DE102021118989A1 - Means of transportation and method for wireless communication with a road user - Google Patents

Abstract

A means of transportation (10) and a method for communicating with a road user (1, 2, 3) in the vicinity of a means of transportation (10) are proposed. The method comprises the steps of wirelessly receiving a wireless ID (11, 12, 13) of the road user (1, 2, 3) directly through the means of transportation (10), automatically determining a mobile communication ID (14 , 15, 16) and establishing a communication with the road user (1, 2, 3) via the mobile communication ID (14, 15, 16).

Description

The present invention relates to a means of transportation and a method for communicating with a road user in the vicinity of a means of transportation. In particular, the present invention relates to an intuitive and reliable recording of a wireless communication with a road user who has not yet been contacted.

Car2car communication between vehicles and other vehicles (road users) is known in the prior art. Here, current vehicles can use different communication interfaces. For example, WLAN, Bluetooth and other radio technologies are described in the literature, by means of which a direct connection can be established between two means of transport that are comparatively close to one another.

Furthermore, terrestrial, cell-switched mobile communication (e.g. GSM, UMTS, LTE, LTE-A, 5G, etc.) is known. By connecting vehicles to the Internet, services such as real-time traffic information, weather forecasts or news are possible using freely installable applications (apps) in the vehicle. In known systems, communication takes place either with a known endpoint such as a defined URL of a server or according to the publish-subscribe principle. Here, an application or vehicle makes information available (publication) and other road users or systems can call up these messages as required (subscription). From today's perspective, it is therefore not possible to interact bilaterally, i.e. with another (concrete/specific) road user in the vicinity of the ego's means of transport, and to send messages to one another, unless the telephone number or an e-mail address is given etc. are known a priori. It is therefore not possible with today's systems to establish spontaneous, spatially bound and bilateral communication. It is an object of the present invention to fill the need identified above.

According to the present disclosure, a means of locomotion (also ego means of locomotion) and a method for communicating with a road user in the vicinity of a means of locomotion are proposed. The road user can be a passer-by, a cyclist, a motorist or a means of transport, a car, a transporter, a truck, a motorcycle, an aircraft and/or watercraft. The same applies to the ego means of locomotion, if classified as a "means of locomotion". The wireless communication can include written and spoken digital communication and/or via an audio connection (telephone call, voice over IP or similar). The road user in the area is not necessarily known in the means of locomotion. In particular, the means of transportation does not know a priori any contact details of the road user. In a first step, according to the invention, a wireless ID (wireless identifier or identification) of the road user is received directly by the means of transportation. In other words, the wireless ID is preferably broadcast by the road user or broadcast in the area (unencrypted). In other words, anyone in the vicinity of the road user can receive and read the wireless ID, provided they are in sufficient radio proximity to the road user. Since the wireless ID is usually fundamentally suitable for data exchange, but does not enable sufficiently reliable, convenient communication that is stable over long distances depending on the traffic situation, a mobile communication ID assigned to the wireless ID is automatically determined according to the invention. In response to receiving the wireless ID, the ego-locomotive automatically checks whether a mobile communication ID (eg, a phone number, IP address, MAC address, or other contact option) associated with the wireless ID is available . In a third step (if the determination of the mobile communication ID was successful) communication with the road user is established via the mobile communication ID. A message can be sent to the mobile communication ID, a chat channel or an audio connection can be established with the road user. In other words and without any restrictive character, a core idea of the present disclosure is to provide spatially bound and bilateral communication with other road users using known communication interfaces. To this end, it is advantageous to add a localization and identification step to the recipient of the messages. The localization and identification can be carried out in road traffic by those road users who want to get in contact with another road user. This can in particular take place spontaneously (eg due to the traffic situation, defect or breakdown). If the localization and identification step is successful, a request for the transmission of a message provided by the sender to the addressed recipient can be made using known communication interfaces on the server of the supplier/provider (eg a vehicle manufacturer). For identification and message transmission known communication interfaces can be used. The use of radio technologies such as WLAN and/or Bluetooth alone is often unsuitable for making contact with moving vehicles due to the short range and the unstable connection for longer-lasting communication. So in order to meet the challenges of autonomous driving and other challenges, autonomous vehicles or vehicles with equivalent driver assistance systems can create a map of their surroundings. A (2D/3D) object recognition algorithm can be used based on camera images or laser data to create a corresponding map of the environment. This can be created independently in the vehicle and improved (“trained”) over the course of several journeys. This map often contains the position, type, speed and a dynamic identifier (ID) of other road users assigned by the ego vehicle. The dynamic identifier is necessary in order to be able to identify and allocate a road user again after it has been concealed for a short time, eg by a truck. The identifier can be made more precise by means of radio antennas for Bluetooth or WLAN provided in the vehicles. For example, WLAN or Bluetooth devices provide their identifiers for identification in order to couple potential communication partners. No time-consuming pairing or data transfer is necessary for this. The identifier can be read out by other road users when the distance is large and the signal is poor, and can be used in accordance with the invention to refine the map of the surroundings. A map of the environment can be displayed via the user interface (human-machine-interface) of the ego vehicle. As part of the localization and identification of participants in the area, a driver who wants to send a message to a desired road user can select this user via the user interface and contact him. If a wireless ID is known for the vehicle, a request to transmit a message can now be sent to the recipient's server. Well-known mobile and robust communication interfaces enable the transfer of messages. The wireless ID (Bluetooth or WLAN name) can be resolved in the server and the message can be sent to the desired recipient. A geographically bound and bilateral communication is particularly advantageous for news programs for linking acquaintances (dating app) or for sharing emotions. For example, a road user can use the present invention to express his enthusiasm for rims, paintwork or add-on parts to someone opposite or to thank him for a gap when joining traffic (changing lanes or the like). In general, the present invention enables spontaneous communication with road users whose contact details are not known except for a wireless ID. In this way, a spontaneous need for communication can be satisfied in an uncomplicated, intuitive and quick manner and without additional hardware expenditure.

