SYSTEM FOR AVOIDING CONGESTION AND METHODS THEREFOR

Abstract

A system and method equipped in an ego vehicle 110 for avoiding congestion includes: monitoring the real-time speed of the ego vehicle by a control unit through communication with an ECU of the ego vehicle 110. Further, prompting a user to activate a parking assistance mode if the monitored speed is determined to be below a threshold speed for a first predefined period of time.It comprises one or more light-emitting elements 102 configured on taillight assemblies 202, wherein upon actuation of the parking assistance mode, at least one of the one or more light-emitting elements 102 emits light that projects distance lines 204-1 and 204-2 to form distance areas 206 around one or more sides of the ego vehicle 110, which indicate to a following vehicle 210 a safety distance that must be maintained by the ego vehicle 110 in order for the ego vehicle 110 to perform a parking maneuver.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELDThe present disclosure relates generally to the technical field of motor vehicles. In particular, it relates to a system and a method for avoiding congestion.BACKGROUNDThe increasing number of on-road vehicles, limited parking infrastructure, and inefficient management systems are the major causes of overloading the parking spaces in cities. As the city population grows and the economic conditions improve, the number of vehicles on roads has increased significantly. The higher vehicle ownership contributes to a greater demand for parking spaces in urban and suburban areas.In addition, the problem of jams is exacerbated by the lack of communication between successive vehicles during parking attempts. Without communication means, the natural tendency of following vehicles is to mimic the movements of the preceding vehicle. This results in a scenario in which a vehicle wishing to park is unable to maneuver into the parking spot, e.g., by reversing, resulting in jams in the parking spot.Efforts have been made in the past to overcome the above problems. Thus, patent document US 2016221495A discloses a system for notifying the intention of a vehicle driver to perform a parallel parking maneuver in road traffic. The system includes a display that generates a signal to indicate to other drivers the intention to perform the parallel parking maneuver on either the left or right side of the vehicle.Patent specification DE102014204316B4 discloses an optical signaling device for a motor vehicle controlled by a driver, which comprises at least one optical signal transmitter controlled by a control unit. The control device is designed to recognize the intention of the driver to park the motor vehicle controlled by him and to activate the optical signal transmitter in order to display at least one optical signal which unambiguously identifies a parking area provided for parking the motor vehicle and is visible to a driver of another motor vehicle approaching the motor vehicle provided for parking. The control device is designed such that, after the intended parking has been detected, it detects, by means of at least one optical sensor, before the activation of the signal transmitter, whether an optical signal of another motor vehicle is already displayed on the intended parking area.Patent Document KR102421054B1 discloses an apparatus and a method for parking guidance. It includes a sensing module for sensing a parking space around the vehicle when entering the parking mode; a lamp for radiating light toward the parking space when the sensing module senses the parking space; a DMD mounted inside the lamp and driven to display the parking space in a portion of the radiated light; and a controller that determines a parking space by the sensing module, applies a drive command signal to the DMD, and applies a light radiation command signal to the lamp.Although the cited documents disclose various systems and methods for steering a vehicle when parking and mitigating the problem of congestion, there is still room for a better and more efficient solution to overcoming the above problems and to assist the vehicle in avoiding congestion through communication with nearby vehicles.OBJECTS OF THE INVENTIONA general object of the present disclosure is to overcome the above problems and to efficiently prevent congestion by communication with nearby vehicles.An object of the present disclosure is to form distance areas that indicate a safe distance to the ego vehicle to a following vehicle in order for the ego vehicle to be able to perform a parking operation.Another object of the present disclosure is to reduce power consumption by automatically turning off light emitting elements when they are not needed.Another object of the present disclosure is to improve experience of an occupant of the vehicle.Another object of the present disclosure is to provide a smart, accurate, and cost effective system and method that can be implemented in a vehicle to avoid congestion.SUMMARYAspects of the present disclosure generally relate to the technical field of motor vehicles. In particular, it relates to a system and a method for avoiding congestion.One aspect of the present disclosure relates to a system implemented in an ego vehicle for avoiding congestion. The system comprises one or more light emitting elements and a control unit. The one or more light emitting elements are arranged at predefined positions of the ego vehicle. The controller is operatively coupled to the one or more light emitting elements, the controller configured to: monitor, by communication with an ECU of the ego vehicle, the real-time speed of the ego vehicle; and when the monitored speed is determined to be below a threshold speed for a first predefined amount of time, activate a park assist mode; wherein upon activation of the park assist mode, at least one of the one or more light emitting elements emits light that forms one or more predefined size clearance areas around one or more sides of the ego vehicle that indicate to a subsequent vehicle a safe distance to be followed by the ego vehicle to enable the ego vehicle to park.In one aspect, the system may be configured to turn off the light emitting elements when it is determined that the ego vehicle has stopped for a second predefined amount of time.When the control device of the ego vehicle is turned off, the system may be configured to turn off the light emitting elements.In one aspect, the one or more light emitting elements may be configured to emit light to project the lines of distance forming the one or more distance surfaces onto a ground surface around the ego vehicle.In one aspect, the one or more light emitting elements may be disposed on tail lamp