TECHNIQUES FOR TRANSMITTING AN ALERT TOWARDS A TARGET AREA

• US 20160304027A1
• Filed: 04/14/2015
• Published: 10/20/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Harman International Industries Incorporated (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Harman International Industries Incorporated (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Inventors: DI CENSO, Davide, MARTI, Stefan
• Granted Patent: US 9,809,163 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 5/00 Arrangement or adaptation of acoustic signal devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/597 Recognising the driver's state or behaviour, e.g. attention or drowsiness
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/162 event-triggered

Abstract

A directional alert system within a vehicle is configured to transmit an alert signal towards a specifically targeted area without substantially affecting the acoustic environment in a broader surrounding area. The directional alert system determines the target area by processing sensor data reflects a direction that a driver of the vehicle is looking or facing. The directional alert system then positions an acoustic transducer to generate an acoustic signal towards the direction of interest. The directional alert system may also wirelessly pair with computing devices residing in a target region associated with the direction of interest, and transmit wireless notifications to those computing devices to alert the users of those devices.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for announcing the presence of a vehicle, the method comprising:

receiving a command to announce the presence of the vehicle;

upon receipt of the command, determining a direction of interest associated with a driver of the vehicle;

identifying a target region associated with the direction of interest; and

transmitting a first signal towards the target region to alert a person within the target region to the presence of the vehicle.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein receiving the command comprises at least one of receiving a button press performed by the driver, receiving a gesture from the driver, receiving a voice command from the driver, and receiving a touch input from the driver.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the command indicates the direction of interest, and determining the direction of interest comprises parsing the command to identify the direction of interest.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining the direction of interest comprises determining a direction the driver is looking or facing.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first signal comprises an acoustic signal.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the acoustic signal comprises an ultrasonic signal that, upon reaching the person, has a frequency range that falls within the range of human hearing.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising repositioning a transducer to align with the direction of interest to transmit the first signal towards the target region.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising causing a transducer array to generate a sound field that focuses sound pressure in the direction of interest to transmit the first signal towards the target region.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first signal comprises a wireless transmission that, upon receipt by a computing device within the target region, causes the computing device to emit a signal to alert the person.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further comprising:

discovering the computing device via a device discovery process; and

establishing a wireless connection with the computing device to enable the computing device to receive the first signal.

11. A system configured to announce the presence of a vehicle, comprising:

a sensor array configured to gather sensor data associated with a driver of the vehicle;

a computing device configured to;

receive a command to announce the presence of the vehicle,

upon receipt of the command, process the sensor data to determine a direction of interest associated with the driver of the vehicle, and

identify a target region associated with the direction of interest; and

a transmitter configured to transmit a first signal towards the target region to alert a person within the target region to the presence of the vehicle.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the sensor array comprises an eye gaze tracking module and the sensor data indicates a direction that the driver is looking.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the sensor array comprises a face tracking module and the sensor data indicates a direction that the driver is facing.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the transmitter comprises:

an acoustic transducer configured to generate and emit the first signal; and

a mechanical actuator coupled to the acoustic transducer and configured to orient the acoustic transducer towards the direction of interest.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the transmitter comprises an array of acoustic transducers, and wherein a subset of acoustic transducers in the array of acoustic transducers can be individually activated to generate a sound field that focuses sound pressure in the direction of interest to emit the first signal.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the transmitter comprises an array of ultrasonic transducers configured to transmit an ultrasonic signal towards the direction of interest, and wherein the ultrasonic signal, upon arriving at the target region, is transformed into the first signal with a frequency range that can be perceived by a human being.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the transmitter comprises a wireless transceiver configured to:

establish a wireless connection with a second computing device that resides in the target region; and

transmit the first signal to the second computing device, wherein, upon receipt of the first signal, the second computing device generates and emits an alert signal to alert the one or more entities within the target region to the presence of the vehicle.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein determining the direction of interest comprises processing sensor data associated with the driver of the vehicle to determine a direction the driver is looking, facing, or indicating.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein transmitting the first signal towards the target region comprises causing a transmitter coupled to the processing unit to generate and emit the first signal.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing program instructions that, when executed by a processing unit, cause the processing unit to announce the presence of a vehicle, by performing the steps of:

receiving a command to announce the presence of the vehicle;

upon receipt of the command, determining a direction of interest associated with the driver of the vehicle;

identifying a target region associated with the direction of interest; and

transmitting a first signal towards the target region to alert a person within the target region to the presence of the vehicle.