Methods and apparatus for selective emergency alert notification and response
Various embodiments include communicating emergency information to a vehicle. A computer may receive one or more emergency notifications issued by a government agency. Additionally, a geographic location of a vehicle may be determined based on GPS data. At least one emergency notification may be selected based on the geographic location of the vehicle and a geographic attribute of the emergency notifications. The selected emergency notifications may be output so that the notification may be presented to a vehicle occupant. In some embodiments, the notification may be output depending on the direction that the vehicle is travelling.
1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving at a vehicle computer an emergency notification having a an emergency-incident location geographic attribute;
receiving vehicle GPS location data at a vehicle computer;
determining, via the vehicle computer if the emergency-incident is within a predefined proximity to the vehicle GPS location, based on the geographic vehicle location and the geographic attribute; and
outputting the emergency notification, when the emergency-incident is within the predefined proximity to the vehicle GPS location.
2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the emergency notification is a government issued emergency notification.
3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 ,
wherein the predefined proximity is user-input.
4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 wherein the proximity is defined as a radius centered around a vehicle.
5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the outputting is based on a direction of travel of the vehicle towards the emergency-incident.
6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising transmitting a request for the one or more emergency notifications.
7. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by a vehicle computing system processor, cause the processor to perform the method comprising:
receiving at a vehicle computer an emergency notification having an emergency-incident location geographic attribute;
receiving vehicle GPS location data at a vehicle computer; determining, via the vehicle computer, if the emergency-incident is within a predefined proximity to the vehicle GPS location, based on the geographic vehicle location and the geographic attribute; and
outputting the emergency notification, when the emergency-incident is within the predefined proximity to the vehicle GPS location.
8. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 7 wherein the emergency notifications are at least one of an AMBER alert, weather-related alert, or a public safety alert.
9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 7 further comprising instructions for:
receiving a user home location;
and
outputting the emergency notification, if the emergency-incident is within the predefined proximity to the user home location.
10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 wherein the user home location is defined by the vehicle occupant.
11. A system comprising: a processor configured to:
receive at a vehicle computer an emergency notification having an emergency-incident location geographic attribute;
receive vehicle GPS location data at a vehicle computer;
determine if the emergency-incident is within a predefined proximity to the vehicle GPS location, based on the geographic vehicle location and the geographic attribute; and
output the emergency notification, when the emergency-incident is within the predefined proximity to the vehicle GPS location.
12. The system of claim 11 wherein the emergency notification includes one or more images of a subject of the emergency notifications.
13. The system of claim 12 wherein the subject is selected from the group consisting of missing persons, suspected criminals, missing vehicles, or a combination thereof.
14. The system of claim 12 wherein the subject is meteorological events.
15. The system of claim 12 wherein the image is a license plate.