Systems, methods, and programs for determining whether a vehicle is on-road or off-road

• US 7,463,974 B2
• Filed: 12/22/2005
• Issued: 12/09/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/24/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Aisin AW Company Limited (Aisin Corp.), Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Aisin AW Company Limited (Aisin Corp.), Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Nakamura, Motohiro, Hasunuma, Makoto, Morita, Hideaki, Ohashi, Yusuke
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, TAN QUANG
• Application Number:
  US11/313,625
• Publication Number:
  US 20060293843A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,083 Days
• Field of Search: 701/207, 701/208, 701/200, 701/211, 701/1, 342/357.08, 340/995.21, 340/995.25, 340/995.28, 340/928, 455/456.1
• US Class Current: 701/207
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/30 Map- or contour-matching

Abstract

Systems, methods, and programs for determining whether a vehicle is off-road or on-road, store map data, determine the vehicle'"'"'s current position; and obtain information about an area around the current position of the vehicle from the stored map data. The systems, methods, and programs obtain information related to a road-side zone of a road from the obtained information about the area around the current position of the vehicle, and determine that the road-side zone is crossed. The systems, methods, and programs may make an off-road determination if the determined current position of the vehicle was on-road before the crossing of the road-side zone and make an on-road determination if the current position of the vehicle was off-road before the crossing of the road-side zone.

Claims

1. A system that determines whether a vehicle is off-road or on-road, comprising:

a memory that stores map data; and

a controller that;

determines the vehicle'"'"'s current position;

obtains information about an area around the current position of the vehicle from the stored map data;

obtains information related to a road-side zone of a road from the obtained information about the area around the current position of the vehicle;

determines that the road-side zone is crossed;

makes an off-road determination if the determined current position of the vehicle was on-road before the crossing of the road-side zone; and

makes an on-road determination if the current position of the vehicle was off-road before the crossing of the road-side zone.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller determines that the road-side zone is crossed by recognizing an image captured by a camera and detecting the crossing of the road-side zone based on the captured image.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller determines that the road-side zone is crossed by recognizing an image captured by a camera and detecting a departure of the vehicle from the traveling lane based on the captured image.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller determines that the road-side zone is crossed based on a calculated path.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller determines that the road-side zone is crossed by detecting a sidewalk step.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller determines that the road-side zone is crossed based on a signal received from an optical beacon.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller determines that the road-side zone is crossed based on the location of a road sign.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller determines that the road-side zone is crossed based on the location of a traffic signal.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller determines that the road-side zone is crossed based on the location of a painted line.

10. A navigation system comprising the-system of claim 1.

11. A method for determining whether a vehicle is off-road or on-road, comprising:

storing map data;

determining the vehicle'"'"'s current position;

obtaining information about an area around the current position of the vehicle from the stored map data;

obtaining information related to a road-side zone of a road from the obtained information about the area around the current position of the vehicle;

determining that the road-side zone is crossed;

making an off-road determination if the determined current position of the vehicle was on-road before the crossing of the road-side zone; and

making an on-road determination if the current position of the vehicle was off-road before the crossing of the road-side zone.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein determining that the road-side zone is crossed comprises:

recognizing an image captured by a camera; and

detecting the crossing of the road-side zone based on the captured image.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein determining that the road-side zone is crossed comprises:

recognizing an image captured by a camera; and

detecting a departure of the vehicle from the traveling lane based on the captured image.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

calculating a path;

wherein determining that the road-side zone is crossed comprises determining that the road-side zone is crossed based on the calculated path.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

detecting a sidewalk step;

wherein determining that the road-side zone is crossed comprises determining that the road-side zone is crossed based on the detected sidewalk step.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving a signal from an optical beacon;

wherein determining that the road-side zone is crossed comprises determining that the road-side zone is crossed based on the received signal.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining the location of a road sign;

wherein determining that the road-side zone is crossed comprises determining that the road-side zone is crossed based on the location of the road sign.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining the location of a traffic signal;

wherein determining that the road-side zone is crossed comprises determining that the road-side zone is crossed based on the location of the traffic signal.

19. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining the location of a painted line;

wherein determining that the road-side zone is crossed comprises determining that the road-side zone is crossed based on the location of the painted line.

20. A storage medium storing a set of program instructions executable on a data processing device and usable for determining whether a vehicle is off-road or on-road, the instructions comprising:

instructions for storing map data;

instructions for determining the vehicle'"'"'s current position;

instructions for obtaining information about an area around the current position of the vehicle from the stored map data;

instructions for obtaining information related to a road-side zone of a road from the obtained information about the area around the current position of the vehicle;

instructions for determining that the road-side zone is crossed;

instructions for making an off-road determination if the determined current position of the vehicle was on-road before the crossing of the road-side zone; and

instructions for making an on-road determination if the current position of the vehicle was off-road before the crossing of the road-side zone.