School Bus Virtual Zone Alerts for Child Exit Monitoring
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems fail to effectively monitor and notify nearby vehicles of children exiting a school bus, leading to potential safety risks as drivers may not be aware of their presence and movement.
Innovation Solution
A school bus equipped with cameras and a notification system generates a virtual zone around the bus, transmitting information about the zone to nearby vehicles, and tracks user movement to ensure safe exit and road crossing by broadcasting user locations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If school bus operators flash stop lights and audibly notify passersby about the presence of children, then children's safety is improved, but the notification effectiveness is insufficient and cannot reliably alert all nearby vehicles
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary communication system between the school bus and nearby vehicles. The bus transmits electronic signals containing child presence information to surrounding vehicles, which then display this information to their drivers. This intermediary digital notification system complements the traditional visual and audible alerts, creating a more reliable multi-channel notification approach that ensures nearby vehicles are properly aware of children's presence.
2Reliability
If the bus transmits information to all nearby vehicles continuously, then child safety monitoring is improved, but communication energy consumption and system complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic transmission behavior where the bus only transmits child presence information to nearby vehicles when children are actually exiting or present near the bus. The system dynamically activates communication based on detected child presence conditions rather than continuous transmission. Additionally, the information is transmitted only to vehicles within a specific proximity range, dynamically adjusting communication based on spatial relationships and operational conditions to minimize energy consumption while maintaining safety monitoring reliability.
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle including a detection unit and a processor is disclosed. The detection unit may be configured to detect a presence of a user in the vehicle and in proximity to the vehicle. The processor may be configured to obtain inputs from the detection unit and determine that a predefined condition may be met based on the inputs. The processor may be further configured to generate a virtual zone around the vehicle responsive to determining that the predefined condition may be met. The processor may additionally transmit information associated with the virtual zone to another vehicle responsive to generating the virtual zone.