Data mining in a digital map database to identify insufficient merge lanes along roads and enabling precautionary actions in a vehicle
First Claim
1. A method for providing a precautionary action in a vehicle when the vehicle approaches a potentially hazardous location, the method comprising:
- with a computer operating under programming instructions, selecting data contained in a database to identify at least one geographic feature satisfying a first condition at a first location and determine whether at least one geographic feature in a vicinity of the first location satisfies a second condition;
storing, prior to the vehicle'"'"'s approach to the potentially hazardous location, precautionary action data in association with each of the identified at least one geographic feature when at least one of geographic features in the vicinity thereof satisfies the second condition to indicate said potentially hazardous locations at which a precautionary action is to be taken by a vehicle system such that a determination can be made by the vehicle system to take a precautionary action based on the precautionary data when the vehicle is at or near the potentially hazardous location;
validating that a location where the first and second conditions are satisfied is actually hazardous based on an inspection thereof; and
causing the vehicle system to take a precautionary action when approaching a location associated with precautionary action data in the augmented version of the database.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed is a feature for a vehicle that enables taking precautionary actions in response to conditions on the road network around or ahead of the vehicle, in particular, an intersection without traffic signals and without a sufficient merge lane. A database that represents the road network is used to determine locations where roads meet without a traffic signal and without a sufficient merge lane. Then, precautionary action data is added to the database to indicate a location at which a precautionary action is to be taken about the location of the insufficient merge lane. A precautionary action system installed in a vehicle uses this database, or a database derived therefrom, in combination with a positioning system to determine when the vehicle is at a location that corresponds to the location of a precautionary action. When the vehicle is at such a location, a precautionary action is taken by a vehicle system as the vehicle is approaching a location of an insufficient merge lane.
-
Citations
28 Claims
-
1. A method for providing a precautionary action in a vehicle when the vehicle approaches a potentially hazardous location, the method comprising:
-
with a computer operating under programming instructions, selecting data contained in a database to identify at least one geographic feature satisfying a first condition at a first location and determine whether at least one geographic feature in a vicinity of the first location satisfies a second condition; storing, prior to the vehicle'"'"'s approach to the potentially hazardous location, precautionary action data in association with each of the identified at least one geographic feature when at least one of geographic features in the vicinity thereof satisfies the second condition to indicate said potentially hazardous locations at which a precautionary action is to be taken by a vehicle system such that a determination can be made by the vehicle system to take a precautionary action based on the precautionary data when the vehicle is at or near the potentially hazardous location; validating that a location where the first and second conditions are satisfied is actually hazardous based on an inspection thereof; and causing the vehicle system to take a precautionary action when approaching a location associated with precautionary action data in the augmented version of the database. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon a database, wherein the database includes data that represents a road network in a geographic region and wherein the database is operable as a component in a vehicle system that provides warnings when approaching potentially hazardous locations, wherein the database comprises:
-
data records that represent road segments that make up the road network; data that indicates merge lanes along the road segments; and data that indicates precautionary action locations, wherein a precautionary action location is associated with a location at which at least one geographic feature satisfies a first condition at the location and at least one geographic feature in a vicinity of the location satisfies a second condition such that the vehicle system need only perform a single evaluation to determine whether the precautionary data exists in the database to determine whether a precautionary action is to be taken upon approach to the potentially hazardous location, and wherein at least a portion of said data that indicates precautionary action location has been validated, subsequent to the determination of the satisfaction of the first and second conditions, as being associated with a location which is actually hazardous based on an inspection thereof. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
-
-
20. A vehicle system comprising:
-
a database that contains data representing a geographic region in which a vehicle is being operated, wherein the data includes data that represents a road network located in the geographic region and precautionary action data that indicates precautionary action locations associated with locations where at least one geographic feature satisfies a first condition at the location and at least one geographic feature in a vicinity of the location satisfies a second condition such that the vehicle system need only perform a single evaluation to determine whether the precautionary data exists in the database to determine whether a precautionary action is to be taken upon approach to the potentially hazardous location, and wherein at least a portion of said data that indicates precautionary action location has been validated, subsequent to the determination of the satisfaction of the first and second conditions, as being associated with a location which is actually hazardous based on an inspection thereof; a positioning system that determines a current location of the vehicle relative to the data in the database representing a geographic region; and a precautionary action application executed on a processor and responsive to the positioning system and the database wherein the precautionary action application determines whether the precautionary data exists in the database in associate with the current location of the vehicle and, based thereon, provides a precautionary action when the positioning system determines that the precautionary data exists in the database indicative that the current location of the vehicle is approaching a location where the first and second conditions are satisfied. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24)
-
-
25. A method performed with a program executed on a processor in a vehicle system for providing precautionary actions in a vehicle comprising:
-
accessing, by a processor, a database that includes data representations of a road network; determining, by the processor, a current position of the vehicle relative to the road network represented by the database; and upon determining, by the processor, that data representations of a part of the road network around the current position of the vehicle includes precautionary action data, the precautionary action data being indicative of a location where at least one geographic feature satisfies a first condition at the location and at least one geographic feature in a vicinity of the location satisfies a second condition, taking, by the processor, a precautionary action, based on the inclusion of precautionary action data in the data representation of the part of the road network around the current position of the vehicle as the vehicle is approaching the location, wherein at least a portion of the data representations of a part of the road network around the current position of the vehicle which include data that indicates a precautionary action location where the first and second conditions are satisfied have been validated, subsequent to the determination of the satisfaction of the first and second conditions, as being associated with a location which is actually hazardous based on an inspection. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28)
-
Specification