CA1339822C - Roadreader - Google Patents

Abstract

An apparatus for improving safety in land vehicle traffic. This invention is a road scanning apparatus fitted to the front corners of a road vehicle which can continuously warn the driver of vehicle proximity to the painted traffic lane marks on the normal road surface. The scanning system detects the change in intensity of retro-reflected light from asphalt to a painted line mark as well as geometric characteristics of the line. Modification to existing roads is thus uneccessary. Moreover, this apparatus can be enhanced to include additional capabilities such as a optical communication system whereby coded information, e.g. 'Bar Codes' painted onto road surfaces can be read and decoded and transmitted to the vehicle's occupants This information can also be recorded for later use. Other such coded information will allow for automatic control of vehicles from data scanned continuously while driving.

Description

1 33q822 SPECIFICATION
This invention relates to a vehicle-mounted system for improving traffic safety in land-based vehicle transportation. It is common in traffic safety, to paint lines of highly reflective paint (some 50% reflective as compared to asphalt at approximately 4%) on road surfaces to guide drivers in steering their vehicles between said lines so as to mAint~in safe paths or lanes of traffic flow. This system of lines however, does not alert a driver to the grave danger of said vehicle inadv~l~elllly crossing these painted lane lines such as may occur during moments of driver in:~ttention or driver fatigue. Furthermore the vast number of roadside signs displaying route information, speed limits, advertising and other information can prove distracting and dangerous for road traffic. The yearly f~t~liti~s from road-based accidents totals some 45,000 lives lost in North America alone. Added to that c~rn~ge, is a monetary loss of some 100 billion dollars per year! in related medical expenses and vehicle repair and replacement. Furthermore the multitude of disabled, mentally impaired and chronically injured people produces a staggering cost to society as the overall consequence of inadequate vehicle traffic safety.
I have found the disadvantage can be largely overcome, with no modification to the existing road network, by providing vehicles with a sc~nning system, consisting of a downwards facing 'light source and phototube combined in a single unit '(hereinafter referred to as a 'sc~nning head'), located at the left-front and right-front of the vehicle and connected to a warning device such as an audio tr~n~dllcer or a lolldspe~k~r or an alarm ringer inside said vehicle (the whole hereafter referred to as 'vehicle safety apparatus"). While the vehicle is being driven, the vehicle safety apparatus automatically detect the proximity of the white and/or coloured lane limit lines by the considerably increase of intensity of the light from the traffic lines such as are commonly painted on road surfaces to mark safe lane zones. The vehicle safety apparatus immediately and automatically activates a auditory and/or visual driver-alerting device, alerting said driver of the need to effect an immediate steering correction. The vehicle safety apparatus would assist in substantially reducing traffic f~t~lities~ injuries and property damage, caused by driver inattention, fatigue, inebriation, etc. The system would be automatic and continuous in operation or it may be engineered to operate in conjunction with selected parameters e.g. activated only above a specified road speed, and/or at a drivers discretion, and/or temporarily cancelled upon use of direction indicators. The light source ensures that the vehicle safety apparatus would function equally well both day and night and with fresh and/or faded lines.
To improve the all-important 'accuracy of alert-device triggering' another embodiment would have the two scanning head's outputs, electrically compared and only the case of unequal output, i.e. one scanner over a line, the other not, would trigger the alarm, since both lines cannot be transgressed simultaneously. This would help to elimin~te false alarms caused by road surface reflectivity change due to transverse lines, or snow etc. The preferred embodiment would add to 3 ' 133982~

