DESC:CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is based on and derives the benefit of Indian Provisional Application 201641025418, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[001] Embodiments herein relate to safety systems in vehicles and more particularly to providing alerts about approaching alerts to a user of a vehicle.
BACKGROUND
[002] The problem of noise isolation inside a vehicle cabin primarily focuses on isolating the driver and passengers seated inside the vehicle from engine noise and acoustic disturbances outside the vehicle. There are also an increasing number of features/accessories present in the vehicle, which can serve as distraction(s) to the driver and passengers inside the vehicle, while the vehicle is being operated. For example, the driver can switch on the air conditioning and music system, which further isolates them from the external environment with the rear view mirrors serving as the only link with the outside traffic while driving. This poses a serious threat in situations when the driver is unable to listen to other vehicles possibly trying to overtake, which can prove fatal especially in the highways or while maneuvering sharp turns.
[003] A current solution discloses a warning system that alerts motorists and pedestrians of the approaching emergency vehicles. The system uses devices mounted on the emergency vehicles and stationary or portable devices. The stationary devices are mounted along the roads and each includes a receiver, a processor and a warning signal. The portable or wearable receivers are mounted inside the vehicles or carried by pedestrians. This solution requires installation of equipment on the vehicles, as well as modification of the civic infrastructure. This may not be easily implementable, in terms of cost and feasibility.
[004] Another existing solution discloses a vehicle warning system comprising encoders-transmitters and corresponding receiver-decoder-alert subsystems in vehicles. Transmitted signals carry warning information to receiving vehicles, preferably including closing velocity and encoded identification of the transmitting vehicles. The warning information may also include estimates of the speed of the transmitting vehicle and of the apparent bearing of the transmitting vehicle relative to each respective receiving vehicle. This solution requires the devices to be present in both the vehicles and does not work if only one of the vehicles (either the receiving or the transmitting vehicle) has the system present.
[005] The existing technologies use complex methodologies, which may not be cost-effective and easily implementable.

