In-the-road, passable obstruction avoidance arrangement

• US 9,751,527 B2
• Filed: 07/09/2014
• Issued: 09/05/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/09/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Moeller, Lothar
• Primary Examiner(s): OH, HARRY Y
• Application Number:
  US14/327,130
• Publication Number:
  US 20160009276A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,154 Days
• Field of Search: 701 93
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/20 including control of steering systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/143 Alarm means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/35 Road bumpiness, e.g. potholes
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2710/20 Steering systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/09 Taking automatic action to avoid collision, e.g. braking and steering
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3667 Display of a road map G01C21/3614 takes precedence; guidance using 3D or perspective road maps G01C21/3635
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3691 Retrieval, searching and output of information related to real-time traffic, weather, or environmental conditions arrangements for giving variable traffic instructions G08G1/09
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3697 Output of additional, non-guidance related information, e.g. low fuel level G01C21/3679 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/162 Delete operations erasing in storage systems G06F3/0652

Abstract

A driver warning system automatically detects the existence of in-the-road, passable obstructions and provides timely notification to a driver in proximity of such an in-the-road, passable obstruction prior to it being encountered with sufficient warning time for the driver to avoid the in-the-road, passable obstruction. To detect in-the-road, passable obstructions, the warning unit of a driver whose vehicle hits an in-the-road, passable obstruction will automatically generate a signal that is indicative of the existence of the in-the-road, passable obstruction and its location. This signal may be transmitted to a server, which contains a database of located obstructions. The collected information about the detected in-the-road, passable obstructions are provided to various warning units, so that they, knowing the driver location, e.g., based on global positioning system (GPS), can provide the driver with a warning of any upcoming in-the-road, passable obstructions with sufficient lead time for the driver to avoid hitting the obstruction.

Claims

1. An apparatus for use in avoiding an in-the-road, passable obstruction, comprising:

a memory storing an indication of the existence of an in-the-road, passable obstruction;

a database for in-the-road, passable obstructions;

a receiver for receiving a first signal from a set of signal types consisting of audio signals and accelerometer signals indicative of the first obstruction to be added to said database;

at least one first processor for determining if the first signal indicates the first obstruction, the at least one first processor supplying as an output a second signal indicative of the existence of said in-the-road, passable obstruction when a vehicle comes within a proximity of said in-the-road, passable obstruction prior to encountering said in-the-road, passable obstruction; and

wherein the at least one first processor second signal further indicates a classification of said in-the-road, passable obstruction, the at least one first processor further supplying as an output a suggested overt action for a driver of said vehicle to take to avoid said in-the-road, passable obstruction.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a receiver for receiving from a server said indication of the existence of said in-the-road, passable obstruction.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said at least one first processor generates the second signal to be perceivable by a human being.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said at least one first processor further supplies as an output an advertisement in conjunction with supplying said second signal indicative of the existence said in-the-road, passable obstruction.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said apparatus further comprises a location determiner that supplies a current location of said vehicle to said at least one first processor.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a human input unit adapted to receive input from a human being indicating that said in-the-road, passable obstruction was not present.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said memory further stores the location of said in-the-road, passable obstruction.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said apparatus comprises memory, coupled to said at least one first processor, that stores map information for use by said at least one first processor.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said second signal generated by said at least one first processor is supplied to an automated control device of said vehicle that is configured to adjust the travel of said vehicle.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one first processor uses a threshold to determine the existence of the in-the-road, passable obstruction, the threshold being based in part on a characterization of the vehicle.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the characterization of the vehicle includes at least one of a physical characteristic of the vehicle and a speed of the vehicle, wherein the physical characteristic of the vehicle includes at least one of vehicle suspension information, vehicle weight information, vehicle size information, and vehicle tire size information.

18. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the automated control device is one of a suspension system and a cruise control system that are capable of adjusting the travel of the vehicle based on the at least one first processor.

10. An in-the-road, passable obstruction server, comprising:

a database for in-the-road, passable obstructions; and

a transmitter for transmitting at least a subset of said in-the-road, passable obstructions toward a user equipment of the in-the-road, passable obstruction warning system,

wherein an at least one first processor further supplies as an output a signal indicating a classification of a first obstruction of the subset of an in-the-road, passable obstructions, the at least one first processor further supplying as an output a suggested overt action for a driver of said vehicle to take to avoid said in-the-road, passable obstruction;

a receiver for receiving signals from a set of signals consisting of at least one of audio signals and accelerometer signals indicative of the first obstruction to be added to said database; and

a processor for determining if said signals indeed indicate the first obstruction.

11. The in-the-road, passable obstruction server of claim 10, wherein said in-the-road, passable obstruction server further comprises:

a receiver for receiving an indication of the first obstruction of the subset of the in-the-road passable obstructions to be added to said database.

12. The server of claim 10, wherein said in-the-road, passable obstruction server further comprises a receiver for receiving a request to transmit at least said subset of said in-the-road passable obstructions, and wherein said transmitter is responsive to said received request to transmit said subset.

13. The server of claim 10, wherein said subset of said in-the-road, passable obstructions is determined based upon one of a group consisting of a current location of a user equipment of the in-the-road, passable obstruction warning system, a current location of said user equipment in-the-road, passable obstruction warning system and a prescribed radius, and locations along an anticipated route of travel of said a current location of said user equipment in-the-road, passable obstruction warning system.

16. The in-the-road, passable obstruction server of claim 10, wherein the set of signals consists of both the audio signals and the accelerometer signals indicative of the first obstruction to be added to the database.

17. The in-the-road, passable obstruction server of claim 13, wherein the subset of said in-the-road, passable obstructions is determined based upon the current location of the user equipment of the in-the-road, passable obstruction warning system and the prescribed radius.