WO2016027048A1

WO2016027048A1 - Safety system for avoiding collisions with vehicles

Info

Publication number: WO2016027048A1
Application number: PCT/GB2015/000243
Authority: WO
Inventors: Anatoly Shulyak
Original assignee: Seagull Sky Ltd
Priority date: 2014-08-18
Filing date: 2015-08-17
Publication date: 2016-02-25
Also published as: GB201414618D0; GB2529405A

Abstract

There is provided a safety system (1) for avoiding collisions with vehicles (200). The safety system comprises first (20) and second (30, 40, 50, 60) mobile devices, and a server (10). The first and second mobile devices each comprise a positioning system (23, 33, 43, 53, 63) configured to determine their geographic location. The first mobile device (20) is used to enter a type of a vehicle (200) which a user of the first mobile device drives; and comprises a processor (25) configured to: determine a movement direction of the first mobile device, based on the determined geographic locations of the first mobile device; determine a geographic area covered by the vehicle based on the type of the vehicle and the determined movement direction; receive the geographic location of the second mobile device from the server; and activate an alarm if the geographic location of the second mobile device is within close proximity of the determined geographic area covered by the vehicle.

Description

SAFETY SYSTEM FOR AVOIDING COLLISIONS WITH VEHICLES

DESCRIPTION

The present invention relates to a safety system for avoiding collisions with vehicles, for example collisions of bicycles or other road users with vehicles such as cars or lorries.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Large vehicles such as cars and lorries provide an effective means of transport. However, collisions between those vehicles and other road users such as pedestrians and riders of bicycles and motorcycles are a significant problem. Often, the driver of the vehicle is simply not aware of the presence of the other road user.

Various systems have been proposed to help inform drivers of vehicles of the other road users around them. For example, GB 2485843 discloses an apparatus to alert a vehicle driver that a cyclist is approaching from behind. A lorry is fitted with a receiver at the front of the lorry, the bicycle is fitted with a transmitter, and the receiver activates an alarm when the bicycle gets too close to the lorry.

However, such systems require a specific receiver which must be installed in the lorry, increasing the cost of the lorry. Furthermore, the system requires cyclists to purchase specific transmitters which are compatible with the receivers fitted to the lorry in order for the system to work. Such requirements greatly reduce the adoption of the system by drivers and cyclists.

It is therefore an aim of the invention to provide an improved safety system for avoiding collisions with vehicles, which is more easily adopted by drivers and cyclists.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a safety system for avoiding collisions with vehicles. The safety system comprises first and second mobile devices, and a server. The second mobile device comprises a positioning system configured to determine a geographic location of the second mobile device, and a transceiver configured to send the geographic location to the server. The first mobile device comprises a positioning system for repeatedly determining a geographic location of the first mobile device; a user interface for entering a type of a vehicle which a user of the first mobile device drives; a transceiver; and a processor. The processor is configured to: determine a movement direction of the first mobile device, based on the determined

geographic locations of the first mobile device; determine a geographic area covered by the vehicle based on the type of the vehicle and the determined movement direction; receive the geographic location of the second mobile device from the server, via the transceiver of the first mobile device; and activate an alarm if the geographic location of the second mobile device is within close proximity of the determined geographic area covered by the vehicle.

According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for avoiding collisions with vehicles. The method comprises:

determining a geographic position of a second mobile device and sending the geographic position to a server;

entering into a first mobile device a type of a vehicle which a user of the first mobile device drives;

repeatedly determining a geographic location of a first mobile device;

determining a movement direction of the first mobile device, based on the determined geographic locations of the first mobile device;

determining a geographic area covered by the vehicle based on the type of the vehicle and the determined movement direction;

receiving the geographic location of the second mobile device from the server, and

activating an alarm if the geographic location of the second mobile device approaches the determined geographic area covered by the vehicle. Accordingly, the movement direction of the vehicle is determined by the first mobile device, and this movement direction is used to determine the geographic area covered by the vehicle, so that an alert can be issued when another road user with the second mobile device is in close proximity to the vehicle. The alert may comprise at least one of a bleeping sound, a vibration, and a flash on a display screen. The user interface may provide an ability for the driver to set how close is considered to be in close proximity for the purposes of the alarm. For example, close proximity may be set as closer than 4m to the left and right sides of the vehicle, and closer than 6m to the rear of the vehicle. The above figure of 6m may be varied according to the speed the vehicle is travelling at. Or, what counts as in close proximity may be automatically fixed by the mobile device depending on the type of vehicle selected.

