VEHICLE ON-BOARD UNIT

• US 20130253777A1
• Filed: 05/17/2013
• Published: 09/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Nissan North America Incorporated (Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: TENGLER, Steve, HEFT, Ronald
• Granted Patent: US 8,655,543 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/45
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/00 Electric or fluid circuits specially adapted for vehicles and not otherwise provided for; Arrangement of elements of electric or fluid circuits specially adapted for vehicles and not otherwise provided for devices for protecting vehicle occupants in case of accidents B60R21/00; safety belts B60R22/00; central door locking E05B49/00, E05B77/50
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0075 Automatic parameter input, automatic initialising or calibrating means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/65 Data transmitted between vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/133 within the vehicle ; Indicators inside the vehicles or at stops
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 70/367 Latching bolt

Abstract

A vehicle on-board unit communicates with vehicles to increase the accuracy of lane centerline determination. The on-board unit includes a communication system and a controller. The controller has a vehicle path history generating component, a lane centerline determining component, and a message processing component. The vehicle path history generating section generates a host vehicle path history data. The lane centerline determining section receives a preceding vehicle message including at least a preceding vehicle centerline data from the communication system and determines a host vehicle lane centerline data indicative of a centerline of the lane based on the host vehicle path history data and the preceding vehicle centerline data. The message processing component produces a host vehicle message including the host vehicle lane centerline data, the communication system being configured to broadcast the host vehicle message.

Claims

1. A vehicle on-board unit comprising:

a communication system; and

a controller including

a vehicle path history generating component configured to generate a host vehicle path history data indicative of a travel path of a host vehicle in a lane in which the host vehicle is currently traveling, with the lane being a single lane of a road, the road having one or more lanes,

a lane centerline determining component configured to receive a preceding vehicle message including at least a preceding vehicle centerline data from the communication system and determine a host vehicle lane centerline data indicative of a centerline of the lane based on the host vehicle path history data and the preceding vehicle centerline data, and

a message processing component configured to produce a host vehicle message including at least the host vehicle lane centerline data, with the communication system being configured to broadcast the host vehicle message.

2. The vehicle on-board unit as recited in claim 1, wherein

the preceding vehicle centerline data includes only preceding vehicle path history data.

3. The vehicle on-board unit as recited in claim 1, wherein

the preceding vehicle centerline data includes cumulative centerline data.

4. The vehicle on-board unit as recited in claim 1, wherein

the lane centerline determining component is further configured to weight the preceding vehicle centerline data more heavily than the host vehicle path history data in determining the host vehicle lane centerline data.

5. The vehicle on-board unit as recited in claim 1, wherein

the lane centerline determining component is further configured to calculate offset data based on the host vehicle path history data and the preceding vehicle centerline data, with the host vehicle message including the offset data.

6. The vehicle on-board unit as recited in claim 1, wherein

the message processing component is configured to receive a plurality of neighboring vehicle messages from the communication system, determine a relevance of each of the neighboring vehicle messages based on the host vehicle lane centerline data, and disregard irrelevant ones of the neighboring vehicle messages.

7. The vehicle on-board unit as recited in claim 6, wherein

the lane centerline determining component is further configured to determine lane boundary data based on the host vehicle lane centerline data, and

the message processing component is configured to determine the relevance of each of the neighboring vehicle messages based on the host vehicle lane centerline data and the lane boundary data.

8. The vehicle on-board unit as recited in claim 6, wherein

the controller further includes a safety response determining component configured to control a vehicle component to perform a safety response based on relevant ones of the neighboring vehicle messages.

9. The vehicle on-board unit as recited in claim 1, wherein

the lane centerline determining component is further configured to determine a degree of uncertainty of the preceding vehicle centerline data and to determine the host vehicle lane centerline data based on the host vehicle path history data, the preceding vehicle centerline data, and the degree of uncertainty.

10. The vehicle on-board unit as recited in claim 9, wherein

the host vehicle lane centerline data includes only the host vehicle path history data in response to the degree of uncertainty being above a threshold.

11. A lane centerline determination method comprising:

generating a host vehicle path history data indicative of a travel path of a host vehicle in a lane in which the host vehicle is currently traveling, with the generating of the host vehicle path history data being accomplished using a vehicle on-board unit of the host vehicle, and with the lane being a single lane of a road, the road having one or more lanes;

determining a host vehicle lane centerline data indicative of a centerline of the lane based on the host vehicle path history data and a preceding vehicle centerline data;

producing a host vehicle message including at least the host vehicle lane centerline data; and

broadcasting the host vehicle message.

12. The lane centerline determination method as recited in claim 11, wherein

the determining of the host vehicle lane centerline data includes basing the host vehicle lane centerline data on only the host vehicle path history data and a preceding vehicle path history data from the preceding vehicle centerline data.

13. The lane centerline determination method as recited in claim 11, wherein

the determining of the host vehicle lane centerline data includes basing the host vehicle lane centerline data on only the host vehicle path history data and a cumulative centerline data from the preceding vehicle centerline data.

14. The lane centerline determination method as recited in claim 11, wherein

the determining of the host vehicle lane centerline data includes more heavily weighting the preceding vehicle centerline data than the host vehicle path history data in determining the host vehicle lane centerline data.

15. The lane centerline determination method as recited in claim 11, wherein

the determining of the host vehicle lane centerline data includes calculating offset data based on the host vehicle path history data and the preceding vehicle centerline data, with the host vehicle message including the offset data.

16. The lane centerline determination method as recited in claim 11, further comprising

determining a relevance of each of a plurality of neighboring vehicle messages based on the host vehicle lane centerline data;

and

disregarding irrelevant ones of the neighboring vehicle messages.

17. The lane centerline determination method as recited in claim 16, further comprising

determining lane boundary data based on the host vehicle lane centerline data,

the determining of the relevance of each of the neighboring vehicle messages being based on the host vehicle lane centerline data and the lane boundary data.

18. The lane centerline determination method as recited in claim 16, further comprising

controlling a vehicle component to perform a safety response based on relevant ones of the neighboring vehicle messages.

19. The lane centerline determination method as recited in claim 11, further comprising

determining a degree of uncertainty of the preceding vehicle centerline data,

the determining of the host vehicle lane centerline data being based on the host vehicle path history data, the preceding vehicle centerline data, and the degree of uncertainty.

20. The lane centerline determination method as recited in claim 19, further comprising

the determining of the host vehicle lane centerline data being based on only the host vehicle path history data in response to the degree of uncertainty being above a threshold.