Abstract:
A laser-based first warning system for vehicles is principally intended to be used when a vehicle is moving or about to move and can&#39;t be seen by oncoming drivers or pedestrians. The first warning system provides lasers on both sides, the front and back of the vehicle to paint a square or other shape on the ground several feet from the hidden vehicle giving warning to anyone that a hidden vehicle is pulling out, or otherwise about to move.

Description:
This application claims the benefit of provisional patent application No. 60/562,390, filed Apr. 15, 2004. 

   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   The field of the invention pertains to automotive vehicles and, in particular to signaling the presence of a hidden stationary or moving vehicle. 
   Hidden driveways and alleys present an ever present hazard when a motor vehicle is about to pull out across a sidewalk and into a street carrying ongoing pedestrian or vehicular traffic. There are few things scarier than having to pull out onto a road when the view to the side of the driver is obstructed. 
   A second hazard caused by obstructed view arises from trucks, buses and SUV&#39;s. One of the biggest fears and complaints of truck, bus and SUV drivers is that the high position of the drivers and shape of their vehicles prevents them from seeing any persons or objects that may be within one of the many blind spots that exist on their vehicles. This fear is especially widespread among drivers of trucks that have no rear windows and families with both small children and an SUV or large van. 
   U.S. Pat. No. 4,859,988 discloses electric circuits for flashing the brake, turn signal and back-up lights in sequence to more readily attract attention to the vehicle. U.S. Pat. No. 4,855,878 discloses vehicle side-mounted back-up lights to provide illumination to both right rear and left rear areas of the vehicles. Depending on the forward location of these side-mounted lights considerable area to each side of the vehicle can&#39;t be illuminated. 
   In contrast to lighting U.S. Pat. No. 5,574,426 discloses a plurality of electronic obstacle detection sensors mounted at the rear of a truck. The driver is signaled the presence and approximate location of an obstacle relative to the truck. U.S. Pat. No. 5,680,101 discloses a forward facing brake light to indicate that a following vehicle is applying its brakes. U.S. Pat. No. 5,769,524 discloses side illumination lights mounted at the front left and right corners of a vehicle for selectively illuminating to the front right and front left of the vehicle. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The new first warning system is a laser based warning system for vehicles. This system is principally intended to be used when a vehicle is moving or about to move and can&#39;t be seen by oncoming drivers or pedestrians. Prior to this system the only warning passing drivers and pedestrians have is the lights on the hidden vehicle and this only at night or in low natural light. In many cases, drivers and pedestrians have no way of seeing these vehicle lights as the hidden vehicle is moving forward. There is no warning for pedestrians and passing traffic which could potentially collide with the hidden vehicle as it emerges. The new first warning system provides lasers on both sides, the front and back of the vehicle. One or more lasers paint a square or other shape on the ground several feet from the hidden vehicle giving warning to anyone that a hidden vehicle is pulling out. To attract more attention the lasers might blink periodically prior to a constant on signal. The laser system is intended to be intuitive in use, either manually or automatically, and includes features to prevent use where not appropriate. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  schematically depicts a vehicle exiting from a driveway onto a highway; 
       FIG. 2  schematically depicts a vehicle exiting from a blind driveway onto a highway; 
       FIG. 3  schematically depicts a vehicle about to exit from a perpendicular parking space; 
       FIG. 4  schematically depicts a vehicle about to exit from a parallel parking space; 
       FIG. 5 . depicts a child receiving a visual warning from a vehicle about to back-up; 
       FIG. 6  depicts a child receiving a visual warning from a vehicle about to back-up and a visual alert to the driver; 
       FIG. 7  depicts placement of sensing devices to all sides of the vehicle; 
       FIG. 8  depicts a simplified control panel for the vehicle driver; 
       FIG. 9  depicts the placement of the control panel for the driver; 
       FIGS. 10   a ,  10   b ,  10   c  and  10   d  depict four external views of a laser and radar, sonar or lidar unit that can be installed on a vehicle; and 
       FIG. 11  depicts internal features of a laser and radar, sonar or lidar unit. 
   

   DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     FIG. 1  illustrates a vehicle  10  moving from a driveway or side road  12  into a highway  14  and possible oncoming traffic. To make drivers in oncoming traffic aware of the moving vehicle  10  either a passive or active warning device may be employed. In the passive device a laser affixed to the moving vehicle  10  creates a lighted spot  16  ahead of the vehicle at a fixed distance from the moving vehicle. In a more active system a radar, sonar or lidar device affixed to the moving vehicle  10  measures the distance as indicated by lines  17  to a fixed object such as a tree line  18  on the other side of the highway  14  and takes a proportion of the distance such as one-third to determine the location of the spot  16  from the moving vehicle. 
   Although oncoming vehicles or pedestrians usually have the right-of-way in these circumstances, seeing the spot  16  warns oncoming drivers or persons of the moving vehicle  10 . The warning enables the oncoming drivers to at least place a foot above the brake pedal thus saving about one-half second if the brakes must be applied to prevent a crash. 
   As shown in  FIG. 2  a tree line  20  or building may completely obscure the moving vehicle  10  from an oncoming vehicle  22 . Only the spot  16  enables the oncoming driver in vehicle  22  to realize that a moving vehicle  10  may suddenly exit road or driveway  12  and prepare for the sudden emergence of the vehicle. 
     FIG. 3  depicts a similar situation in a parking lot indicated by lines  24  that is essentially full. A plurality of vehicles  26  are parked perpendicular to the aisle  28 . Vehicle  30  is about to move from its parking place into aisle  28  and displays the laser spot  32  enabling the driver of vehicle  34  moving down the aisle to be forewarned. While the speed of vehicle  34  is much slower than on a highway, obstructions such as concrete columns in a parking garage may completely obscure the back-up lights of vehicle  30 . 
     FIG. 4  depicts another similar situation where a vehicle  36  is parallel parked between other parked vehicles  38 . As the vehicle  36  is about to pull out from its parking space it displays a laser spot  40  in the street  42  to warn the driver of an approaching vehicle  44  that vehicle  36  may suddenly pull out. 
   Illustrated in  FIG. 5  is a pedestrian such as a child  46  being warned by a laser spot  48  that a vehicle  50  is backing up. While most commercial vehicles are now equipped with sound warning devices for back-up, deaf persons are not warned. In addition, non-commercial vehicles are generally not equipped with sound warning devices. A more active device utilizes radar, sonar or lidar with the laser spot  48  as shown in  FIG. 6 . The radar, sonar or lidar can sense the presence of a child  46  and identify the presence of the child by a display  52  to the driver wherein the presence of the child is indicated at  54  by a red light for example. As an additional feature with the use of lidar, the lack of the presence of the spot  48  can be used to warn of the failure of the laser providing the spot. 
   In  FIG. 7  a vehicle  56  is schematically shown in plan view. Surrounding the vehicle  56  are four laser spots to the front  58 , back  60 , left side  62  and right side  64  spaced from the vehicle. The laser spots  50  through  64  are produced by solid state lasers located on the front  66 , back  68 , left side  70  and right side  72  of the vehicle  56  respectively. The lasers  66  through  72  may be energized selectively by the vehicle driver manually or with some automatic configuration. For example, backing up may automatically energize laser  68 , turning the vehicle front wheels to the left may automatically energize laser  70 , turning the vehicle front wheels to the right may automatically energize laser  72 , but front laser  66  may only be operable manually by the driver. So that the lasers are not turned on under all driving conditions the automatic energization may only occur below a certain speed such as 10 MPH. Likewise, if radar, sonar or lidar is employed to the sides and back of the vehicle  56 , actuation may also be limited to speeds below a set limit such as 10 MPH. 
     FIG. 8  illustrates a driver control panel generally denoted by  74  and  FIG. 9  illustrates a convenient location for the control panel. The control panel  74  lights show the status of the four laser spots  58  through  64 . For example, red may indicate active and blue inactive status. Back laser spot  60  is active at 10 feet from the vehicle. Laser spot  58  is set for a custom value of 20 feet but inactive. None of the lasers are set for automatic operation. As shown in  FIG. 9  the driver control panel  74  including the alarm display  52 , if included, may be positioned above and to the right of the dashboard  76 . 
   In  FIG. 10  an enclosure  78  for the laser and radar, sonar or lidar is shown. The radar or lidar antenna  80  is affixed in front  82  of the enclosure  78  and a port  84  is provided at the back of the enclosure for electric cables to and from the laser and radar, sonar or lidar. From the front  82  of the enclosure  78  extends the laser  86  with a protective cover  88 . 
   As shown in  FIG. 11  the enclosure  78  contains the laser  86  with a motor  90  operated cover  88  and a radar, sonar or lidar  92 . A second motor  94  raises and lowers the laser  86  to correspond with the distance selected in  FIG. 8 . The electric cables  96  pass through the port  84  from the motors  90  and  94 , laser  86  and the radar, sonar or lidar  92  to a CPU. Whenever a distance is selected in  FIG. 8  above, the CPU actuates motor  94  to raise or lower the laser  86 . Activation in  FIG. 8  opens the cover  88  and energizes the laser  86  and a soft chime to alert the vehicle driver that the laser is operating. The chime will operate until the laser  86  is deactivated. 
   With the optional settings of 7, 10, 15 or “custom”, the vehicle driver can set the laser spot distances from the vehicle for shorter distances in parking lots and longer distances for intersections and highways. Where radar, sonar or lidar is incorporated into the system to detect children or unseen objects, a chime may also sound in addition to a light on the alarm display  52 . Although the laser spot is shown in the figures as a square other projected images might be “painted” on the pavement. 
   On the control panel  74  may be separate switches to activate the lasers, lidar, sonar or radar, or the lights may also serve as push buttons to set the lasers and actuate the lidar, sonar or radar. Activation of the system might be done in several ways. 
   For example, the driver may set the laser spot distances by pushing the corresponding light buttons and then the active light buttons. The active light buttons can be set for automatic by pressing the automatic button after each active light button as desired. 
   The actual lasers, lidar, sonar or radar units to produce the signals have not been detailed or their specific locations on the front, back or sides of the vehicle detailed because such units are well known for other purposes and are becoming less expensive and easily protectable from the elements. For example, laser pointers with projected images are well known from classroom demonstrations.