assemblies of the ego vehicle and configured to project the distance lines forming the one or more distance areas of the predefined size around the rear of the ego vehicle and to display to the following vehicle the safe distance to the ego vehicle to be maintained.In one aspect, the system may be configured to prompt a user of the ego vehicle to activate the park assist mode when it is determined that the monitored speed is below the threshold speed; wherein the one or more light emitting elements may be turned on only when the user activates the park assist mode.In one aspect, the system may include a human machine interface (HMI) device that communicates with the controller, wherein the HMI device may be configured to notify the user to activate the park assist mode when it is determined that the monitored speed is below the threshold speed and may allow the user to activate the park assist mode by selection via the HMI device and / or by voice command.In another aspect, the present disclosure describes a method of avoiding congestion. The method comprises: monitoring, by a controller, the real-time speed of the ego vehicle by communicating with an ECU of the ego vehicle; and prompting, by the controller, a user to activate a park assist mode when the monitored speed is determined to be below a threshold speed for a first predefined amount of time; wherein upon actuation of the park assist mode, at least one of the one or more light emitting elements emits light that forms one or more predefined size clearance areas around one or more sides of the ego vehicle that indicate to a subsequent vehicle a safe distance to be maintained by the ego vehicle to enable the ego vehicle to park.In one aspect, the one or more light emitting elements may be configured on the tail lamp assemblies of the vehicle and configured to project lines of distance forming the one or more distance areas of the predefined size onto a ground surface around the rear of the vehicle that indicate to the following vehicle the safe distance to the ego vehicle to be maintained.In one aspect, the method may include turning off the light emitting elements when it is determined that the ego vehicle has stopped for a second predefined period of time or the controller of the ego vehicle is turned off.Various objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like numerals represent like elements.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThe accompanying drawings serve to further understand the present disclosure and form part of this description. The drawings illustrate exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the present disclosure. FIG. 1 shows an example block diagram of the proposed congestion avoidance system to explain its operation according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating distance lines projected from the ego vehicle indicating a safe distance to the ego vehicle to be maintained, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating communication between various components of the proposed system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 4 shows an example flow diagram explaining the operation of the proposed system in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating the proposed method for avoiding congestion according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.DETAILED DESCRIPTIONThe following is a detailed description of the embodiments of the disclosure illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The embodiments are so detailed as to clearly convey the disclosure. However, it is not intended to limit the predictable variations of embodiments by way of particularity; on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims.The embodiments discussed herein relate generally to the technical field of motor vehicles. In particular, it relates to a system and a method for avoiding congestion.Referring to FIG. 1, the proposed system 100 (interchangeably referred to herein as system 100) is implemented in a vehicle 110 (interchangeably referred to herein as ego vehicle 110) to avoid congestion.In an embodiment, the system 100 includes one or more light emitting elements 102 (collectively referred to herein as light emitting elements 102 and individually referred to as light emitting element 102) disposed at predefined positions on the ego vehicle 110. In an exemplary embodiment, light emitting elements 102 may include, but are not limited to, micro-LEDs, digital micro-mirror devices (DMDs), and LASER.According to an embodiment, the system 100 comprises a control unit 104 that may be functionally coupled to the light emitting elements 102. The controller 104 is configured to communicate with a controller of the ego vehicle and accordingly monitor the real-time speed of the ego vehicle 110. In one case, the speed of the ego vehicle 110 may be monitored by the ECU using sensors such as tachometers, odometers, and the like. Furthermore, the control device can transmit the monitored speed to the control unit 104.In one embodiment, the controller 104 may compare the monitored speed to a threshold speed. In one embodiment, the controller 104 may activate a park assist mode when it is determined that the monitored speed is below a threshold speed during a first predefined time period. Upon activation of the park assist mode, at least one of the light emitting elements 102 may emit light from one or more predefined size clearance surfaces around one or more sides of the ego vehicle 110. The clearance areas may indicate to one or more subsequent vehicles 210 (as shown in FIG. 2 ) a safe clearance to be observed by the ego vehicle 110 to allow the ego vehicle 110 to perform a parking operation, i.e., to park the ego vehicle 110 in an appropriate location.In an embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the light emitting elements 102 on the tail light assemblies 202- 1 and 202- 2 (collectively referred to herein as tail light assemblies 202 and individually referred to herein as tail light assembly 202) of the ego vehicle 110 may be configured to emit light to project distance lines 204- 1 and 204- 2 that form distance areas 206 on a ground surface around the ego vehicle 110, around the rear of the ego vehicle 110, thereby communicating and displaying to the following vehicle 210 the safe distance to be maintained to the ego vehicle 110.In one embodiment, the system 100 may be configured to turn off the light emitting elements 102 when it is determined that the ego vehicle 110 has stopped for a second predefined amount of time. In another embodiment, the system 100 may be configured to turn off the light emitting elements 102 when the ECU of the ego vehicle 110 is turned