Method and system for vehicle proximity searching

• US 20030182057A1
• Filed: 03/25/2002
• Published: 09/25/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: General Motors Corporation (Motors Liquidation Co. GUC Trust)
• Inventors: Kettenbeil, Kelley, Burt, Wylie R., Gibb, Mark, Hanevich, Daniel A.
• Granted Patent: US 6,775,613 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/213
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3679 Retrieval, searching and output of POI information, e.g. hotels, restaurants, shops, filling stations, parking facilities G01C21/3611 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096716 where the received information does not generate an automatic action on the vehicle control
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096741 where the source of the transmitted information selects which information to transmit to each vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096775 where the origin of the information is a central station
• 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

Abstract

The invention provides a method of searching for features of interest in proximity to a mobile vehicle. A vehicle location coordinate and a vehicle proximity parameter are provided to a vehicle proximity search application. The application generates a vehicle proximity area for the mobile vehicle based on the mobile vehicle location coordinate and the vehicle proximity parameter. The application may access a database containing features of interest. A feature or element of interest that has any portion of it in the vehicle proximity area is selected. The distance from each feature of interest to the mobile vehicle location is calculated.

Claims

1. A method of searching for an element of interest in proximity to a mobile vehicle comprising:

providing a mobile vehicle location coordinate;

providing a vehicle proximity parameter;

determining a vehicle proximity area for the mobile vehicle based on the mobile vehicle location coordinate and the vehicle proximity parameter;

determining whether the element of interest is within the vehicle proximity area for the mobile vehicle; and

determining the distance from the mobile vehicle location coordinate to the element of interest.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the element of interest is selected from a plurality of elements of interest contained in a database.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the element of interest is selected from a group consisting of a point, a line, a polygon and a region.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the element of interest is within the vehicle proximity area if at least one point of the element of interest is within the vehicle proximity area.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the vehicle proximity parameter is a distance.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the vehicle proximity area comprises a box positioned around the mobile vehicle location coordinate.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the distance from the mobile vehicle location coordinate to the sides of the box is substantially equal to the vehicle proximity parameter.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the vehicle proximity area is determined based on existing conditions.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the existing conditions are selected from a group consisting of vehicle speed, vehicle direction, vehicle destination, vehicle destination route and vehicle destination route conditions.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising classifying each element of interest based on a distance from each element of interest to the mobile vehicle location coordinate.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein providing the mobile vehicle location coordinate comprises receiving a Global Positioning System input from the mobile vehicle.

12. A mobile vehicle proximity search system comprising:

a means for receiving a mobile vehicle location coordinate;

a means for receiving a vehicle proximity parameter;

a means for accessing at least one element of interest;

a means for determining whether the element of interest is within the vehicle proximity area for the mobile vehicle; and

a means for determining the distance from the mobile vehicle to the element of interest.

13. The system of claim 12 further comprising a Global Positioning System for determining the mobile vehicle location coordinate.

14. The system of claim 12 further comprising:

a communication system between the mobile vehicle and the means for assessing at least one element of interest.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the communication system has at least one wireless portion.

16. A computer usable medium including a program for searching a database for an element of interest in proximity to a mobile vehicle, comprising:

computer program code that receives a mobile vehicle location coordinate;

computer program code that receives a vehicle proximity parameter;

computer program code that determines a vehicle proximity area;

computer program code that determines if an element of interest is located within the vehicle proximity area; and

computer program code that calculates the distance between the mobile vehicle location coordinate and the element of interest.

17. The program of claim 16, further comprising:

computer program code that classifies each element of interest based on the distance from each element of interest to the mobile vehicle location coordinate.

18. The program of claim 16, further comprising:

computer program code that classifies elements of interest based on existing conditions.

19. The program of claim 18, wherein existing conditions are selected from a group consisting of vehicle speed, vehicle direction, vehicle destination, vehicle destination route and vehicle destination route conditions.

20. The program of claim 16, further comprising:

computer program code that receives the mobile vehicle location coordinate from a wireless communication system.