on the vehicle that made the emergency call based on the detection information from inertial force detection unit 800 stored in memory 320A. The determination result in inertial force determination section 314 is output to priority determination section 313A.

[0065] <Processing of rescue priority determination device 1> The processing of the rescue priority determination device 1A according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

[0066] As shown in FIG. 10, the rescue priority determination device 1A detects a notification trigger that is manual or automatic by a vehicle occupant (step S110). The rescue priority determination device 1A detects the notification trigger, for example, manually when a vehicle occupant operates a notification trigger switch, or automatically when a predetermined condition is met.

[0067] When the rescue priority determination device 1A detects a notification trigger, it executes a vehicle information collection process for collecting vehicle information (step S120). Specifically, the rescue priority determination device 1 collects, via the traveling condition information acquisition unit 100 and the inertial force detection unit 800, data from a vehicle speed sensor and information about inertial force from an acceleration sensor, for example.

[0068] At this time, the rescue priority determination device 1A notifies, for example, an emergency call center of an emergency call (step S130). After issuing an emergency call, the rescue priority determination device 1A continues to periodically transmit the collected vehicle information to, for example, an emergency call center.

[0069] Next, the rescue priority determination device 1A executes a rescue priority determination process for determining the rescue priority (step S400). The rescue priority determination process (step S400) will be described in detail later.

[0070] Furthermore, the rescue priority determination device 1A executes a rescue request information generation process for generating rescue request information (step S500). The rescue request information generation process (step S500) will be described in detail later.

[0071] When the rescue priority determination device 1A completes the rescue request information generation process (step S500), it transmits the generated rescue request information to, for example, an emergency call center (step S140), and determines whether the rescue has been completed (step S150).

[0072] If the rescue priority determination device 1A determines that the rescue has been completed ("YES" in step S150), the series of processes ends.

[0073] On the other hand, if the rescue priority determination device 1 determines that the rescue has not been completed ("NO" in step S150), it transitions the processing to step S400, and executes a rescue priority determination process (step S400) and a rescue request information generation process (step S500) based on the most recent collected vehicle information, and continues the process of transmitting the generated rescue request information to the emergency call center (step S140) until the rescue is completed.

[0074] <Rescue priority determination process> The rescue priority determination process in the rescue priority determination device 1A according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

[0075] As shown in FIG. 11, the priority determination unit 313A determines, for example, whether there is an occupant in the vehicle that made the emergency call and whether the vehicle speed of the vehicle that made the emergency call is zero, based on the determination result of the stop determination unit 311 and information including information regarding the presence or absence of an occupant obtained from the occupant monitor unit 700 (step S410).

[0076] If the priority determination unit 313A determines that there is an occupant in the vehicle that made the emergency call and that the vehicle speed of the vehicle that made the emergency call is zero ("YES" in step S410), it then determines whether or not an inertial force acted on the vehicle that made the emergency call based on information such as the magnitude, occurrence time, and occurrence frequency of the inertial force acting on the vehicle that made the emergency call, which is sequentially input from the inertial force determination unit 314 (step S420).

[0077] If the priority determination unit 313A determines that an inertial force has acted on the vehicle that made the emergency call ("YES" in step S420), it determines the rescue priority to be "high" based on the data table shown in FIG. 13, for example, and terminates the processing (step S430). Furthermore, the priority determination unit 313A outputs the determination result to the rescue request information generation unit 400A in association with the vehicle information, for example, as shown in FIG.

[0078] On the other hand, if the priority determination unit 313A determines that there is an occupant in the vehicle that made the emergency call and that the vehicle speed of the vehicle that made the emergency call is not zero ("NO" in step S410) or that no inertial force is acting on the vehicle ("NO" in step S420), it processes the emergency call from the vehicle that made the emergency call as a normal emergency call (step S440). Then, the rescue priority determination device 1 causes the process to proceed to step S140.

[0079] <Rescue request information generation process> The rescue request information generation process in the rescue priority determination device 1A according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

[0080] As shown in FIG. 12, the rescue request information generation unit 400A determines whether the duration of the inertial force generated in the vehicle that made the emergency call is longer than a predetermined time (predetermined time) based on the information input from the priority determination unit 313A (step S510).

[0081] If the rescue request information generation unit 400A determines, based on the information input from the priority determination unit 313A, that the duration of the inertial force generated in the vehicle that made the emergency call is longer than a predetermined time (predetermined time) ("YES" in step S510), it refers to the database shown in FIG. 14, for example, to determine that a disaster has occurred (step S520), and generates first rescue request information (step S530). Then, the rescue priority determination device 1A shifts the processing to step S140.

