Multi-Vehicle Lighting Coordination via Central Server
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current vehicle assistance systems lack the ability to coordinate multiple vehicles to provide enhanced services such as path lighting and user location assistance efficiently, relying on individual vehicle capabilities rather than networked communication.
Innovation Solution
A multi-vehicle user-assistance system that utilizes a central server to coordinate participating vehicles within proximity of a mobile device, activating exterior lighting components and generating lighting patterns through short-range wireless communication and vehicle-to-vehicle communication to provide enhanced services like path lighting and user location assistance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a central server coordinates multiple vehicles using wireless communication, then the service capability and user assistance are enhanced, but the system complexity and communication requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the service functionality across multiple independent vehicles rather than requiring a single complex system. Each participating vehicle maintains its own independence while contributing to the collective path lighting service, allowing the system to scale by adding or removing individual vehicle participants without redesigning the entire system architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a universal service framework where any enrolled vehicle can participate in path lighting assistance for any user, not just its own owner. The system allows vehicles to perform multiple functions: providing lighting, receiving lighting requests, and coordinating through the central server, making the infrastructure universally applicable across different users and scenarios.
2Area of stationary object
If multiple vehicles are coordinated to provide lighting assistance, then the lighting coverage and user assistance are improved, but the communication overhead and coordination requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The central server acts as an intermediary that manages all communication between vehicles and users. Instead of requiring direct peer-to-peer communication between multiple vehicles and the user's mobile device, the server consolidates coordination functions, reducing the number of communication channels needed and simplifying the information exchange required to achieve wide lighting coverage.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the lighting functions of multiple separate vehicles into a unified path lighting service. By combining the exterior lighting components of several vehicles that are positioned along a user's path, the system achieves comprehensive coverage that would be impossible for a single vehicle, while the server manages this combination efficiently.
3Illumination intensity
If exterior lighting components are activated in multiple vehicles, then the path lighting effectiveness is enhanced, but the energy consumption across the network increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system activates lighting in multiple vehicles along the user's path rather than requiring continuous or excessive lighting throughout the entire area. By strategically selecting vehicles that are positioned along the user's movement path and activating only their relevant exterior lighting components, the system achieves effective path illumination with minimal total energy consumption compared to illuminating the entire surrounding area.
Data Source
AI summary
In an example of a multi-vehicle user-assistance method, a central server receives a request from a mobile device. The request includes a location of the mobile device. A central processing unit of the central server identifies a location of a plurality of participating vehicles positioned within proximity of the mobile device. The participating vehicles are unassociated with the mobile device. Instructions are respectively transmitted to at least some of the participating vehicles to activate an exterior lighting component i) as the mobile device is within proximity of the at least some of the participating vehicles or ii) as part of a vehicle lighting pattern.