Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
  • A01M—CATCHING, TRAPPING OR SCARING OF ANIMALS; APPARATUS FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF NOXIOUS ANIMALS OR NOXIOUS PLANTS
  • A01M29/00—Scaring or repelling devices, e.g. bird-scaring apparatus
  • A01M29/06—Scaring or repelling devices, e.g. bird-scaring apparatus using visual means, e.g. scarecrows, moving elements, specific shapes, patterns or the like
  • A01M29/10—Scaring or repelling devices, e.g. bird-scaring apparatus using visual means, e.g. scarecrows, moving elements, specific shapes, patterns or the like using light sources, e.g. lasers or flashing lights

Definitions

• the invention relates to a vehicle mounted, infrared light emitting electronic device which affects the behaviour of wild animals and reduces the chance of wildlife-vehicle collisions .
• the vehicular infrared light emitting electronic device emits a specific wavelength of light in a specific shaped burst emitted at a specific repetition frequency, invisible to the human eye . Wild animals see this light and perceive it as a threat , so their behaviour changes in a way that their movement toward roads and traffic is reduced . In this way the device protects both human and animal life from potential harm caused by collisions or crashes .
• the light beams are pointed sideways relative to the direction of travel and effect is achieved over time for that particular area by reducing the likelihood of wildlife starting their crossing while traffic is nearby . It has an increased effect as more drivers use it on a particular road .
• the vehicular electronic device comprising a controller unit that comprises pre-stored constants and program logic, a speed measuring device , a movement sensor, a user interface , and two or more IR emitter units .
• the controller unit monitors data from speed measuring device and command said emitter units when to start or stop emitting IR light pulses . Also , it updates user interface to show current mode of operation and uses data from movement sensor to set the entire device to low power mode when detected that the vehicle is stationary .
• Each emitter unit consist of one or more infrared light emitting diodes and a separate microcontroller which continuously generates a signal that is in a high logic state for predetermined fixed time extended for a random smaller time period after which occurs significantly longer period of the said signal in low logic state .
• the said microcontroller communicates with the said controller unit and depending on data received from the controller unit said microcontroller switches the said diodes to emit IR light or not .
• the said pulses are modulated with the signal generated by the microcontroller high and low logic states .
• the said emitter units are mounted to emit IR light pulses sideways relative to the vehicle' s travel direction .
• time period of signals generated by the said microcontroller used for IR light pulses modulation are in high logic state fixed to 37 . 5 ps and extended for a random time period between 4 ps and 9 ps .
• the low logic state has duration of about 200 ps .
• the emitting IR light has a wavelength of about 850 nm .
• the light pulses are emitted at angle that is close to 90 ° to the vehicle driving direction .
• the number of light emitting diodes used per each IR emitter unit is three or more .
• the speed measuring device is selected to be a GPS receiver and the movement sensor is an accelerometer .
• the emitter units that are mounted to the sides of the vehicle , emit infrared light only when the vehicle driving speed is greater than predefined speed limit .
• the said device constantly analysing data from motion sensor and when detects that the vehicle is stationary for a predetermined time period, the speed measuring device, the emitter units, the user interface are set to low power mode from which it is awoken by movement sensor when it detects any movement of the vehicle. That feature enables, that the said device is powered directly from the vehicle battery.
• First category are devices which are installed along the road in problematic areas, their purpose is to detect animals near the road and to notify drivers with a light or sound installed next to the road. This way the drivers can slow down or be more careful when they see the light or hear the sound.
• Examples are US5939987A, US20020145519A1, DE4140662C1, JPH09250112A. The problem with all these solutions is that they are very expensive and they would only be installed on stretches of roads which someone has decided are more important. Also, when the device signals the presence of an animal it can be too late, if the animal is running for example.
• Another category are devices which sense the presence of incoming vehicles and notify animals in surrounding areas with sound or light signals in order to deter them from crossing the road. Examples of these kind of devices are US20030071735A1 , US20150070164A1 , US7113098B1. Their problem is similar to the ones in the first category - they need to be installed in problematic areas which can change if animals change their habitat. Also, depending on the kind in question, the vehicle detecting device can itself be problematic. For instance, some detect light emitted from cars , which works during the night , but during the day, the vehicle would not be detected .
• the third category of wildlife-vehicle collision avoidance devices are fixed devices , which constantly emit a signal to deter animals from the installation location .