The dependent claims show preferred developments of the invention. The mobile communication ID can be determined automatically with the help of a server (backend or similar). The server can act like a DNS server and assign a unique mobile communication ID to the wireless IDs listed on it. If the server has permission to allow the requesting means of transport to communicate with the mobile communication ID, the communication can be automatically forwarded by the server and/or the mobile communication ID can be sent to the requesting (ego) means of transport. While in the first case anonymous (or largely anonymous) communication with the road user is possible, the disclosure of the mobile communication ID makes it easier for the requesting means of transport to establish contact at a later point in time.

A declaration of consent by the road user may have been given at an earlier point in time to allow communication via the mobile communication ID for all requesting means of transport, individual requesting means of transport or means of transport belonging to certain categories/groups. The same can apply to the publication of the assignment between the wireless ID and the mobile communication ID. The road user's declaration of consent can also only be granted or denied in response to an urgent request (in individual cases). For this purpose, the road user can receive a message (prompt), which can be in the form of a pop-up, for example, and which enable simple acknowledgment (acceptance) or rejection by means of the respective buttons.

The mobile communication ID can include, for example, a telephone number and/or an IP address and/or a MAC address and/or an account in a vehicle manufacturer's portal. This allows the road user's Bluetooth name to point to a unique contact option for establishing communication.

In particular, a server or a superordinate entity can ensure that the wireless ID is also unique at least for a closed group of users (for example participants in the method according to the invention). With others Words can be checked on a server in the course of a registration for the method according to the invention whether there is already a wireless ID with an identical identifier among the existing participants. If this is not the case, a new subscriber's wireless ID can be registered and assigned its mobile communication ID. If the new subscriber's wireless ID has already been assigned, the new subscriber can be prompted to choose a (similar) wireless ID that has not yet been assigned or to make a new suggestion. If semantic content can be identified in the wireless ID that has already been assigned (in particular automatically), this content can be automatically supplemented with additional characters and digits and submitted to the new participant as suggestions for unambiguous (unique) wireless IDs. In addition, it is possible to issue wireless IDs twice if the road users are spatially sufficiently separated.

