Realistic roadway virtualization system

• US 10,002,226 B1
• Filed: 02/02/2016
• Issued: 06/19/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/02/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Kim, BaekGyu, Shiraishi, Shinichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Phan, Thai
• Application Number:
  US15/013,936
• Time in Patent Office: 868 Days
• Field of Search: 703 2, 703 8, 434 62, 434 69, 345632
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/13 Architectural design, e.g. computer-aided architectural design [CAAD] related to design of buildings, bridges, landscapes, production plants or roads
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/15 Vehicle, aircraft or watercraft design

Abstract

The disclosure includes a system, method and tangible memory for providing a graphical display output including a virtual roadway system for testing an automobile design. The method may include importing a set of roadway realism data. The method may include receiving a mobility input and an accessibility input. The method may include determining a plurality of roadway inputs based on the set of roadway realism data, the mobility input and the accessibility input. The method may include inputting the plurality of roadway inputs into a plurality of fields. The method may include generating a graphical display output including the virtual environment which includes the virtual roadway system. The graphical display output may be generated based on the plurality of roadway inputs. The method may include providing the graphical display output to a client.

Claims

1. A system to provide a graphical display output including a virtual roadway system for testing an automobile design, the system comprising:

a realistic roadway virtualization system including a non-transitory memory, a processor, a virtualization application, and a realism system, wherein the virtualization application and the realism system are stored in non-transitory memory which is communicatively coupled to the processor;

wherein the virtualization application includes instructions that, responsive to being executed by the processor, cause the processor to generate a virtual environment including a virtual roadway system;

wherein the virtualization application includes a plurality of fields for inputting a plurality of roadway inputs that define a plurality of parameters describing the virtual roadway system;

wherein the virtualization application generates the virtual environment including the virtual roadway system based on the plurality of roadway inputs;

wherein the realism system includes instructions that, responsive to being executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform steps including;

importing a set of roadway realism data describing a plurality of real world roadway models;

receiving, from a client device, a mobility input and an accessibility input, wherein the mobility input describes a mobility function for the virtual roadway system and the accessibility input describes an accessibility function for the virtual roadway system;

determining the plurality of roadway inputs based on the set of roadway realism data, the mobility input and the accessibility input; and

inputting the plurality of roadway inputs into the plurality of fields;

wherein the virtualization application generates a graphical display output including the virtual environment, which includes the virtual roadway system, based on the plurality of roadway inputs; and

wherein the virtualization application provides the virtual environment to the client device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the realism system is a plug-in installed in the virtualization application.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobility function is a first number that defines an ability of a virtual automobile traveling on the virtual roadway system to move from place to place on the virtual roadway system.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the first number is a percentage.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the accessibility function is a second number that defines an ability of a virtual automobile to access the virtual roadway system and exit the virtual roadway system.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the second number is a percentage.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobility function is a first number that defines a first ability of an automobile traveling on the virtual roadway system to move from place to place on the virtual roadway system and the accessibility function is a second number that defines a second ability of the automobile to access the virtual roadway system and exit the virtual roadway system, and wherein a sum of the first number and the second number is 1 or 100%.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of real world roadway models is generated based on a plurality of real world roadway systems.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobility function and the accessibility function are provided as inputs to the client device.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of real world roadway models are each associated with (1) a mobility value, (2) an accessibility value and (3) a set of roadway parameters that describe a real world roadway system, and determining the plurality of roadway inputs includes selecting, from the plurality of real world roadway models, a real world road model whose mobility value and accessibility value at least substantially match the mobility function and the accessibility function and then determining that the set of roadway parameters associated with the selected roadway model are the plurality of roadway inputs.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the realism system analyzes the plurality of real world roadway models and assigns the mobility value and the accessibility value to each real world roadway model included in the plurality of real world roadway models.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the realism system estimates, for each real world roadway model included in the plurality of real world roadway models, an ability of an automobile traveling on the real world roadway system to move from place to place on the real world roadway system and assigns the mobility value to the real world roadway model based on the estimate.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the realism system estimates, for each real world roadway model included in the plurality of real world roadway models, an ability of an automobile to access the real world roadway system and exit the real world roadway system and assigns the accessibility value to the real world roadway model based on the estimate.