• This signal can be either sound or light .
• the First of these sound or light generating signal devices follow .
• US5602523 generates a square wave signal output in the ultrasonic frequency range and can change this frequency to 10 different values to affect more types of animals .
• ES2545157 and EP1157611A1 use animal detecting sensors and if an animal is detected near them, they start producing ultrasonic signals to deter animals from that location .
• US20170027157A1 and US20140261151A1 detect animals in their surroundings and emit a combination of sound and light signals to affect animal behaviour .
• US6681714B1 is a method for chasing away animals with fixed laser beams with a wavelength selected between 400 nm and 750 nm .
• US6625918B2 sweeps a field or location in vertical and horizontal patterns with a laser light beam with a wavelength between 432 nm and 633 nm in order to scare the animals .
• US10321672B2 uses mono-coloured light generated by one or more high brightness monocoloured LEDs directed toward the deterrence area to induce a neurophysical behavioural response in animals .
• Those devices also suffer from similar problems - they can be very expensive , they need to be installed in preferred areas , there need to be many of them to get desired results and someone needs to decide where they are most needed as they cannot be installed everywhere .
• animals getting used to the sound or light signal can be problematic , as after some time the deterrent will no longer affect them anymore .
• US4150637A is a device mounted to a vehicle in a way that it receives and compresses air in response to the movement of the vehicle or its radiator cooling fan . The compressed air is then conducted to a whistle for producing sound at a frequency somewhat above the human hearing range .
• US6677853B1 uses a timer to break up a vehicle horn into a series of sound signals at frequencies between 2 -20 Hz .
• GB2494201A transmits a sound signal where the mode can be selected to sweep in the 22-26 kHz range , to pulsate on/off at 25 kHz or to be continuous at other fixed frequencies .
• DE2519129A transmits an ultrasonic signal but only when the vehicle is moving above a predetermined speed .
• DE10317089A1 , DE102005034854A1 , GB2475836A also use ultrasound waves to scare away animals in front of the vehicle .
• US5969593A is a system in which ultrasonic sound and ultraviolet or infrared light is beamed in advance of the moving vehicle to affect the behaviour of wildlife along the road .
• EP2962559A1 is a motor vehicle mounted light with at least one light source provided for generating a wildlife accident-avoidance light . It is constructed in a way that at least one light source emits blue or ultraviolet light .
• US20160066559A1 and DE102015011613A1 are also vehicle mounted devices for wild animal warning which emit light in the UV range .
• DE102015011613A1 consists of a plurality of light sources usable for several species of animals . It is constructed in a way that every light source emits a light of a different frequency inside the UV range .
• DE102007020723A1 is a system for vehicles which scares off animals by emitting infrasound, IR, UV or a combination of these . This patent documents claims are very broad but the document detailed description and preferred embodiment are lacking any specific information on how the device might work, which mode of operation it uses , how the effect is achieved and so on .
• the present invention discloses the device from the last category but what makes it different is that it is constructed in a way that : a ) it emits light in near-IR part of the spectrum, b ) the emitters are mounted to the sides of the vehicle and light is also directed sideways - perpendicular to the direction of travel , c ) the repelling effect is cumulative , so the effect grows with the increase of the number of vehicles using the device , d ) a speed measuring module is used to switch the emitters on/off depending on the vehicle speed, and e ) the device emits a discontinuous signal with specific bursts repeated at a specific repetition frequency estimated in an empiric manner .
• a vehicular infrared light emitting electronic device has been disclosed .
• Figure 1 shows a circuit schematic of a controller unit which consists of a microcontroller unit , a movement sensor and a user interface . Also , communication lines for the emitter units (COMM TO WP , COMM_FROM_WP ) and speed measuring device (COMM_TO_GPS , COMM_FROM_GPS ) are shown .
• Figure 2 shows a circuit schematic of an emitter unit . It consists of a microcontroller , emitter diodes controlled by a microcontroller and communication lines which are used for communication with the controller unit .
• Figures 3A, 3B , 4A, 4B and 5 disclose the flow chart describing the program algorithm of the controller unit .
• Figure 6 discloses the flow chart describing the program algorithm of one emitter unit of the device .
• Figure 7 shows a block diagram of the device showing a controller unit and connected to it : two emitter units , speed measuring unit , movement sensor and user interface .