Preferably, the user of the ego means of transportation can be shown a large number of wireless IDs of road users in the vicinity of the means of transportation on a display device. This is known in the prior art, for example, in what are known as Bluetooth pairing menus, in which the Bluetooth identifiers received from the immediate vicinity (the same applies to SSIDs in WLAN networks) can be selected and prompted to be linked. If the user of the ego means of transportation now selects one of the displayed wireless IDs of a road user, a mobile communication ID can be determined in response to this, for example by contacting a backend as described above and requesting mediation of the communication via the mobile communication ID. This can be understood as establishing communication via the mobile communication ID. In contrast to the prior art, communication via the wireless ID is not sought according to the method according to the invention, since this would not usually allow reliable and continuous communication for communication in the traffic flow. Moreover, a pairing would probably not be successful because of the lack of mutual trust and the relative distances of both modes of locomotion would be too great before a successful pairing and a successful communication could be completed. Since the registration with the server, which provides the wireless ID with the mobile communication ID, already means a step that builds trust for the participating road users, there is no need for a complicated pairing of the communication parties in the event of an acute traffic situation. If a road user or the ego means of transport disregards certain rules of communication (acts rudely or even impudently), the offending user can submit a complaint to the backend server, which can be investigated on the server side in a basically known manner. For example, if complaints accumulate, access can be blocked or queries can be generated by the operator.

In order to prevent communication while participating in road traffic from becoming a safety risk, the method according to the invention can be further improved by selecting a preconfigured message. For this purpose, a user input can be determined, which selects from a plurality of offered messages, as is generally known, for example, in the course of rejecting an incoming telephone call on mobile phones (e.g. Apple iPhone, IOS). The method according to the invention can correspondingly send the message selected by the user to the road user.

Since spontaneous communication in road traffic can sometimes have an acute reason, which can be determined and categorized at least to a certain extent with the aid of sensors, the preconfigured messages can be filtered according to a sensory detection of a traffic situation. For example, a lane change can be detected by sensors, which has been made possible by a gap between two road users in the neighboring lane that is increasing over time. In particular in the event that the user is now striving for communication with one of the two and/or with both road users, sensor-supported conclusions can be drawn that there is a high probability that the user would like to thank the road users for the gap provided for merging . A lane change and cutting into a gap can therefore be detected by sensors and taken as an opportunity to propose a thank you message to the road user or one of the two road users or to prioritize it higher than other preconfigured messages. The selection of the preconfigured and higher-priority message by the user is simplified in this way, so that, for example, fewer scrolling operations or fewer search string entries are required for the provision of the preconfigured message. Thus, the user/sender of the preconfigured message is kept from driving the means of transportation according to the invention for less time and participation in road traffic becomes safer.

• 1 eine perspektivische Darstellung einer Verkehrssituation, in welcher ein Ausführungsbeispiel eines erfindungsgemäßen Verfahrens ausgeführt wird; und
• 2 ein Flussdiagramm veranschaulichend Schritte eines Ausführungsbeispiels eines erfindungsgemäßen Verfahrens.

Further details, features and advantages of the invention result from the following description and the figures. Show it:

• 1 a perspective view of a traffic situation in which an embodiment of a method according to the invention is carried out; and
• 2 a flow chart illustrating steps of an embodiment of a method according to the invention.