OBJECTS
[006] The principal object of embodiments herein is to disclose methods and systems for providing an alert about at least one approaching vehicle to a driver and/or passenger present in a vehicle.
[007] These and other aspects of the embodiments herein will be better appreciated and understood when considered in conjunction with the following description and the accompanying drawings. It should be understood, however, that the following descriptions, while indicating at least one embodiment 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 embodiments herein without departing from the spirit thereof, and the embodiments herein include all such modifications.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES
[008] Embodiments herein are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, through out which like reference letters indicate corresponding parts in the various figures. The embodiments herein will be better understood from the following description with reference to the drawings, in which:
[009] FIG. 1 depicts a system for providing an alert about at least one approaching vehicle to a driver and/or passenger present in a vehicle, according to embodiments as disclosed herein;
[0010] FIG. 2 depicts an example of the system for providing an alert about at least one approaching vehicle to a driver and/or passenger present in a vehicle, according to embodiments as disclosed herein; and
[0011] FIG. 3 is a flowchart depicting a process for providing an alert about at least one approaching vehicle to a driver and/or passenger present in a vehicle, according to embodiments as disclosed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0012] The embodiments herein and the various features and advantageous details thereof are explained more fully with reference to the non-limiting embodiments that are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and detailed in the following description. Descriptions of well-known components and processing techniques are omitted so as to not unnecessarily obscure the embodiments herein. The examples used herein are intended merely to facilitate an understanding of ways in which the embodiments herein may be practiced and to further enable those of skill in the art to practice the embodiments herein. Accordingly, the examples should not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments herein.
[0013] The embodiments herein disclose methods and systems for providing an alert about at least one approaching vehicle to a driver and/or passenger present in a vehicle. Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGS. 1 through 3, where similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the figures, there are shown embodiments.
[0014] Embodiments herein disclose methods and systems for indicating the velocity and the direction of at least one approaching vehicle, which therefore minimizes the possibility of an accident by keeping the driver informed about his surroundings. Embodiments herein couple ‘direction’ data and ‘speed’ data about approaching vehicles to map the surrounding vehicular environment, hereby providing a complete picture of the external vehicular environment to the occupants inside the vehicle.
[0015] Embodiments herein use a plurality of microphones placed at pre-determined locations on the body of the vehicle, such that the microphones can pick up sounds from the exterior of the vehicle and the microphones in combination can pick up sounds from all angles and positions around the vehicle. Based on the inputs from the microphones, the driver is provided with an alert about approaching vehicles.
[0016] FIG. 1 depicts a system for providing an alert about at least one approaching vehicle to a driver and/or passenger present in a vehicle. The vehicle 100 has been divided into a plurality of virtual zones, with at least one microphone 102 fitted in each zone. Each of the microphones is connected to a control unit 101. The control unit 101 can process the signals received from the microphones 102. The control unit 101 can filter out the ambient noise to phase out the acoustic disturbances and to process the standard audio frequencies (such as horn frequencies, engine noise, wind noise, and so on) by identifying the signature decibel levels for different vehicles. When a vehicle is approaching due to a relative velocity between the source (approaching vehicle in this case) and the microphones there will be a shift in the frequency of the horn of the incoming vehicle as perceived by the microphones (Doppler Effect). The Doppler effect enables the control unit 101 to calculate the relative velocity between the source (the approaching vehicle) and the observer (the vehicle). The control unit 101 can calculate their shift using a frequency transform of the dominant frequencies. The control unit 101 can use this shift to determine the velocity of the incoming vehicle by using Doppler shift.
[0017] On detecting an incoming vehicle, the control unit 101 can provide an alert to the driver and/or passenger of the vehicle. The alert can be provided to the driver and/or passenger using at least one of a visual, or auditory means on any suitable interior means such as the infotainment system, a standalone alerting system/indicator, the speakers, vibrating means, haptic sensors, and so on. The alert can comprise of information such as the direction and velocity of the approaching vehicle.
[0018] In an embodiment herein, the control unit 101 can be a dedicated unit. In an embodiment herein, the control unit 101 can be a unit present in the vehicle such as the Electronic Control Unit (ECU), Central Control Module (CCM), General Electronic Module (GEM), Body Control Module (BCM) or any other equivalent unit.
[0019] FIG. 2 depicts an example of the system for providing an alert about at least one approaching vehicle to a driver and/or passenger present in a vehicle. In the example herein, an approaching vehicle indicator system uses the horn of the incoming vehicle as an input signal. The vehicle has been divided into a plurality of zones (eight zones as depicted in the example in FIG. 2) with a microphone fitted in each zone. For example, if a car is approaching from the northeast direction (as compared to the vehicle), the microphones fitted in zones 2 and 3 will primarily receive the signals from the approaching vehicle. The control unit 101 can process the signals received from the microphones. The control unit 101 can determine the velocity of the incoming vehicle by using Doppler shift. The control unit 101 is connected to an indicator panel on the dashboard, which provides an alert indicating the direction and velocity of the approaching vehicle.
[0020] In the example as depicted in FIG. 2, for illustration purposes, the approaching vehicle is depicted as a vehicle approaching from the rear at 80 km/hour. It may be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments as disclosed herein can detect vehicles approaching from any angle such as the front, sides, and so on.
[0021] FIG. 3 is a flowchart depicting a process for providing an alert about at least one approaching vehicle to a driver and/or passenger present in a vehicle. The control unit 101 processes (301) the signals received from the microphones 102. The control unit 101 filters (302) out the ambient noise to phase out the acoustic disturbances and processes (303) the standard audio frequencies by identifying the signature decibel levels for different vehicles. The control unit 101 calculates (304) the relative velocity between the source (the approaching vehicle) and the observer (the vehicle) using the Doppler effect. The control unit 101 calculates (305) the shift in the relative velocity using a frequency transform of the dominant frequencies. The control unit 101 determines (306) the velocity of the incoming vehicle using the calculated shift. The control unit 101 accordingly provides (307) an alert to the driver and/or passenger of the vehicle, wherein the alert comprises of information such as the direction and velocity of the approaching vehicle. The various actions in method 300 may be performed in the order presented, in a different order or simultaneously. Further, in some embodiments, some actions listed in FIG. 3 may be omitted.
[0022] Consider an example of a car cruising on a highway. Suppose an approaching vehicle is trying to overtake from the rear left position and is using the horn. The control unit 101 would process the sound signals received from the plurality of microphones and determine the microphones receiving the highest intensity of sound and those microphone locations would be identified which in this case would be the microphones fitted in zones 6 and 7. On processing the signals and calculating the frequency shift using a frequency transform, the control unit 101 can determine the velocity of the vehicle trying to approach from the left direction using Doppler shift and will thus provide an alert
[0023] In an embodiment herein, consider that the driver is trying to change the lane, a vibrator alert on the steering wheel could be incorporated which would provide alerts to the driver. This would prevent any accidents occurring due to the negligence of the driver while changing lanes.
[0024] In an embodiment herein, the processor can be calibrated to identify only the vehicles having a frequency shift more than a pre-defined value and thus only vehicles having a relative velocity more than a particular velocity could be identified and in turn be notified to the driver.
[0025] Consider a lane change scenario. The driver of a car A embedded with the existing tech wherein only the direction of approaching vehicle is displayed would be ignorant about the speed of an approaching vehicle B and hence would be unable to make a decision and would proceed primarily on judgment thus increasing the chances of an accident However the embodiments as disclosed herein would provide him with information about the direction as well as the speed of the approaching vehicle B and thus enable him to make a sound decision. Lane changing maneuvers could become significantly safer, wherein the speed and direction data would be displayed to the driver inside the vehicle thus enabling him to make a sound lane changing decision.
[0026] Consider a scenario when a vehicle is approaching another static vehicle at a speed of 80kmph from the side. Embodiments herein display the speed and the direction data simultaneously on the panel thus enabling the passenger to take immediate action without the need to turn and then mentally assess the situation, thus decreasing the total reaction time to just the visual stimulus time of 0.25 seconds (well within the limits of the average human reaction time).
[0027] Embodiments herein can be used to constantly record in a storage location and monitor the data of surrounding vehicles and thus in the event of an accident due to a collision this data could provide a clearer picture about the direction and velocity of the incoming vehicle with which the collision had taken place.
[0028] Embodiments herein can serve as an added passive safety feature specifically for customers driving the vehicle with air conditioning or music system on (with closed window glasses) thus isolating him from sounds coming from outside the vehicle. This would primarily reduce the number of accidents in situations particularly when the driver is performing sharp turns or changing lanes and is unable to foresee the vehicle coming from the opposite direction or when another vehicle is trying to overtake him from the blind spot of the vehicle. Thus accidents occurring due to the driver not being able to listen to such incoming horn signals would be significantly reduced.
[0029] The embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented through at least one software program running on at least one hardware device and performing network management functions to control the network elements. The elements shown in FIGs. 1 and 2 include blocks, which can be at least one of a hardware device, or a combination of hardware device and software module.
[0030] Embodiments disclosed herein describe methods and systems for indicating the velocity and the direction of at least one approaching vehicle. Therefore, it is understood that the scope of the protection is extended to such a program and in addition to a computer readable means having a message therein, such computer readable storage means contain program code means for implementation of one or more steps of the method, when the program runs on a server or mobile device or any suitable programmable device. The method is implemented in at least one embodiment through or together with a software program written in e.g. Very high speed integrated circuit Hardware Description Language (VHDL) another programming language, or implemented by one or more VHDL or several software modules being executed on at least one hardware device. The hardware device can be any kind of portable device that can be programmed. The device may also include means which could be e.g. hardware means like e.g. an ASIC, or a combination of hardware and software means, e.g. an ASIC and an FPGA, or at least one microprocessor and at least one memory with software modules located therein. The method embodiments described herein could be implemented partly in hardware and partly in software. Alternatively, the invention may be implemented on different hardware devices, e.g. using a plurality of CPUs.
[0031] The foregoing description of the specific embodiments will so fully reveal the general nature of the embodiments herein that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such specific embodiments without departing from the generic concept, and, therefore, such adaptations and modifications should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalents of the disclosed embodiments. 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 embodiments herein have been described in terms of embodiments and examples, those skilled in the art will recognize that the embodiments and examples disclosed herein can be practiced with modification within the spirit and scope of the embodiments as described herein.
,CLAIMS:STATEMENT OF CLAIMS
We claim:
1. A method (300) for providing alerts about at least one vehicle approaching a vehicle (100), the method comprising
filtering out ambient noise by a control unit (101) from at least one signal received from at least one microphone (102);
processing standard audio frequencies by identifying the signature decibel levels for different vehicles by the control unit (101);
calculating relative velocity between the at least one approaching vehicle and the vehicle (100) by the control unit (101);
determining velocity of the approaching vehicle by the control unit (101) using the calculated relative velocity and Doppler shift; and
providing at least one alert by the control unit (101) to at least one of a driver; and passenger of the vehicle (100) about the at least one approaching vehicle.

