Patent Application
20210300494
There are many ways to get around a city. A person can walk, drive, travel by bus, tram, subway, taxi, or hire a car share service. A person can also rent or use various individual modes of transportation, such as mopeds, bikes (e.g., e-bikes or ebikes), scooters, skateboards (electric skateboards) and/or other micro-mobility vehicles or devices. For example, many cities provide residents and visitors with bike share and scooter share services, such as services that enable people to rent bikes or electric scooters when traveling short distances within a city.
In the drawings, some components are not drawn to scale, and some components and/or operations can be separated into different blocks or combined into a single block for discussion of some of the implementations of the present technology. Moreover, while the technology is amenable to various modifications and alternative forms, specific implementations have been shown by way of example in the drawings and are described in detail below. The intention, however, is not to limit the technology to the particular implementations described. On the contrary, the technology is intended to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the technology as defined by the appended claims.
Systems and methods for illuminating an electric scooter are described. The systems and methods generate randomized patterns of lights based on movement of the electric scooter, such as in response to vibrations or other forces applied to the electric scooter as it travels through an environment. For example, the systems and methods can receive movement data from one or more vibration sensors of the electric scooter, generate a continuous wave pattern based on the movement data, and cause lighting devices (e.g., addressable LEDs (light emitting diodes)) to emit light in response to the continuous wave pattern. The resulting light, in some cases, is an ever-changing pattern of light and intensity.
In some embodiments, an electric scooter includes a scooter lighting system stored within the memory of the electric scooter, where the system receives data captured by one or more vibration sensors, generates illumination patterns based on the data received from the one or more vibration sensors, and causes the one or more lighting devices to emit light in response to the generated illumination patterns.
In some cases, the scooter lighting system generates randomized patterns of light that continuously and constantly change in color and intensity based on the movement data, such as the forces applied to the electric scooter that are captured by the vibration sensors. For example, the scooter lighting system can cause for every discrete vibration (e.g., a vibration event) captured by the one or more vibration sensors, a single LED of multiple addressable LEDs of the lighting devices to emit light or otherwise be addressed by the system.
Thus, the systems and methods described herein enable an electric scooter to cause one or more lighting devices of the electric scooter to emit light in response to data captured by the one or more vibration sensors. In doing so, an electric scooter can present, for a user or rider of the scooter, constantly-changing illumination pattern or lighting, providing the user or rider with an enjoyable, unique experience when riding the scooter.
Further, an ever-changing pattern of light can facilitate the electric scooter to be more easily seen in dark or night environments by pedestrians, other riders of scooters, and/or other vehicles traveling within the environment, such as bikes, cars, trucks, and so on. Thus, the systems and methods described herein can enhance the safety and enjoyment of a user of an electric scooter, among other benefits.
While the systems and methods have been described herein with respect to electric scooters, other micro-mobility vehicles or devices can likewise utilize the techniques described herein. Example include bicycles, electric bicycles, mopeds, and other electric vehicles or devices.
In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of implementations of the present technology. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that implementations of the present technology can be practiced without some of these specific details. The phrases “in some implementations,” “according to some implementations,” “in the implementations shown,” “in other implementations,” and the like generally mean the particular feature, structure, or characteristic following the phrase is included in at least one implementation of the present technology and can be included in more than one implementation. In addition, such phrases do not necessarily refer to the same implementations or different implementations.
Several implementations of illuminating an electric scooter will now be described. In some embodiments, an electric scooter includes one or more lighting devices that emit light or present illumination in response to vibrations felt by the scooter when traveling through an environment. Thus, the electric scooter can generate a constantly-changing illumination pattern or lighting, providing a rider with an enjoyable, unique experience when riding the scooter.
The scooter 100 also includes a chassis 140 having a deck 145 that supports a rider of the scooter 100 (e.g., the rider stands on the deck 145). The scooter 100 can also include a down tube connected to a head tube, inside of which turns the steering tube 130 connected to a stem attached to the handlebars 135. In addition, the electric scooter 100 can include fenders, trailer hitches, brakes, lights, and other accessories or components.
The electric scooter 100 can include a housing 150 that contains a transmission or drive system, a control system or controller, a braking system, a suspension, and a battery, and an electric motor 160, such as a front wheel hub motor. In some cases, some or all of the components or systems can be contained by the housing 150, the chassis 140, or both. A charging post or port 155 is attached to the housing 150.
