Approaching vehicle informing system and method
First Claim
1. Approaching vehicle informing system comprising:
- transmitting means for simultaneously transmitting a pulse of electromagnetic waves of a first frequency and a pulse of acoustic waves of a second frequency;
receiving means, remotely located from said transmitting means, for receiving said pulses of electromagnetic and acoustic waves and including timing circuitry responsive to the time relationship in reception of said pulse of electromagnetic waves and said pulse of acoustic waves and including frequency circuitry responsive to the frequency of said pulse of acoustic waves as received to produce a message representing the amount of time until said transmitting means and said receiving means meet.
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Abstract
An approaching vehicle informing system and method for informing the driver of a vehicle of the presence of a relatively approaching emergency vehicle and providing the driver with information regarding the amount of time until vehicles meet. Included are a transmitting station for simultaneously emitting periodic electromagnetic and sound pulses of preselected frequencies located on the emergency vehicle, and a receiving station located on the driver'"'"'s vehicle. The receiving station includes circuitry to receive the electromagnetic and sound pulses and discriminate signals of the preselected frequencies. A microcomputer is programmed to measure the time interval between simultaneously emitted electromagnetic and sound pulses, determines the Doppler frequency shift of the received sound pulse, and calculates the time until vehicles meet, which is displayed in numerical form to the driver in the event the Doppler frequency of received sound pulses exceeds the frequency of emitted sound pulses.
60 Citations
16 Claims
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1. Approaching vehicle informing system comprising:
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transmitting means for simultaneously transmitting a pulse of electromagnetic waves of a first frequency and a pulse of acoustic waves of a second frequency; receiving means, remotely located from said transmitting means, for receiving said pulses of electromagnetic and acoustic waves and including timing circuitry responsive to the time relationship in reception of said pulse of electromagnetic waves and said pulse of acoustic waves and including frequency circuitry responsive to the frequency of said pulse of acoustic waves as received to produce a message representing the amount of time until said transmitting means and said receiving means meet. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 7)
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4. Approaching vehicle informing system comprising:
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transmitting means for transmitting a sequence of simultaneous short pulses of electromagnetic waves of a first frequency and acoustic waves of a second frequency; and receiving means, remotely located from said transmitting means, for receiving pulses of said electromagnetic and acoustic waves and including timing circuitry responsive to the time relationship in reception of pulses of said electromagnetic waves and of simultaneously transmitted pulses of said acoustic waves, and including frequency circuitry responsive to the frequency of individual pulses of said acoustic waves as received, to produce a sequence of messages representing a sequence of values of the amount of time until said transmitting means and said receiving means meet. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6)
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8. A method of informing as to the relative approach of a transmitter and a remotely located receiver comprising the steps of:
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transmitting simultaneously a pulse of electromagnetic waves of a first frequency and a pulse of acoustic waves of a second frequency from said transmitter; receiving said pulse of electromagnetic waves and said pulse of acoustic waves at said receiver; measuring an interval of time between reception of said pulse of electromagnetic waves and said pulse of acoustic waves by said receiver to form a signal representing the interval of time; counting the frequency of said pulse of acoustic waves as received by said receiver to form a signal representing the shifted frequency of said pulse of acoustic waves as received; forming a difference representing the increase of the frequency of said pulse of acoustic waves as received with respect to said second frequency to form a signal representing the increase of the frequency of said pulse of acoustic waves as received with respect to said second frequency; computing the amount of time until said transmitter and said receiver meet from the relation;
space="preserve" listing-type="equation">T=(t)(s)/(i)wherein T is the amount of time until said transmitter and said receiver meet, t is the interval of time between reception of said pulse of electromagnetic waves and said pulse of acoustic waves, s is the frequency of said pulse of acoustic waves as received, and i is the increase of the frequency of said pulse of acoustic waves as received with respect to said second frequency, to form a signal representing the amount of time until said transmitter and said receiver meet; and displaying the amount of time until said transmitter and said receiver meet. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10)
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11. A method of informing as to the relative approach of a transmitter and a remotely located receiver comprising the steps of:
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transmitting a sequence of simultaneous short pulses of electromagnetic waves of a first frequency and acoustic waves of a second frequency from said transmitter; receiving pulses of said electromagnetic waves and said acoustic waves at said receiver; measuring a sequence of intervals of time between reception of simultaneously transmitted pulses of said electromagnetic waves and acoustic waves by said receiver to form a sequence of signals representing the intervals of time between reception of simultaneously transmitted pulses of said electromagnetic waves and acoustic waves; counting the frequency of individual pulses of said acoustic waves as received by said receiver to form a sequence of signals representing the frequency of individual pulses of said acoustic waves as received; forming a difference representing the increase of the frequency of individual pulses of said acoustic waves as received with respect to said second frequency to form a sequence of signals representing the increase of the frequency of individual pulses of said acoustic waves as received with respect to said second frequency; computing a sequence of values of the amount of time until said transmitter and said receiver meet, each of said values determined from the relation;