• the primary obj ective of the present invention is to enable the construction of an effective wildlife repellent device .
• road signs warning drivers that wild animals may run across or be on the road .
• These signs can be helpful , but they do not solve the problem, each year there are still many vehicle-wildlife collisions .
• Many other measures to avoid or reduce wildlife-vehicle collision have been applied, such as green bridges , under - road tunnels , protective fences etc .
• the number of accidents in the world has dramatically increased in the last fifteen years . That is why many different devices have been designed with the purpose of repelling wild animals from the roads . Some of them were based on the idea that high pitched noise coming from the car would change the behaviour of animals . Others tried fixed blinkers on sides of the roads where collisions often occurred .
• the aforementioned solutions have little or no real effect as scientific testing has shown .
• the present invention solves the problem of successfully changing the behaviour of wild animals near traffic .
• the present invention discloses a new principle for deterring wildlife from crossing roads that pass through their habitat .
• the principle is based as follows .
• the device emits light in the near-IR part of the spectrum.
• ( B ) Device emitters are mounted to the sides of the vehicle and light is also directed sideways - perpendicular to the direction of travel .
• the disclosed invention effect is achieved cumulatively .
• a community of users that have invention devices on their vehicles and are roaming in a particular area collectively increase the safety of the roads in that area .
• a single user will have no beneficial effects for himself on a particular road as the light beams are not repelling wildlife already present ahead on the road .
• a user is making the road safer for vehicles traveling that same road after him .
• the cumulative effect for all vehicles carrying the invention device or not is achieved when roughly 5% of all vehicles on that road section use the device .
• the device has a speed measuring module to switch the emitters on/off depending on vehicle speed .
• a speed monitoring module is used in the invention device to establish whether the carrying vehicle is moving with sufficient speed to generate sufficient air circulation which is used for cooling the emitters .
• Emitters of the device use high power laser or LED diodes and are set up for significant light power output . Hence , the device needs sufficient cooling as the diodes and electronics generate heat caused by inherent inefficiency in the electricity to light conversion process .
• the emitters can be configured to generate more light power and more light power directly increases the repelling effect as light travels further .
• the device emits a discontinuous signal with specific bursts repeated at a specific repetition frequency .
• a microcontroller is used in the device to store a specific sequence and a specific burst shape for the generation of light in the emitters .
• the deterring effect of the device has been tested and it has been empirically determined that a discontinuous signal of a similar power output has a higher deterring effect than a constant light signal of the same power output .
• the frequency of the intermittent signal has also been found to be a factor for effectiveness of the device .
• the variable repetition rate of about 4 to 5 kHz should have the greatest deterring effect on deer while the burst shape that should have the greatest effectiveness is a square single pulse .
• the present invention can be used on any vehicles traveling through forested areas , for instance , automobiles , vans , trucks and even trains .
• the described system comprises of one controller unit , a user interface , a speed measuring device and two emitter units .
• the purpose of the controller unit is to monitor the movement of the vehicle by using the movement sensor and speed measuring device . It consists of a microcontroller and elements which enable communication with other units . Depending on the speed and movement detected, it notifies the user over the user interface and turns the emitter units on or off .
• Figure 7 illustrates the block diagram of a vehicular infrared light emitting device according to the present invention . It shows the controller unit 701 and the manner of connection and communication with other units . It receives information from speed measuring device 703 and movement sensors 702 and sends data to user interface 704 and emitters 705 and 706 .
• Microcontroller 101 preferably S 9KEAZN8 is used to monitor data from speed measuring device 703 and movement sensor 108 and to perform the algorithm logic of the program .
• the figure shows the layout of microcontroller 101 pins .
• Power supply pins are connected to the power supply and appropriate decoupling capacitors .
• External oscillator pins are connected to crystal 109 with a resonating frequency of preferably 20 . 000 MHz .
• a High frequency and broad temperature operating range crystal such as ABMG11AIG-20 , with 50ppm stability and temperature range from -40 ° C to 125 ° C is used .
• a stable oscillator ensures that communication with the speed measuring device and emitters is stable regardless of the temperature .
• the microcontrollers UART peripheral is used to communicate with emitter modules 705 and 706 and with speed measuring device 703. 3 .
• 3V TTL signals are used with 200 kbit/s baud rate and are used to communicate with the emitter modules .
