Self-driving vehicles safety system

• US 10,147,320 B1
• Filed: 06/05/2018
• Issued: 12/04/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Christ G. Ellis
• Original Assignee: Christ G. Ellis
• Inventors: Ellis, Christ G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lu, Shirley
• Application Number:
  US16/000,296
• Time in Patent Office: 182 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/14 Adaptive cruise control
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/32 using transmission of continuous waves, whether amplitude-, frequency-, or phase-modulated, or unmodulated
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/865 Combination of radar systems with lidar systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/867 Combination of radar systems with cameras
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/56 exterior to a vehicle by using sensors mounted on the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/065 by counting the vehicles in a section of the road or in a parking area, i.e. comparing incoming count with outgoing count
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/087 Override of traffic control, e.g. by signal transmitted by an emergency vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/09623 Systems involving the acquisition of information from passive traffic signs by means mounted on the vehicle G08G1/0967 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0965 responding to signals from another vehicle, e.g. emergency vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/127 to a central station ; Indicators in a central station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/163 involving continuous checking
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/164 Centralised systems, e.g. external to vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes

Abstract

Self-driving vehicles safety system, comprising synthesized and coordinated components and entities, including vehicles, pedestrians, and traffic control light mechanisms, exchanging information, employing lidar (light imaging detection and ranging), radar and intelligent computer-based decision support algorithm systems that analyze images and extract information, to provide safety and vehicle control, regulated and prioritized traffic, and reduced vehicle emissions.

Claims

1. A self-driving vehicles safety system comprising synthesized and coordinated entities that are functionally distinct from each other and that work in combination, wherein the self-driving vehicles safety system includes a lidar system, a continuous-wave radar system, a computer vision system, and an intelligent video monitoring and video analysis system, wherein the self-driving vehicles safety system includes components that include vehicle components, pedestrian components, traffic control light components, traffic control light mechanism components, and traffic complex components, and wherein the self-driving vehicles safety system includes entities that include other radar and sensor-based system entities, GPS entities, and cell phone technology entities, wherein the computer vision system comprises:

a) a system portion that is disposed in a vehicle as an integral part of the vehicle and that includes built-in or installable computer vision devices that provide high-level understanding of digital images and videos, that provides automatic extraction, analysis and understanding of useful information from a single image or a sequence of images, that develops a theoretical and algorithmic basis to achieve automatic visual understanding, and that incorporates intelligent video monitoring and video analysis to identify objects, analyze motion and extract video intelligence from data gathered by digital image processing systems, visually sensed video, and none visually sensed data employing motion detection video;

b) a system portion that enables vehicles to recognize other vehicles, that determines whether an individual'"'"'s life is threatened or a crash is imminent, that transmits electrical impulses to stop or shut-down all vehicles receiving the electrical impulses or all involved vehicles or that takes control of threatening vehicles;

c) a system portion that enables vehicles to recognize pedestrians, that determines whether an individual'"'"'s life is threatened or a crash is imminent, that transmits electrical impulses to stop or shut-down all vehicles receiving the electrical impulses or all involved vehicles or that takes control of threatening vehicles;

d) a system portion that enables vehicles to recognize traffic control lights;

e) a system portion that enables traffic control light mechanisms to recognize other vehicles, that determines whether an individual'"'"'s life is threatened or a crash is imminent, that transmits electrical impulses to stop or shut-down all vehicles receiving the electrical impulses or all involved vehicles or that takes control of threatening vehicles;

f) a system portion that enables traffic control light mechanisms to employ artificial intelligence, rendering instantaneous, protective action when undefined, unplanned danger is detected;

g) a self-driving vehicles safety system processor;

h) a self-driving vehicles safety system transmitter in communication with at least one component of the traffic complex;

i) a self-driving vehicles safety system receiver in communication with at least one component of the traffic complex;

j) a system portion that operates in response to information received from at least one component of the traffic complex and that can override an operation of at least one component of the traffic complex;

k) a system portion that detects a presence, direction, distance, and speed of a vehicle by sending out high-frequency waves that are reflected off said vehicle;

l) a system portion that monitors prioritized vehicles, that compares alert signals received and priority algorithms with predetermined standards, and that gives a go-ahead to prioritized vehicles accordingly;

m) a system portion that scans an environment and that predicts a vehicle'"'"'s behavior in order to avoid collisions with obstacles;

n) a system portion responsive to electronic tags to vehicles and roadside objects, that collects target mass information to allow reliable pre-collision restraint deployment decisions;

o) a system portion that employs coordinated components and entities, that observes prioritized vehicle codes, that automatically provides information on optimum routing, closed and obstructed roadways and railroad crossings, that preempts traffic control lights, and that warns pedestrians of advancing prioritized vehicles;

p) a system portion that recognizes traffic signals and advises when it is safe for an individual to cross the street, that senses vehicle movement or imminent danger in immediate surroundings of the individual, and that transmits an electrical impulse to a computer system to stop or shut-down all vehicles receiving the electrical impulse or all involved vehicles or take control of threatening vehicles; and

q) a system portion that reads, understands, and obeys roadway lines, markings, symbols and signs, that reads, understands and obeys lines, markings, symbols and signs near, under and over the roadways, that reads, understands and obeys traffic control lights, and that employs lidar and continuous-wave radar interchangeably as lighting conditions fluctuate for continuous visibility.

2. The self-driving vehicles safety system according to claim 1, wherein the self-driving vehicles safety system further includes an automatic vehicle count mechanism component, an emissions detection and mitigation mechanism component, wherein the self-driving vehicles safety system comprises:

a) a continuous-wave radar system portion that can be used to illuminate and detect vehicles by techniques employing semiconductor tracer-diode surveillance utilizing one or two carrier frequencies and looking for reflections of the third harmonic;

b) a vehicle count and emissions detection mechanism system portion that processes information on a number of vehicles and levels of emissions for a given location and time period to determine if dynamic traffic assignment will be executed to preempt traffic control lights to regulate the flow of vehicles;

c) a mitigating vehicle emissions system portion that automatically adjusts stop light timing to speed up or reroute vehicle movement and that uses in-vehicle displays and in-vehicle interactive voice communications to relieve congestion;

d) a traffic control light mechanism system portion that determines if dynamic traffic assignment is to be executed and that executes predetermined rerouting instructions, based on real or predicted traffic conditions, as measured by automatic vehicle counts; and

e) an automatic, dynamic vehicle count system portion and an infrastructure emissions sensor system portion that senses, identifies and classifies types and levels of emissions in each vehicle to provide safety and vehicle control, to regulate and prioritize traffic, and to reduce vehicle emissions.