Glam girl Heddy Lamar may have used her good looks to good effect on the silver screen, but she put her smarts to better use as an inventor. During World War II, she co-patented a frequency-switching system for torpedo guidance that was considered years ahead of its time.
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AbstractA 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
| InventorsAssigneeApplicationNo. 691872 filed on 04/26/1991US Classes:701/209, Including route searching or determining device340/995.19, Route determination and display on map701/300RELATIVE LOCATIONField of Search340/990, 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 location73/178RNAVIGATIONExaminersPrimary: Black, Thomas G.Assistant: Zanelli, Michael J. Attorney, Agent or FirmUS Patent References4511973, Navigator for vehiclesIssued 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: Ando4926336, Route searching system of navigation apparatus Issued on: 05/15/1990 Inventor: Yamada4999783Location detecting method Issued on: 03/12/1991 Inventor: Tenmoku, et al. International ClassG06F 015/50 |