Patent Application
20150210214
The present invention relates to improvements in relation to communication system for providing an audible message to a driver of a vehicle, specifically in relation to a driver of a commercial vehicle such as a truck.
Being a commercial driver, such as a truck driver, is traditionally a rather solitary profession, as most of the time spent at work is alone in the vehicle. However, in early 1960ies the Citizens' Band, more commonly known as “CB radio” or as below just “CB”, found its way into many trucks and provided the drivers with a communication means which partly alleviated the solitariness of the profession. CB allows a driver to communicate with another driver within the range of about 10 km if the terrain is decent.
Although the technology within social communications has developed substantially over the last 20 years, many truck drivers still use CB as their primary social communication means. However, the digital development of social communication presents many advantages over the CB technology.
Thus, there is a need for a communication system for vehicles with audible communication means adapted for commercial drivers such as truck drivers that provide an improved approach for presenting audible communication to further facilitate the driver during a route.
It is desirable to achieve a communication system adapted for vehicles, where the communication system provides communication as at least one audio message to a driver in a vehicle compartment.
According to an aspect of the invention, the above is at least partly met by a communication system for a vehicle compartment of a first vehicle, the communication system configured to provide an audible message to a driver of the first vehicle, wherein the communication system comprises a plurality of speakers spatially distributed apart from each other within the vehicle compartment, and a control unit for controlling the plurality of speakers, wherein the control unit is configured to receive the audible message from a communication unit arranged remotely from the first vehicle, determine a spatial relation between the geographical position of the communication system in the first vehicle and a geographical position coupled to the audible message, assign at least one of said plurality of speakers for generating directional sound towards the driver within the vehicle compartment, the direction of the sound corresponding to the spatial relation between the communication system in the first vehicle and the geographical position coupled to the audible, and provide the audible message to the driver from the at least one assigned speaker.
The invention is based on the insight that drivers driving e.g. commercial vehicles often communicates with each other during their route, due to their profession, for instance regarding the weather and the road conditions. Furthermore, the inventors have realized that it would be beneficial for the driver to have audible messages presented in such a way that the driver is alleviated in the determination of a geographical component of the audible messages. By presenting the information to the driver in a way that reflects at least one of the geographical positions of the remotely arranged communication unit or a geographical component of the audible message the driver may instantly know whether the information presented is relevant. The communication unit may act as a source generating the audible message.
For instance, the audible message may communicate information concerning a traffic accident, and hence if the driver receives the message from speakers configured to output sound such that the driver perceives the sound originating from behind, the driver may disregard it. However, had the same message been presented as originating from ahead of the driver, the driver may automatically place more focus on the road ahead. By being able to determine the direction of the position of communication unit, the safety aspects may be improved for all road-users. Furthermore, the communication system may as well facilitate the driver during a route by providing driving instructions or other information given by other drivers. Accordingly, by presenting the messages as audio from a direction corresponding to the positions of the communication unit, it may be possible to further assist the driver to avoid detours.
In relation to the present invention, a remotely arranged communication unit should be interpreted as a device able to communicate messages to the communication system to be presented as an audible message in the vehicle compartment. The communication unit may for example be a mobile phone or another communication means provided with internet telephony.
The first vehicle may for example be a transportation vehicle for land, air or sea, such as for example a truck, a plane or a vessel. The communication system may however also be implemented in a car, a boat or another type of transportation vehicle benefiting from communication.
According to an embodiment of the invention, the geographical position coupled to the audible message is determined by detecting a geographical position of the communication unit.
The communication system, more specifically the control unit in the step of determining the geographical position of the communication unit, may request a geographical position of the communication unit which is transmitted from the communication system to the communication unit and/or receive information regarding the relevant geographical position of the audible message from a geographical component incorporated in the received audible message.
According to an embodiment of the invention, the control unit may further be configured to detect a geographical vector of the first vehicle based on the movement of the first vehicle.
By detecting a geographical vector of the first vehicle, the driving direction of the first vehicle may be determined. This information may further assist the control unit in assigning the most suitable speaker for transmitting the received audible message to the driver. By determining the driving direction of the first vehicle, the assigned speaker may imitate the spatial relation of the communication unit or the geographical position coupled to the audible message and the first vehicle in relation to the driver when seated in a typical driving position.
