Method for Obtaining Information about Objects Outside of a Vehicle

• US 20080215231A1
• Filed: 03/31/2008
• Published: 09/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/1997
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: American Vehicular Sciences LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Intelligent Technologies International, Inc.
• Inventors: Breed, David S.
• Granted Patent: US 7,899,616 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/117
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/161 Decentralised systems, e.g. inter-vehicle communication

Abstract

Method and system for obtaining information about traffic-related devices providing variable information includes providing a vehicle with a map database including the location of the devices, determining the location of the vehicle, as the location of the vehicle is determined to be approaching the location of each device, as known in the database, obtaining an image of the device, and analyzing the image to determine the status of the device. The vehicle may be controlled based on the status of the device, which is optionally displayed to the driver or other occupant of the vehicle. For example, when the device is a stoplight, the method can detect if the driver of the vehicle is slowing the vehicle when the stoplight is red, and if not, automatically cause the vehicle the slow down or stop.

Claims

1. A method for obtaining information about traffic-related devices providing variable information, comprising:

providing a vehicle with a map database including the location of the devices;

determining the location of the vehicle;

as the location of the vehicle is determined to be approaching the location of each device, as known in the database, obtaining an image of the device; and

analyzing the image to determine the status of the device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising controlling the vehicle based on the status of the device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the device is a stoplight.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

detecting if the driver of the vehicle is slowing the vehicle when the stoplight is red; and

if not, automatically causing the vehicle the slow down or stop.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically controlling the vehicle based on the status of the device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the image is obtained using a camera mounted on the vehicle.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising aiming the camera in the direction of each device as each device comes into range of the camera.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying the status of the device to a driver of the vehicle.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting the presence of a traffic-related device not included in the database using a vehicle-mounted sensor;

obtaining the status of the device using a vehicle-mounted sensor; and

displaying the status of the device to a driver of the vehicle.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

building the database by

detecting the presence of traffic-related devices using a vehicle-mounted sensor;

continuously determining the location of the vehicle; and

extrapolating the position of each device from the determined location of the vehicle when each device is detected.

11. A method for obtaining information about traffic-related devices providing variable information, comprising:

detecting the presence using a vehicle-mounted sensor;

obtaining images of the devices using a vehicle-mounted camera; and

analyzing the images to determine the status of the devices.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising controlling the vehicle based on the status of the devices.

13. A method for providing information about a point of interest about which information is sought, comprising:

obtaining from a person, an indication of a point of interest about which information is sought;

determining the location of the point of interest based on the person'"'"'s indication;

passing the determined location of the point of interest to a service using the Internet; and

receiving information about the point of interest from the service via the Internet.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of obtaining an indication of the point of interest from the user comprises pointing a ranging laser at the point of interest, the ranging laser determining the distance from the ranging laser to the point of interest, the location of the point of interest being determined based on the distance between the ranging laser and the point of interest.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the ranging laser illuminates the point of interest.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising identifying the point of interest at a remote site at which the service is embodied.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of determining the location of the point of interest based on the person'"'"'s indication comprises obtaining GPS coordinates of the point of interest, the step of passing the determined location of the point of interest to the service using the Internet comprising passing the GPS coordinates of the point of interest to the service.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of obtaining an indication of the point of interest from the user comprises displaying an area around the vehicle to the user on a touch screen, detecting touch of a portion of the screen by the user and correlating the touched portion of the screen to an object being displayed on the screen.