Clearly, if the movement direction is to the North, then the vehicle is orientated with its front pointing to the North, and the geographic area covered by the vehicle can be calculated using the fact that the first mobile device is in close proximity to the driver, and that the driver can only sit within a fixed location within the vehicle (i.e. within the driver's seat). Typically, in UK vehicles where the driver sits to the front right of the vehicle, if the movement direction is North, then geographic area covered by the vehicle will extend from the geographic location of the first mobile device, to a short distance North to the front of the vehicle, a short distance West to the left of the vehicle, a very short distance East to the right of the vehicle, and a longer distance South to the rear of the vehicle. Preferably, the most recently determined geographic location of the first mobile device is used as a reference point for determining the geographic area covered by the vehicle. Optionally, the most recently determined geographic location may be used in combination with other recently determined geographic locations of the mobile device, and/or in combination with other information that may be available to the mobile device, such as signal transit times to the nearest mobile phone base stations.

The North, East, South, and West distances are easily determined based on the type of the vehicle which is entered into the user interface of the first mobile device. The first mobile device may comprise a list of vehicle types from which the user may select, or the user could for example enter the registration plate number of the vehicle into the first mobile device for forwarding to the server to retrieve the dimensions of the vehicle relative to the driver's seat. The type of the vehicle entered by the user may also allow information concerning the turning

characteristics of the vehicle to be identified, for example where the front and rear axles of the vehicle are located, so that the geographic area covered by the vehicle can still be calculated when the geographic location of the mobile device begins to deviate from a straight path during turning of the vehicle. An immediate 180 degree reversal in the movement direction maybe interpreted as the vehicle reversing, and in response the geographic area covered by the vehicle may be maintained in the same orientation, rather than rotating it by 180 degrees.

Whilst the known American GPS positioning system is normally only accurate to within a few 10's of metres, the fact that the positioning of two adjacent mobile devices is being compared to determine whether an alert should be issued, means that errors common to both GPS receivers will effectively cancel one another out and result in an accurate determination of their relative locations. Such errors common to both GPS receivers may for example occur due to variations in the earth's ionosphere which effect the transit times of the GPS signal through the earth's atmosphere. The same principle is widely used in Differential GPS systems which can increase positional accuracy to within 0.1m, by providing a reference GPS receiver at a known location so that GPS readings from a nearby receiver can be calculated taking into account the difference between the known location and a location calculated by the reference GPS receiver. Additionally, planned navigational systems such as the European Galileo system are expected to increase positional accuracies.

Since the first and second mobile devices are not vehicle-specific, they can easily be taken from vehicle to vehicle, without having to be permanently fixed within a specific vehicle. Furthermore, the user interface of the first mobile device may be used to enter a mode of transport other than vehicles such as cars or lorries, for example a bicycle, so that the first mobile device may be used as a second mobile device when the driver is no longer driving a vehicle such as a car or a lorry, but cycles a bike instead. Therefore, the mobile device may be used as both first and second mobile devices. Since the mobile devices pass their geographical locations to one another via the server, they do not need to be compatible with one another, but only need to be capable of communicating with a server.

The first and second mobile devices may be mobile telephones of the driver and the other road user, so that the devices are already held by the driver and the other road user, and only require configuring to act in the specified manner by downloading and running application software. Therefore the first mobile device is typically not part of the vehicle which the driver drives. Furthermore, the second mobile device is typically not part of another vehicle which the other road user may control. Rather, the mobile devices are free to be moved from one vehicle to another vehicle, and/or moved to the pocket of a driver or a pedestrian.