the above basic apparatus the facility to focus by means of a lens, the retro-reflected light from the road and line and project the image onto a screen on whose plane surface would lie a multi--element photodetector array whose individual elements are aligned in a rectangular grid oriented parallel to the vehicle's direction of travel. The now focused retro-reflected light would activate said elements in a detectable linear or rectangular pattern when a scanning head approaches a line and the line image is projected onto the array. The line's demarcation edge between the line and the black asphalt road surface, in the short line segments that the scanning heads would 'see', (even a line in a curved road is essenti~lly straight in the short lengths illllmin~ted by the light source ), would be detectable as a straight image by the array, i.e. the linear elements of the array would enable accurate line detection, as opposed to just a random road mark which could t;igger a false alert to the driver. This line detection ability, therefore, is a powerful feature of this invention providing indication that a line is in fact being approached reducing false alerts of the type caused by perhaps snow or paper or sunlight reflected from a wet road, which must be avoided to insure widespread driver acceptability of the vehicle safety apparatus and the resulting goal of reduction in road accidents. This manner of line detection e.g. the multi- element array, also provides other valuable detection information: the other straight edge of the same line, the line width dimension, the second line's edges (double, no-passing lines) and the distance between the two lines, all which would ensure very accurate response by this vehicle safety apparatus for driver-alert triggering. Dashed line detection is also supportable. Thus we have light intensity change and line geometry as inputs to the alarm trigger circuit should the vehicle inadvertently move towards a lane line. Other enh~nremrnt.~ could include the detection of the 'safety yellow' lane-line colour, by pri~m~tically splitting the focused retro-reflected light into the colour spectrum and having the photodetectors located only where yellow light falls. This would provide even more detection accuracy and fewer false alarms and allow detection at least under light snow.
By incorporating a logic circuit into the vehicle safety apparatus, fed with data outlined above and with data from other pertinent sources such as:
a outside temperature (looking for freezing conditions), b. length of time ignition is on without interruption (indicating how long the driver has been continuously operating which would indicate the drivers tiredness or fatigue level), c. the driver's deliberate use of the normal direction indicator would cancel out alert trigger, e. a device as disclosed in CANADIAN Patent No. 741,457 to monitor steering wheel movements, f. an ambient noise compensator as in CANADIAN Patent No. 819,307 would ~lltnm~tically adjust the sound level from the warning device should the car's interior noise level be high such as a radio playing or a faulty exhaust system etc., g. driver input selector for desired sensitivity, state of inebriation, and age, to enable personalizing the apparatus, h. automatic time of day and season register, and others as may be deemed appropriate, a very useful means of reducing traffic accidents can be constructed at relatively low cost. The logical decision to trigger the driver-alert device based on all or any of the above could also cause the alert device to output it's alert waming, in stages of alert imperativeness, with loudness and/or sound type (e.g. a beep turning into an ambulance-like siren to ensure reaction by the inattentive driver), increasing as the transgression continues through, say, 1/10 second time intervals. Other enhancements include the alternate flashing of the right and left vehicles head- and tail-lights when line infraction occurs, thus warning oncoming and rearcoming traffic of the imminent danger that may befall them, and most importantly, providing sufficient time for said traffic to take appropriate avoidance action.Furthermore a sc~nning for coded information system from road surfaces and tr~nsmitting same to the driver, could use relatively standard 'Bar Code' type encoded information markings simply painted on roadways, supplying the driver with useful data, e.g. "dangerous curve ahead." Moreover, such coded m;~rking~ could be printed on a suitable material e.g. rubber m:ttting, laid across the road surface, which would allow easy placement and updating as nPce.ss~ry, e.g. seasonal corrections. Furthermore this optical commnnications system could incorporate a typical synthPsi7.Pd voice output, somewhat as disclosed in CANADIAN Patent No. 1,214,274. This would enable the tr~n.smi.c.cion of the information, from the code reading ,section of the vehicle safety apparatus, to the driver, by means of synthP~i7çd voice so as to be non-distractive to re~uired drivers attention to the road ahead. This system would allow local and/or national information e.g. populations, town centers, special events, etc., to be encoded, while regional or national roads could be marked with information such as is presently displayed on road signs, e.g. route numbers. Local historical facts, advertising and other code-able information can be scanned from the road to enable it's communication to a passing vehicle's driver and/or passengers providing incentive for privatization of roads, carefully m~int~inPd by those using same for communication of their message to passing vehicles. Moreover, auto-piloting of land vehicles can be supported with a second part of this invention comprising the reading of coded information painted on the road surface and scanned while driving. Pertinent coded data about the road ahead e.g. "250 meter radius curve to the right begins at 1000 kilometers" could provide input data to a computer for controlling speed and/or steering mech~ni.~m.c in an 'automatic driver' system.
In drawings which illustrate embodiments of the invention, Figure 1 shows a front view of one embodiment fitted as çxtPrn~l additions to an automobile, ,,f~, ~ ' s 133~8~