• the communication lines 106 and 107 are shown in Figure 1 .
• the transistor driver preferably Onsemi BSS84 P-MOS transistor . It is used to amplify current capacity so higher loads can be driven - for instance , a very long connecting cable to the emitter modules .
• This line is used by microcontroller 101 t o command the emitter modules to turn the IR light on or off . It is also used to send setup values to the emitters if there is a need to adj ust any parameter of their operation .
• Communication line 107 is used to get feedback from the emitter units . The same UART configuration is used in reverse .
• Speed measuring device 703, preferably GPS receiver Locosys LS23035 works in a default configuration which means it uses the standard RS232 protocol with baud rate 115200 kbit/s and 10Hz update rate .
• Communication lines 102 and 103 are shown in Figure 1 . If there is a need to change the configuration of the GPS receiver from defaults , communication line 102 can be used .
• the signal generated in the microcontroller is fed to the transistor driver , preferably Onsemi BSS84 P-MOS transistor . It is used to amplify current capacity so higher loads can be driven - for instance , a very long connecting cable to speed measuring device 703 .
• This line is used by microcontroller 101 to setup GPS module parameters such as baud rate , refresh rate and idle mode config if needed .
• Microcontroller 101 receives standard NMEA sentences from the GPS receiver over communication line 103 and parses the messages to get the information about GPS signal quality and the speed of the vehicle . If the speed of the vehicle changes from a speed greater than some pre-calculated threshold to a lower speed, microcontroller 101 commands emitters 705 and 706 to turn the IR LEDs off . Otherwise , it commands them to turn them on . This way it is ensured that emitters 705 and 706 will not emit IR light when the vehicle was j ust started, in pedestrian areas or if the vehicle is not moving for any other reason .
• Microcontroller 101 also monitors the quality of the GPS signal . If the signal is lost , it the microcontroller cannot get the speed from the messages . If the signal is lost for a longer period of time , it means that the vehicle is probably parked in a garage or driving through a long tunnel and there is no need for emitting IR light . In this situation the microcontroller 101 also commands the emitters to stop emitting IR light .
• Movement sensor 702 also shown as 108 , is preferably accelerometer I I2SDH , and it is used to monitor movement of the vehicle . It is configured in a way to detect any change in acceleration and to notify microcontroller 101 about it by raising a pin to high logic level . Microcontroller 101 monitors this pin all the time and uses this information to conclude if the vehicle is moving or standing still . If it is moving , then information from speed measuring device 703 is used to determine if the emitters should emit or not . If the accelerometers information indicates that the vehicle is not moving , the microcontroller starts to measure time from the last recorded movement . If this time is greater than a fixed limit , microcontroller 101 concludes that the vehicle is parked and that it can go to standby mode . In standby mode , the microcontroller turns off all other modules except for accelerometer 108 and goes to standby mode itself . It is returned to normal working mode when the accelerometer detects movement .
• a bi-colour indicator LED 110 is used as a user interface , preferably Kingbright WP57EGW . It is connected over a resistor to microcontroller 101 with two pins of which only one can be at high logic level at a time . Software inside microcontroller 101 makes sure this is always true . If both pins are low level , the LED will not emit any light . If PIN 2 of microcontroller 101 is high level , and PIN 3 is low level , green light will be visible . Otherwise , if PIN 3 is high, and pin 2 is low, red light will be visible . It is used to notify the user about the state of operation of the device .
• the device can be in 5 different states - IR emitting, stationary, no GPS signal , standby mode and error state . If the device is moving faster than the speed threshold the emitters are emitting IR light and UI LED 110 is constantly green . Otherwise , if the device slows down below the speed threshold or it stands still , the LED goes from constantly green to blinking green with UI LED 110 being Is on and Is off. If the vehicle is in a garage, tunnel or other area with no GPS signal, UI LED 110 blinks red with the same period - Is on and Is off. If the device is in standby mode for any reason, the UI LED starts the double blink.
• the Microcontroller also has an option to turn off the power of the emitter units trough pin WP POWER EN 105 which is connected preferably to pin 18 of the microcontroller. This is used when the device is about to go to low power mode. Before going to low power mode itself, microcontroller 101 needs to disable all other peripheral devices like the speed measuring device and emitters so they do not consume any power. This feature is important because it enables the device to consume so little power that it can be connected directly to a vehicle battery even when the vehicle is inactive for a long period of time.
