EMERGENCY AND TRAFFIC ALERT SYSTEM

• US 20110181443A1
• Filed: 04/05/2011
• Published: 07/28/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: B&C Electronic Engineering Incorporated
• Original Assignee: B&C Electronic Engineering Incorporated
• Inventors: Johnson, Carl, Gutierrez, Juan
• Granted Patent: US 8,612,131 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/990
• 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: G08G 1/0965 responding to signals from another vehicle, e.g. emergency vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096716 where the received information does not generate an automatic action on the vehicle control
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096741 where the source of the transmitted information selects which information to transmit to each vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/09675 where a selection from the received information takes place in the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096775 where the origin of the information is a central station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/205 Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed for providing event notification to navigational applications and devices. An event notification system determines whether to send application information to a navigation application or device based upon the proximity of the device to the event. In other embodiments, the event notification system sends all event information to the device and the device determines whether or not to display the information based upon the proximity of the event to the device. User interfaces for displaying event information to a user are also disclosed. Finally, system and methods are disclosed for providing disaster related information to service providers who, in turn, send the disaster information to users of personal navigation devices. For example, information provided may include evacuation routes, shelter locations, disaster recovery centers, hospitals, points of distribution, economic recovery locations, etc.

Claims

1. A method of relaying information on a device, the method comprising:

receiving event notification information;

relaying information related one or more assets on the device, wherein the location of the one or more assets are displayed on a map;

determining that at least one of the one or more assets is in proximity of the device; and

when at least one of the one or more assets is in proximity of the device, relaying an alert to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein relaying the alert comprises displaying the information to the user via a user interface, wherein displaying the information to the user via the user interface comprises:

generating a flash, wherein generating a flash comprises overlaying the user interface with a transparent color; and

providing textual information related to the type of the at least one of the one or more assets asset on the device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the textual information related to the type of the at least one of the one or more assets is displayed at the top of the user interface.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising displaying textual information related to the direction of approach of the at least one of the one or more assets at the bottom of the user interface.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising, when the at least one of the one or more assets is in proximity of the device, playing an audible alert.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the location of the one or more assets on the map is indicated by a marker, and wherein the marker comprises at least one of:

a police car;

a fire truck; and

an ambulance.

7. The method of claim 2, further comprising displaying information about one or more events on the map.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more events comprise at least one of:

road maintenance;

marathons;

parades;

traffic signal failure;

flooded streets; and

construction.

9. A system for displaying information, the system comprising:

at least one processor; and

memory coupled to the at least one processor, the memory containing computer executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, perform a method comprising;

receiving event notification information;

displaying information related one or more assets on the device, wherein the location of the one or more assets are displayed on a map;

determining that at least one of the one or more assets is in proximity of the device; and

when at least one of the one or more assets is in proximity of the device, displaying an alert on the user interface.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein displaying the alert comprises:

generating a flash, wherein generating a flash comprises overlaying the user interface with a transparent color; and

providing textual information related to the type of the at least one of the one or more assets asset on the device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the textual information related to the type of the at least one of the one or more assets is displayed at the top of the user interface.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising displaying textual information related to the direction of approach of the at least one of the one or more assets at the bottom of the user interface.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising, when the at least one of the one or more assets is in proximity of the device, playing an audible alert.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the location of the one or more assets on the map is indicated by a marker, and wherein the marker comprises at least one of:

a police car;

a fire truck; and

an ambulance.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising displaying information about one or more events on the map.

16. A computer storage medium encoding computer executable instructions that, when executed on a processor, perform a method of providing disaster event notification, the method comprising:

receiving, at an event notification component, disaster event information;

receiving, at the event notification component, a disaster notification; and

sending disaster event information to a navigation provider.

17. The computer storage medium of claim 16, further comprising determining, by the event notification component, the type of the disaster event notification received.

18. The computer storage medium of claim 17, wherein a subset of the disaster event information received by the event notification component is sent based upon the determination of the type of disaster event notification received.

19. The computer storage medium of claim 16, further comprising determining, by the event notification component, if there is a change in the disaster status.

20. The computer storage medium of claim 16, wherein the disaster event information comprises the location of at least one of the following facilities:

a shelter;

a hospital;

an economic recovery;

a disaster recovery; and

a point of distribution.