off. Thus, the system 100 reduces power consumption by automatically turning off the light emitting elements 102 when not needed.In one embodiment, the system 100 may be configured to prompt a user of the ego vehicle 110 to activate the park assist mode when the monitored speed is determined to be below the threshold speed, wherein a human machine interface device (HMI) 106 may notify the user to activate the park assist mode when the monitored speed is determined to be below the threshold speed, and may allow the user to activate the park assist mode by selection via the HMI device 106 and / or by voice command via a voice assist module (VA) integrated with the ego vehicle 110.The block diagram 300 in FIG. 3 illustrates the communication between various components of the proposed system 100. In one embodiment, a user may select the park assist mode via the HMI device 106 (also referred to herein as infotainment). In one embodiment, the control unit 104 may include an infotainment ECU 302 and a rear light projection control unit 304. The infotainment ECU 302 may communicate with the infotainment and accordingly send and receive signals to and from the infotainment.In one embodiment, the tail light projection controller 304 may send feedback based on the speed of the ego vehicle 110, which may be communicated to the infotainment via the infotainment ECU 302. Further, if it is determined that the speed of the ego vehicle 110 is below the threshold speed, the system 100 may prompt the user to activate the park assist mode (also referred to herein as park assist), and if the user actuates / activates the park assist mode, a corresponding signal regarding the display command is transmitted to the backlight projection controller 304, which in turn may turn on the backlight assemblies 202, which may include, for example, a micro LED or DMD backlight 306.The block diagram 400 in FIG. 4 shows the operation of the proposed system 100. If it is determined at block 402 that the speed of the ego vehicle 110 is below the threshold speed, e.g., 10 km / h, for a first predefined time period, e.g., 1 minute, at block 404, the system 100 may light up / blink the option on the home screen of the HMI device 106 to enable the park assist mode. In an example embodiment, at block 406, a user, e.g., the driver of the vehicle 110, may activate the park assist mode / mode by a voice command.In block 408, the system 100 checks whether the park assist mode is enabled. If so, the system 100 may trigger further signals to project clearance lines with the tail lamp at block 410. In block 412, the triggered signals may be communicated to the tail lamp projection controller 304, which in turn may turn turn on the tail lamp 306 with micro-LED or DMD in block 414.If it is determined at block 416 that the speed of the ego vehicle 110 has been stopped (speed equal to zero) for a second predefined period of time, e.g., 30 seconds, or if the ego vehicle controller is off (also referred to herein as IGN Off), the system 100 may turn off the tail lamp 306 at block 418.As shown in FIG. 5, the proposed method 500 may be implemented in an ego vehicle to avoid congestion.At block 502, the method 500 includes monitoring, by a controller communicating with a controller of the ego vehicle, the real-time speed of the ego vehicle.At block 504, the method 500 includes prompting the user to activate, via the controller, a park assist mode when it is determined that the monitored speed is below a threshold speed for a first predefined time period.Further, at block 506, upon activation of the park assist mode, at least one of the one or more light emitting elements emits light that forms one or more predefined size clearance areas around one or more sides of the ego vehicle and indicates a safe distance to a trailing vehicle to be met by the ego vehicle to allow the ego vehicle to perform a park operation.In an embodiment, the one or more light emitting elements may be arranged on the tail lamps of the vehicle and configured to project the distance lines forming the one or more distance areas of the predefined size onto a ground surface around the rear side of the vehicle to indicate to the following vehicle the safe distance to the ego vehicle to be maintained.In one embodiment, the method 500 may include turning off the light emitting elements when it is determined that the ego vehicle has stopped for a second predefined period of time or the controller of the ego vehicle is turned off.It should be understood that in various embodiments, the light emitting elements 102 are arranged on the tail lamp assemblies 202 of the ego vehicle 110 and are configured to project the distance lines that form the one or more distance areas of the predefined size around the rear side of the ego vehicle 110 and indicate to the following vehicle the safety distance to the ego vehicle 110 to be observed. However, the light-emitting elements 102 can also be arranged at other positions, for example on the right or on the left, in order to indicate the safety distance to the ego vehicle 110 to vehicles travelling parallel to the ego vehicle 110, which is entirely within the scope of the invention.While the foregoing describes various embodiments of the invention, other and further embodiments of the invention may be devised without departing from the basic scope of the invention. The scope of the invention is defined by the following claims. The invention is not limited to the described embodiments, variations, or examples included to enable a person of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention when combined with information and knowledge available to the person of ordinary skill in the art.ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention effectively prevents congestion by communicating with nearby vehicles.The present invention forms distance areas which indicate a safety distance from the ego vehicle to a following vehicle in order for the ego vehicle to be able to carry out a parking process.The present invention reduces power consumption by automatically turning off light emitting elements when not needed.The present invention is intended to improve the experience of an occupant of the vehicle.The present invention provides a smart, accurate, and low cost system and method that can be installed on a vehicle to avoid jams.References included in the specificationThis list of documents cited by the applicant has been produced in an automated manner and is only included for the better information of the reader. The list is not part of the German patent application or utility model application. The DPMA does not take any adhesion for any faults or omissions.Patent Literature citedUS 2016221495A