[0082] On the other hand, if the rescue request information generation unit 400A determines, based on the information input from the priority determination unit 313A, that the duration of the inertial force generated in the vehicle that made the emergency call is shorter than a predetermined time (predetermined time) ("NO" in step S510), it refers to the database shown in FIG. 14, for example, to determine that a multiple collision accident has occurred (step S540), and generates second rescue request information (step S550). Then, the rescue priority determination device 1A shifts the processing to step S140. In the database of FIG. 14, vehicle information and rescue request information are linked together, and the rescue request information includes rescue priority, accident type, rescue organization information, and the like.

[0083] <Actions and Effects> As described above, the rescue priority determination device 1A according to this embodiment includes a driving state information acquisition unit 100 that acquires driving state information of the vehicle that made the emergency call, an inertial force detection unit 800 that detects the inertial force that occurs when the moving speed of the vehicle that made the emergency call changes, and a rescue priority determination unit 300A that determines the rescue priority of the vehicle that made the emergency call based on the driving state information acquired by the driving state information acquisition unit 100 and the inertial force detected by the inertial force detection unit 800. Then, when the vehicle that made the emergency call is in a stopped state and an inertial force that occurs when the moving speed of the vehicle that made the emergency call changes is detected, the rescue priority determination unit 300A determines that there is a high need for rescue for the vehicle that made the emergency call and increases the rescue priority. In other words, if the vehicle that made the emergency call is stopped and an inertial force is detected when the vehicle's speed changes, there is a high possibility that the vehicle that made the emergency call has been involved in some kind of accident or disaster. Therefore, when the vehicle that made the emergency call is in a stopped state and an inertial force generated when the moving speed of the vehicle that made the emergency call changes is detected, the rescue priority determination unit 300A determines that there is a high need for rescue for the vehicle that made the emergency call and increases the rescue priority, thereby making it possible to determine the rescue priority from the vehicle's condition determined based on objective information about the vehicle.

[0084] In addition, the driving state information acquisition unit 100 in the rescue priority determination device 1A of this embodiment acquires driving state information of the vehicle that made the emergency call from a vehicle speed sensor, and the rescue priority determination unit 300A determines that the driving state of the vehicle that made the emergency call is stopped if the information acquired from the vehicle speed sensor by the driving state information acquisition unit 100 indicates a vehicle speed of zero. In other words, even if it is detected that the foot brake or parking brake is engaged, it is not necessarily possible to accurately determine whether the position of the vehicle that made the emergency call has changed due to external forces alone. That is, by detecting that the vehicle speed is zero based on information from the vehicle speed sensor, it is possible to clearly detect that the position of the vehicle that made the emergency call has changed due to an external force.

[0085] In addition, the rescue priority determination device 1A of this embodiment is equipped with an occupant monitor unit 700 that monitors occupants in the vehicle, and the rescue priority determination unit 300A determines that there is a high need for rescue for the vehicle that made the emergency call when the vehicle that made the emergency call is in a stopped state, detects the inertial force that occurs when the moving speed of the vehicle that made the emergency call changes, and detects an occupant in the vehicle that made the emergency call, and increases the rescue priority. In other words, in a situation where the vehicle that made the emergency call is likely to have been involved in some kind of accident or disaster, the occupant monitor unit 700 can detect the presence or absence of occupants, making it possible to more accurately determine the need for rescue. Furthermore, if the occupant monitor unit 700 is configured with an imaging device, millimeter wave radar, etc., it can detect not only the presence or absence of occupants but also the behavior and vital signs of the occupants, thereby making it possible to more accurately determine the urgency of rescue.

[0086] Furthermore, the rescue priority determination device 1A according to this embodiment includes a rescue request information generation unit 400A that generates rescue request information according to the time period during which the inertial force occurred in the vehicle that made the emergency call when the rescue priority determined by the rescue priority determination unit 300A is high, and a rescue request information transmission unit 600 that transmits the rescue request information generated by the rescue request information generation unit 400A to an emergency call center, and the rescue request information generation unit 400A generates first rescue request information when the time period during which the inertial force occurred in the vehicle that made the emergency call is longer than a predetermined time (predetermined time), and generates second rescue request information when the time period during which the inertial force occurred in the vehicle that made the emergency call is shorter than the predetermined time (predetermined time). In other words, if the rescue priority determined by the rescue priority determination unit 300A is high and the time during which the inertial force generated in the vehicle that made the emergency call has been generated is longer than a predetermined time (predetermined time), the rescue request information generation unit 400A generates first rescue request information that requests rescue from the fire department, which is the most appropriate organization to which private individuals can request rescue, because there is a high possibility that the vehicle that made the emergency call has been involved in a disaster, etc., and if the rescue priority determined by the rescue priority determination unit 300A is high and the time during which the inertial force generated in the vehicle that made the emergency call has been generated is shorter than a predetermined time (predetermined time), the rescue request information generation unit 400A generates second rescue request information that requests rescue from the police, which is the most appropriate organization to which private individuals can request rescue, because there is a high possibility that the vehicle that made the emergency call has been involved in a multiple collision accident, etc. Therefore, it is possible to determine the rescue priority from the vehicle condition determined based on objective information about the vehicle, and to make a rescue request to an appropriate rescue organization.

