Data processing: vehicles – navigation – and relative location – Navigation – Employing position determining equipment
Reexamination Certificate
1999-01-25
2001-04-24
Cuchlinski, Jr., William A. (Department: 3661)
Data processing: vehicles, navigation, and relative location
Navigation
Employing position determining equipment
C701S023000, C701S208000, C701S214000, C340S988000, C073S17800T
Reexamination Certificate
active
06223124
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a route consideration apparatus selecting a plurality of probable routes where the vehicle is possibly to run and recognizing road geometry of the probable routes.
Currently, such navigators as having the following functions are practically used. Once a destination is designated by the driver, the navigator determines the shortest distance route and the shortest time route after calculations and shows those routes on the map in the display, while changing them depending on running of the vehicle and guiding the driver to those routes by outputting warnings.
Recently presented many times are such technologies as disclosed by the Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 194866/1996 for example, where a route consideration apparatus takes in the guided route inputted by the navigator, assigns it as the running route, and considers road geometry along with the running route (i.e., guided route) according to vehicle position and map data determined by or inputted from the navigator, then warnings are dispatched and vehicle speed is controlled in response to vehicle running conditions considering the recognized road geometry.
According to the prior arts aforementioned, road geometry is not considered in the cases that a guided route is not determined because the driver does not designate any destination or the vehicle is driven not along the guided route. Thus it becomes impossible to output warning against speed and control vehicle speed in response to road geometry in the front.
It can be thought that a route consideration apparatus considers all roads within a range in the front as probable routes and recognizes all their geometry, without taking in the guided route inputted from the navigator.
However, data quantity are too much for a route consideration apparatus to grasp geometry of all roads in the front and their branch roads because of the fact that a road, in general, has many intersections and branch roads. Thus, such an idea is impracticable.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a route consideration apparatus which can take in probable routes appropriately without doing complicated calculations even if branch roads exist in the front and can recognize road geometry of probable routes.
In order to achieve the aforementioned object, the route consideration apparatus according to the present invention is furnished with a route assessment means for selecting a plurality of routes within a predetermined range based on road data inputted from a navigator while assigning priorities. An ongoing road is designated to the first prior route. Assessment of running probability is done on each branch road so that a branch road having the first highest probability is designated to the first prior route extension when there exists the next intersection within the predetermined range on the ongoing road. The respective branch roads having the second highest and after probabilities are designated to the second and after prior routes according to probability ranking within a predetermined number of designations.
Furthermore, the route consideration apparatus comprises a curve geometry detecting means for detecting curve geometry based on the road data of the respective prior routes designated by the route assessment means.
Furthermore, the number of the respective prior routes designated by the route assessment means is more than and equal to three.
Furthermore, the route assessment means utilizes at least one of the following information acquired from the navigator, when assigning priorities of running probabilities to the respective branch roads; a guided route to a destination, road kinds, road widths and flexion directions of the respective branch roads against the ongoing road.
Furthermore, the route assessment means determines the priorities on the respective branch roads with the following steps; assigning the highest running probability and priority to the guided route to a destination if any, assigning the following running probabilities and priorities by the road kinds to other branch roads except the guided route, assigning ensued running probabilities and priorities by the road widths to branch roads, to which the same priority has been assigned by the road kinds, and assigning ensued running probabilities and priorities by the flexions to branch roads, to which the same priority has been assigned by the road widths.
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Konno Toshihiro
Matsuno Koji
Matsuura Munenori
Mine Atsushi
Takahashi Akira
Arthur Gertrude
Cuchlinski Jr. William A.
Fuji Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
Smith , Gambrell & Russell, LLP
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