System and method for electronic road signs with in-car display capabilities
The present invention is method and system for delivering road sign content information to a mobile computing device for display to the driver of a vehicle. The system consists of a wireless communication network in communication with a mobile computing device operationally coupled to a dashboard display device or a vehicle head's up display device. The wireless communication network further comprises a plurality of meshed network sign transmitting devices placed along predetermined intervals along the highway. Each sign-transmitting device is capable of transmitting road sign content information to the mobile computing device for display to the driver.
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20 . In a wireless communication network comprising a plurality of wireless road sign transmitters in communication with a mobile computing device located, a system of delivering road sign content to the mobile computing devices within vehicles, the system comprising:
a road sign transmitter for continuously broadcasting signals onto the wireless communication network a message containing specific road sign content information;
a computing device within a vehicle for continuously monitoring, a wireless communication network for signals being broadcast over the network, the broadcasted signals coming from road sign transmitters;
a receiver within the computing device for capturing the message from the wireless communication network, when a signal is in range of the mobile computing device;
a means within the computing device for interpreting the message to determine the road sign content information; and
for a predetermined time period, a display for displaying contents of a road sign contained in the captured message.
21 . The system of claim 21 wherein the mobile computing device is a hand-held computing device.
22 . The system of claim 20 further comprises an interface for securing the mobile computing device into a computing system manufactured as part of the vehicle.
23 . The system of claim 20 wherein the means for interpreting has the ability to retrieve from the message a set of attributes that identify the specific type of road sign to be displayed.
24 . The system of claim 20 further comprises a device to activate a backup sign transmitter to replace a deactivated sign transmitter.
25 . The system of claim 20 wherein the displaying means further comprises a display for redisplaying the message for a predetermined period of time.
26 . The system of claim 20 further comprises an input means for accepting a user request to filter and display a specific type of message.
27 . The system of claim 26 wherein the displaying means further comprises a means for displaying the road sign based upon the user request.
28 . The system claim 20 further comprising:
a means for providing a remote server in communication with the plurality of sign transmitters;
a means for continuously monitoring the plurality of sign transmitters to determine their status; and
if a sign transmitter malfunctions, a means for issuing an error notification.