1 shows a traffic situation in which a means of transportation 10 in the form of a car is traveling in the middle lane of a three-lane road. The means of transportation 10 has a roof antenna 22 and a reversing camera 6 and ultrasonic sensors 7 . The roof antenna 22 is set up to send and receive mobile radio signals and to receive Bluetooth identifiers 11, 12, 13 from road users 1, 2, 3, which are displayed on a screen 9. The screen 9 is part of a driver's workplace 8 of the means of transport 10. Representations 1', 2', 3' of the road users 1, 2, 3 are shown in perspective on the screen 9. The positions of the representations 1', 2', 3' correspond to the geographic positions of the road users 1, 2, 3. The Bluetooth identifiers 11, 12, 13 and list fields 17 are assigned to the representations 1', 2', 3' , 18, 19, in which a preselection of preconfigured messages are kept ready for input by a user 20. The display on the screen 9 can be created as follows, for example: the Bluetooth identifiers 11 , 12 , 13 are received by the ego means of transportation 10 by means of the roof antenna 22 . Their field strength can be related to the spatial distance and change in distance, which were determined by means of the directional sensors in the form of the reversing camera 6 and the ultrasonic sensors 7 with respect to the road users 1, 2, 3. For example, this method can take into account the fact that the ego means of transportation 10 has already been following the truck for a comparatively long time at essentially the same distance. The Bluetooth signal is therefore stable with regard to the Bluetooth identifier 11 and changes only slightly over time. Road user 2 is traveling more slowly in the right lane, which is why ego means of transportation 10 slowly approaches road user 2 and the signal strength determined with regard to Bluetooth identifier 12 slowly increases. The road user 3 starts to overtake with a high difference in speed in the left lane, so that the Bluetooth identifier 13 is received by the roof antenna 22 with a rapidly increasing signal strength. The directional sensors, reversing camera 6 and ultrasonic sensors 7, thus provide a representation of the environment, with the relative position and the relative distance conditions or changes in distance making it possible to assign the received Bluetooth identifiers 11, 12, 13 to the road users 1, 2, 3 , without any further information being evaluated. Since a standard Bluetooth identifier often allows information about the brand name of a mobility device or a headset used (e.g. a BMW branded mobility device can often have a string “BMW” in the Bluetooth identifier). A brand logo or a silhouette or another brand-specific feature of a road user can thus also be determined by means of a reversing camera 6, which provides an additional point of reference for the assignment of the Bluetooth identifiers 11, 12, 13 received from the environment. For example, a Bluetooth identifier with the string "BMW" received from the environment is only very unlikely to be assigned to a truck or a Mercedes-brand vehicle.

In the situation shown, the user 20 of the ego means of transportation 10 would like to inform the driver of the road user 1 that his rear door 21 is open. While the Bluetooth identifier 11 could already be assigned to the representation 1' as described above, communication of this circumstance via Bluetooth is not possible or at least not suitable. The user 20 also does not know a telephone number. Even if such a message should be affixed to the trailer of the truck, the user will not be able to reach the driver of the truck, but at best a switchboard of his employer. In a manner according to the invention, the user 20 can now send a message to the truck 1 by selecting an entry in the list field 17 which is assigned to the representation 1'. The open rear door 21 can have been determined automatically by means of a front camera (not shown). Therefore, a corresponding message (e.g. "Caution, your load is not properly secured! Best regards, the car following you") can be created and automatically placed prominently at the top or at the top of the list field. The user 20 can announce the need for communication of this message to the road user 1 with a single tapping gesture on this entry. Since the road user 1 is registered on a server 4 just like the road users 2 and 3 and the ego means of transportation 10 , the message can be sent to the server 4 using the Bluetooth identifier 11 . A Bluetooth identifier 11 is assigned to the server 4 ordered mobile ID 14, under which the driver of the road user 1 can be reached. He has enabled an audio call and a voice message as a contact option for this purpose. The server 4 therefore forwards the message originating from the ego's means of transportation 10 to the road user 1 using the mobile radio identifier 14 . He can pull over to the right, secure his load and continue the journey. Since he has received a helpful hint from the ego-locomotive 10, he can in turn receive the suggestion for thanks on a graphical user interface and also say thank you to the driver of the ego-locomotion 10 by a single click on a predefined message. Correspondingly, the driver of the ego means of transportation 10 may want to give the road user 2 a well-intentioned compliment regarding the light metal rims used. To do this, the user 20 can use the list field 18 in which a submenu is available under an entry (“compliment”). Predefined compliments for rims, paintwork, vehicle model, hairstyle or other features can be summarized and made available for selection below. The user 20 selects the "Compliment for rims" button, in response to which the Bluetooth identifier 12 is sent together with the compliment using cell-based terrestrial communication network technology to the transmission tower 5 and the server 4 which is IT-connected to it. There the Bluetooth identifier 12 is assigned a mobile radio ID 15 which is used by the server 4 and the transmission mast 5 in order to send the compliment to the road user 2 . In a corresponding manner, a thank you for the compliment can be suggested to the recipient or a counter-compliment can be selected from a sub-menu.

