VEHICLE AND LOCAL AREA SECURITY SYSTEM COMMUNICATIONS

• US 20170080898A1
• Filed: 11/30/2016
• Published: 03/23/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: COGILL, Randall Lee, Gallay, Olivier, Lee, Chungmok, Nabi, Zubair, Rufli, Martin M., Shorten, Robert, TCHRAKIAN, Tigran T., Verago, Rudi, Wirth, Fabian Roger, Zhuk, Sergiy
• Granted Patent: US 10,040,424 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/102 a signal being sent to a remote location, e.g. a radio signal being transmitted to a police station, a security company or the owner
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/30 Detection related to theft or to other events relevant to anti-theft systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/31 of human presence inside or outside the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/33 of global position, e.g. by providing GPS coordinates
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/403 Power supply in the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19647 Systems specially adapted for intrusion detection in or around a vehicle

Abstract

A local area security system interfaces with one or more vehicles to provide enhanced security. The vehicles have vehicle sensors which may further help determine a presence of potential threat within a vicinity of the local area security system. The multiple vehicle network may communicate with each other to expand the vicinity of the local area security system, share equipment, computing resources, and information in the determination of the presence of the potential threat. The battery powered vehicle may employ various methods to conserve battery power while coupled to the local area security system.

Claims

1. A local area security system comprising:

a local sensor sensing a condition within a vicinity of the local area security system;

an interface for communicating with a vehicle having a computer system implementing a function of the vehicle when the vehicle is located beyond the vicinity of the local area security system, the function based upon a sensor signal from a vehicle sensor sensing a condition exterior to the vehicle, the sensor includes at least one of an acoustic receiver, an acoustic transceiver, an infrared sensor, an infrared transceiver RADAR, LiDAR, LaDAR, and a video camera, the interface for receiving a sensor information signal based upon the sensor signal, the sensor information signal received from the vehicle while the vehicle is within the vicinity of the local area security system; and

a processor determining a presence of a potential threat within the vicinity of the local area security system based upon the sensor information signal.

2. The local area security system according to claim 1 wherein the processor further determines the presence of the potential threat further based upon the condition sensed by the local sensor.

3. The local area security system according to claim 1 further wherein

the interface communicates with a second vehicle having a second computer system implementing a second function of the second vehicle when the second vehicle is located beyond the vicinity of the local area security system, the second function based upon a second sensor signal from a second vehicle sensor sensing a second condition exterior to the second vehicle, the interface for receiving a second sensor information signal based upon the second sensor signal, the second sensor information signal received from the second vehicle while the second vehicle is within the vicinity of the local area security system;

and

the processor determines the presence of the potential threat based upon the condition sensed by the local sensor and the second sensor information signal.

4. A computer programming product for controlling an operation of a vehicle having a computer system for implementing a function of the vehicle when the vehicle is located beyond a vicinity of a local area security system, the function based upon a sensor signal from a vehicle sensor sensing a condition exterior to the vehicle, a method for controlling the operation comprising:

a tangible non-transitory computer-readable storage medium; and

computer program instructions for

determining the vehicle location to be within the vicinity of the local area security system, and

communicating a sensor information signal based upon the sensor signal to the local area security system and the vehicle sensor includes at least one of an acoustic receiver, an acoustic transceiver, an infrared sensor, an infrared transceiver RADAR, LiDAR, LaDAR, and a video camera.

5. The computer program product according to claim 4 wherein the computer system determines that the sensor signal is indicative of an absence of a potential threat to the vehicle and the communicating communicates the sensor information signal based upon the determined absence of the potential threat to the vehicle.

6. The computer program product according to claim 5 wherein the sensor signal is indicative of a presence of a potential threat to the vehicle and the method further comprises

including the presence of the potential threat to the vehicle within the sensor information signal.

7. The computer program product according to claim 4 wherein the sensor signal is indicative of a presence of a potential threat to the vehicle and the method further comprises:

determining a presence of a potential threat within the vicinity of the local area security system based upon the sensor signal, and

including the determined presence of the potential threat within the sensor information signal.

