SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING BUMPER ALERTS

• US 20160321922A1
• Filed: 04/24/2016
• Published: 11/03/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Arie Heiman, Yossy Pruzanski
• Original Assignee: Arie Heiman, Yossy Pruzanski
• Inventors: Pruzanski, Yossy, Heiman, Arie
• Granted Patent: US 9,728,086 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: E01F 9/529 specially adapted for signalling by sound or vibrations, e.g. rumble strips; specially adapted for enforcing reduced speed, e.g. speed bumps
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0967 Systems involving transmission of highway information, e.g. weather, speed limits transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/165 for passive traffic, e.g. including static obstacles, trees

Abstract

A method for providing a bumper alert, the method includes generating or receiving information about a location of a vehicle; generating or receiving information about a location of a bumper; and generating, by a computerized device, the bumper alert before the vehicle drives over the bumper; wherein the computerized device is at least partially located within the vehicle when generating the bumper alert; and wherein the generating of the bumper alert is based on a relationship between the location of the vehicle and the location of the bumper.

Claims

1. A method for providing a bumper alert, the method comprises:

generating or receiving information about a location of a vehicle;

generating or receiving information about a location of a bumper; and

generating, by a computerized device, the bumper alert before the vehicle drives over the bumper;

wherein the computerized device is at least partially located within the vehicle when generating the bumper alert; and

wherein the generating of the bumper alert is based on a relationship between the location of the vehicle and the location of the bumper.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the generating or receiving of the information about the location of the bumper comprises receiving information about bumpers that are within a predetermined range from the vehicle.

3. The method according to claim 1, comprising generating or receiving information about a speed of the vehicle;

wherein the generating of the bumper alert is based on a relationship between the location of the vehicle, the speed of the vehicle and the location of the bumper

4. The method according to claim 3, comprising:

calculating a distance between the vehicle and the bumper;

comparing the distance to a distance threshold that has a value that is responsive to the speed of the vehicle; and

generating the bumper alert when the distance is lower than the distance threshold.

5. The method according to claim 1, comprising:

calculating a distance between the vehicle and the bumper;

comparing the distance to a distance threshold that has a value that is not responsive to the speed of the vehicle; and

generating the bumper alert when the distance is lower than the distance threshold.

6. The method according to claim 1, comprising:

monitoring vibrations of the vehicle by a sensor; and

detecting, based on detection signals from the sensor, a passage of the vehicle over one or more bumpers.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the detecting of the passage of the vehicle over each one of the one or more bumpers comprises searching for three peaks in the detection signals that (a) are within a predefined distance from each other and (b) have a predefined peak to peak ratio.

8. The method according to claim 6, wherein the detecting of the passage of the vehicle over each bumper of the one or more bumpers comprises calculating a bumper detection reliability value indicative of a reliability of the detection of the passage of the vehicle over the bumper.

9. The method according to claim 6, wherein the detecting of the passage of the vehicle over each bumper of the one or more bumpers comprises calculating correlation the detection signals and shapes of reference bumpers that are normalized to the speed of the vehicle.

10. The method according to claim 1, comprising:

monitoring vibrations of the vehicle by a sensor; and

transmitting information about the vibrations to another computerized device thereby facilitating a detection of the passage of the vehicle over one or more bumpers.

11. The method according to claim 1, comprising:

monitoring vibrations of the vehicle by a sensor to provide detection signals; and

detecting a passage of the vehicle over one or more bumpers by searching for one or more bumper signatures in the detection signals.

12. The method according to claim 1, comprising:

monitoring vibrations of the vehicle while the vehicle passes over a road segment;

wherein the monitoring is executed by a sensor and provides detection signals; and

processing the detection signals to determine a quality of the road segment.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the processing of the detection signals comprises:

calculating a variance of absolute values of detection signals obtained while the vehicle passes over the road segment; and

comparing the variance to a variance threshold.

14. The method according to claim 12, wherein the processing of the detection signals comprises:

finding, based on the detection signals, a number of bumpers included in the road segment; and

comparing the number of bumpers to one or more bumpers thresholds determine the quality of the road segment.

15. The method according to claim 1, comprising:

receiving by the computerized device a request to generate the bumper alert; and

generating, by the computerized device, the bumper alert.

16. The method according to claim 15 wherein the receiving of the request is preceded by sending by the computerized device to another computerized device the information about the vibrations.

17. The method according to claim 1, comprising determining, by the computerized vehicle, to generate the bumper alert based on the relationship between the location of the vehicle, the speed of the vehicle and the location of the bumper.

18. A non-transitory computer readable medium that stores instructions for:

generating or receiving information about a location of a vehicle;

generating or receiving information about a location of a bumper; and

generating, by a computerized device, the bumper alert before the vehicle drives over the bumper;

wherein the generating of the bumper alert is responsive to a relationship between the location of the vehicle and the location of the bumper; and

wherein the computerized device is at least partially located within the vehicle when generating the bumper alert.