The road user 3 is stored in an address book of the ego means of transportation 10 . This is automatically recognized by the reversing camera 6 using a face recognition algorithm and the address book entry. In response to this, a personalized greeting is selected in the list field 19, which the user 20 can send to the road user 3 with just one click. For example, the greeting can be: “Hello Jürgen! You're overtaking me!”. Regardless of whether the road user 3 has a mobile phone number, the received Bluetooth identifier 13 can be used to send a message to the transmission tower 5 and the server 4 in accordance with the invention, where the Bluetooth identifier 13 is replaced by the mobile communication ID 16 and sent by text message to the Road users 3 is sent. He then receives a display with the greeting message. In addition, he can be shown a display of possible options for the reaction. Predefined response options can be, for example, starting an audio call or sending a greeting message to the ego's means of transportation 10.

2 shows method steps of an exemplary embodiment of a method for wireless communication with a road user in the vicinity of an ego means of transportation. In step 100, the declaration of consent of several road users to use and/or issue an association between one's wireless ID and one's mobile communication ID is received. For example, the road user can register for this in a portal with an identifier and a password, where he stores the declaration of consent. The type of communication to which he agrees can also be specified here. For example, he may agree to be contacted via text message and/or audio communication. In step 200, a wireless ID of a road user is then wirelessly received directly by an ego means of transportation. For example, the ego means of transportation receives a Bluetooth identifier during the (continuous or background) search. In step 300, the determined wireless IDs (Bluetooth identifiers) of road users in the vicinity of the means of transportation are displayed on a display device of the ego's means of transportation. In step 400, the user selects a wireless ID of the road user with which to communicate. This user input is received (e.g. via a touch-sensitive screen). In response, at step 500, a mobile communication ID associated with the wireless ID is automatically determined. This can be done on a server and/or in a database of the ego's means of transportation. In other words, an identifier assigned to the directly received wireless ID for setting up a mobile communication connection is automatically determined and in step 600 the communication with the road user is set up using the mobile communication connection. In this case, no data is exchanged using the wireless ID, but the wireless ID is only used indirectly to identify a communication participant.

Reference List

1, 2, 3

road users

1', 2', 3'

representation of the road user

4

server

5

transmission tower

6

backup camera

7

ultrasonic sensor

8th

driver's workplace

9

Screen

10

ego means of transportation

11, 12, 13

Bluetooth identifier (wireless ID)

14, 15, 16

Mobile Communications ID

17, 18, 19

list box

20

user

21

(open) truck door

100 - 600

process steps

Claims (10)

Method for communicating with a road user (1, 2, 3) in the vicinity of a means of transportation (10), comprising the steps • Wireless receiving (200) of a wireless ID (11, 12, 13) of the road user (1, 2, 3) directly through the means of transportation (10), • automatically determining (500) a mobile communication ID (14, 15, 16) associated with the wireless ID, and • Establishing (600) a communication with the road user (1, 2, 3) via the mobile communication ID (14, 15, 16). procedure after claim 1 , wherein the mobile communication ID (14, 15, 16) is automatically determined by a server (4). procedure after claim 1 or 2 , further comprising the steps of: receiving (100) a declaration of consent from the road user (1, 2, 3) to use and/or issue an association between the wireless ID (11, 12, 13) and the mobile communication ID (14, 15 , 16). A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the mobile communication ID (14, 15, 16) is a - telephone number and/or - IP address and/or - MAC address and/or - includes a vehicle manufacturer's portal address. Method according to one of the preceding claims further comprising the steps: - display (300) of a large number of wireless IDs (11, 12, 13) in the vicinity of the means of transport (10) of road users (1, 2, 3) on a display device, - receiving (400) user input regarding the wireless ID (11, 12, 13) of the road user (1, 2, 3) and in response thereto - determining the mobile communication ID (14, 15, 16). A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein no data is sent from the vehicle (10) to the wireless ID (11, 12, 13). Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the wireless ID (11, 12, 13) by means of a directional sensor (6, 7) of the means of transportation (10) of an optical representation (1', 2', 3') of the road user (1 , 2, 3). A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the communication is a - Selection of a preconfigured message (17, 18, 19), in particular by automatic sensory recognition of a maneuver, and - Sending the message to the road user (1, 2, 3) includes. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the wireless ID (11, 12, 13) comprises a Bluetooth name and/or an SSID of a wireless network of the road user (1, 2, 3). Means of transportation (10), which is set up to participate in a method according to one of the preceding claims.

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