Systems, methods, and media for route control of a vehicle

• US 20060206261A1
• Filed: 03/10/2005
• Published: 09/14/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/10/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Malcolm, Jerry Walter, Ravi, Kumar, Altaf, Faheem, Rybczynski, Eric Siegfried
• Application Number:
  US11/077,325
• Publication Number:
  US 20060206261A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/209
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/04 operating on the propulsion system, e.g. engine or drive motor
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3626 Details of the output of route guidance instructions traffic control systems for road vehicles involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0968 Systems involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096816 where the complete route is transmitted to the vehicle at once
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096827 where the route is computed onboard
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096866 where the complete route is shown to the driver
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096872 where instructions are given per voice

Abstract

Systems, methods and media for programming a vehicle ignition key with route information are disclosed. More particularly, hardware and software are disclosed for obtaining map data from a map data source; deriving route information from the map data; and transferring the route information to a vehicle ignition key. When the driver starts the vehicle with the ignition key, the ignition key transfers the route information stored on it to a receiver in the vehicle. The route information is used to prevent the vehicle from traveling away from an authorized route or outside a specified area.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for transferring route information to a navigation system in a vehicle, comprising:

receiving by the navigation system route information from a vehicle ignition key, wherein the vehicle ignition key enables a driver to start the vehicle engine;

determining vehicle position information; and

processing the route information and vehicle position information within the navigation system to determine an extent of deviation of the vehicle from an authorized condition of travel.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accessing map data from a map data base, wherein the map data comprises coordinates of routes;

processing the map data to determine route information comprising one or more routes between a point of origin and a destination point; and

transferring the route information to the vehicle ignition key.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accessing map data from a map data base, wherein the map data comprises coordinates of routes;

processing the map data to determine route information comprising an origin and a radius; and

transferring the route information to the vehicle ignition key.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining an extent of deviation of the vehicle from an authorized condition of travel comprises determining a distance between an authorized route and a position of the vehicle.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining an extent of deviation of the vehicle from an authorized condition of travel comprises:

determining if the distance of the vehicle from a point exceeds a user-selected value.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the route information comprises determining from map coordinates one or more authorized routes of travel.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising issuing a warning to a driver of the vehicle if the vehicle deviates from the authorized condition of travel by more than a predetermined amount.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising bringing the vehicle to a stop if the vehicle does not return to an authorized condition of travel in response to the warning.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising

receiving a plurality of routes between points from a map database;

identifying one or more routes between two points from the plurality of routes;

selecting one or more of the one or more identified routes; and

transferring an identity of each selected route to the vehicle ignition key.

10. An apparatus for transferring route information to a navigation system in a vehicle, comprising:

a vehicle ignition key that stores and transmits route information to the navigation system and that enables a driver to start the vehicle engine; and

a receiver for receiving route information transmitted by the key;

a position determiner to determine vehicle position; and

a processor that receives the route information and the vehicle position and determines an extent of deviation from an authorized condition of travel.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising:

a map database providing geographical data;

a computer that accesses the map database in response to user-entered route parameters to determine route information; and

a mechanism for transferring route information from the computer to the vehicle ignition key.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the route information comprises the identity of one or more selected routes between two points, the one or more routes selected from a plurality of routes obtained from the map database.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the mechanism that transfers route information from the computer to the vehicle ignition key comprises a card writing device that writes data to a card that is used to start the ignition.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the computer communicates in a network of computers to transmit to computers in the network different sets of route information for different keys.

15. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the route information comprises the identity of one or more selected routes between two points:

the one or more routes selected from a plurality of routes obtained from a map database.

16. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising a warning mechanism that warns a driver of the vehicle if the vehicle deviates from the authorized condition of travel by more than a predetermined amount.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising a mechanism to bring the vehicle to a stop if the vehicle does not return to an authorized condition of travel in response to a warning issued by the warning mechanism.

19. The machine accessible medium of claim 17, wherein determining an extent of deviation comprises determining the distance between the position of the vehicle and a position along an authorized route.

20. The machine accessible medium of claim 17, further comprising issuing a warning in an extent of deviation of the vehicle from an authorized condition of travel exceeds a predetermined amount.

18. A machine-accessible medium containing instructions effective, when executing in a data processing system, to cause said data processing system to perform operations comprising:

receiving route information from a vehicle ignition key;

receiving vehicle position information from a receiver; and

processing the route information and vehicle position information to determine an extent of deviation of the vehicle from an authorized condition of travel.