During police pursuit of a suspect in a vehicle, a suspect may stop his or her vehicle and/or flee on foot. In such situations, it may be difficult for police personnel to determine a direction in which the suspect flees due to low visibility (e.g. low light conditions, dust from the stopping vehicle, etc.).
With reference to
As illustrated in
As stated above, a vehicle 101 includes a vehicle computer 105. The vehicle 101 is generally a land-based vehicle having three or more wheels, e.g., a passenger car, light truck, etc. The computer 105 generally includes a processor and a memory, the memory including one or more forms of computer-readable media, and storing instructions executable by the processor for performing various operations, including as disclosed herein. Further, the computer 105 may include and/or be communicatively coupled to more than one computing device, e.g., controllers or the like included in the vehicle 101 for monitoring and/or controlling various vehicle components, e.g., an engine control unit, transmission control unit, etc. The computer 105 is generally configured for communications on a controller area network (CAN) bus or the like. Further, such computer 105 may include and/or be communicatively coupled to more than one computing device, e.g., controllers or the like included in the vehicle 101 for monitoring and/or controlling various vehicle components, e.g., an engine control unit, transmission control unit, etc. The computer 105 may also have a connection to an onboard diagnostics connector (OBD-II), and or other digital communications mechanisms
Via the CAN bus, OBD-II, and/or other wired or wireless mechanisms, the computer 105 may transmit messages to various devices in a vehicle and/or receive messages from the various devices, e.g., controllers, actuators, sensors, etc., including data collectors 110. Alternatively or additionally, in cases where the computer 105 actually comprises multiple devices, the CAN bus or the like may be used for communications between devices represented as the computer 105 in this disclosure. In addition, the computer 105 may be configured for communicating with other devices via various wired and/or wireless networking technologies, e.g., cellular, Bluetooth, a universal serial bus (USB), wired and/or wireless packet networks, etc.
Data collectors 110 may include a variety of devices. For example, as illustrated in
Further, the foregoing examples are not intended to be limiting; other types of data collectors 110 could be used to provide data 115 to the computer 105. For example, various controllers in a vehicle 101 may operate as data collectors 110 to provide data 115 via the CAN bus, e.g., data 115 relating to vehicle 101 speed, acceleration, etc. Further, sensors or the like, global positioning system (GPS) equipment, etc., could be included in a vehicle 101 and configured as data collectors 110 to provide data directly to the computer 105, e.g., via a wired or wireless connection. Accordingly, vehicle 101 equipment and/or components may be controlled based upon operating conditions defined by vehicle 101 CAN bus 110 communications and or the like.
A memory of the computer 105 generally stores collected data 115. Collected data 115 may include a variety of data collected in a vehicle 101. Examples of collected data 115 may include measurements relating to a position, velocity, and size (e.g., length, width, height, radar cross section) of target(s) such as a suspect in or near a detection zone 200. Data 115 may additionally include data calculated therefrom in the computer 105. In general, collected data 115 may include any data that may be gathered by a collection device 110 and/or computed from such data.
The vehicle 101 generally includes a human machine interface (HMI) 120. In general, the HMI 120 is equipped to accept inputs for, and/or provide outputs from, the computer 105. For example, the vehicle 101 may include one or more of a display configured to provide a graphical user interface (GUI) or the like, an interactive voice response (IVR) system, audio output devices, mechanisms for providing haptic output, e.g., via a vehicle 101 steering wheel or seat, etc. Further, a user device, e.g., a portable computing device such as a tablet computer, a wearable device, a smart phone, or the like, may be used to provide some or all of an HMI 120 to a computer 105. For example, a user device could be connected to the computer 105 using technologies discussed above, e.g., USB, Bluetooth, etc., and could be used to accept inputs for and/or provide outputs from the computer 105.
Exemplary operations of the computer 105, e.g., collecting and/or using data 115, may include some of all of the following:
The process 300 begins in a block 305, in which suspect monitoring, e.g., location detection and/or tracking is initiated. For example, as noted above, such a process 300 could be initiated when vehicle 101 emergency lights and/or sirens are activated. Alternatively or additionally, by way of further example, the computer 105 could be configured to initiate the process 300 on receiving a user input.
Next, in a block 310, the computer 105 obtains and/or generates collected data 115. For example, collected data 115 may be obtained from one or more data collectors 110, as explained above. Further, collected data 115 may be computed from other data 115 as explained above, obtained directly from a data collector 110. In any event, in the block 310, collected data 115 obtained by the computer 105 may include data 115 such as described above.
Following the block 310, in a block 315, the computer 105 generates, or in the case of a second or later iteration of the process 300, updates, a virtual map, discussed further below with respect to the block 315, of the vehicle 101 surroundings. For example, a map update may be performed substantially continuously, e.g., after a predetermined amount of time, e.g., 100 milliseconds, has elapsed since the virtual map was last updated, or, an amount of time that data 115 has been collected, in the case of a first iteration of the process 300. The virtual map may store a vehicle 101 location, a vehicle 101 speed, an orientation of the vehicle 101 and/or certain vehicle 101 components, e.g., an orientation of vehicle 101 wheels, as well as a vehicle 102 location, a location of a suspect and/or other targets, as well as “breadcrumbs” or the like indicating movement of the suspect and/or other targets.
