AUDITORY DISPLAY OF VEHICULAR ENVIRONMENT

• US 20080085686A1
• Filed: 10/09/2006
• Published: 04/10/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Motor Corporation
• Original Assignee: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Incorporated (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Kalik, Steven F.
• Granted Patent: US 7,741,962 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/154.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9315 Monitoring blind spots
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/932 using own vehicle data, e.g. ground speed, steering wheel direction
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9322 using additional data, e.g. driver condition, road state or weather data
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/93271 in the front of the vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/93272 in the back of the vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/93274 on the side of the vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9329 cooperating with reflectors or transponders

Abstract

An example apparatus for providing an audible signal representative of an environment comprises a sensor system, and an audio system providing an audible signal to a person. The audible signal has one or more audible signal variables from which the person can determine, for example, the location and relative velocity of one or more objects within the environment. The apparatus include an electronic circuit for converting environmental data into audible signal variables, for example using a mapping algorithm.

Claims

1. An apparatus for providing an audible signal representative of an environment to a person, the apparatus comprising:

a sensor system, providing sensor data related to the environment;

an electronic circuit, receiving the sensor data, the electronic circuit receiving the sensor data and transforming the sensor data into at least one audible signal variable representative of the environment; and

an audio system in communication with the electronic circuit, the audio system providing the audible signal.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the audible signal variable is selected from a group of variables consisting of frequency, amplitude, time delay from a reference time, modulation depth, amplitude envelope shape, tone pulse duration, and apparent direction of origin.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the audible signal has a plurality of audible signal variables.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the audible signal variables are correlated with location and relative velocity of objects within the environment.

5. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the audible signal comprises tones.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the audible signal includes a plurality of tones presented simultaneously and/or sequentially.

7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the audible signal variables include tone frequency.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the audio system is located within a vehicle.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the audio system comprises one or more speakers.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the audible signal variable is correlated with a relative velocity of an object within the environment.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the audible signal has a first audible signal variable correlated with an object distance, and a second audible signal variable correlated with an object direction.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sensor system comprises at least one stereoscopic image sensor.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the audible signal comprises a time-sequential set of frames, each frame comprising a plurality of tone pulses.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the audio system is supported by a helmet.

15. An apparatus for providing an audible signal representative of a vehicle environment to a vehicle operator within a vehicle, the apparatus comprising:

a sensor system, providing sensor data related to the vehicle environment, the sensor system being supported by the vehicle;

an electronic circuit receiving the sensor data, the electronic circuit determining a plurality of audible signal variables from the sensor data; and

an audio system comprising a plurality of speakers within the vehicle, the audio system providing the audible signal having the audible signal variables,

wherein each audible signal variable conveys information about the vehicle environment.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the audible signal variable is selected from a group of variables consisting of frequency, amplitude, time delay from a reference time, modulation depth, amplitude envelope shape, tone pulse duration, and apparent direction of origin.

17. A method for providing information about an environment to a person, the environment including an object having an object location, the method comprising:

sensing the environment using a sensor system;

receiving sensor data from the sensor system;

transforming the sensor data into an audible signal; and

providing the audible signal to the person so as to provide information about the environment to the person,

the audible signal having at least one audible signal variable correlated with an object location within the environment.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the audible signal variable is selected from a group of variables consisting of frequency, amplitude, time delay from a reference signal, modulation depth, amplitude envelope shape, tone duration, and apparent direction of origin.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the audible signal comprises a plurality of tones.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the audible signal variable is selected from a group consisting of tone frequency, tone amplitude, tone duration, and apparent direction of origin.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the audible signal is provided by a plurality of speakers,

the audible signal including tones having an apparent direction of origin correlated with the object location.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein the object location comprises an object distance and an object direction, and

the audible signal has a first audible signal variable correlated with the object distance and a second audible signal variable correlated with the object direction.

23. The method of claim 17, wherein the person is an operator of a vehicle.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the vehicle is an automobile.