In some embodiments, the electric scooter 200 also includes one or more sensors disposed within the electric scooter 100. For example, the chassis 140 of the scooter can include inertial or vibration sensors 175 (shown in dotted lines as being disposed within the chassis 140), such as sensors that capture or measure forces applied to the chassis 140 as the scooter 100 travels through an environment. The vibration sensors 175 can be disposed towards a rear portion of the chassis 140 (e.g., proximate to the rear wheel 120), towards a front portion of the chassis 140 (e.g., proximate to the front wheel 110), or at other locations within the chassis 140. Further, the vibration sensors 175 can be placed on or within other components, such as the steering tube 130, the handlebars 135, the housing 150, and so on.
The vibration sensors 175, in some cases, are accelerometers that measure or capture the movement or motion of an object or body. Thus, the vibration sensors 175 measure or capture forces applied to the electric scooter 100 (via the chassis 140), such as forces that cause the chassis 140 to move upwards (e.g., the road surface), downwards (e.g., gravity or the rider's weight), and/or directions in three-dimensional space.
The vibration sensors 175 can include accelerometers or other piezoelectric sensors, strain gauges, eddy current sensors (or other capacitive displacement sensors), and so on. Of course, the electric bicycle can utilize other sensors to measure movement or motion, such as force sensors, infrared (IR) sensors, Time-Of-Flight (ToF) sensors, Inertial Measurement Units (IMU), and so on.
As described herein, the electric scooter 100 can include lights or lighting assemblies that display, present, or emit light. The lights can be various lighting devices, such as light emitting diodes (LEDs), digital LED strips, and so on. As is described herein, the LED strips can include multiple addressable LEDs, where each LED has an integrated driver to control the color and/or brightness (intensity) of that LED. Such LED strips, when driven, can create complex and ever-changing patterns of illumination.
The lights or lighting assemblies can be disposed, placed, and/or positioned at or within various components of the electric scooter 100. For example, one or more LED strips 180 can be placed within the steering tube 130, which, when transparent, can present a beautiful, continuously changing, pattern of illumination out of the tube 130. Other locations or positions that can incorporate LEDs and LED strips include chassis or deck lighting 185 (e.g., located or disposed on an outer surface of the chassis 140 or deck 145), handlebar lighting 187 (located or disposed on an end of the handlebars 135), rear lighting 182 (located on rear brake or fender 165), lighting under the scooter 100, and so on.
The electric scooter 200 may also include various computing systems and components, such as the various computing systems described herein, GPS or positioning systems, communication components, and so on. For example, an electric scooter can include computing systems and identification components that facilitate or enable the electric scooter as an Internet of Things (e.g., IoT) device networked to other scooters and one or more control or communication systems.
In some embodiments, the computing systems include a scooter lighting system stored within a memory of the electric scooter 100. The scooter lighting system generates light and illumination presentations from the motion or movement of the electric scooter 100. For example, the scooter lighting system can receive data captured by the one or more vibration sensors 175, generate illumination patterns based on the data received from the one or more vibration sensors 175, and cause the one or more lighting devices to emit light in response to the generated illumination patterns.
The systems, components, and techniques introduced here can be implemented by electric scooters, docking stations, and/or associated systems as or via special-purpose hardware (for example, circuitry), as programmable circuitry appropriately programmed with software and/or firmware, or as a combination of special-purpose and programmable circuitry. Hence, implementations can include a computer- or machine-readable medium having stored thereon instructions which can be used to program a computer (or other electronic devices) to perform a process. The machine-readable medium can include, but is not limited to, floppy diskettes, optical discs, compact disc read-only memories (CD-ROMs), magneto-optical disks, ROMs, random access memories (RAMs), erasable programmable read-only memories (EPROMs), electrically erasable programmable read-only memories (EEPROMs), magnetic or optical cards, flash memory, or other types of media/machine-readable medium suitable for storing electronic instructions.
In some implementations, the electric scooters can be configured and/or designed to present continuously changing patterns of light that reflect or are based on the movement of the electric scooters.
The scooter lighting system 220 receives movement or motion data from one or more vibration sensors 210A-210B and/or other sensors 210C, such as force sensors, IMUs, and so on. For example, the system 220 can receive information measured by vibration sensors 210A and 210B, and/or an IMU. The measured information identifies or represents movement of an electric scooter, such as the movement of the chassis of the electric scooter in a vertical direction. Thus, in some cases, the sensors 210A-210C capture and provide information that identifies the forces applied to the chassis 140 of the electric scooter 100, and thus information representative of the continuous motion of the electric scooter 100.
The system 220 receives the data from the sensors 210A-C and generates a pattern to drive the various lighting assemblies or devices of the electric scooter. For example, the system 220 can generate a wave pattern 225 of touches or forces applied to the scooter 100 and captured by the sensors 210A-210C (or vibration sensors 175).
