Wireless beacon collision warning system

• US 10,235,884 B2
• Filed: 01/23/2015
• Issued: 03/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Curators of the University of Missouri (University of Missouri)
• Original Assignee: Curators of the University of Missouri (University of Missouri)
• Inventors: Song, Sejun, Choi, Baek-young, Dhondge, Kaustubh
• Primary Examiner(s): Swarthout, Brent
• Application Number:
  US15/114,488
• Publication Number:
  US 20160343256A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,516 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/005 including pedestrian guidance indicator
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/163 involving continuous checking
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A system, a method, and a computer program for utilizing a WiFi beacon for low-latency communication with smart computing devices. Embodiments of the invention use beacon-stuffed network announcement broadcast signals to promptly convey urgent safety information to pedestrians and other vulnerable road users and to warn them of approaching vehicles. This information can then be used to generate visual or audible alerts that are presented on a smart computing device of the vulnerable road user. Similarly, beacon-stuffed network announcement broadcast signals transmitted by pedestrians'"'"' smart computing devices can be used to warn vehicle operators of pedestrians in their path.

Claims

1. A system for alerting a user of an impending collision, comprising:

a first device comprising;

a first transmitter periodically transmitting a first 802.11 wireless network association beacon including position, speed, and direction information associated with the first device;

a second device comprising;

a first receiver operable to receive the first 802.11 wireless network association beacon;

one or more sensors operable to determine position, speed, and direction information associated with the second device;

a first processor;

one or more computer-readable media storing non-transitory computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the first processor, perform a method of alerting the user of the impending collision comprising the steps of;

determining that the second device has a lower time of closest approach to the first device than at least one other device;

processing, based on the time of closest approach, the position, speed, and direction information associated with the second device before information associated with the at least one other device;

determining, based on the position, speed, and direction information associated with the first device and the position, speed, and direction information associated with the second device, that a distance between the first device and the second device will be less than a predetermined threshold at a future time;

generating a first alert of the impending collision; and

presenting the first alert to the user.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the second device further comprises a display, and wherein the alert is presented to the user on the display.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the second device further comprises a speaker, and wherein the alert is presented to the user via the speaker.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the second device is a smartphone and the first device is located in a motor vehicle.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the step of determining comprises the substeps of:

determining, based on the position, speed, and direction of the first device, an estimated future position of the first device for each time of a plurality of future times;

determining, based on the position, speed, and direction of the second device, an estimated future position of the second device for each time of the plurality of future times;

determining a distance between the first device and the second device at each time of the plurality of future times; and

comparing each distance so determined to the predetermined threshold.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the position, speed, and direction information associated with the first device is encoded in the service set identifier (SSID) of the 802.11 beacon.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the second device further comprises:

a second transmitter periodically transmitting a second 802.11 wireless network association beacon including the position, speed, and direction information associated with the second device; and

wherein the first device further comprises;

a receiver operable to receive the second wireless network 802.11 association beacon;

a second processor;

one or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the first processor, perform a method of alerting a user of the first device of the impending collision comprising the steps of;

determining, based on the position, speed, and direction information associated with the first device and the position, speed, and direction information associated with the second device, that the distance between the first device and the second device will be less than a predetermined threshold at the future time;

generating a second alert of the impending collision; and

presenting the second alert to a user of the first device.

8. One or more computer-readable media storing non-transitory computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a processor, perform a method of alerting a user to an impending collision, comprising the steps of:

receiving an 802.11 wireless network association beacon including position, speed, and direction information associated with a vehicle;

determining position, speed, and direction information associated with a user device;

generating an estimated position of the user device at a future time and an estimated position of the vehicle at the future time;

wherein the vehicle is determined to have a lower time of closest approach to the user device than at least one other vehicle;

making a determination that a distance between the estimated position of the user device and the estimated position of the vehicle at the future time is below a predetermined threshold before a future position of the at least one other vehicle is determined;

in response to the determination, presenting an alert of the impending collision on the user device.

9. The media of claim 8, wherein the user device is a smartphone.

10. The media of claim 8, wherein the position, speed, and direction information associated with the vehicle is encoded in a service set identifier (SSID) of the beacon.

11. The media of claim 8, wherein the method further comprises the step of maintaining a list of vehicles from which position, speed, and direction information has been received together with position, speed, and direction information associated with each vehicle.

12. The media of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises the steps of:

obtaining updated position, speed, and direction information for the user device;

calculating an updated estimated position of the user device at the future time;

determining, based on the updated estimated position of the user device at the future time and the estimated position of a vehicle on the list of vehicles at the future time, that the distance between the user device and the vehicle is below the predetermined threshold; and

presenting a further alert of a further imminent collision on the user device.

13. The media of claim 8, wherein the alert is presented via a display of the user device.

14. The media of claim 8, wherein the position of the user device is determined from a global positioning system sensor and the speed of the device is obtained at least in part from an accelerometer.

15. A mobile computing device, comprising:

a processor;

one or more sensors operable to determine position, speed, and direction information associated with the mobile computing device;

a display;

a speaker;

a wireless network interface operable to receive an 802.11 wireless network association beacon;

one or more computer-readable media storing non-transitory computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a processor, perform a method of alerting a user of the mobile computing device to an impending collision, comprising the steps of;

receiving an 802.11 wireless network association beacon associated with a first vehicle and including position, speed, and direction information associated with the first vehicle,

receiving an 802.11 wireless network associated beacon associated with a second vehicle,

processing the information associated with the first vehicle before the information associated with the second vehicle based on a time of closest approach of the first vehicle relative to the user and a time of closest approach of the second vehicle relative to the user;

determining, based on the position, speed, and direction information associated with the mobile computing device and the position, speed, and direction information associated with the first vehicle, the existence of the impending collision between the first vehicle and the user of the mobile computing device;

presenting to the user via at least one of the display and the speaker an alert of the impending collision.

16. The mobile computing device of claim 15, wherein the position, speed, and direction information associated with the first vehicle is encoded in a service set identifier (SSID) of the beacon.

17. The mobile computing device of claim 15, wherein an urgency of the alert presented to the user depends on a time until the impending collision.

18. The mobile computing device of claim 15, wherein the first vehicle includes a device operable to alert an operator of the first vehicle of the impending collision.

19. The mobile computing device of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises the step of maintaining a list of vehicles from which position, speed, and direction information has been received together with position, speed, and direction information most recently received from each vehicle.