V2V SAFETY SYSTEM USING SELF-GENERATED LANE MAPS

• US 20150077270A1
• Filed: 04/23/2013
• Published: 03/19/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/24/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zetta Research and Development LLC - FORC Series, Zetta Research and Development LLC (Zetta Research, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Zetta Research and Development LLC - FORC Series
• Inventors: Rubin, Kim, Betts-Lacroix, Joe
• Granted Patent: US 9,305,462 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/903
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2325/205 Mobile phones
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/33 of global position, e.g. by providing GPS coordinates
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/06 including control of combustion engines
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/18 including control of braking systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/20 including control of steering systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3658 Lane guidance
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3822 Road feature data, e.g. slope data
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0027 of actual mobile position, i.e. position determined on mobile
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/09 Arrangements for giving variable traffic instructions railroad crossing signals B61L; reflectors E01F, G08B; indicating arrangements for variable information by selection or combination of individual elements G09F9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096791 where the origin of the information is another vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0969 having a display in the form of a map
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/142 external to the vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/16 Anti-collision systems road vehicle drive control systems for predicting or avoiding probable or impending collision otherwise than by control of a particular sub-unit B60W30/08
• 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 1/166 for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/167 Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/20 : Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 9/02 : Anti-collision systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 3/1694 : Allocation of channels in TDM/TDMA networks, e.g. distributed multiplexers Passive Optical Networks H04Q11/0062
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0091 : Signaling for the administration of the divided path
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 : using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 : Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/46 : for vehicle-to-vehicle communication [V2V]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/48 : for in-vehicle communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/0035 : detecting errors in frequency or phase
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 : with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0446 : Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/30 : Resource management for broadcast services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/0816 : with collision avoidance
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 : Direct-mode setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/40 : for selective distribution or broadcast

Abstract

A vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication transponder for use in V2V communication, safety and anti-collision systems incorporating a location point store and a lane records store, wherein the lane records are constructed by the transponder from the point in the location point store, location points are received from other moving transponders, and lane records are shared between transponder response to a request. Separate source counts are kept for internally generated and shared lane records. Methods of sharing are described. Lane types are also derived from the location point store and other vehicle behavior. No central authority, road-side equipment, (RSU), or pre-determined lane maps are required. Embodiments include a hybrid protocol using both TDMA and CSMA. Some embodiments are free of MAC and IP addresses. Embodiments include equipped vehicles and V2V system using the transponder.

Claims

1. A vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication transponder adapted to operate in a first vehicle wherein the transponder is adapted to accept as input a first location of the first vehicle and a vehicle heading of the first vehicle, and wherein the transponder is adapted to broadcast a series of V2V safety messages wherein a majority of V2V safety messages comprise:

(i) the first vehicle position;

(ii) the first vehicle heading; and

(iii) a first vehicle speed; and

wherein the transponder comprises a lane map data store in non-transitory memory;

wherein the improvement is;

the lane map data store further comprises;

(i) a location point store comprising one or more location points, and (ii) a lane records store;

wherein the location point store comprises a plurality of locations contained in V2V safety messages received by or transmitted by the V2V communication transponder;

wherein the lane records store comprises one or more lane records and wherein each lane record comprises;

(i) a lane type, and (ii) location data that identifies the location of the lane.

2. The vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication transponder of claim 1 wherein:

the V2V communication transponder is further adapted to broadcast one or more lane records in response to a valid lane record request received from another transponder.

3. The vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication transponder of claim 1 wherein:

at least a portion of the lane records, “

internally generated lane records,”

are computed from a plurality of location points in the location point store.

4. The vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication transponder of claim 3 wherein:

each lane record further comprises;

(iii) an “

internal source count”

wherein the internal source count is incremented for an each “

unique vehicle”

that provides one or more points in the location point store for points that are in the lane identified by the location data in the lane record;

wherein a unique vehicle means a vehicle in communication with the first vehicle during a time period when either the unique vehicle or the first vehicle are continuously within at least a portion of the lane identified by the location data in the lane record; and

wherein a unique vehicle includes the first vehicle for each separate time the first vehicle is continuously within at least a portion of the lane identified by the location data in the lane record.

5. The vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication transponder of claim 4 wherein:

each lane record further comprises;

(iv) a “

shared source count”

;

wherein the transponder is adapted to transmit the internal source count and the shared source count of a first lane record;

wherein the transponder is adapted to receive from a second transponder a “

received internal source count” and

a “

received shared source count”

of the first lane record;

wherein the new shared source count is the maximum of;

(i) the old shared source count, (ii) the internal source count plus the received internal source count, and (iii) the received shared source count.

6. The vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication transponder of claim 5 wherein:

the new shared source count is updated when the first vehicle passes within communication range of the at least some part of the lane of the first lane record.

7. The vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication transponder of claim 5 wherein:

the V2V communication transponder will not broadcast a first lane record in response to a lane record request from a requesting vehicle if the transponder determines that the transponder has previously broadcast the first lane record in response to a request from the requesting vehicle, unless the internal source count or the shared source count for the first lane record has increased more than a predetermined threshold than the respective source count was at the time of the prior broadcast.

8. The vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication transponder of claim 5 wherein:

the V2V communication transponder will not broadcast a first lane record in response to a lane record request from a requesting vehicle if the transponder receives a broadcast of a second lane record describing the same lane as the first lane record and the internal source count or the shared source count of the second lane record is more than or equal to the internal source count or the shared source count, respectively, of the first lane record, minus a predetermined count offset, and the transponder determines that the requesting vehicle is in communication range of the broadcast of the second lane record.

9. The vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication transponder of claim 5 wherein:

the V2V communication transponder is adapted to broadcast a lane record request for at least one lane and wherein the lane record request comprises a minimum internal source count for all lanes in the request; and

wherein the lane record request comprises a minimum shared source count for all lanes in the request.

10. The vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication transponder of claim 9 wherein:

the V2V communication transponder will not broadcast a first lane record in response to a lane record request from a requesting transponder if the minimum internal source count in the lane record request is equal to greater than or the internal source count in the first lane record, and

the minimum shared source count in the first lane record request is equal to or greater than the shared source count in the first lane record.

11. The vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication transponder of claim 5 wherein:

when a “

lane incompatibility condition”

occurs for a lane of a first lane record, the transponder marks the first lane record as “

changed,” and

sets the internal lane source count and the shared lane source count of the first lane record to zero, and broadcasts a “

lane status change”

message.

12. The vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication transponder of claim 11 wherein:

the “

lane incompatibility condition”

comprises any of;

(i) behavior of a predetermined minimum number of vehicles that is incompatible with the lane type, (ii) behavior of a predetermined minimum number of vehicles that is inconsistent with historical behavior at the locations of the behavior, or (iii) receipt of a second lane record that is incompatible with the first lane record.

13. The vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication transponder of claim 1 wherein:

each lane record further comprises;

(v) a lane confidence number; and

wherein the lane confidence number is computed responsive to a number of applicable location points in the location point store wherein the applicable location points comprise location points in the lane described by the location data for the each lane record, within a predetermined location point accuracy threshold.

14. A vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication system using a plurality of vehicles each equipped with a transponder of claim 1.

15. A vehicle equipped with a transponder of claim 1 wherein the subject vehicle is the equipped vehicle.