Pedestrian safety system

• US 8,723,691 B2
• Filed: 04/16/2010
• Issued: 05/13/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/16/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xinctec Technologies LLC (IP Edge LLC)
• Original Assignee: Empire Technology Development LLC (Allied Inventors Management, LLC)
• Inventors: Li, Mengyang, Zhang, Di
• Primary Examiner(s): Wu, Daniel
• Assistant Examiner(s): Barakat, Mohamed
• Application Number:
  US12/761,415
• Publication Number:
  US 20110254703A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,488 Days
• Field of Search: 340901-952, 340/994, 340/539.22, 340/540, 340/989
• US Class Current: 340/944
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/005 including pedestrian guidance indicator
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes

Abstract

Techniques are generally described related to a pedestrian safety system. One example pedestrian safety system may include a sound collector configured to collect an audio signal in an environment of a pedestrian; a processor configured to analyze the collected audio signal to determine whether the audio signal is associated with a vehicle and a distance between the vehicle and the pedestrian; and a notification device configured to notify the pedestrian when the processor determines that the audio signal is associated with the vehicle and the distance is less than a predetermined distance.

Claims

1. A pedestrian safety system, comprising:

a sound collector configured to collect an audio signal in an environment of a pedestrian;

a magnetic field detector configured to detect a magnetic field change around the pedestrian, wherein the magnetic field detector is activated when noises in the audio signal exceed a predetermined level;

a processor configured to analyze the collected audio signal to determine whether the audio signal is associated with a vehicle and a distance between the vehicle and the pedestrian, and configured to determine whether the detected change of the magnetic field is caused by the vehicle approaching the pedestrian; and

a notification device configured to notify the pedestrian when the processor determines that the audio signal is associated with the vehicle and the distance is less than a predetermined distance, or when the processor determines that the detected change of the magnetic field is caused by the vehicle approaching the pedestrian.

2. The pedestrian safety system of claim 1, wherein the sound collector is a directional microphone configured to collect the audio signal from a first direction.

3. The pedestrian safety system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to filter out the collected audio signal when the collected audio signal has a frequency lower than a threshold frequency.

4. The pedestrian safety system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to analyze the collected audio signal based on the volume of the collected audio signal.

5. The pedestrian safety system of claim 1, further comprising

a feedback circuit configured to transmit a signal to the processor to deactivate the sound collector for a period of time after the notification device notifies the pedestrian.

6. The pedestrian safety system of claim 1, wherein the magnetic field is a geomagnetic field.

7. The pedestrian safety system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to determine whether the change of the magnetic field is greater than a predetermined value.

8. The pedestrian safety system of claim 7, wherein the notification device is further configured to notify the pedestrian when the processor determines that the change of the magnetic field is greater than the predetermined value.

10. The pedestrian safety system of claim 1, wherein the pedestrian safety system is worn on the wrist of the pedestrian.

9. A pedestrian safety system, comprising:

a sound collector configured to collect an audio signal in an environment of a pedestrian;

a magnetic field detector configured to detect a magnetic field change around the pedestrian;

a processor configured to analyze the collected audio signal to determine whether the audio signal is associated with a vehicle and a distance between the vehicle and the pedestrian, and configured to determine whether the detected change of the magnetic field is caused by the vehicle approaching the pedestrian, wherein the magnetic field detector is activated when the processor determines that noises in the audio signal exceed a predetermined level; and

a notification device configured to notify the pedestrian when the processor determines that the audio signal is associated with the vehicle and the distance is less than a predetermined distance, or when the processor determines that the detected change of the magnetic field is caused by the vehicle approaching the pedestrian.

11. A method for warning a hearing impaired pedestrian, comprising:

collecting an audio signal from an environment of the hearing impaired pedestrian;

detecting a magnetic field change around the hearing impaired pedestrian when noises in the audio signal exceed a predetermined level;

analyzing the audio signal based on the frequency and the volume of the audio signal to determine whether the audio signal is associated with a vehicle and a distance between the hearing impaired pedestrian and the vehicle;

determining whether the detected change of the magnetic field is caused by the vehicle approaching the hearing impaired pedestrian; and

notifying the hearing impaired pedestrian when the frequency matches a predetermined frequency and the volume is greater than a predetermined volume, or when the detected change of the magnetic field is caused by the vehicle approaching the hearing impaired pedestrian.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising

notifying the hearing impaired pedestrian when the change of the magnetic field is greater than a predetermined value.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising

deactivating the monitoring when noises in the audio signal are less than a predetermined level.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing a sequence of instructions to warn a hearing impaired pedestrian, which when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to:

collect an audio signal from an environment of the hearing impaired pedestrian;

detect a magnetic field change around the hearing impaired pedestrian when noises in the audio signal exceed a predetermined level;

analyze the audio signal based on the frequency and the volume of the audio signal to determine whether the audio signal is associated with a vehicle and a distance between the hearing impaired pedestrian and the vehicle;

determine whether the detected change of the magnetic field is caused by the vehicle approaching the hearing impaired pedestrian; and

notify the hearing impaired pedestrian when the frequency matches a predetermined frequency and the volume is greater than a predetermined volume, or when the detected change of the magnetic field is caused by the vehicle approaching the hearing impaired pedestrian.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, further including a sequence of instructions, which when executed by the computing device, causes the computing device to

notify the hearing impaired pedestrian when the change of the magnetic field is greater than a predetermined value.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, further including a sequence of instructions, which when executed by the computing device, causes the computing device to

deactivate the monitoring of the magnetic field change when noises in the audio signal are less than a predetermined level.