According to an embodiment of the invention, the control unit may further be configured to detect a geographical vector of the communication unit based on the movement of the communication unit.
By detecting a geographical vector it is possible to determine whether the communication unit is approaching the first vehicle and is driving in the opposite direction or is heading in the same direction as the first vehicle.
According to an embodiment of the invention, the control unit may be further configured to provide a sound effect to the audible message provided to the driver and alter the assigned speaker to at least one of the plurality of speakers when the communication unit passes the first vehicle based on the geographical vectors and the geographical positions.
The communication system may process the audible message such that the audible message presented to the driver includes a sound effect to alert the driver that the communication unit is about to pass the first vehicle, besides altering the assigned speaker due to the change in spatial relation between the communication unit and the first vehicle. The sound effect may for instance be an included sound in the background of the audible message presented to the driver or adapt the audible message itself. The sound effect may emulate a Doppler sound when the communication unit is about to pass the first vehicle. The sound effect may alter its frequency depending on whether the communication unit is approaching or has passed the first vehicle. The frequency of the Doppler sound may be arranged to be lower when the communication unit is approaching the first vehicle while the frequency shifts to a higher frequency after the communication unit has passed the first vehicle.
According to an embodiment of the invention, the communication system may communicate with a plurality of remotely arranged communication units and the control unit may be configured to assign at least one speaker of the plurality of speakers for each of the communication units based on the spatial relation between said first vehicle and the geographical position coupled to the audible message for each communication unit.
The communication system may further be configured to operate with a plurality of communication units. Furthermore, the communication system may be able to provide simultaneous communication, which means that the plurality of communication units may provide audible messages simultaneously that may be provided to the driver at the same time. An advantage with this embodiment is that by assigning different speakers for each communication unit, while still bearing in mind the spatial relation, the driver may differentiate between each different communication unit due to that sound reaches the driver from different directions depending on the assigned speaker(s).
The plurality of communication units may for example all be arranged behind the first vehicle, which may for example be the case in a convoy of trucks. Then, each communication unit may be assigned to a speaker of the plurality of unassigned speakers configured to provide sound perceived by the driver to originate from behind the same. However, if the plurality of communication units, located behind the first vehicle, outnumbers the plurality of unassigned speakers able to produce sound perceived as coming from behind the driver, a number of the plurality of communication units may share a speaker.
Furthermore, a plurality of speakers may interact to create directional sound in more directions than there are speakers. The driver may perceive the created directional sound, coming from the interacting speakers, as originating from a direction within the vehicle compartment with no speakers. This may enable several audible messages to be distinguished from the direction in which the sound is being presented to the driver based on the geographical position coupled to the audible message, even in the case when the number of speakers is limited to a few speakers and the number of audible messages exceeds the number of speakers.
According to an embodiment of the invention, the communication unit may be comprised in a corresponding communication system arranged in a second vehicle. An advantage with this embodiment is that it may allow the driver to receive information regarding the traffic situation further along the road, when e.g. a second driver drives another vehicle provided with a corresponding communication system on the same road at a distance in front of the driver. The at least one assigned speaker may be altered for received audible messages originating from the same communication unit when, e.g. the communication unit incorporated in the second vehicle passes the first vehicle or otherwise alter its position in relation to the first vehicle such that another speaker of the plurality of speakers is viewed as the most suitable.
According to an embodiment of the invention, the communication system may further comprise a microphone configured to receive a further audible message from the driver, and the control unit may further be configured to transmit the further audible message to the communication unit.
By providing a microphone to the communication system, two-way communication is enabled which allows the driver to contribute with output messages to other communication units. The communication system may of course be able to handle two-way simultaneous communication, which may be interpreted as the possibility for a plurality of bi-directional messages to be transmitted at the same time.
According to an embodiment of the invention, the communication system may comprise a wireless communication device such as a mobile phone for flexible use of a second vehicle configured with a second communication system.
