IN-VEHICLE WORK ZONE COMMUNICATION

• US 20180103350A1
• Filed: 10/04/2017
• Published: 04/12/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/07/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Regents of The University of Minnesota (University of Minnesota)
• Original Assignee: Regents of The University of Minnesota (University of Minnesota)
• Inventors: Liao, Chen-Fu, Donath, Max, Morris, Nichole
• Granted Patent: US 10,375,524 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals

Abstract

A method includes a mobile device traveling in a vehicle scanning for Bluetooth devices. When the mobile device detects a Bluetooth device, it then determines that the Bluetooth device is a work zone tag. The mobile device then issues a warning that indicates that the vehicle is near a work zone based on the work zone tag.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

a mobile device traveling in a vehicle scanning for Bluetooth devices;

the mobile device detecting a Bluetooth device and determining that the Bluetooth device is a work zone tag;

the mobile device issuing a warning that indicates that the vehicle is near a work zone based on the work zone tag.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein scanning for Bluetooth devices comprises enabling scanning for Bluetooth devices based on a geographic location of the mobile device.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein enabling scanning for Bluetooth devices based on a geographic location comprises comparing a current location of the mobile device to each of a plurality of work zone areas and enabling scanning for Bluetooth devices when the mobile device enters one of the work zone areas.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising disabling scanning for Bluetooth devices when the mobile device leaves a work zone area.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein parameters describing the geographic extent of the plurality of work zones are stored on the mobile device.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining a speed of the mobile device, comparing the speed to a speed provided for the work zone tag and issuing a speeding alert if the speed of the mobile device exceeds the speed provided for the work zone tag.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein issuing the speeding alert comprises issuing an audible signal.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising displaying a message associated with the work zone tag on the mobile device.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising displaying an image associated with the work zone tag on the mobile device.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein issuing the warning comprises issuing an audible signal.

11. A method comprising:

scanning for Bluetooth-enabled devices in a work zone;

detecting a Bluetooth-enabled device in the work zone;

displaying a user interface that accepts a message to be conveyed by a mobile device when the Bluetooth-enabled device is detected by the mobile device;

sending the message accepted through the user interface and an identifier for the Bluetooth-enabled device to a database on a network so that the message can be forwarded to the mobile device by a server that accesses the database.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein detecting a Bluetooth-enabled device comprises receiving the identifier for the Bluetooth-enabled device from the Bluetooth-enabled device.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the user interface further accepts a speed value and sends the speed value to the database so that the server can forward the speed value to the mobile device.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the user interface further includes a control to designate whether the mobile device should trigger speeding warnings when the mobile device detects the Bluetooth-enabled device.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein the user interface includes a field for a passcode such that the database is only updated with the message if the passcode matches a passcode stored for an authorized user.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein detecting a Bluetooth-enabled device comprises receiving location information that describes a location of the Bluetooth-enabled device.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein the message to be conveyed by the mobile device comprises text to be conveyed as an audible signal by the mobile device.

18. A mobile device comprising:

a Bluetooth communication module that receives a Bluetooth communication signal from a Bluetooth-enabled device in a work zone;

an output device; and

a processor that based on the Bluetooth communication signal triggers the output device to generate an alert that the mobile device is in a work zone.

19. The mobile device of claim 18 further comprising:

a memory that stores geographic descriptions of a plurality of work zones; and

a position module that provides information describing a geographic position of the mobile device;

wherein the processor enables the Bluetooth communication module upon determining that the geographic position of the mobile device is within one of the plurality of work zones and disables the Bluetooth communication module upon determining that the geographic position of the mobile device is outside of all of the plurality of work zones.

20. The mobile device of claim 18 wherein the position module further provides a speed for the mobile device and wherein the processor accesses a speed value associated with the Bluetooth-enabled device, compares the speed value to the speed of the mobile device, and generates a speeding warning when the speed of the mobile device exceeds the speed value.

21. The mobile device of claim 18 wherein the alert is an audible alert.

22. The mobile device of claim 21 wherein the alert is a message associated with the Bluetooth-enabled device.

23. The mobile device of claim 19 wherein the memory stores a speed value, a text message and an image associated with each of a plurality of Bluetooth-enabled devices in the work zone.