Environmental Reproduction System for Sensor-Based Perception
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing solutions for overcoming impediments to human senses like sight and sound are often incomplete, expensive, or impractical, failing to faithfully reconstruct environments and provide detailed representations.
Innovation Solution
A system that combines environmental information from sensors and input devices with geographic location data to reconstruct environments, adjusting visual and auditory inputs to remove impediments, using a processor to integrate video, sound levels, and environmental conditions for enhanced perception.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If specialized equipment like sonar, radar, or infrared is used to overcome impediments to sight, then the ability to perceive the environment is improved, but the cost and complexity of the system increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies universality by using a camera as a multi-functional device that can operate in various environmental conditions (daylight, nighttime, rain, snow) without requiring specialized equipment for each condition. The camera captures visual information universally, and digital processing adapts it to different scenarios, replacing the need for separate sonar, radar, or infrared systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses copying by creating a digital representation of the environment through camera imaging. Instead of directly sensing the environment with specialized sensors, the system captures optical images and processes them digitally to overcome environmental impediments, providing a faithful reconstruction of the environment without requiring complex specialized hardware.
2Reliability
If noise canceling headphones or increased audio volume are used to overcome sound impediments, then the ability to hear is improved, but the solution becomes incomplete and may become impractical at loud volumes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the extraction principle by isolating and enhancing specific sound sources from the environmental audio mixture. The system extracts relevant sounds (such as emergency vehicle sirens or important announcements) from the background noise, allowing users to hear important auditory information without needing to increase overall volume or use noise canceling that blocks all external sounds.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses an intermediary approach by introducing a processing system that mediates between the environmental sounds and the user's perception. The system captures environmental audio, processes it through algorithms that identify and enhance important sounds, and presents it to the user in a way that overcomes sound impediments without the impracticalities of volume increase or complete noise cancellation.
3Reliability
If general solutions are used to overcome sensory impediments, then some level of perception is restored, but the environmental representation lacks detail or fidelity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a faithful digital copy of the environment by capturing high-quality images with a camera and processing them to overcome environmental impediments. The digital representation maintains the detail and fidelity of the original scene, allowing users to perceive the environment accurately without the loss of information that occurs with generalized sensing approaches.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies preliminary action by capturing environmental information with high-fidelity sensors (camera and microphone) before environmental impediments degrade the information. The system proactively records the environment in detail, then processes this pre-captured data to overcome conditions like darkness or noise, preserving information that would otherwise be lost.
Data Source
AI summary
A environmental reproduction system multiplexes information from a variety of sources to reproduce a target environment having visual and/or auditory impediments. The visual impediments may include one or more environmental conditions, such as rain, sleet, snow, darkness, brightness, or any other type of environmental condition. The auditory impediments may include loud noises, such as construction noises, or sounds that are too low, such as an emergency vehicle sound not being heard. The environmental reproduction system may determine the environmental condition from one or more sources, such as an internal microphone, an external microphone, temperature sensor, a camera, a weather receiver, or other types of sensors. The environmental reproduction may be in communication with an environmental condition database and operative to apply a signal processing action to a recording (video and/or audio recording) of the target environment based on the determined environmental condition.