System and method for facilitating a user to board on a vehicle

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a system and method for facilitating boarding of a user on a vehicle. A vehicle including a transceiver, a human-machine interface (HMI), and a processor is disclosed. The transceiver may be configured to receive information associated with a load point of a user and a real-time geographic location of a user device associated with the user. The processor may be configured to obtain the information associated with the pick-up point from the transceiver, and determine that a predefined condition may be satisfied based on the information associated with the pick-up point. The processor may also obtain a real-time geographic location in response to determining that the predefined condition may be satisfied. The processor may then output the real-time geographic location on the HMI.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for facilitating users boarding a vehicle, and more particularly to systems and methods for facilitating children to conveniently catch a school bus and notify nearby vehicles of the presence of the child. Background Art

[0002] School buses provide a convenient means of transportation for young users (e.g., children) to get from their homes to school and back. School buses usually arrive at bus stops in the early morning to pick up children and then drop them off at school. There are known situations where children run to their respective bus stops to catch the school bus when they may be late. Such situations may inconvenience school bus drivers and drivers of other vehicles approaching the bus stops. For example, the school bus driver may not realize that the child may be running to the bus stop, and if the school bus driver does not wait, the child may miss the school bus. In addition, drivers of other vehicles may not realize that there are children running near the bus stop. Summary of the invention

[0003] The present disclosure describes a vehicle that facilitates multiple users to board the vehicle conveniently. The vehicle can be a school bus, and the user can be a school child. The vehicle can specifically facilitate users to conveniently arrive at the corresponding bus stop and board the vehicle. Each user can be associated with a user device, and the vehicle can be configured to obtain the real-time geographic location of each user device from a server (which can be communicatively coupled with each user device). When the vehicle may be traveling toward a bus stop and may be away from the bus stop predefined distance, the vehicle can obtain the real-time user device geographic location associated with the user (and therefore the real-time user geographic location). In response to obtaining the real-time user geographic location, the vehicle can output the obtained user geographic location on the vehicle human-machine interface (HMI). The vehicle operator (e.g., a school bus driver) can view the real-time user geographic location and can plan the vehicle movement starting from the bus stop accordingly. For example, when the vehicle operator determines based on the real-time user geographic location that the user may arrive at the bus stop slightly late at the scheduled vehicle departure time and may be running towards the bus stop, the vehicle operator can wait for the vehicle at the bus stop and let the user board the vehicle. In this way, the vehicle can facilitate the user to conveniently arrive at the bus stop and board the vehicle, even though the user may be slightly delayed.

[0004] In some aspects, when the user may be running / moving towards a bus stop at the scheduled vehicle departure time, the vehicle may determine the distance between the bus stop and the real-time user geographic location. When the distance may be less than a threshold at the scheduled vehicle departure time, the vehicle may output an alert notification on the HMI, instructing the vehicle operator to wait and let the user arrive at the bus stop and board the vehicle. On the other hand, if the distance may be greater than the threshold at the scheduled vehicle departure time, the vehicle may transmit a departure notification to a user device associated with the user via the server, thereby indicating to the user that the vehicle may be departing from the bus stop and the user may catch up with the vehicle at the next bus stop.

[0005] In additional aspects, the vehicle may transmit the real-time user geographic location and the real-time vehicle geographic location to one or more other vehicles that may be approaching the bus stop (e.g., via vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication). The other vehicle may receive the real-time user geographic location and the real-time vehicle geographic location and display the received geographic location on a corresponding HMI. Drivers associated with the other vehicles may view the real-time user geographic location and the real-time vehicle geographic location on the HMI (even if they cannot see the user / vehicle on the road) and manipulate their vehicle movement accordingly, thereby enabling users to conveniently arrive at the bus stop and board the vehicle, and vehicles to conveniently arrive at / leave the bus stop.

[0006] In some aspects, the vehicle may cease outputting the real-time user geographic location on the HMI and / or cease transmitting the real-time user geographic location and the real-time vehicle geographic location to other vehicles when the vehicle may be moving away from the bus stop.

[0007] The present disclosure discloses a vehicle or school bus that facilitates users / children to conveniently board the vehicle. The vehicle outputs the real-time geographic location of users approaching a bus stop on the vehicle HMI, which enables the driver to wait and allow those users who may be slightly delayed to conveniently board the vehicle. In addition, the vehicle transmits the real-time geographic location of the user and the real-time vehicle geographic location to other vehicles approaching the bus stop, thereby enabling the drivers of the other vehicles to allow the user to conveniently reach the bus stop and move the vehicle toward / away from the bus stop.

[0008] These and other advantages of the present disclosure are provided in detail herein. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] Detailed description is set forth with reference to the accompanying drawings. The use of the same reference numerals may indicate similar or identical items. Various embodiments may utilize elements and / or components other than those shown in the accompanying drawings, and some elements and / or components may not be present in various embodiments. The elements and / or components in the accompanying drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. Throughout this disclosure, singular and plural terms may be used interchangeably, depending on the context.

