WO2007073348A1

WO2007073348A1 - Automobile safety backlight “active approaching alert” (aaa) system

Info

Publication number: WO2007073348A1
Application number: PCT/SG2005/000427
Authority: WO
Inventors: Boon Lum Lim
Original assignee: Actinium Network Bhd.
Priority date: 2005-12-22
Filing date: 2005-12-22
Publication date: 2007-06-28

Abstract

The present invention is related to vehicle safety systems, and the safety alert signal is activated by an active approaching relative velocity and/or relative distance between the two automobile vehicles (11 , 12). The present invention differs from the current 'Vehicle Brake Backlight Alerting System' where the activation is activated by the vehicle driver himself/herself and is not based on the relative condition between the two vehicles (11 , 12). The present invention is termed the 'Active Approaching Alert' system, where the relative velocity and the relative distance between the two automobile vehicles (11 , 12) are continuously determined via a Centralized Processing Unit which makes the decision to active such an alert warning signal. The relative velocity and relative distance is determined via the computation units with the system, and such computations could be via RF wireless Doppler frequency, Infrared pulse position-time, Acoustics time arriver, Air-pressure sensing or optical imaging processing. The output signal can be combined with the existing 'Vehicle Brake Backlight Alerting System' for display (13, 14, 15), and hence no additional display light is required for the present invention system. However, the output alert signal can also be a standalone warning signal for the vehicle behind.

Description

Automobile Safety Backlight "Active Approaching Alert" (AAA) System

Background of Invention 1. Field of the invention The present invention is related to moving automobile vehicles' active safety systems. An actively activated "automobile approaching system" is installed within an automobile vehicle, providing an active alert signal to the vehicle approaching behind, under conditions, such as (i) when the vehicle behind is approaching at a certain preset speed limit, and/or (ii) when the vehicle behind is far too close to the vehicle in front even when the speed is slow or zero.

Such an alert signal can be logically "OR" with the current vehicle brake backlight signal or an independent standalone alerting lighting signal, mounted at the back of the automobile vehicle.

Hence the invention is unique in that the alert system is activated by any moving object following behind the moving vehicle or any objects following closely behind, where such object could be another automobile vehicle or any moving object.

The process of determining the approaching velocity or speed of the vehicle behind occurs via a computation processor or system and uses wireless detection of the required relative speed/velocity between the two vehicles or objects. The wireless detection media or methodology could operate via RF wireless, infrared, air pressure, acoustic or optical imaging. The processing methodologies could be used to detect the approaching relative velocity and/or distance or air pressure.

The computation of such detection could be performed by an embedded microcontroller, microprocessor or a microcomputer. To complement the existing "Vehicle Brake Backlight Alerting System" in an automobile, the invention system will be installed within the automobile and this coupled with the existing "Vehicle Brake Backlight Alerting System" would provide a complementary alerting signal. Thus, the "Vehicle Brake Backlight Alerting System" will be activated in cases where either the automobile driver activates/presses the vehicle brake or when another vehicle approaching behind at a high speed (where such speed limit is adjustable based on requirement or could be preset with no modification) and/or when the vehicle behind is at a close approaching distance.

2. Description of Prior Art

With the rapid development of automobile vehicle safety systems, one of the well-deployed and well-developed alert systems is the "Vehicle Brake Backlight Alerting System", where an alert signal is activated when the driver activates (press) the vehicle brake plate. Such an alert signal gives warning to the behind vehicle's driver so that he can take any evasive action required.

In general, such a "passive" alert system makes known to the driver behind the front vehicle driver's attempt to brake his vehicle, without which the driver behind would have no means of alerting himself if he is approaching the front vehicle at a relatively high speed or if the distance from the vehicle in front is far too close and not within an appropriate security distance.

In the conventional way of alert-signal design and development, such signals are all based on "passive" activation, i.e. the alert signals that are given to the environment are based on the driver activating some mechanisms within the vehicle, and none of the safety alert signals are activated by an external party, such as a fast-moving vehicle or a close-by vehicle that is far too near for safety.

The subject invention system provides an active alert signal whereby the signal is activated by an "external party", hence providing a safety warning signal to the said "external party".

