System and method for signaling vehicle speed and rapid deceleration utilizing tail lights
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A system for indicating vehicle speed using tail lights comprising:
- (a) an on-board power supply;
(b) a vehicle road speed sensor operable to provide a road speed signal (VR);
(c) at least one array of discrete illuminators disposed on the vehicle as tail lights; and
,(d) an electronic controller (ECU) connected for receiving power from the power supply, the road speed signal and operably connected to provide an illumination control signal to the at least one array, and the ECU is operable to calculate the negative time rate of change of increments of road speed −
dVR/dt and upon determining that −
dVR/dt exceeds a predetermined threshold to illuminate all illuminators in the array and then darken (de-energize) a discrete segment of the illuminated illuminators and then sequentially move the darkened segment to adjacent discrete segments of the illuminated illuminators at a predetermined cyclic rate in the range of 0.5-20 Hz to a remote margin of the array.
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Abstract
A system is disclosed for sequentially illuminating segments of vehicle LED arrays of tail lights, when running lights are “on”, in response to incremental changes in vehicle speed. In response to rapid vehicle deceleration above a predetermined threshold, the system cyclically moves a darkened segment across an illuminated array of LED brake lights with or without the operator applying the brakes.
37 Citations
15 Claims
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1. A system for indicating vehicle speed using tail lights comprising:
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(a) an on-board power supply; (b) a vehicle road speed sensor operable to provide a road speed signal (VR); (c) at least one array of discrete illuminators disposed on the vehicle as tail lights; and
,(d) an electronic controller (ECU) connected for receiving power from the power supply, the road speed signal and operably connected to provide an illumination control signal to the at least one array, and the ECU is operable to calculate the negative time rate of change of increments of road speed −
dVR/dt and upon determining that −
dVR/dt exceeds a predetermined threshold to illuminate all illuminators in the array and then darken (de-energize) a discrete segment of the illuminated illuminators and then sequentially move the darkened segment to adjacent discrete segments of the illuminated illuminators at a predetermined cyclic rate in the range of 0.5-20 Hz to a remote margin of the array. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of visibly signaling vehicle speed utilizing tail lights comprising:
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(a) providing at least one tail light on the vehicle having an array of discrete illuminators; (b) providing an on-board power supply; (c) providing an onboard sensor connected to the power supply and operable to output an electrical signal (VR) indicative of vehicle road speed; and (d) providing an electronic control unit (ECU) and connecting the ECU to the power supply and connecting the ECU for receiving the sensor output VR; and (e) sensing changes in predetermined increments of road speed sensor output VR and when running lights are “
on”
illuminating all illuminators and then sequentially and cumulatively moving a darkened (de-energized) discrete segment cyclically at a rate in the range of 0.5-20 Hz across the array of illuminators to the margin thereof in response thereto. - View Dependent Claims (12)
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13. A method of visibly signaling vehicle deceleration a rate greater than a predetermining threshold utilizing vehicle tail lights comprising:
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(a) providing an on-board power supply; (b) providing at least one tail light having an array of discrete illuminators; (c) providing a road speed sensor and connecting the sensor to the power supply and outputting an electrical signal indicative of vehicle road speed (VR); (d) providing an electronic controller and connecting the ECU to the power supply, sensor, and at least one tail light; (e) determining the occurrence of a negative time rate of change of increments of VR (−
dVR/dt) with the ECU and outputting an illuminating signal to the at least one tail light array and illuminating all discrete illuminators in the array when −
dVR/dt exceeds a predetermined threshold; and(f) darkening (de-energizing) a band of the discrete illuminators and progressively moving the darkened band of the illuminators cyclically at a rate in the range of 0.5-20 Hz from an initial location on the array over the array to a margin thereof. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
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Specification