[0010] Figure 1 An example environment is depicted in which techniques and structures for providing the systems and methods disclosed herein may be implemented.

[0011] Figure 2 Depicted is a block diagram of an example system for facilitating boarding of a vehicle by multiple users in accordance with the present disclosure.

[0012] Figure 3 Depicted are example views of a vehicle human machine interface (HMI) in accordance with the present disclosure.

[0013] Figure 4 Depicted is an example view of a plurality of vehicles and a plurality of users located in a geographic area in accordance with the present disclosure.

[0014] Figure 5 Depicted is a flow chart of an example method for facilitating user boarding of a vehicle according to the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0015] The present disclosure will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which example embodiments of the disclosure are shown and which are not intended to be limiting.

[0016] Figure 1 An example environment 100 is depicted in which techniques and structures for providing the systems and methods disclosed herein may be implemented. The environment 100 may include a vehicle 102 (or first vehicle), which may be, for example, a school bus, a public bus, a shuttle bus, etc. The vehicle 102 may be a manually driven vehicle, and / or may be configured to operate in a partially autonomous or fully autonomous mode. The vehicle 102 may be configured to transport a plurality of users 104a, 104b, 104c (e.g., school children) from a bus stop 106 to school and back. Figure 1 In the exemplary aspect depicted in FIG. 1 , vehicle 102 may be located at bus stop 106, and users 104a and 104b may be boarding vehicle 102. Additionally, user 104c may be running toward bus stop 106 to board vehicle 102. Users 104a, 104b, and 104c are collectively referred to as users 104 in this disclosure.

[0017] The vehicle 102 may be configured to implement a variety of measures to ensure that the user 104 conveniently catches up and boards the vehicle 102. For example, the vehicle 102 may determine whether a user (e.g., user 104c) is likely to be late when arriving at the bus stop 106. In such cases, the vehicle 102 may stop at the bus stop 106 for a slightly longer duration than normal to enable the user 104c to conveniently catch up and board the vehicle 102. In addition, the vehicle 102 may broadcast the real-time geographic location of each user 104 to a plurality of other vehicles 108a, 108b (referred to as vehicles 108 or second vehicles) that may be located near the bus stop 106 or the vehicle 102. The vehicle 108 may receive the real-time user geographic location and display the user geographic location on a corresponding human-machine interface (HMI). The driver associated with the vehicle 108 may view the real-time user geographic location on the HMI, and may manipulate (e.g., slow down) their vehicle movement accordingly to enable the user 104 to conveniently arrive at the bus stop 106 and board the vehicle 102. Additionally, when the vehicle 102 may be late for arriving at the bus stop 106 , the vehicle 102 may transmit a notification to a user device associated with the user 104 or the user's parent, thereby enabling the user 104 to plan their arrival time at the bus stop 106 .

[0018] In some aspects, the vehicle 102 can communicate with one or more servers (in Figure 2 206) are communicatively coupled, and the one or more servers may be configured to determine a user device associated with the user 104 (in Figure 2 When the vehicle 102 is likely approaching the bus stop 106, the server may transmit the real-time user device geographic location to the vehicle 102. In response to receiving the real-time user device geographic location, a human-machine interface or infotainment system associated with the vehicle 102 (shown in FIG. 1 ) may receive a real-time user device geographic location. Figure 2The vehicle 102 may display the real-time user device geographic location associated with each user 104 (and thus the real-time geographic location of each user 104), in addition to or in lieu of receiving the real-time user device geographic location, based on input received from connected infrastructure sensors, vehicle sensors (e.g., vehicle cameras), image recognition, correlation of user movement patterns based on artificial intelligence / machine learning (AI / ML), etc. The vehicle operator (e.g., a school bus driver) may view the real-time user device geographic location (or the real-time geographic location of each user 104) and determine whether all users 104 expected to be at the bus stop 106 are located at the bus stop 106, or whether one or more users (e.g., user 104c) may not be at the bus stop 106 but may be approaching the bus stop 106 (e.g., running towards it). In response to such a determination, the vehicle operator may wait at the bus stop 106 for a longer duration than normal to enable the user 104c to conveniently arrive at the bus stop 106 and board the vehicle 102. In some aspects, if the vehicle 102 (based on the real-time user device geographic location associated with the user 104c) determines that the user 104c may be more than a predefined distance from the bus stop 106 at the scheduled departure time of the vehicle from the bus stop 106, the vehicle 102 may transmit (directly or via a server / connected infrastructure) a notification to the user device associated with the user 104c indicating that the vehicle 102 may be about to depart from the bus stop 106. In this case, the user 104c may decide to board the vehicle 102 at any other bus stop on the route to school.

