Method and arrangement for communicating between vehicles

• US 20020198632A1
• Filed: 04/09/2002
• Published: 12/26/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/1997
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: American Vehicular Sciences LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Intelligent Technologies International, Inc.
• Inventors: Breed, David S., Johnson, Wendell C., DuVall, Wilbur E., Lukin, Kostyantyn Alexandrovich, Konovalov, Vladymyr Michailovich
• Granted Patent: US 6,720,920 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60N 2/2863 backward facing
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/18154 Approaching an intersection
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/86 Combinations of lidar systems with systems other than lidar, radar or sonar, e.g. with direction finders
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/89 for mapping or imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/11 wherein the cooperating elements are pseudolites or satellite radio beacon positioning system signal repeaters
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/17 Emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/41 Differential correction, e.g. DGPS [differential GPS]
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/42 Determining position
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/50 whereby the position solution is constrained to lie upon a particular curve or surface, e.g. for locomotives on railway tracks
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9315 Monitoring blind spots
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9316 combined with communication equipment with other vehicles or with base stations
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9318 Controlling the steering
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/93185 Controlling the brakes
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9319 Controlling the accelerator
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/932 using own vehicle data, e.g. ground speed, steering wheel direction
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9321 Velocity regulation, e.g. cruise control
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9322 using additional data, e.g. driver condition, road state or weather data
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/93271 in the front of the vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/93272 : in the back of the vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/93273 : on the top of the vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9329 : cooperating with reflectors or transponders
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0261 : using magnetic plots
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/161 : Decentralised systems, e.g. inter-vehicle communication
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/163 : involving continuous checking
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/164 : Centralised systems, e.g. external to vehicles

Abstract

Method for transferring information between a vehicle and a transmitter in which a unique pseudorandom noise signal is transmitted by the transmitter in a carrier-less fashion composed of frequencies within a pre-selected band. Information is encoded in the noise signal relating to an identification of the transmitter and a position of the transmitter and the vehicle is provided with a device for extracting the information from the noise signal. The code to use for encoding the noise signal may be selected based on the position of the transmitter so that analysis of the code, or a portion thereof, provides an indication of the position of the transmitter. Information about accidents, weather conditions, road conditions, map data and traffic control devices and about errors in a GPS signal can also be encoded in the noise signals. The transmitter may be at a fixed location or in another vehicle to thereby enable vehicle-to-vehicle communications for the purposes of collision avoidance, intelligent highway applications and the like.

Claims

1. A method for transferring information between a vehicle and a transmitter, comprising the steps of:

transmitting a unique pseudorandom noise signal by the transmitter in a carrier-less fashion composed of frequencies within a pre-selected band;

encoding information in the noise signal relating to an identification of the transmitter and a position of the transmitter; and

providing the vehicle with means for extracting the information from the noise signal.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of selecting the code to use for encoding the noise signal based on the position of the transmitter.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the information is encoded in the noise signal by phase modulation of distance or time between code transmissions, phase or amplitude modulation of the code sequences, changes of the polarity of the entire code sequence or the individual code segments, or bandwidth modulation of the code sequence.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of arranging the transmitter in a moving object.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the information encoded in the noise signal includes the velocity of the moving object.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the information encoded in the noise signal includes a direction of travel of the moving object.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of arranging the transmitter at a fixed location.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the information encoded in the noise signal is the GPS coordinate location of the transmitter.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

arranging an antenna on the vehicle to receive noise signals;

coupling a processor to the antenna; and

constructing or programming the processor to analyze the received noise signals in order to determine whether any received noise signals originate from transmitters within a pre-determined distance from the vehicle.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of constructing or programming the processor to extract the information from the noise signals received from transmitters determined to be with the pre-determined distance from the vehicle.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of encoding information in the noise signal comprises the step of sequentially encoding general information to specific information about the position of the transmitter.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of repeatedly transmitting the noise signal with a variable or fixed spacing between transmissions.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the information encoded in the noise signal includes information about accidents, weather conditions, road conditions, map data and traffic control devices.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the information in the noise signal includes information about errors in a GPS signal.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitter is arranged as a noise radar.

17. The arrangement of claim 16, wherein said processor is arranged to direct the transmission of a unique pseudorandom noise signal from said antenna in a carrier-less fashion composed of frequencies within a pre-selected band.

18. The arrangement of claim 16, wherein said processor is arranged to derived encoded noise signals using a code based on the position of the vehicle.

19. The arrangement of claim 16, wherein said processor is arranged to derived encoded noise signals by phase modulation of distance or time between code transmissions, phase or amplitude modulation of the code sequences, changes of the polarity of the entire code sequence or the individual code segments, or bandwidth modulation of the code sequence.

20. The arrangement of claim 16, further comprising a velocity determining device arranged in the vehicle for determining the velocity of the vehicle, said processor being coupled to said velocity determining device for encoding noise signals including information about the velocity of the vehicle.

21. The arrangement of claim 16, wherein said processor is arranged to analyze noise signals received by said antenna in order to determine whether any received noise signals originate from transmitters within a pre-determined distance from the vehicle.

22. The arrangement of claim 21, wherein said processor is arranged to extract the information from the noise signals received from transmitters determined to be with the pre-determined distance from the vehicle.

16. An arrangement for transferring information between a vehicle and a transmitter, comprising:

an antenna mounted on the vehicle and capable of transmitting and receiving radar waves;

a position determining device for determining the position of the vehicle; and

a processor coupled to said antenna and said position determining device for directing the transmission of encoded noise signals from said antenna including information about the position of the vehicle and identification of the vehicle.