METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR BLIND SPOT IDENTIFICATION AND WARNING UTILIZING PORTABLE AND WEARABLE DEVICES

• US 20090037104A1
• Filed: 07/31/2007
• Published: 02/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Basson, Sara H., Kelley, Edward E., West, Frances, Kanevsky, Dimitri
• Granted Patent: US 7,908,060 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/213
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0075 Automatic parameter input, automatic initialising or calibrating means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/143 Alarm means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/00 Input parameters relating to objects
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/55 using telemetry
• 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: B60W 50/16 Tactile feedback to the driver, e.g. vibration or force feedback to the driver on the steering wheel or the accelerator pedal
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes

Abstract

A method for detecting and alerting a user of objects in their blind spots, includes: tracking movement and relative position of a user to one or more objects; determining a blind spot of the user; determining when at least one of the one or more objects occupies the blind spot of the user; and transmitting a signal to a user mobile device to perform an alarm operation when at least one of the one or more objects occupies the blind spot of the user.

Claims

1. A method for detecting and alerting a user of objects in their blind spots, the method comprising:

tracking movement and relative position of a user to one or more objects;

determining a blind spot of the user;

determining when at least one of the one or more objects occupies the blind spot of the user; and

transmitting a signal to a user mobile device to perform an alarm operation when at least one of the one or more objects occupies the blind spot of the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the tracking and relative position of the user to one or more objects is conducted with at least one of the following:

a global position satellite (GPS) system, and cameras.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining of the user blind spot is pre-calculated with mathematical models.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting of the signal is via bluetooth devices.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile devices comprise at least one of the following:

cell phones, wristwatches, portable computing devices, canes, and walking aids.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the alarm operation comprises one or more audible sounds.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the alarm operation comprises one or more tactile vibratory signals.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the sequence and placement of the vibratory signals on the mobile device indicate the location of the object in the blind spot.

9. A method for detecting and alerting a user of moving into a blind spot of an object, the method comprising:

tracking movement and relative position of a user to one or more objects;

determining at least one blind spot of the one or more objects;

determining when the user occupies the blind spot of at least one of the one or more objects; and

transmitting a signal to a user mobile device to perform an alarm operation when the user enters into the blind spot of at least one of the one or more objects.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the tracking and relative position of the user to one or more objects is conducted with at least one of the following:

a global position satellite (GPS) system, and cameras.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the determining of the one or more objects blind spots is pre-calculated with mathematical models.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the user is in a first vehicle, and one of the one or more objects is a second vehicle;

and

wherein a monitoring system in the first vehicle determines the blind spots of a driver in the second vehicle.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the user is in a first vehicle, and one of the one or more objects is a second vehicle;

wherein a monitoring system in the second vehicle transmits data to the first vehicle; and

wherein the transmitted data is utilized by an intelligent system in the first vehicle to determine the blind spots of the second vehicle.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the mobile devices comprise at least one of the following:

cell phones, wristwatches, portable computing devices, canes, and walking aids.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the alarm operation comprises one or more audible sounds.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the alarm operation comprises one or more tactile vibratory signals.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the sequence and placement of the vibratory signals on the mobile device indicate the location of the object with the blind spot.

18. A system for detecting and warning users of blind spot hazards, the system comprising:

one or more mobile devices;

one or more monitoring and tracking devices that are configured with software;

wherein the tracking devices determine the relative position of a user to one or more objects;

wherein the tracking devices transmit the relative position of the user to the one or more objects to the monitoring devices;

wherein the monitoring devices calculate blind spot hazards based on the tracking devices transmissions; and

wherein monitoring devices issue an alarm command signal to the one or more mobile devices in response to a determined blind spot hazard.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the tracking devices comprise at least one of the following:

a global position satellite (GPS) system, and cameras.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the mobile devices comprise at least one of the following:

cell phones, wristwatches, portable computing devices, canes, and walking aids;

wherein the mobile device'"'"'s alarm is either auditory or tactile;

wherein the sequence of the auditory tactile signals indicates the relative location of the object with the blind spot; and

wherein the placement of the auditory tactile signals on the mobile device indicates the relative location of the object with the blind spot.