[0019] In some aspects, the vehicle 102 may obtain the real-time user device geographic location from the server when the vehicle 102 may be located at a predefined distance (e.g., 200 or 300 meters) from the bus stop 106 and / or at a predefined duration (e.g., 2 to 3 minutes) before the scheduled vehicle arrival time at the bus stop 106. In some aspects, the predefined distance may also be a predefined virtual zone (with a predefined size, e.g., a radius) around the bus stop 106. For example, if the scheduled vehicle arrival time at the bus stop 106 is 7:35 a.m., the vehicle 102 may transmit a request to the server at 7:33 a.m. to obtain the real-time user device geographic location of each user 104 who may be expected to board the vehicle 102 at the bus stop 106.

[0020] In additional aspects, the vehicle 102 can transmit the obtained real-time user device geographic location directly to the plurality of vehicles 108 via vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication to facilitate viewing of the real-time user geographic location by drivers associated with the vehicles 108, as described above. In other aspects, the vehicle 102 can transmit the obtained real-time user device geographic location indirectly to the plurality of vehicles 108 via a server or connected infrastructure (e.g., a connected lamp post, via vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) or vehicle-to-external (V2X) communication). In addition, along with the real-time user device geographic location, the vehicle 102 can also transmit its own geographic location (i.e., real-time vehicle geographic location) to the plurality of vehicles 108. The drivers associated with the plurality of vehicles 108 can view the real-time vehicle geographic location and can move the vehicles 108 accordingly so that the vehicles 102 can conveniently pick up the user 104 from the bus stop 106 and travel toward the school.

[0021] Combine the following Figure 2 Further details associated with the vehicle 102 and a process for facilitating the user 104 to conveniently catch and board the vehicle 102 are described.

[0022] The vehicle 102 implements and / or performs operations as described herein in the present disclosure in accordance with the vehicle owner's manual and safety guidelines. Additionally, any actions taken by the vehicle operator and / or driver associated with the vehicle 108 based on recommendations or notifications provided by the vehicle 102 should comply with all rules (e.g., federal, state, country, city, etc.) specific to the location and operation of the respective vehicle. Recommendations or notifications as provided by the vehicle 102 should be considered suggestions and followed only in accordance with any rules specific to the location and operation of the respective vehicle.

[0023] Figure 2 A block diagram of an example system 200 for facilitating a user 104 to board a vehicle 202 according to the present disclosure is depicted. The vehicle 202 may be the same as the vehicle 102 described above. Figure 2 When Figure 3 and Figure 4 .

[0024] System 200 may include a vehicle 202, a user device 204, and one or more servers 206 communicatively coupled to each other via one or more networks 208. User device 204 may be associated with user 104. Figure 2 A single user device 204 is depicted, but the vehicle 202 may be communicatively coupled with multiple user devices 204, and each user device 204 may be associated with each user 104. The user device 204 may be, for example, a mobile phone, a laptop, a computer, a tablet, a wearable device, or any other similar device having communication capabilities.

[0025] The server 206 may be part of a cloud-based computing infrastructure and may be associated with and / or include a telematics service delivery network (SDN) that provides services to the vehicle 202 and other vehicles (e.g., the vehicle 108 described above). Figure 2 204). In another aspect, the server 206 may be associated with a navigation service company and may be configured to determine the real-time geographic location of the user device 204. In this case, the server may be communicatively coupled to each user device 204 and may be configured to determine the real-time geographic location of each user device 204. When the vehicle 202 transmits a request to the server 206 to obtain the corresponding real-time user device geographic location, the server 206 may transmit the real-time geographic location of each user device 204 to the vehicle 202. In an additional aspect, the server 206 may be associated with a school bus fleet management company and may be further configured to store information associated with a plurality of pick-up points associated with a plurality of vehicles (including the vehicle 202), and the plurality of vehicles may be part of a vehicle / school bus fleet. In an exemplary aspect, the pick-up point may be a bus stop associated with the vehicle 202 (e.g., the bus stop 106) or a bus stop that the vehicle 202 may be expected to cross in its route to pick up and drop off the child / user 104. The information associated with each pick-up point may include, but is not limited to, the names, addresses, contact details, etc. of all children / users expected to board the vehicle 202 at the pick-up point, identifiers (e.g., IDs) of user devices associated with all children / users expected to board the vehicle 202 at the pick-up point, the pick-up point location, the scheduled arrival time of the vehicle 202 at the pick-up point (or "scheduled vehicle arrival time"), the scheduled departure time of the vehicle 202 from the pick-up point (or "scheduled vehicle departure time"), etc. For example, the information associated with the bus stop 106 may include the bus stop location, the name / address / contact details associated with the user 104, the ID of the user device 204 associated with the user 104, the scheduled vehicle arrival time at the bus stop 106 of 7:35 AM, and the scheduled vehicle departure time from the bus stop 106 of 7:37 AM. The server 206 may transmit the information associated with each pick-up point on the vehicle's route to the vehicle 202 at or before the vehicle 202 begins traveling from the school or garage to pick up users from the corresponding pick-up point / bus stop.