The server may for example be accessible over the Internet, such as by using the mobile network of the mobile telephone provider, or by using a wireless local area network such as a WiFi^(TM) network.

The first mobile device may be configured to display a map showing the determined geographic area covered by the vehicle and the geographic location of the second mobile device. Then, the driver of the vehicle can easily glance at the map when wishing to check for other nearby road users, for example previous to making any turning manoeuvres.

Since the mobile devices may be free to be moved from one vehicle to another vehicle, and/or moved to the pocket of a driver or a pedestrian, the second mobile device may comprise a user interface for entering a mode of transport, and be configured to send the mode of transport to the server. The modes of transport may for example be Pedestrian, Cyclist, Motor Cyclist, Car Driver, Lorry Driver. Further modes of transport such as Rollerblader, Bus Driver, HGV Driver could also be defined.

The first mobile device may be configured to receive the mode of transport of the second mobile device and indicate the mode of transport on the map that is displayed on the first mobile device. Accordingly, the driver having the first mobile device can identify whether the second mobile device is a cyclist, pedestrian, motorcyclist, car driver, or lorry driver, to help inform the driver having the first mobile device in their driving. The second mobile device may be displayed as a symbol on the map, the symbol having a shape and/or colour indicating the mode of transport of the second mobile device.

The first mobile device may be configured to ignore second mobile devices having a transport mode not comprised in a group of one or more selected transport modes. For example, the driver having the first mobile device may select transport modes of cyclist, pedestrian, and motorcyclist, so that second mobiles devices having transport modes of car driver or lorry driver are ignored and not shown on the map to help prevent the map from becoming too cluttered.

The second mobile device may be one of a plurality of second mobile devices, and each second mobile device may send its geographic location to the server, so that the second mobile devices can be displayed on the map of the first mobile device. The first mobile device may be configured to request from the server the geographic locations of second mobile devices that are within a selected distance of the geographic location of the first mobile device.

For example, the user interface of the first mobile device may comprise a zoom function for controlling a zoom level of the displayed map, and the mobile device may be configured to request from the server the geographic locations of second mobile devices that are within the map at the current zoom level of the map.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of non-limiting example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a safety system according to a first embodiment of the invention; Fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a lorry with a mobile device forming part of the first embodiment;

Fig. 3 shows a diagram of a map that is displayed on the mobile device of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 shows a flow diagram of a method according to the first embodiment.

The figures are not to scale, and same or similar reference signs denote same or similar figures.

A first embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to Figs. 1 to 4. Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a safety system 1 , comprising a server 10, and a plurality of mobile devices 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60. In this embodiment the mobile devices 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 are all personal mobile telephones which have been programmed with and are currently running a safety application software.

The server 10 is connected to the Internet 100 via wired connections including send and receive connections 18 and 19. The mobile devices 20, 30, and 60 are connected to the Internet 100, and thereby the server 10, by a mobile telecommunications base station 2. The mobile device 40 is connected to the Internet 100, and thereby the server 10, by a local wireless network established by WiFi^(TM) access point 6. The mobile device 50 is connected to the Internet 100, and thereby the server 10, by another mobile telecommunications base station 4.

The server 10 comprises a network interface 12 for connecting to the Internet, a processor 14, and a memory 16.

This embodiment is described from the perspective of the mobile device 20, and so the mobile device 20 is referred to as a first mobile device, whereas the mobile devices 30, 40, 50, and 60 are all referred to as second mobile devices. The first mobile device 20 comprises a touchscreen user interface 21 , a GPS positioning system 23, a processor 24, and a transceiver 25. The second mobile devices 30, 40, 50, 60 are substantially the same as the first mobile device, and comprise touchscreen user interfaces 31 , 41 , 51 , 61 , GPS positioning systems 33, 43, 53, 63, processors 34, 44, 54, 64, and transceivers 35, 45, 55, 65 respectively. Clearly the touchscreen user interfaces could be substituted for other types of user interface, for example buttons, in alternative embodiments.

