Vehicle Emergency Call Triggering with Sensor Reliability Delay

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing emergency call systems in vehicles often send false alarms or fail to trigger calls in critical situations due to unreliable sensor signals, leading to delayed or inappropriate responses from rescue services.

Innovation Solution

A method that evaluates the reliability of sensor signals and introduces a delay before sending an emergency call, allowing for manual cancellation during this time, and automatically aborts the call if the situation returns to normal, using a combination of sensors to determine the probability of an accident and setting delay times based on signal reliability.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Speed

If the triggering threshold is set low to detect dangerous situations, then the system responds faster to potential accidents, but false alarms increase due to unreliable sensor signals

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveresponse speedVSAvoidalarm accuracy
Core Design Contradiction:
SpeedVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary evaluation of sensor signal reliability before triggering an emergency call. The control device assesses whether the sensor signals clearly indicate an accident situation before activating the alarm, preventing false alarms while maintaining fast response to genuine accidents

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

A delay device is introduced as an intermediary between the trigger condition and the emergency call transmission. This delay mechanism allows time for reliability verification without significantly impacting the overall response time to genuine accidents

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Reliability

If the triggering threshold is set high to avoid false alarms, then the reliability of emergency calls improves, but the system fails to detect some critical situations

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvealarm accuracyVSAvoidaccident detection accuracy
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The system continuously monitors sensor signals during the delay period and evaluates their reliability. If additional sensor data confirms the accident situation, the emergency call is transmitted; if not, the call is canceled, ensuring high reliability while maintaining detection accuracy

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

Solution Approach 2:

The control device performs preliminary assessment of sensor signal reliability before final trigger decision, allowing the system to distinguish between genuine accidents and false alarm conditions even at lower triggering thresholds

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

3Reliability

If a delay is introduced to verify sensor reliability, then false alarms are reduced, but the response time to send emergency calls increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvealarm accuracyVSAvoidcall transmission delay
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The delay is applied selectively only when sensor signal reliability is uncertain. When sensor signals clearly and reliably indicate an accident, the emergency call is transmitted immediately without delay, ensuring minimal time loss for genuine critical situations

Inventive Principle:
Principle #16Partial or excessive action

4Reliability

If multiple sensor signals are combined to improve detection accuracy, then the system becomes more reliable, but the system complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesensor evaluation accuracyVSAvoidsystem complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

Multiple sensor signals are merged and evaluated collectively by the control device to determine accident probability and signal reliability. This combination approach improves detection accuracy and reliability without requiring separate complex evaluation systems for each sensor

Inventive Principle:
Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Data Source

PatentEP2297718B1Method and device for initiating an automatic emergency call
Publication Date: 2011.12.21 CONTINENTAL TEVES AG & CO OHG
  • EP2297718B1 patent drawingFigure 1

AI summary

The invention relates to a method and a device for initiating an automatic emergency call, wherein the emergency call signal (S) is transmitted when an initiation threshold determined on the basis of a sensor signal is reached. In order to prevent false transmissions of emergency calls, but still consider a plurality of hazardous situations, it is proposed that an emergency call is initiated when the initiation threshold is reached and the reliability of the sensor signals bringing about the initiation is additionally evaluated, wherein the emergency is transmitted only after a delay period if the sensor signals cannot be unambiguously interpreted. The transmission of the emergency call can still be cancelled during the delay period.