Vehicle Guidance System and Method

• US 20090192658A1
• Filed: 01/24/2008
• Published: 07/30/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Paul E. Wofford Jr
• Original Assignee: Paul E. Wofford Jr
• Inventors: Wofford, Paul E. JR.
• Application Number:
  US12/019,475
• Publication Number:
  US 20090192658A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/2
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 15/028 Guided parking by providing commands to the driver, e.g. acoustically or optically

Abstract

A vehicle guidance system in accordance with the present disclosure has a transmitter for transmitting information related to a movement of a vehicle to a receiver and logic configured to determine how to steer a vehicle so as to align the vehicle with an object, the logic further configured to provide the information to the transmitter.

Claims

1. A vehicle guidance system, comprising:

a transmitter for transmitting information related to a movement of a vehicle to a receiver; and

logic configured to determine how to steer a vehicle so as to align the vehicle with an object, the logic further configured to provide the information to the transmitter.

2. The vehicle guidance system of claim 1, wherein the receiver relays the information to the driver.

3. The vehicle guidance system of claim 2, wherein the receiver audibly relays the information to the driver.

4. The vehicle guidance system of claim 2, wherein the receiver visually relays the information to the driver.

5. The vehicle guidance system of claim 1, wherein the information corresponds to a distance of the vehicle from the object.

6. The vehicle guidance system of claim 1, wherein the information corresponds to a location of the vehicle with respect to the object.

7. The vehicle guidance system of claim 1, further comprising a control box, the control box coupled to the vehicle.

8. The vehicle guidance system of claim 7, further comprising an extendable cable attached to the control box.

9. The vehicle guidance system of claim 8, further comprising an encoder interfacing with the cable, wherein the encoder detects a distance and a direction of the vehicle with respect to the object.

10. The vehicle guidance system of claim 9, further comprising logic configured to transmit information indicative of the detected distance and direction to the receiver, wherein the receiver relays the information to the driver.

11. The vehicle guidance system of claim 8, further comprising:

a potentiometer for detecting a location of the vehicle with respect to the object based upon an angular displacement of the cable.

12. The vehicle guidance system of claim 11, further comprising logic configured to transmit data associated with the detected location of the vehicle to the receiver, wherein the receiver relays a command associated with the location.

13. The vehicle guidance system of claim 1, wherein the receiver is a radio located in a cabin of the vehicle.

14. The vehicle guidance system of claim 1, further comprising a manual remote, wherein the logic is further configured to determine information related to movement of the vehicle, based upon a user input.

15. A vehicle guidance method, comprising the steps of:

determining information related to how to steer a vehicle so as to align the vehicle with an object;

transmitting the information to a receiver; and

relaying the information to a driver of the vehicle.

16. The vehicle guidance method of claim 15, wherein the determining step further comprises the step of:

determining a distance from the vehicle to the object.

17. The vehicle guidance method of claim 15, wherein the determining step further comprises the step of:

determining a location of the object relative to the vehicle.

18. The vehicle guidance method of claim 15, wherein the relaying step further comprises the step of audibly relaying the information to the driver.

19. The vehicle guidance method of claim 15, wherein the relaying step further comprises the step of visually relaying the information to the driver.

20. The vehicle guidance method of claim 15, wherein the determining step further comprises the step of:

monitoring the movement and the number of rotations of a roller by an encoder; and

translating the movement and number of rotations into a distance and direction.

21. The vehicle guidance method of claim 20, further comprising the step of transmitting information relative to the distance and the direction to the receiver.

22. The vehicle guidance method of claim 21, further comprising the step of relaying the distance and direction to the driver.

23. The vehicle guidance method of claim 15, further comprising the step of detecting a location of the vehicle with respect to the object based upon an angular displacement of a cable coupled to the vehicle and the object.

24. The vehicle guidance method of claim 23, further comprising the step of transmitting data associated with the detected angular location of the vehicle to the receiver.

25. The vehicle guidance method of claim 24, further comprising the step of relaying information indicative of the detected angular location to the driver.

26. The vehicle guidance method of claim 15, wherein the determining step further comprises the step of determining the information based upon a user input from a manual remote.

27. A vehicle guidance system, comprising:

a transmitter for transmitting to a receiver information related to a movement of a vehicle;

means for determining how to steer a vehicle so as to align the vehicle with an object; and

means for providing information corresponding to how to steer the vehicle to the transmitter.