Emergency vehicle alert system

• US 10,210,756 B2
• Filed: 07/24/2017
• Issued: 02/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/24/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Harman International Industries Incorporated (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Harman International Industries Incorporated (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Inventors: Arunachalam, Srinath
• Primary Examiner(s): Nwugo, Ojiako K
• Application Number:
  US15/658,298
• Publication Number:
  US 20190027032A1
• Time in Patent Office: 575 Days
• Field of Search: 340902
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0965 responding to signals from another vehicle, e.g. emergency vehicle

Abstract

Examples are provided for locating an emergency vehicle relative to another vehicle. An example in-vehicle computing system of a first vehicle includes an alert output device, a sensor subsystem communicatively coupled to one or more of an audio sensor and an image sensor, a processor, and a storage device storing instructions executable by the processor to, responsive to detecting the audible or visual indicator of the emergency vehicle, estimate a location of the emergency vehicle based on one or more parameters of the audible or visual indicator, present an alert when the estimated location of the emergency vehicle is within an actionable region relative to the first vehicle, the alert including an indication of the estimated location of the emergency vehicle, and present no alert or a reduced alert when the estimated location of the emergency vehicle is not within the actionable region.

Claims

1. An in-vehicle computing system of a first vehicle, the in-vehicle computing system comprising:

an alert output device;

a sensor subsystem communicatively coupled to one or more of an audio sensor and an image sensor;

a processor; and

a storage device storing instructions executable by the processor to;

identify a relative location of an emergency vehicle to the first vehicle from monitored audio and/or video sensed by the sensor subsystem; and

output the identified relative location via the alert output device,

wherein the instructions are executable to identify the relative location of the emergency vehicle by processing audio output from the monitored audio sensor to detect a siren sound, and wherein;

processing the audio output to detect the siren sound includes detecting a transition from audio output having an amplitude that is below a threshold amplitude at a given frequency to the audio output having an amplitude that is sustained at an above-the-threshold amplitude at the given frequency for a threshold period of time, or

the instructions are further executable to separate the siren sound from background noise in the audio output to generate a separated siren sound and the instructions are further executable to estimate the relative location of the emergency vehicle by performing beamforming on the separated siren sound to estimate a direction of arrival of the siren sound.

2. The in-vehicle computing system of claim 1, wherein processing the audio output to detect the siren sound includes detecting energy in a selected region of an audio band associated with a predetermined siren sound range.

3. The in-vehicle computing system of claim 1, wherein processing the audio output to detect the siren sound includes detecting narrow band and fixed frequency signals in the audio output.

4. The in-vehicle computing system of claim 1, wherein processing the audio output to detect the siren sound includes detecting an amplitude modulation pattern in the audio output that matches a selected predetermined amplitude modulation pattern associated with a siren sound pattern.

5. The in-vehicle computing system of claim 1, wherein the instructions are executable to estimate, over time, the relative location of the emergency vehicle based on the separated siren sound, and wherein the instructions are further executable to determine a trajectory of the emergency vehicle based on changes of the relative location of the emergency vehicle over time.

6. The in-vehicle computing system of claim 5, wherein the instructions are executable to output the identified relative location via the alert output device when the emergency vehicle is determined to be in an actionable region responsive to determining that the trajectory of the emergency vehicle intersects with a location of the first vehicle.

7. The in-vehicle computing system of claim 5, wherein the instructions are executable to determine that the trajectory of the emergency vehicle is directed away from the first vehicle or does not intersect with a location of the first vehicle, and, in response, output a reduced alert including an indication that the emergency vehicle is heading away from the first vehicle.

8. The in-vehicle computing system of claim 1, wherein outputting the alert includes presenting a suggestion of an action for a driver of the first vehicle to perform to maneuver away from a path of the emergency vehicle or to maintain one or more of a current speed and a current lane occupation based on the location of the emergency vehicle.

9. The in-vehicle computing system of claim 8, wherein the suggestion of the action is determined based on one or more features of a roadway on which the first vehicle is traveling and wherein the suggestion of the action overrides a navigation instruction from a navigation application.

10. The in-vehicle computing system of claim 1, wherein the instructions are executable to identify the relative location of the emergency vehicle to the first vehicle by processing captured images from the monitored image sensor to match features in the images to one or more predetermined emergency vehicle features, and wherein the instructions are executable to estimate a location of the emergency vehicle based on a location of features in the image that match the one or more predetermined emergency vehicle features.

11. The in-vehicle computing system of claim 1, wherein the instructions are executable to identify the relative location of the emergency vehicle to the first vehicle by processing captured images from the monitored image sensor to compare a detected pattern of movement of neighboring vehicles to a predetermined emergency vehicle avoidance pattern, and wherein the instructions are executable to estimate a location of the emergency vehicle based on the detected pattern of movement of neighboring vehicles.

12. A method for displaying information to an operator of a first vehicle, the method comprising:

identifying a relative location of an emergency vehicle to the first vehicle from monitored audio and/or video sensed by the vehicle; and

displaying the identified relative location on a display in the vehicle,

wherein displaying the identified relative location on the display in the vehicle further comprises presenting a suggestion of an action for the operator of the first vehicle to perform to maneuver away from a path of the emergency vehicle or to maintain a current speed or a current lane occupation based on the identified relative location of the emergency vehicle, wherein the suggestion of the action is determined based on one or more features of a roadway on which the first vehicle is traveling and wherein the suggestion of the action overrides a navigation instruction from a navigation application.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

responsive to detecting an audible indicator of the emergency vehicle from the monitored audio sensed by the vehicle, determining a first estimated trajectory of the emergency vehicle based on one or more parameters of the audible indicator as detected over time;

responsive to detecting a visual indicator of the emergency vehicle from the monitored video sensed by the vehicle, determining a second estimated trajectory of the emergency vehicle based on one or more parameters of the visual indicator as detected over time; and

responsive to detecting the audio indicator and the visual indicator of the emergency vehicle, determining an updated trajectory of the emergency vehicle based on the first estimated trajectory and the second estimated trajectory.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein one or more of the first estimated trajectory, the second estimated trajectory, and the updated trajectory is further determined based on a parameter of a roadway on which the emergency vehicle is traveling.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising presenting an alert including the identified relative location and a suggestion for performing an action to avoid the emergency vehicle responsive to determining that the updated trajectory of the emergency vehicle intersects with a location of the first vehicle.

16. An in-vehicle computing system comprising:

an alert output device;

a sensor subsystem communicatively coupled to one or more of an audio sensor and an image sensor;

a processor; and

a storage device storing instructions executable by the processor to;

detect an audible indicator of an emergency vehicle based on audio output from the audio sensor;

responsive to detecting the audible indicator of the emergency vehicle;

determine a first estimated location of the emergency vehicle based on one or more parameters of the audible indicator;

monitor image output from the image sensor;

responsive to not detecting any visual indicator of the emergency vehicle based on the image output, selectively present, via the alert output device, a first alert based on the first estimated location of the emergency vehicle, the first alert including an indication of the first estimated location of the emergency vehicle; and

responsive to detecting a visual indicator of the emergency vehicle based on the image output;

determine a second estimated location of the emergency vehicle based on one or more parameters of the image output;

adjust the first estimated location based on the second estimated location to generate an updated location of the emergency vehicle; and

selectively present, via the alert output device, a second alert based on the updated location of the emergency vehicle, the second alert including an indication of the updated location of the emergency vehicle.