FORM 2
THE PATENTS ACT 1970
[39 OF 1970]
AND
THE PATENTS RULES, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION (See section 10; Rule 13)
TITLE OF THE INVENTION
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROCESSING HONKING SOUND TO PROVIDE DRIVER ASSISTANCE
APPLICANT(S)
TATA MOTORS LIMITED
An Indian Company
Bombay House, 24 Homi Mody Street,
Hutatma Chowk, Mumbai 400 001,
Maharashtra, India;
PREAMBLE TO THE DESCRIPTION
The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to honking sound detection in vehicles, and more specifically, related to the system and method for processing honking sound to provide driver assistance.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Various sounds may be produced around a travelling vehicle such as horn sounds or siren sounds. Users may use audio devices inside the vehicle to enjoy good sound quality music. Examples of audio devices include DVD, CD players, MP-3 Player, car audio systems. This may result in cabin isolation of the vehicle for sound may become better and better. With improved cabin sealing, music playing inside the vehicle and weather conditions example heavy rain, it may be difficult to perceive the honking of rear cars at high speeds. During traffic, the honking of multiple vehicles may confuse the driver regarding the direction of the honking sound. This may result in hurriedness in the driver that may cause fatal accidents irrespective of the speed of the vehicle.
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
[0003] The object of the present invention is to provide a system for processing honking sound to provide driver assistance.
[0004] Further object of the present invention is to provide an activation/deactivation system to activate or deactivate the system for processing honking sound to provide driver assistance.

[0005] Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for processing honking sound to provide driver assistance.
[0006] Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method of activating/de-activating the system for processing honking sound to provide driver assistance.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] A system for processing honking sound to provide driver assistance implemented in a vehicle comprises a plurality of array of microphones. The plurality of array of microphones positioned on left and right side at the rear end of the vehicle. The plurality of array of microphones detect sound external to vehicle. The detected sound is sampled and directed to a microcontroller. The microcontroller processes the received sampled sound to identify the honking sound. Based on the processed and identified honking sound the microcontroller notifies the driver or user in the vehicle by means of a notification panel about the honking sound. The microcontroller notifies the driver or user in the vehicle about the direction from where the honking sound is originated, such as the honking sound is originated from left side of the vehicle or right side of the vehicle or behind the vehicle.
[0008] A method for processing honking sound to provide driver assistance implemented in a vehicle comprising, detecting sound by means of the plurality of arrays of microphones. Amplifying, converting analogue to digital and sampling the detected sound. Processing the sampled sound to identify the honking sound by means of the microcontroller, and notifying the driver or the user in the vehicle about the honking sound and direction of the honking sound from where the honking sound is originated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0009] The features, aspects, and advantages of the subject matter will be better understood with regard to the following description, and accompanying figures. The use of the same reference number in different figures indicates similar or identical features and components.
[0010] Figure 1 schematically illustrates system for processing honking sound to provide driver assistance.
[0011] Figure 2 shows the flowchart of method for processing honking sound to provide driver assistance.
[0012] Figure 3 schematically illustrates an activation/deactivation system for activating or deactivating the system for processing honking sound to provide driver assistance.
[0013] Figure 4 shows the flowchart of method for activating/deactivating the system for processing honking sound to provide driver assistance.
[0014] Figure 5 schematically illustrates the positioning of the microphone and cameras to provide assistance to a driver, according to an implementation of the present subject matter.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0015] The present subject matter relates to a system and method for processing the honking sound to provide assistance to a driver.

[0016] The implementations herein and the various features and advantageous details thereof are explained more fully with reference to the non-limiting implementations that are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and detailed in the following description. It should be understood, however, that the following descriptions, while indicating preferred implementations and numerous specific details thereof, are given by way of illustration and not of limitation. Many changes and modifications may be made within the scope of the implementations herein without departing from the spirit thereof, and the implementations herein include all such modifications. The examples used herein are intended merely to facilitate an understanding of ways in which the implementations herein can be practiced and to further enable those skilled in the art to practice the implementations herein. Accordingly, the examples should not be construed as limiting the scope of the implementations herein.
[0017] Descriptions of well-known components and processing techniques are omitted so as to not unnecessarily obscure the implementations herein. Also, the various implementations described herein are not necessarily mutually exclusive, as some implementations can be combined with one or more other implementations to form new implementations.
[0018] Referring now to the drawings, where similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the figures, there are shown preferred implementations. Further, for the sake of simplicity, and without limitation, the same numbers are used throughout the drawings to reference like features and components. The implementations herein will be better understood from the following description with reference to the drawings.