The server device 10 is typically located in a fixed location, for example a data warehouse, and may include a large amount of processing power and memory for simultaneously handling data to and from many different mobile devices. The mobile devices are out on the move, typically being carried along with the persons using them. The mobile devices each repeatedly determine their own location using the GPS positioning systems 23, 33, 43, 53, 63, and report their location back to the server 10 via the Internet 100 and send connection 18.

The schematic diagram of Fig. 2 shows the first mobile device 20 when it is being carried by a person driving a lorry 200. Using the user interface 21 , the person has entered the mode of transport of the first mobile device 20 as Lorry. The user has then entered the type of the lorry into the mobile device 20, by selecting the type of the lorry from a list using the user interface 21.

The GPS positioning system 23 of the first mobile device determines its location as L1 , and then a short time later, because the lorry is moving forwards, determines its location as L2. The GPS positioning system 23 reports the locations L1 and L2 to the processor 24, and the processor 24 looks at the difference between the two locations to determine that the first mobile device is moving in the direction DIR.

The processor 24 then determines an area 210 that is covered by the lorry 200, by starting with the current location L2 of the first mobile device, and defining a front boundary 202 of the lorry a distance DF from the location L2 in the same direction as the direction DIR, defining a back boundary 204 of the lorry a distance DB from the location L2 in the opposite direction to the direction DIR, defining a right boundary 206 of the lorry a distance DR from the location L2 in a direction 90 degrees to the direction DIR, and defining a left boundary 208 of the lorry a distance DL from the location L2 in a direction 270 degrees to the direction DIR. The distances DF, DB, DR, DL are set according to the type of lorry that was entered into the mobile device.

The distances DF, DB, DR, DL define the area 210 that is covered by the vehicle 200. Based on the boundaries 202, 204, 206, 206, the processor 24 defines a larger area 220 which encompasses locations that are considered to be in close proximity to the lorry 200. In this embodiment, the distances that the area 220 extends from the boundaries 202, 204, 206, 206 are set according to the type of the vehicle that was entered into the user interface 21 , although in alternative embodiments the distances could be fixed for all types of vehicle, or be definable by the user of the first mobile device using the user interface 21. If a second mobile device enters the area 202, then an alarm will be sounded by the first mobile device 20 to alert the driver, as will now be explained more fully with reference to Figs. 3 and 4.

Fig. 3 shows a view of a map 300, which is displayed on the touchscreen user interface 21 of the mobile device 20. The map 300 is centered on the location of the mobile device 20, and the lorry 200 and the area 220 are determined as described above in relation to Fig. 2, and displayed on the map 300. The map shows that the lorry 200 is travelling in the direction DIR along the road 310. A side road 320 is a little further along the road 310, to the left of the lorry 200.

The map also shows the locations of second mobile devices held by other road users, specifically the mobile device 30 held by a bicyclist, the mobile device 40 held by a pedestrian, the mobile device 50 held by a motorcyclist, and the mobile device 60 held by the driver of a car on an opposite side of the road to the lorry 200.

Fig. 4 shows a flow diagram of a method 400 according to the first embodiment. In a first step 410, the user of the mobile device 20 enters a transport mode of Lorry into the mobile device 20 using the user interface 21 , the user of the mobile device 30 enters a transport mode of Bicycle into the mobile device 30 using the user interface 31 , the user cf the mobile device 40 enters a transport mode of Pedestrian into the mobile device 40 using the user interface 41 , the user of the mobile device 50 enters a transport mode of Motorcyclist into the mobile device 50 using the user interface 51 , and the user of the mobile device 60 enters a transport mode of Lorry into the mobile device 60 using the user interface 61.

Since the users of the mobile devices 20 and 60 have entered large vehicles (lorry and car) as the transport mode, the user interfaces 21 and 61 request specification of what type of lorry and what type of car the users are driving. The users select their respective type of lorry/car from lists displayed on the user interfaces 21 and 61. Other transport modes that indicate large vehicles and therefore require specification of vehicle type are for example trucks, buses, tractors, diggers, etc. A large vehicle is typically any vehicle where the user may have reduced visibility of the area around the vehicle.

