Automatic guidance system for vehicles
First Claim
1. An automatic guidance system for a vehicle provided with an automatic steering unit, comprising:
- marks of various shape patterns respectively characteristic of specific travel-function information attached to the surface of a route selected for the travel of the vehicle;
an ITV camera mounted on the vehicle and adapted to photograph successively said marks;
means for recognizing the shapes, postural angles and positional deviations of the marks photographed by the ITV camera, comprising,means for measuring the largest height Ay in the direction of the Y axis of the pattern of the mark photographed by the ITV camera and projected on the X axis in a cartesian coordinate system,means for measuring the width Ap from the point of intersection between the X axis and a perpendicular line drawn from the point of the largest height of the projected pattern to the X axis to the point on the X axis at which the projected pattern has the smallest value,means for measuring the largest width Ax of the projected pattern in the direction of the X axis, andmeans for measuring the ratio between the width Ap and the largest width Ax; and
means for conveying a signal corresponding to the ratio obtained to the automatic steering unit for thereby adjusting the postural angle of the vehicle so as to have the vehicle steered accurately along said route.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system for the automatic guidance of a vehicle along a scheduled road route, which comprises marks of varying shapes possessing respectively specific travel-function information and attached to the surface of roads in the route selected for the vehicle'"'"'s travel and an ITV camera mounted on the vehicle, whereby the automatic guidance of the vehicle'"'"'s travel is accomplished by causing the ITV camera to photograph successively the marks on the surface of the roads and recognize the shapes of the marks on the basis of the photographed images of the marks, conveying the travel-function information of these marks successively to the automatic steering unit of the vehicle and thereby allowing the vehicle to be accurately steered along the route.
109 Citations
7 Claims
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1. An automatic guidance system for a vehicle provided with an automatic steering unit, comprising:
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marks of various shape patterns respectively characteristic of specific travel-function information attached to the surface of a route selected for the travel of the vehicle; an ITV camera mounted on the vehicle and adapted to photograph successively said marks; means for recognizing the shapes, postural angles and positional deviations of the marks photographed by the ITV camera, comprising, means for measuring the largest height Ay in the direction of the Y axis of the pattern of the mark photographed by the ITV camera and projected on the X axis in a cartesian coordinate system, means for measuring the width Ap from the point of intersection between the X axis and a perpendicular line drawn from the point of the largest height of the projected pattern to the X axis to the point on the X axis at which the projected pattern has the smallest value, means for measuring the largest width Ax of the projected pattern in the direction of the X axis, and means for measuring the ratio between the width Ap and the largest width Ax; and means for conveying a signal corresponding to the ratio obtained to the automatic steering unit for thereby adjusting the postural angle of the vehicle so as to have the vehicle steered accurately along said route. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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Specification