Methods and apparatus for stationary object detection
First Claim
1. A system for stationary object detection for a mobile machine or vehicle comprising:
- a system to provide location data relating to the mobile machine or vehicle, at least one sensor capable of sensing at least one stationary object in the vicinity of the mobile machine or vehicle and providing data related to at least position information of said object relative to said at least one sensor;
at least one preexisting reference database having previously recorded data relating to at least one normally present stationary object therein, comprising at least location information relating to the at least one normally present stationary object, at least one processor which receives said data from said at least one sensor, said processor configured to evaluate the degree to which at least one sensed stationary object is or is not a normally-present stationary object based on a comparison to the previously recorded data or data derived from previously recorded data from the reference database; and
wherein said previously recorded data is acquired from one or more sensors capable of sensing at least one stationary object and providing data related to said object.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides systems and methods for measuring the likelihood that detected stationary objects are not normally present at a sensed location. Such systems and methods may be used by other systems to which information from the present invention are communicated, for minimizing nuisance alerts in onboard object detection systems such as collision warning, collision avoidance, and/or adaptive cruise control systems. The system includes at least one vehicle mounted sensor capable of sensing at least a target object and providing data related to the target object. The system also comprises a locating device which is capable of determining and providing data related to the location of the machine or vehicle and a processing unit which receives the data from the sensor and the data from the locating device. The processing unit is configured to determine a probability estimate or measure of likelihood that the target object is not a normally present object based upon a comparison to previously recorded data from a reference storage device. The reference storage device stores the previously recorded data acquired from at least one similar sensor and a vehicle locating device while operating in the same geographic area, or stores data derived from such previously recorded data. The invention may enhance vehicle collision warning, collision avoidance and/or adaptive cruise control systems as examples.
482 Citations
48 Claims
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1. A system for stationary object detection for a mobile machine or vehicle comprising:
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a system to provide location data relating to the mobile machine or vehicle, at least one sensor capable of sensing at least one stationary object in the vicinity of the mobile machine or vehicle and providing data related to at least position information of said object relative to said at least one sensor;
at least one preexisting reference database having previously recorded data relating to at least one normally present stationary object therein, comprising at least location information relating to the at least one normally present stationary object, at least one processor which receives said data from said at least one sensor, said processor configured to evaluate the degree to which at least one sensed stationary object is or is not a normally-present stationary object based on a comparison to the previously recorded data or data derived from previously recorded data from the reference database; and
wherein said previously recorded data is acquired from one or more sensors capable of sensing at least one stationary object and providing data related to said object. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A system for providing stationary-object evaluations for use by warning logic comprising:
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a locating system to provide location data of a mobile machine or vehicle;
at least one sensor capable of sensing at least one stationary object in the vicinity of the mobile machine or vehicle and providing data related to at least position information of said at least one stationary object relative to said at least one sensor;
at least one preexisting reference database having previously recorded data relating to at least one normally present stationary object therein, comprising at least location information relating to the at least one normally present stationary object; and
at least one processor which receives said data from said sensor, said processor configured to evaluate the degree to which a sensed object is or is not a normally-present object based on a comparison to the previously recorded data or data derived from previously recorded data from the at least one reference database, and provides the results of said comparison to warning logic in a system of the mobile machine or vehicle to facilitate determining if a detected stationary object is in or near the projected path of the mobile machine or vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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44. A system for stationary object detection for a mobile machine or vehicle comprising:
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a system to provide location data of the mobile machine or vehicle, at least one sensor capable of sensing at least one stationary object and providing data related to the at least one stationary object in the vicinity of the mobile machine or vehicle;
at least one processor which receives the data from the at least one sensor, and selectively determines if data related to said at least one detected stationary object should be evaluated against pre-existing data related to stationary objects in the vicinity of the mobile machine or vehicle, wherein data related to the at least one detected stationary object is evaluated against pre-existing data if the detected stationary object is characterized as being an object selected from the group consisting of at least one object which could trigger an alert according to predetermined logic, or an object which appears to be in or near the path of the mobile machine or vehicle as determined according to preexisting information on the location of the path, or a predetermined type of object known to be positioned in or near the projected path of the mobile machine or vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46)
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47. A system for a mobile machine or vehicle comprising:
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a locating system to provide location data relating to the mobile machine or vehicle, at least one sensor capable of sensing at least one stationary object and providing data related to the at least one stationary object;
at least one preexisting reference database having previously recorded data relating to at least predefined objects which are in or near the projected path of the mobile machine or vehicle, wherein the predefined objects generate a nuisance alert from warning logic associated with a system of the mobile machine or vehicle when no danger of collision exists, at least one processor which receives the data from the at least one sensor, and evaluates the data against the preexisting reference database to selectively suppress nuisance alerts generated by the predefined objects. - View Dependent Claims (48)
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Specification