Patent Application
20070132609
The present invention relates generally to the field of emergency warning systems, and more specifically, but not exclusively, to an alarm system for emergency vehicles that alerts motorists in other vehicles about an emergency vehicle's approach.
Emergency vehicles often cause significant traffic safety problems. For example, when responding to emergencies, emergency vehicles often have to exceed posted speed limits, pass other vehicles where it may be hazardous to pass, and cross intersections against the lights. These actions may be necessary to minimize the emergency vehicles' response times, but they create hazardous conditions for the other vehicles and the emergency vehicles involved.
In order to warn motorists in other vehicles, emergency vehicles typically activate their sirens and honk their horns. However, sirens and horns are inadequate, because they are often not heard by motorists until the emergency vehicles are very near. For example, an emergency vehicle's siren and horn may not be heard by a motorist, because the motorist may be listening to a radio playing loudly or talking to someone else on a cellular phone. Also, many modern vehicles are designed to be more soundproof, which makes the emergency vehicles' sirens and horns more difficult for motorists to hear. Furthermore, although a motorist may eventually hear an emergency vehicle's siren or horn, the motorist may not be able to determine the direction of the sound. Therefore, a need exists for a system that warns motorists about an approaching emergency vehicle, which also enhances the ability of the motorists to hear and respond to the warning. Also, a need exists for an emergency vehicle warning system, which indicates to motorists the travel direction of the emergency vehicle involved. As described in detail below, the present invention provides such a system, which resolves the existing emergency vehicle warning problems and other similar problems.
The present invention provides a system for alerting motorists about an approaching emergency vehicle, by broadcasting an emergency warning message that motorists can readily hear and use to determine the approach direction of the emergency vehicle. In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a system for alerting motorists about an approaching emergency vehicle is provided, which includes a transmitter unit for the emergency vehicle that broadcasts an emergency warning message over a short range radio frequency, a GPS receiver unit for the emergency vehicle that provides the emergency vehicle's position, and a processor unit that regularly retrieves the emergency vehicle's position data, determines the emergency vehicle's heading, and generates the emergency warning message including pertinent position and heading information. Thus, a motorist within broadcast range can receive and hear the emergency warning message on the radio of the motorist's vehicle, and ascertain from the message the nearness and approach direction of the emergency vehicle.
The novel features believed characteristic of the invention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, as well as a preferred mode of use, further objectives and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
With reference now to the figures,
For this example embodiment, processor unit 202 can be a microprocessor, digital signal processor, microcontroller, embedded processor, or a processor based on a PowerPC® processing architecture. For example, processor unit 202 can be arranged as a single processor or plurality of processors connected to a data communications bus or system bus. A memory controller/cache can also be connected to the data communications bus or system bus, which can provide an interface between processor unit 202 and a local memory (e.g., RAM 204, ROM, etc.). A plurality of machine instructions can be stored in the local memory and retrieved and operated on by processor unit 202 to, for example, retrieve or receive GPS coordinate data associated with the instant position of the emergency vehicle involved, and interpret, process, and compare the GPS coordinate data with the coordinate data retrieved from map database unit 212. An Input/Output (I/O) bus bridge can also be connected to the data communications bus or system bus, which can provide an interface between processor unit 202 and an I/O bus 206. Thus, processor unit 202 can receive, retrieve and/or send coordinate data and emergency message data via such an I/O bus 206. In any event, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the hardware described herein for processor unit 202 in
Notably, for this example embodiment, processor unit 202 can determine the position of the associated emergency vehicle at any point in time, by receiving the coordinate information (e.g., current latitude and longitude coordinate data) from the GPS receiver unit 208. Processor unit 202 can then retrieve from map database unit 212 a predetermined amount of mapped highway, roadway or freeway network data associated with the GPS coordinate data received. For example, processor unit 202 can retrieve (from map database unit 212) four city blocks (or a suitable amount of similar data) of roadway data directly in front, and to the right and left, of the emergency vehicle involved. In this way, processor unit 202 can compare this data with the GPS coordinate data and determine the identity of the road being traveled by the emergency vehicle, and also the identity of the next intersection being approached by the emergency vehicle. Also, processor unit 202 can determine the heading of the emergency vehicle by comparing a sequence of received GPS coordinates and thus determining the direction of the emergency vehicle. Alternatively, the GPS receiver unit 208 can provide heading information to processor 202 in addition to the latitudinal and longitudinal coordinate data. Processor unit 202 then creates an emergency message (e.g., using a digital voice synthesizer) including, for example, such information as the emergency vehicle's heading, the name of the road on which the emergency vehicle is traveling, and the name of the intersection that the emergency vehicle is approaching. The emergency message is then forwarded to radio transmitter unit 210 for broadcast or transmission. For example, processor unit 202 might send a control signal to transmitter unit 210 that causes the transmitter unit to broadcast or transmit the emergency message continuously while the emergency vehicle's siren is activated.
For this example embodiment, radio transmitter unit 210 can be a suitable transmitter including an omni-directional antenna capable of transmitting emergency vehicle alarm/alert messages (e.g., 110, 112 in
Similarly, in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, radio transmitter unit 210 can be implemented with a suitable transmitter capable of transmitting emergency vehicle alarm/alert messages over the entire AM broadcast radio frequency band (e.g., 530 kHz-1700 kHz). As such, radio transmitter 210 can be a broad spectrum transmitter that is broadly tuned so as to broadcast an emergency message over the entire AM frequency band, or a scanning transmitter that scans the AM frequency band and broadcasts an emergency message at each AM frequency actually used by the AM radio stations in the local radio market involved. Again, the range of the transmitted AM radio signal can be about 500-1,000 feet.
Additionally, in accordance with still another embodiment of the present invention, radio transmitter unit 210 can be implemented with a suitable transmitter capable of transmitting emergency vehicle alarm/alert messages over the commercial satellite radio frequency band (e.g., 2.3 GHz S band). As such, radio transmitter 210 can be a broad spectrum transmitter, or a scanning transmitter that scans the satellite radio frequency band and broadcasts an emergency message at each frequency actually used by the satellite radio stations in the local radio market involved (e.g., 2,320.00 MHz and 2,345.00 MHz). Again, the range of the transmitted satellite radio signal can be about 500-1,000 feet.
Thus, in accordance with teachings of the present invention, an operating radio receiver in a motorist's vehicle (e.g., 106, 108 in
It is important to note that while the present invention has been described in the context of a fully functioning emergency vehicle alarm/alert system, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the processes of the present invention are capable of being distributed in the form of a computer readable medium of instructions and a variety of forms and that the present invention applies equally regardless of the particular type of signal bearing media actually used to carry out the distribution. Examples of computer readable media include recordable-type media, such as a floppy disk, a hard disk drive, a RAM, CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, and transmission-type media, such as digital and analog communications links, wired or wireless communications links using transmission forms, such as, for example, radio frequency and light wave transmissions. The computer readable media may take the form of coded formats that are decoded for actual use in a particular emergency vehicle alarm/alert system.
The description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, and is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. These embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention, the practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.
