Vehicular emergency message system with automatic periodic call-in

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 communications transceiver having an audio input; a controller coupled to said position locator and said communications transceiver for causing said communications transceiver to communicate with said response center in a predetermined manner, including the transmission of audio signals responsive to a data output of said controller for specifying a unique identifier code of said vehicle and specifying said position determined by said position locator; and an activation unit coupled to said controller responsive to a manual activation to send an activating signal to said controller to establish a communication channel between said communications transceiver and said response center; wherein said controller includes a memory storing a time of the last connection between said vehicular emergency message system and said response center and further storing a current time, wherein said controller further compares said last connection time with said current time and if an amount of time greater that a predetermined duration has elapsed then said controller causing said communications transceiver to establish a communication channel with said response center as an automatic call-in without any manual activation of said activation unit, wherein said automatic call-in includes transmission of said unique identifier code of said vehicle for registering in said response center that said vehicle emergency message system is active and operating, and wherein said comparison of said last connection time with said current time is performed in response to turning on of an ignition switch of said vehicle.