Data processing: vehicles – navigation – and relative location – Navigation
Reexamination Certificate
2002-03-22
2003-10-28
Cuchlinski, Jr., William A. (Department: 3661)
Data processing: vehicles, navigation, and relative location
Navigation
C073S17800T, C701S210000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06640183
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Although applicable to any information systems which involve rating of specific, time-variable system parameters, the present invention, as well as its underlying problem definition, are clarified with reference to a navigational system located on board an automobile.
Present-day navigational systems are essentially composed of the following subsystems: digital map, computational module for automatic route determination, position-finding device, system management, automotive sensor technology for recognizing vehicle movements, as well as input unit and output unit for the operation and guidance system.
In navigational systems having route guidance, to calculate the travel path, also referred to in the following as route, from the geographic coordinate S, usually representing the vehicle position, to another coordinate Z, as the destination, which is usually specified by the location, road or intersection and, in some instances by other information such as street number, one must rate (evaluate) the roads to be traveled, to achieve an “optimal” route guidance in accordance with a predefined criterion.
If the user of the system chooses “short route” as optimal, for example, then the criterion “search for the shortest drivable route” is stipulated for the system to calculate a route. Usually, however, such a stipulation (input) does not lead to an effective route guidance, for example when it comes to many overland routes via country roads or in larger cities having many “30 k.p.h. zones”.
For that reason, a “fast” connection from S to Z is often considered to be optimal. In this context, “fast” means that for the route computation, the roads are classified by type, such as expressway, national highway, country road, etc. The individual road classifications in related-art navigational systems are then assigned fixed average speeds, such as 100 km/h for superhighways, 80 km/h for national highways, etc. The route computation is then set up to calculate a route having altogether a shortest possible driving time.
In addition, there is also information about the probable period of time until the destination is reached. This can be output to the user of the system, whether it be as a time span or as an estimated time of arrival.
Navigational systems of this kind are, however, static with respect to external conditions. They do not take into account the actual average speeds which are driven and which can be reached on the route. Furthermore, systems of this kind are not able to incorporate the user's driving habits in the route planning. For these reasons, they usually only provide imprecise information about the time until the destination is reached.
In addition, such a static assignment of average speeds to specific road sections often results in longer routes than a system user would desire or would select if he/she were to use a road map. Moreover, depending on the average speeds selected, the routes calculated by the system are often characterized by an unjustified preference for major roads, such as superhighways or national highways.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The method of the present invention has the advantage that, following a certain “transient recovery time”, (“response time”) the route calculation is able to generate better routes for the most frequently driven surrounding area. In most cases, this is associated with a shorter driving time. In addition, the routes calculated by the system are better adapted to the user's individual driving behavior. As a result, the time needed to reach a destination, as queried of the system or output by the system, is more accurate.
An idea underlying the present invention is for the above described, static rating of the road classifications using fixed average speeds input into the system, to be replaced by or, if necessary, supplemented with continuously corrected, i.e., updated speed values. In other words, instead of the fixed and invariably predefined road-classification speeds of the related art, actually reached speeds learned by the system during vehicle operation are, to an extent, used as a basis for route planning and estimating arrival time, etc. Because such average driving-speed values learned by the system are stored in a non-volatile memory, they are also available for a new route planning after the system is turned off.
For this, the information available during the driving operation, pertaining to the currently driven road classification and speed, is repeated, for instance at intervals of one second or longer, and set against one another, separately for each road classification. As a starting value for such a calculation, one may use, for example, the fixed average speed indicated above, or alternatively thereto, a speed to be entered by the driver into the system.
Thus, in accordance with the general aspect of the present invention, a dynamically adapted average value of the vehicle speed is used for calculating the route for one or more partial sections K of a particular driven road. The corresponding linking of database fields implemented in the navigational system is, therefore, also dynamic. The system adapts itself to the actually existing conditions.
In accordance with one preferred embodiment, a filtering takes place over time, in order to recalculate the average vehicle-speed value that is relevant to the rating. Such a filtering constitutes an especially simple implementation. In principle, however, other algorithms are also possible.
Another preferred embodiment provides for weighting the influence of this adaptation, variably, with respect to the recalculation. This makes it possible to minimize the effects of a “self-learning process” of the navigational system on the stored attribute values for the average speed of a particular road section K. This can be useful in the event of snowfall or other adverse weather conditions, so that rare, exceptional events do not become the basis of a self-learning process for the navigational system. In one simple variant, the user may choose, for example, between heavy, average, and weak weighting. Alternatively, other weighting factors may also be input by the user.
For this, the following schema is given:
When v(tO,K) is the fixed average speed preset for road classification K at the first system start-up; v(tn,K) is the adapted average speed calculated for road classification K at instant tn; v(tn+1) is the instantaneously driven speed and x the weighting factor, with which the old value in the particular case is linked to the new value, then, at instant tn+1, the instantaneously adapted average speed is obtained for K as
v
(
t
n+1
r,K
)=(1
−x
).
v
(
t
n
,K
)+
x.v
(
t
n+1
).
In this context, it does not matter whether the road classifications are actually rated in the “km/h” unit; what is important is the change in ratings as a function of values which are actually attained.
To be able to continue to use the values calculated within one driving cycle later on, provision is made to store them in a non-volatile memory.
Likewise provided is the introduction of upper and lower limits for each of the learned speeds; generally, this is more likely to result in unfavorable route proposals, for example, if the rating of an expressway were lower than that of a country road.
In accordance with another preferred embodiment, the method of the present invention may be improved by undertaking a separation into a so-called short-term and long-term adaptation, including different time constants and/or weightings xshort and xlong, respectively: the case of short-term adaptation, the intervals between tn and tn+i lie in the seconds range, and, in the case of long-term adaptation, in the minutes range. In accordance with this separation, the driven speed may be calculated within the selected period of time. The above-mentioned weighting factor x may also be selected to be greater or smaller, depending on whether it is practical to give the active speed value a greater or smaller influence in the recalculation o
Cuchlinski Jr. William A.
Hernandez Olga
Kenyon & Kenyon
Robert & Bosch GmbH
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