Systems and method for providing awareness of emergency vehicles
Systems and methods for control systems for facilitating situational awareness of a vehicle are provided. Sensors located around a stationary vehicle may detect moving objects that pose potentially dangerous situations for the vehicle occupants and for the object. This can cause the doors to lock automatically in order to make the situation safer. Additionally, electromagnetic radiation sensors located around the vehicle may detect the lights and sounds of emergency vehicles. If the electromagnetic data from the electromagnetic radiation sensors match a known pattern of electromagnetic data emitted by emergency vehicles stored in a library an alarm may be sounded through the speakers of the vehicle in order to alert the vehicle occupants of an emergency vehicle in the vicinity.
1. An automatic alarm system of a vehicle comprising:
a sensor adapted to detect electromagnetic data;
a computer system adapted to:
access, by a computer processor, a library of known patterns of electromagnetic data emitted by emergency vehicles;
compare, by the computer processor, the electromagnetic data detected by the sensor with the known patterns of electromagnetic data emitted by emergency vehicles that are stored in the library; and
an automatic alarm mechanism that activates in response to the processor determining that the comparison matches a known pattern of electromagnetic data for an emergency vehicle resulting in the computer processor sending a first signal to activate an alarm of the vehicle.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the sensor is adapted to:
detect audible frequencies in the 20 Hz to 20 KHz range.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the sensor is adapted to:
detect visible wavelengths in the 390 nm to 700 nm range.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the sensor comprises a plurality of sensors adapted to detect electromagnetic data.
5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the plurality of sensors are comprised of different types of sensors adapted to:
detect audible frequencies in the 20 Hz to 20 KHz range; and
detect visible wavelengths in the 390 nm to 700 nm range.
6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the sensor is adapted to:
detect specific wavelengths and patterns of light in the visible range (390 nm to 700 nm); and
detect specific frequencies and patterns of sound in the audible range (20 Hz to 20 KHz).
7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computer processor is adapted to:
send a first signal to activate the alarm if the outcome of the data analysis matches a known pattern of electromagnetic data; and
turn off one or more peripheral devices.
8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the one or more peripheral devices comprise, but are not limited to, the following:
AM/FM radio, satellite radio, Bluetooth, WiFi, CD player, cassette player, auxiliary input(s), or USB input(s).
9. The system of claim 7 , wherein the computer processor is further adapted to:
receive additional data from the sensor;
analyze the additional data from the sensor to determine whether the outcome of the data analysis matches a known pattern of electromagnetic data;
send a second signal to deactivate the alarm if the outcome of the data analysis no longer matches a known pattern of electromagnetic data; and
turn on one or more peripheral devices that were turned off when the alarm was activated.
10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the computer processor is further adapted to:
send a second signal to deactivate the alarm if the electromagnetic audio data drops below a predetermined decibel level.
11. A method implemented by an automatic alarm system of a vehicle, the method comprising:
detecting electromagnetic data using a sensor;
accessing, by a computer processor, a library of known patterns of electromagnetic data emitted by emergency vehicles;
comparing, by the computer processor, the electromagnetic data detected by the sensor with the known patterns of electromagnetic data emitted by emergency vehicles that are stored in the library; and
activating an automatic alarm mechanism in response to the computer processor determining that the comparison matches a known pattern of electromagnetic data for an emergency vehicle, at least in part by the computer processor sending a first signal to activate an alarm of the vehicle.
12. The method of claim 11 wherein the sensor is adapted to:
detect audible frequencies in the 20 Hz to 20 KHz range.
13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the sensor is adapted to:
detect visible wavelengths in the 390 nm to 700 nm range.
14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the sensor comprises a plurality of sensors adapted to detect electromagnetic data.
15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the plurality of sensors are comprised of different types of sensors adapted to:
detect audible frequencies in the 20 Hz to 20 KHz range; and
detect visible wavelengths in the 390 nm to 700 nm range.
16. The method of claim 11 , wherein the sensor is adapted to:
detect specific wavelengths and patterns of light in the visible range (390 nm to 700 nm); and
detect specific frequencies and patterns of sound in the audible range (20 Hz to 20 KHz).
17. The method of claim 11 , wherein:
the method further comprises sending, by the computer processor, the first signal to activate the alarm if the outcome of the data analysis matches a known pattern of electromagnetic data; and
the method comprises turning off, by the computer processor, one or more peripheral devices.
18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the one or more peripheral devices comprise, but are not limited to, the following:
AM/FM radio, satellite radio, Bluetooth, WiFi, CD player, cassette player, auxiliary input(s), or USB input(s).
19. The method of claim 17 , wherein the method further comprises:
receiving, by the computer processor, additional data from the sensor;
analyzing, by the computer processor, the additional data from the sensor to determine whether the outcome of the data analysis matches a known pattern of electromagnetic data;
sending, by the computer processor, a second signal to deactivate the alarm if the outcome of the data analysis no longer matches a known pattern of electromagnetic data; and
turning on, by the computer processor, one or more peripheral devices that were turned off when the alarm was activated.
20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the method further comprises:
sending, by the computer processor, a second signal to deactivate the alarm if the electromagnetic audio data drops below a predetermined decibel level.