Accident avoidance system

Patent 6405132 Issued on June 11, 2002. Estimated Expiration Date:

October 4, 2020. Estimated 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.

Abstract Claims Description Full Text

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Inventors

Application

No. 679317 filed on 10/04/2000

US Classes:

701/301, Collision avoidance701/45, Control of vehicle safety devices (e.g., airbag, seat-belt, etc.)701/117, Traffic analysis or control of surface vehicle701/213Using Global Positioning System (GPS)

Examiners

Primary: Zanelli, Michael J.

Attorney, Agent or Firm

Roffe; Brian

Foreign Patent References

4434789 DE. 04/13/1996
6-337286 JP. 12/13/1994
7-200861 JP. 08/13/1995

International Classes

G01C 023/00
G06F 017/00

Abstract

System and method for preventing vehicle accidents in which GPS ranging signals relating to a host vehicle's position on a roadway on a surface of the earth are received on a first communication link from a network of satellites and DGPS auxiliary range correction signals for correcting propagation delay errors in the GPS ranging signals are received on a second communication link from a station or satellite. The host vehicle's position on a roadway on a surface of the earth is determined from the GPS, DGPS, and accurate map database signals with centimeter accuracy and communicated to other vehicles. The host vehicle receives position information from other vehicles and determines whether any other vehicle from which position information is received represents a collision threat to the host vehicle based on the position of the other vehicle relative to the roadway and the host vehicle. If so, a warning or vehicle control signal response to control the host vehicle's motion is generated to prevent a collision with the other vehicle.

Other References

SRI International, Centimeter-Level GPS for Highway Systems, J.W. Sinko et al., Jul., 1998
SRI International, An Evolutionary Automated Highway System Concept Based on GPS, J.W. Sinko, Sep., 1996 (p. 5, second col. to p. 7
SRI International, Using GPS for Automated Vehicle Convoying, T.M. Nguyen, Sep. 1998
Centerline Survey, B. Holmgren, National Land Survey of Sweden No date
V. Morellas et al., Preview Based Control of a Tractor Trailer Using DGPS for Preventing Road Depature Accidents, 1998 IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Vehicles, pp. 797-805
S. Bajikar et al., Evaluation of In-Vehicle GPS-Based Lane Position Sensing for Preventing Road Departure, 1998 IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Vehicle, pp. 397-402
B. Schiller et al., Collision Avoidance for Highway Vehicles Using the Virtual Bumper Controller, 1998 IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Vehicles, pp. 149-15