• FIG. 2 discloses a schematic of one emitter unit.
• Figure 6 displays the algorithm and program logic of one emitter unit.
• Microcontroller 201 preferably Kinetis S9KEAZN8, is used to communicate with controller unit 701 and depending on the messages received, to enable (607) or disable (609) the function of the emitter unit. It is also in charge of generating a precise output signal which controls the frequency of pulsating IR light the device emits.
• Timer TIM1 is configured in a way that it has a fixed period Tl, preferably 37.5us Timer TIM2 is configured to randomly change its period every time it overflows (615) . The period is always in range between 4.5ps - 9ps .
• Tl and T2 602 are loaded to control registers, TIM2 is stopped and TIM1 is started (602B) .
• TIM1 counts to its period Tl an interrupt happens (610) , TIM1 is stopped and TIM2 is started (613) .
• TIM1 is started (617) and a new period T2 is calculated (615) and written to the TIM2 control register (616) .
• T2 is calculated (615) and written to the TIM2 control register (616) .
• the timers are always running and when one is finished, it starts the other, and so on.
• the emitter signal is set to high logic state (614)
• the TIM1 interrupt happens the signal is set to low logic state (612) .
• This signal is always being generated, but only if the controller unit commands the commencement of IR emitting, the signal is routed to pins 13, 14, 15 and 16 of microcontroller 201. These pins are connected to the gate of transistor 207.
• microcontroller 201 routes generated output signal to pins connected to the gate of transistor 207.
• microcontroller 201 The signal generated by microcontroller 201 that is found to be most effective is switched on for 37.5 ps high plus a random number between 4.5 ps - 9 ps, then switched off for 200 ps .
• This signal is constantly generated by microcontroller 201, but only when the message from the controller unit arrives to turn the IR light on, the signal is routed to pins connected to the gate of transistor 207.
• transistor 207 When the signal is in high logic state, transistor 207, preferably AO3422 N-MOS transistor, is in saturation. The Current then goes through diodes 206 and they emit IR light. Otherwise, if the signal is in low logic state, the transistor 207 is in cut-off mode and the diodes do not emit .
• IR light emitting diodes 206 To emit IR light, three IR light emitting diodes 206, preferably Osram SFH4715AS-EA are connected as is shown in Figure 2.
• the pulsating signal generated by microcontroller 201 is routed to the gate of transistor 207, average current of around 500 mA flows through diodes 206 and they emit IR light optimized to perform the tas k of this device best .
• Power supply pins of microcontroller 201 are connected to the power supply and appropriate decoupling capacitors .
• External oscillator pins are connected to crystal 208 with a resonating frequency of preferably 20 . 000MHz .
• a High frequency and broad temperature operating range crystal such as ABMG11AIG-20 , with 50 ppm stability and temperature range from -40 ° C to 125 ° C is used .
• a stable oscillator ensures that a pulsed signal , which is generated by microcontroller 201 to switch IR diodes on and off , is precise and identical in all weather conditions . Also , it ensures that communication with controller unit 701 is stable regardless of the temperature .
• communication lines 202 and 203 can be seen in Figure 2 . They are used for communication between emitter units 705 or 706 and controller unit 701 .
• UART signal generated in microcontroller 201 is fed to the transistor driver , preferably Onsemi BSS84 P-MOS transistor . It is used to amplify current capacity so higher loads can be driven - for instance , a long connecting cable to the controller unit . This is done equally for the opposite direction, but on the controller unit side at 103.
• Microcontroller 101 preferably S 9KEAZN8 is a 32 -bit ARM Cortex-M0+ MCU with 8 KB of flash and 1KB of internal RAM memory working at frequencies up to 50MHz .
• Variables used by the program logic are located in the RAM and flash memory is used for storing the program code . The code and constants should be pre-programmed adequately .
• a 16-bit RTC ( Real Time Clock) timer is configured at the start up to generate an interrupt every 5 seconds .
• This interrupt is used to measure the time at which the device started working and stores it to RAM . This way, it is possible to measure all other time periods needed for the device to operate the way it is disclosed in this document .
• one 32 -bit variable in RAM is used to store a time period from when the correct message was received from the GPS receiver . Every time the correct message is received a zero is written to this variable , but if an RTC interrupt occurs , and no correct messages were received since the last interrupt ( in the last 5 seconds ) , the value of this variable is increased by 5 . This way the main loop in the program algorithm can see if too much time passed since the last correct GPS message and update UI 704 .
