Method and apparatus for providing customization of public safety answering point information delivery

1. A method for providing vehicle incident call services to a user, which comprises:

receiving at an automated third-party service center a communication from a vehicle over a data channel;

automatically sending signaling to the vehicle from the third-party sen ice center;

receiving at the third-party service center in response to the signaling, synthetic audio in the form of recorded audio or text-to-speech message from the vehicle, the synthetic audio representing location information comprising at least latitude and longitude coordinates of the vehicle;

using an interactive voice recognition (IVR) system located at the third-party service center, transcribing from the synthetic audio and into text data at least the latitude and longitude coordinates to determine if the coordinates are valid; and

if the coordinates are valid, the third-party service center providing the user with a selection of vehicle-incident non-emergency response services.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the vehicle-incident non-emergency response services comprise at least one of:

private accident handling;

insurance notification;

replacement vehicle coordination; and

third party notifications.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the synthetic audio received at the third-party service center is received over the data channel.

4. The method according to claim 1 , which further comprises determining alternate position information and using the alternate position information to check the location information.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the alternate position information is provided by a mobile device locator that determines the alternate position information using cellular network-based methods.

6. A method for providing vehicle incident call services to a user, which comprises: receiving at an automated third-party service center a communication from a vehicle over a data channel;

automatically sending signaling to the vehicle from the third-party service center;

receiving at (he third-party service center in response to the signaling, location information from the vehicle comprising at least latitude and longitude coordinates of the vehicle;

using an interactive voice recognition (IVR) system located at the third-party service center, determining if the coordinates are valid; and

if the coordinates are valid, the third-party service center providing the user with a selection of vehicle-incident non-emergency response services.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the vehicle-incident non-emergency response services comprise at least one of:

private accident handling:

insurance notification;

replacement vehicle coordination; and

third party notifications.

8. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the location information received at the third-party service center is received over the data channel.

9. The method according to claim 6 , which further comprises determining alternate position information and using the alternate position information to check the location information.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the alternate position information is provided by a mobile device locator that determines die alternate position information using cellular network-based methods.

11. A method for providing vehicle incident call services to a user, which comprises:

receiving al an automated third-party service center a communication from a vehicle over a data channel;

automatically sending signaling to the vehicle from the third-party service center;

receiving at the third-party service center in response to the signaling, location information from the vehicle comprising at least latitude and longitude coordinates of the vehicle;

using an interactive voice recognition (IVR) system located at the third-party service center, determining if the coordinates are valid;

if the coordinates are valid, the third-party service center, using the interactive voice recognition (IVR) system, prompting the user to request either emergency response services or vehicle-incident non-emergency response services;

if the user requests emergency response services, automatically forwarding information from the vehicle communication and the location information to a public safety answering point (PSAP) determined by the third-party service center; and

if the user requests vehicle-incident non-emergency response services, providing the user with a selection of vehicle-incident non-emergency response services by way of a user interface located at the vehicle.

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the vehicle-incident non-emergency response services comprise at least one of;

private accident handling;

insurance notification;

replacement vehicle coordination; and

third party notifications.

13. The method according to claim 11 , which further comprises determining the PSAP with a database containing characteristic information on a plurality of PSAPs.

14. The method according to claim 13 , which further comprises utilizing the database to select the PSAP using voice and/or location information.

15. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the location information received at the third-party service center is received over a data channel.

16. The method according to claim 11 , which further comprises determining alternate position information and using the alternate position information to check the location information.

17. The method according to claim 16 , wherein the alternate position information is provided by a mobile device locator that determines the alternate position information using cellular network-based methods.