[0026] Although the above description describes that the vehicle 202 is a school bus and the user 104 is a school child, the present disclosure is not limited to such aspects. The present disclosure may also be applied to public transportation. In this case, the vehicle 202 may be a public transportation vehicle, and the information associated with the pick-up point may include information from a public transportation application, a route with the pick-up point as a destination, an estimated time of arrival (ETA) of a user with the pick-up point as a destination, a work schedule of a user on the way, an ETA of other vehicles with potential transfer customers on board, the availability of the next vehicle parked at the pick-up point, etc. In other aspects, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure, the vehicle 202 may be a mobile chair for the elderly (in this case, the user 104 may be an elderly) that is pushed or driven to a nursing home by another user, a vehicle used in a nursing home, a kindergarten, a daycare, a delivery / construction vehicle or a pickup / ride-sharing vehicle that drops off multiple members on the vehicle at different locations / stations.

[0027] The network 208 illustrates an example communication infrastructure in which the connected devices discussed in the various embodiments of the present disclosure may communicate. The network 208 may be and / or include the Internet, a private network, a public network, or other configurations operating using any one or more known communication protocols, such as, for example, Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP / IP), BLE, Wi-Fi based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standard 802.11, ultra-wideband (UWB), and cellular technologies such as time division multiple access (TDMA), code division multiple access (CDMA), high-speed packet access (HSPDA), long-term evolution (LTE), global system for mobile communications (GSM), and fifth generation (5G), to name a few examples.

[0028] The vehicle 202 may include a plurality of units including, but not limited to, a vehicle computer 210, a vehicle control unit (VCU) 212, and a user geolocation system 214 (or system 214). The VCU 212 may include a plurality of electronic control units (ECUs) 216 arranged to communicate with the vehicle computer 210.

[0029] In some aspects, the user device 204 can be configured to connect to the vehicle computer 210 and / or the system 214 via the network 208, which can communicate via one or more wireless connections, and / or the user device can communicate via the near field communication (NFC) protocol, Protocol, Wi-Fi, ultra-wideband (UWB), and other possible data connection and sharing technologies to connect directly with the vehicle 202.

[0030] According to the present disclosure, the vehicle computer 210 and / or the system 214 may be installed anywhere in the vehicle 202. In addition, the vehicle computer 210 may operate as a functional part of the system 214. The vehicle computer 210 may be or include an electronic vehicle controller having one or more processors 218 and a memory 220. In addition, the system 214 may be separate from the vehicle computer 210 (e.g., Figure 2 ), or may be integrated as part of the vehicle computer 210.

[0031] The processor 218 may be configured to communicate with one or more memory devices (eg, memory 220 and / or memory 224) configured to communicate with a corresponding computing system. Figure 2 The processor 218 may utilize the memory 220 to store programs and / or store data in code for performing aspects according to the present disclosure. The memory 220 may be a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium or memory that stores user geographic location program code. The memory 220 may include any one or combination of volatile memory elements (e.g., dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), etc.), and may include any one or more non-volatile memory elements (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), flash memory, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), etc.).

[0032] According to some aspects, the VCU 212 can share a power bus with the vehicle computer 210 and can be configured and / or programmed to communicate between vehicle systems, connected servers (e.g., server 206), and other vehicles operating as part of a vehicle fleet (e.g., Figure 2The VCU 212 may include or communicate with any combination of ECUs 216, such as, for example, a body control module (BCM) 222, an engine control module (ECM) 224, a transmission control module (TCM) 226, a telematics control unit (TCU) 228, a driver assistance technology (DAT) controller 230, etc. The VCU 212 may also include and / or communicate with a vehicle perception system (VPS) 232, which may be connected to and / or control one or more vehicle sensing systems 234. The vehicle sensing system 234 may include one or more vehicle sensors, including but not limited to radio detection and ranging (RADAR or "radar") sensors configured to use radio waves to detect and locate objects inside and outside the vehicle 202, seating area lock sensors, seating area sensors, light detection and ranging ("lidar") sensors, door sensors, proximity sensors, temperature sensors, wheel sensors, one or more ambient weather or temperature sensors, interior and exterior vehicle cameras, steering wheel sensors, inertial measurement units (IMUs), etc.

[0033] In some aspects, VCU 212 may control aspects of vehicle operation and implement one or more instruction sets received from server 206 , one or more instruction sets stored in memory 220 , including instructions to operate as part of system 214 .

[0034] The TCU 228 may be configured and / or programmed to provide vehicle connectivity to wireless computing systems on and off the vehicle 202 and may include a navigation (NAV) receiver 236 for receiving and processing GPS signals, module (BLEM) 238, a Wi-Fi transceiver, a UWB transceiver, and / or may be configured to communicate between the vehicle 202 and other systems (e.g., a vehicle key fob ( Figure 2 ), server 206, user device 204, etc.), other wireless transceivers (including cellular communications) for wireless communication between computers and modules Figure 2 2). The TCU 228 may be configured to communicate with the ECU 216 via a bus. In some aspects, the TCU 228 may be configured to determine real-time vehicle geographic location, for example, via a NAV receiver 236.