[0004] DE 102014204316B4

[0005] KR 102421054B1

[0006]

Claims

A system (100) implemented in an ego vehicle (110) to prevent congestion, the system (100) comprising: one or more light emitting elements (102) positioned at predefined positions on the ego vehicle (110); a controller (104) operatively coupled to the one or more light emitting elements (102), the controller (104) configured to: monitor, by communication with an ECU of the ego vehicle (110), the real-time speed of the ego vehicle (110); and when it is determined that the monitored speed is below a threshold speed for a first predefined time period, activate a park assist mode; wherein, upon actuation of the park assist mode, at least one of the one or more light emitting elements (102) emits light that forms one or more predefined sized clearance areas around one or more sides of the ego vehicle (110) that indicate a safe clearance to be maintained by the ego vehicle (110) to a subsequent vehicle to enable the ego vehicle (110) to park.The system (100) of claim 1, wherein the system (100) is configured to turn off the light emitting elements (102) when it is detected that the ego vehicle (110) has stopped for a second predefined period of time.The system (100) of claim 1, wherein the system (100) is configured to turn off the light emitting elements (102) when the ECU of the ego vehicle (110) is turned off.The system (100) of claim 1, wherein the one or more light emitting elements (102) are configured to emit light to project distance lines forming the one or more distance fields onto a ground surface around the ego vehicle (110).The system (100) of claim 4, wherein the one or more light emitting elements (102) are configured on tail lamp assemblies (202) of the ego vehicle (110) and are configured to project the distance lines forming the one or more distance plots of the predefined size around the rear of the ego vehicle (110), indicating to the following vehicle (210) the safety distance to the ego vehicle (110) to be observed.The system (100) of claim 1, wherein the system (100) is configured to prompt a user of the ego vehicle (110) to activate the park assist mode when it is determined that the monitored speed is below the threshold speed; wherein the one or more light emitting elements (102) are only turned on when the user actuates the park assist mode.The system (100) of claim 6, wherein the system (100) comprises a human machine interface (HMI) device (106) that communicates with the controller (104), the HMI device (106) being configured to notify the user to enable the parking assist mode when it is determined that the monitored speed is below the threshold speed and allow the user to enable the parking assist mode by selection via the HMI device (106) and / or by voice command.A method (500) of avoiding congestion, the method (500) comprising: monitoring (502), by a controller, the real-time speed of the ego vehicle by communicating with an ECU of the ego vehicle; and prompting (504), by the controller, a user to activate a park assist mode if the monitored speed is determined to be below a threshold speed for a first predefined time period; (506), upon actuation of the park assist mode, emitting light from at least one of the one or more light emitting elements forming one or more predefined sized clearance areas around one or more sides of the ego vehicle indicating a safe distance to be met by the ego vehicle to allow the ego vehicle to perform a park operation to a subsequent vehicle.The method (500) of claim 8, wherein the one or more light emitting elements are disposed on tail light arrays of the vehicle and are configured to project distance lines forming the one or more distance fields of the predefined size onto a ground surface around the rear of the vehicle that indicate to the following vehicle the safe distance to the ego vehicle to be maintained.The method (500) of claim 8, wherein the method (500) comprises turning off the light emitting elements when it is determined that the ego vehicle is stopped for a second predefined period of time or the ECU of the ego vehicle is turned off.

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