• Microcontroller 101 has one UART peripheral .
• a UART peripheral is used to receive data from speed measuring device 703 . It is set up in interrupt mode so that whenever a byte is sent from the speed measuring device to the controller unit , the interrupt routine of microcontroller 101 stores it in GPS DATA array in RAM .
• the microcontroller enters the main loop starting at 303 .
• the main loop is constantly monitoring GPS DATA array ( 305 ) . If there is no data received, a counter in RAM is increased by one every loop ( 305B) . If this counter grows larger than the limit "L" ( 305C ) , this means that too much time has passed without a GPS signal and that the device needs to go to error routine ( 305D) . If GPS message arrives in the meantime , the counter is cleared and the microcontroller continues to handle received data .
• the microcontroller checks if the message is correct by checking the checksum located at the end of the message ( 306 ) . If it is not correct a GPS status variable is set to indicate ERROR ( 307 ) , the emitters are instructed not to emit IR light and the UI is updated accordingly to indicate an error . Otherwise , if the GPS message is correct , the microcontroller proceeds to analyse the message ( 311 ) . The Microcontroller can tell from the message if GPS receiver 702 is picking up a signal from satellites or not . The signal is not being received if the vehicle is currently in a tunnel , in a garage or there is something else blocking the signal .
• the microcontroller proceeds to analyse the speed of the vehicle from the message .
• a Correct message from the GPS receiver which receives signals from satellites contains the information about the speed of the GPS receiver device . Thereby it contains information about the speed of the vehicle to which the GPS receiver is attached . If the message is received ( 305A) , it is correct ( 306 ) , it indicates that a satellite signal is present ( 311 ) , and the speed read from the message is lower than the speed limit pre-programmed in the flash memory ( 314 ) - GPS status variable is set to GPS_SLOW and the emitters are instructed to turn off emitting . Otherwise , if the speed is greater than the limit , the emitters are instructed to turn on the emitting IR light , the GPS status variable is set to GPS_FAST and the UI is updated accordingly ( 318 ) .
• the UI After analysing the message , the UI is always updated accordingly, and the microcontroller returns to 303 and starts over .
• the GPS status variable There are 5 states in which the GPS status variable can be set :
• the microcontroller handles RTC timer tas ks ( 304 ) .
• This part of the program logic is used to handle the devices modes of operation and is done once every 5 seconds . If the GPS status variable is set to ERROR (319) , the timer variable T1 is increased by 5 (320) , and if it is larger than the time limit LI (321) - the microcontroller sets the device to Error mode (322) . This means that there is a problem with the GPS receiver or communication with it and that an error has occurred. If the timer variable T1 is not greater than LI (321) - the program logic returns to the main loop (322B) . If the GPS status variable is not set to ERROR the program logic continues to 323.
• the GPS status variable is set to NO SIGNAL (323) , the timer variable T2 is increased by 5, the timer variable T1 is set to 0 (324) , and if T2 is larger than the time limit L2 (325) - the microcontroller sets the device to Sleep mode (322) . If this happens, the signal from the GPS has been lost for some time, the vehicle is probably parked in a garage and the device should go to standby mode to reduce power consumption. If the timer variable T2 is not greater than L2 (325) - the program logic returns to the main loop (326B) . If the GPS status variable is not set to NO SIGNAL the program logic continues to 327.
• the GPS status variable is set to GPS SLOW (327)
• the timer variable T3 is increased by 5
• the timer variables T1 and T2 are set to 0 (328)
• T3 is larger than the time limit L3 (329) - the microcontroller sets the device to Sleep mode (330) . If this happened, the GPS status variable is set to GPS SLOW mode and the vehicle has probably been parked for some time - the device should go to standby mode to reduce power consumption.
• timer variable T3 is not greater than L3 - the program logic returns to the main loop (330B) . If the GPS status variable is not set to GPS SLOW the program logic continues to 321.
• program logic reaches 331
• the GPS variable is set to GPS FAST and this means that the vehicle is moving with a speed greater than the pre-programmed speed limit in the flash memory.
• all timer variables can be set to zero (331) and - main loop can be continued (331B) .