3. Summary of the Invention

The primary objective of the invention is to provide an "Active Approaching Alert" system for an automobile vehicle to complement the existing "Vehicle Brake Backlight Alerting System". The "Active Approaching Alert" system is capable of generating an alert signal to the vehicle approaching behind, if the velocity/speed of the approaching vehicle exceeds a certain preset limit, and/or the approaching vehicle is far too close to ensure a safe distance between the respective vehicles: i.e. if the approaching vehicle has a relative velocity which exceeds a certain limit set within the front-vehicle, the vehicle brake backlight signal will be activated automatically to give warning to the approaching vehicle that his/her speed is too fast to ensure safe driving. Further, if the approaching vehicle is too close to the front vehicle, even if the relative velocity of the approaching vehicle is low, the vehicle brake backlight signal will also be activated to give warning to the driver behind, in this scenario. In summary, the "Active Approaching Alert (AAA)" system is capable of giving a warning signal to a following vehicle when it is approaching at a high speed or if it comes too close to the front vehicle for safety reasons. The AAA system can complement and be implemented together with the existing "Vehicle Brake Backlight Alerting System" to provide an additional safety measure and precautionary signal to vehicle drivers. The "Active Approaching Alert" system comprises the following hardware sub-systems, where all of these interrelated sub-systems work conjointly to form the complete system.

1. A Centralized Computational Unit, or a Centralized Microcontroller or Processor (named as Centralized Processor Unit), responsible for coordinating the entire active sensing device.

2. The Centralized Processor Unit is also tasked to periodically or constantly turn on the AAA system for monitoring and data acquisition.

3. The Centralized Processor Unit is responsible for all the necessary computation to check the relative velocity between itself and the vehicle following behind and also to constantly determine the distance between itself and following vehicle .

4. The Centralized Processor Unit is also responsible for all decision making to provide an alert signal to the vehicle approaching from behind.

5. The aforementioned alerting signal could be logically "OR" or electrically "combined" with the vehicle brake backlight signal for display.

6. An active sensor based on either RP wireless, infrared, air pressure, acoustic or optical imaging used to determine the approaching velocity of the following vehicle.

7. An internal built-in memory or external memory that stores the preset relative velocity limit as well as the relative distance parameter for decision making and comparison. 8. A regulated power unit to provide the power supply for the AAA system. 9. A power management unit to ensure that the power consumption of the system is kept within the allowable limit.

10. A self diagnostic firmware within the Centralized Processor Unit to ensure that the system is calibrated upon start-off and to give warning to , the owner if there is any error in computation.

In addition, the "Active Approaching Alert" system also comprises the following software/firmware sub-system, for which all of these interrelated sub-systems work conjointly to form the complete system.

1. Relative velocity computation algorithm, where such algorithm is to measure and determine the relative velocity between the vehicle itself and the vehicle following behind.

2. Relative distance computation algorithm, where such algorithm is to measure and determine the relative distance between the vehicle itself and the vehicle following behind. 3. Power management algorithm to synchronize the activation of the sensor units to provide a reasonable real-time measurement, while remaining within the power consumption requirement of a standard automobile. 4. Decision making algorithm to provide a decision guideline for the Centralized Processor Unit to output and display an alerting signal. 5. A self diagnostic algorithm to ensure that the system is in full operational function.

4. Description of Figures and Block Diagrams

Figure- 1 is the system architecture block diagram of the Active Approaching Alert (AAA) system of the present invention. Figure-2 is the operational diagram of the Active Approaching System under the normal scenario of the present invention.

Figure-3 is the operational diagram of the Active Approaching System under the condition that it is activated by the relative velocity exceeding the preset limit. Figure-4 is the operational diagram of the Active Approaching System under the condition that it is activated by relative distance when it measures less then preset limit.

Figure-5 is the operational and decision fiowgram of the Active Approaching System.

5. Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment

Referring to Figure-1, the Active Approaching Alert (AAA) System (1) of the present invention comprises a Centralized Processor Unit (2) (which controls the main operational function, computation function and decision function of the entire system for operation) with Algorithm Computation & Decision Making Unit (3) and a Self Diagnostic Procedure block (4), an Internal or External Memory unit that stores the configuration and preset parameter for the operation (5), a Relative Velocity and Distance Sensing Device (6), an Electrical Combination or Logical "OR" Circuitry (7) and an existing vehicle brake backlight display (which consists of one left brake light, one right brake light and a 3^rd centered brake light display). In Figure 1, item (9) represents an automobile vehicle approaching from behind for which the relative velocity measurement is given by the sensing device (6). The measurement and detection technique could be based on one of the 4 fundamental wireless media, such as Continuous Radio Wave (CW) on Radio Doppler Frequency sensing, Infrared, Acoustic, Air Pressure and Optical Imaging. Referring to Figure-2, this demonstrates the present invention Active Approaching Alert (AAA) system operational scenario functioning at normal condition. The Active Approaching Alert system (1) is installed in the automobile vehicle (11), behind which is an approaching automobile vehicle (12). There are a total of three brake backlights (13), (14) and (15) within the automobile vehicle (11). Assuming that vehicle (11) is moving at velocity VA and vehicle (12) is approaching at velocity Vβ. Hence the relative velocity between the vehicles is given by δV = VA - V_B, and the relative distance between them is given by ΔD. The Active Approaching Alert system emits (transmits) a wireless signal or receives a passive signal (such as optical imaging), and uses the return (received) signal to determine the above two parameters, i.e. the relative velocity δV = VA - V_B and relative distance ΔD. Such determination and computation are based on the algorithm resided within the Algorithm Computation & Decision Making Unit (3) of Figure-1. Hence, under normal condition, if the relative velocity δV and relative distance ΔD fall within the allowable limit, the Active Approaching Alert system will not be activated and hence nothing will be happen to activate the three-brake backlights .

Figure-3, demonstrates the present invention Active Approaching Alert (AAA) system operating within an exception scenario, where the relative velocity measured exceeds the preset allowable limit, i.e. δV > δV,_nax (16). And under such a scenario, the decision making process (17) will be set to perform or output an alert signal, where the aforementioned signal will then be electrically combined or logically "OR" with the "Vehicle Brake Backlight Alerting System" to enable or turn on the three vehicle brake backlights (18) to give an alert signal to the following vehicle.

Figure-4, demonstrates the present invention Active Approaching Alert (AAA) system operating within an exception scenario, where the relative distance measures less then the preset allowable limit, i.e. ΔD < ΔD_mi_n (19). Under such a scenario, the decision making process (20) will be set to perform or output an alert signal, where the aforementioned signal will then be electrically combined or logically "OR" with the "Vehicle Brake Backlight Alerting System" to enable or turn on the three vehicle brake backlights (21) to give an alert signal to the following vehicle. Figure-5 illustrates the functional flowgram of the Active Approaching Alert system. In general, upon the system start up (22) (i.e. Automobile Engine Start), a self diagnostic check procedure (23) will be activated to ensure the present invention system is operating normally. However, if there is a problem with the AAA system, a recommendation signal (such as a periodical tone signal) will be triggered to advise that workshop maintenance is required (24), upon such condition, the present invention system could be manually disabled with just an on/off switch on the AAA device/system.

If the present invention system passes the self diagnostic check, it will proceed to check if a calibration process is required (25). If it is needed, the system will then be self calibrated (26), after which, it will proceed for another round of diagnostic tests to ensure nothing wrong occurred during the self calibration process.

If the present invention system is calibrated (or no calibration is required), the program flow will activate and start the Active Approaching Alert operation (27). The detection for relative velocity and distance process (28) will be continuously running within the Centralized Processor Unit (2), and such process will continuously check for relative velocity exceeding maximum allowable limit (29) and check for relative distance within the minimum allowable limit (30). However, if the condition exceeds the maximum allowable relative velocity limit or is within the minimum allowable relative distance limit, the logic flag will be electrically combined or logically "OR" with "Vehicle Brake Backlight Alerting System" (31), and such output will then be used to activate the brake backlight (32) to alert the automobile vehicle driver behind.

Hereby, the present invention, Active Approaching Alert System provides the following advantages:

1. The present invention provides the complete functional requirements of safety alert architecture, by providing an active alert signal in combination with the brake backlight signal for the following driver.

2. It is an active activated system, as compared to the conventional "Vehicle Brake Backlight Alerting System", which is a passive activated signal to the following driver.

3. The present invention system monitors the relative velocity between the two automobile vehicles, where the aforementioned parameter is one of the key parameters to ensure that the following vehicle is not speeding while approaching the front vehicle.