[0035] ECU 216 may control various aspects of vehicle operation and communications using input from a human driver, input from vehicle computer 210 , input from system 214 , and / or input via wireless signals received over a wireless connection from other connected devices (such as server 206 , etc.).

[0036] The BCM 222 typically includes an integration of sensors, vehicle performance indicators, and varactors associated with vehicle systems, and may include processor-based power distribution circuits that may control functions associated with the vehicle body, such as lights, windows, security devices, cameras, audio systems, speakers, wipers, door locks and entry controls, various comfort controls, etc. The BCM 222 may also operate as a gateway for bus and network interfaces to communicate with remote ECUs ( Figure 2 (not shown) interaction.

[0037] The DAT controller 230 may provide Level 1 to Level 3 automated driving and driver assistance functions, which may include, for example, active parking assist, vehicle back-up assist, adaptive cruise control, and / or lane keeping, among other features. The DAT controller 230 may also provide aspects of user and environmental input that may be used for user authentication.

[0038] In some aspects, the vehicle computer 210 may be connected to an infotainment system 240 (or vehicle human-machine interface (HMI)). The infotainment system 240 may include a touch screen interface portion, and may include voice recognition features, biometric recognition capabilities, and the biometric recognition capabilities may identify a user based on facial recognition, voice recognition, fingerprint recognition, or other biometric means. In other aspects, the infotainment system 240 may also be configured to receive user commands via the touch screen interface portion, and / or output or display notifications, navigation maps, real-time user geographic location, etc. on the touch screen interface portion.

[0039] The computing system architecture of the vehicle computer 210, VCU 212 and / or system 214 may omit certain computing modules. It should be readily understood that Figure 2 The computing environment depicted in FIG. 1 is an example of possible implementations according to the present disclosure and, therefore, should not be considered limiting or exclusive.

[0040] According to some aspects, system 214 can be integrated with and / or executed as part of ECU 216. System 214, whether it is integrated with vehicle computer 210 or ECU 216, or whether it operates as a standalone computing system in vehicle 202, can include transceiver 242, processor 244, and computer readable memory 246.

[0041] The transceiver 242 may be configured to receive information / input from one or more external devices or systems (e.g., user devices 204, servers 206, etc.) via the network 208. For example, the transceiver 242 may be configured to receive the real-time geographic location of each user device 204 and information associated with each pickup point (e.g., bus stop 106) from the server 206. In addition, the transceiver 242 may transmit notifications, requests, signals, etc. to the external device or system. In addition, the transceiver 242 may be configured to receive information / input from vehicle components (such as the vehicle sensing system 234, one or more ECUs 216, etc.). In addition, the transceiver 242 may transmit signals (e.g., command signals) or notifications to vehicle components such as the BCM 222, the infotainment system 240, etc.

[0042] The processor 244 and the memory 246 may be the same or similar to the processor 218 and the memory 220, respectively. In some aspects, the processor 244 may utilize the memory 246 to store programs and / or store data in code form to perform various aspects according to the present disclosure. The memory 246 may be a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium or memory that stores user geolocation program code. In some aspects, the memory 246 may additionally store instructions / information / data obtained from the server 206, the user device 204, etc.

[0043] In operation, when the vehicle 202 may be traveling toward the bus stop 106, the processor 244 may obtain information associated with the bus stop 106 from the transceiver 242 (which the transceiver 242 may receive from the server 206, as described above) or from the memory 246. The processor 244 may also obtain the current time from a vehicle timer (not shown) and the real-time vehicle geographic location from the TCU 228. In response to obtaining the above information, the processor 244 may determine whether a predefined condition can be met based on the current time, the real-time vehicle geographic location, and the information associated with the bus stop 106.

[0044] In some aspects, the processor 244 may determine that the predefined condition may be satisfied when the difference between the scheduled vehicle arrival time at the bus stop 106 (as determined based on information associated with the bus stop 106) and the current time may be less than a predefined duration (e.g., 2 or 3 minutes). For example, if the scheduled vehicle arrival time at the bus stop 106 is 7:35 AM and the current time is 7:33 AM, the processor 244 may determine that the predefined condition may be satisfied.

[0045] In further aspects, the processor 244 may determine that the predefined condition may be satisfied when the vehicle 202 may be located within a first predefined distance (e.g., 200 meters to 300 meters) of a pickup point location or a bus stop location (e.g., determined based on information associated with the bus stop 106) (as determined based on the real-time vehicle geographic location). For example, the processor 244 may determine that the predefined condition may be satisfied when the real-time vehicle geographic location may be within a 300-meter radius of the bus stop 106. In some aspects, the processor 244 may determine that the predefined condition may be satisfied when the real-time vehicle geographic location may be within a predefined virtual zone (having a predefined size, e.g., a radius) around the bus stop 106.