An advantage with this embodiment is that the driver's mobile phone may connect (e.g. “dock”) to the communication system in the vehicle compartment such that the control unit may communicate with the communication units via the mobile phone. The wireless communication device may be for instance be a smart phone, a PC or a hand-held computer adapted for communication over internet, a local area network, VoIP, GSM, 3G or 4G. Furthermore, by being able to dock a wireless communication device in a plurality of communication system, settings determined by the driver may be stored in the wireless communication device so that the settings remain when the driver changes vehicle. The settings may e.g. be a user name to identify the driver to other drivers. The microphone may be arranged in the wireless communication device.
According to an embodiment of the invention, the message from the remotely arranged communication unit may be at least one of a voice message and an audible converted text message.
Accordingly, the message may be a verbal message received from e.g. a person or alternatively the message received by the sound communication system may be a text message, such as a short message service from a mobile phone. The control unit may comprise software able to turn text messages into audio. The voice message and text messages may be transmitted by the control unit using VoIP, GSM, 3G, 4G, a local area network such as WLAN, WI-FI, Ethernet, Bluetooth etc. or any type of communication over the internet that allows voice and/or text message to be transmitted in real-time. The audible converted text message may be converted from text to an audible message prior to the control unit receiving the message. The control unit may further be configured to receive an audible message broadcasted, such as e.g. RDS (Radio Data System) or RBDS (Radio Broadcast Data System) embedding digital information in conventional broadcasts. Typical messages that may be broadcasted are messages concerning the traffic situation, e.g. if a traffic accident has occurred or there is obstruction of traffic.
According to an embodiment of the invention, the received audible message may be a geomessage limited by a validity term assigned to the geomessage. The validity term may comprise a limitation to a geographical area and/or a limitation in time.
The control unit may be configured to receive the geomessage when said first vehicle is within the geographical area during a predetermined time period. An advantage with this embodiment is that the geomessage includes coordinates for the position where the geomessage was transmitted, such that a driver may receive a message when it is relevant for the driver in the first vehicle. A driver may output a geomessage comprising tips, for example at a roadside filling station with moderately priced petrol, such that other drivers may benefit of this information and the knowledge of what direction the roadside filling station is located. A geomessage limited to a predetermined time period should be interpreted as the time period for which the geomessage is valid and the time for which other drivers may receive the geomessage. The predetermined time period may differ depending on the type of message. Geomessages may for example comprise information about road conditions, weather and traffic situation. A further discussion in relation to geomessages will be given below in relation to the detailed description of the invention.
According to an embodiment of the invention, the control unit may comprise an audio gain control configured to control a volume level for each of the plurality of speakers and the control unit may further be configured to adjust the volume level for each of said assigned speakers based on the spatial relation between the geographical position of the communication system (100) and a geographical position coupled to the audible message. The spatial relation may also include the distance between the communication unit or the geographical position coupled to the audible message and the first vehicle. The audible message may be presented to the driver with an adapted volume level of the speaker assigned to provide the audible message to the driver, depending on the distance between the first vehicle and the communication unit, by adjusting the audio gain control. The volume level may be adjusted based on the spatial relation; a lower volume level indicates a communication unit further away from the first vehicle. The driver may further adjust the volume level that may correspond to a distance from the first vehicle. The volume may increase as the communication unit approaches the first vehicle while decreasing it when the communication unit has passed the first vehicle.
According to an embodiment of the invention, the geographical positions coupled to the audible message and the first vehicle may be determined by coordinates provided by means of a tracking system to the control unit. The coordinates provided by the tracking system are coordinates from a geographic coordinate system usually described by longitude and latitude.
According to an embodiment of the invention, the tracking system may be one of a satellite navigation system, a system using triangulation by means of local area networks or a mobile tracking system. The tracking system may be a satellite navigation system, such as a global positioning system using satellites to determine the geographical locations of the communication unit and the first vehicle. Satellite navigation system uses a time difference for a signal to reach different satellites in order to determine the geographical position of an object.
Alternatively, the tracking system may be a mobile tracking system configured to use multilateration of radio signals between a set of base stations and antennas towers and object, being either the vehicle or the communication unit, in order to receive the coordinates.
