ALTITUDE INTEGRATED NAVIGATION WITH DSRC NETWORK

• US 20170205248A1
• Filed: 01/15/2016
• Published: 07/20/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/15/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Lei, Oliver, Murray, Allen R.
• Granted Patent: US 10,295,361 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/28 with correlation of data from several navigational instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3676 Overview of the route on the road map
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3694 Output thereof on a road map
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3697 Output of additional, non-guidance related information, e.g. low fuel level G01C21/3679 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096822 where the segments of the route are transmitted to the vehicle at different locations and times

Abstract

The present disclosure generally relates to navigation systems and methods incorporating altitude data from a Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) network.

Claims

1. A vehicle navigation system comprising:

a DSRC transceiver enabled to receive and transmit messages;

a processor enabled to execute instructions to perform the steps;

sending to a roadside system a DSRC message;

receiving from the roadside system a DSRC message that contains altitude data from infrastructure located in close proximity to the associated navigation route; and

sending a message with a plurality of navigation routes to the on-board DSRC system of the vehicle.

2. The vehicle navigation system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further enabled to perform the step of:

receiving from the on-board DSRC system of the vehicle a navigation request message.

3. The altitude integrated navigation system of claim 1, further comprising a display interface configured to receive the message with a plurality of navigation routes and display the plurality of navigation routes to a user.

4. The altitude integrated navigation system of claim 3, wherein the display interface is further configured to send a message to the processor after the user has selected a given navigation route.

5. The altitude integrated navigation system of claim 4, wherein the processor is enabled to dynamically communicate with the DSRC network and the display interface to show the real time location and altitude of the vehicle.

6. The altitude integrated navigation system of claim 3, wherein aspects of each of the displayed navigation routes are color coded based on altitude data.

7. The vehicle navigation system of claim 6, wherein the color coded displayed navigation routes are further scale coded on a scale of 1 to 10 based on altitude data.

8. The altitude integrated navigation system of claim 1, wherein the altitude data from infrastructure located in close proximity to the associated navigation route is located on a central database within a DSRC network.

9. The altitude integrated navigation system of claim 1, wherein the altitude data from infrastructure located in close proximity to the associated navigation route comprises the altitude of a road in the navigation route.

10. A method of selecting a desired navigation route comprising a DSRC system on-board a vehicle with an on-board Global Positioning System (GPS):

transmitting an identifying message to the roadside computer system;

receiving a message from the roadside computer system including altitude data; and

displaying navigation routes along with associated altitude data.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising the user selecting one of the navigation routes along with associated altitude data.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising the DSRC system on-board the vehicle displaying only the selected navigation routes along with associated altitude data.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising the DSRC system on-board the vehicle dynamically displaying the real time location and altitude of the vehicle.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the associated altitude data is obtained from infrastructure located in close proximity to the associated navigation route.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the displaying navigation routes along with associated altitude data comprises displaying color coded altitude data.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the displaying navigation routes along with associated altitude data further comprises displaying scale coded altitude data on a scale from 1 to 10.

17. A vehicle navigation system comprising:

a display interface configured to display a plurality of navigation routes and associated altitude data.

18. The vehicle navigation system of claim 17, wherein the altitude data comprises the aggregate change of altitude along the navigation route.

19. The vehicle navigation system of claim 17, wherein the wherein the altitude data is color coded based altitude data from DSRC network infrastructure.

20. The vehicle navigation system of claim 17, wherein the altitude data is scale coded on a scale of 1 to 10 based altitude data from DSRC network infrastructure.