In a second step 412, the mobile devices 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 repeatedly determine their positions using their GPS positioning system 23, 33, 43, 53, 63. In a third step 414, the mobile devices send their most recently determined positions and their transport modes to the server 10 via their transceivers 25, 35, 45, 55, 65, the mobile base stations 2, 4, and WiFi^(TM) access point 6, the Internet 100, and the receive connection 19. Clearly many other types of paths from the mobile devices to the server 10 could be implemented in alternate embodiments.

The server 10 receives the positions and transport modes of the mobile devices, and stores the positions in the memory 16 using the processor 14. In a fourth step 416, the mobile devices determine their movement directions, based on the difference between last two geographic locations that their GPS positioning systems have determined. In a fifth step 418, based on the type of vehicle that the users entered into the devices 20 and 60, the devices 20 and 60 determine the area covered by the type of vehicle, taking their most recently determined geographic location as a reference point. The mobile devices 30, 40, 50 do not determine an area, since either the transport mode that they selected involves vehicles have good visibility all around them, or does not involve vehicles at all.

In a sixth step 420, the mobile devices 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 each request the geographic locations and transport modes of all the other mobile devices that are nearby them, by sending requests to the server 10 via their transceivers 25, 35, 45, 55, 65, the mobile base stations 2, 4, and WiF^'i¹™' access point 6, the Internet 100, and the receive connection 19. The processor 14 of the server 10 receives the requests, and based on the location information stored in the memory 16, returns the positions and transport modes of nearby mobile devices to each mobile device via the send connection 18, Internet 100, mobile base stations 2, 4, and WiFi^(TM) access point 6.

In a seventh step 422, each mobile device displays the nearby mobile devices on a map on their user interface, indicating the transport mode that is associated with each one of the nearby mobile devices.

Fig. 3 shows the map that is displayed by the user interface 21 of the mobile device 20, and so the driver of the lorry 200 can see that the bicyclist with mobile device 30 is just to the left of the lorry 200, the motorcyclist with mobile device 50 is behind the lorry 200, the pedestrian with mobile device 40 is walking along the pavement next to the road 310, and the car with the mobile device 60 is on the other side of the road 310.

The driver of the lorry 300 can see what type of road user is associated with each mobile device displayed on the map 300, because mobile devices having a transport mode of Bicyclist are indicated with a "+", mobile devices having a transport mode of Motorcyclist are indicated with a mobile devices having a transport mode of Pedestrian are indicated with a "#", mobile devices having a transport mode of cars are indicated with a "=", and mobile devices having a transport mode of Lorry are indicated with a "o".

Clearly, other types of indicator could alternatively be used to designate the transport mode of each mobile device, for example the indicators may have different colours to indicate different transport modes. Alternatively, the transport modes may not be indicated at all, and the map 300 may simply show the positions of the nearby mobile devices without any further information. The user interface 21 may allow the driver of the lorry 200 to specify that only devices having certain transport modes are to be shown on the map, for example the driver may specify that only devices having transport modes falling within the group of Bicyclist and Motorcyclist are to be shown on the map 300, to reduce the amount of information that the driver needs to discern from the map. Clearly, Bicyclist and Motorcyclist represent the most vulnerable groups of road users to lorries. Optionally Pedestrians could be included, and/or Cars.

As shown in Fig. 3, the Bicyclist with mobile device 30 has moved within close proximity of the lorry 200, since the mobile device 30 is within the area 220. In an eight step 422, the processor 25 of the mobile device 20 determines that the mobile device 30 is within the area 220, and so sounds an alarm though a speaker of the mobile device 20 to alert the driver that another road user is in close proximity to the lorry 20. If the mobile device 40 of the Pedestrian moves within the area 220, and if the driver of the lorry 200 has set the mobile device 20 to ignore mobile devices having a transport mode of pedestrian, then the alarm will not sound. This can be useful for preventing false alarms from pedestrians that are walking safely along the pavement, but are nevertheless in close proximity to the lorry 200. In this embodiment the outline of the area 220 is displayed on the map 300, but in an alternate embodiment this outline may not be displayed on the map to help reduce clutter and make the map more easily readable.