[0087] Furthermore, the inertial force determination unit 314 grasps the frequency of occurrence of inertial forces, and therefore can estimate how many vehicles are involved in a multiple collision accident based on the frequency of occurrence. Furthermore, when a large number of vehicles are involved in a multiple collision accident, the possibility of a vehicle fire increases, so rescue request agencies can include not only the police but also the fire department. <Variation 1>

[0088] In the first embodiment, an example was described in which the location information acquisition unit 200 determines the amount of change in location information of a vehicle that has made an emergency call, and in the second embodiment, an example was described in which the inertial force detection unit 800 determines the magnitude, occurrence time, occurrence frequency, etc. of the inertial force acting on a vehicle that has made an emergency call, but a configuration that includes both of these may also be used. With the above configuration, the extent of a disaster or multiple collision accident can be estimated by analyzing how much inertial force acted on the vehicle that made the emergency call, for how long, or how frequently, and as a result, how much the location information of the vehicle that made the emergency call changed. <Variation 2>

[0089] In addition, in the first and second embodiments, the location of the rescue priority determination units 300, 300A is not particularly limited, but the rescue priority determination units 300, 300A may be placed not only on the vehicle side but also in an emergency call center or an emergency call server. In other words, the rescue priority determination unit 300 may be placed in an emergency call center or an emergency call server, and receive driving condition information, location information (inertial force information), occupant information, etc. sent from the vehicle, and the emergency call center or emergency call server may determine the rescue priority based on the received information, and select a rescue request organization in accordance with this determination.

[0090] The rescue priority determination device 1 of the present invention can be realized by recording the processing of the rescue priority determination units 300, 300A on a recording medium readable by a computer system, and having the rescue priority determination units 300, 300A read and execute the program recorded on this recording medium. The computer system here includes hardware such as an OS and peripheral devices.

[0091] Furthermore, if a WWW (World Wide Web) system is used, the "computer system" also includes the homepage provision environment (or display environment). The above program may be transmitted from a computer system that stores the program in a storage device or the like to another computer system via a transmission medium or by transmission waves in the transmission medium. Here, the "transmission medium" that transmits the program refers to a medium that has the function of transmitting information, such as a network (communication network) like the Internet or a communication line (communication line) like a telephone line.

[0092] The program may also be a program for implementing some of the above-mentioned functions, or may be a so-called differential file (differential program) that can implement the above-mentioned functions in combination with a program already stored in the computer system.

[0093] The above describes an embodiment of the present invention in detail with reference to the drawings, but the specific configuration is not limited to this embodiment, and includes designs within the scope of the gist of the present invention.

[0094] <Additional notes> [Additional note 1] a driving state information acquisition unit that acquires driving state information of a vehicle that has made an emergency call; an inertial force detection unit that detects an inertial force that occurs when the moving speed of the vehicle that made the emergency call changes; a rescue priority determination unit that determines a rescue priority for the vehicle that made the emergency call based on the traveling state information acquired by the traveling state information acquisition unit and the inertial force detected by the inertial force detection unit; Including, the rescue priority determination unit includes one or more processors and one or more memories communicatively connected to the one or more processors; A rescue priority determination device characterized in that the one or more processors determine that there is a high need for rescue for the vehicle that made the emergency call when the vehicle that made the emergency call is stopped and an inertial force generated when the vehicle's speed changes is detected, and raises the rescue priority. [Additional note 2] The rescue priority determination device described in Appendix 1 is characterized in that the driving state information acquisition unit acquires driving state information of the vehicle that made the emergency call from a vehicle speed sensor, and the one or more processors determine that the driving state of the vehicle that made the emergency call is stopped if the information from the vehicle speed sensor acquired by the driving state information acquisition unit indicates a vehicle speed of zero. [Additional note 3] an occupant monitor unit that monitors an occupant in the vehicle; the one or more processors: 3. The rescue priority determination device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, when the vehicle that made the emergency call is stopped, an inertial force generated when the speed of the vehicle that made the emergency call changes is detected, and an occupant is detected in the vehicle that made the emergency call, the rescue priority determination device determines that there is a high need for rescue for the vehicle that made the emergency call and increases the rescue priority. [Additional note 4] a rescue request information generating unit that generates rescue request information in accordance with a time period during which an inertial force has occurred in the vehicle that made the emergency call when the rescue priority determined by the rescue priority determining unit is high; a rescue request information transmitting unit that transmits the rescue request information generated by the rescue request information generating unit to an emergency call center; Equipped with The rescue priority determination device according to claim 3, wherein the rescue request information generation unit generates first rescue request information if the duration of the inertial force generated in the vehicle that made the emergency call is longer than a predetermined time, and generates second rescue request information if the duration of the inertial force generated in the vehicle that made the emergency call is shorter than the predetermined time. [Additional note 5] 5. The rescue priority determination device according to claim 4, wherein the first rescue request information is rescue request information that requires at least a request to a fire department. [Additional note 6] 5. The rescue priority determination device according to claim 4, wherein the second rescue request information is rescue request information that requires at least a request to the police. [Explanation of symbols]

