AUTOMATIC DRIVE NAVIGATION SYSTEM

• US 20130338854A1
• Filed: 06/14/2013
• Published: 12/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Yamamoto, Shoji
• Application Number:
  US13/918,029
• Publication Number:
  US 20130338854A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/2
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0011 associated with a remote control arrangement
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0022 characterised by the communication link data switching networks in general H04L12/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0246 using a video camera in combination with image processing means

Abstract

An automatic drive navigation system includes a navigation terminal having a display, to issue, to a server, a drive request for an autonomous vehicle input by an operator via a LAN communication, the server to hold the drive request, and the autonomous vehicle to start driving upon receipt of the drive request from the server, recognize a spot sign on a driving route, and automatically operate a self-driving system in accordance with the spot sign, wherein the navigation terminal, server, and autonomous vehicle are connected via a LAN and the autonomous vehicle notifies the server of driving information about the autonomous vehicle via the LAN communication, the server holds the notified driving information, and the navigation terminal accesses the server via the LAN communication to display the driving information on the display.

Claims

1. An automatic drive navigation system comprising:

a navigation terminal having a display, to issue, to a server, a drive request for an autonomous vehicle input by an operator via a LAN communication;

the server to hold the drive request; and

the autonomous vehicle to start driving upon receipt of the drive request from the server, recognize a spot sign on a driving route, and automatically operate a self-driving system in accordance with the spot sign, wherein;

the navigation terminal, server, and autonomous vehicle are connected via a LAN;

the autonomous vehicle notifies the server of driving information about the autonomous vehicle via the LAN communication, the server holds the notified driving information, and the navigation terminal accesses the server via the LAN communication to display the driving information on the display.

3. The automatic drive navigation system according to claim 1, comprising

a plurality of autonomous vehicles each to start driving upon receipt of the drive request from the server, recognize a spot sign on a driving route, and automatically operate a self-driving system in accordance with the spot sign, wherein

the navigation terminal notifies the server of an operator'"'"'s request for each of the autonomous vehicles, the server holds the request and each of the autonomous vehicles accesses the server periodically to respond to the request when there is one for itself.

4. The automatic drive navigation system according to claim 3, wherein

the navigation terminal is adapted to display the driving information in rows for each of the autonomous vehicles on the display.

5. The automatic drive navigation system according to claim 1, wherein

the LAN is compliant with TCP/IP or IEEE802.11.

6. The automatic drive navigation system according to claim 1, wherein

the autonomous vehicle includes an input unit with which the operator inputs a drive request, to start driving in response to the drive request input by the operator.

7. The automatic drive navigation system according to claim 1, wherein:

the server is adapted to hold a drive plan which is a group of spot information indicating driving instructions at spots as a driving point and a bifurcation on the driving route of the autonomous vehicle; and

the autonomous vehicle is adapted to acquire the drive plan from the server via the LAN communication,compare the recognized spot sign with the drive plan, and drive in accordance with a driving instruction attached to the spot sign.

8. The automatic drive navigation system according to claim 1, wherein the autonomous vehicle comprises:

a body having a self-driving system;

a camera to capture an image of a line marking on a floor surface ahead of the body in a driving direction;

an image detector to detect a position and a posture of the image of the line marking captured by the camera on the display;

a driver to operate the self-driving system to drive along the line marking in accordance with the position and posture of the image;

a sign detector to recognize an image of a code sign representing a spot and added to the line marking on the display to detect the spot represented by the code sign image; and

a drive controller to acquire the drive plan from the server via a communication, compare the spot detected by the sign detector with the spot information in the drive plan, and control the driver in accordance with the driving instruction for the spot.

9. The automatic drive navigation system according to claim 3, wherein:

the server comprises

a computer to generate a drive plan on a driving route in accordance with a user'"'"'s input and register the drive plan, the drive plan including a group of spot information attached to spots as a driving point and a bifurcation and containing driving instructions at the driving point and bifurcation in a round-trip route from a start point to a destination and from the destination to the start point of the driving route, the driving route on which a line marking and code signs attached to the line marking and indicating the driving point and bifurcation are provided, and

a ground communicator to selectively communicate with the autonomous vehicles via a LAN; and

the autonomous vehicles each comprise

a body having a self-driving system;

a camera to capture an image of a line marking on a floor surface ahead of the body in a driving direction;

an image detector to detect a position and a posture of the image of the line marking captured by the camera on the display;

a driver to operate the self-driving system to drive along the line marking in accordance with the position and posture of the image;

a sign detector to recognize an image of a code sign representing a spot and added to the line marking on the display to detect the spot represented by the code sign image;

an on-vehicle communicator to wirelessly communicate with the server; and

a drive controller to acquire the drive plan from the server via the on-vehicle communicator, compare the spot detected by the sign detector with the spot information in the drive plan, and control the driver in accordance with the driving instruction for the spot.

2. The automatic drive navigation system according to claim I, wherein:

the server includes an event table in which an event condition and an action to be executed when the event condition is satisfied are defined;

the server is adapted to execute the action in the event table when the defined event condition matches the driving information; and

the navigation terminal is adapted to access the server, and, when there is a request for the navigation terminal, respond to the request.