4. The present invention system also monitors the relative distance between the two automobile vehicles, where the aforementioned parameter is one of the key parameters to ensure that the following vehicle is not too close to the front vehicle. 5. The present invention does not need to make major modification to the vehicle structure, requiring only the addition of the invention device and with an electrical combination or logical "OR" circuitry to the "Vehicle Brake Backlight Alerting System".

Claims

Claims:

1. An Active Approaching Alert (AAA) system comprises of the following: a A Centralized Processor Unit to function as the center processing unit for all the required functions such as relative velocity computation, relative distance computation, control and monitoring the external sensing device (for relative velocity and distance), b A Computation and Decision making unit, providing the decision and computation algorithm for the computation of relative velocity and distance. c A self diagnostic procedure block, providing the system self-diagnostic process to ensure the present invention system is functioning properly, d An internal or external memory unit, providing the memory space to store the configuration and preset parameters for the operation. e A relative velocity and distance sensing device, where the sensing methodology can be RF Wireless sensing, Infrared sensing, Acoustic sensing, air-pressure sensing or imaging sensing, f An electrical combination or logical "OR" circuitry to combine the decision signal to activate the "Vehicle Brake Backlight Alerting System". g Standalone output safety alert signal or complementary signal to the existing "Vehicle Brake Backlight Alerting System".

2. The Active Approaching Alert (AAA) system as stated in claim 1, wherein said relative velocity and distance sensing device could be either an integrated item incorporated within the AAA system or could be an external sensing device, housed externally from the AAA system.

3. The Active Approaching Alert (AAA) system as stated in claim 2, wherein the said relative velocity and distance sensing methodology and sensing media could be based on RF Wireless Continuous Wave (CW) Doppler Frequency detection, Infrared reflective pulse position-time detection, Acoustics reflective signal, air-pressure level sensing or passive imaging & processing technologies.

4. The Active Approaching Alert (AAA) system as stated in claim 1, wherein said Centralized Processor Unit is the main processing unit coupled with the computational algorithm and decision making functions, and also taking into account the system parameters residing within the internal or external memory to make the decision to activate the active activated alerting signal for the following vehicle.

5. The Active Approaching Alert (AAA) system as stated in claim 4, wherein the said computational algorithm is to determine the relative velocity and relative distance between .the two vehicles, i.e. the relative velocity and distance between the vehicle and the following vehicle.

6. The Active Approaching Alert (AAA) system as stated in Claim 1, wherein the said alerting signal is activated by the relative velocity and/or relative distance between the two automobile vehicles, and hence such activation of the alerting signal is coupled with the "Vehicle Brake Backlight Alerting System" is an active activated mechanism.

7. The Active Approaching Alert (AAA) system as stated in Claim 1, wherein said self diagnostic procedure block is an integrated item within the system, where such procedure performs the self checking procedure to ensure the system is in proper functioning order. Wherein, upon positive diagnostic procedure, the system will proceed with normal operation, and upon negative diagnostic procedure, the system will activate the periodical tone fault alarm system, and the user can manually switch off the Active Approaching Alert system.

8. The Active Approaching Alert (AAA) system as stated in Claim 6, wherein the said switch is an "On/Off' mechanical switch or electrical switch within the system where user is able to turn the system on or off, as and when required.

9. The Active Approaching Alert system as stated in Claim 6, wherein said switch can also be embedded within the system, where in this case the user is unable to manually switch the Active Approaching Alert system off via an external switch as and when required, and hence under any device fault condition, the user will need to send the vehicle for workshop maintenance, or the user could remove the power supply of the system in order to disable the system.

10. The Active Approaching Alert (AAA) system as stated in Claim 1, wherein the. said electrically combination or logically "OR" circuitry can be a internal circuitry or external circuitry, which would combine the decision output signal together with the vehicle brake backlight signal for display as an alert signal.

11. The Active Approaching Alert (AAA) system as stated in Claim 1, wherein the said operating procedure and system flowgram. (Figure-5) within the Centralized Processor Unit is masked within the internal memory of the system or could reside within an external memory.

12. The Active Approaching Alert (AAA) system as stated in Claim 1, wherein the said vehicle safety system can be a standalone safety mechanism or a complementary safety system/mechanism to the existing "Vehicle Brake Backlight Alerting System".