Methods and systems for providing alerts to a driver of a vehicle via condition detection and wireless communications

• US 9,610,893 B2
• Filed: 03/18/2015
• Issued: 04/04/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Car1st Technologies, LLC
• Inventors: Lopez, Kermit D., Lopez-Hinojosa, Brennan T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lau, Hoi
• Application Number:
  US14/661,065
• Publication Number:
  US 20160272113A1
• Time in Patent Office: 748 Days
• Field of Search: 340435, 340903, 340439, 340436, 340576, 340438, 34053913, 701 36, 701538, 701 23, 701 2, 701123, 701408, 701 70, 701 1, 701 49, 348118
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 9/00 Reinforcements or ply arrangement of pneumatic tyres inserts having reinforcing means B60C5/08; bead structure, e.g. turnup or overlap construction, B60C15/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 9/00 Arrangement or adaptation of signal devices not provided for in one of main groups B60Q1/00 - B60Q7/00 , e.g. haptic signalling
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/09623 Systems involving the acquisition of information from passive traffic signs by means mounted on the vehicle G08G1/0967 takes precedence
• 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 1/09675 where a selection from the received information takes place in the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096783 where the origin of the information is a roadside individual element
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/48 for in-vehicle communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup

Abstract

Methods and system for alerting a vehicle driver via wireless communications. One or more conditions with respect to a vehicle are monitored. A change in the condition can be detected and a signal automatically and wirelessly transmitted to a computing device, wherein the signal is indicative of the change in condition(s). The driver is then alerted to the change in condition(s) in response to transmitting the signal to the computing device (e.g., a tablet computing device, smartphone, smartwatch, other wearable device, in-vehicle system, etc.) associated with the driver and/or a vehicle passenger.

Claims

1. A method for alerting a vehicle driver via wireless communications, comprising:

monitoring at least one condition external to a vehicle while said vehicle is in operation and a driver of said vehicle is located in a driver seat of said vehicle and said vehicle is stopped;

detecting a change in said at least one condition external to said vehicle during said monitoring of said at least one condition while said vehicle is stopped;

transmitting a signal wirelessly to a computing device, said signal indicative of said change in said at least one condition external to said vehicle; and

alerting said driver of said change in said at least one condition external to said vehicle after transmission of said signal to said computing device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein alerting said driver of said change in said at least one condition external to said vehicle after transmission of said signal to said computing device, further comprises:

providing an audible alert via a speaker associated with said computing device, said audible alert indicative of said change in said at least one condition external to said vehicle.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein alerting said driver of said change in said at least one condition external to said vehicle after transmission of said signal to said computing device, further comprises:

establishing a wireless connection between said computing device and a radio system of said vehicle;

providing an audible alert from said computing device indicative of said change in said at least one condition external to said vehicle, wherein said audible alert is broadcast via said radio system, after said establishing said wireless connection between said computing device and said radio system of said vehicle.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said at least one condition comprises at least one condition of a traffic light and said change in said at least one condition external to said vehicle comprises a change in said at least one condition of said traffic light.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said computing device comprises at least one of a smartphone and a tablet computing device.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein said at least one condition external to said vehicle comprises a stop light condition and said change in said at least one condition comprises a change from one stop light color to another stop light color.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein alerting said driver of said change in said at least one condition after transmission of said signal to said computing device, further comprises:

establishing a wireless connection between said computing device and a radio system of said vehicle;

providing an audible alert from said computing device indicative of said change in said at least one condition via said radio system.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein monitoring a condition external to a vehicle while said vehicle is in operation and a driver of said vehicle is located in a driver seat of said vehicle, further comprises:

monitoring said at least one condition with a camera that communicates with said computing device.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

tracking and recording in a memory of a computing system data indicative of a number of times said driver is alerted to said change in said at least one condition external to said vehicle while said vehicle is stopped.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

periodically retrieving said data from said memory; and

transmitting said data wirelessly from said computing system to a central repository for further storage and analysis.