According to a further aspect of the invention there is provided a method for a communication system arranged of a vehicle compartment and comprising a plurality of speakers spatially distributed apart from each other, the method provided for distributing an audible message to a driver of a first vehicle, the method comprising the steps of receiving the audible message from a communication unit arranged remotely from the first vehicle, determining a spatial relation between the geographical position of the communication system in the first vehicle and a geographical position coupled to the audible message, assigning at least one of the plurality of speakers for generating directional sound towards the driver within the first vehicle compartment, the direction of the sound corresponding to the spatial relation between the communication system in the first vehicle and the geographical position coupled to the audible message, and providing the audible message to the driver from the at least one assigned speaker. Further effects and features of this aspect are largely analogous to those described above in relation to the embodiments of the previous aspect.
According to a still further aspect of the invention there is provided a program product comprising a computer readable medium having stored thereon computer program means for a communication system for a vehicle compartment of a first vehicle, wherein the communication system comprises a plurality of speakers spatially distributed apart from each other configured to provide an audible message to a driver in the first vehicle, wherein the computer program product comprises code for receiving the audible message from a communication unit arranged remotely from the first vehicle, code for determining a spatial relation between the geographical position of the communication system in the first vehicle and a geographical position coupled to the audible message, code for assigning at least one of the plurality of speakers for generating directional sound towards the driver within the first vehicle compartment, the direction of the sound corresponding to the spatial relation between the communication system in the first vehicle and the geographical position coupled to the audible message, and code for providing the audible message to the driver from the at least one assigned speaker. Further effects and features of this aspect are largely analogous to those described above in relation to the embodiments of the previous aspect.
The control unit may preferably be provided in a computer device or similarly, and the computer readable medium may be one of a removable nonvolatile random access memory, a hard disk drive, a floppy disk, a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, a USB memory, an SD memory card, or a similar computer readable medium known in the art. The present invention may be implemented using a combination of software and hardware elements. The control unit has software able to determine, i.e. spatial relation between the vehicle and the communication unit.
The control unit may further comprise information regarding which of the plurality of speakers that may be assigned for a specific spatial relation. This information may be stored in a database. As above, features of this aspect of the invention provide similar advantages as discussed above in relation to the previous aspects of the invention.
Further features of, and advantages with, the present invention will become apparent when studying the appended claims and the following description. The skilled addressee realize that different features of the present invention may be combined to create embodiments other than those described in the following, without departing from the scope of the present invention.
The various aspects of the invention, including its particular features and advantages, will be readily understood from the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings, in which:
The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which currently preferred embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided for thoroughness and completeness, and fully convey the scope of the invention to the skilled addressee. Like reference characters refer to like elements throughout.
Moreover, the communication transmitted between the vehicles 102, 104, 106, 108, 110 may be transmitted by transmitting means using VoIP, GSM, 3G, 4G or any type of communication over the internet 106 that allows voice and/or text to be transmitted. Further the communication may for example be transferred over internet or local area networks such as WLAN, WI-FI, Ethernet, Bluetooth,
In the example the five vehicles are all located in California along CA99, CA101 and Interstate 5. The geographical position of the first truck 102, illustrated in the center of
The second truck 104 is located on CA 99 outside Madera with coordinates latitude 36.952087 and longitude −120.047607. The first tractor unit 106 is located on Ca 99 outside Visalia with coordinates latitude 36.362140 and longitude −119.429626. The car 108 is located one CA101 outside Santa Maria with coordinates latitude 34.934356 and longitude −120.417023. Finally the second tractor unit 110 is located on CA101 outside King City with the coordinates latitude 36.202451 and longitude −121.119461. If the first truck 102 is chosen as a reference point, the second truck 104 is located to the north, the first tractor unit 106 located to the east, the car 108 located to the south and the second tractor unit 110 located to the west. The geographical position of the server 112 and database 114 is not relevant for the inventive concept. For convenience, below, the first truck 102 will be written as the “first vehicle 102”.
Obviously, the selected types of vehicles are merely examples, and each vehicle may be any type of vehicle without departing from the inventive concept.
However, the number and the positions of the speakers 202a-d, 204a-d in the vehicle compartment are merely examples, and another number of speakers and other positions may equally well be possible without departing from the inventive concept. Though, the speakers may preferably be distributed around the seat of the driver 210 to enable the driver to distinguish between the sound directions of two speakers assigned to provide different audible messages, such as the each of four speakers 202a-d arranged along one side of the vehicle compartment.