14. A method to provide a graphical display output including a virtual roadway system for testing an automobile design, the method comprising:

importing a set of roadway realism data describing a plurality of real world roadway models to a realism system included in a virtualization application, wherein the virtualization application includes instructions that, responsive to being executed by a processor, cause the processor to generate a virtual environment including a virtual roadway system and the virtualization application includes a plurality of fields for inputting a plurality of roadway inputs that define a plurality of parameters describing the virtual roadway system;

receiving, by the realism system from a client device, a mobility input and an accessibility input, wherein the mobility input describes a mobility function for a virtual roadway system and the accessibility input describes an accessibility function for the virtual roadway system;

determining, by the realism system, the plurality of roadway inputs based on the set of roadway realism data, the mobility input and the accessibility input; and

inputting, by the realism system, the plurality of roadway inputs into the plurality of fields included in the virtualization application;

generating, by the virtualization application, a graphical display output including the virtual environment which includes the virtual roadway system, wherein the graphical display output is generated based on the plurality of roadway inputs; and

providing, by the virtualization application, the graphical display output including the virtual environment and the virtual roadway system to the client device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the realism system is a plug-in installed in the virtualization system.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the mobility function is a first percentage that defines a first ability of a virtual automobile traveling on the virtual roadway system to move from place to place on the virtual roadway system and the accessibility function is a second percentage that defines a second ability of the virtual automobile to access the virtual roadway system and exit the virtual roadway system and a sum of the first percentage and the second percentage equals 1 or 100%.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the plurality of real world roadway models are each associated with (1) a mobility value, (2) an accessibility value and (3) a set of roadway parameters that describe a real world roadway system, and determining the plurality of roadway inputs includes selecting, from the plurality of real world roadway models, a real world road model whose mobility value and accessibility value at least substantially match the mobility function and the accessibility function and then determining that the set of roadway parameters associated with the selected roadway model are the plurality of roadway inputs.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the realism system analyzes the plurality of real world roadway models and assigns a mobility value and an accessibility value to each real world roadway model included in the plurality of real world roadway models and wherein the realism system estimates, for each real world roadway model included in the plurality of real world roadway models, an ability of an automobile traveling on a real world roadway system to move from place to place on the real world roadway system and assigns the mobility value to the real world roadway model based on the estimate.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the realism system estimates, for each real world roadway model included in the plurality of real world roadway models, an ability of an automobile to access the real world roadway system and exit the real world roadway system and assigns the accessibility value to the real world roadway model based on the estimate.

20. A non-transitory memory comprising computer code which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform steps comprising:

importing a set of roadway realism data describing a plurality of real world roadway models to a realism system that is a plug-in installed in a virtualization application, wherein the virtualization application includes instructions that, responsive to being executed by the processor, cause the processor to generate a virtual environment including a virtual roadway system and the virtualization application includes a plurality of fields for inputting a plurality of roadway inputs that define a plurality of parameters describing the virtual roadway system;

generating, by the realism system, a first graphical display output including a slider input portion that includes a graphical slider;

receiving, by the realism system from a client device, a mobility input and an accessibility input, wherein the mobility input describes a mobility function for a virtual roadway system and the accessibility input describes an accessibility function for the virtual roadway system;

determining, by the realism system, the plurality of roadway inputs based on the set of roadway realism data, the mobility input and the accessibility input; and

inputting, by the realism system, the plurality of roadway inputs into the plurality of fields included in the virtualization application;

generating, by the virtualization application, a second graphical display output including the virtual environment which includes the virtual roadway system, wherein the second graphical display output is generated based on the plurality of roadway inputs; and

providing, by the virtualization application, the second graphical display output including the virtual environment and the virtual roadway system to the client.