• program logic reaches 326 or 330
• the device goes to sleep mode . This means that the vehicle has probably been standing still for a long period of time and the emitters should not emit IR light in the near future . Sleep mode was designed for this situation, so the device would consume as little power as possible .
• the logic of the running algorithm when sleep mode is in process is illustrated by the flowchart in Figure 5 .
• Sleep mode starts with powering off the speed measuring device and emitter units ( 502 , 503 ) .
• the Microcontroller' s low power mode is configured in a way that the RTC overflow interrupt and change of level on pin 10 can wake it in order to resume normal functionality .
• the microcontroller itself goes to low power mode .
• movement sensor 702 is the only thing working and the device consumes about 4mA of current .
• the RTC overflow interrupt happens ( 505 ) which wakes microcontroller 101 .
• the Microcontroller updates the UI and returns to low power mode .
• Another thing that can wake the microcontroller from low power mode is change of level on pin 10 of the microcontroller ( 507 ) .
• the Accelerometer is used to monitor the movement of the vehicle . It is configured in a way to detect any change in acceleration and to notify microcontroller 101 about it by raising the pin to high logic level . If this happens , the microcontroller enables power for the speed measuring device and emitter units ( 510 ) and the program logic goes back to the main loop ( 511 , 303 ) .
• program logic reaches 322 , it means that an error has occurred and the device needs to go into the error mode of operation . In this mode , everything except for microcontroller 101 is shut down and the user interface is changed to notify the user about the error . The Microcontroller then uses the RTC to count how much time has passed since the error occurred . The microcontroller will restart speed measuring device 703 every 5 minutes to see if the error occurs again .
• a part of the software in microcontroller 101 is the User interface, it controls the bi-colour indicator LED 110 and is updated constantly, depending on the mode of operation of the device it can change LED colour and blinking periods.
• Figures 4A and 4B disclose the flow chart describing the user interface part of the program logic.
• the LED is connected to two pins of microcontroller 101 - pins 13 and 14. If both pins are in low logic state, the LED is dark. If pin 13 is in high state and pin 14 is in low state, the LED is red. Otherwise if pin 14 is high, and pin 13 is low, the LED is green.
• Two PIT timers of microcontroller 101 are used to control durations of the on and off state of the LEDs. They are set up in a way that PIT1 and PIT2 have different periods Pl and P2 which can be changed during the operation of the device.
• Pl and P2 When microcontroller 101 is powered on, the default values of Pl and P2 are loaded, PIT2 is stopped and PIT1 is started.
• PIT1 counts to its period Pl an interrupt happens, PIT1 is stopped and PIT2 is stared (422) .
• PIT2 is stopped and PIT1 is started (424) .
• the timers are always running and when one runs out, it starts the other, and so on.
• the LED is turned on (426, 427)
• a PIT1 interrupt happens the LED is turned off (423) . In this way the following is accomplished :
• the Main loop can, at any time, change Pl or P2 to change on/off ratio (403, 406, 409, 412, 415)
• the Main loop can, at any time, change a variable in RAM which indicates the colour of the LED (404, 407, 410, 413, 416) .
• PIT interrupts check this variable every time the interrupt happens and turn the correct LED colour (425) on/off.
• microcontroller 101 changes the periods of PIT timers and the variable which indicates the desired LED colour.
• both PIT1 and PIT2 are set to count to 0.5s (406, 409) . This causes the LED to constantly blink on and off with both periods being 0.5s. If mode is GPS SLOW, the LED is green (410) , and if mode is NO SIGNAL, the LED is red (407) .
• the LED is green (413) and periods are chosen to be 5s and Os (412) . In this case the LED is constantly green. A Similar is done when the device is in the ERROR state, but in that case the LED is re d (404) .
• the most specific state is LOW POWER mode. In this mode, periods Pl and P2 are set to 0.2s each (415) and the colour is chosen to be red (416) .
• the Specific thing is that the device is mostly in low power mode and the LED is not operational, but every 5 seconds, when the RTC wakes microcontroller 101 from low power mode, the LED will blink two times and then microcontroller 101 will go back to low power mode. This means the LED does a red double blink every 5 seconds all the time, until accelerometer 108 initiates a wake-up pulse to microcontroller 101.
• Ultrasonic wild-game warning device for vehicles has ultrasonic transmitter for production of ultrasonic signals to avoid accidents with animals , DE102005034854A1, 2007-02-15

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