Systems and methods for control systems to facilitate situational awareness of a vehicle
First Claim
1. An automatic door-locking system for a vehicle comprising:
- a sensor adapted to detect the movement of objects in the immediate vicinity exterior to the vehicle while the vehicle is stationary, wherein the immediate vicinity comprises the area surrounding the vehicle including the width of the doors when the doors are fully opened;
a computer system adapted to receive data from the sensor;
a computer processor adapted to analyze the data from the sensor to determine if a movement threshold of an object has been reached;
a switch operatively coupled to the computer processor and adapted to send a signal to the computer processor to control an actuator to engage or disengage a door lock of a door of the vehicle; and
an automatic door-locking mechanism adapted to activate when an outcome of the data analysis is over the movement threshold resulting in the computer processor sending one or more signals to activate the actuator to lock the door and disable the switch associated with the door.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and methods for control systems for facilitating situational awareness of a vehicle are provided. Sensors located around a stationary vehicle may detect moving objects that pose potentially dangerous situations for the vehicle occupants and for the object. This can cause the doors to lock automatically in order to make the situation safer. Additionally, electromagnetic radiation sensors located around the vehicle may detect the lights and sounds of emergency vehicles. If the electromagnetic data from the electromagnetic radiation sensors match a known pattern of electromagnetic data emitted by emergency vehicles stored in a library an alarm may be sounded through the speakers of the vehicle in order to alert the vehicle occupants of an emergency vehicle in the vicinity.
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Citations
10 Claims
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1. An automatic door-locking system for a vehicle comprising:
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a sensor adapted to detect the movement of objects in the immediate vicinity exterior to the vehicle while the vehicle is stationary, wherein the immediate vicinity comprises the area surrounding the vehicle including the width of the doors when the doors are fully opened; a computer system adapted to receive data from the sensor; a computer processor adapted to analyze the data from the sensor to determine if a movement threshold of an object has been reached; a switch operatively coupled to the computer processor and adapted to send a signal to the computer processor to control an actuator to engage or disengage a door lock of a door of the vehicle; and an automatic door-locking mechanism adapted to activate when an outcome of the data analysis is over the movement threshold resulting in the computer processor sending one or more signals to activate the actuator to lock the door and disable the switch associated with the door. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method for automatically locking the doors of a vehicle, the method comprising:
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receiving sensor data from a sensor located on the exterior of the vehicle when the vehicle is stationary; analyzing the sensor data to identify movement of objects in the immediate vicinity exterior to the vehicle while the vehicle is stationary; determining, based upon the analyzing, if a movement threshold value for objects exterior to the vehicle has been reached; and activating an automatic door-locking mechanism when the outcome of the data analysis is over the movement threshold resulting in a computer processor sending one or more signals to activate an actuator to lock a door of the vehicle and disable a switch associated with the door and operatively coupled to the computer processor, wherein the switch is adapted to send a signal to the computer processor to control the actuator to engage or disengage the door lock. - View Dependent Claims (10)
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Specification