The geographical position of the communication units configured in the truck 104, the two tractor units 106, 110 and in a car 108, in
The communication system may further comprise a wireless communication device 206, such as a smart phone, the wireless communication device is connected to the communication system through a docking station. However, the wireless communication device 206 may equally well be a computer or a hand-hold computer. In future reference the communication device will be referred to as a “smart phone 206”.
By being able to remove the smart phone 206 from the communication system, the communication system may increase its flexibility, the smart phone 206 may be able to store settings specific to the driver such that when changing vehicle the specific setting may still remain in the new communication system. Otherwise, when not connected to the communication system, the smart phone 206 may be utilized as the driver's mobile phone. As an optional feature of the communication system, the communication system may include a microphone enabling the driver to output a further message as an audible message. The control unit may transfer the message recorded by the microphone to the remotely arranged communication units 104, 106, 108, 110. When utilizing a smart phone 206 in the communication system the microphone is integrated in the smart phone 206.
In
The first step S1 is receiving an audible message in the first vehicle 102 from a communication unit. The communication units may be any one of the other trucks and vehicles 104, 106, 108, 110 illustrated in
Moreover,
Further, the flow chart in
The step S3 of assigning a speaker for generating directional sound within the vehicle compartment relating to the spatial relation for both the case with and without the geographical vector may be achieved by means of integrated software in the control unit or from accessing software from an external source via e.g. internet.
The final step S4 is to provide the audible message to the driver from the at least one assigned speaker. Otherwise, if the received audible message is an audio message, the message is simply transferred to the driver from the assigned speaker(s). The driver in the vehicle compartment may instantaneously perceive the spatial relation of the communication units depending on from which of the speakers the audible message is outputted. Moreover, the audio gain may further be adjusted to indicate the distance of the communication unit to the first vehicle. The volume level may be increased or decreased to correspond to a distance from the first vehicle 102. For instance, when the first vehicle is in communication with the communication units, being the second truck 104 and the car 108, the audible message from the car 108 may be provided with a lower volume than the message from the second truck. The volume may be adjusted to indicate, to the driver, that the car 08 is further away compared to the second truck 104.
The volume may also be adjusted based on the distance, such that a distance range corresponds to a specific volume level.
Obviously this map is a mock-up and in other embodiments there are also other objects on the map, such as other buildings, rivers, airports etc. Each geomessage 401a, 401b, 401c has a geographical position 402a, 402b, 403. In two of the cases the geographical position 402a, 402c are specific points, meanwhile the third geographical position 402b is a geographical region. Further, each geomessage 401a, 401b, 401c is associated with an event 403a, 403b, 403c. In the map as shown in
Finally, each geomessage 401a, 401b, 401c is associated with a rating 405a, indicated by a number of stars. The step of determining a rating level for the geomessage is an optional application for the receiver of the geomessage. The overall purpose of having a rating of the geomessage 401 is to increase the probability of relevance of a geomessage 401 for a receiver.
For example, a generated geomessage 401 regarding a traffic situation or a weather condition such a rain that causes the windscreen wiper to activate may have a predetermined time period of 15 minutes. This is further an example of a geomessage 401 that may be automatically created by a certain event, in this case the activation of wipers. However, geomessages 401 may also be manually posted by the driver to share tips with other drivers.
Even though the invention has been described with reference to specific exemplifying embodiments thereof, many different alterations, modifications and the like will become apparent for those skilled in the art. Variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by the skilled addressee in practicing the claimed invention, from a study of the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims. For example, the invention has mainly been described above with reference to a few embodiments. However, as is readily appreciated by the skilled addressee, other embodiments than the ones disclosed above are equally possible within the scope of the invention, as defined by the appended patent claims. For example, the invention is also applicable for trucks, buses, dumpers, wheel loaders and other type of vehicles than the above described car.
In the claims, the word “comprises” does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article “a” or “an” does not exclude a plurality. A single computer or other unit may fulfill the functions of several items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measured cannot be used to advantage.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2012/003639 | 8/30/2012 | WO | 00 | 1/26/2015 |