[0019] Referring to Fig. 1 to 5 schematically illustrate various exemplary components or systems of a vehicle, according to an implementation of the present subject matter. The system for processing honking sound may be implemented in a vehicle (hereinafter referred as ‘the system’). The vehicle may be, for example, a passenger vehicle or a commercial vehicle.
[0020] A vehicle as shown in figure 5 may inform the driver thereof information of specific sound, for example, honking sound produced around vehicle and in which direction the sound is produced, in a travelling vehicle.
[0021] The system for processing honking sound to provide driver assistance (100) implemented in a vehicle comprises a plurality of array of microphones (101). The plurality of array of microphones (101) positioned on left and right side at the rear end of the vehicle. The plurality of array of microphones (101) can be positioned externally on left and right side at the rear end of the vehicle. One of the array of microphone (101) is positioned at the left side and another array of microphone (101) is positioned at the right side of the vehicle. The plurality of array of microphones (101) detect sound external to vehicle. A sampling unit (102) amplify, convert analogue to digital and sample the detected sound, and directs it to a microcontroller (103). The microcontroller (103) processes the received sampled sound to identify the honking sound. Based on the processed and identified honking sound the microcontroller (103) notifies the driver or user in the vehicle by means of a notification panel (104) about the honking sound. The microcontroller (103) notifies the driver or user in the vehicle about the direction from where the honking sound is originated,

such as the honking sound is originated from left (L) side of the vehicle or right side (R) of the vehicle or behind the vehicle (M).
[0022] Furthermore, to prevent other noises external to the vehicle, the microcontroller (103) is equipped with a filters. The filters filter out the noises and allows the sound, which is honking sound having a frequency range of 200-500 Hz and an amplitude level of 93-112 dB.
[0023] When the honking sound is identified a rearview camera (105) externally positioned at the rear end of the vehicle to communicate the size and type of the vehicle to the driver or user in the vehicle by means of the notification panel (104). While notifying the driver or user in the vehicle, for enhanced notification, volume of a music/entertainment system (106), if playing any music, is decreased.
[0024] The system (100) further comprises an activation/de-activation system (200) to activate or deactivate the system (100). The activation/de-activation system (200) comprises a speed sensor (201) to sense the speed of the vehicle, and a navigation system (202) to indicate the vehicle is on highway or not. The activation/de-activation system (200) activates the system (100) when the speed sensor (201) indicate vehicle speed is above pre-determined speed and/or a navigation system (202) indicate that vehicle is on highway. Likewise, the activation/de-activation system (200) deactivates the system (100) when the speed sensor (201) indicate vehicle speed is below pre¬determined speed and/or a navigation system (202) indicate that vehicle is not on highway.
[0025] The predetermined speed can be 40 Kmph to 120 Kmph. The navigation system can be Google Maps or any such navigation system.

[0026] A method for processing honking sound to provide driver assistance implemented in a vehicle comprising, detecting sound by means of the plurality of arrays of microphones (101). Amplifying, converting analogue to digital and sampling the detected sound by means of the sampling unit (102). Processing the sampled sound to identify the honking sound by means of the microcontroller (103), and notifying the driver or the user in the vehicle about the honking sound and direction of the honking sound by means of a notification panel (104).
[0027] Activating the camera (105) to communicate the size or type of the honking vehicle behind the vehicle after identifying the honking sound. For enhanced notification to the driver or user in the vehicle, decreasing the volume of the music/entertainment system (106) in the vehicle cabin, if playing any music system.
[0028] The notification panel (104), notifying a left side indication (L) when sound level from the array of microphones (101) positioned on left side of the vehicle is more than the sound level from array of microphones (101) positioned on right side of the vehicle; or notifying a right side indication (R) when sound level from the array of microphones (101) positioned on right side of the vehicle is more than the sound level from array of microphones (101) positioned on left side of the vehicle; or notifying a center indication (M) when sound level from the array of microphones (101) positioned on left side of the vehicle is similar to the sound level from array of microphones (101) positioned on right side of the vehicle.
[0029] In an exemplified embodiment the vehicle may include the plurality of array of microphones (101), preferably two array of microphones (101) capable of detecting external sound of the vehicle. The system