space="preserve" listing-type="equation">T=(t)(s)/(i)wherein T is the value of the amount of time until said transmitter and said receiver meet, t is the interval of time between reception of a simultaneously transmitted pulse of said electromagnetic waves and a pulse of said acoustic waves, s is the frequency of a pulse of said acoustic waves as received, and i is the increase of the frequency of a pulse said of acoustic waves as received with respect to said second frequency, to form a sequence of signals representing a sequence of values of the amount of time until said transmitter and said receiver meet; and displaying the sequence of values of amount of time until said transmitter and said receiver meet. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13)
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14. Approaching vehicle informing receiver for receiving a pulse of electromagnetic waves of a first frequency and a pulse of acoustic waves of a second frequency simultaneously transmitted from a remotely located source and for determining the amount of time until said source and said receiver meet, comprising:
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reception means for reception of said pulses of electromagnetic waves and acoustic waves; timing means responsive to said reception means for measuring the interval of time between reception of said pulse of electromagnetic waves and said pulse of acoustic waves by said reception means and for generating an output signal representing said interval of time between reception of said pulse of electromagnetic waves and said pulse of acoustic waves; counting means responsive to said reception means for measuring the frequency of said pulse of acoustic waves as received by said reception means and for generating an output signal representing the frequency of said pulse of acoustic waves as received; comparing means responsive to the output signal of said counting means for measuring the increase of the frequency of said pulse of acoustic waves as received with respect to said second frequency and for generating an output signal representing the increase of the frequency of said pulse of acoustic waves as received with respect to said second frequency; computing means responsive to the output signals of said timing means, said counting means and said comparing means for computing the amount of time until said source and said receiver meet from the relation;
space="preserve" listing-type="equation">T=(t)(s)/(i)wherein T is the amount of time until said source and said receiver meet, t is the interval of time between reception of said pulse of electromagnetic waves and said pulse of acoustic waves, s is the frequency of said pulse of acoustic waves as received, and i is the increase of the frequency of said pulse of acoustic waves as received with respect to said second frequency, and for generating an output signal representing the amount of time until said source and said receiver meet; alarm means responsive to the output signal of said computing means for producing a warning signal; and display means responsive to the output signal of said computing means for producing a visual display of the amount of time until said source and said receiver meet. - View Dependent Claims (16)
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15. Approaching vehicle informing receiver for receiving a sequence of short pulses of electromagnetic waves of a first frequency and acoustic waves of a second frequency transmitted simultaneously from a remotely located source and for determining the amount of time until said source and said receiver meet, comprising:
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reception means for reception of pulses of said electromagnetic waves and acoustic waves; timing means responsive to said reception means for measuring the intervals of time between reception of the simultaneously transmitted pulses of said electromagnetic waves and acoustic waves by said reception means and for generating a sequence of output signals representing said intervals of time between reception of the simultaneously transmitted pulses of said electromagnetic waves and acoustic waves; counting means responsive to said reception means for measuring the frequency of individual pulses of said acoustic waves as received by said reception means and for generating a sequence of output signals representing the frequency of individual pulses of said acoustic waves as received; comparing means responsive to the sequence of output signals of said counting means for measuring the increase of the frequency of individual pulses of said acoustic waves as received with respect to said second frequency and for generating a sequence of output signals representing the increase of the frequency of individual pulses of said acoustic waves as received with respect to said second frequency; computing means responsive to the sequences of output signals of said timing means, said counting means and said comparing means, for computing a sequence of values of the amount of time until said source and said receiver meet, each of said values determined from the relation;
space="preserve" listing-type="equation">T=(t)(s)/(i)wherein T is the value of the amount of time until said source and said receiver meet, t is the interval of time between reception of a simultaneously transmitted pulse of said electromagnetic waves and a pulse of said acoustic waves, s is the frequency of a pulse of said acoustic waves as received, and i is the increase of the frequency of a pulse of said acoustic waves as received with respect to said second frequency, and for generating a sequence of output signals representing a sequence of values of the amount of time until said source and said receiver meet; alarm means responsive to the first of the sequence of output signals of said computing means for producing a warning signal; and display means responsive to the sequence of output signals of said computing means for producing a visual display of the sequence of values of the amount of time until said source and said receiver meet.
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Specification