Data processing: vehicles – navigation – and relative location – Vehicle control – guidance – operation – or indication – Automatic route guidance vehicle
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-27
2001-07-31
Camby, Richard M. (Department: 3661)
Data processing: vehicles, navigation, and relative location
Vehicle control, guidance, operation, or indication
Automatic route guidance vehicle
C701S024000, C701S026000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06269291
ABSTRACT:
Applicant markets many control system applications for automatically controlled vehicles which vary from unmanned transport of containers in a dockyard to the transport of components in a factory building and driverless transport of passengers, for instance between a parking place and the passenger terminal of an airport.
The known system of applicant, which is described inter alia in the American patent specification U.S. Pat. No. 4,847,773, makes it possible to navigate a vehicle in accurate manner. Major modifications to the system are prevented even after particular obstacles on the surface have been moved. Using computer means a new path for the vehicle can be simply computed each time on board the vehicle or from a central point.
At higher speed or a greater number of vehicles within a determined area problems occur with respect to the response speed of this existing system, particularly when frequent communication with a central control unit must take place. The area can be divided into sectors in order to enable control of the traffic. If two vehicles require to travel through the same sector, the first vehicle has for instance to have been driven wholly through this sector before the second vehicle can enter it. Communication with a central control unit must take place each time in time-consuming manner in order to obtain permission to enter a section. Also in the case of transport by passenger vehicles, for instance at high speed in a limited space, wherein the route to be travelled by the vehicle is determined centrally from the central control unit to the vehicles, it is important to increase the accuracy of the position of each vehicle at any desired point in time.
It has further been found impractical for a new vehicle, or a vehicle left stranded in the area due to breakdown, to have to be initialized manually.
The present invention provides a system for simultaneously navigating two or more vehicles over a surface of relatively limited dimensions at relatively high speed and/or density of these vehicles, comprising:
a central control unit at least provided with a computer with memory and a transmitter/receiver for communication with each of the vehicles;
marker elements which are arranged on or above the surface and which mark a position relative to the surface; and
two or more vehicles which are each provided with drive means for driving the vehicle, steering means for steering thereof, navigation means for plotting a route, a transmitter/receiver for communication with the central control unit and sensor means for sensing the position relative to the marker elements;
wherein the vehicles move over the surface in the same time period along possibly colliding routes and wherein the position and speed of the vehicles is predetermined precisely in time relative to the marker elements and is maintained accurately relative to the marker elements during travel such that the effort required in respect of traffic control and/or communication with the central control unit and/or with another vehicle can be reduced considerably.
The route planner of the central control unit uses time as an extra dimension: a route n consists of a set of occupied points Rn(x,y,t). When calculating route n+1 the planner must therefore also take into account the occupied points R1(x,y,t) to Rn(x,y,t) in addition to the fixed obstacles o(x,y).
Subject to the application, different methods are possible. One possible method is based on pre-calculating all routes for all vehicles by the central coordinating computer. The vehicles will then travel in accordance with the pre-determined “scenario”. Two very different examples of this method are: 1) cars with passengers which move criss-cross relative to each other in a surprising manner (amusement industry) and 2) unmanned vehicles which travel according to a pre-determined ‘timetable’.
Another method is applicable when the transport assignment is not known beforehand. In this case, as soon as a transport assignment is received, the central computer will determine a route which takes into account all routes which are still being implemented at that moment. An example hereof is automatic landing and removal of containers during loading and offloading of container ships. Unmanned container carriers herein travel over the quay between ship and storage area via routes which can mutually intersect at many points.
In the system according to the present invention congestion and delay are avoided as far as possible in that via interaction of the vehicle with the marker elements it is determined in each case whether the vehicle passes a determined position on the surface at the correct point in time. Should deviations threaten to occur, the drive means are actuated in order to cause the vehicle to travel faster/slower depending on the deviation.
The marker elements can be laser beacons or, in a quite different application, satellites for instance for GPS, but in the preferred embodiment of the present invention are magnets, transponders or colour transitions or material transitions which are linear and which are arranged at regular intervals in the surface. The advantages hereof are relative simplicity of arranging such elements and the inexpensive sensor means required on board the vehicle.
In a further preferred embodiment of the invention, use is made of transponders which are arranged in the surface, optionally in addition to other marker elements, in order to make it easier for vehicles to be taken up into the system again after standstill or breakdown. For this purpose the vehicle is, or the sensor means are, embodied such that within the surface covered by the vehicle when it is stationary the sensor means can scan a number of transponders. The transponders each have a different response characteristic, or a different number, so that the vehicle can determine its position and orientation on the basis of a number of received responses.
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patent: 4847773 (1989-07-01), van Helsdingen et al.
patent: 4956777 (1990-09-01), Cearley et al.
patent: 4974259 (1990-11-01), Takahashi et al.
patent: 5155683 (1992-10-01), Rahm
patent: 5369591 (1994-11-01), Broxmeyer
patent: 5377106 (1994-12-01), Drank et al.
patent: 5925080 (1999-07-01), Shimbara et al.
patent: 4013168 A1 (1990-10-01), None
patent: 0482424 A1 (1992-04-01), None
patent: 363044210 (1988-02-01), None
patent: WO 9521405 (1995-10-01), None
Camby Richard M.
Frog Navigation Systems B.V.
Needle & Rosenberg P.C.
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