(100) is capable of generating information about honking sound based on the information detected by the array of microphones (101) and switches on the camera (105). The two array of microphones (101) may be referred as LH and RH microphones (101) to detect the sound produced from left side of the vehicle and right side of the vehicle. The array of microphones (101) detect the honking sound produced behind the vehicle and alert the driver about presence and direction of the vehicle. The sound detected by the microphones (101) is sampled by means of a sampling unit (201). The sampling unit (201) amplifies, converts the analogue sound into digital signal and samples the digital signals.
[0030] The installation location of the array of microphones (101) and rear camera (102) may not be limited to the example illustrated in the figure 5. The array of microphones (101) may be installed on rear side of the vehicle on two extreme sides.
[0031] The array of microphones (101) may continuously monitor the sound signals around the vehicles. A microcontroller (103) configured in the system may determine honking sound from the collected sound signal information, based on characteristic frequency range and amplitude level of the detected sound signal. The system (100) may identify the sound as honking sound if the sound signal may be detected by an array of microphones (101) with a frequency range of 200-500 Hz and an amplitude level of 93-112 dB by means of a filters.
[0032] A microcontroller (103) may be configured to process the honking sound information detected by the array of microphones (101). Further, after identification of the honking sound, a rearview camera (105) may get activated to provide information on size and type of a

rear vehicle that may produce the honking sound. The microcontroller
(103) compares the sampled sound received from the LH and RH array
of the microphones (101) and information received from the rearview
camera (102) to detect the location of the rear vehicle.
[0033] The microcontroller (102) compare the RH and LH side microphones (101) horn noise levels. If the microphone (101) on the left side measures a higher sound/noise level, the notification panel (104) may indicate the honking vehicle is on the left side (L) of the vehicle. If the microphone (101) on the left side and right side measures the similar sound/noise level, the notification panel (104) may indicate the honking vehicle is behind the vehicle. If the microphone (101) on the right side measures a higher sound/noise level, the notification panel
(104) may indicate the honking vehicle is on the right side (R) of the
vehicle. The system (100) may provide an alert about the rear vehicle
through notification panel (104) to provide assistance.
[0034] In an implementation, the system (301) turns ON the rear camera (102) after the identification of horn signals. The system may display the rear vehicle (S3) and may decrease the volume of the music system if any music system plays music (S4).
[0035] The system (100) may further include an activation/ system (200). In the city, the vehicle travels at a lower speed and there may be multiple vehicles honking around it. In such conditions, the driver may not require to alert for every honking. Thus the system (100) may be activated preferably on highways. Highway driving may be identified in various ways and not limited to, for example, if the speed sensor (202) indicate vehicle speed is more than 60 Kmph or the identification of highway on the navigation system (202).

[0036] In another exemplified embodiment, the activation/deactivation system (200) may activate when the speed sensor (201) indicate vehicle’s speed reaches 60 kmph or more for at least 30 seconds or identification of highway road in navigation system (202). If the speed sensor (201) indicate vehicle speed is below 60kmph for at least 30 Sec, the activation/deactivation system (200) may not consider the highway or may not activate.
[0037] The foregoing description of the specific implementations will so fully reveal the general nature of the implementations herein that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily modify and/or adapt for various applications without departing from the generic concept, and, therefore, such modifications and adaptations should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalents of the disclosed implementations. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. Therefore, while the implementations herein have been described in terms of preferred implementations, those skilled in the art will recognize that the implementations herein can be practiced with modification within the spirit and scope of the implementations as described herein.

WE CLAIM:
1. A system for processing honking sound to provide driver assistance
(100) implemented in a vehicle comprises,
a. a plurality of array of microphones (101) positioned on left side
and right side at rear of the vehicle to collect sound;
b. a sampling unit (102) to amplify, convert analogue to digital and
sample the detected sound;
c. a microcontroller (103), said microcontroller (103) receives
sampled sound from the sampling unit (102), said
microcontroller processes the received sound to identify the
honking sound; and
d. a notification panel (104) positioned in a driver’s cabin, said
notification panel notifies the driver based on the signals from
microcontroller (103) about the direction of honking sound (L,
R, M).
2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the microcontroller (103) having a filters, said filters identifies honking sound with a frequency range of 200-500 Hz and an amplitude level of 93-112 dB and allows it to be processed by the microcontroller (103).
3. The system as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein after identification of honking sound by the microcontroller (103), the microcontroller (103) in communication with a rearview camera (105), and said rearview camera (105) positioned on the rear of the vehicle is activated.
4. The system as claimed in claim 3, wherein the rearview camera (105) communicate a size and/or a type of a honking vehicle from behind the