In some cases, the scooter lighting system 220 can access or utilize context information 222 when generating the wave pattern 225. For example, the system 220 can consider a current speed or velocity at which the electric scooter is being driven by a rider of the electric scooter, a proximity from which the electric scooter is to another electric scooter, the weight or size of the rider, the movement or forces applied by the rider (e.g., the rider may be bouncing or jumping on the deck 145) and so on.
Thus, the system 220 can generate or create a wave pattern 225 that is based on forces applied to the scooter 100 and/or context information associated with the electric scooter 100. While the electric scooter 100 is in motion, the wave pattern 225 continuously changes, reflecting the continuous forces captured by the sensors 210A-210C. The system 220 drives various lighting devices or assemblies using this dynamically changing wave pattern 225.
For example, the system 220 can drive stem lighting devices 230, deck or chassis lighting devices 235, and/or other lighting devices 240, such as under-chassis lighting, rear lighting, handlebar lighting, and so on. In some cases, the system 220 provides the wave pattern 225 by randomly selecting the devices (or individual LEDs of the devices) to drive or cause to illuminate for each force or touch of the wave patters 225.
The lighting devices 230, 235, and/or 240 can include LED strips, where each strip includes multiple, individually addressable, LEDs. Each LED, being individually addressable, includes a microcontroller, or integrated driver, that controls the color and/or brightness (intensity) of that LED.
The lighting devices 230, 235, 240 can include various LED strips, such as 5V or 12V RGB LED strips of many (10 or 100 or more) individual LEDS. Such LED strips, when driven by the generated wave patterns 225, can create complex and ever-changing patterns of illumination for an electric scooter.
The scooter lighting system 220 can drive an LED strip of individually addressable LEDs as follows.
At time T1, the LED strip 300 includes eight LEDs 310 each emitting light of a certain color and at a certain intensity (the LEDs are “on”), and one LED 320 that is not being driven (the LED is “off”). As the system 220 drives the LED string 300, the next force or touch of the wave pattern 225 is measured at time T2 (soon after T1), and the system 220 causes the “off” LED 320 to turn on and become an “on” LED 330. In other words, the next force, or input, in the wave pattern is sent to the driver associated with the “off” LED, causing it to turn on and emit light.
At a time T3, all of the LEDs are emitting light. However, the wave pattern 225 provides an additional input, which causes an LED 340 to turn “off” (e.g., to stop emitting light). Thus, at time T3, the overall illumination pattern being presented by the LED string 300 has changed when the LED 340 stops emitting light. The pattern continues at time T4 (where the LED 340 has been turned back on) and time T5 (where another LED 350 has been turned off).
In some cases, the system 220 can create the wave pattern 225 to include intensity information that is based on the forces applied to the electric scooter and captured by the sensors 210A-C. For example, each force or touch captured by the sensors can include an indication of the force being applied, as well as an intensity or value for the force. The system can utilize such information when driving the LEDs by providing instructions via the wave pattern 225 to (1) turn on/off the single LEDs based on the wave pattern 225 and (2) drive the LEDs at intensities that match the measured intensity of the associated and measured forces.
Thus, in some embodiments, the scooter lighting system 220 drives LED strings of single addressable LEDs by causing, for each force applied to the scooter, a single LED to change state (e.g., turn on or off) and/or change intensity. When combined, the constantly changing states of the LEDs create an ever-changing pattern of colors and intensities. Thus, the system 220 can present illumination for the electric scooter 100 that is unique and constantly changing as the electric scooter 100 is driven by a rider.
The scooter lighting system 220 performs various processes or methods when creating patterns of illumination for an electric scooter, such as the scooter 100.
In operation 410, the system 220 receives movement data captured by one or more vibration sensors of an electric scooter. For example, the system 220 can receive or access data captured by the vibration sensors 275. The movement data, in some cases, identifies touches or forces applied to the electric scooter 100 when traveling or moving. Further, the movement data can identify an intensity of a force applied to the scooter, such as a value that identifies how far the chassis 140 of the electric scooter 100 moved in a vertical direction in response to the force.
In operation 420, the system 220 generates a wave pattern for the electric scooter based on the movement data. For example, the system 220 generates or creates the wave pattern 225, which is used to drive single addressable LEDs of an LED string.
In operation 430, the system cause lighting devices to present illumination based on the generated wave pattern. For example, the system 220, via the wave pattern 225, can cause, for each force applied to the scooter, a single LED to change state (e.g., turn on or off) and/or change intensity. In order words, for every discrete vibration event captured by the one or more vibration sensors 210A-C, the system 220 can drive a single LED of the multiple addressable LEDs to emit light (or stop emitting light).
