Vehicular emergency message system

Claim 1

A vehicular emergency message system in a mobile vehicle for communicating with a response center, comprising: a position locator receiving reference broadcast signals and determining a position of said vehicle; a cellular transceiver having an audio signal input, an audio signal output, and a control input; a controller coupled to said position locator and said cellular transceiver for causing said cellular transceiver to communicate with said response center in a predetermined manner, wherein said controller operates in a wait mode, an activation mode, and a communication mode, said controller including a tone detector for detecting tone signals from said response center; and an activation unit coupled to said controller responsive to a manual activation to send an activating signal to said controller to place said controller in said activation mode; wherein said activation mode is comprised of 1) obtaining control of said cellular transceiver through said control input in order to establish a communication channel between said cellular transceiver and said response center, 2) initiating a first call to said response center including an initial transmission of audio signals responsive to a data output of said controller for specifying a unique identifier code of said vehicle while said audio output is muted, 3) detecting a failure of said first call in response to whether said tone signals are detected or not detected during said first call, and 4) initiating a second call to said response center if said first call fails, said second call being comprised of an initial transmission and reception of voice responsive to said audio input and said audio output without muting.