Methods, Systems and Computer Program Products for Providing an Emergency Vehicle Alert

• US 20080106435A1
• Filed: 11/08/2006
• Published: 05/08/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group), Kia Corp.
• Original Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kirkpatrick, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 7,629,898 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/902
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0965 responding to signals from another vehicle, e.g. emergency vehicle

Abstract

A method for providing an emergency vehicle alert to an occupant of a second vehicle includes: receiving an alert signal at a receiver device on the second vehicle from the emergency vehicle; and, responsive to the received alert signal, automatically warning the occupant of the second vehicle that the emergency vehicle may be approaching and/or is in a vicinity of the second vehicle.

Claims

1. A method for providing an emergency vehicle alert to an occupant of a second vehicle, the method comprising:

receiving an alert signal at a receiver device on the second vehicle from the emergency vehicle; and

responsive to the received alert signal, automatically warning the occupant of the second vehicle that the emergency vehicle may be approaching and/or is in a vicinity of the second vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the alert signal is a radiofrequency (RF) signal.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein warning the occupant includes playing an audible alert to the occupant.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the audible alert includes a voice message.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the voice message includes a description of the emergency vehicle.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the voice message includes a description of a location and/or direction of travel of the emergency vehicle relative to the second vehicle.

7. The method of claim 3 including, responsive to the received alert signal, automatically muting and/or reducing a volume of an audio device of the second vehicle to enable the occupant to better hear the audible alert.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein warning the occupant includes displaying a visual alert to the occupant.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the visual alert includes a displayed image indicating a location and/or change in location of the emergency vehicle relative to the second vehicle.

10. The method of claim 9 including determining a location of the second vehicle using a Positioning System receiver.

11. The method of claim 1 further including:

emitting the alert signal from the emergency vehicle to the receiver device on the second vehicle.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein emitting the alert signal includes broadcasting the alert signal.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the alert signal is a radiofrequency (RF) signal.

14. An alert system for providing an emergency vehicle alert to an occupant of a second vehicle, the system comprising:

a receiver device on the second vehicle configured to;

receive an alert signal from the emergency vehicle; and

responsive to the received alert signal, automatically warn the occupant of the second vehicle that the emergency vehicle may be approaching and/or is in a vicinity of the second vehicle in.

15. The system of claim 14 including a sender device on the emergency vehicle, wherein the sender device is configured to emit the alert signal to the receiver unit.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the sender device is configured to broadcast the alert signal.

17. The system of claim 15 wherein the alert signal is a radiofrequency (RF) signal.

18. The system of claim 14 wherein the receiver device is configured to automatically play an audible alert to the occupant responsive to the received alert signal.

19. The system of claim 14 wherein the receiver device is configured to automatically display a visual alert to the occupant responsive to the received alert signal.

20. A computer program product for providing an emergency vehicle alert to an occupant of a second vehicle, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage medium including computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to receive an alert signal at a receiver device on the second vehicle from the emergency vehicle; and

computer readable program code configured to automatically warn the occupant of the second vehicle that the emergency vehicle may be approaching and/or is in a vicinity of the second vehicle in response to the received alert signal.