8. The computer program product according to claim 4 further comprising:

enabling the vehicle sensor to consume power from a battery included within the vehicle to produce the sensor signal;

coupling to a second vehicle located within the vicinity of the local area security system, the second vehicle having a second vehicle sensor providing a second sensor information signal to the local area security system; and

conserving battery power by disabling the vehicle sensor to consume power from the battery based upon the sensor information signal being determined to be redundant to the second sensor information signal.

9. The computer program product according to claim 4 further comprising:

periodically enabling the vehicle sensor to consume power from a battery included within the vehicle at a first periodic rate for producing the sensor signal;

coupling to a second vehicle located within the vicinity of the local area security system, the second vehicle having a second vehicle sensor for providing a second sensor information signal to the local area security system; and

periodically enabling the vehicle sensor to consume power from the battery at a second periodic rate less than the first periodic rate for producing the sensor signal, the second periodic rate based upon the coupling, wherein power consumption from the battery is reduced at the second periodic rate relative to the first periodic rate.

10. The computer program product according to claim 9 further comprising

periodically enabling the vehicle sensor to consume power from the battery at a third periodic rate greater than the second periodic rate based upon the second sensor information signal indicating a detection of a potential threat within the vicinity of the local area security system.

11. The computer program product according to claim 4 wherein the vehicle includes another sensor for affirmatively identifying a presence of a non-threat within a vicinity of the vehicle, the method further comprising:

determining a presence of a potential threat within the vicinity of the local area security system based upon the sensor signal;

affirmatively identifying the presence of the non-threat within the vicinity of the vehicle based upon the other sensor; and

including the identified presence of the non-threat within the sensor information signal.

12. The computer program product according to claim 4 method further comprising:

determining a presence of a potential threat within the vicinity of the local area security system based upon the sensor signal;

coupling to a second vehicle located within the vicinity of the local area security system, the second vehicle having a second vehicle sensor for affirmatively identifying a presence of a non-threat within a vicinity of the local area security system based upon the second sensor; and

excluding the determined presence of the potential threat from the sensor information signal based upon the second vehicle identifying the presence of the non-threat.

13. The computer program product according to claim 4 further comprising:

coupling to a second vehicle located within the vicinity of the local area security system, the second vehicle having a second vehicle sensor providing second sensor information to the vehicle;

determining a presence of a potential threat within the vicinity of the local area security system based upon the sensor signal and the second sensor information; and

including the determined presence of the potential threat within the sensor information signal.

14. The computer program product according to claim 4 wherein the vehicle sensor includes at least one of an acoustic receiver, an acoustic transceiver, an infrared sensor, an infrared transceiver, a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, a precipitation detector, a smoke sensor, a magnetometer, an accelerometer, a gyroscopic sensor, a proximity sensor, a radio receiver, a radio transceiver, and an ambient light detector.

15. The computer program product according to claim 4 further comprising including a live signal representation of the sensor signal within the sensor information signal.

16. The computer program product according to claim 15 further comprising:

determining a presence of a potential threat within the vicinity of the local area security system based upon the sensor signal, and

including the determined presence of the potential threat within the sensor information signal.

17. The computer program product according to claim 4 further comprising:

determining a failure in the local area security system; and

broadcasting a defect signal based upon the failure.

18. The computer program product according to claim 4 further comprising:

wirelessly coupling to a second vehicle located within the vicinity of the local area security system, the second vehicle having a second vehicle sensor providing a second sensor information signal to the local area security system; and

communicating the sensor information to the second vehicle such that the second vehicle communicates a signal based upon the sensor information signal to the local area security system.

19. The computer program product according to claim 18 wherein the vicinity of the local area security system is enlarged based upon the second vehicle wirelessly coupling with the vehicle.

20. A method for controlling an operation of a vehicle having a computer system for implementing a function of the vehicle when the vehicle is located beyond a vicinity of a local area security system, the function based upon a sensor signal from a vehicle sensor sensing a condition exterior to the vehicle, the method comprising:

determining the vehicle location to be within the vicinity of the local area security system, and

communicating a sensor information signal based upon the sensor signal to the local area security system and the vehicle sensor includes at least one of an acoustic receiver, an acoustic transceiver, an infrared sensor, an infrared transceiver RADAR, LiDAR, LaDAR, and a video camera.