vehicle to the driver or user in the vehicle by means of the notification panel (104).
5. The system as claimed in any of the claims 1 to 4, wherein the microcontroller (103) while processing the sound from the plurality array of microphones (101), compares the sound level from the array of microphones (101) positioned on left side of the vehicle with the sound level from the array of microphones (101) positioned on right side of the vehicle.
6. The system as claimed in any of the claims 1 to 5, wherein the notification panel (104) indicates,
a. a left side indication (L), when sound level from the array of
microphones (101) positioned on left side of the vehicle is more
than the sound level from array of microphones (101)
positioned on right side of the vehicle; or
b. a right side indication (R), when sound level from the array of
microphones (101) positioned on right side of the vehicle is
more than the sound level from array of microphones (101)
positioned on left side of the vehicle; or
c. a center indication (M), when sound level from the array of
microphones (101) positioned on left side of the vehicle is
similar to the sound level from array of microphones (101)
positioned on right side of the vehicle.
7. The system as claimed in any of the claims 1 to 6, wherein the
microcontroller (103) decreases the volume of a music/entertainment
system (106) for enhanced notification.

8. The system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising an activation/de-
activation system (200) to activate or deactivate the system (100), said
activation/de-activation system comprises a speed sensor (201) to
measure the vehicle, and a navigation system (202), the activation/de-
activation system (200),
a. activates the system (100) when the speed sensor (201)
indicates vehicle speed above pre-determined speed or a
navigation system (202) indicates that vehicle is on highway, or
b. deactivates the system (100) when the speed sensor (201)
indicates vehicle speed is below pre-determined speed or a
navigation system (202) indicate that vehicle is not on highway.
9. The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the pre-determined speed can be in range of 40 kmph to 120 kmph.
10. A method for processing honking sound to provide driver assistance implemented in a vehicle, comprising
a. detecting sound by means of a plurality of arrays of
microphones (101) positioned on the left and right side of the
vehicle;
b. amplifying, converting from analogue to digital and sampling
the detected sound by means of a sampling unit (102);
c. processing the sampled sound to identify the honking sound by
means of a microcontroller (103); and
d. notifying the driver or user in the vehicle by means of a
notification panel (104) about the direction of honking sound
based on the processed sound by the microcontroller (103).

11. The method as claimed in claim 10, the microcontroller (103) comprises a filters, said filters aids in identifying the honking sound by allowing the sound with a frequency range of 200-500 Hz and an amplitude level of 93-112 dB.
12. The method as claimed in claim 10 or claim 11, wherein upon identifying the honking sound, activating a rearview camera (105) positioned on the rear of the vehicle to communicate a size and/or a type of a honking vehicle from behind the vehicle to the microcontroller (103).
13. The method as claimed in claim 10 or 11, wherein the step of notifying the driver or user in the vehicle comprises,
a. notifying a left side indication (L) when sound level from the
array of microphones (101) positioned on left side of the vehicle
is more than the sound level from array of microphones (101)
positioned on right side of the vehicle; or
b. notifying a right side indication (R) when sound level from the
array of microphones (101) positioned on right side of the
vehicle is more than the sound level from array of microphones
(101) positioned on left side of the vehicle; or
c. notifying a center indication (M) when sound level from the
array of microphones (101) positioned on left side of the vehicle
is similar to the sound level from array of microphones (101)
positioned on right side of the vehicle.
14. The method as claimed in any of claims 10 to 13, further comprising
decreasing volume of a music/entertainment system (106) in the
vehicle cabin for enhanced notification of the honking sound to the
driver or user in the vehicle.

15. The method as claimed in any of claims 10 to 14, further comprising, activating a system (100) by means of an activation/de-activation system (201) when a speed sensor (201) indicate vehicle speed is above pre-determined speed or the navigation system (202) indicate that vehicle is on highway.
16. The method as claimed in any of claims 10 to 14, further comprising, deactivating the system (100) by means of the activation/deactivation system (200) when the speed sensor (201) indicate vehicle speed is below pre-determined speed or the navigation system (202) indicate that vehicle is not on highway (OP4).
17. The method as claimed in claim 15 and 16, wherein the pre-determined speed can be in range of 40 kmph to 120 kmph.