[0046] In response to determining that the predefined condition may be satisfied, the processor 244 may transmit a request to the server 206 via the transceiver 242 to obtain the real-time geographic location of the user device 204 associated with the user 104. In some aspects, the processor 244 may transmit an ID associated with the user device 204 (as determined based on information associated with the bus stop 106) to the server 206 along with or as part of the request to obtain the real-time geographic location of the user device 204 (or the real-time user device geographic location) from the server 206. In response to receiving the request from the processor 244 (via the transceiver 242), the server 206 may transmit the real-time user device geographic location to the transceiver 242 / processor 244. As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, if the user 104 carries the user device 204 with them when they are near the bus stop 106, the real-time user device geographic location may be equal to the real-time user geographic location.

[0047] In response to obtaining the real-time user device geographic location (or real-time user geographic location), the processor 244 may transmit the real-time user geographic location to the infotainment system 240 to output the real-time user geographic location on an infotainment system screen. Figure 3 An example view 302 of an infotainment system screen depicting the real-time user geographic location of the user 104 is shown in FIG.

[0048] When the infotainment system 240 outputs the real-time user geographic location, the vehicle operator 304 (e.g., a school bus driver) associated with the vehicle 202 can view the real-time user geographic location and see whether one or more users (e.g., user 104c) may be running toward the bus stop 106 (and may be late). In response to this determination and when the user 104c may be within a second predefined distance (e.g., 100 meters-150 meters) of the bus stop 106, the vehicle 202 may wait at the bus stop 106 and allow the user 104c to conveniently reach the bus stop 106 and board the vehicle 202. Specifically, in this case, when the vehicle 202 may be located at the bus stop 106, the processor 244 may compare the current time with the scheduled vehicle departure time (as determined based on information associated with the bus stop 106). Based on the comparison, the processor 244 may determine that the current time may be equal to the scheduled vehicle departure time. In response to determining that the current time may be equal to the scheduled vehicle departure time, the processor 244 may determine whether the user device 204 is located less than a second predefined distance (e.g., 100 meters-150 meters) from the bus stop 106 based on the bus stop location and the real-time geographic location of the user device 204 associated with the user 104c. When the processor 244 determines that the user device 204 (and therefore the user 104c) may be located less than the second predefined distance from the bus stop 106, the processor 244 may output an alert notification (audibly and / or visually) on the infotainment system 240. The vehicle operator 304 may hear or see the alert notification and may not start driving. In this case, the vehicle operator 304 may wait and let the user 104c arrive at the bus stop 106 and board the vehicle 202. In this way, the processor 244 facilitates the user 104c to conveniently board the vehicle 202, even if the user 104c may be slightly delayed.

[0049] On the other hand, when the processor 244 determines that the user device 204 (and therefore the user 104c) may be located more than the second predefined distance away from the bus stop 106, the processor 244 may transmit a departure notification to the server 206 via the transceiver 242, and the server may then forward / transmit the departure notification to the user device 204 associated with the user 104c. The departure notification may indicate to the user 104c that the vehicle 202 may be departing from the bus stop 106, and the user 104c may plan to catch up with the vehicle 202 at any other bus stop along the route to the school.

[0050] In additional aspects, in response to obtaining the real-time user device geographic location (or real-time user geographic location) associated with the user 104, the processor 244 may transmit the real-time user device geographic location to the vehicle 108 (and other vehicles) via the transceiver 242, which may be located within a third predefined distance (e.g., 500 meters-600 meters) proximate to the bus stop 106 (and / or the user device of the parent associated with the user 104). In some aspects, the processor 244 may transmit the real-time user device geographic location directly to the vehicle 108 via vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication. In other aspects, the processor 244 may transmit the real-time user device geographic location indirectly to the vehicle 108 via the server 206 and / or connected infrastructure (using vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) or vehicle-to-external (V2X) communication). In further aspects, along with the real-time user device geographic location, the processor 244 may transmit the real-time geographic location of the vehicle 202 or the real-time vehicle geographic location (which the processor 244 may obtain from the TCU 228) to the vehicle 108.

[0051] In response to receiving the real-time user device geographic location and the real-time vehicle geographic location from the processor 244, a human machine interface (HMI) associated with the vehicle 108 may display the received geographic location information relative to the corresponding vehicle 108, such as Figure 4 402 and 404. The driver associated with the vehicle 108 can view the geographic location information and can manipulate (e.g., slow down) the corresponding vehicle movement accordingly, so that the user 104 can conveniently reach the bus stop 106, and / or the vehicle 202 can conveniently reach the bus stop 106 and then depart from the bus stop 106.

[0052] As the vehicle 202 departs from the bus stop 106, the processor 244 may continue to obtain and monitor the real-time vehicle geographic location (e.g., obtained from the TCU 228). Based on the real-time vehicle geographic location monitoring, the processor 244 may determine when the vehicle 202 moves a first predefined distance (e.g., 200 meters to 300 meters) away from the bus stop 106. In response to determining that the vehicle 202 may have moved the first predefined distance away from the bus stop 106, the processor 244 may stop transmitting / outputting the real-time user geographic location to / from the infotainment system 240. Additionally, at this point, the processor 244 may stop transmitting the real-time user device geographic location and the real-time vehicle geographic location to the vehicle 108.