The driver of the lorry 200 is planning to execute a left turn down the road 320, and the alarm alerts the driver to the map 300, to see that a bicyclist is currently to the left of the lorry, so that the driver can allow the bicyclist to pass before making the left turn into the road 320. Furthermore, the driver may note from the map that a motorcyclist is behind the lorry, which may present a hazard if the driver of the lorry 200 swings the lorry 200 out to the right of the road 310 in preparation for the left turn, at the same time as the motorcyclist decides to overtake the lorry 200.

The map 300 further comprises a zoom indicator 350, which the user can touch to zoom further into or further out of the map 300. Typically, in built-up urban areas where there is a lot of traffic the driver may choose to zoom in close to the lorry 200 on the map, whereas in areas where there is not much traffic the driver may zoom further out from the map 300. The mobile device 20 in step 420 may only request from the server 10 the locations and transport modes of mobile devices that are within the area of the map 300 at the current level of zoom. Accordingly, increasing and reducing the zoom level increases and reduces the number of other mobile device locations and transport modes that are returned to the mobile device 20 by the server 10.

Many other variations of the described embodiments falling within the scope of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Claims

1 . A safety system for avoiding collisions with vehicles, the safety system comprising first and second mobile devices, and a server, wherein the second mobile device comprises a positioning system configured to determine a geographic location of the second mobile device, and a transceiver configured to send the geographic location to the server, and wherein the first mobile device comprises:

a positioning system for repeatedly determining a geographic location of the first mobile device;

a user interface for entering a type of a vehicle which a user of the first mobile device drives;

a transceiver; and

a processor configured to:

determine a movement direction of the first mobile device, based on the determined geographic locations of the first mobile device;

determine a geographic area covered by the vehicle based on the type of the vehicle and the determined movement direction;

receive the geographic location of the second mobile device from the server, via the transceiver of the first mobile device; and

activate an alarm if the geographic location of the second mobile device is within close proximity of the determined geographic area covered by the vehicle.

2. The safety system of claim 1 , wherein the first and second mobile devices are first and second mobile telephones.

3. The safety system of claim 1 or 2, wherein the first mobile device is configured to display a map showing the determined geographic area covered by the vehicle and the geographic location of the second mobile device.

4. The safety system of claim 1 , 2, or 3, wherein the second mobile device comprises a user interface for entering a mode of transport, and wherein the second mobile device is configured to send the mode of transport to the server.

5. The safety system of claim 4 when appended to claim 3, wherein the first mobile device is configured to receive the mode of transport of the second mobile device and indicate the mode of transport on the map.

6. The safety system of any preceding claim, wherein the second mobile device is one of a plurality of second mobile devices, and wherein the second mobile devices each send their geographic locations to the server.

7. The safety system of claim 6, wherein the first mobile device is configured to request from the server the geographic locations of second mobile devices that are within a selected distance of the geographic location of the first mobile device.

8. The safety system of claim 6 or 7, wherein the first mobile device is configured to receive the geographic locations of the second mobile devices and the mode of transport of each of the second mobile devices.

9. The safety system of claim 8, wherein the first mobile device is configured to ignore second mobile devices having a transport mode not comprised in a group of one or more selected transport modes.

10. The safety system of any one of claims 4 to 9 when appended to at least claim 3, wherein the User interface of the first mobile device comprises a zoom function for controlling a zoom level of the displayed map.

1 1. The safety system of any preceding claim, wherein the alert comprises at least one of a bleeping sound, a vibration, and a flash on a display screen.

12. The safety system of any preceding claim, wherein the first mobile device is also configured to operate as the second mobile device, and wherein the second mobile device is also configured to operate as the first mobile device.

13. The safety system of any preceding claim, wherein the server is

communicatively coupled to the first and second mobile devices via mobile telecommunications networks.

14. A method for avoiding collisions with vehicles, the method comprising: determining a geographic position of a second mobile device and sending the geographic position to a server;

repeatedly determining a geographic location of a first mobile device;

activating an alarm if the geographic location of the second mobile device approaches the determined geographic area covered by the vehicle.