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US Patent 5270937 - Vehicle map position determining apparatus

US Patent Issued on December 14, 1993
Estimated Patent Expiration Date: Icon_subject April 26, 2011Estimated Expiration Date is calculated based on simple USPTO term provisions. It does not account for terminal disclaimers, term adjustments, failure to pay maintenance fees, or other factors which might affect the term of a patent.
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Abstract

A vehicle navigation/position system (10) investigates road segments having start and end coordinates stored in a road map data memory (13). The system determines what road segments have at least a portion inside a rectangle of interest (ROI-100) about an estimated vehicle position (101). Map matching then corrects vehicle position by locating vehicle position on one of the road segments inside the rectangle of interest. Vehicle location/navigation information is then provided. A computer (11) identifies road segments as inside the rectangle of interest (100) by creating electrical signals associated with each road segment start/end coordinate as compared to boundary coordinates of the rectangle. These electrical signals identify the road segment coordinates with respect to areas (B-I) surrounding the rectangle of interest (A). For road segments extending between opposite middle side areas (B-I, C-G), the computer (11) determines the road segment inside the rectangle of interest, and the road segment is added to a list.

Other References

  • Robert French, "Map Matching Origin, Approaches and Applications", Second Symposium on Land Vehicle Navigation, Munster, Germany, Jul. 1989 pp. 211-234
  • Newman and Sproul, "Principles of Interactive Computer Graphics," 2nd Ed., 1979, pp. 65-67
  • Nicholl et al, "An Efficient New Algorithm for 2D Line Clipping: Its Development and Analysis", Computer Graphics, vol. 21, No. 4 Jul. 1987, pp. 253-262
  • Robert French, "Automobile Navigation Technology: Where is it Going?" May 25, 1988
  • Kaijian et al., "An Efficient Line Clipping Algorithm", Computer and Graphics, vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 297-301, 199

Inventors

Assignee

Application

No. 691872 filed on 04/26/1991

US Classes:

701/209, Including route searching or determining device340/995.19, Route determination and display on map701/300RELATIVE LOCATION

Field of Search

340/990, With map display340/991, Position indication transmitted by vehicle after receipt of information from local station340/992, Position indication transmitted at periodic intervals (e.g., distance travelled)340/993, Position indication transmitted by local station to remote location73/178RNAVIGATION

Examiners

Primary: Black, Thomas G.
Assistant: Zanelli, Michael J.

Attorney, Agent or Firm

US Patent References

4511973, Navigator for vehicles
Issued on: 04/16/1985
Inventor: Miura ,   et al.
4570227, Portable map display apparatus
Issued on: 02/11/1986
Inventor: Tachi ,   et al.
4635202, Navigation apparatus for automobile
Issued on: 01/06/1987
Inventor: Tsujii ,   et al.
4796189, Navigation system for automotive vehicle with automatic navigation start and navigation end point search and automatic route selection
Issued on: 01/03/1989
Inventor: Nakayama ,   et al.
4796191, Vehicle navigational system and method
Issued on: 01/03/1989
Inventor: Honey ,   et al.
4903211, On-board navigation system for motor vehicles
Issued on: 02/20/1990
Inventor: Ando
4926336, Route searching system of navigation apparatus
Issued on: 05/15/1990
Inventor: Yamada
4999783Location detecting method
Issued on: 03/12/1991
Inventor: Tenmoku, et al.

International Class

G06F 015/50

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