Real-Time Drive Assistance System And Method

• US 20130321179A1
• Filed: 12/23/2011
• Published: 12/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Piaggio & C SPA (Immsi SPA)
• Original Assignee: Andrea Corti
• Inventors: Savaresi, Sergio Matteo, Corti, Andrea, Santucci, Mario Donato, Di Tanna, Onorino, Manzoni, Vincenzo
• Granted Patent: US 9,153,131 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/990
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0104 Measuring and analyzing of parameters relative to traffic conditions
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0112 from the vehicle, e.g. floating car data [FCD]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096716 where the received information does not generate an automatic action on the vehicle control
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096741 where the source of the transmitted information selects which information to transmit to each vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096775 where the origin of the information is a central station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0969 having a display in the form of a map
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/164 Centralised systems, e.g. external to vehicles

Abstract

There are described a real-time drive assistance system and method. The system proposes a centralized architecture capable of determining and preventing, in real time, potentially dangerous road situations, increasing road safety. The system is based on a communication network obtained through specific portable mobile communication devices (16) capable of exchanging information related to the state of a plurality of vehicles (12) in motion along a road network, with a single centralized processing unit (10). The method comprises the steps of: periodical acquisition, through the portable mobile communication devices (16), of the information related to the state of the vehicles (12) in motion along the road network;

sending of the information thus obtained to a centralized processing unit (10) using the wireless communication system of each portable mobile communication device (16); processing of the information by means of the centralized processing unit (10) in order to verify the occurrence of potential dangerous situations for the drivers of each vehicle (12); sending, by the centralized processing unit (10) and through the wireless communication system, of warning or danger signals to one or more of the portable mobile communication devices (16) for generating warnings that can alert the drivers of the vehicles (12).

Claims

1. Real-time drive assistance system comprising:

a single centralized processing unit (10) able to receive a plurality of information related to the state of a plurality of vehicles (12) in motion along a road network, and also to detect road situations that are potentially dangerous for said vehicles (12), the centralized processing unit (10) comprising in turn a web server (14) connected to Internet, that receives and processes the information received by each vehicle (12), and a geographical database (18), provided with corresponding digital maps on which the vehicles (12) are positioned according to the information communicated thereby;

a plurality of portable mobile communication devices (16) present onboard of the respective vehicles (12), each portable mobile communication device (16) consisting of a smartphone configured for being able to access the Internet and provided with;

one or more processing unit,

one or more wireless communication systems,

a user identification card (“

SIM”

card),

an operating system that allows a high level programming,

one or more application programs capable of acquiring the information related to the state of the vehicles (12) and exchanging said information with the web server (14),

one or more user communication interfaces for generating warnings that can alert the drivers of the vehicles (12) based on the processing performed by the web server (14).

2. Real-time drive assistance system according to claim 1, also comprising a localization device (20) based upon a global satellite navigation system, able to detect the information related to the state of each vehicle (12) and to periodically provide the absolute geographic position of each vehicle (12) on the globe.

3. Real-time drive assistance system according to claim 2, characterized in that the localization device (20) is a GPS antenna.

4. Real-time drive assistance system according to claim 2, characterized in that the localization device (20) is embedded in the portable mobile communication device (16).

5. Real-time drive assistance system according to claim 2, characterized in that the localization device (20) is made by an external antenna, connected with the portable mobile communication device (16) by means of a proper communication protocol of the Bluetooth′

9 or Wi-Fi type.

6. Real-time drive assistance system according to claim 1, also comprising one or more fixed communication devices installed on fixed places along the road network, and operatively connected to the web server (14), said fixed communication devices signalling to the portable mobile communication devices (16) of the drivers of the approaching vehicles (12) the presence of said fixed places when they are potentially dangerous.

16. Real-time drive assistance system according to claim 1, wherein said one or more application programs are configured for acquiring the information related to the state of the vehicles (12) at least once a second.

7. Real-time drive assistance method comprising the following steps:

periodical acquisition, by means of a plurality of portable mobile communication devices (16), of the information related to the state of a plurality of vehicles (12) in motion along a road network;

sending of the information so obtained to a single centralized processing unit (10) through the wireless communication system of each portable mobile communication device (16);

processing of the information by means of the centralized processing unit (10) in order to verify the occurrence of potential dangerous situations for the drivers of each vehicle (12);

sending, by the centralized processing unit (10) and through the wireless communication system, of warning or danger signals to one or more of said portable mobile communication devices (16) for generating warnings that can alert the drivers of the vehicles (12).

8. Method according to claim 7, wherein the step of processing the information by means of the centralized processing unit (10) comprises the following steps:

memorization of said information on a geographic database (18)

generation of a vector on a digital map, corresponding to the route travelled by each vehicle (12);

estimation, according to the acquired information, of the future position of each vehicle (12) after a predefined period of time;

analysis of the information related to each single vehicle (12) and to the vehicles present within a predefined distance or radius from said single vehicle (12) in order to verify the occurrence of potential dangerous situations for the drivers.

9. Method according to claim 7, wherein the step of periodical acquisition of the information related to the state of each vehicle (12) is performed by means of a localization device (20) based on a global satellite navigation system.

10. Method according to claim 7, wherein the warnings generated by the portable mobile communication devices (16) have an intensity, tone and/or duration variable according to the seriousness of the danger and/or the approaching of said danger.

11. Method according to claim 7, wherein the information related to the state of each vehicle (12) comprise at least the data related to the speed and the geographic position of said vehicle (12).

12. Method according to claim 11, wherein the information related to the state of each vehicle (12) also comprise the data related to the acceleration of said vehicle (12).

13. Method according to claim 7, wherein the warnings that can be generated by each portable mobile communication device (16) are of an acoustic type.

14. Method according to claim 7, wherein the warnings that can be generated by each portable mobile communication device (16) are of a visual type.

15. Method according to claim 7, wherein the warnings that can be generated by each portable mobile communication device (16) are obtained by means of vibrations.

17. Method according to claim 7, wherein said periodical acquisition step is performed at least once a second.

18. Method according to claim 7, comprising a step of searching with said web server further vehicles on the road travelled by a first vehicle and wherein, if at least a further vehicle is found within a predefined distance from the first vehicle, said method comprises a step of analyzing the position and the advance direction of said further vehicle in order to provide to the first vehicle a notification concerning a possible risk in the case of overtaking of the further vehicle by the first vehicle.