A virtual map of the vehicle 101 surroundings such as is generated or updated in the block 315 generally includes a three-dimensional coordinate system having an origin located with reference to the vehicle 101, e.g., at an intersection of horizontal, longitudinal, and vertical axes of the vehicle 101. Further, the virtual map generally includes an identification and location of objects, e.g., the vehicles 101, 102, possibly other vehicles, bicycles, pedestrians, etc.
Data 115 from different data collectors 110 may be used by itself or in combination with data from other types of data collectors 110. For example, data 115 from one or more sensors 110 may be used in combination with data 115 from other data collectors 110, e.g. image data 115 from a vehicle 101 camera 110 could be used with radar data 115, lidar data 115, etc. For example, radar data 115 could indicate a likely presence of an object with respect to a vehicle 101, whereupon image data 115 could be used, based on image recognition techniques, to confirm and/or augment identification of the object.
Following the block 315, in a block 320, the computer 105 generates and/or updates the a display in the HMI 120 based on collected data 115 and/or the virtual map. For example, a location of a suspect and/or other target objects could be indicated and/or updated.
Following the block 320, in a block 325, the computer 105 determines whether collected data 115, including the virtual map, provide a basis for an alert or action. For example, as mentioned above, the computer 105 could be configured to automatically direct vehicle 101 lights, to provide an audio and/or visual alert on certain trigger events, etc. If the computer 105 is not configured to provide alerts and/or take actions, or if none is warranted, the block 320 may be omitted.
Following the block 325, in a block 530, the computer 105 determines whether the process 300 should continue. For example, if the computer 105 is powered off, an operator has provided input to cease collecting data 115 and/or to cease vehicle 101 operations, etc., the process 300 may end. If such determination is not made, the process 300 returns to the block 310.
(The term “police” as used herein may refer to various public and/or private law enforcement and/or security operations, in addition to referring to a formal police department.)
Computing devices such as those discussed herein, e.g., the computer 105, generally each include instructions executable by one or more computing devices such as those identified above, and for carrying out blocks or steps of processes described above. For example, process blocks discussed above may be embodied as computer-executable instructions.
Computer-executable instructions may be compiled or interpreted from computer programs created using a variety of programming languages and/or technologies, including, without limitation, and either alone or in combination, Java™, C, C++, Visual Basic, Java Script, Perl, HTML, etc. In general, a processor (e.g., a microprocessor) receives instructions, e.g., from a memory, a computer-readable medium, etc., and executes these instructions, thereby performing one or more processes, including one or more of the processes described herein. Such instructions and other data may be stored and transmitted using a variety of computer-readable media. A file in a computing device is generally a collection of data stored on a computer readable medium, such as a storage medium, a random access memory, etc.
A computer-readable medium includes any medium that participates in providing data (e.g., instructions), which may be read by a computer. Such a medium may take many forms, including, but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, etc. Non-volatile media include, for example, optical or magnetic disks and other persistent memory. Volatile media include dynamic random access memory (DRAM), which typically constitutes a main memory. Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, DVD, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EEPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, or any other medium from which a computer can read.
In the drawings, the same reference numbers indicate the same elements. Further, some or all of these elements could be changed. With regard to the media, processes, systems, methods, etc. described herein, it should be understood that, although the steps of such processes, etc. have been described as occurring according to a certain ordered sequence, such processes could be practiced with the described steps performed in an order other than the order described herein. It further should be understood that certain steps could be performed simultaneously, that other steps could be added, or that certain steps described herein could be omitted. In other words, the descriptions of processes herein are provided for the purpose of illustrating certain embodiments, and should in no way be construed so as to limit the claimed invention.
Accordingly, it is to be understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative and not restrictive. Many embodiments and applications other than the examples provided would be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reading the above description. The scope of the invention should be determined, not with reference to the above description, but should instead be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. It is anticipated and intended that future developments will occur in the arts discussed herein, and that the disclosed systems and methods will be incorporated into such future embodiments. In sum, it should be understood that the invention is capable of modification and variation and is limited only by the following claims.
All terms used in the claims are intended to be given their plain and ordinary meanings as understood by those skilled in the art unless an explicit indication to the contrary in made herein. In particular, use of the singular articles such as “a,” “the,” “said,” etc. should be read to recite one or more of the indicated elements unless a claim recites an explicit limitation to the contrary.
This application claims priority to Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/969,122 filed Mar. 22, 2014 entitled “Tracking a Suspect From a Vehicle”; Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/969,123 filed Mar. 22, 2014 entitled “Approach Warning for a Police Vehicle”; and Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/969,124 filed Mar. 22, 2014 entitled “Approach Warning for a Police Vehicle” and Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/969,126 filed Mar. 22, 2014 entitled “Emergency Vehicle Maneuver Notification”, each of which provisional applications are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their respective entireties.
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
61969122 | Mar 2014 | US | |
61969123 | Mar 2014 | US | |
61969124 | Mar 2014 | US | |
61969126 | Mar 2014 | US |