Portable device

• US 9,892,624 B2
• Filed: 10/07/2016
• Issued: 02/13/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/08/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ZF Friedrichshafen AG (Zeppelin - Stiftung der Stadt Friedrichshafen)
• Original Assignee: ZF Friedrichshafen AG (Zeppelin - Stiftung der Stadt Friedrichshafen)
• Inventors: Deuter, Gerhard, Wiklinska, Malgorzata, Holzer, Matthias
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, LEON VIET Q
• Application Number:
  US15/287,910
• Publication Number:
  US 20170103640A1
• Time in Patent Office: 494 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 5/006 indicating risk of collision between vehicles or with pedestrians
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 9/008 for anti-collision purposes
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/0134 responsive to imminent contact with an obstacle , e.g. using radar systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/08 Active safety systems predicting or avoiding probable or impending collision or attempting to minimise its consequences
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/016 Personal emergency signalling and security systems emergency non-personal manually actuated alarm activators G08B25/12
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/12 Manually actuated calamity alarm transmitting arrangements emergency non-personal manually actuated alarm, activators, e.g. details of alarm push buttons mounted on an infrastructure
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/005 including pedestrian guidance indicator
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/163 involving continuous checking
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/205 Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental

Abstract

A portable device for increasing road traffic safety, detecting emergencies and emitting an alarm call for a person. The portable device includes a communication device, a position-determining system, an evaluation unit and a vibration generator. The portable device communicates, by way of the communication device, with at least one further communication device of at least one external system. The person is warned by the vibration generator of a dangerous situation determined by the evaluation unit in combination with the position-determining system and the communication device. The dangerous situation is a collision of the person wearing the portable device with the at least one external system that includes the at least one further communication device. This collision is determined by way of a behavior prediction algorithm. When the, or a further dangerous situation arises, the portable device emits an alarm call by way of the communication device.

Claims

1. A portable device (10) for increasing road traffic safety, detecting emergencies and emitting alarm calls for a person (1), the portable device comprising:

a communication device,

a position-determining system,

an evaluation unit, and

a vibration generator such that

the portable device (10) communicating, via the communication device, with at least one further communication device of at least one external system,

the person (1) being warned, by the vibration generator, of a dangerous situation determined by the evaluation unit in combination with the position-determining system and with the communication device,

the dangerous situation being a collision of the person (1) wearing the portable device (10) with the at least one external system, which comprises the at least one further communication device,

the collision being determined by the evaluation unit with a behavior prediction algorithm,

the portable device emitting, via the communication device, an alarm call at an onset of the dangerous situation or of any further dangerous situation,

the portable device further comprising at least one switch which is actuatable to trigger the alarm call, and

at least one vitality sensor which determines at least one vital sign of the person (1) wearing the portable device (10), and the further dangerous situation arises when the at least one vital sign either reaches or exceeds a vital sign threshold, whereupon the alarm call is triggered.

2. The portable device (10) according to claim 1, wherein the vibration generator is a vibration motor.

3. The portable device (10) according to claim 1, wherein the portable device comprises at least one loudspeaker which constitutes the vibration generator.

4. The portable device (10) according to claim 1, wherein a duration of a vibration produced by the vibration generator is a measure of an occurrence probability of the dangerous situation.

5. The portable device (10) according to claim 1, wherein the portable device comprises at least one vitality sensor which determines at least one of a pulse rate, a blood oxygen saturation level, an activity of the person, and a body temperature of the person (1) wearing the portable device (10), and the further dangerous situation arises when the at least one of the pulse rate, the blood oxygen saturation level, the activity of the person, and the body temperature of the person either reaches or exceeds a corresponding threshold, whereupon the alarm call is triggered.

6. The portable device (10) according to claim 1, wherein the portable device comprises at least one acceleration sensor which determines an acceleration of the person (1) wearing the portable device (10), and the further dangerous situation exists if the acceleration either reaches or exceeds an acceleration threshold, whereupon the alarm call is triggered.

7. The portable device (10) according to claim 1, wherein the portable device comprises at least one movement sensor which determines movement of the person (1) wearing the portable device (10), and the further dangerous situation exists if the movement of the person (1) reaches or exceeds a movement threshold, whereupon the alarm call is triggered.

8. The portable device (10) according to claim 1, wherein the alarm call is suppressed by an inhibiting action carried out by the person (1).

9. The portable device (10) according to claim 1, wherein the portable device comprises a light source which is controlled with reference to at least one of a time of day and a light value detected by a brightness sensor in the portable device.

10. The portable device (10) according to claim 1, wherein data processing of data, either received via the communication device or determined by at least one of a brightness sensor, an acceleration sensor, at least one vitality sensor and by a movement sensor, takes place in the evaluation unit.

11. The portable device (10) according to claim 1, wherein data processing of data, either received via the communication device or determined by at least one of a brightness sensor, an acceleration sensor, the at least one vitality sensor or by a movement sensor, takes place in a Cloud.

12. A portable device (10) for increasing road traffic safety, detecting emergencies and emitting an alarm call for a person (1) utilizing the portable device, the portable device comprising:

a communication device for transmitting and receiving signals so as to communicate with at least one external system;

a position-determining system for determining a current location of the person (1) utilizing the portable device, and the position-determining system transmitting a current location data of the person utilizing the portable device;

an evaluation unit for receiving and evaluating the signals received from the communication device and the location data received from the position-determining system to detect a dangerous situation, and the evaluation unit having a behavior prediction algorithm which facilitates detection of the dangerous situation, the evaluation unit of the mobile device also comparing the location data with three dimensional map data for the detection of the dangerous situation;

a vibration generator being actuated by the evaluation unit for emitting an alarm call when a dangerous situation is detected by the evaluation unit so as to warn the person utilizing the portable device of the detected dangerous situation;

the dangerous situation being defined as a collision of the person (1) utilizing the portable device (10) with the at least one external system; and

at least one vitality sensor which determines at least one vital sign of the person wearing the portable device, and a further dangerous situation arises when the at least one vital sign either reaches or exceeds a vital sign threshold, whereupon the alarm call is triggered.

13. The portable device according to claim 12, wherein the dangerous situation is detected based on a collision probability determined by the evaluation unit, the collision probability is based on the signals received from the communication device and the location data received from the position-determining system as well as at least one of a vehicle type, a vehicle size and a braking behavior of the at least one external system.

14. The portable device according to claim 13, wherein the alarm call is at least one vibration that is generated by the vibration generator, a duration of the vibration is based on a measure of the collision probability, and dormant periods between a plurality of vibrations are based on a distance between the portable device and the at least one external system.

15. The portable device according to claim 12, further comprising at least one movement sensor which measures movement values of the portable device, and the evaluation unit stores normal movement values for a plurality of movement situations, the evaluation unit compares the measured movement values to the normal movement values for a selected one of the plurality of movement situations, and the evaluating unit detecting another dangerous situation when the measured movement value is outside a range of the normal movement values for the selected one of the plurality of movement situations.