REFERENCES

This invention was disclosed to the US Patent and Trademark Office under Document Disclosure No. 345,692 dated May 24, 1994. The Applicant claims the benefit of his Provisional Patent Application, Serial No. 60/082,565 filed Apr. 21, 1998.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of emergency radio transmitters and more particularly to emergency transmitters that are automatically activated in case of an accident.

Air and ground transport vehicles frequently have accidents in remote areas. Often the occurrence of the accident is not known and the location may be hidden from view. When such incidents happen, and the proper agencies notified, search and rescue teams may be mobilized. Often the teams must first search over wide areas in order to locate the damaged vehicle and its occupants. This search and rescue process takes considerable time and as a result the chances of saving lives are greatly reduced.

Of course two way microwave radios or cellular phones may fulfill the function of accident notification but only if the persons involved in the accident possess such devices and are sufficiently alert and knowledgeable to provide required location information, and the vehicle is not in a location that precludes line-of-sight communication. This presupposes the ability for signals from the devices reaching a suitable receiver or repeater station in order to alert a known rescue function, which must then have sufficient information to search in close proximity to the accident location. While they may or may not be suitable, two way radios and cell phones, and cell phone systems such as GM's “On-Star” or Ford's “Rescu”, are expensive and inefficient ways of accomplishing the goal of remote accident notification. For example the Mayday Operational Test Report

1

supported by Federal Highway Funding shows only 80% data connection rate using cell phones.

1

Castle Rock Consultants, October 1997, p. 30, Table 51

What is needed to help save lives, is an emergency locating transmitter that is automatically activated in case of an accident and that generates a rescue signal that is broadcast to multiple rescue resources with an infallible assurance of a rescue result. Development of a system which can broadcast such a locating signal in case of an accident even without the need of a live voice to send a message relative to the identification and location of the vehicle represents a great improvement in the field of transportation safety communication and satisfies a long felt need of security agencies and the traveling public.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention, Auto Locating Emergency Rescue Transmitter (ALERT), is an automatic, impact or manually initiated, emergency signal generator that broadcasts a radio frequency (rf) signal for guiding rescuers to the location of a distressed automobile, aircraft or other vehicle that may also be outside of anyone's cognizance. Manual initiation is included in order to test the invention and to provide an alternate means for initiation in an emergency in case the impact is insufficient for initiation or the impact initiation does not work for some reason. The preferred embodiment includes an additional amplifier/modulator with a pre-recorded voice and tone-coded message that may be installed in or provided as an adjunct to the vehicle's existing radio. To use this embodiment, rescuers may determine the location of the distressed vehicle by standard rf signal tracking techniques.

However, using recently available technologies, an enhanced alternate embodiment provides map grid co-ordinates to rescuers via a link to the Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) System. In either embodiment activation of the system is accomplished via an inertia switch in the vehicle, which, in later model automobiles is already present to activate the air bag. This switch may be linked to the ALERT system in parallel and thus redundant to the inertia switch, that can also be manually initiated, which is included in ALERT.

The main objectives of the preferred embodiment of the present invention are: 1) automatic, redundant activation when an accident occurs; 2) manual activation for test and alternate initiation purposes; 3)automatic generation of a distress signal upon activation that is redundant and assured; 4) communication equipment that operates at sufficiently low AM frequency to assure reception that will be received by all radios operating at any AM frequency within several miles; 5) communication equipment that is added to or built in to existing radio equipment carried in the vehicle; 6) provision of a wide range of frequency reception AM band, interference type trace signal; and 7) provision of periodic, repeating pre-recorded rescue plea and vehicle identification information. It is the additional objectives of the alternate and more costly embodiment of the present invention to provide: 8) map co-ordinate information via the GPS system.

An appreciation of the other aims and objectives of the present invention and an understanding of it may be achieved by referring to following description of the preferred embodiments of the ALERT system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1

is a block diagram illustrating all the versions of this invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1

illustrates how the preferred embodiment of this invention may easily be implemented in a short time via an addition to the design and production of the standard radio

14

installed in the vehicle. Before specially modified radios

14

are produced and available, the standard radio

18

can be modified via a kit

22

that can be installed as an adjunct to the standard radio

18

itself. The modified radio

14

as well as the kit version

22

includes, as a minimum, an additional amplifier/modulator

26

connected to an inertia switch

30

and the vehicle's power supply

16

. Connected in parallel with the inertia switch

30

is a manually operated test switch

32

. Connected in series with these switches

30

,

32

is a master switch

36

. For convenience, the test and master switches

32

,

36

could be incorporated in one, double pole, double throw switch.

The inertia switch

30

is capable of detecting when the vehicle is involved in a damaging accident upon impact and is already redundantly available in vehicles with air bags. The manual test switch

32

provides an alternate method of initiation for test and other emergency notification purposes. The master switch

36

is used to turn off the system after it has been activated by the inertia switch

30

. Normally, the inertia and test switches

30

,

32

are open and the master switch

36

is closed. The amplifier/modulator

26

includes an alternating, pre-recorded voice, and tone message. In addition, ALERT can include a GPS map locator interpreter

34

to provide map related guidance to rescue vehicles.

The pre-recorded message contains the vehicle license or vehicle identification number or any other number or description capable of identifying that particular vehicle. When the vehicle is involved in a damaging accident, the inertia switch

30

is closed. This, in turn, activates power to the ALERT amplifier/modulator

26

. This causes the alternating, pre-recorded voice, and tone message to be continuously broadcast via an intermediate frequency (IF) power amplifier

38

. The message is broadcast at the IF frequency, which is usually 456 kHz, so that it will be received over a wide range of frequencies which are converted to the superheterodyne standard IF frequency, so that it will come through any AM broadcast receivers turned on within a several mile range. Messages received may be relayed by the message recipient to the 911 emergency system or directly received by the police who will be able to respond. Rescuers will then be able to trace the source of the emergency broadcast by radio direction finding or triangulation. Upon rescue, rescuers will be able to turn off the ALERT

22

and stop the emergency broadcasts by turning off the master switch

36

. Of course, the ALERT

22

will cease to function and stop broadcasting if the power supply

16

is damaged or becomes exhausted.

As shown on

FIG. 1

, the additional circuitry to create the modified radio

14

or the kit

22

is a completely independent augmentation of the standard radio

18

. Of course, in order to enable broadcasting and monitoring of the message, connection is also made from the ALERT kit IF power amplifier

38

to the radio's antenna

48

. Alternatively, ALERT

22

could include its own auxiliary antenna

54

.

More expensive versions of ALERT include police or other assigned emergency band transmitters

42

so that the emergency signal will be broadcast directly to a security service, such as the police. Such systems may also include a link

34

to the GPS system so that the broadcast message can include the exact location of the vehicle.

The following reference numerals are used on FIG.

1

:

14

ALERT modified vehicle radio

16

Vehicle power supply

18

Standard vehicle radio without ALERT modification

22

ALERT radio modification kit

26

Additional amplifier/modulator

30

Inertia switch

32

Manually operated test switch

34

GPS interpreter

36

Manually operated master switch

38

IF power amplifier

42

Emergency band transmitter

46

RF oscillator and detector

48

Antenna

50

Audio detector and amplifier

54

Alternative auxiliary antenna

ALERT

22

has been described with reference to particular embodiments. Other modifications and enhancements can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the claims that follow.