11. A system for alerting a vehicle driver via wireless communications, comprising:

a video camera;

at least one processor that communicates with said video camera and processes video data captured by said video camera; and

a non-transitory computer-usable medium embedded said computer program code comprising instructions executable by said at least one processor to perform;

monitoring at least one condition with respect to a vehicle with said video camera while said vehicle is stopped;

detecting a change in said at least one condition during said monitoring of said at least one condition with said video camera wherein said change in said at least one condition is detected by said video camera while said vehicle is stopped;

transmitting a signal wirelessly to a computing device, said signal indicative of said change in said at least one condition detected by said video camera; and

alerting said driver of said change in said at least one condition in response to transmitting said signal to said computing device

wherein said instructions for alerting said driver of said change in said at least one condition are further configured for;

establishing a wireless connection between said computing device and a radio system of said vehicle;

providing an audible alert from said computing device indicative of said change in said at least one condition via said radio system,

wherein said wireless connection comprises a PAN (Personal Area Network), and wherein said instructions for alerting said driver of said change in said at least one condition further comprise instructions configured for alerting said driver of said change device and simultaneously broadcast as a voice alert through said computing device and said radio system, said voice alert including said audible alert.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein said computing device comprises at least one of a smartphone and a tablet computing device.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein said instructions for alerting said driver of said change in said at least one condition are further configured for providing an audible alert via a speaker associated with said computing device, said audible alert indicative of said change in said at least one condition while said vehicle is stopped.

14. A system for providing an alert via wireless communications regarding a condition within a passenger compartment of a vehicle, said comprising:

at least one processor, at least one video camera, at least one sensor, and an anomaly detection mechanism, wherein said at least one processor communicates with said anomaly detection mechanism, said at least one video camera, and said at least one sensor and processes video data captured by said at least one video camera and data detected by said at least one sensor and further processes data and instructions provided by said anomaly detection mechanism;

a non-transitory computer-usable medium embedded computer program code, said computer program code comprising instructions executable by said at least one processor to perform;

determining if a vehicle is no longer in operation;

monitoring with said at least one video camera and said at least one sensor at least one condition within a passenger area of said vehicle in response to determining that said vehicle is no longer in operation;

determining if said at least one condition within said passenger area of said vehicle comprises an anomalous condition based on said at least one video data acquired by said video camera and said data detected by said at least one sensor as determined by said anomalous detection mechanism and after it is determined that said vehicle is no longer in operation;

wirelessly transmitting an alert to a computing device, said alert indicative of said anomalous condition, if is determined that said at least one condition comprises said anomalous condition.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein said alert is wirelessly transmitted as a text message to said computing device via a wireless network and said at least one video camera comprises a 360 degree video camera, wherein said text message is displayable through said computing device, and wherein said at least one sensor comprises a temperature sensor and an audio sensor.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein said anomaly detection mechanism determines if said at least one condition within said vehicle is an anomalous condition based on unsupervised anomaly detection.

17. The system of claim 15 wherein said anomaly detection mechanism determines if said at least one condition within said vehicle is an anomalous condition based on supervised anomaly detection or semi-supervised anomaly detection.

18. A system for alerting a vehicle driver via wireless communications, comprising:

a video camera;

at least one processor that communicates with said video camera and processes video data captured by said video camera; and

a non-transitory computer-usable medium embedded said computer program code comprising instructions executable by said at least one processor to perform;

monitoring at least one condition with respect to a vehicle with said video camera while said vehicle is stopped;

detecting a change in said at least one condition during said monitoring of said at least one condition with said video camera wherein said change in said at least one condition is detected by said video camera while said vehicle is stopped;

transmitting a signal wirelessly to a computing device, said signal indicative of said change in said at least one condition detected by said video camera; and

alerting said driver of said change in said at least one condition in response to transmitting said signal to said computing device, wherein said video camera comprises a 360 degree video camera and wherein said at least one condition is monitored by automatically analyzing video data obtained from said 360 degree video camera utilizing anomaly detection in association with machine learning and GPS data obtained from said system.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein said computing device comprises at least one of a smartphone and a tablet computing device.

20. The system of claim 18 wherein said instructions for alerting said driver of said change in said at least one condition are further configured for providing an audible alert via a speaker associated with said computing device, said audible alert indicative of said change in said at least one condition while said vehicle is stopped.

21. The system of claim 18 wherein said instructions for alerting said driver of said change in said at least one condition are further configured for:

establishing a wireless connection between said computing device and a radio system of said vehicle;

providing an audible alert from said computing device indicative of said change in said at least one condition via said radio system.