2. The method, as claimed in claim 1, wherein the vehicle (100) comprises of a plurality of virtual zones, wherein each zone comprises of at least one microphone (102).

3. The method, as claimed in claim 1, wherein calculating relative velocity between the at least one approaching vehicle and the vehicle (100) by the control unit (101) comprises of calculating a shift in relative velocity using a frequency transform of the dominant frequencies.

4. The method, as claimed in claim 1, wherein the alert uses at least one of a visual, and auditory means on at least one of an infotainment system in the vehicle (100), a standalone alerting system/indicator in the vehicle (100), at least one speaker in the vehicle (100), at least one vibrating means in the vehicle (100), and at least one haptic sensor in the vehicle (100).

5. The method, as claimed in claim 1, wherein the alert comprises of direction and velocity of the approaching vehicle.

6. A system in a vehicle (100) for providing alerts about at least one vehicle approaching the vehicle (100), the system comprising a control unit (101) configured for
filtering out ambient noise from at least one signal received from at least one microphone (102);
processing standard audio frequencies by identifying the signature decibel levels for different vehicles;
calculating relative velocity between the at least one approaching vehicle and the vehicle (100);
determining velocity of the approaching vehicle using the calculated relative velocity and Doppler shift; and
providing at least one alert to at least one of a driver; and passenger of the vehicle (100) about the at least one approaching vehicle.

7. The system, as claimed in claim 6, wherein the vehicle (100) comprises of a plurality of virtual zones, wherein each zone comprises of at least one microphone (102).

8. The system, as claimed in claim 6, wherein the control unit (101) is configured for calculating relative velocity between the at least one approaching vehicle and the vehicle (100) by calculating a shift in relative velocity using a frequency transform of the dominant frequencies.

9. The system, as claimed in claim 6, wherein the control unit (101) is configured to provide an alert using at least one of a visual, and auditory means on at least one of an infotainment system in the vehicle (100), a standalone alerting system/indicator in the vehicle (100), at least one speaker in the vehicle (100), at least one vibrating means in the vehicle (100), and at least one haptic sensor in the vehicle (100).

10. The system, as claimed in claim 6, wherein the alert comprises of direction and velocity of the approaching vehicle.