[0053] When vehicle 202 moves towards next bus stop, processor 244 can repeat above-mentioned process.In this way, processor 244 can promote all users / children who expect to board vehicle 202 to arrive at corresponding bus stop conveniently and catch up with vehicle 202.

[0054] In additional aspects of the present disclosure, the processor 244 may use AI / ML (and / or data obtained from the server 206 or cloud) to dynamically train and update a map, boundaries, and / or dimensions of a predefined virtual zone (or predefined distance) around the vehicle 202 and / or bus stop 106 based on one or more parameters, including but not limited to the presence of obstacles or structures (e.g., buildings, blocks, detours, etc.) close to the vehicle 202 and / or bus stop 106, time of day, bus stop location, etc. For example, the virtual zone dimensions may be different during class or school hours on a weekday compared to a weekend.

[0055] Furthermore, even though the present disclosure is described using an example aspect in which the vehicle 202 is a school bus and the user 104 is a school child, the present disclosure is not limited to such aspects. In alternative aspects, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure, the vehicle 202 may be a mobile chair for an elderly person (in this case, the user 104 may be an elderly person) that is pushed or driven to a nursing home by another user; a vehicle used in a nursing home, kindergarten, daycare, a delivery / construction vehicle that drops off multiple members on board at different locations / stations, or a pick-up / ride-sharing vehicle.

[0056] Figure 5 A flow chart of an example method 500 for facilitating a user 104 to board a vehicle 202 according to the present disclosure is depicted. Figure 5 The following process is exemplary and is not limited to the steps described below. Furthermore, alternative embodiments may include more or fewer steps than shown or described herein, and may include the steps in an order different from the order described in the following exemplary embodiments.

[0057] The method 500 begins at step 502. At step 504, the method 500 may include obtaining, by the processor 244, information associated with a pickup point (e.g., a bus stop 106) associated with the user 104. At step 506, the method 500 may include determining, by the processor 244, that a predefined condition may be satisfied based on the information associated with the pickup point. As described above, the predefined condition may be satisfied when the vehicle 202 may be located within a first predefined distance from the bus stop 106 and / or when the current time may be less than a scheduled vehicle arrival time at the bus stop 106 by a predefined duration.

[0058] At step 508, method 500 may include obtaining, by processor 244, a real-time geographic location of user device 204 associated with user 104 in response to determining that the predefined condition may be satisfied. At step 510, method 500 may include outputting, by processor 244, the real-time geographic location on infotainment system 240.

[0059] Method 500 may end at step 512 .

[0060] In the above disclosure, reference has been made to the accompanying drawings that form a part of the above disclosure, which illustrate specific implementations in which the present disclosure can be practiced. It should be understood that other implementations can be utilized and structural changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. References to "one embodiment", "embodiment", "exemplary embodiment" and the like in this specification indicate that the described embodiment may include specific features, structures or characteristics, but each embodiment may not necessarily include the specific features, structures or characteristics. In addition, such phrases do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. In addition, when features, structures or characteristics are described in conjunction with an embodiment, whether or not explicitly described, those skilled in the art will recognize such features, structures or characteristics in conjunction with other embodiments.

[0061] In addition, where appropriate, the functions described herein may be performed in one or more of the following: hardware, software, firmware, digital components, or analog components. For example, one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) may be programmed to perform one or more of the systems and programs described herein. Certain terms are used throughout the specification and claims to refer to specific system components. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, components may be referred to by different names. This document is not intended to distinguish between components that have different names but the same function.

[0062] It should also be understood that the word "example" as used herein is intended to be non-exclusive and non-limiting in nature. More specifically, the word "example" as used herein indicates one of several examples, and it should be understood that no undue emphasis or preference is placed on the specific example described.

[0063] Computer-readable media (also referred to as processor-readable media) include any non-transitory (e.g., tangible) media that participate in providing data (e.g., instructions) that can be read by a computer (e.g., by a processor of a computer). Such media may take many forms, including, but not limited to, non-volatile media and volatile media. A computing device may include computer-executable instructions, where the instructions may be executable by one or more computing devices (such as those listed above) and stored on a computer-readable medium.

[0064] With respect to the processes, systems, methods, heuristics, 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 may be practiced by performing the described steps in an order different from the order described herein. It should also be understood that certain steps may be performed simultaneously, other steps may be added, or certain steps described herein may be omitted. In other words, the descriptions of the processes herein are provided for the purpose of illustrating various embodiments and should in no way be construed as limiting the claims.

[0065] Therefore, it should be understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative rather than restrictive. Upon reading the above description, many embodiments and applications other than the examples provided will be apparent. The scope should not be determined with reference to the above description, but should be determined with reference to the entire scope of the appended claims and equivalents to which such claims are entitled. It is anticipated and expected that the technology discussed herein will develop in the future, and the disclosed systems and methods will be incorporated into such future embodiments. In short, it should be understood that the present application is capable of modification and change.