In operation 510, the system 220 maps input from the sensors as a pattern of touches. For example, the system 220 can create the wave pattern 225 and/or other patterns that represent the touches (forces) continuously applied to the electric scooter 100.
In operation 520, the system 220 addresses each LED of an LED strip using the pattern of touches. For example, as depicted in
In operation 530, the system 220 optionally modifies the illumination based on context information associated with the electric scooter. For example, the scooter lighting system 220 can access or utilize context information 222 when generating the wave pattern 225. The system 220 can consider a current speed or velocity at which the electric scooter is being driven by a rider of the electric scooter, a proximity from which the electric scooter is to another electric scooter, the weight or size of the rider, the movement or forces applied by the rider (e.g., the rider may be bouncing or jumping on the deck 145) and so on.
Thus, the systems and methods described herein enable an electric scooter to cause one or more lighting devices of the electric scooter to emit light in response to data captured by the one or more vibration sensors. In doing so, an electric scooter can present, for a user or rider of the scooter, constantly-changing illumination pattern or lighting, providing the user or rider with an enjoyable, unique experience when riding the scooter. In addition to lighting, the scooter can utilize the movement data to dynamically modify other presentations, such as audio presentations of the electric scooter.
As described herein, an ever-changing pattern of light is noticeable to other pedestrians, other riders of scooters, and/or other vehicles traveling within the environment, such as bikes, cars, trucks, and so on. Thus, the systems and methods described herein can enhance the safety and enjoyment of a user of an electric scooter, among other benefits.
Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout the description and the claims, the words “comprise,” “comprising,” and the like are to be construed in an inclusive sense, as opposed to an exclusive or exhaustive sense; that is to say, in the sense of “including, but not limited to.” As used herein, the terms “connected,” “coupled,” or any variant thereof means any connection or coupling, either direct or indirect, between two or more elements; the coupling of connection between the elements can be physical, logical, or a combination thereof. Additionally, the words “herein,” “above,” “below,” and words of similar import, when used in this application, shall refer to this application as a whole and not to any particular portions of this application. Where the context permits, words in the above Detailed Description using the singular or plural number may also include the plural or singular number respectively. The word “or,” in reference to a list of two or more items, covers all of the following interpretations of the word: any of the items in the list, all of the items in the list, and any combination of the items in the list.
The above detailed description of implementations of the system is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the system to the precise form disclosed above. While specific implementations of, and examples for, the system are described above for illustrative purposes, various equivalent modifications are possible within the scope of the system, as those skilled in the relevant art will recognize. For example, some network elements are described herein as performing certain functions. Those functions could be performed by other elements in the same or differing networks, which could reduce the number of network elements. Alternatively, or additionally, network elements performing those functions could be replaced by two or more elements to perform portions of those functions. In addition, while processes, message/data flows, or blocks are presented in a given order, alternative implementations may perform routines having blocks, or employ systems having blocks, in a different order; and some processes or blocks may be deleted, moved, added, subdivided, combined, and/or modified to provide alternative or subcombinations. Each of these processes, message/data flows, or blocks may be implemented in a variety of different ways. Also, while processes or blocks are at times shown as being performed in series, these processes or blocks may instead be performed in parallel, or may be performed at different times. Further, any specific numbers noted herein are only examples: alternative implementations may employ differing values or ranges.
The teachings of the methods and system provided herein can be applied to other systems, not necessarily the system described above. The elements, blocks and acts of the various implementations described above can be combined to provide further implementations.
Any patents, applications and other references noted above, including any that may be listed in accompanying filing papers, are incorporated herein by reference. Aspects of the technology can be modified, if necessary, to employ the systems, functions, and concepts of the various references described above to provide yet further implementations of the technology.
These and other changes can be made to the invention in light of the above Detailed Description. While the above description describes certain implementations of the technology, and describes the best mode contemplated, no matter how detailed the above appears in text, the invention can be practiced in many ways. Details of the system may vary considerably in its implementation details, while still being encompassed by the technology disclosed herein. As noted above, particular terminology used when describing certain features or aspects of the technology should not be taken to imply that the terminology is being redefined herein to be restricted to any specific characteristics, features, or aspects of the technology with which that terminology is associated. In general, the terms used in the following claims should not be construed to limit the invention to the specific implementations disclosed in the specification, unless the above Detailed Description section explicitly defines such terms. Accordingly, the actual scope of the invention encompasses not only the disclosed implementations, but also all equivalent ways of practicing or implementing the invention under the claims.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/993,912, filed on Mar. 24, 2020, entitled ELECTRIC SCOOTERS AND ASSOCIATED SYSTEMS, which is incorporated by reference in their entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62993912 | Mar 2020 | US |