Figure 2 shows a side view of this embodiment, Figure 3 show a top view of a vehicle fitted with this embodiment, on a roadway with traffic lane-m~rking lines, Figure 4 shows the same view and embodiment as Figure 3 but with the vehicle near to a traffic lane line, Figure 5 shows a side view of an automobile fitted with this embodiment and with the driver warning device fitted to the vehicles interior, Figure 6 shows another embodiment where the scanner component is designed as an integral part of the automobile, Figure 7 shows a side view of one embodiment of a scanner unit, Figure 8 is a section of the line II-II of Figure 7, Figure 9 illustrates how 'Bar Code' data or other code-able information could be added to a road surface to be scanned by passing vehicles, Figure 10 illustrates one embodiment of the dash mounted audio visual warning alert device connected to a display module with driver accessible system controls, Figure 11 is this emdodiment enlarged to show detail of how the warning and display modules may be arranged.
The embodiment illustrated of the 'vehicle safety apparatus' vehicle safety system, comprises scanner assembly 1 whose electric light source 2 and retro-reflected light detector or photo-electric cell 12 scan the roadway A with a beam of light 3. The intensity of retro-reflected light 13, from A and/or any painted line B is detected by 12, which in this embodiment, is concentric with 2. In Figures 1,2 and 3 C is illustrated as being in the proper lane moving in direction 10 and is a safe or proper distance from traffic lines B. In this situation, 1 would 'see' only asphalt and the retro-reflected light 13 would be very low intensity, and would thus not activate 11. In Figure 4, C is illustrated as veering from the correct lane and approaching a B. The increased intensity of retro-reflected light 13 is detected by 12 which activates warning alert device 11 to alert driver D. Mounting bracket 14 holds each 1 securely to the front corners of C. Multiple wire conductor 22 connects the electrical system of C to 1 and connects 1 to 11.
Figure 5 and 6 show how the components could be fitted to C where in Figure 5, 1 is shown as an 'add-on' using a mounting bracket 14 to secure 1 to the front of C and where in Figure 6, 1 is shown as an original equipment m~nllf~cture's installation enclosed and protected in some a~plol),iate area of C. Electrical wires 22 would run to the inside of the car to proper connection points in the electrical system of C providing electrical power for 2 and for connection of 1 to 11 permitting activation of 11 when 13 reaches an intensity consistent with detection of a B. Figures 7 shows an embodiment of 1 where 14 clamps around 1 such that 3 is pointed downward towards A and B and where provision is made with bolt holes 23 to allow secure attachment to t339822 C. Figure 8 is a section of the line II-II of Figure 7 showing the components of 1 and light cone 3.
In Figure 9 coded information 9 is shown in a 'Bar Code' format which is about to be scanned by 1 fitted to C where 9 is depicted as being painted on A. Thus in the course of the normal operation of C by D, where the safety system thus far described is in full operation, C could also scan using 1, for any 9 which has been added to A, sending the information contained in 9 via 22, to display screen 20. Figure 10 illustrates one embodiment of warning-alert module 11 with an interconnected display/control module 20, fitted to the dash board surface of C.
In Figure 11, this embodiment is shown enlarged for clarity although in it's simplest form only 11 would be fitted to C and would comprise a single light 18 and appropriate sound transducer 19, to provide an audio-visual warning alert for D should a situation such as illustrated in Figure 4 occur. Additional possibilities however could be included in an enhanced version where 11 is interconnected to display/control module 20, whose enhancements could include: channel selector 14 to allow differing kinds of 9 to be selected by D while driving C, "A" on 14 might be 9 composed of route information (such as the type of information herein depicted as a display on 21), "B" on 14 might be 9 of information relating to local information such as population, distance to connecting towns etc. while "C" on 14 might be 9 of advertising, sensitivity control 13 would allow night-day scanning to be optimi7~1, volume control 16 is another driver adjustment for loudness of warning-alert sound emitted by speaker 19, brightne~ control 15 an adjustment for warning lights 18 for night-day variations.

Claims (3)

1. The improvement to a road vehicle comprising, illumination means operatively connected to said vehicle and directed roadwards to illuminated a portion of the road nearby said vehicle;
light detection means to detect light from said illumination means reflected from a lane mark on said road;
signal means operatively connected to said light detecting means to generate a signal, at least one warning means triggerable by said signal and manifesting a warning signal perceptible to the driver of said road vehicle.

2. The improvement as defined in Claim 1 further comprising means to disable said warning means when the driver operates said road vehicle's direction indicator.

3. The improvement as defined in Claim 1 and 2 where said illumination means and said light detection means are two in number and are located at the front corners of said vehicle.