[0066] Unless explicitly indicated to the contrary in this article, all terms used in the claims are intended to be given their ordinary meanings as understood by the skilled person described herein. Specifically, unless the claim states an explicit limitation to the contrary, the use of singular articles such as "one", "the", "said" and the like should be interpreted as describing one or more of the indicated elements. Unless otherwise specifically stated or understood otherwise within the context when used, conditional language such as, in particular, "can", "may", "can" or "may" is generally intended to express that certain embodiments may include certain features, elements and / or steps, while other embodiments may not include certain features, elements and / or steps. Therefore, such conditional language is generally not intended to imply that one or more embodiments require each feature, element and / or step in any way.

[0067] In one aspect of the present invention, the predefined condition is satisfied when the difference between the scheduled vehicle arrival time and the current time is less than a predefined time threshold.

[0068] In one aspect of the present invention, the method includes: determining that the current time is equal to the scheduled vehicle departure time; determining that the user is located less than a predefined distance from the pick-up point based on the pick-up point location and the real-time geographic location; and outputting a notification to the HMI in response to determining that the user is located less than the predefined distance from the pick-up point.

[0069] In one aspect of the invention, the method includes transmitting the real-time geographic location to a second vehicle proximate to the pick-up point in response to obtaining the real-time geographic location.

[0070] In one aspect of the invention, transmitting the real-time geographic location to the second vehicle includes transmitting the real-time geographic location via vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications.

[0071] According to the present invention, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium is provided, on which instructions are stored, which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to: obtain information associated with a user's pick-up point; determine whether a predefined condition is satisfied based on the information associated with the pick-up point; obtain a real-time geographic location associated with the user in response to determining that the predefined condition is satisfied; and output the real-time geographic location on a vehicle human-machine interface (HMI).

Claims

1. A first vehicle, comprising: a transceiver configured to receive information associated with a pick-up point of a user and a real-time geographic location associated with the user; a human machine interface (HMI), the HMI configured to display the real-time geographic location; as well as a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the HMI, wherein the processor is configured to: obtaining the information associated with the pickup point from the transceiver; determining that a predefined condition is satisfied based on the information associated with the pickup point; obtaining the real-time geographic location in response to determining that the predefined condition is satisfied; as well as The real-time geographic location is output on the HMI.

2. The first vehicle of claim 1, wherein the information associated with the pick-up point includes at least one of a pick-up point location, a dispatched vehicle arrival time at the pick-up point, and a dispatched vehicle departure time from the pick-up point.

3. The first vehicle of claim 2, wherein the predefined condition is satisfied when the first vehicle is within a predefined distance of the pickup point location.

4. The first vehicle of claim 3, wherein the processor is further configured to: determining that the first vehicle is outside the predefined distance of the pickup point location; and Outputting the real-time geographic location on the HMI is stopped in response to determining that the first vehicle is outside the predefined distance. 5 . The first vehicle of claim 2 , wherein the predefined condition is satisfied when a difference between the scheduled vehicle arrival time and a current time is less than a predefined time threshold.

6. The first vehicle of claim 5, wherein the processor is further configured to: Determining that the current time is equal to the dispatch vehicle departure time; determining that the user is located less than a predefined distance from the pick-up point based on the pick-up point location and the real-time geographic location; and A notification is output to the HMI in response to determining that the user is located less than the predefined distance from the pick-up point.

7. The first vehicle of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to transmit the real-time geographic location to a second vehicle proximate to the pick-up point in response to obtaining the real-time geographic location.

8. The first vehicle of claim 7, wherein the processor transmits the real-time geographic location to the second vehicle via vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications.

9. The first vehicle of claim 7, further comprising a telematics control unit configured to determine a real-time vehicle geographic location.

10. The first vehicle of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to: obtaining the real-time vehicle geographic location from the telematics control unit; and The real-time vehicle geographic location is transmitted to the second vehicle.

11. The first vehicle of claim 1, wherein the real-time geographic location associated with the user is based on a real-time geographic location of a user device associated with the user.

12. A method of facilitating a user to board a first vehicle, comprising: obtaining, by a processor, information associated with a pick-up point for the user; determining, by the processor, based on the information associated with the pickup point, that a predefined condition is satisfied; In response to determining that the predefined condition is satisfied, obtaining, by the processor, a real-time geographic location associated with the user; as well as The real-time geographic location is output by the processor on a vehicle human machine interface (HMI).

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the information associated with the pick-up point includes at least one of a pick-up point location, a dispatch vehicle arrival time at the pick-up point, and a dispatch vehicle departure time from the pick-up point.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the predefined condition is satisfied when the first vehicle is within a predefined distance of the pick-up point location.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising: determining that the first vehicle is outside the predefined distance of the pickup point location; as well as Outputting the real-time geographic location on the vehicle HMI is stopped in response to determining that the first vehicle is outside the predefined distance.

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