Patent Application
20210347363
The present invention relates to a car and a method for detecting a road condition and warning a following vehicle. The car provides a road condition detection unit for transmitting the road condition in front of the car to a display unit through a processing unit. The display unit is the rear windshield of the car. A warning image is displayed on the rear windshield to warn the driver of the following vehicle.
The main sources of traffic information in Taiwan are real-time road condition reports from Police Radio Stations and the intelligent provincial highway real-time information service network of Directorate General of Highways. The main operation mode is to rely on the technical personnel to actively report and enthusiastic people to actively report the road conditions. However, the main disadvantages are as follows: (1) It mainly reports the traffic conditions for major roads, such as national roads, expressways, and provincial roads. For some roads such as county roads, rural roads, lanes, and mountain roads, there is less reporting or insufficient data. (2) The information query method is mainly described in terms of columns. But, for some drivers that use navigation software, the above information is not integrated into the path planning considerations of the vehicle-mounted navigation software, which makes it impossible to provide real-time traffic information and route planning for the drivers to further save driving time and energy consumption. (3) In general, the enthusiastic people mainly report road conditions by phone. However, not everyone is willing to call and report real-time road conditions to Police Radio Stations. The main problem is that drivers can't immediately know real-time driving conditions on the road and relevant information, such as traffic jams, road repairs or accidents.
Taiwan Patent Publication No. 1674561, titled “real-time traffic notification and formation method”, includes an upload step for uploading the coordinates of at least one fault point to a traffic cloud database after finding the fault point by pedestrian, driver, executive officer or traffic maintenance personnel, and a merge step for merging the coordinates of the fault point received by the traffic cloud database with a map so as to form a road map with the fault point, such that the distribution of the fault points on the road map and the condition of the traffic jam will be uploaded by the pedestrian, driver, executive officer or traffic maintenance personnel without using a fixed vehicle detector or a driving vehicle, which can collect the most complete traffic information at a minimum cost to integrate the most accurate and real-time traffic information.
In Taiwan Patent Publication No. 1674561, the method can instantly report the road conditions and related information for drivers who are connected to get information through the traffic cloud database. However, it is impossible for drivers who are not connected and driving on the roads to immediately learn the road conditions of the roads on which the vehicles are traveling. Accordingly, the inventor of the present invention has devoted himself based on his many years of practical experiences to solve these problems.
The primary object of the present invention is to provide a method for detecting a road condition and warning a following vehicle. The method comprises using a road condition detection unit mounted on a vehicle body to detect the road condition in front of the vehicle body to generate a road condition signal; providing a processing unit to generate a display signal after receiving the road condition signal; providing a display unit to generate a warning image on a rear windshield of the vehicle body after receiving the display signal, so as to warn a driver of the following vehicle of the road condition in front of the vehicle body.
Preferably, the road condition detection unit includes a traffic light detector. The road condition signal is the state of a traffic light in front of the vehicle body. The warning image displays the state of the traffic light in front of the vehicle body.
Preferably, the road condition detection unit includes an accelerometer. The road condition signal is a deceleration signal of braking deceleration of the vehicle body. When the speed of the vehicle body is instantaneously reduced more than 3 kilometers per hour within 1 second, the warning image displays that a traffic jam is happening in front of the vehicle body and that the vehicle body is braking and decelerating.
Preferably, the vehicle body has a vehicle abnormality indicator. When the vehicle body is in an abnormal state, the vehicle abnormality indicator is triggered to output a trigger signal to the processing unit. The processing unit receives the trigger signal and controls the display unit to generate a vehicle abnormality image on the rear windshield of the vehicle body to warn the driver of the following vehicle of the abnormal state of the vehicle body.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a car for performing the above-mentioned method is provided. The car comprises a vehicle body, a road condition detection unit, a processing unit, and a display unit. The road condition detection unit is disposed on the vehicle body. The road condition detection unit is configured to detect the road condition in front of the vehicle body and generate a road condition signal. The processing unit is disposed on the vehicle body. The processing unit is configured to generate a display signal after receiving the road condition signal. The display unit is disposed on a rear windshield of the vehicle body. The display unit is configured to generate a warning image after receiving the display signal.
Preferably, the road condition detection unit includes a traffic light detector. The road condition signal is the state of a traffic light in front of the vehicle body. The warning image displays the state of the traffic light in front of the vehicle body.
Preferably, the road condition detection unit includes an accelerometer. The road condition signal is a deceleration signal of braking deceleration of the vehicle body. When the speed of the vehicle body is instantaneously reduced more than 3 kilometers per hour within 1 second, the warning image displays that a traffic jam is happening in front of the vehicle body and that the vehicle body is braking and decelerating.
Preferably, the vehicle body has a vehicle abnormality indicator. When the vehicle body is in an abnormal state, the vehicle abnormality indicator is triggered to output a trigger signal to the processing unit. The processing unit receives the trigger signal and controls the display unit to generate a vehicle abnormality image on the rear windshield of the vehicle body.
Preferably, the display unit is integrated with the rear windshield to form a display screen.
Preferably, the processing unit is a trip computer integrated on the vehicle body.
According to the above technical features, the following effects can be achieved.
1. In the present invention, the road condition detection unit transmits the road condition in front of the car to the display unit through the processing unit. The display unit is the rear windshield of the car. The warning image is displayed on the rear windshield to warn the driver of the following vehicle.
2. The road condition detection unit includes a traffic light detector. The road condition signal is the state of a traffic light in front of the vehicle body. The warning image displays the state of the traffic light in front of the vehicle body.
3. The road condition detection unit includes an accelerometer. The road condition signal is a deceleration signal of braking deceleration of the vehicle body. When the speed of the vehicle body is instantaneously reduced more than 3 kilometers per hour within 1 second, the warning image displays that a traffic jam is happening in front of the vehicle body and that the vehicle body is braking and decelerating.
4. The vehicle body has a vehicle abnormality indicator. When the vehicle body is in an abnormal state, the vehicle abnormality indicator is triggered to output a trigger signal to the processing unit. The processing unit receives the trigger signal and controls the display unit to generate a vehicle abnormality image on the rear windshield of the vehicle body to warn the driver of the following vehicle of the abnormal state of the vehicle body.
5. The display unit is integrated with the rear windshield to form a display screen, and the processing unit is a trip computer integrated on the vehicle body.
Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings.
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Although particular embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail for purposes of illustration, various modifications and enhancements may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the present invention is not to be limited except as by the appended claims.
