Dynamic vehicle grid infrastructure to allow vehicles to sense and respond to traffic conditions

• US 7,425,903 B2
• Filed: 04/28/2006
• Issued: 09/16/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Boss, Gregory Jensen, Waters, Timothy Moffett, Hamilton, Rick Allen II, Dawson, Christopher James, Graham, Barry Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Phung
• Application Number:
  US11/380,665
• Publication Number:
  US 20070252723A1
• Time in Patent Office: 872 Days
• Field of Search: 340/902, 340/901, 340/435, 340/463, 701/96, 701/301, 180/271
• US Class Current: 340/902
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/162 event-triggered
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/46 for vehicle-to-vehicle communication [V2V]

Abstract

A dynamic ‘vehicle grid’ system provides the ability for drivers to be automatically warned to the conditions of other vehicles in the vicinity. In this grid system, a motor vehicle would be equipped with a transmitter, receiver, computer and a selection of sensors. Other adjacent vehicles are also contain the same of equipment for transmitting and receiving signals. When the sensors in a vehicle detect a change such as hard braking (rapid deceleration) or very slow speed (blockages), it automatically sends this information via the transmitter over a wireless communication channel to any other receivers in the vicinity.

Claims

1. A method for enabling motor vehicles in a dynamic vehicle grid system to sense and respond to traffic conditions comprising the steps of:

detecting a vehicle event at a first vehicle in a vehicle grid system;

formulating a warning message at the first vehicle in response to the detected vehicle event, by identifying the vehicle event detected; and

creating a message format indicating the detected event and the identity of the vehicle;

broadcasting the formulated warning message to other vehicles in the dynamic vehicle grid;

detecting the warning message at a first receiving vehicle in the dynamic grid;

determining whether the detected warning message is from a first vehicle or a receiving vehicle;

when the determination is that the detected warning message is not from a first vehicle, interpreting the detected warning message at the receiving vehicle and sending the detected warning message to a driver of the receiving vehicle;

formulating a relay message at the receiving vehicle containing information from the warning message detected at the receiver vehicle, the relay message containing a field that identifies a sender of the relay message as a relay message sender and not the first vehicle which sent the original warning message;

relaying the formulated relay message to other vehicles in close proximity to the receiving vehicle that formulated the relay message; and

repeating said relay message formulating step and said message relaying step at receiving vehicles that received the relay message.

2. The method as described in claim 1 wherein said message formulating step further comprises the steps of:

interpreting the message, which.

3. The method as described in claim 2 wherein the formulated message is broadcast from a computing device.

4. The method as described in claim 2 wherein the formulated message is broadcast from a transmitter device.

5. The method as described in claim 2 wherein the generated warning at the a receiving vehicle is conveyed to the driver of the receiving vehicle via a display in the receiving vehicle.

6. A computer program product stored in a computer readable storage medium for enabling motor vehicles in a dynamic vehicle grid system to sense and respond to traffic conditions comprising:

instructions detecting a vehicle event at a first vehicle in a vehicle grid system;

instructions formulating a warning message at the first vehicle in response to the detected vehicle event, by identifying the vehicle event detected; and

creating a message format indicating the detected event and the identity of the vehicle;

instructions broadcasting the formulated warning message to other vehicles in the dynamic vehicle grid;

instructions detecting the warning message at a first receiving vehicle in the dynamic grid;

instructions determining whether the detected warning message is from a first vehicle or a receiving vehicle;

when the determination is that the detected warning message is not from a first vehicle, instructions interpreting the detected warning message at the receiving vehicle and sending the detected warning message to a driver of the receiving vehicle;

instructions formulating a relay message at the receiving vehicle containing information from the warning message detected at the receiver vehicle, the relay message containing a field that identifies a sender of the relay message as a relay message sender and not the first vehicle which sent the original warning message;

instructions relaying the formulated relay message to other vehicles in close proximity to the receiving vehicle that formulated the relay message; and

instructions repeating said relay message formulating instructions and said message relaying instructions at receiving vehicles that received the relay message.

7. The computer program product as described in claim 6 further comprising instructions for conveying a generated warning at the receiving vehicle to the driver of the receiving vehicle via a display in the receiving vehicle.

8. A method for enabling motor vehicles in a dynamic vehicle grid system to sense and respond to traffic conditions comprising the steps of:

detecting a vehicle event at a first vehicle in a vehicle grid system;

determining whether the detected event is from the first vehicle;

interpreting the detected event at the first vehicle;

formulating a warning message at the first vehicle in response to the detected vehicle event, by identifying the vehicle event detected; and

creating a message format indicating the detected event, the identity of the vehicle and identifying in a field contained in the message information that identifies a sender of the message as the first vehicle;

broadcasting the formulated warning message to other vehicles in the dynamic vehicle grid;

detecting the warning message at a first receiving vehicle in the dynamic grid;

determining whether the detected warning message is from a first vehicle or a receiving vehicle;

when the determination is that the detected warning message is from the first vehicle, interpreting the detected warning message at the receiving vehicle and sending the detected warning message to a driver of the receiving vehicle;

formulating a relay message at the receiving vehicle containing information from the warning message detected at the receiver vehicle, the relay message containing a field that identifies a sender of the relay message as the first vehicle which sent the original warning message;

relaying the formulated relay message to other vehicles in close proximity to the receiving vehicle that formulated the relay message; and

repeating said relay message formulating step and said message relaying step at receiving vehicles that received the relay message.