[0095] 1; Rescue priority determination device 1A; Rescue priority determination device 100: Driving state information acquisition unit 200;Location information acquisition unit 300; Rescue priority determination section 300A; Rescue priority determination section 310;Processor 310A; Processor 311;Stop determination section 312;Position information determination unit 313;Priority determination unit 313A;Priority determination unit 314;Inertial force determination section 320;Memory 320A;Memory 400: Rescue request information generation unit 400A: Rescue request information generation unit 500;Memory section 600: Rescue request information transmission unit 700: Passenger monitor section 800; Inertial force detection unit

Claims

1. a driving state information acquisition unit that acquires driving state information of a vehicle that has made an emergency call; a location information acquisition unit that acquires location information of the vehicle that made the emergency call; a rescue priority determination unit that determines a rescue priority for the vehicle that made the emergency call based on the driving state information acquired by the driving state information acquisition unit and the vehicle position information acquired by the position information acquisition unit; Including, the rescue priority determination unit includes one or more processors and one or more memories communicatively connected to the one or more processors; A rescue priority determination device characterized in that the one or more processors determine that there is a high need for rescue for the vehicle that made the emergency call when the vehicle that made the emergency call is stopped and the location information of the vehicle that made the emergency call has changed, and raises the rescue priority.

2. The rescue priority determination device described in claim 1, characterized in that the driving state information acquisition unit acquires driving state information of the vehicle that made the emergency call from a vehicle speed sensor, and the one or more processors determine that the driving state of the vehicle that made the emergency call is stopped if the information from the vehicle speed sensor acquired by the driving state information acquisition unit indicates a vehicle speed of zero.

3. an occupant monitor unit that monitors an occupant in the vehicle; the one or more processors: The rescue priority determination device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that when the vehicle that made the emergency call is stopped, the location information of the vehicle that made the emergency call has changed, and an occupant is detected in the vehicle that made the emergency call, it is determined that there is a high need for rescue for the vehicle that made the emergency call, and the rescue priority is increased.

4. a rescue request information generation unit that generates rescue request information in accordance with an amount of change in the position information of the vehicle that made the emergency call when the rescue priority determined by the rescue priority determination unit is high; a rescue request information transmitting unit that transmits the rescue request information generated by the rescue request information generating unit to an emergency call center; Equipped with The rescue priority determination device according to claim 3, characterized in that the rescue request information generation unit generates first rescue request information when the amount of change in the location information of the vehicle that made the emergency call is greater than a predetermined amount of change, and generates second rescue request information when the amount of change in the location information of the vehicle that made the emergency call is smaller than the predetermined amount of change.

5. a driving state information acquisition unit that acquires driving state information of a vehicle that has made an emergency call; an inertial force detection unit that detects an inertial force that occurs when the moving speed of the vehicle that made the emergency call changes; a rescue priority determination unit that determines a rescue priority for the vehicle that made the emergency call based on the traveling state information acquired by the traveling state information acquisition unit and the inertial force detected by the inertial force detection unit; Including, the rescue priority determination unit includes one or more processors and one or more memories communicatively connected to the one or more processors; A rescue priority determination device characterized in that the one or more processors determine that there is a high need for rescue for the vehicle that made the emergency call when the vehicle that made the emergency call is stopped and an inertial force generated when the vehicle's speed changes is detected, and raises the rescue priority.

Images