Modular traffic information system

• US 6,756,884 B1
• Filed: 07/13/2001
• Issued: 06/29/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/12/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Stichting Noble House
• Original Assignee: Patrick Dijkstra
• Inventors: Dijkstra, Patrick
• Primary Examiner(s): La, Anh V.
• Application Number:
  US09/906,030
• Time in Patent Office: 1,082 Days
• Field of Search: 340/426.1, 340/426.22, 340/425.5, 340/429, 340/990, 340/995, 340/901, 340/902, 340/426.25, 340/426.19, 340/426.14, 340/5.31, 340/539.1, 342/20, 342/357, 342/457, 342/388, 342/386, 342/389, 342/450
• US Class Current: 340/425.5
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/20 Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles

Abstract

A modular traffic information system comprising a central processing unit positionable in a vehicle and a data storage unit; a viewable display unit positionable in a vehicle and adapted to act as a user interface between the central processing unit and an operator; an addressable bus coupled to the central processing unit; and at least one electronic component positioned within a vehicle and removably coupled to the central processing unit through the bus, the electronic component selected from the class of electronic components including receivers, transmitters and supplemental electronic components.

Claims

1. A modular traffic information system for use in association with a vehicle adapted to receive and analyze signals and then generate messages in audible and viewable form, by optical and radio transmissions, in response to the analyzed signals comprising, in combination:

a front patch box positionable in the motor compartment of a vehicle with a plurality of disconnectable forwardly facing sensors adapted to receive a wide range of signals including a radio wave sensor in a horizontal plane and a radio wave sensor in a vertical plane and optical sensors at different angles and a plurality of disconnectable extension sensors and transmitters including a temperature sensor and a shock/vibration sensor and a plurality of disconnectable forwardly facing transmitters adapted to send a wide range of signals including an optical transmitter and a radio frequency/microwave transmitter;

a rear patch box positionable in the trunk of a vehicle with a plurality of disconnectable rearwardly facing sensors adapted to receive a wide range of signals including a radio wave sensor in a horizontal plane and a radio wave sensor in a vertical plane and optical sensors at different angles and a plurality of disconnectable extension sensors and transmitters including a temperature sensor and a shock/vibration sensor and a plurality of disconnectable rearwardly facing transmitters adapted to send a wide range of signals including an optical transmitter and a radio frequency/microwave transmitter;

a driver compartment patch box positionable in a vehicle with a plurality of disconnectable supplemental electronic components including but not limited to a mobile phone modem, a sound processor, a position system receiver of the type selected from the class including a global positioning system (GPS) and a Loran, a mass storage device and extra extensions, the mobile modem adapted to receive and transmit data to a central information center in order to allow easy updating of data storage units of a sound processor unit and a central processing unit and a viewable display unit, the mobile phone modem also adapted to allow easy transfer of information of the plurality of sensors and transmitters and supplemental electronic components to a central information unit, the transferred information being in “

real time”

as well as from stored information out of one of the data storage units;

the central processing unit positionable in a vehicle with a data storage unit and having a front bus coupled to the front patch box and a rear bus coupled to the rear patch box and a driver bus coupled to the driver compartment patch box, the central processing unit adapted to process signals from the plurality of sensors and transmitters and supplemental electronic components and to analyze the processed signals and make decisions based on the results of the combination of sensor readings and operator selections, the decisions made by the central processing unit adapted to result in one or more of the following actions;

storage of data, generating an audible message, generating a viewable message, starting an optical transmission, and starting a radio transmission, the central processing unit further being adapted to manipulate any analyzed signal in a way as programmed and requested by a user, the central processing unit further being adapted to store and use stored information from the data storage unit of the central processing unit with the information adapted to be transferred from and to the data storage unit of the display unit, the central processing unit further being adapted to auto-detect and use all of the sensors and transmitters and supplemental electronic components coupled to the front bus and rear bus and driver bus independent of which buses and which devices are connected;

the viewable display unit positionable in a vehicle and adapted to act as a user interface between the central processing unit and an operator, the display unit making use of a menu structure and so called “

soft-keys”

to allow easy and flexible configuration and use of the system, the display unit being adapted to show the received radio signals in a graphical form from which a user may witness the strength and frequency of received signals, the viewable form including graphical information, alphanumeric representations of the graphical information and text messages, such viewable display unit also having a graphical representation with the y-axis representing the strength of any received signal and the x-axis representing the frequency of any received signal, the display unit further being adapted to store information and to use stored information from the data storage unit of the display unit, such information being adapted to be transferred to and from the data storage unit of the central processing unit and adapted to be transferred to and from a home computer through a computer interface unit;

the sound processor unit with a data storage unit removably coupled to the central processing unit to generate sounds and spoken text in response to a decision made by the central processing unit, the sound processor further being adapted to store sound files in the data storage unit of sound processor unit, the sound files adapted to be changed, replaced and added by the user by loading new sound files in the data storage unit of the display unit as through the computer interface unit, such sound files adapted to be automatically transferred to the data storage unit of the sound processor unit as soon as the display unit is connected to the central processing unit; and

a standard home computer with a computer interface unit adapted to receive the display unit with its data storage unit for the manipulation and transfer of information between the data storage unit of the display unit and the standard home computer.